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______________________________________________________________
Fall 2016
Office of the ALSB Executive Secretary Miami University – 3111-FSB - Oxford OH 45056
www.alsb.org 1-800-831-2903 [email protected]
NEITHER ZIKA NOR DELTA COMPUTER
CRASH DETERS SAN JUAN CONFERENCE
Charlotte Alexander Awarded Distinguished Early Career Award
Eric Yordy Elected as New ALSB National Officer
Charlotte Alexander (center) accepts Distinguished Early
Career Award from Cindy Schipani and Phil Nichols
--Phil Nichols, 2016 Program Chair It is my
pleasure to report on the 2016 Annual Conference
of our Academy. It was a wonderful event – the
food was excellent, the weather was beautiful, the
beach was gorgeous, and most importantly a lot of
people got together and reconnected and exchanged
ideas.This conference had all of the events that our
conferences have. Groups within our academy met:
the House of Delegates, consisting of
representatives from the regional academies; the
staffs of our two journals, the American Business
Law Journal and the Journal of Legal Studies
Education; LGBTQ faculty, women faculty,
African-American faculty, and friends; the ADR,
environmental, ethics, international, and technology
sections. New members of the academy – our future
– met with members of the Executive Committee
and the House of Delegates at a luncheon for that
purpose. Every one of these meetings was held in a
beautiful setting at the Ritz-Carlton San Juan, and
most featured some aspect of local food.
We also met together as an academy. For
most people, the conference began with the
welcoming gala, held on the beautiful white sand
beach adjacent to the Ritz, nestled in a cove of palm
trees, as the sun set on the sea. Later in the week,
Steve Salbu talked with us about the direction of
college education, at our plenary luncheon held at
the gorgeous Antigua Casino in old San Juan. The
annual business meetings are open to all but never
accrue the highest attendance, but this year we did
continued on page 2
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swear in Eric Yordy as the newest member of the
Executive Committee. And of course, the entire
conference concluded with the annual banquet.
Eric Yordy (right) , the ALSB's newest officer, talks with
Executive Secretary Dan Herron at the pre-banquet
reception
One of the reasons for selecting Puerto Rico
as a conference site was to, in a way that was
affordable for most of our members, acknowledge
that the Academy of Legal Studies in Business
serves members from a wide range of polities and
cultures. We planned this conference so that
members would have time to explore the culture as
well as the history of San Juan. With the generous
assistance of the tourism board, we provided busses
to and from our conference site to Old San Juan,
and the tour operator in the hotel provided custom
programs for our members. Conference attendees
and their families visited the rain forest, old colonial
cities, the Bacardi rum distillery, and of course the
fortresses, colonial buildings, and other sights of
Old San Juan.
The conference was not without obstacles.
Our block of conference rate rooms was booked
within hours of being opened to the membership,
which put us in the same stratosphere as a Bruce
Springsteen or Beyoncé concert but left us
scrambling to find rooms for everyone who at that
point wanted to attend. When we chose San Juan as
a conference site, no one had ever heard of Zika,
which of course presented different set of
challenges and left us scrambling yet again. And
few people could have anticipated that Delta Airline
had only one reservation system, or that when that
system went down dozens of conference attendees
would be stranded at airports across the Southeast.
Through it all, our members handled each challenge
with grace and patience.
As mentioned, the conference concluded
with our annual banquet. The room was bedecked in
local tropical flowers, and the dinner featured local
cuisine. Dan Herron was at his witty best, and I
tried to keep up. Some people were singled out for
particular notice, and celebrating their
accomplishments is a way of celebrating all of our
accomplishments. However, one only had to walk
out onto the foyer and look through the enormous
windows out onto the palm trees and stars to realize
that, as may have been mentioned a time or two,
everyone in that room was a winner.
This is my last chance to thank the many
people who made the conference possible.
Immediate thanks go to our partners in education,
the publishers who join us every year at our
conferences. The Department of Finance and
Economics of the McCoy School of Business at
Texas State University sponsored in part the
welcoming beach party, in honor of Professor, Past
President, and really fun person Patricia Pattison.
