Spring 2014
Jan. 22
Suddenly Sexy: How Compliance Went from Ho-hum to Hot
With businesses from banks to drug makers paying record fines, and government agencies ramping up enforcement in areas ranging from foreign bribery to proprietary trading, the field of compliance is sizzling. For corporations, law firms, and law enforcers, it’s where the money is (or is lost)—and where many of the jobs are. The field has gone from peripheral at many institutions to front and center, providing vital oversight at the intersection of risk and reward. The experts on our panel have worn a variety of compliance hats. Come hear them discuss the challenges and opportunities in this suddenly sexy practice area.
Panelists:
Andrew Donohue ’75, Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel, Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Boyd M. Johnson III, Partner, WilmerHale
Pamela Root ’80, Managing Director, Citigroup Global Markets
Moderator:
Geoffrey Miller, Stuyvesant P. Comfort Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
Click here to watch the video.
Feb. 5
Mortgage Relief or Bank Robbery? An Eminent Domain Showdown
Financial “innovations” helped blow up the housing market. Is the proposal to use eminent domain to take mortgages in order to “help” underwater borrowers another financial wizardry shenanigan, or a promising idea? Is it constitutional? Will investors put up with it? Come hear a discussion of the plan — adopted by Richmond, California and reportedly under consideration by the New York City Council — and the opposition mounted against it.
Panelists:
Vicki Been ’83, Boxer Family Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
Been is director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, and her areas of research include predatory lending and affordable housing.
Robert Hockett, Professor, Cornell University Law School
Hockett’s principal teaching, research, and writing interests lie in the fields of organizational, financial, and monetary law and economics. He authored a paper that sparked the idea of using eminent domain for mortgage relief.
Matt Levine, Columnist, Bloomberg View
Levine spent four years as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, and worked as an M&A lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
John Vlahoplus, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Mortgage Resolution Partners
Prior to his two decades in the financial services industry, Vlahoplus was an attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell. Mortgage Resolution Partners is a business that advises municipalities on how to use eminent domain to restructure mortgages.
Moderator:
Gerald Rosenfeld, Distinguished Scholar in Residence and Senior Lecturer, NYU School of Law
Rosenfeld, a co-director of the Law School’s Leadership Program on Law and Business, is vice chairman of Lazard Ltd. and previously served as deputy chairman of Rothschild North America and as its chief executive officer for eight years.
Click here to watch the video.
Feb. 12
Saving Cities: Detroit and the Problem of Municipal Governance
Fiscal difficulties in cities as widespread as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and San Bernardino and Stockton, California suggest that the bankruptcy of Detroit may indicate a nationwide municipal crisis. What are the causes of municipal fiscal distress and what reforms can prevent its recurrence? Are pensions for public sector employees the source of the problem, or are unions being unfairly blamed for distress that has deeper roots? Is municipal governance structured in such a way that it increases the likelihood of financial crises, and are there legal institutions that can reduce the risk that cities will confront budget imbalances? Do cities with “strong mayor” systems do better than cities with “weak mayor” ones? Our panel will address these issues and discuss the roles of municipal officials, public sector unions, and the legal system in ensuring fiscal stability for our cities.
Panelists:
Sonya Mays, Senior Advisor to the Emergency Manager, City of Detroit
Thomas Nitido, Deputy Comptroller, The New York State and Local Retirement System
Paul Romer, Professor of Economics and Director of the Urbanization Project, NYU Stern School of Business
Mary Williams Walsh, Reporter, New York Times
Moderator:
Clayton Gillette, Max E. Greenberg Professor of Contract Law, NYU School of Law
Click here to watch the video.
Feb. 19
A Conversation with FTC Commissioner Julie Brill '85
Julie Brill ’85 has devoted her career to public service, serving as the top consumer protection attorney for the states of Vermont and North Carolina, and, since 2010, as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. In her current position she has been working actively on a range of issues, including protecting consumers’ privacy, encouraging appropriate advertising substantiation, guarding consumers from financial fraud, and maintaining competition in industries involving health care and high-tech. Professors Eleanor Fox '61 and Katherine Strandburg will lead Brill, who was a Root-Tilden scholar, in a discussion about her current work, and about what it’s like to forge a career as a government attorney.
