In this section you will find event information for BCLB events completed in 2007 – 2008 academic year and earlier.
December 5-7, 2008
Capital Campus Winter Retreat
Co-hosted with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
This event provided California policy makers with an academic perspective on today’s pressing policy issues. For the past two years, Capital Campus California has provided a forum for Sacramento’s diverse policy making staff to openly discuss issues affecting the state with experienced scholars and each other. The winter retreat was an extension of this model, available to senior level legislative and executive staff in California. It was designed to bridge the gap between academic theory and practice: participants received an in-depth understanding of the interaction of law, economics, and public policy and then reflect on how these lessons could better inform their daily work.
November 18, 2008
Capital Market Turmoil: Career Opportunities and Pitfalls
Richard Roeder ’73, Vance Street Capital
Private Equity Fund manager and former corporate law partner, Richard Roeder, will discuss the state of the capital markets and how they may affect career opportunities for law and business students. Mr. Roeder has founded and managed private equity funds since 1991. Prior to that, he was a partner at Paul Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, where from 1987 to 1991 he served as Chairman of the firm’s corporate law department. Mr. Roeder provided valuable career perspective on the world of business and finance and entertain questions from students about how the current market turmoil may impact their futures.
November 3, 2008
The 21st Century Wine Business: Where Farming Meets Facebook
Lenny Stein, Jackson Family Enterprises
As Americans increase their knowledge about fine wine and drink more of it, the wine industry is undergoing tremendous change: consumers trading up and down, supplier and wholesaler tiers consolidating, family wine companies selling out, private equity buying in, new global wine regions emerging, and the environment taking central stage. Efforts to undo the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2005 victory for consumers gain speed and traction. As the internet transforms how people discover, discuss, and buy wine, a future of enormous potential collides with an antiquated patchwork of prohibition era legislation. In short, fertile ground for lawyers. Mr. Stein gave a breakneck tour of the business and legal vineyard that is today’s rapidly changing wine industry.
Co-sponsored with the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology
October 7, 2008
The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games: A Springboard to a New Era of Entertainment Deal-Making in China?
Seagull Song, King & Wood (presently Arnold & Porter)
The Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee (BOCOG) made a decision to use “international standards” in approaching entertainment and media contracts for the Beijing 2008 Games. Seagull Song, who was with King & Wood’s China office during the planning years, discussed what this meant and the possible ramification to the development of the entertainment and professional sports industries in China. Specifically, how the concepts of “chain of title” and the complexities of music royalties be dealt with in the post-Olympic world in China? How did the domestic and local legal firms address ambush marketing and unauthorized retransmission?
October 2, 2008
Global Financial Market Turmoil: A Panel Discussion
A panel of distinguished scholars from UC Berkeley analyzed how the financial market meltdown in the Fall of 2008 occurred, evaluated the government’s response, and explained its impact on American households and global markets.
September 26, 2008
Executive Compensation Workshop: Rethinking Pay for Performance
Executive compensation continues to attract considerable attention, much of it critical, from shareholder activists, the press and Congress. On September 26th, 2008, BCLB sponsored a half day conference that brought together leading academics and compensation practitioners to help directors explore “out-of-the-box” ways to better tie CEO pay to performance.
Speakers: Jesse Fried, UC Berkeley School of Law; James E. Kim, Frederic Cook & Co.; Graef “Bud” Crystal, University of California, Berkeley; David Chun, Chief Executive Officer, Equilar; Ira Kay, Practice Director – Compensation Practice, Watson Wyatt Worldwide; Kevin Murphy, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California.
September 22, 2008
Barriers to Entry: Foreign Direct Investment and the Regulation of Sovereign Wealth
Justin O’Brien, Australian National University
Effective and efficient capital markets depend on confidence in the integrity of financial institutions, the regulatory apparatus and, ultimately, trust between market participants and financial intermediaries. The ongoing crisis in global commercial debt markets has exposed glaring deficiencies in operational and strategic risk management systems. Self-evidently, trust like liquidity and solvency is now in very short supply, and confidence has evaporated. This seminar evaluated whether the credit crisis has falsified the underpinning premise of financial regulation, and, if so, as argued, the implications for regulatory design.
Co-sponsored with the Center for the Study of Law & Society
September 20, 2008
Alumni Reunion Panel – Financial Market Turmoil
Panelists explored the economic consequences from, and the presidential candidates’ responses to, issues arising from recent financial market turmoil, particularly as it might be linked to sub-prime mortgage practices and mortgage back securities.