The Class of 1940
Bicentennial Term
Chair Endowment of
the University of
Pennsylvania
provided substantial
financial support. The
Department of Legal
Studies and Business
Ethics of the Wharton
School of the
University of Pennsylvania completely underwrote
the plenary luncheon. Shelly Whitmer, Trisha
Smith, Paula Stevens, and Tamara English provided
logistical, technical, and deskwork support. Every
member of the Executive Committee helped in
some way and provided a lot of personal support.
And of course, Dan and Deb Herron are
extraordinary resources and people.
My most sincere thanks are for each of you.
The 2016 Conference is now just another entry on
the list of past conference sites, and we are already
looking forward to excellent conferences in
Savanah and Portland. But for me the San Juan
conference will always be held in my heart as the
chance that I had, in some small way, to repay the
members of our academy for creating such an
amazing, supportive, intellectually stimulating
community – my academic home and family. Thank
you, and I look forward to seeing everyone in
Savanah.
Texas State's Patricia Pattison
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The subsequent awards showcased the most
outstanding accomplishments in our discipline. The
2016 award winners were:
Distinguished Junior Faculty Award: CHARLOTTE
ALEXANDER
2016 Irwin/McGraw-Hill Master Teacher: RYAN
GRELECKI
John Bonsignore Award: ROBERT EMERSON
Distinguished Conference Proceedings Award:
CHARLOTTE ALEXANDER
Distinguished Conference Proceedings Award:
KEITH DIENER
Distinguished Conference Proceedings Award:
AMY SEPINWALL
Outstanding Conference
Proceedings Award: SARAH
LIGHT
Ernie King Memorial Award for
Outstanding Proceedings
Reviewer: JANINE HILLER,
ROSS PETTY, & SUSAN
MARTIN
Hoeber Memorial Award for
Outstanding Article, American
Business Law Journal: DANA
MUIR
Hoeber Memorial Award for
Excellence in Research, American Business Law
Journal: ROBERT BIRD
Hoeber Memorial Award for Excellence in
Research, American Business Law Journal: SUSAN
PARK
Hoeber Memorial Award for Excellence in
Research, American Business Law Journal:
PATRICIA SANCHEZ-ABRIL
Hoeber Memorial Award for Excellence in
Research, American Business Law Journal:
STEPHEN KIM PARK
Outstanding Reviewer for the ABLJ: STEPHANIE
GREENE
Outstanding New Reviewer for the ABLJ: RAMSI
WOODCOCK
Hoeber Memorial Award for Outstanding Article,
Journal of Legal Studies Education: LEE
BURGUNDER
Hoeber Memorial Award for Excellence in
Research, Journal of Legal Studies Education:
BRUCE KLAW
Jackson-Lewis Outstanding Employment Law
Paper Award: CHARLOTTE ALEXANDER
Virginia Maurer Best Ethics Paper Award: DAVID
NERSESSIAN
Outstanding
International Case
Writing Award:
ADAM
SULKOWSKI
Bunche Award for
Outstanding
International Paper:
JOEPHINE NELSON
Holmes-Cardozo Best
Conference Paper
Award: TIM
SAMPLES &
STEPHEN KIM
PARK
Finalist for Holmes-Cardozo Best Conference
Paper: DARREN PRUM
Finalist for Holmes-Cardozo Best Conference
Paper: SHANNON O’BYRNE
Finalist for Holmes-Cardozo Best Conference
Paper: KATHRYN KISSKA-SCHULZ
Outstanding Student Paper: MARGARET JAKUS,
faculty advisor: ADAM SULKOWSKI
Matthew Phillips, receives his 2015 plaque as the 2015
Master Teacher winner. Presenting his plaque is McGraw
Hill Education's Kathleen Klehr and ALSB President Phil
Nichols.
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President’s Message: Phil Nichols
Welcome to another academic year. It is
my privilege to serve this year as the President of
our Academy. Please let me take this opportunity
to describe how I understand our academy, and
its role in your academic life.
