The Milbank Tweed Forum 2014-2015

Fall 2014

Sept. 17

US Attorney General Eric Holder on Corporate Crime and Compliance

The NYU Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement and the Milbank Tweed Forum will co-sponsor an address by US Attorney General Eric Holder on "Corporate Crime and Compliance."

Oct. 1

Supreme Court (P)review

As the Supreme Court gets ready to begin its new term, it already has a number of major cases on its docket. Up for consideration are matters involving voting rights, pregnancy accommodation, police searches, and whether there is a legally protected right to a beard. Potentially on tap are cases that will call on the justices to address some of the most controversial issues of our time: same-sex marriage, abortion rights, and another challenge to Obamacare. Our panel of experts will also look back at some of the major rulings from the Court’s most recent term. Come hear the discussion, and bring questions of your own.

Panelists:
Mike McConnell, Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law, Stanford Law School; Director, Stanford Constitutional Law Center
Jeffrey Rosen, Professor, The George Washington University Law School; Legal Affairs Editor, The New Republic
Zephyr Teachout, Associate Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law
Moderator:
Burt Neuborne, Inez Milholland Professor of Civil Liberties; Founding Legal Director, Brennan Center for Justice

Click here to watch the video. 
 

Oct. 8

A Roadmap for Law School: Getting the Most Out of 1L year and Beyond

This lively conversation with faculty and administrators, led by Assistant Dean Arthur Fama, will help you strategize about how to structure your time here over the next couple of years. You will hear multiple viewpoints and have the opportunity to ask questions on issues such as: how to remain engaged intellectually; whether and when to take a clinic; how and when to a select substantial writing topic; how to balance academic and extracurricular activities; how to consider journal and moot court participation; and whether to study abroad or to pursue a dual degree.

Topics Include: 1L Elective Selection, Reading Groups, Substantial Writing, Note Topic Selection, Journals and Moot Court Board, Teaching Assistantships, Clinical Work, Study Abroad, Dual Degree Programs, Student Group Membership and Leadership

Panelists:
Jose Enrique Alvarez, Herbert and Rose Rubin Professor of International Law
Sarah Burns, Professor of Clinical Law; Faculty Director, Carr Center for Reproductive Justice
Deirdre von Dornum, Assistant Dean for Public Service
Daryl Levinson, Vice Dean and David Boies Professor of Law
Laurie Malman, Professor of Law Jose Enrique Alvarez, Herbert and Rose Rubin Professor of International Law
Moderator:
Arthur Fama, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs

Click here to watch the video.

Oct. 15

The President and Immigration Reform

With the death of immigration reform in Congress, all eyes are on executive branch efforts to reform immigration law. This panel will discuss the administrative reforms available to the President in the face of congressional gridlock, and will examine the political and legal challenges those actions may face. Panelists include current and former senior executive branch officials involved in shaping and implementing immigration policy. 
 

Oct. 22

The Method Behind the Madness (1): Explaining Law and Economics

You’ve likely heard of “law and economics,” a major methodological approach to the study of law. You may even have encountered it in the classroom, whether you know it or not. But do you have a good grasp of this perspective on the law, or on the critiques leveled against it? If you’d like to know more, come to the first in a series of Milbank Tweed Forums on different methodological approaches to the study and practice of law. Max E. Greenberg Professor of Contract Law Clayton Gillette will outline basic principles of law and economics theory, offer some examples of its application, discuss its assumptions and limitations, and explain why it’s controversial in some circles. As always with a Forum, bring questions of your own.

Click here to watch the video. 
 

OCT. 29

Leveraging Your Law Degree into a Lifetime of Leadership

When Stephen M. Ross LLM '66 was an NYU Law student, he may not have imagined becoming founder of a global real estate development company, much the less the owner of the Miami Dolphins. But thanks in no small part to his NYU Law LLM, that's where life has taken him. Come hear Dean Trevor Morrison lead Ross and his longtime friend and legal advisor Martin Edelman in a discussion of how a junior attorney in a Detroit accounting office parlayed his knowledge of federal tax law into a hugely successful tax practice, and then turned his sights on the worlds of real estate and sports. It's a story that provides plenty of interest and inspiration.

Featuring:
Martin Edelman, Of Counsel, Paul Hastings
Stephen M. Ross '66, Chairman, The Related Companies

Interviewed by:
Trevor Morrison, Dean and Eric M. and Laurie B. Roth Professor of Law

Click here to watch the video. 

