LYNN STOUT
Distinguished Professor of Corporate & Business Law, Cornell University
Professor Stout is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of corporate governance, securities regulation, financial derivatives, law and economics, and moral behavior. She is the author of numerous articles and books on these topics and lectures widely. Her most recent book is The Shareholder Value Myth: How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations and the Public (Berrerr Koehler 2012), which was named 2012 Governance Book of the Year.
Professor Stout serves on the Board of Governors of the CFA Institute, on the Financial Research Advisory Committee to the U.S. Treasury, as a member of the Board of Advisors for the Aspen Institute’s Business & Society Program, as Executive Advisor to the Brookings Institution Project on Corporate Purpose, and as a Research Fellow for the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research.
She holds a B.A. summa cum laude and a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton University and a J.D. from the Yale Law School.
MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 2:40 pm - 3:00 pm
The Real Purpose of Public Corporations
Carnegie Institution of Washington
DAVID THOMPSON
David J. Thompson, President, Twin Pines cooperative Foundation
David J. Thompson has worked for the national cooperative organizations of the United States, Britain and Japan as well as the United Nations. David specializes in funding the capital needs of the cooperative development sector. David was inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame in Washington DC in 2010. David was one of the co-op activists who worked with Ralph Nader and Mitch Rofsky to create the National Cooperative Bank.
David began work with the US food cooperative sector in 1969. He was one of the founders of Co-opportunity, Santa Monica, California. David is President of the Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation where he initiated the Cooperative Community Fund (CCF) program. There are now almost 50 food co-ops throughout the USA which operate a CCF. The CCF program is the largest equity funder of co-op development organizations in the USA.
http://www.community.coopDavid is the author of “Co-opportunity: The Rise of a Community Owned Market”, “Weavers of Dreams” and over 400 articles about cooperatives. He lives in Davis, California.
MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 10:20 am - 10:40 am
Revitalizing Consumer Cooperatives
Constitution Hall
ROBERT VAUGHN
Professor Emeritus, American University Washington College of Law
During his career at the Washington College of Law at American University, Robert Vaughn has been Scholar-in-Residence with the law faculty of King’s College of the University of London, a visiting academic with the faculty of law at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, a visiting professor at the University of San Diego School of Law and a visiting professor at Ritsumeikan University School of Law in Kyoto, Japan. He has also served as a faculty member in summer programs in Santiago, Chile and Istanbul, Turkey. At WCL, he has received nine awards for outstanding teaching and five awards for scholarship.
He has published on a variety of topics regarding public information law, public employment law, consumer law, and whistleblower protection. He is the author of a book on federal open government laws in the United States, the editor of a book on freedom of information, the editor of a book on transparency, and the author of several articles addressing public information law. He is also the author of a book on civil procedure and articles on judicial reform, on the future of the federal courts, and on the relationship between judicial transparency and administrative transparency.
https://www.wcl.american.edu/faculty/vaughn/ MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 26, 2016 1:20 pm - 1:40 pm
The Importance of Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protections
Carnegie Institution of Washington
SUSAN VENTO
Mesothelioma Advocate
Ms. Vento is currently retired and provides a voice for mesothelioma patients and their families regarding state and federal legislation, the risks of asbestos, the legal rights of patients and their families, and the need for a ban on asbestos. She previously worked as Field Staff & Political Organizer/Lobbyist for Education Minnesota. She is the widow of US Representative Bruce Vento, who died of mesothelioma in October 2000. Bruce represented MN’s 4th Congressional District from 1976-2000.
MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 11:00 am - 11:40 am
Plantiffs for Justice
Constitution Hall
DAVID VLADECK
Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
Professor Vladeck teaches federal courts, civil procedure, administrative law, and seminars in First Amendment litigation, and co-directs the Institute for Public Representation, a clinical law program at Georgetown University. Prior to that David served for nearly four years as the Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. At the FTC, he supervised the Bureau’s more than 430 lawyers, investigators, paralegals and support staff in carrying out the Bureau’s work to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive or fraudulent practices. Before joining the Law Center faculty full-time in 2002, Professor Vladeck spent over 25 years with Public Citizen Litigation Group, a nationally-prominent public interest law firm, handling and supervising complex litigation. He has briefed and argued a number of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and more than sixty cases before federal courts of appeal and state courts of law resort. He is a Senior Fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States, an elected member of the American Law Institute, and a scholar with the Center for Progressive Reform. Professor Vladeck frequently testifies before Congress and writes on administrative law, preemption, First Amendment, and access to justice issues.