My academic appointment is in a very
large department dedicated solely to legal studies
and business ethics. But I deeply, deeply
appreciate that that does not reflect
the position of most of our
members. Many of our members
are the only or are one of a few
legal studies scholars at their
schools. Most legal studies
departments, when they do exist,
are smaller than other departments
in their schools. Our academy,
therefore, is the de facto
department for many if not most of
our members. And with many
schools still feeling the pinch of
the recession that started almost a
decade past, schools are creating
new types of academic positions.
A growing number of our
members hold appointments that
no longer fit into the categories of
professor or instructor. Our academy must be a
home for them as well. I do not at all mean to
say that legal studies in business is on the ropes –
one need only look at the cutting edge research
we produce, the abundance of teaching awards
we garner, the many leadership positions we
hold in business schools and academic
institutions, the reports of community leadership,
and the high regard in which our students hold us
to know that is not the case. But the centrality
and quality of our research, teaching and service
do not often translate into large departments with
numerous positions, and our academy in their
stead provides a community of like-minded
teachers and scholars.
The appellation “president” sounds pretty
lofty, and perhaps a bit distant. Maybe even
crony-ish. I do not think that is the case. A look
at the list of our past presidents reveals that
presidents have come from all over the academy.
The one thing that every president has in
common is that they were given the opportunity
to serve the academy and they took advantage of
that opportunity. Our academy is lucky because
so many members care. One of the greatest
pleasures of being elected to office in our
academy is working with other members of the
Executive Committee. The
Executive Committee does
much, much more than put on
the annual conference. It seems
that there is always some issue,
good or bad, confronting our
academy, and when they are
not dealing with those issues
the committee is trying to move
the academy forward to meet
the needs of our members in an
ever changing educational
environment. The Executive
Committee is made up of our
members and works hard for
our members.
I hope that our academy
continues to find innovative
ways to serve the changing
needs of our members. I recommend ALSBtalk
and hope that we continue to explore ways in
which technology can make the academy more
accessible to more members. I enthusiastically
recommend our regional academies, which are
locally accessible and provide for an intimate
exchange of ideas. We have an ever adapting set
of interest groups that allow for sharper focus on
issues, including a new interest group in
accounting. And we have hundreds of members,
inside and out of the Executive Committee,
dedicated to helping our academy grow and
change.
I hope that each of you has an excellent
academic year. I look forward to working with
you and for you, and I look forward to the
interesting and wonderful things that the new
year will bring.
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2016-17 Executive Committee
Philip Nichols
University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School
President-Elect/Program Chair
Jordan “Jody” M. Blanke
Mercer University
Vice President
Marisa Pagnattaro
University of Georgia
Secretary-Treasurer
Eric D. Yordy
Northern Arizona University [email protected]
Immediate Past President
Daniel R. Cahoy
Pennsylvania State University
AACSB International Liaison
Janine Hiller
Virginia Tech
Editor: American Business Law Jn.
Miriam Albert
Hofstra University [email protected]
Editor: Journal of Legal Studies
Education
Stephanie Green
Boston College [email protected]
Chief Accounting Officer
Linda Christiansen
Indiana University-Southeast
Executive Secretary
Daniel J. Herron
Miami University (OH)
From the Executive
Secretary….
I can honestly state that I have never run an
annual meeting quite like the one we just had in
San Juan. From Zika to the Delta Airlines computer crash, I didn’t
know what was going to hit us yet. But, we persevered and likely
had the most enjoyable conference ever, at least the best one I have
ever attended. The 225 ALSB members plus families plus student
presenters had nothing short of a spectacular time. Three hundred
attended the beach party with never-ending food, shrimp, drinks
(the mojitos were to die for!) that kicked off a memorable
conference. One of my favorite moments was when I needed to talk
with ALSB past president Peter Shedd about some matters and he
told me to meet him “in his office.” His office was about waist
deep in the Atlantic about 20 yards off the Ritz Beach. It was a
productive meeting!
The Academy owes Phil Nichols a huge debt of gratitude to making
this meeting work. His vision, foresight, and fundraising made it all
possible. Of course, the conference could not have run smoothly
without the unceasingly amazing registration-desk work of Shelly
Whitmer, Trish Smith, and Deb Herron.
