Conferences

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During the school year before this past one, I had the privilege of serving as the faculty advisor for a law review symposium.  We brought in an excellent group of professors and practitioners and, at least from my point of view, the symposium went quite well.  The planning process, however, was much more involved than I had originally thought.  All professors should go through the conference planning process at least once, if only to gain more respect for those who plan the conferences at which we present and attend.    

While I am certainly not a conference planning expert (and my students did the vast majority of the work for that one symposium), I decided to share some of my thoughts here.  Hopefully, these thoughts are helpful, though there may be nothing new for the seasoned conference goer and planner.  Feel free to leave comments to fill in the gaps I leave or to offer your own opinions.   

Start Planning Early.  We started planning our October symposium in late-February/early-March.  That timing worked well for us.  Professors were finished with (or putting the last touches on) their spring articles, but not quite in exam-scramble mode yet.  Initially, I thought we…

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel on global human rights compliance and enterprise risk management with Mark Nordstrom of General Electric and John Sherman of Shift. The panel was part of a conference entitled New Challenges in Risk Management and Compliance at the UConn School of Law Insurance Law Center. 

I spoke about the lack of direct human rights obligations under international law for multinationals, the various voluntary initiatives such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ILO Tripartite Declaration, the UN Global Compact, ISO 26000, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the Global Reporting Initiative, and accusations of bluewashing. I also discussed Dodd-Frank 1502 (conflict minerals), sustainable stock exchange indices, ESG reporting, SEC proxy disclosure on risk management oversight, socially responsible investors, and the roles of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and the International Integrated Reporting Council in spurring transparency and integrated reporting. 

Sherman focused on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which were unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011 and which contain three pillars, namely the state duty to protect people from human rights abuses by third parties, including business; business’ responsibility to respect…

My wife claims that I wasted quite a bit of time watching the Breaking Bad TV series on Netflix over the past few months, but given this recent call for papers, I may claim I was just doing professional development.

The editorial board New Mexico Law Review does not list any business law topics in their areas of particular interest, but I can think of a few.  Accounting fraud and money laundering feature prominently.  The IRS is involved in some episodes.  Magrigal (a global conglomerate), Los Pollos Hermanos (a restaurant chain), and A1A car wash (which becomes a family-owned business) are three businesses that take center stage.  There is a sale of a company (the car wash) in one episode and possible fiduciary duty issues throughout.  I may even see a benefit corporation angle to explore…

This is a fun idea for a special law review issue. 

Last week the DC Circuit Court of Appeals generally upheld the Dodd-Frank conflict minerals rule but found that the law violated the First Amendment to the extent that it requires companies to report to the SEC and state on their websites that their products are not “DRC Conflict Free.” The case was remanded back to the district court on this issue.

As regular readers of the blog know I signed on to an amicus brief opposing the law as written  because of the potential for a boycott on the ground and the impact on the people of Congo, and not necessarily because it’s expensive for business (although I appreciate that argument as a former supply chain professional). I also don’t think it is having a measurable impact on the violence. In fact, because I work with an NGO that works with rape survivors and trains midwives and medical personnel in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, I get travel advisories from the State Department. Coinicidentally, I received one today as I was typing this post warning that “armed groups, bandits, and elements of the Congolese military [emphasis mine] remain security concerns in the eastern DRC….[they] are known to pillage, steal…

The “Conference on Multi-Jurisdictional Deal Litigation” will be held April 25, 2014.  Here is a brief introduction:

M&A litigation is increasingly filed in both the target’s state of incorporation and its headquarters state. It is the most important current development in corporate litigation. The leading plaintiffs’ and defendants’ deal litigators from Delaware and from Texas will discuss every aspect of this issue at our day-long conference. Chief Justice Strine of the Delaware Supreme Court and Justice Brown of the Texas Supreme Court will be panelists.

Passing on this announcement for those interested in teaching business and human rights or learning more about it. I had the opportunity to meet many of the professors who teach in this area at the UN Conference on Business and Human Rights in Geneva in December and they and outside counsel from around the world discussed the need for more law and business students to understand these issues so that graduates could advise clients of all sizes. Contact Anthony Ewing from Columbia Law for more information.
 