Panelists: Ken Taymor, Executive Director of BCLB; Scott Carey, Chairman of Cornish & Carey Commercial; Paul Hudson, Chairman and ECO, Broadway Federal Bank and Nancy Wallace, Professor, California Chair of Real Estate and Urban Economics, Chair Haas Real Estate Group, Haas School of Business.
September 8, 2008
The Great Urban Transformation: Politics of Land Development in Post Mao China
Featured Speaker: You-tien Hsing, University of California, Berkeley
This is a great opportunity to preview Prof. Hsing’s Oxford University book of the same title. Radical changes have taken place in the socialist regime of land rights as Chinese cities have expanded dramatically since the 1980s. Prof. Hsing talked about the players–socialist land masters, municipal governments and mobilized citizens. She also discussed the connection between urban expansion and local state building.
August 26, 2008
Why Japanese Entrepreneurs Don’t Give Up Control to VCs
Zenichi Shishido, Seikei University School of Law, Japan
The biggest difference between U.S. and Japanese startups is that American entrepreneurs are willing to abandon control to VCs while Japanese entrepreneurs are not. This, in turn, fundamentally affects the venture capital cycle. While differences in social norms and market conditions are part of the explanation, Prof. Shishido explained how legal differences play an important role. Prof. Shishido, a corporate law specialist, is a regular visiting professor at Berkeley Law where he teaches a course on Japanese Business Law.
Co-sponsored by the Sho Sato Program in Japanese and US Law.
June 16 – 17, 2008
UC Berkeley Corporate Directors Enterprise 2008 Conference
The conference, held at the Center for Executive Development at Haas Business School, offered directors of public, private and non-profit boards the opportunity to hone their understanding of “best practices” when addressing regulatory, accounting, legal and corporate governance issues facing them and their organizations. Eric Talley spoke at the Conference on issues relating to corporate governance and liability.
April 28, 2008
Toward a Unified Theory of Torts
Hon. Guido Calabresi, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law, Yale Law School
Judge Calabresi was appointed to the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 1994. Prior to his appointment, he was Dean and Sterling Professor at Yale Law School where he began teaching in 1959. He continues to serve as a member of the Yale faculty. Judge Calabresi is widely recognized as a founder of the field of law and economics. His pioneering contributions include the application of economic reasoning to the law of torts and property. Judge Calabresi discussed the connection between efficiency and fairness, specifically commutative justice or restorative justice.
Co-sponsored with UC Berkeley Endowed Lecture in Law and Economics Program
April 24, 2008
Indian Competition Law & Economics – A Survey of the Old and the New
Professor Rahul Singh, National Law School of India, Bangalore, India
Professor Singh introduced the new competition law and its various elements, contrasting it with the old enactment. With the groundwork laid, he touched upon some of the recent issues arising from the new law. Prof. Singh serves on the advisory board of several Indian corporations, and advises the Competition Commission of India, Government of India, in formulation and enforcement of competition law and policy.
April 20, 2008
International Outsourcing of the Legal Profession
Outsourcing legal work has become increasingly popular among corporate institutions, yet, there has been little public dialog on this controversial development, outside of how to instructions. This full-day event addressed many unanswered questions about legal outsourcing and provided guidance on making informed decisions. The conference featured corporate and law firm counsel with significant experience with outsourcing, legal process outsourcing consultants (LPOs) and law and economics faculty. The panelists included Connie Brenton, Sun Microsystems, Inc; Bart Eppenauer, Microsoft Corp; Dan Lang, CiscoSystems, Inc; Robert Lee, Legal Forest; Mark Ross, LawScribe; and Douglas Hendricks, Morrison & Foerster.
Co-sponsored with the Institute for Global Challenges and the Law
April 15, 2008
Financing Energy Projects – Adapting to Regulatory Change and Volatile Markets
Allan Marks, Partner, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
Allan Marks, an Adjunct professor at Boalt Hall, looked at how several trends are affecting the way in which new energy facilities are being developed and financed in the United States and overseas. The talk touched on a number of key areas, including the effect of regulatory change to favor certain energy technologies, the emergence of clean energy as a “technology” play, the potential impact of new incentives to reduce carbon emissions, and the changing sources of capital for energy investments in the midst of highly volatile credit markets and dramatically rising global commodity prices.
April 1 and 3, 2008
Workshops on the Development of the China Domestic Private Equity Industry
The Workshops brought together Chinese and US policy makers, academics, private equity firms, institutional investors, lawyers and accountants to discuss their experience, knowledge and ideas about the growing private equity industry in China and how to best accelerate its healthy development.