Moderators:
Eleanor Fox '61, Walter J. Derenberg Professor of Trade Regulation, NYU School of Law
Katherine Strandburg, Alfred B. Engelberg Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
Click here to watch the video.
Mar. 5
Top of Their Game: A Conversation with the General Counsel of the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball
This Forum, co-hosted by NYU Sports & Society, will offer a unique window into how some of the most popular and successful professional sports organizations in the world operate in the 21st century. In a conversation with a panel of chief legal officers for major sports leagues, University Professor Arthur R. Miller will explore how they got to their current positions, as well as the significant turbulence and change that professional sports have undergone in recent years. The discussion will also focus on a range of current issues in sports: concussion lawsuits; the explosion of digital media and challenges to the leagues’ IP rights; workplace conduct; player unions; doping controversies—it’s all in a day’s work for these top league lawyers.
Panelists:
Richard Buchanan, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, National Basketball Association
Thomas Ostertag, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Major League Baseball
Jeffrey Pash, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, National Football League
Moderator:
Arthur R. Miller, University Professor, New York University School of Law
Click here to watch the video.
Apr. 9
The Jury Trial is Dying: Should We Mourn its Demise?
Hosted by the Center on Civil Justice
With additional support from the American Constitution Society and the Federalist Society
Jury trials in civil cases are part of our Bill of Rights, and the jury trial has always been thought of as a pillar of American democracy. In practice, however, it is increasingly rare. Why is this happening? What does the demise of the jury trial mean for our civil justice system? Does it change democratic citizenship? Can the trend be reversed? Should we try, or just allow the jury trial become a relic of an earlier time? Our distinguished panel of trial and appellate lawyers and academic experts will discuss these and other hotly debated questions.
CLE credit will be available.
(1.5 credit hours - Areas of Professional Practice)
Panelists:
Mark Behrens, Partner, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP
Renée Lettow Lerner, Professor, The George Washington University Law School
Andrew Pincus, Partner, Mayer Brown
Stephen Susman, Partner, Susman Godfrey
Moderator:
Arthur R. Miller, University Professor, NYU School of Law
Click here to watch the video.
Apr. 23
The Future of Privacy: A Discussion with Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith
Edward Snowden’s revelations raised questions not only about the NSA, but also about the role of major tech companies in protecting—or compromising—individual privacy, both domestically and on the global stage. Come participate in a discussion on the future of privacy in relation to government surveillance, consumer privacy, and human rights. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith will give an opening presentation, followed by brief responses from a panel of NYU faculty, and an opportunity for conversation among the panelists and responses to your questions.
Panelists:
Florencia Marotta-Wurgler '01, Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
Michael Posner, Professor of Business and Society, Co-Director of the Center for Business and Human Rights, NYU Leonard N. Stern School of Business; Former Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, US Department of State
Ira Rubinstein, Senior Fellow at the Information Law Institute; Adjunct Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
Brad Smith, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Microsoft
Moderator:
Katherine Strandburg, Alfred B. Engelberg Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
Click here to watch the video.
Fall 2013
Sept. 11
Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor
How does one thrive and succeed in an educational or professional environment? We take the title of our program from a recently published book by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, which argues for the importance of “sponsorship” in professional development. Kenji Yoshino will moderate a panel discussion with Dean Trevor Morrison, Deborah Conrad of Milbank Tweed, and Hewlett of the Center for Talent Innovation, to discuss how the concept of sponsorship differs from that of mentorship, why a sponsor is critical to career advancement and how individuals earn sponsors. The panelists will apply the concept to the legal academy as well as to public and private careers in the law. Please join us at this lead-off Milbank Tweed Forum of the 2013-14 academic year.