We welcome Eric Yordy from Northern Arizona University to the
Executive Committee as the newly-elected Secretary Treasurer
along with incoming Editor-in-Chief Miriam Albert for the ABLJ
(succeeding Robert Prague) and Stephanie Greene for the JLSE
(succeeding Deb Burke).
Our upcoming conferences are Savannah in 2017 and Portland,
Oregon in 2018. Eric Yordy and I will be looking a hotels later this
fall for 2019 in Montreal.
Here’s hoping for a productive and enjoyable fall term.
Best Wishes,
Dan
Daniel J. Herron, ALSB Executive Secretary
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Enriching the Discipline
….Advancements and Accomplishments of ALSB Members
& Blow Your Own Horn---News from Around
the ALSB
Shelley McGill has been promoted to full professor at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Christine O'Brien (Boston College) has just posted on SSRN her article (forthcoming 19 U. Pa. J. Bus.
L. ___) Will the Supreme Court Agree with the NLRB that Pre-Dispute Employment Arbitration
Provisions Containing Class and Collective Action Waivers in Both Judicial and Arbitral Forums Violate
the National Labor Relations Act – Whether There is an Opt-Out or Not? Here's the abstract: Should employers be able to require individual employees to sign away their rights to collective action as
a condition of employment? The National Labor Relations Board has held in D.R. Horton and Murphy
Oil USA that when employers require employees to waive their right to “joint, class, or collective claims
addressing wages, hours, or other working conditions against the employer in any forum, arbitral or
judicial” as a condition of employment, this violates the NLRA. Even allowing prospective employees to
opt out of such class waivers does not cure the violation in the NLRB’s view according to its decision in
On Assignment Staffing Services. A circuit split has developed on enforcement of the Board’s orders on
the class waiver issue with the Fifth Circuit denying the NLRB enforcement, the Seventh affirming the
Board, and the Eight Circuit joining the Fifth. There are several appellate cases pending before the Ninth
Circuit which has yet to fully develop its stance and approximately sixty class waiver cases pending on
appeal. The Supreme Court will likely be faced with deciding one of these appeals soon. This article
discusses the NLRB’s and courts’ positions from several recent cases involving class waivers in
individual employment dispute agreements. It suggests how the courts and the Supreme Court should rule
as well as the possibility of legislative action.
Adam Sulkowski notes his BABSON UNIVERSITY BRAGGING RIGHTS AT THE SAN JUAN
CONFERENCE! (1) 5 of 8 undergrad research paper finalists from Babson College; (2) Babson students &
faculty won awards in 4 of 14 (about 30%) of categories (besides best student paper, David Nersessian for best
ethics paper, Ross Petty, one of the best reviewer awards, and Adam Sulkowski, outstanding international case
writing award); (3) ALSB attendees were the 1st to hear the winning international case study detailing how to
legally invest in Cuban start-ups (including comments from Kevin Fandl, 1st time attendee with expertise on the
issue) – the rock-and-roll backstory might inspire others to pursue adventurous interdisciplinary case
writing: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-sulkowski/what-the-rolling-stones-a_b_10015206.html
Eric Yordy, newly elected ALSB National Officer writes: Thank you for your support and vote of
confidence in me as the newest member of the Executive Committee. I am excited to begin my work with
the Executive Committee and to get started on planning the 2019 conference. Dan and I will be visiting
Montreal in early November and are in discussions with the Tourism Board with regard to hotels and
venues. They seem to be very interested in having us in their city. I look forward to getting more
information from them and making some decisions with the EC soon.
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Journal Information – From the Editors
JLSE The Journal of Legal Studies Education is seeking submissions of
manuscripts. The JLSE publishes refereed articles, teaching tips, and
review of books. Manuscripts must relate to teaching, research, or
related disciplines such as business ethics, business and society, public
policy and individual areas of business law related specialties. The
Editorial Board selects high quality manuscripts that are of interest to a
substantial portion of its readers.
The JLSE is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal.
Please submit directly to Stephanie Greene, JLSE Editor-in-Chief, at [email protected]
ABLJ The American
Business Law
Journal is
seeking
submissions of
manuscripts that
advance the
scholarly
literature by
comprehensively exploring and analyzing legal
and ethical issues affecting businesses within the
United States or the world. Manuscripts
analyzing international business law topics are
welcome but must include a comprehensive
comparative analysis, especially with U.S. law.