April 1, 2008
A Career in the Law: Perspectives on Life in Government, Private Practice and the Corporate Law Department
Charles A. James, Vice President & General Counsel Chevron Corporation
During the course of his 30-year career in the law, Mr. James has worked as an agency staff attorney, as an associate and senior partner in one of America’s largest law firms, as the head of a federal law enforcement agency, and now as the General Counsel of one of the world’s largest multinational corporations. Mr. James offered his perspectives on legal careers in these various settings, focusing on training, development and opportunities for professional advancement.
March 20, 2008
FCPA Workshop: Enforcement and Outcomes
The workshop explored the enforcement of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the impact it has on businesses and the economy and on defining, identifying, addressing, and sanctioning corruption.
Panelists: Joyce Y. Smith, Baker & McKenzie LLP; Bruce Karpati, SEC, New York; Richard E. Messick, World Bank; Jeffrey Cottle, BAE Systems; Christopher Edley Jr., UC Berkeley School of Law; Robert Klitgaard, Claremont Graduate University; Charles A. James, Chevron Corporation; Judith A. Miller, Bechtel Group, Inc.
Co-sponsored with the Institute for Global Challenges and the Law.
February 13, 2008
China’s Long Awaited Antimonopoly Law – Convergence, Transparency & Chinese Antitrust
Nate Bush, Partner, O’Melveny & Myers, Beijing, CHINA
Thirteen years in the making, China’s first comprehensive antitrust law, the Antimonopoly Law, went into effect on August 1, 2008. True, it is modeled on foreign practice. But ambiguities remain. During this talk, Mr. Bush addressed the following questions: “Will this new law promote consumer welfare, innovation, and efficiency through the competitive process? Or will it gravitate towards populism, protectionism, and industrial policy?”
November 27, 2007
Fusion M&A: Entrepreneurialism and Private Equity in Asia
David Patrick Eich, Kirkland & Ellis, Hong Kong
Did you think private equity had peaked with Blackstone’s IPO? Not at all. It’s back with a vengeance in Asia. China in particular has discovered that this modern alchemy can create well-run, profitable companies that might even repopulate and drastically transform its public securities markets. The fusion of entrepreneurialism in many emerging Asian markets with sophisticated private equity investment strategies presents historic opportunities — and commensurate challenges — to investors and their advisors. Mr. Eich, the senior partner in Kirkland’s Hong Kong office, illuminated some of each while discussing key legal developments and trends affecting private equity in Asia.
November 5, 2007
Ethics and the Business Lawyer
Dana Welch ’87, Welch ADR and Training Services
Business lawyers face difficult ethical issues every day and increasingly find themselves targets of regulatory enforcement actions. Who is the client? What if the client is doing something unethical or illegal? What about the lawyer’s conflicting obligations as a gatekeeper and as an advocate? This session addressed some of these thorny issues that have only grown in scope and scale in recent years.
November 2, 2007
California’s Proposed Health Care Reform: The Legal and Economic Implications
Co-sponsored by the Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets & Consumer Welfare at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
This workshop on California’s proposed health care reform included two sessions. In the morning, the status of the proposed California insurance coverage reforms was reviewed, placing them in the context of other state and national efforts to provide universal coverage. The afternoon session focused on implications of the reform efforts for the insurance industry and examined the effectiveness of reinsurance and risk adjustment programs.
October 23, 2007
How to Suceed in the California Land Use Wars – Sixteen Years and 1,600 Acres
William Falik, Westpark Associates
What does it take to transform 1,600 acres of barren land into the largest and most lucrative masterplanned community in Northern California? Bill Falik, CEO of Westpark Community Builders, recounted the sixteen year saga of the creation, entitlement and sale of the Westpark Project. The event focused on the business, legal and land use risks and rewards of land development in one of the most volatile markets in California and about a new real estate development crossover course taught by Mr. Falik.
October 9, 2007
Challenges and Opportunities for American Lawyers in China or with Chinese Companies
Carmen Chan, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Transformation from a centrally planned economy, virtually closed to foreign trade, to a now rapidly expanding, market-oriented one has brought profound change for China and the companies outside the country doing business there. As China continues its breathtaking sprint toward modernization, debates on everything from limited natural resources to the value of the yuan to copyright enforcement have become more urgent. In the face of such change, how is the legal profession adapting–both here and in China? And how best can American lawyers advise their clients who, with growing frequency, conduct business there?
