AEI - Transatlantic Law Forum: The Business of Law

EVENTS

Transatlantic Law Forum: The Business of Law

Cosponsored by the Council on Public Policy

Date:	Thursday, September 3, 2009 - Friday, September 4, 2009
Location:	Bucerius Law School 20355 Hamburg, Germany

Event Materials

Speaker Biographies

	Video
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About This Event

Please note this event will take place at the Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany.

Business litigation in national and international courts is a business, and it is increasingly international. The judicial decisions and doctrines that govern the field are the subject of torrents of law review articles. But we know much less about the institutional aspects of business litigation--the organization of international courts and the strategies, incentives, and organization of corporate interests and their lawyers. How and to what extent do those interests attempt to shape the legal environment, and with what results? How do private corporate litigants fare in European and American courts--and what should we expect for future business litigation?

The Transatlantic Law Forum, a project of the American Enterprise Institute and the Council on Public Policy, will host a transatlantic conference to examine the international "business of law." Leading scholars, practitioners, and judges from Europe and the United States will discuss the political, economic, and legal dimensions of international commercial litigation. Panel topics include the organization of the professional bar; the pattern of private litigation in a variety of venues; and the strategic choice of law and legal forums, including arbitration.

Please note the cost of this conference is $100.00.
To register for the dinner on September 3rd please click here.
To register for the dinner on September 4th please click here.

For additional information please contact Luci Hague at luci.hague@aei.org.

Agenda

Thursday, September 3

8:30 a.m.	Registration

8:45	Introduction:	Markus Baumanns, ZEIT-Stiftung, Hamburg
		Michael S. Greve, AEI

9:00	Panel I: European Courts: Who Litigates What, and Why?

By all accounts, litigation in the European courts is dominated by business interests (alongside governments and EU institutions). But we know remarkably little about the pattern and the organization and dynamics of corporate litigants. Who litigates what, why, and to what effect? Is litigation strategic, or largely opportunistic? How do litigants navigate the interplay between national and EU courts? Panelists will discuss these questions in the context of litigation over the "four freedoms," infringement proceedings, and the increasingly salient domain of European administrative law.

	Panelists:	Georg M. Berrisch, Covington & Burling, Brussels
		Christopher Harding, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
		Alastair Sutton, White & Case, Brussels

	Moderator:	Christian von Sydow, McDermott Will & Emery, Munich

10:30	Break

10:45	Panel II: Supreme Court, Incorporated?

Numerous scholars and journalists have observed a decidedly "probusiness" shift under the Roberts Court. Is that perceived trend real? If so, what accounts for it--personnel changes on the Court? Greater sophistication and coordination on the part of corporate litigants? What are the prospects for a "probusiness" Court in an era of populist politics?

	Panelists:	Robin Conrad, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
		Robert R. Gasaway, Kirkland & Ellis
		Thomas Goldstein, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld

	Moderator:	Michael S. Greve, AEI

12:15 p.m.	Break

12:30	Luncheon Address: "Law, Politics, and European Integration"

	Introduction:	Michael Zoeller, Council on Public Policy

	Keynote Speaker:	Friedrich Merz, Mayer Brown, Berlin

1:45	Break

2:00	Panel III: Law as a Product--and a Problem

The law of individual states or nation-states can serve both as a "product" (as when firms freely choose their state of incorporation) and as a barrier to commerce and firm integration (as when conflicting state laws balkanize markets). What are the most salient current developments in the law "markets" in the United States and the EU? How have corporations shaped and adjusted to the changing environment in such domains as corporate law, bankruptcy law, and consumer protection?

	Panelists:	G. Marcus Cole, Stanford Law School
		Horst Eidenmuller, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen
		Tracy Genesen, Kirkland & Ellis

	Moderator:	Leonard Leo, Federalist Society

3:30	Adjournment and Dinner

6:00	Harbor Cruise: Cocktails and Dinner aboard MS Olympic

	Introduction:	Leonard Leo, Federalist Society

	Keynote Speaker:	C. Boyden Gray, former U.S. ambassador to the European Union

9:00	Adjournment

Friday, September 4

8:45 a.m.	Registration

9:00	Panel IV: Business and the Bar

The organization of the bar is an important screen between corporate litigants and high courts. How has the organization of the professional bar changed over the decades, especially in the wake of European integration?

	Panelists:	Francois-Henri Briard, Delaporte, Briard & Trichet, Paris
		Cornelius Fischer-Zernin, Allen & Overy, Hamburg
		Inka Hanefeld, Friedrich Korch Hanefeld, Hamburg

	Moderator:	Clifford Larsen, Bucerius Law School, Hamburg

10:30	Break

10:45	Panel V: Litigation and Lobbying

Both in the EU and in the United States, governments (represented by the European Commission and the solicitor general, respectively) win over 80 percent of their cases. What are the role and the influence of the government's advocate? Is government participation actually a factor--or are those agencies simply good at predicting outcomes and at acting, in effect, as the tenth or twenty-eighth justice? Either way, the agencies' stupendous success rate should make them a prime lobbying target for prospective litigants. How intensive and successful are those efforts, and what forms do they take?

	Panelists:	Gotz Drauz, Howrey, Brussels
		Kenneth W. Starr, Pepperdine University School of Law

	Moderator:	Jeremy Rabkin, George Mason University School of Law

12:15 p.m.	Luncheon Address: "Change and Continuity in Competition Law"

	Introduction:	Michael S. Greve, AEI

	Keynote Speaker:	Judge Diane P. Wood, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

1:45	Break

2:00	Panel VI: Antitrust and Competition

Antitrust (or competition) law has been a focal point of transatlantic controversy. How have the different approaches--a very heavy emphasis on economics in the United States and competition law as a means of political integration in Europe--shaped the conduct and organization of private enterprises?

	Panelists:	Onno Brouwer, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Amsterdam
		Damien Geradin, Howrey, Brussels
		Richard Parker, O'Melveny & Myers

	Moderator:	Christopher Harding, University of Wales, Aberystwyth

3:30	Break

3:45	Panel VII: Arbitrage and Arbitration

Economic actors in international commerce have considerable leeway in choosing their law and legal forum and very frequently elect to resolve their disputes by international arbitration, rather than in national courts. What drives these choices--preferences for substantive law? Desire for commercial expertise? Concerns over the forums' neutrality and political independence? Concerns regarding particular courts or arbitration bodies? Apprehensions about remedies? Panelists will discuss the choice between international arbitration and litigation, emerging patterns of international arbitration and litigation, and countries' efforts to "domesticate" international commercial disputes.

	Panelists:	Hilary Heilbron, Brick Court Chambers, London
		Tanja V. Pfitzner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Frankfurt
		Peter B. Rutledge, University of Georgia School of Law
		Georg von Segesser, Schellenberg Wittmer, Zurich

	Moderator:	Gary Born, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, Berlin

5:15	Adjournment until Dinner

6:30	Cocktails and Dinner at Hafenclub

	Introduction:	Hariolf Wenzler, Bucerius Law School, Hamburg

	Keynote Speaker:	Kurt Biedenkopf, Ministerprasident a.D., Freistaat Sachsen

9:00	Adjournment