Panelists:
Deborah Conrad, Partner, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Founding President and CEO, Center for Talent Innovation
Trevor Morrison, Dean and Clarence D. Ashley Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
Moderator:
Kenji Yoshino, Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law, New York University School of Law
Location: Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge
Click here to watch the video.
Sept. 18
Guardian or Big Brother?: The NSA Data Sweeps
Co-hosted by The Center on Law and Security
Ongoing disclosures about the extent of NSA communication monitoring have sparked numerous headlines—and almost as many questions. Should an American care, for example, that the NSA may log the time and duration of a phone call he or she makes to a cousin in Boise or Bangalore? As we seek to balance national security and civil liberties, what should we fear most—continuation of the surveillance operations or their constriction? Is the data monitoring lawful? Should we have better oversight? Come listen to a panel of experts with a range of perspectives, as they discuss these and other questions—including, we hope, many from the audience.
Panelists:
Steven G. Bradbury, Partner, Dechert LLP; Former Head of the Office of Legal Counsel, US Department of Justice
Elizabeth Goitein, Co-Director, Liberty & National Security Program, Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law
Shane Harris, Senior Writer, Foreign Policy; Author, The Watchers: The Rise of America’s Surveillance State (2010)
Moderator:
Stephen Schulhofer, Robert B. McKay Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
Location: Vanderbilt Hall, Tishman Auditorium
Click here to watch the video.
Sept. 25
Supreme Court (P)Review
On the first Monday in October, the Supreme Court will take the bench for the October 2013 Term. It's the time of year to learn what the Court has on its docket, and think about its direction. Now, more than ever, the Roberts Court deserves close examination. In June it handed down major rulings on same-sex marriage, voting rights, affirmative action, and gene patenting; for the coming term it has teed up cases on affirmative action, contribution limits in federal election campaigns, legislative prayer, and recess appointments by President Obama. Our outstanding panel will reflect on June's rush of major decisions and what it might mean for what is ahead. There will, as always, be lots of time for your questions, so come prepared.
Panelists:
Debo Adegbile '94, Senior Counsel, US Senate Judiciary Committee.
Adegbile joined the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in 2001, and ultimately served as its acting president and director-counsel. He argued Voting Rights Act cases before the Supreme Court in 2009 and 2013, and in 2010 supervised the NAACP LDF team that prevailed in an employment-discrimination case on behalf of African-American firefighters in Chicago.
Lauren R. Goldman '97, Partner, Mayer Brown
Goldman is co-head of Mayer Brown’s worldwide Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice. She is a member of the Supreme Court & Appellate group in the firm’s New York office. She has argued appeals in state and federal courts around the country and has briefed numerous cases in the Supreme Court and in state and federal appellate courts
Adam Liptak, Supreme Court Correspondent, New York Times
Liptak, joined the Times’s news staff in 2002 and began covering the Supreme Court in the fall of 2008. He is a graduate of Yale Law School, and practiced at Cahill Gordon & Reindel and as an in-house attorney at the Times, focusing on First Amendment matters.
Moderator:
Barry Friedman, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
Location: Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge
Click here to watch the video.
Oct. 9
Insider Trading: Hedge Funds in the Crosshairs
Co-hosted by the NYU Law Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement.
In July the Department of Justice charged the multibillion dollar hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors with insider trading, and two SAC employees face trials in November. The SEC has brought an enforcement action against Steven Cohen, the fund’s founder, which could end his career. These are not isolated events: Over the last three years, the SEC has filed more insider trading actions than in any three-year period in the agency’s history. The Justice Department is also is aggressively pursuing insider trading actions. Galleon Group, Level Global, Sigma Capital Management, and Diamondback Capital Management have all found themselves in the crosshairs. These cases raise distinctive issues and present unique challenges for both defendants and prosecutors. Come hear a panel of experts discuss a topic that is riveting the financial world.
Panelists:
Jennifer Arlen ’86, Norma Z. Paige Professor of Law
Arlen is the Director of the Center for Law, Economics and Organization and the newly formed Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement. She is also one of the founders of the Society of Empirical Legal Studies (SELS), was its co-President in 2007, and has twice been elected to the board of the American Law and Economics Association. Arlen has been writing about securities fraud and corporate criminal liability since the early 1990s. Arlen received her BA from Harvard University (magna cum laude in economics) and both a JD and a PhD in Economics from New York University.