Nov. 5

What They Don't Teach You In Law School

Even as law schools have stepped up the amount of practical training in their curriculums, newly minted JDs seldom start their careers “practice ready.” As Cravath states on its website, “When law school ends, the next phase of legal education begins.” Firms have varying approaches to professional development, ranging from extensive in-house training to Milbank’s Milbank@Harvard program for mid-level and senior associates. At Paul, Weiss, the training goes beyond substantive law practice, to cover matters like time management, presentation skills, and client etiquette and expectations. Come hear partners from each of these firms describe how they mold lawyers, along with a discussion of what students might do in law school to get a leg up, and whether law schools should be doing more on this front.

Panelists:
Evan Chesler ’75, Chairman and Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Valerie Radwaner ’87, Deputy Chair and Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
David Wolfson, Partner, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy; Chair of Milbank’s Professional Development Committee
Moderator:
Helen Scott, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Leadership Program on Law and Business

Click here to watch the video. 

Nov. 12

The Method Behind the Madness (2): Explaining Law and Philopsophy 

Next up in our series on different methodological approaches to the study and practice of law is Law and Philosophy. Presenting the topic will be Liam Murphy, Herbert Peterfreund Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy. As he notes, Law and Philosophy is “a big tent.” In part, it examines questions about the very nature of law. For example, is the content of law always determined only by matters of fact, or are moral considerations also involved?  But there are also a host of questions about what the content of law should be. To take just one example: Is it justified to use the popular criterion of economic efficiency as the sole basis for evaluation of the rules of contract law? Come hear a presentation on this topic, and bring questions of your own, philosophical and otherwise.

Click here to watch the video. 

Nov. 19

The Moral Psychology of Political Polarization: Many Causes, and a Few Possible Responses

The results of the just-concluded midterm elections capture just how polarized our nation is politically. What are the roots of these divisions and how might we learn to navigate them and find our way out of political gridlock? Come hear an address on this topic by NYU Stern Professor Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist whose research examines the intuitive foundations of morality. His most recent book is the New York Times bestseller The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, in which he offers an account of the origins of the human moral sense and shows how variations in moral intuitions can help explain the American culture war between left and right. Fresh off arguing a U.S. Supreme Court case on racial redistricting (a topic that overlaps with polarization), Professor Richard Pildes will offer commentary. As always with a Forum, there will be time for questions from the audience.

Click here to watch the video. 
 

Spring 2015

Jan. 21

Mandating Affordable Housing in NYC: Policy Justifications and Legal Questions

Last May, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in his intention to create a mandatory inclusionary zoning program that would require developers to include affordable housing units in market-rate residential developments. Come hear a distinguished panel of experts grapple with how to structure the program to produce affordable housing without suppressing overall development, and how the city can avoid legal pitfalls that mandatory inclusionary zoning measures have faced elsewhere.

Panelists:
Ben Beach ’02, Legal Director, Partnership for Working Families
Vicki Been ’83, Commissioner, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development
David Karnovsky, Partner, Fried Frank
David Kramer, Principal, The Hudson Companies

Moderator:
Mark Willis, Executive Director, NYU Furman Center 

Click here to watch the video.

Jan. 28

High Stakes in the High Court: The Battle Over Federal Regulatory Reach

The Supreme Court will soon decide the fate of policies on climate change, health insurance subsidies, and other critical issues that test the limits of federal government regulation.  How is the Court likely to rule on these issues? And what is unique about litigating cases before the Supreme Court? Sean Donahue and Peter Keisler are frequent adversaries in the Supreme Court, regularly representing opposing sides in environmental cases. Caitlin Halligan, former Solicitor General of the State of New York, is a prominent legal expert who has argued numerous cases involving a broad set of federal regulatory programs. The panelists will discuss their past experiences and speculate about the Court's future direction.

Click here to watch the video. 

Panelists:
Sean Donahue, Partner, Donahue & Goldberg
Caitlin Halligan, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Former Solicitor General for the State of New York
Peter Keisler, Partner, Sidley Austin

Moderator:
Richard Revesz, Lawrence King Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus; Director, Institute for Policy Integrity, NYU School of Law

Feb. 11

How to Win the Forever War and Fight ISIL: A Q&A with Harold Koh

In May 2013, the president spoke about getting the United States off of a perpetual wartime footing in dealing with terrorist threats to the nation. Are we closer to that point today or further from it? Can the United States fully wind down operations in Afghanistan responsibly and call an end the “armed conflict” with Al Qaeda anytime soon—and should we? What is the proper role for Congress in authorizing this and future presidents to fight groups like the Islamic State? Come hear Professor Ryan Goodman, co-editor-in-chief of the Just Security blog, lead a Q&A with Harold Koh, former Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State and one of the country’s most distinguished international law scholars.

Click here to watch the video. 