September 25, 2007
Digital Breadcrumbs – a Forensic Accountant’s Journey through a Corporate Scandal
Joseph Rosenbaum, Ernst & Young
In cases involving potential corporate liability, litigants and their attorneys often turn to forensic accountants, who have expertise in accounting, auditing and investigations. Under what circumstances should forensic accountants be brought into a case, and what methods do they use to uncover and investigate possible acts of misfeasance or malfeasance? Mr. Rosenbaum, a Partner in Ernst & Young’s Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services practice, will addressed these questions using stock option backdating investigation as an example. He will discuss the process, from initial contact by a corporate board concerned about possible wrongdoing, to collaboration with outside counsel, through the electronic data collection and review process (back-up tapes, hard drive images, and those pesky emails), and culminating in the presentation of results to the board.
September 17, 2007
Why and How China is Pushing Deals Onshore
Howard Chao ’80, O’Melveny & Myers
Howard Chao is the head of O’Melveny & Myers Asia Practice. Drawing on his many years of experience living and practicing in Asia, Chao discussed the significant change occurring in China as more foreign investors are compelled to go onshore in China to do financing transactions for Chinese companies. Chinese companies are now relying on the Chinese securities markets for IPOs or have moved their listings to Chinese exchanges. On the private financing front, China has enacted a series of measures that limit the use of offshore holding companies and increase the Chinese legal and governmental “control” over these deals and companies. What does all of this means for capital flows within and into China? Does this signal a relative decline in the importance of the U.S. and other financial centers, to the benefit of Shanghai, and how is this affecting the global and China strategies of law firms, international investment banks, private equity houses and other professionals?
August 28 2007
Securities Litigation: State of the Art Methods to Navigate the Civil and Criminal Minefields
Michael Cypers ’81, Mayer, Browne, Rowe & Maw
Securities litigation requires the practitioner to draw on a broad range of skills, from knowledge of recent Supreme Court opinions to persuading a jury. Since Enron, there has been an explosion of developments from the courts, Congress, and the SEC, and a number of high profile executives have been sentenced to jail for criminal misconduct. This session discussed the practical methods securities litigators use to maximize results for their clients.
April 18, 2007
Lessons from the H-P Pretexting Case — Representing Patricia Dunn
James Brosnahan, Morrison & Foerster and S. Raj Chatterjee, Morrison & Foerster
The pretexting scandal at Hewlett Packard resulted in criminal charges against a number of people, including the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, Patricia Dunn. The scandal arose after HP hired investigators who then used false information to obtain phone and other records of Board Members (and journalists) to find the source of several unauthorized leaks. Last month, all criminal charges against Patricia Dunn were dropped. Two members of her legal team, James Brosnahan, lead counsel, and Raj Chatterjee, Morrison and Foerster, discussed the scandal and the legal proceedings that led to the dismissal.
April 13, 2007
New Frontiers in Law & Business
Jesse Fried, UC Berkeley; Antonio Bernardo, UCLA; Christine Parlour, Haas School of Business; and David Aboody, UCLA with Ron Kasznik, Stanford.
Business and law increasingly are intermingled as areas of practice and targets of academic inquiry. Recent rapid and fundamental changes in federal and state regulation, business law doctrine, and business practices have dramatically raised the stakes for lawyers to understand business and business people to understand law. This conference pushed that conversation forward, and involved practitioners, academics, and regulators discussing ongoing work in these ever more integrated arenas.
The papers presented can be downloaded:
Deviation from Contractual Priority in the Sake of VC – Backed Firms – Jesse Fried
Credit Risk Transfer and Bank Lending – Christie Parlour (with Andrew Winton)
Executive Stock-Based Compensation and Firms’ Cash Payout: The Role of the Shareholder – David Aboody (with Ron Kasznik)
Fixing 404 – Steven Bochner (with Joseph Grundfest)
April 9, 2007
Representing Jeffrey Skilling at Trial
Matthew Kline ’99, O’Melveny & Myers
What considerations are at play when representing a high profile client accused of the corporate crime that defined an era? Mr. Kline served on the trial team that represented Jeffrey Skilling, former CEO of Enron. He shared insights and lessons from that experience.
March 19, 2007
The New Executive Compensation Disclosure: Total Compensation or Total Confusion?
Donna Petkanics ’85, Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati
The SEC enacted new rules on executive compensation disclosure, in part in response to perceived excesses. Will these new disclosure rules make any difference or will they cause more obfuscation? Ms. Petkanics’ practice focuses on advice to emerging growth companies, with an emphasis on corporate and securities issues. She has served in a number of leadership positions with Wilson Sonsini, including as a Member of the Executive Management Committee, the Policy Committee and Managing Director of Operations.
