Public Affairs Discussion Group

(Re)Regulating Financial Services: How Laws May Work in Practice

Michael Wager J.D. - Squire, Sanders and Dempsey

Friday November 4, 2011 12:30-1:30 p.m. Dampeer Room Kelvin Smith Library Case Western Reserve University Dear Colleagues: In response to the financial collapse, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Now nearly 200 proposals and rules have to be written by various federal agencies in order to implement the Act. http://www.stlouisfed.org/regreformrules/ That's a lot of new regulation, and it is causing predictable controversy. http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/10/18/Bernanke-Hangs-Tough-on-Financial-Reform.aspx#page1 Conservatives claim it will cripple the economy. Liberals scoff and say the major risk comes from the law being too weak. Both sides may expect too much from the regulatory process. The state of financial services regulation before 2010 - for better or worse - is frequently associated with the deregulation movement of previous decades, and especially with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, which repealed the New Deal-era Glass-Steagall Act. Yet "deregulation" was only part of the story. Much of the rise of unregulated financial services occurred not because old laws were repealed, but because they were evaded. The process dates at least back to Merrill Lynch's creation of its Cash Management Accounts in 1977, which allowed it to offer bank-type products without being a bank. In short, clever lawyers and entrepreneurs can do all sorts of things to create unexpected effects of regulations. What, then, might happen to the regulations currently being drafted - and why? Michael Wager will join us to offer a highly experienced practitioner's view of what we should look for as regulations are adopted and the regulated respond in practice. Very best regards, Joe White Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies About Our Guest... Michael Wager focuses his practice on the representation of private and publicly held entities in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, corporate governance and strategic growth initiatives. He has particular expertise and experience in representing companies and investors in change-of-control transactions. Michael has served as counsel and adviser to, and director of, several private and public companies. He is currently a director of Michael Anthony Holdings, Inc. (holding company with real estate assets in the United States and Latin America). In 1994 Michael earned the designation of “Dealmaker” from The American Lawyer magazine. Michael is active in several civic and philanthropic organizations. He currently serves on the Board of the Clean Ohio Council, a U.S. $400 million brownfield revitalization program. He is the immediate past chair of the board of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority. Michael also has served as chair of the selection committee for the American Marshall Memorial Fellowship (an affiliate of the German Marshall Fund) and as a member of the boards of the Northeast Ohio Development Fund, National Leadership Council of University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center, Cuyahoga County Renewable Energy Task Force, Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland and the Gateway Economic Development Corporation of Greater Cleveland (owner of Progressive Field and Quicken Loans Arena). He has also been a member of the Cleveland Foundation’s Task Force on Economic Development and the Mayor’s Convention Center Task Force. Michael has also served as the chair of a Cleveland-based private equity firm. He frequently speaks on matters involving capital formation, securities regulation, change-of-control transactions and infrastructure finance and development. Where We Meet This year the Friday Public Affairs Lunch will convene each Friday when classes are in session in the Dampeer Room of Kelvin Smith Library from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. The Dampeer Room is on the second floor of the library. If you get off the elevators, turn right, pass the first bank of tables, and turn right again. Parking Possibilities The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. From that lot there is an elevator up to street level (labeled as for the Thwing Center); it is less than 50 yards from that exit to the library entrance. There is also on-street parking on both East Drive and Bellflower. Both are fairly short walks from the library. Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers: November 11: How are Successful Companies and Successful Universities Alike?  Richard E. Boyatzis, Distinguished University Professor and H. R. Horvitz Chair of Family Business, Departments of Organizational Behavior, Psychology, and Cognitive Science. November 18: Wikipedia in the University.  Peter Shulman, Assistant Professor of History. November 25: No Session - Thanksgiving Break December 2: University Circle Update. Steven Litt, Architecture Critic, Cleveland Plain Dealer December 9: Outsourcing and Offshoring Legal Services.  Cassandra Burke Robertson, Associate Professor of Law

October 31, 2011

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Upcoming Events

The Fall of the Faculty: Governing Universities in the 21st Century

Ben Ginsberg, Ph.D., David Bernstein Professor of Political Science, Chair of Governmental Studies and the Center for Advanced Governmental Studies of Advanced Academic Programs at Johns Hopkins University, Thursday, November 3rd. 2011, 4:30 p.m.-6 p.m., Clark Hall 309. Reception to follow in Clark Hall, Room 206. Free and Open to the Public. Sponsored by the Center for Policy Studies at Case Western Reserve University.

Universities are anomalous institutions – from early days “corporations” but not businesses; with public purposes but not governments. In theory at least, they have been truly “mission-driven,” with their missions being teaching and research, and a major role in governance for the carriers of that mission, the faculty.

In his new book The Fall of the Faculty: The Rise of the All-Administrative University and Why It Matters, Ben Ginsberg argues that new patterns of governance threaten universities’ missions. He traces and explains the pursuit of power that, he argues, has led to ever-increasing administrative staff creating make-work that raises costs and impedes the real work of the university. It’s a controversial argument in the best of ways: it raises important questions and offers ideas that require discussion.

Ben Ginsberg earned his A.B., M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago. He joined the faculty of Cornell University’s Department of Government in 1972 and was promoted to Professor in 1983. In 1992 he moved from Cornell to Johns Hopkins, where he became David Bernstein Professor of Political Science and Founding Chair of JHU’s Washington Center for Advanced Governmental Studies and Director of its Washington Center for the Study of American Government. Among other administrative responsibilities, Dr. Ginsberg also has served as founding Director of the Institute for Public Affairs at Cornell, Special Assistant to the Dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins, and on many committees. The Fall of the Faculty is the twentieth book he has authored, co-authored, or edited. Some of his best-known works are Politics By Other Means (with Martin Shefter) and Downsizing Democracy: How America Sidelined its Citizens and Privatized its Public.

Baker v. Carr after 50 Years: Appraising the Apportionment Revolution

Featured Guest: Samuel Issacharoff, J.D., Bonnie and Richard Reiss Professor of Constitutional Law, New York University School of Law, Friday, November 4th. 2011, 8:45 p.m.-4:30 p.m., Moot Courtroom (A59), Case Western Reserve University School of Law, 11075 East Blvd., Cleveland, Ohio 44106. Free and open to the public.

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Baker v. Carr, the ruling that established the one-person/one-vote principle and led to profound changes in the way legislative districts are drawn at every level of government. U.S. federal courts are regularly embroiled in resolving districting and apportionment disputes, which have profound implications for the distribution of political power and influence throughout the nation as well as for the way public policies are made at the national, state, and local levels. Legal scholars and social scientists will address the many questions that have arisen from Baker v. Carr, including principles of districting, the nature of representation, voting rights, and the capacity of courts to resolve districting and apportionment disputes.

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