Newswise — The country’s regulatory system failed to respond to the housing crisis, the BP oil spill, and other disasters in a proactive and effective manner. On Sept. 20 and 21 at The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in Baltimore, the Maryland Law Review will address these regulatory failures in the 2012 Ward Kershaw Symposium, "Too Big to Jail: The Roadblocks to Regulatory Enforcement."
The symposium will feature keynote speaker Brooksley Born, former chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and one of the first government officials to warn of the dangers to the financial system of unregulated derivatives. In 2008, a decade after her warnings went unheeded, the derivatives market collapsed and, Born said, worsened the larger economic crisis.
The regulatory system is meant to ensure that statutes enacted to improve quality of life and protect against potential dangers are fairly, efficiently, and effectively enforced across the country. From the mundane to the arcane, the regulatory system touches almost every aspect of modern life: banking, workplace safety, environmental protection, taxes, social security, food safety, the availability of medicine, natural disaster response, and many more. It is no surprise then, that when a disaster occurs, the media, politicians, and the public are quick to ask: where were the regulators?
This question has only become more meaningful in recent years as incidents like the housing collapse, the BP oil spill, the Big Branch Mine collapse, and salmonella outbreaks in multiple types of food have not resulted in many, if any, consequences from regulators.
In light of these problems, this symposium will bring together scholars, practitioners, and regulators from different regulatory areas: health and safety, labor, banking, finance, and the environment, to discuss potential solutions to the current regulatory mess. Among the speakers are three nationally recognized faculty experts from the University of Maryland Carey School of Law: Rena Steinzor, who heads the Center for Progressive Reform; Michael Greenberger, a former CFTC official and founding director of the Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security; and Jane Barrett, who handled environmental law cases as a federal prosecutor and corporate counsel.
Shedule of Events: Thursday, September 20th Ceremonial Courtroom5:00pm - 6:00pm Keynote Address: Brooksley Born, Former Chairwoman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Retired Partner at Arnold & Porter6:00 - 7:00 PM Light reception in Atrium Friday, September 21st Krongard Room8:15am - 9:00am Continental Breakfast 9:00am - 9:15am Introduction and Welcome9:15am - 10:15am Identifying the Roadblocks to Regulatory EnforcementModerator: Rena Steinzor, Professor of Law, Univ. of Maryland Carey LawPresenters: Michael Greenberger, Law School Professor, Univ. of Maryland Carey LawRobert Weissman, President, Public CitizenTom McGarity, Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Administrative Law, University of Texas School of Law10:15am - 12:00pm Regulatory Enforcement and the Financial Regulatory SystemModerator: Michael Greenberger, Law School Professor, Univ. Maryland Carey LawPresenters: Lynn Stout, Distinguished Professor of Corporate and Business Law, Clarke Law Institute, Cornell Law SchoolArthur E. Wilmarth, Jr., Professor of Law & Executive Director, Center for Law, Economics & Finance (C-LEAF), George Washington University Law SchoolWilliam Black, Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC)Wallace C. Turbeville, Senior Fellow, DemosMeyer "Mike" Eisenberg, Visiting Professor of Law, Willamette Univ. College of Law12:00pm – 1:00pm Lunch1:15pm - 3:00pm Enforcing Health, Safety, and Environmental RequirementsModerator: Jane F. Barrett, Law School Professor and Director, Environmental Law Clinic, Univ. of Maryland Carey LawPresenters: Brian Wolfman, Visiting Professor and Co-Director, Institute for Public Representation, Georgetown University Law CenterDavid Uhlmann, Jeffrey F. Liss Professor from Practice, Director, Environmental Law and Policy Program, Univ. of Michigan Law SchoolW. Warren Hamel, Partner, Venable LLPLois Schiffer, General Counsel, National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationVictor Flatt, Tom & Elizabeth Taft Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law, Director, Center for Law, Environment, Adaptation and Resources (CLEAR), Univ. of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Law3:00pm - 3:15pm Wrap Up
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