Teaching Business and Human RightsWorkshop
Thursday and Friday, May 15-16th, 2014
Columbia University, New York, NY
 
We are pleased to announce that the fourth annual Teaching Business and Human Rights Workshop will take place at Columbia University in New York on Thursday andFriday, May 15-16th, 2014.
 
History
The Columbia Teaching Business and HumanRights Forum is a unique platform for collaboration among individuals teaching business and human rights worldwide. The first Workshop, in 2011, led to the creation of an Online Forum that has grown to include more than 175 participants in twenty-five countries. Last year’s Workshop convened forty individuals teaching at thirty-one institutions in ten countries. Discussion Summaries of the first three Forum Workshops are available on the website of the Business and Human RightsResource Centre. 
 
Agenda
This year’s agenda based on Forum participant

…

Business law has a broad overlap with tax, accounting, and finance.  Just how much belongs in a law school course is often a challenge to determine.  We all have different comfort levels and views on the issue, but incorporating some level of financial literacy is essential.  Fortunately, a more detailed discussion of what to include and how to include it is forthcoming.  Here’s the call: 

Call For Papers

AALS Section on Agency, Partnerships LLCs, and Unincorporated Associations

Bringing Numbers into Basic and Advanced Business Associations Courses: How and Why to Teach Accounting, Finance, and Tax

2015 AALS Annual Meeting Washington, DC

Business planners and transactional lawyers know just how much the “number-crunching” disciplines overlap with business law. Even when the law does not require unincorporated business associations and closely held corporations to adopt generally accepted accounting principles, lawyers frequently deal with tax implications in choice of entity, the allocation of ownership interests, and the myriad other planning and dispute resolution circumstances in which accounting comes into play. In practice, unincorporated business association law (as contrasted with corporate law) has tended to be the domain of lawyers with tax and accounting orientation. Yet many law professors still struggle with the reality…

From Gail Lasprogata (Seattle University):

Nowhere explodes with new life and color in the spring like the Pacific Northwest.This refreshment and inspiration is always matched by the supportive and fun atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest ALSB regional conference.

This year’s conference will be held on April 24-26, 2014 in Vancouver BC [pictured below].  We will start with a reception on Thursday evening, April 24th and end shortly after lunch on Saturday, April 26th.  We promise the same low cost and friendly high value in what has deservedly become a favorite among ALSB regional academic meetings.

If you have any questions, please contact our program chair, Gail Lasprogata of Seattle University at lasprogg@seattleu.edu.  Registration forms should be requested from, and submitted to, Gail.

We hope you will join us!

The previous posts for two other 2014 regional ALSB conferences:

The previous post for the 2014 national ALSB conference:

These conferences are the top regional and national conferences for legal studies professors in business schools, but I believe most are open to others as well.  

Vancouver

The following announcement of the Mid-Atlantic Academy in Legal Studies in Business (“MAALSB”) Annual Conference on March 21-22, 2014 comes to us from MAALSB President Stacey B. Lee (John Hopkins).  The conference will be held at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, 100 International Drive, Baltimore, MD 21202 (pictured below).

Papers submitted by March 1, 2014 are eligible for publication in the Atlantic Law Journal and a Best Paper cash award. Conference attendance is not required for journal submissions. For more information, please check the ALSB website’s link to MAALSB, or contact Stacey B. Lee, President at staceyb.lee@jhu.edu.

More registration information is available here.

From the Faculty Lounge:

The New York Law School Law Review is calling for papers to be published in connection with its April 25, 2014 symposium, Combating Threats to the International Financial System: The Financial Action Task Force.

Although this symposium will specifically address the Financial Action Task Force, the symposium’s companion Law Review publication will broadly examine contemporary threats to the international financial system, such as money laundering and terrorist financing. In examining these issues, the publication will address how these threats have been responded to in the past, as well as how they should be responded to at the international, federal, and state levels in the future.

The Law Review is currently accepting abstracts for papers to be considered for publication in the spring of 2015.  To be considered for publication, please send by March 28, 2014 an abstract of no more than 500 words in MS Word format, accompanied by a CV, to Editor-in-Chief G. William Bartholomew at george.bartholomew@law.nyls.edu.

Final papers will be due June 13, 2014, and may not exceed 35 pages in length (double-spaced, including footnotes).  Details on the symposium are here.