Securities Litigation & Enforcement Institute 2023

Wednesday, February 8, 2023 | 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Online registration is now closed. Please call Customer relations at 212 382 6663 to register or for assistance.

Description:
This institute will consist of a number of panels covering important and interesting areas related to developments in securities litigation, derivative litigation, Delaware Law, ESG and importantly the activities of the SEC.  The SEC has been extremely active in 2022 and we expect even more activity in 2023 on issues like climate change, the environment, diversity, SPACs, crypto and ESG.  The challenges in each of those areas are significant and the SEC has indicated, it will be active in the regulation of those areas and the required disclosures relating to them.  We expect the very active role played by Gary Gensler in leading the SEC will continue and will come up during several panels.

We are honored to announce that our keynote speaker will be former United States Attorney General and current Paul Weiss partner, Loretta Lynch, who will discuss the risks to the Rule of Law in today’s environment.

In addition, we will feature the following panels of outstanding speakers on topics that are essential for practitioners to stay up to date on:

• George Canellos, a former Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement and Head of Enforcement in the SEC’s New York Office and now litigation and regulation leader at Milbank Tweed, will moderate a panel of leading practitioners, including Stephanie Avakian, until recently the Co-Head of Enforcement at the SEC and James Mangan, Head of Litigation at Morgan Stanley, David Meister, Skadden, on what the SEC has done in 2022 and is likely to be focused on in 2023.
• Greg Markel and Brad Karp will moderate the traditional securities litigation panel which will address the recent Rio Tinto 2nd circuit decision on scheme liability, the Slack case from the 9th circuit and several other important recent cases, as well as a discussion on the latest trends in the number of securities cases filed and the likely reason for changes in filing levels. Panelists will include Audra Soloway of Paul Weiss and Lauren Ormsbee of Bernstein Litowitz, Co-Chairs of the Securities Litigation Committee of the City Bar, Jeff Scott of Sullivan & Cromwell, Mary Eaton of Freshfields and other leading securities litigators. As part of this panel Sasha Aganin of Cornerstone Research and Kevin LaCroix, the well-known editor and author of the D&O Diary, will discuss trends in securities filings and where the most action will be in 2023.
• An impressive roster on Delaware Law moderated by John DiTomo of the Morris Nichols firm, featuring Vice Chancellor Travis Laster, Maeve O’Conner of Debevoise, William Savitt of Wachtell and Jeff Gorris of Friedlander & Gorris (Jeff typically represents plaintiffs), will discuss the current extent of directors’ oversight duties, the Marchand case, M&A litigation, SPACs and the Multiplan case among other important topics.
• Greg Markel will moderate a panel on ESG and many issues relating to it, including its growth in influence, various positive developments in fighting for sustainability, but also push back from some quarters of the economy on the appropriate role for ESG. The panel will include nationally recognized expert on legal ESG, Giovanna Ferrari of Seyfarth Shaw, Hille Sheppard of Sidley, Jessica Strine, the founder and CEO of Sustainable Governance Partners with a strong understanding of the role and motivation of financial firms, and other leading attorneys with great ESG expertise.
• An expert panel moderated by Sharon Nelles of Sullivan & Cromwell will discuss progress in diversity in the legal profession including both what has been accomplished and what is still well short of the ideal. Among the panelists will beAkinyemi Akiwowo, Executive Director, Litigation and Regulatory Enforcement, Morgan Stanley, Katherine Forrest, Paul Weiss, and Joanna Wade, Associate General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Bank of America. The panel will focus on a variety of diversity issues, including diversity in senior administrative roles in law firms and the influence legal departments are having on the staffing of litigation by outside law firms including in the context of securities cases.
• Andrew Stemmer, who is Deutsche Bank’s Head of Litigation & Regulatory Enforcement for the Americas and Director and Associate General Counsel, will moderate a panel of very senior in-house counsel including Jaclyn Barnao, Head of U.S. Litigation and Investigations at Credit Suisse; Diana Miller, Managing Director and Head of Regulatory Investigations & Enforcement for ICG North America at Citi Bank, Christopher Williams, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at Fidelity Investments and Dan Hunter, Head of Communications Counseling for FTI.

This full-day program will provide a comprehensive overview of recent trends, developments and cutting-edge issues in securities litigation, Delaware Law, SEC regulation and enforcement and ESG.  The panels will include prominent securities litigators, senior in-house counsel at major financial institutions and corporations, and nationally recognized trial lawyers and former SEC and others with government as a regulator experience.