Host Gary J. Ross discusses mergers and acquisitions with John Coates, Professor of Law and Economics at Harvard Law School, former partner at Wachtell Lipton, and former Acting Director for the Division of Corporation Finance and General Counsel at the SEC. Gary and John discuss trends in global M&A deals, the significance of business and legal due diligence, motives behind whether deals are structured as stock or asset purchases, M&A representations and warranties, and whether it’s worthwhile to have a letter of intent in a deal negotiation.

Host Gary J. Ross talks with Alexandra Poe, partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed, about considerations for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) funds and investors. Topics covered include a history of ESG, recent ESG-related SEC investigations into BNY Mellon and Goldman Sachs, the SEC’s proposed rule on ESG disclosures for investment advisers and investment companies, and general advice for those launching or managing ESG funds.

A supermassive black hole is estimated to be a million or a billion times bigger than the Sun, but no one truly yet understands the origins of these massive phenomena. In this episode of Mind the Gap, Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist and research fellow at Christ Church College, Oxford University, describes how AI is helping to answer fundamental questions about the formation and evolution of black holes and their connection to the development of galaxies.

Host Gary J. Ross discusses broker-dealer issues with David Blass, partner in Simpson Thacher’s Investment Funds Practice and the former Chief Counsel of the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets. Gary and David chat about the outsize role that transaction-based compensation plays in determining whether someone is functioning as a broker, the Paul Anka and M&A broker no-action letters, the process of registering as a broker, and finally, whether David sees himself ever going back into public service.

This two-part podcast provides insights into the work of business lawyers and the rule of law, through the lens of the World Justice Forum 2022, which took place in The Hague, Netherlands on May 30, 2022 to June 2, 2022. Listen to this podcast to hear Judge Elizabeth Stong and John Stout, Business Law Section members, comment “live from The Hague” about the Forum’s strategy of convening community leaders from around the globe to share insights, explore problems, and develop solutions for advancing justice, opportunity, and peace – all through the rule of law. Listen also to hear Judge Stong and John Stout discuss the critical role of the business lawyer in responding to threats to the rule of law and how business lawyers can preserve justice in the face of these challenges.

This two-part podcast provides insights into the work of business lawyers and the rule of law, through the lens of the World Justice Forum 2022, which took place in The Hague, Netherlands on May 30, 2022 to June 2, 2022. Listen to this podcast to hear Judge Elizabeth Stong and John Stout, Business Law Section members, comment “live from The Hague” about the Forum’s strategy of convening community leaders from around the globe to share insights, explore problems, and develop solutions for advancing justice, opportunity, and peace – all through the rule of law. Listen also to hear Judge Stong and John Stout discuss the critical role of the business lawyer in responding to threats to the rule of law and how business lawyers can preserve justice in the face of these challenges.

In Episode 7, host Jordan L. Fischer, Esq. interviews Jordan Strauss, Managing Director at Kroll, and his special guest Chris Ballod, also Managing Director at Kroll. Jordan walks through his career in the government, working on a variety of national defense concerns, including cyber risk. Jordan and Chris provide key insights into the evolving cyber threat landscape, and the unique interplay between the US critical infrastructure security and private sector business security.

Host David Hamm, Co-Chair of the In-House Subcommittee of the ABA Corporate Governance Committee, talks with Sterling Miller, former GC at Sabre Corporation, Travelocity, and Marketo. We kicked off our conversation with Sterling’s unique path to becoming GC, which was inspired by the Game of Life and included him handwriting five hundred letters to companies in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Ultimately, Sterling discusses how he was proactive in his career by raising his “hand early and often.” He also credits his diverse skill sets across many legal fields that helped him land his first general counsel role.

Host David Hamm, Co-Chair of the In-House Subcommittee of the ABA Corporate Governance Committee, talks with Randall (“Randy”) Ebner, former Vice President and General Counsel of Exxon Mobil Corporation. We start off the conversation discussing the path that Randy took to become a general counsel. He admits that although he knew he wanted to become a lawyer since middle school, he never thought about becoming a general counsel until his developed interests in both business and law along with both domestic and global issues.

In the early-eighteenth century, Rembrandt’s largest and most famous painting, The Night Watch, was cut down on all sides to fit on a wall in Amsterdam’s City Hall. The removed pieces were never recovered. In this episode of Mind the Gap, Rob Erdmann, Senior Scientist at Rijksmuseum and Professor at the Rijksmuseum and Professor at the University of Amsterdam, walks us through how museum scientists trained AI to successfully paint like Rembrandt to reconstruct the lost fragments of this masterpiece more than 300 years later.