As most of you know, the ABLJ is a triple-blind,
peer-reviewed law journal published by the
Academy. The ABLJ is available on Westlaw
and Lexis, and ranks in the top 5% of all
publications in the Washington & Lee
Submissions and Ranking list by Impact Factor
(2015). The Washington & Lee list ranks the
ABLJ as the Number One Refereed/peer-edited
“Commercial Law” and “Corporations and
Associations” journal. Because of a physical
page limit imposed by our publisher Wiley, we
ask that manuscripts not exceed 18,000 – 20,000
words (including footnotes). Submissions
in excess of 25,000 words (including
footnotes) may be returned without review.
We also require that manuscripts
substantially comply with the Bluebook: A
Uniform Method of Legal Citation, 20th ed.
For more details, please review our Author
Guidelines at:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%
28ISSN%291744-
1714/homepage/ForAuthors.html
Because the peer-review process takes from four
to six weeks to complete, we strongly suggest
that you submit to the ABLJ at least a few weeks
prior to submitting to other journals. The peer-
review process is not conducive to expedite
requests (though we will attempt to honor them
if possible), so if you give us a head start we will
more likely be able to complete the review
process.
While we gladly accept submissions through
ExpressO and Scholastica, save yourself the
submission fee and submit directly to the ABLJ
at [email protected]. If you have any
questions or need additional information, please
contact the Managing Editor, Laurie Lucas, at
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[email protected]. Thank you and we look
forward to reviewing your scholarly work.
Dear ALSBers:
The American Business Law Journal is when one
of the best assets within our Academy. The
continued success of the ABLJ depends on you—
our manuscript reviewers. We invite all ALSB
members to become an ABLJ reviewer. If you
choose to volunteer your service, we will make
every effort to match manuscript topics with your
interests and specialties, and we will try not to
send you more than two manuscripts for review
each year.
If you would like to become an ABLJ reviewer,
or you need to update your contact information,
please click on and fill out our Reviewer
Information Form. When you are sent a
manuscript for review, we also will provide
guidelines and a form to help you in constructing
your review. If the above link does not work for
you, just paste the following URL into your
browser: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1kwt
wWVY0RKjfUoT3QEs7z8u1_WDnguJPcmyKS-
ZYzkg/viewform?usp=send_form
If you are not sure if you are already an ABLJ
reviewer (i.e., if you haven’t received a
manuscript to review in a while), go ahead and
complete the form (we will cross-reference). We
do not want to overlook anyone who wants to
serve! Thank you for participating in this vital
service to the American Business Law Journal
and the Academy of Legal Studies in Business.
Laurie
Outgoing ALSB President Dan Cahoy turns over the gavel to incoming president Phil Nichols
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SAN JUAN AWARD WINNERS Distinguished Proceedings Papers Award
Winners: Amy Sepinwall, top-right, Keith
Diener, middle; Charlotte Alexander, bottom
Student Paper Award Winner Margaret Jakus
with Faculty Advisor Adam Sulkowski
David Nersessian being awarded the Virginia
Maurer Outstanding Ethics Paper Award by Phil
Nichols
RIGHT--Ralph Bunche Award winner for Best
International Paper, Josephine Nelson with
International Section Chair Tim Samples and
ALSB President Phil Nichols
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BELOW: 2016 Charles Hewitt McGraw Hill
Education Master Teacher finalists
left to right: Matthew Phillips, 2015
Charlotte Alexander receives the Jackson-Lewis
Outstanding Employment Law Paper Award
from Janine Hiller (left) and Phil Nichols (right)
winner; Kathleen Klehr, McGraw Hill
Education; Kim Petrone, Karen Morris, Kim
Hauser, Ryan Grelecki, and Phil Nichols
Adam Sulkowski is the author of the best
International Case Writing competition.
