2011-2012 Archived Catalog Information

3/25/2008

Suffolk University will present a symposium on corporate governance and ethics, titled “From Enron to Refco: Assessing the Liability of Individuals, Companies, and the Professionals that Advise Them,” on Tuesday, April 1, 2008, 4-6 pm, at Sargent Hall, located at 120 Tremont Street in Boston.

“The symposium, raises important questions about the continuing occurrence of unrestrained greed and corporate crime in America and the impact on already shaky securities markets,” said Associate Professor of Business and Law, Miriam Weismann.  “Areas to be discussed include the liability of companies, and corporate management – and their accountants, lawyers, and investment advisors – who together make crime pay at the expense of the public trust.

“In uncovering the problems, we hope to focus attention on the importance of ethics in corporate governance.  As a business community, we must abandon the ‘wink and a nod’ mentality that buries ethical behavior below the corporate bottom line.”

Participating in the symposium will be a distinguished panel of experts, including:

• Joshua Hochberg, partner, McKenna, Long and Aldridge, LLP.  He specializes in internal investigations and white collar defense.  He is a former Acting U.S. Attorney for Enron investigations, and was a court appointed examiner in the
  Refco bankruptcy case.
  
• James Rehnquist, litigation partner, Goodwin Procter, LLP.  His expertise is in white collar criminal defense, including the representation of clients in SEC and other governmental and regulatory investigations.
  
• John J. O’Connor, former vice chairman, PricewaterhouseCooper.  He led the Assurance, Tax, and Financial Advisory Services areas for PwC, and is a client services partner for several PwC’s largest global clients.  O’Connor is a graduate of Suffolk University and a member of the Board of Trustees at Suffolk.

“The assembled panel of experts is utterly first-rate and will produce a provocative exchange on the issues that populate this unsettled legal environment, especially for those who must operate in the crosshairs of liability," said Suffolk Law Professor Joe Franco. 

The symposium is being sponsored by Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University Law School, The Massachusetts Bar Association, and The Financial Executives Institute's Boston Chapter.

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