Alumni Breakfasts
The Center sponsors a Breakfast program for alumni in New York City, which features panel discussions on current topics in business law by members of the bar, business and investment communities, public officials and faculty.
Click here for Complete List of Upcoming Events
Upcoming: "The Impact of the Credit Crunch on Corporate Transactions and Finance," June 13, 2008
"Ethics and ideals in the practice of corporate law: The Lawyer-Statesman qua Lawyer-Gatesman," March 4, 2008
“The Long Arm of the Law: Criminal and Civil Enforcement in Corporate Governance after Enron and the Backdating Scandal,” January 16, 2008
"Proxy Voting: Is the System Broken?," November 6, 2007
"Executive Compensation: Where have we been, where are we now, and where are we going?," June 4, 2007
"Tightening the Screws on Nonprofit Organizations," December 5, 2006
"Dealing with the 'Eyeshades:' Accounting in the Post-Enron Era," October 4, 2006
"Ethics and Professional Responsibility in Corporate and SEC Investigations," May 17, 2006
"High Crimes or Misdemeanors: The Role of Criminal Law and Civil Enforcement in the Post-Enron Environment," October 18, 2005
"A New Theory of Promissory Fraud," June 7, 2005
"Shareholder Access to the Corporate Ballot Box and the Future of Federal State Relations in
Corporate Law and Corporate Governance," January 10, 2005
"Good Corporate Governance as Seen by Investors," April 30, 2004
"State Law Contributions to Improved Corporate Governance and Fairer Securities Trading,"
November 17, 2003
"Corporate Governance and Listing Standards," September 23, 2002
"Lockups," December 17, 2001
"Tracking Stock," May 15, 2001
"Contract Interpretation in Acquisition Agreements: The Content of Material Adverse Change,"
November 9, 2000
June 13, 2008
On June 13, 2008, the Center will host an alumni breakfast program on "The Impact of the Credit Crunch on Corporate Transactions and Finance" with panelists: Joel Beckman '79, Managing Partner, Greenbriar Equity Group LLC; Hon. William B. Chandler III '79 LLM, Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery; Andrew Metrick, YC '89, Professor of Finance, Yale School of Management and Eric Robinson '83, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz. Roberta Romano '80, YLS Oscar M. Ruebhausen Professor of Law and Center Director, will moderate.
Since the summer of 2007 we have been experiencing severe dislocation in credit markets, as credit difficulties starting in the subprime mortgage sector, have spread across financial institutions and markets, including the leveraged loan market. One fallout has been the disintegration of acquisitions by private equity funds along with recourse to courts to resolve the soured deals.
The panel will explore the impact of the credit crunch on corporate transactions and finance - how have we gotten to where we are today and where are we likely to be going? In addition to reviewing recent trends in private equity and the current market environment, the panel will dissect the litigation over the collapse of the buyout of United Rentals, including how the drafting and negotiation of merger agreements have been affected, whether we should expect more or less litigation over failed deals in the future, how long we can expect current conditions to last, and what, if any are the regulatory implications.
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March 4, 2008
The center held an alumni breakfast program on "Ethics and ideals in the practice of corporate law: The Lawyer-Statesman qua Lawyer-Gatesman." The program panelists were Anthony T. Kronman '75, YLS Sterling Professor of Law; Siri S. Marshall '74, Corporate Director and former General Counsel, General Mills, Inc.; and Michael S. Solender '89, General Counsel, The Bear Stearns Cos. Roberta Romano '80, Oscar M. Ruebhausen Professor of Law and Center Director, moderated.
As we reach the 5th anniversary of the Sarbanes-Oxley and NYSE governance reforms, it would seem to be timely to take stock of the changing role of the corporate lawyer: what are the challenges and opportunities faced by corporate practitioners, and what are and should be the goals and objectives of a distinguished career in corporate law, in the dynamic business and professional environment of the post-Enron era? More specifically, how can the corporate bar best apply its skills, leadership and vision to achieve the high goals and objectives embedded in Sarbanes-Oxley and the NYSE governance reforms and to help ensure that our system of corporate governance and law, and the institutions which support that system, remain vibrant and strong while remaining true to the best traditions and legacy of the profession? The panel discussion explored the ideals and ethical considerations that are paramount in the practice of corporate law in the post-Enron reforms environment, from the perspective of both inhouse corporate counsel and outside counsel to a corporation and its various affiliated actors, and considered what roles remain for the Lawyer-Statesman and the Lawyer as Gatekeeper (the "Lawyer Gatesman") in the practice of corporate law.