Bonnie Jonas, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division and Assistant United States Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York
Jonas joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in 1997 and has served as a Chief of the General Crimes Unit and before that as a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. In March 2010, Jonas was designated the Office’s Financial Fraud Coordinator for President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. Jonas is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University School of Law. After law school, she was an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York.
Peter Lattman, Dealbook Reporter, New York Times
Lattman covers the legal profession and white-collar crime, and has written extensively about insider-trading cases. Before joining the Times in August 2010, Lattman was a reporter with the Wall Street Journal, where he covered the legal profession and then the private-equity industry. Lattman graduated from Harvard University and Fordham University Law School.
John Nathanson, Partner, Shearman & Sterling
Nathanson is a partner in Shearman & Sterling’s Litigation Group. His practice focuses on Department of Justice inquiries, SEC and other regulatory matters, internal investigations and civil securities litigation. He has represented members of the Galleon Group management and other individuals in insider trading cases. Prior to joining the firm in 2009, Nathanson served for five years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where he was assigned to the Business and Securities Fraud Unit for four years. Most recently he was the Acting Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Unit. Before the US Attorney’s Office, from 2001 to 2004, Nathanson served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Frauds Bureau of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. He is a graduate of Williams College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Moderator:
Kevin Davis, Vice Dean and Beller Family Professor of Business Law
Davis joined the NYU School of Law as Professor of Law in 2004. He was formerly a tenured member of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law. He teaches courses on Contracts and Regulation of Foreign Corrupt Practices, as well as seminars on Financing Development and Contract Theory. His current research is focused on anti-corruption law, contract law, the governance of financial transactions involving developing countries, and the general relationship between law and economic development. Davis received his BA from McGill University and an LLB from the University of Toronto.
Location: Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge
Click here to watch the video.
Oct. 23
The Inside Scoop on Outlining and Study Skills for 1Ls
As you wind your way through this first semester, are you curious about how to maximize your academic performance? Could you use some tips on how to outline your courses effectively and how to focus your remaining study time? Join Dean Arthur Fama and a panel of upper level students who will share their own experiences with class engagement, outlining and study strategies. Bring your questions and concerns and be prepared to fine tune your plan for success with the help of your peers.
Panelists:
Paul Balik ’15
Anisha Mehta ’14
Rafael Reyneri ’15
Yael Tzipori ’14
Moderator:
Arthur Fama, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, NYU School of Law
Click here to watch the video.
Nov. 6
How to Take Law School Exams
The old saw has it, the two things you can't avoid are death and taxes. There's a third – exams! As we come to the end of the Fall Semester, this Forum is devoted to the art and science of exam-taking. Professor Barry Friedman, co-author of Open Book: Succeeding on Exams from the First Day of Law School, and Professor Erin Murphy, will give a comprehensive primer on how to succeed in writing law-school exams. There will be lots of time for Q&A. Strongly recommended for those facing their first law school exams.
Panelists:
Barry Friedman, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Professor of Law
Erin Murphy, Professor of Law
Click here to watch the video.
Nov. 20
Litigation for Sale? The Market for Intellectual Property Rights and Remedies
Modern debates over IP law often ask whether the typical protections given to land and other physical assets should be given, most notably, to patents. This panel will explore the arguments pro and con in light of recent reforms proposed by the Federal Trade Commission and in Congress to limit the scope of patent protection and who may pursue patent remedies. The panel will address the role of special purpose entitles (also known as patent trolls) in this market, both generally and in connection with the control of essential technologies in major industries.
Panelists:
Roger Brooks, Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Richard Epstein, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
Jon Potter '88, President, Application Developers Alliance
Jason Schultz, Associate Professor of Clinical Law, NYU School of Law
Moderator:
Troy McKenzie '00, Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
Click here to watch the video.