March 5, 2007
Protecting the Shareholder: Proxy Voting on Behalf of Investors – Barclays’ Global Investors
Abe Friedman ’98, Corporate Governance & Proxy Voting, Barclay’s Global Investors
Institutional investors are some of the largest shareholders of US and foreign companies and, through their proxies, have huge sway over corporate governance. How do these investors evaluate a company’s corporate governance and decide how to vote proxies on behalf of the fund’s shareholders? Mr. Friedman is responsible for voting the shares of Barclay’s Global Investors, one of the world’s largest asset managers with over $1.6 trillion in assets.
February 26, 2007
Business Strategies for Building a Sustainable Future
Aron Cramer ’89, Business for Social Responsibility
Is corporate social responsibility an oxymoron? Not according to Business for Social Responsibility, a global organization that helps its member companies achieve success in ways that respect ethical values, people, communities and the environment. BSR provides information, tools, training and advisory services to make corporate social responsibility an integral part of business operations and strategies. This session explored the intersection between business strategy and corporate social responsibility.
February 5, 2007
Arbitration of International Commercial and Investment Disputes
Steven Smith ’83, O’Melveny & Myers
The resolution of international disputes through arbitration raises complex issues of jurisdiction, law and culture. Mr. Smith, the Chair of O’Melveny & Myers’ International Arbitration practice, provided a brief overview of the practice, followed by a case study of a large, complex arbitration in London with a foreign state-owned energy company.
January 22, 2007
From Corporate Lawyer to Venture Capitalist to CEO – One Boalt Graduate’s Journey
Craig Walker ’95, GrandCentral
Since graduating from Boalt in ’95, Mr. Walker has traversed the world of law and business — first as a corporate and securities attorney, then as a venture capitalist, next as the CEO taking a once-hot start-up through bankruptcy and out into an acquisition by Yahoo, and currently as the CEO of a recently funded technology start-up, GrandCentral.
November 6, 2006
The Pros and Cons of Serving as General Counsel for a Public Company
Michael Ross, Former Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Safeway Inc.
October 23, 2006
Conducting an Internal Investigation of a Company in Trouble: What do Lawyers Worry About?
Michael J. Shepard, Heller Ehrman
September 25, 2006
Tapping the Capital Markets – How to Live in the World of Investment Bankers Without Being One
Tracy Edmondson ’88, Latham & Watkins
Monday, September 18, 2006
Boalt Hall, Goldberg Room;
“Rule of Law under one Country, Two Systems”
Secretary Wong Yan Lung & Secretary for Justice, Hong Kong
Cosponsored with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, SF
September 18, 2006
Antitrust and IP Law: Standardization in High Technology Markets – Litigating Antitrust Claims Against Microsoft and Qualcomm
Steve Holtzman ’89, Boies, Schiller & Flexner
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Boalt Hall, Dean’s Seminar Room;
“The Real Deal – A Seminar on an M&A Transaction”
John Somorjai, Salesforce.com
August 28, 2006
Representing the White Collar Defendant in Today’s Regulatory Environment
Melinda Haag ’87, Orrick Herrington
May 4 – 5, 2006
Corporate Governance in East Asia: Culture, Psychology, Economics, and Law
Is there something “different” about East Asian culture and psychology that means that any attempt to reform corporate governance through the adoption of Western norms is destined to fail? If so, is there anything Western corporate governance can learn from the East Asian experience? Or is the notion of “difference” simply an excuse for corruption and lack of transparency?
Leading psychologists, economists, legal scholars and practitioners from the West, China and Korea met to discuss and debate these issues at this two day conference.
Resources
Speaker Bios
March 17, 2006
Conference on Post-Enron Corporate Regulation: Has the Pendulum Swung Too Far — Or Not Far Enough?
Have the regulatory changes enacted after the collapse of Enron and other corporate scandals deterred fraud and enhanced corporate governance or have they instead imposed excessive burden on publicly traded companies and therefore shareholders? Is the aggressive stance taken by the SEC and the Department of Justice against companies and individuals suspected of committing financial fraud justified? Or does it unfairly target those who are simply performing their duties? This conference, which was the first of its kind, brought into conversation with each other (from both sides of the fence) corporate law scholars, economists, regulators, investors, and lawyers. Harvey Goldschmid, former SEC Commissioner and Columbia Law School professor, gave the keynote address.
Resources
Conference Agenda Speaker Bios
March 3 – 4, 2006
Symposium on California’s Stem Cell Initiative
Cosponsored with the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology
Most scientists concur that human embryonic stem cell research holds considerable promise for advancing human health. In 2004, California voters endorsed a bold initiative (Proposition 71) to fund stem cell research by the issuance of $3 billion in bonds, which will be allocated over a 10 year period to researchers. This conference sought to provide insights and recommendations from leading thinkers that will enable California’s bold initiative to be successful.