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2015 Master Teacher Award winner Ryan
Matthews congratulating 2016 Master Teacher
Award winner Ryan Grelecki
Kathryn Kisska-Schulz accepts the award as a
Holmes-Cardozo finalist from ABLJ editor in
chief Robert Sprague and Phil Nichols
Robert Bird is presented with an “excellence in
research Hoeber memorial award for his work
published in the ABLJ
Shannon O’Byrne accepts the award as a
Holmes-Cardozo finalist from ABLJ editor in
chief Robert Sprague and Phil Nichols
Tim Samples accepts the award as a Holmes-
Cardozo finalist and Outstanding Paper from
ABLJ editor in chief Robert Sprague and Phil
Nichols
Stephanie Greene is recognized as the ABLJ’s
outstanding reviewer.
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Robert Emerson joyfully accepts the John Bonsignore Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
from JLSE editor-in-chief Deb Burke and ALSB President Phil Nichols
SOME CANDID & POSED SHOTS
FROM THE BANQUET
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Savannah 2017
Hyatt Regency Savannah August 6-10, 2017
The 2017 Annual Conference of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business will be held in beautiful, historic Savannah, Georgia. We will be at the Hyatt Regency in the heart of the Historic District, right on the Savannah
River, complete with riverboats and giant cargo ships. The Historic District retains much of its 1733 design and
charm, with numerous examples of Federal, Victorian, Regency, and Italianate architecture. Savannah’s unique history is on display at almost every corner. So come join us at our next “family reunion” at another warm weather
venue – and don’t forget to bring your appetites.
Tybee Island Beach is about 20 minutes away, and for those of you interested in extending your stay before or after
the conference, Hilton Head is about 45 minutes away, Beaufort (of Big Chill and The Great Santini fame) is about
one hour away, and Charleston about two hours. To the south, Jekyll Island is about an hour and a half away, and
Amelia Island about two hours.
For more information about Savannah or the Hyatt Regency: http://www.visitsavannah.com/
http://www.savannah.com/ http://www.exploregeorgia.org/city/savannah
https://savannah.regency.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html Much more to come in the Winter issue!
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MATTHEW PHILLIPS AND SUSAN MARSNIK
DECLARE FOR NATIONAL OFFICE
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It is with excitement and humility that I formally
announce my candidacy for the office of
Secretary-Treasurer of the Academy of Legal
Studies in Business. I have wanted to stand for
national office for years but felt that my
obligations at my home institution would preclude
the level of attention required to serve on the
Executive Committee. Now, having passed the
torch of leadership to the next generation of
faculty at my college, I am delighted to be able to
submit my qualifications for your consideration.
The ALSB has played such an important role in
my professional life. Seventeen years ago, as a
newly minted academic, I attended my first
regional meeting where I immediately
appreciated the importance of this organization.
Over the years, I have met colleagues who have
become coauthors, confidants, sounding boards
for research, sources of information on how to
navigate academic waters, and some of the best
professional friends I have ever had. Without the
support and mentorship of members of this
community, my career would not have been
nearly as rich. I am drawn to serve as a way of
expressing my appreciation to the organization,
but also because I believe I have the skills and
vision necessary to for the Executive Committee.
I am committed to serving the ALSB. I have had
the honor to serve the Academy in various ways
over the years. Between 2003 and 2006, I held
offices in the leadership rotation of the ALSB
International Section and have been active in that
and other specialty sections over the years. I
regularly review articles for the American
Business Law Journal and serve as a staff editor
on The Journal of Legal Studies Education. I sit
on the editorial boards of a number of
international legal journals, as well. One of my
most meaningful experiences has been my
involvement in the ALSB Mentoring Program,
particularly as a way to give back to the
organization what I received from it so early in
my career. I have also privately mentored a
number of faculty members over the years,
including helping to develop international
business law courses, reading and commenting on
research, and providing help navigating the tenure
and promotion process. I have also advised a
number of departments developing majors or
certificate programs in legal studies in business,
based on my experience with our program at St.
Thomas.
