Consequences of corporate failure to be discussed at the F. Hodge O'Neal Corporate and Securities Law Symposium at the School of Law April 2

March 12, 2004 -- The United States' recent economic slowdown has been punctuated by some of the largest bankruptcies in history, including Enron and WorldCom. Leading academics and prominent practitioners will examine the fallout of these bankruptcies at the F. Hodge O'Neal Corporate and Securities Law Symposium April 2 at the Washington University School of Law.

Elizabeth Warren

The symposium, "Bankruptcy and Reorganization: Current Events and Future Outlook," will focus on how bankruptcy law should be structured to address corporate bankruptcy and the consequences of corporate failure for employees and benefits.

"With the economy continuing to suffer challenges and setbacks, the time is right to take a hard look at bankruptcy and corporate reorganization," Troy Paredes, symposium organizer and associate professor of law, says.

"How policy and the law are shaped in this area affect not only corporate accountability and performance, but also raise concerns about fairness and equity, particularly when it comes to the impact of corporate failures on employees. We are looking forward to a great conference."

Elizabeth Warren, the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard University, will deliver the symposium's Donald P. Gallop keynote address on "The Over-Consumption Myth and Other Tales of Economics, Law and Morality" 11:30 a.m. in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom at Anheuser-Busch Hall.

Warren is the co-author of The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt and The Law of Debtors and Creditors.

Major themes to be addressed during symposium panel discussions include the behavior of corporate executives and government in response to the threat of insolvency, when to liquidate companies rather than reorganizing them, whether government should bail out troubled companies, compensation and benefits practices, the viability of the pension insurance system and the role of unions in the face of bankruptcy.

The symposium, co-sponsored by the School of Law and the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy, is an annual program of the Washington University Law Quarterly, which will publish the conference papers.

To view the full agenda or register for the symposium, visit: http://law.wustl.edu/WULQ/Hodge/2004. The symposium registration fee is $225. For additional information contact Emily Gardner at emilygardner@wustl.edu or (314) 578-2605. This conference offers eight hours of Missouri Continuing Legal Education credit.