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| From left: Anthony Kronman '75, Dean Harold Hongju Koh, Roberta Romano '80, Siri Marshall '74, Michael Solender '89. |
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January 16, 2008
The center held an alumni breakfast program in Washington DC on, “The Long Arm of the Law: Criminal and Civil Enforcement in Corporate Governance after Enron and the Backdating Scandal.” The program panelists were James Doty ‘69, Partner, Baker Botts LLP; Linda Chatman Thomsen, Director, Division of Enforcement, United States Securities and Exchange Commission; Roberta Romano ‘80, Oscar M. Ruebhausen Professor of Law at YLS and Director of the Center; and Kate Stith, Lafayette S. Foster Professor of Law at YLS. John Morley ’06, John R. Raben/Sullivan & Cromwell Executive Director of the Center, moderated.
Beginning with Enron and continuing through the options backdating scandal, civil and criminal enforcement have played a more important role in corporate governance than ever before. Coupled with the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley, the government's investigative approach has increasingly pushed corporate counsel into monitoring, rather than advisory roles. The panel considered whether this increased level of enforcement is justified, and where civil and criminal enforcement are headed. It explored a number of specific questions: Will Congress' recent efforts to control corporate waivers of attorney-client privilege empower defendants? Should enforcement agencies pressure corporate investigation targets to waive attorney-client privilege? What has been the impact of the SEC's new requirement that enforcement staff submit penalty ranges to the Commission for review prior to negotiating the penalties with defendants? Has enforcement authorities' discretion become too great? Can it be limited by Congress or the courts? What is the appropriate enforcement response to complex corporate transactions and compensation practices, such as options backdating, for which there could be reasonable disagreement regarding the appropriate accounting treatment? And are sentencing disparities based on cooperation rather than culpability just?
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From left: Dean Harold Koh, Roberta Romano '80, |
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November 6, 2007
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A number of concerns have recently been raised about the proxy voting process, with nightmare scenarios of "over-voting," "empty voting," undisclosed investors "morphing into corporate equities just to gain voting rights," and failure to obtain quorums or elect directors under "majority voting" director election requirements. While these concerns have largely been directed against activist institutions, passive institutions' voting is also under scrutiny, given the market dominance of the proxy advisory services firm ISS, whose recommendations, under some estimates, are followed by 40% of institutional votes. The concerns implicated by these issues are not purely technical, but also substantive, as Delaware corporate law is premised on the integrity of director elections, and questions arise in economic theory regarding the efficacy of shareholder voting when voting rights do not follow economic rights. These issues have also been the subject of interest by the SEC and Congress, with an SEC roundtable discussion on proxy voting mechanics in May 2007, and a GAO report to the members of the House reviewing the SEC's examination of proxy advisory services in June 2007. The panel explored whether concerns about the proxy voting process are well founded, and what, if any, are the implications for corporate and securities law.
Click here for reading materials.
June 4, 2007
The Center held an alumni breakfast program on "Executive Compensation: Where have we been, where are we now, and where are we going?" Compensation packages of corporate executives have been a focus of considerable media attention in recent years, not only when they have been received by executives of underperforming firms or departing executives but also because of their sheer size. Whether as a consequence of this coverage or not, compensation has become one of the hot button issues for activist investors. Fueling the fire over executive pay is the reporting that several hundred firms are under investigation for stock option backdating. In 2006 the SEC adopted new enhanced disclosure requirements for executive compensation, which came into effect this past proxy season. In addition, activist institutions such as labor union funds have sponsored “say on pay” shareholder proposals at several firms which would pass CEO compensation by shareholders for their approval, and the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that requires such shareholder votes.
The panel provided a variety of perspectives on executive compensation – where we have been, where we are now, and where we are or should be going – in the shadow of what we have learned from the just completed proxy season. More specifically, the panel considered whether executive compensation is broken as some critics contend? Are corporate executives paid too much or too little? What is the effect of executive performance incentives on shareholder value and economic growth? What role should be played by regulation in the area of executive compensation? What is the shareholders’ role in the compensation process? Where do benchmarking and compensation consultants fit in? What will the impact on executive compensation be of the current trend of increasing involvement by shareholders and regulators in the compensation process? What will the impact of that involvement be on the vitality of the public corporation as the principal form of doing business in the U.S.?