I possess administrative, leadership and
management experience and skills to serve the
organization. My faculty position at St. Thomas is
my fourth career. I have served as Chair of the
Department of Ethics and Business Law and
Chair of the Opus College of Business Faculty, as
well as assuming leadership roles on college and
university committees. I spent the first ten years
of my professional life in the book publishing
business, achieving managerial and leadership
positions as the East Coast Regional Sales
Manager for what was then West Educational
Publishing (and is now Cengage) and as the
Marketing Director for the University of
Minnesota Press. These positions honed my
managerial skills. My work with West has proved
invaluable. It provided an opportunity to learn
how the legal curriculum fits into the broader
business curriculum at a time when institutions
were shifting to a legal environment approach. It
trained me to chart changes in the discipline,
particularly in the context of AACSB
requirements and changes in CPA requirements.
The practice of law was my second career. I
attended the University of Minnesota Law
School, focusing on international business
transactions, public international law and
intellectual property. I practiced law for three
18
years with a boutique business law firm in
Minneapolis. Shortly thereafter, I realized I was
called to be an academic and began teaching as an
adjunct at St. Thomas. I briefly returned to
business, as the Twin Cities-based Marketing
Director for a national legal search firm before
securing a full-time position at St. Thomas. I hope
to put this broad range of experiences in
academia, business and law to use for the benefit
of the ALSB.
I will bring a strong international perspective and
direction to the ALSB. My work engaging the
profession demonstrates my commitment to
comparative legal research in areas highly
relevant to businesses. In addition to publishing
articles, I have contributed chapters with an
international perspective to scholarly books,
presented at national and international
conferences, and taught CLEs and training
programs for business professionals. I have been
invited to present my research at international
scholarly and professional conferences, including
the first World Arbitration Forum on Intellectual
Property in Jordan, shortly after serving as a
Fulbright Specialist in Egypt. Through these
experiences, as well as teaching students in
Russia, France, Egypt, Hungary and the U.K., I
have honed my commitment to incorporating
comparative business law issues into my courses
and developed strong international connections.
My service to the profession has been
international, as well. I recently forwarded a call
for papers from the Association of Law Teachers
(ALT) to our membership. I have been a member
of this U.K.-based organization since 2000. For
six years, I served on the Membership Committee
as the official U.S. Liaison. The ALT granted me
their lifetime achievement award for
Contributions to Legal Education in 2015. I also
served as the Business Law Track Chair for the
DSI International Conference in Nancy, France in
2009, which many of my ALSB colleagues
attended.
For years, I have had a strong desire to serve the
national organization. As I have considered how I
wish to refocus the last segment of my academic
career, it has become increasingly apparent that I
would like to put my experience and gifts to work
for the ALSB. I can promise you hard work and
dedication to the goals of the organization and
also using my global connections to bring to the
organization a broader, international perspective
and base. I would very much appreciate your
support for my candidacy. I have discussed the
matter with my institution and have been
promised full support should I be elected.
Thank you.
Susan J. Marsnik
Professor, University of St. Thomas.
New Law for Accountants Section Created in San Juan!
The AICPA is working on changes for law coverage for the new version of the CPA exam, and those
changes will continue into the future. These changes were discussed at the “The Revised CPA Exam”
panel at our recent conference in San Juan, and the 24 ALSB members in attendance spontaneously and
unanimously voted to request the formation of a new section.
The executive committee has since discussed and unanimously approved the creation of this new “Law
for Accountants” section to facilitate communication throughout the year, meet at future conferences to
address changing law topics and priorities, including course coverage, changing topical priorities, and the
needs of students, the accounting profession, and clients, among others. Please join us in this new section
if you have any interest in any of these curriculum issues! Dan Herron will be sending out a call for
section membership. If you have any questions or concerns, please share them with Linda Christiansen at
19
GUEST COLUMN---MARC LAMPE
Zealous Advocacy, Ethics and Business Practitioners
by: Marc Lampe, J.D., M.B.A., Professor of Business Law and Social Responsibility,
University of San Diego School of Business
In 2006 I published an article in the Journal of Legal Studies Education, "A
New Paradigm for the Teaching of Business Law and Legal Environment Classes." The goal of that article was to get those who
teach business law and legal environment classes in business schools, and authors of textbooks for those classes, to modify their
approach to give greater consideration to the fact that most students in those classes are going to become business practitioners.