Feb. 25

Banks Behind Bars: Convicting BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse

If 2013 was the year of “too big to jail,” 2014 was the year for convicting financial institutions.  In May, federal prosecutors sent a signal that no bank is too big to escape criminal sanctions, when they pressured Credit Suisse’s parent company to plead guilty to conspiracy to aid and assist U.S. taxpayers file false tax returns; the bank paid $2.6 billion, the highest amount ever in a criminal tax case. Later in the summer, BNP Paribas agreed to pay $8.9 billion for illegally processing financial transactions for countries subject to U.S. economic sanctions. The move came after BNP separately pleaded guilty to criminal charges of conspiracy and filing false business records in New York state court.  These convictions were made possible, in part, by coordinated enforcement between the U.S. Attorney’s office, New York Attorney General and New York Department of Financial Services. Join us for an in-depth discussion of how these convictions came about and what they portend for the future. The panelists include four people who were on the front lines, both for the prosecution and the defense.

Panelists:
Daniel Alter, Former General Counsel, New York State Department of Financial Services
George Canellos, Partner, Milbank Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
Andrew Goldstein, Assistant US Attorney, US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York
Andrew Hruska, Partner, King & Spalding

Moderator:
Jennifer Arlen ’86, Norma Z. Paige Professor of Law, NYU School of Law

Click here to watch the video. 

Mar. 4

Civil Gideon: How to Achieve Effective Representation

The Chief Judge of the State of New York, Jonathan Lippman '68, has fought to expand representation and make the promise of Gideon v. Wainright meaningful for New Yorkers facing eviction, deportation, loss of benefits, and other complex and terrifying legal problems. At this week's Forum, Chief Judge Lippman will lead off a discussion of what effective representation means and how we can achieve it. Adjunct Professor Helaine Barnett '64, chair of the Task Force to Expand Access to Civil Legal Services in New York, will introduce Judge Lippman, and a panel of experts in housing, immigration, and employment services will respond to the chief judge's remarks. Hugh Baran '17 will moderate.

Panelists:
Hugh Baran '17 (moderator)
Tsedeye Gebreselassie' 07, Senior Staff Attorney, National Employment Law Project
Edward Josephson '81, Director of Litigation, Legal Services NYC
Jonathan Lippman '68, Chief Judge, State of New York
Abraham Paulos, Executive Director, Families for Freedom  

Click here to watch the video. 

Mar. 11

Unconventional Responses to Unique Catastrophes: Tailoring the Law to Meet the Challenges

An address by Kenneth Feinberg ’70

Time and again, companies, governments, and other institutions have turned to Kenneth Feinberg ’70 to resolve seemingly intractable disputes or to structure and oversee compensation funds after emotionally charged tragedies. Feinberg, the founder and managing partner of Feinberg Rozen, a firm specializing in dispute resolution and settlement administration, will talk about his work, and in particular will focus on and compare three funds that he has overseen: those formed to compensate victims of 9/11, the Virginia Tech shootings, and the Boston Marathon bombing. Professor Mark Geistfeld will offer commentary following Feinberg’s remarks.

Click here to watch the video. 

Mar. 25

Apr. 1

A talk by Professor of Clinical Law Bryan Stevenson on his recently published book, "Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption"
 

A talk by Professor of Clinical Law Bryan Stevenson on his recently published book, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

Q&A to follow, moderated by Dean Trevor Morrison

“Just Mercy is every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so. . . . [It] demonstrates, as powerfully as any book on criminal justice that I’ve ever read, the extent to which brutality, unfairness, and racial bias continue to infect criminal law in the United States. But at the same time that [Bryan] Stevenson tells an utterly damning story of deep-seated and widespread injustice, he also recounts instances of human compassion, understanding, mercy, and justice that offer hope. . . . Just Mercy is a remarkable amalgam, at once a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields.”—David Cole, The New York Review of Books

“A searing, moving and infuriating memoir . . . Bryan Stevenson may, indeed, be America’s Mandela. For decades he has fought judges, prosecutors and police on behalf of those who are impoverished, black or both. . . . Injustice is easy not to notice when it affects people different from ourselves; that helps explain the obliviousness of our own generation to inequity today. We need to wake up. And that is why we need a Mandela in this country.”—Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times

Click here to watch the video. 

Apr. 15

Milbank Tweed Forum - Outside Counsel, Front Row Seat: Sports Law Practice at Law Firms

From collective bargaining to antitrust and intellectual property to stadium finance, the range of areas encompassed by sports law practice at law firms is steadily expanding. Join University Professor Arthur Miller, as he leads a discussion with a panel of law firm partners who have helped reshape the sports law landscape.

Panelists:
Charles H. Baker, Partner, DLA Piper LLP
Gregg H. Levy, Partner, Covington & Burling LLP
James Quinn, Senior Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Christopher A. Seeger, Founding Partner, Seeger & Weiss LLP

Moderator:
Arthur R. Miller, University Professor

Click here to watch the video. 

Apr. 29

Lawyering in the Non-profit Sector: General Counsel Career Panel