Speakers were: Steven Kaplan, Neubauer Family Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business; Pearl Meyer, Senior Managing Director, Steven Hall & Partners; John W. White, Director, Division of Corporation Finance, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; and John C. Wilcox, Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Governance, TIAA-CREF. Roberta Romano '80, Oscar M. Ruebhausen Professor of Law and Center director moderated.
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| From left: John Wilcox, Pearl Meyer, Roberta Romano '80, John White, Steven Kaplan. |
Click here for reading materials.
December 5, 2006 The Center held an alumni breakfast program on "Tightening the Screws on Nonprofit Organizations." The program panelists were: Robert A. Boisture '79, Caplin & Drysdale, co-convenor of the Legal Framework Work Group for Independent Sector and adviser to the Committee on Legislation and Regulations of the Council on Foundations; Sharon H. Cott '85, Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel, Metropolitan Museum of Art, member of the Legal Framework Work Group for Independent Sector and Adviser to the ALI; Dietrich Snell '82, Deputy Attorney General for Public Advocacy, State of New York, responsible for the state’s Charities Bureau, among the most active in the nation in policing the affairs of nonprofit organizations; and Gerson A. Zweifach '79, Williams & Connolly LLP, counsel for Richard Grasso in the litigation over executive pay at the (then nonprofit) New York Stock Exchange. Henry Hansmann '74, Augustus E. Lines Professor of Law, who has written extensively on the law and economics of nonprofit organizations, moderated.
The great attention being paid to corporate governance in the business world has a strong parallel in the world of nonprofit organizations. Concern about the management of nonprofit institutions was sparked some years ago by several high-profile scandals, such as those involving United Way and Adelphi University. It was deepened by a spate of transactions in which, in the course of converting large nonprofit health insurance companies, hospitals, and HMOs to for-profit form, billions of dollars in charitable assets were diverted to private hands. And it’s now been given further momentum by the scandals, and subsequent efforts at reform, in corporate governance among business corporations. The panel explored some of the resulting developments, including new legislation and more active enforcement at both the state and federal levels.
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| From left: Robert Boisture '79, Sharon Cott '85, Dietrich Snell '82, Gerson Zweifach '79, Henry Hansmann '74, and Dean Harold Koh. |
Click here for reading materials.
October 4, 2006
The Center held an alumni breakfast program on "Dealing with the "Eyeshades": Accounting in the Post-Enron Era." The program panelists were: Rick Antle, William S. Beinecke Professor of Accounting, Yale School of Management; Jonny Frank '83 LLM, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Senior Faculty Fellow, Yale School of Management; Robert Giuffra, Jr. '87, Sullivan & Cromwell; and Daniel L. Goelzer, Member, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Roberta Romano '80, Oscar M. Ruebhausen Professor of Law and Center Director, moderated. The discussion covered the following issues: how litigation over accounting fraud has changed post-Andersen/SOX; to what extent implementation of section 404 has closed the distance between annual audits and forensic audits; the relation between option backdating, accounting rules and criminal proceedings; the uneasy relation between the U.S. sentencing guidelines' compliance criteria and SOX criteria for antifraud programs and internal controls; waiver of attorney-client privilege in investigations and routine audits; and the import of liability caps in audit contracts.
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| From Left: Roberta Romano '80, Daniel Goelzer, Robert Giuffra, Jr. '87, Jonny Frank '83 LLM and Rick Antle |
Click here for reading materials.
May 17, 2006
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The program focused on the responsibilities of lawyers involved in representing clients in SEC investigations, in enforcement proceedings, and in private litigation in which the client conducts internal investigations. The nature and scope of lawyers' professional obligations to corporate officers and directors, the conflicts that may arise among the defense lawyers who represent individual corporate officers, boards of directors, and the company in a particular investigation, and the interaction between official investigations and work product privileges were among the issues discussed.October 18, 2005
The Center held a Breakfast on "High Crimes or Misdemeanors: The Role of Criminal Law and Civil Enforcement in the Post-Enron Environment." The panelists were Stephen M. Cutler '85, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, and former Director, SEC Division of Enforcement, 2001-05; Kate Stith, Lafayette S. Foster Professor of Law, Yale Law School; and Craig M. Wasserman '86, Wachtell Lipton, Rosen & Katz; Roberta Romano '80, Oscar M. Ruebhausen Professor of Law, Yale Law School moderated.