I argue there that the traditional approach to teaching business law is too much like
law school or a paralegal program and provide numerous suggestions for modifications.
In that article and my own business law classes I discuss the relationship of law to
ethics. The underlying theme is that “law is a starting point or minimum for ethical behavior.” Here I present a related topic I
cover in class that was not in the JLSE article. Because lawyers are required to be zealous advocates (within the bounds of the
law) they sometimes are required to do things that would be considered unethical by ethicists, and, or, the general public. I also
tell the students that based upon their desire to win and the pecuniary gains victory may bring, on occasion, lawyers go beyond
the bounds of their professional code of conduct.
I tell the students that they, as a client/consumer of legal services, are not
governed by the code of ethics lawyers are bound to follow. Therefore, it is important
that they, as a purchaser of legal services in their personal or professional lives, are aware that there is a difference between
their own ethical duties and those of their attorney. Furthermore, they have the power to be a check on their lawyer’s conduct by
telling them that they do not want their attorney to act in a particular way, or that they personally will not do something, they
believe would be unethical. That is, they have the power to stop acts they feel may be unethical.
In class I use a video from a PBS series: Ethics in America: Truth on Trial (https://www.learner.org/resources/series81.html) to stimulate class discussion on this
and related topics regarding ethics and law. The hour long video focuses on a fictitious civil case and has a panel of experts
prominent in their fields including one U.S. Supreme Court Justice (Scalia), judges, lawyers, ethicists, a corporate CEO and a
newspaper publisher. A Harvard Law School professor is the moderator.
An example from the PBS forum pertinent here is the point where the panel generally agrees that a defense lawyer has a duty to
“destroy” a witness by revealing her past to make her look like a liar, although that lawyer knows there is no credibility issue
and that she has told the truth. Moreover, these revelations could be damaging to the witnesses’ personal life, psychologically and
otherwise. An additional fact is that this witness has been a good employee working
for the defendant company for several years. (continued on next page)
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Another relevant scenario raised by the moderator is whether it is ethical for a
litigant in discovery to answer they were wearing their “glasses” when they were wearing their non-prescription sunglasses
although they knew the question meant prescription glasses. The panelists who say that a simple “yes” would be an acceptable
response are all lawyers. They argue that the attorney asking the question was at fault
for phrasing the question this way and not asking clarifying questions. On the other side, one of the judges on the panel
responds that the witness was sworn to tell “the whole truth and nothing but the truth” and therefore they should not simply say
“yes.” I then ask the students what they would do
if they were in these situations as a litigant. Since doing what would, at least arguably, be unethical in these situations, might
decrease their chances of winning the case, my question leads to lively discussion with various perspectives and novel suggestions
from class member how to handle each situation. Many students who go along with one or both of the aforementioned
behaviors justify their response on the basis that it is not illegal to do. This leads back
into a discussion of the basic concept that “law is a starting point or minimum for ethical behavior” and the reasons their
approach might be unethical. Those students arguing against one or both of these behaviors sometimes mention their
conscience as a reason for not doing it. I will usually ask one or more students who strongly defend “destroying” the witness
whether they would bribe a witness to win an important case. Often at least one
student says they would, especially if the stakes were high. This leads into a talk about the slippery slope. Another point that
this discussion lends itself to is that “ethics is easier said than done” and that moral integrity means doing the right thing even
when it is hard to do because of the personal cost of doing the right thing, this
often being monetary. I tell the class that in my opinion the greater the personal cost of ethical behavior the greater the
demonstration of integrity by behaving morally.
In my aforementioned JLSE article I stress the importance of educating business law students to advocate for the use of
alternative dispute resolution (ADR) whenever possible in personal or professional disputes. Another article I
wrote that was published in the Journal of Business Ethics, “Mediation as an Ethical Adjunct of Stakeholder Theory,” argues that
a stakeholder-oriented and ethical way for businesses and other organizations to resolve disputes is by using mediation. At
the end of the class discussion on zealous advocacy, ethics and the business
practitioner, I also suggest using ADR, especially mediation, to settle cases. Among the many benefits (others that I cover in a
different unit of the class), ADR can avoid ethical issues that may arise when using litigation to settle a dispute.