https://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/ ... avid-c.cfmMY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 26, 2016 11:50 am - 12:10 pm
Empowering Consumers
Carnegie Institution of Washington
ROBERT WEISSMAN
President, Public Citizen
Robert Weissman is a staunch public interest advocate and activist, as well as an expert on a wide variety of issues ranging from corporate accountability and government transparency, to trade and globalization, to economic and regulatory policy. Leading Public Citizen since 2009, Weissman has spearheaded the effort to loosen the chokehold corporations and the wealthy have over our democracy. Immediately after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United, Weissman established the Democracy Is For People campaign, a project of Public Citizen, specifically to fight for a constitutional amendment to overturn the ruling and curb money in politics.
http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=2558MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 26, 2016 12:10 pm - 12:30 pm
Stopping Corporate Power & Money in Politics
Carnegie Institution of Washington
ANTHONY WILLIAMS
Former Mayor of Washington, DC and Executive Director of Federal City Council
Anthony A. Williams is the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Federal City Council of Washington, DC, an organization instrumental in projects such as the Metro, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, and revitalization of Union Station in Washington, DC, and is a Senior Advisor of Dentons. From 2013 until its merger with Dentons in 2015, he served as a Senior Advisor of McKenna, Long & Aldridge, LLP. Prior to that, Mr. Williams served as the Executive Director of Global Government Practice from 2010 until 2012 and as a Senior Fellow from January 2012 until June 2012 at The Corporate Executive Board Company and was the Bloomberg Lecturer in Public Management at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government from 2009 through 2012. From 2009 to 2010, Mr. Williams served as a Senior Advisor, Intergovernmental Practice at Arent Fox LLP and, from 2007 to 2008, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Primum Public Realty Trust.
Mr. Williams was elected to two terms as the fourth mayor of Washington, D.C. from 1999 to January 2007, having served as its Chief Financial Officer from 1995 to 1998. He also served as Vice-Chair of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and as President of the National League of Cities. From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Williams was the first Chief Financial Officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, from 1991 to 1993, he was the Deputy State Comptroller of Connecticut, from 1989 to 1991, he was the Executive Director of the Community Development Agency of St. Louis, Missouri and, from 1988 to 1989, he worked as Assistant Director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority where he led the Department of Neighborhood Housing and Development. Mr. Williams is on the Board of Directors of the Bank of Georgetown and the Calvert Sage Fund. Mr. Williams also previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of Meruelo Maddux Properties, Inc. and Weston Solutions.
MY SESSIONS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 2:55 pm - 3:15 pm
Building Support
AGENDASEPTEMBER 26, 2016
9:00 am - 9:10 am Galvanizing Democratic Energies for Justice and Posterity
9:10 am - 9:30 am Crime in the Suites, Crime in the Streets and Corporate Personhood—The Big Change
9:30 am - 9:50 am Power for the People—What Our Energy Policy Should Be
9:50 am - 10:10 am Teaching Taxes—Politics and Practice
10:10 am - 10:30 am How Congress Really Works
10:30 am - 10:50 am A Citizen’s Guide to Freeing the Press
10:50 am - 11:10 am Small Claims Courts—the People’s Courts—Why Not Use Them?
11:10 am - 11:30 am Community Business is Revolutionary
11:30 am - 11:50 am Organizing for Safe Food
11:50 am - 12:10 pm Empowering Consumers
12:10 pm - 12:30 pm Stopping Corporate Power & Money in Politics
12:30 pm - 1:20 pm Lunch
1:20 pm - 1:40 pm The Importance of Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protections
1:40 pm - 2:00 pm Public Sentiment and Social Change—What it Takes
2:00 pm - 2:20 pm Training for Change
2:20 pm - 2:40 pm Overcoming Civic Apathy
2:40 pm - 3:20 pm Teaching Civics—A View from the Classroom
3:20 pm - 3:40 pm Building A Movement
3:40 pm - 4:00 pm The New Economy – the Responsibility of Corporate Leaders
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm The New Citizen Library
4:30 pm - 4:50 pm The Other “One Percent” for Making Change
4:50 pm - 5:30 pm
SEPTEMBER 27, 2016
9:00 am - 9:30 am Turning Long Established, Commonly Held Assets into the Common Good
9:30 am - 9:50 am Taking on Corporate Abuses by “Confronting Power With Power”
9:50 am - 10:10 am Reinvigorating the SEC
10:10 am - 10:30 am Stock Buybacks and Executive Pay