In the wake of the collapse of Enron and the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, numerous criminal and civil enforcement actions have been brought against managers of corporations and financial institutions. The severity of both civil and criminal sanctions has dramatically increased. Moreover, transactions that only a few years earlier appeared to be acceptable, albeit aggressive conduct in an industry and arguably would have been subject at most to civil sanctions, in the post-Enron climate have resulted in criminal prosecutions, producing considerable uncertainty for managers and corporate counsel.
The panel considered whether these new prosecutorial and enforcement actions are justified, and where we are headed. The discussion touched on the following issues: Are increased criminal and civil sanctions and aggressive enforcement essential tools for ferreting out fraudulent corporate conduct that would otherwise remain undetected?
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From left: Craig M. Wasserman '86, Roberta Romano '80, Stephen M. Cutler '85 and Kate Stith |
| The topic discussed at the Center's eighth Breakfast was "A New Theory of Promissory Fraud." Ian Ayres '86, William K. Townsend Professor of Law, presented at the breakfast and the Hon. Ralph K. Winter '60, Sr. Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, and Professor (Adjunct) of Law, and Alan Schwartz '64, Sterling Professor of Law, served as commentators. Roberta Romano '80, Oscar M. Ruebhausen Professor of Law, moderated. |  |
| From left: Roberta Romano '80, Ian Ayres '86, Ralph Winter '60 and Alan Schwartz '64 |
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The topic of the Center's seventh Breakfast was "Shareholder Access to the Corporate Ballot Box and The Future of Federal State Relations in Corporate Law and Corporate Governance." The speaker was The Honorable Roel C. Campos, U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Robert Todd Lang '47, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, was the commentator. Jonathan R. Macey '82, Sam Harris Professor of Law, Corporate Finance, and Securities, moderated. |
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| From left: Roel Campos, Jon Macey '82 and Robert Todd Lang '47 |
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The Center held a Breakfast on "Good Corporate Governance as Seen by Investors." The speakers were: William Goetzmann, Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies and Director, International Center for Finance at Yale School of Management; Mark J. P.Anson, Chief Investment Officer for the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS); and Burt Denton, President of Providence Capital, Inc. Alan Schwartz, '64 Sterling Professor of Law moderated. |
(From left) William Goetzmann, Alan Schwartz '64, Mark J.P. Anson, Burt Denton |
The Center's fifth Breakfast program entitled “State Law Contributions to Improved Corporate Governance and Fairer Securities Trading,” featured Eliot Spitzer, the Attorney General of the State of New York as the principal speaker, with commentary by Jonathan Macey '82, then Visiting Professor of Law at Yale Law School. Dean Anthony T. Kronman '75 introduced the panelists and Alan Schwartz '64, Sterling Professor of Law, served as moderator.
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| From left: Anthony Kronman '75, Jonathan Macey '82, Eliot Spitzer, and Alan Schwartz '64. |
September 23, 2002
The Center sponsored a Breakfast program entitled, "Corporate Governance and Listing Standards." The panelists were Richard Bernard, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, New York Stock Exchange; Robert Todd Lang '47, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP; Roberta Romano '80, Allen Duffy/Class of 1960 Professor of Law, Yale Law School. Dean Anthony Kronman '75 moderated.
December 17, 2001
The third Breakfast sponsored by the Center was entitled "Lockups," with presentations by Ian Ayres '86, William K. Townsend Professor of Law, and Stephen Fraidin '64, partner, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. Alan Schwartz '64, Director of the Center and Sterling Professor of Law, moderated.
The Center sponsored its second breakfast in New York on May 15, 2001. The program consisted of a discussion on "Tracking Stock" with panelists Roger Aaron '68 of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Yale Law School Professor Henry Hansmann '74.
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On November 9, 2000, the Center initiated an Alumni Breakfast series in New York, which was attended by YLS area alumni. The program consisted of a panel discussion of "Contract Interpretation in Acquisition Agreements: The Content of Material Adverse Change," by Arthur Fleischer, Jr. '58 of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson and YLS Professors Ian Ayres '86 and Alan Schwartz '64, with moderator YLS Professor and Center Director Roberta Romano '80. |