CO R P O R AT E CO U N S E L IN S T I T U T E
BY THOMAS DOYLE
Georgetown’s Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Corporate Counsel Institute is the premier program of its kind in the United States. It has garnered the Association for Corporate Counsel as a co-sponsor.The institute has seen increased attendance each year since 1996, when the late Patrick Head (C’54, L’56, LL.M. ’57) chairman emeritus, joined with CLE director Larry Center (L’74) and a core advisory board of 15 Law Center alumni to found the institute.As the program has grown, the board has expanded to more than 100 alumni and other attorneys who are among the nation’s leading corporate counsel and private practitioners.
In March 2003, the Law Center hosted the seventh annual institute, attracting several hundred practitioners from around the country and featuring presentations by top government officials and private sector leaders.The focus was on the latest enforcement and regulatory trends and the roles lawyers play in corporate governance.Attendees heard from an impressive line-up of speakers.After welcoming remarks from Law Center Dean Judy Areen and Larry Center, the program kicked off with a keynote address from Harvey Goldschmid, commissioner, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, entitled “Corporate Governance and Accountability in 2003.” Goldschmid told the audience,“The Enron scandals have made us face the serioussystematic problem. But the Enron scandals have also provided us with the critical stimulus for bringing about healing and reform. In the end, I suspect post-Enron developments will permit us to maintain and strengthen America’s role as a world leader in both corporate accountability and disclosure.”
Goldschmid also spoke about the ramifications of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, saying it “provides the right fundamental frame-work…. I know for corporate counsel it hasn’t made life easy, indeed for the Commission it hasn’t made life easy. But it is the right kind of remedy for the problems we’ve seen…. It’s certainly the most important securities legislation since the New Deal.”
Other institute highlights were a Supreme Court review and preview with former Solicitors General Kenneth Starr and Seth Waxman; an up-to-the-minute review of the Bush administration’s antitrust priorities with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Timothy Muris and former Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department Charles Rule; a panel discussion of the role of inside counsel with, among others, Anastasia Kelly, executive vice president and general counsel for MCI; and an overview of the work of the Supreme Court from the Nation” host Bob Schieffer.
Since the institute's founding, the distinguished list of speakers has also included Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; CEOs R.L. Crandall, formerly of American Airlines, and Michael Jordan, formerly of CBS; General Counsels Bill Lytton of Tyco, Paul Cappuccio of AOL-Time Warner, and Janet Kelly of Kellogg’s; Senators Byron Dorgan, Kent Conrad, and Carol Moseley-Braun; Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers; Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell (L’93); former FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky; and SEC Enforcement Division Director Steve Cutler.
The 2004 Corporate Counsel Institute will be held March 11 and 12 at the Law Center. Confirmed speakers include: Skadden Arps attorney Robert Bennett (C’61, L’64);William McDonough (G’62), chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (L’61); U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson; and SYSCO CEO Richard Schneiders. For information about the institute, please visit www.georgetown.edu/cle/