10:30 am - 10:50 am The Extent and Limits of Shareholder Control Over Management
10:50 am - 11:10 am Shareholder Activism—Past, Present, and Future
11:10 am - 11:30 am The Perils of Corporate Personhood
11:30 am - 11:50 am Blowing the Whistle on Securities Fraud
11:50 am - 12:10 pm Shareholder Resolutions for Justice and Accountability
12:10 pm - 12:30 pm A New Approach to Mobilize Shareholders—the Penny Brigade
12:30 pm - 1:20 pm Lunch
1:20 pm - 1:40 pm Fiduciary Duties as if Shareholders Mattered
1:40 pm - 2:00 pm Curbing Abuse of Shareholders through Litigation
2:00 pm - 2:20 pm Private Enforcement Myth or Reality
2:20 pm - 2:40 pm Controlling What We Own—Defending the Commons
2:40 pm - 3:00 pm The Real Purpose of Public Corporations
3:00 pm - 3:20 pm Turning the Lights Out on Major Financial Fraud
3:20 pm - 3:40 pm Public Banking
3:40 pm - 4:00 pm Corporate Tax Dodges and Closing Corporate Tax Loopholes
4:00 pm - 4:20 pm The Power of Knowing and Doing
4:20 pm - 5:30 pm Audience Participation
5:30 pm - 7:30 pm Callaway Awards
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
9:00 am - 9:20 am Opening Remarks and Proposals for a Secretariat to Prevent War, Organizing the Patrons of Advocacy and Creating an Audience Network
9:20 am - 9:40 am Empowering Students
9:40 am - 10:00 am Building Alumni Civic Organizations
10:00 am - 10:20 am Building Community through Bartering Time Dollars
10:20 am - 10:40 am Revitalizing Consumer Cooperatives
10:40 am - 11:20 am Sustainable Funding Models for Organizing- CUBs & Cy pres
11:20 am - 11:40 am How Events Spark the Creation of Organizations
11:40 am - 12:00 pm How Professions Can Advance the Public Interest
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm - 1:10 pm Ending the Servitude and Abolishing the Colony
1:10 pm - 1:20 pm Why Now is the Time for Statehood
1:20 pm - 1:35 pm Getting Statehood through Congress—Strategy and Resources
1:35 pm - 2:05 pm The Case for Statehood—Ending the Colony
2:05 pm - 2:55 pm Mobilizing for Action in The District of Columbia and the Nation—When, How and With What
2:55 pm - 3:15 pm Building Support for Democracy with the D.C. Establishment
3:15 pm - 3:45 pm Voter Suppression
3:45 pm - 4:15 pm The Best DC Constitution, The US Constitution and DC Statehood
4:15 pm - 4:45 pm Making Statehood a Presidential Priority—Mobilizing for Statehood Nationwide
4:45 pm - 5:30 pm The Winning Strategy—And a Proclamation
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016
9:00 am - 9:10 am The Underutilization of Tort Law – Our Freedom Tool for Justice
9:10 am - 9:30 am The Need to Educate the Public on The Importance of Tort Law
9:30 am - 9:50 am Celebrating Tort Law
9:50 am - 10:10 am The Important History of Evolving Tort Law
10:10 am - 10:30 am Why Lawsuits are Good for America
10:30 am - 10:50 am The Historic Role of the Civil Jury—and its Perilous Future
10:50 am - 11:00 am The Need to Build Citizen Support for Tort Law
11:00 am - 11:40 am Plantiffs for Justice
11:40 am - 12:00 pm Litigating for Justice
12:00 pm - 12:20 pm Opportunities and Responsibilities of a 360 degree Legal Practice
12:20 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm - 1:20 pm Using and Defending Class Action Litigation
1:20 pm - 1:50 pm Recognizing New Torts: The Case Study of Bad Faith Litigation
1:50 pm - 2:10 pm How the Supreme Court Coddles Tort Perpetrators
2:10 pm - 2:50 pm Trial Lawyers for Justice
2:50 pm - 3:10 pm Case Study the Power of Tort Law to Break through Secrecy and Entrenched Coverups
3:10 pm - 3:30 pm The Frontiers of Tort Law—Climate Change
3:30 pm - 3:50 pm Tort law and Mass Deception by Fine Print
3:50 pm - 4:10 pm Cybertorts
4:10 pm - 4:30 pm Fighting Malpractice and the Attempts to Limit the Rights of Injured Patients
4:30 pm - 4:50 pm How Tort “Deform” Harms Us
4:50 pm - 5:10 pm The Agenda for Advancing Justice
5:10 pm - 5:30 pm Getting Serious About Restoring Tort Law and its Availability for the Wrongfully Injured
TWO LOCATIONSFirst two days at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.
The Second two days at DAR Constitution Hall, Washington, DC
CONSTITUTION HALL
CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON
Breaking Through Power
It’s easier than we think.
In Breaking Through Power, Nader draws from a lifetime waging—and often winning—David vs. Goliath battles against big corporations and the United States government. In this succinct, Tom Paine-style wake-up call, the iconic consumer advocate highlights the success stories of fellow Americans who organize change and work together to derail the many ways in which wealth manipulates politics, labor, media, the environment and the quality of national life today. Nader makes an inspired case about how the nation can—and must—be democratically managed by communities guided by the U.S. Constitution, not by the dictates of big businesses and the wealthy few. This is classic Ralph Nader, a crystallization of the core political beliefs and commitments that have driven his lifetime of advocacy for greater democracy.