Thursday, September 17, 2009

REGISTER NOW!

 

About the Program

Thirty-nine states currently select judges through elections. While the electoral process allows the citizens to directly select judges, it also poses a challenge to the foundation of the American legal system: the right to equal treatment under law. Where judges are elected, regular litigants and their counsel are free to donate and spend freely to elect their preferred candidates.

 

The inherent conflicts in this process rise with the level of spending. Maintaining the integrity and impartiality of our courts becomes increasingly difficult where parties to litigation are major benefactors of the judges hearing their cases. There is no national standard governing when a judge must recuse himself from a case. Too often it is left to the judge's discretion.

 

“American Justice for Sale?” will focus on the threat that unlimited spending in judicial election poses to our judicial system and examine the ethical challenges American corporations face when they participate in the judicial electoral

process. The conference will be held on Constitution Day, a federal observance of the ratification of the United State Constitution.

 

Registration
Complimentary pre-registration for this program is required. 
Act now as seating is limited!

To register:
Call 646-312-3231
E-mail [log in to unmask]
or visit us online at http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/centers/cci/events/american-justice-for-sale

Location

Baruch College Conference Center, Room 750

151 E. 25th Street (between Lexington and Third Aves.)

 

Time

4:00 PM  - Registration

4:30 PM - Panel 1

6:15 PM - Panel 2

 

Panels

Panel I will provide an overview of judicial elections and ethical challenges that can arise from campaign contributions in these elections.

 

• Moderated by MARYA COTTON - Assistant Professor of Law, Baruch College
• JEFFREY BERGER - Mayer Brown
• JAMES SAMPLE - Professor, Hofstra Law School; formerly director of the Judicial Elections Project at the Brennan Center, New York University
• DOROTHY SAMUELS - member, New York Times Editorial Board; author of The Selling of the Judiciary
• ROY SCHOTLAND - Professor of Law, Georgetown University
• The Hon. PENNY WHITE - Professor, University of Tennessee College of Law; former justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court

 

Panel II will detail how corporations respond to these ethical challenges.

 

• Moderated by BRUCE FREED - President, Center for Political Accountability
• ROBERT ALT – Sr. Legal Fellow & Dep. Dir, Center for Legal & Judicial Studies, The Heritage Foundation
• RONALD BERENBEIM - Principal Researcher, Business Ethics, The Conference Board
• CHARLES GREZLAK - VP, Government Affairs & Policy, Merck & Co., Inc.
• LANDON ROWLAND - Trustee, Committee for Economic Development; former CEO of the Janus Funds
• KARL SANDSTROM - Perkins Coie

 

Sponsors

Baruch College's Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity - a forum for discussion of a broad range of contemporary issues confronting US corporations and capital markets. For more information, visit http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/centers/cci/.

 

Center for Political Accountability - A non-partisan, non-profit organization, the CPA was founded in late 2003 and is dedicated to ensuring transparency and accountability of corporate political spending for the benefit of shareholders, the public, and the political process. For more information, visit http://www.politicalaccountability.net/.

 

The Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at the Wharton School - Established in 1997, the Zicklin Center sponsors and disseminates leading research on business ethics and corporate social responsibility. It supports research that considers the ethical challenges that arise in complex business transactions. For more information, visit www.zicklincenter.org.

 

 

Special thanks to the David Berg Foundation for their generous support of this program.