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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 herrondj@miamioh.edu

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

nicholsp@wharton.upenn.edu

President-Elect/Program Chair

Jordan “Jody” M. Blanke

Mercer University

blanke_j@mercer.edu

Vice President

Marisa Pagnattaro

University of Georgia

pagnatta@uga.edu

Secretary-Treasurer

Eric D. Yordy

Northern Arizona University eric.yordy@nau.edu

Immediate Past President

Daniel R. Cahoy

Pennsylvania State University

dancahoy@psu.edu

AACSB International Liaison

Janine Hiller

Virginia Tech

jhiller@vt.edu

Editor: American Business Law Jn.

Miriam Albert

Hofstra University miriam.r.albert@hofstra.edu

Editor: Journal of Legal Studies

Education

Stephanie Green

Boston College stephanie.greene@bc.edu

Chief Accounting Officer

Linda Christiansen

Indiana University-Southeast

lchristi@iu.edu

Executive Secretary

Daniel J. Herron

Miami University (OH)

herrondj@miamioh.edu

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 stephanie.greene@bc.edu

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 abljsubmission@alsb.org. If you have any

questions or need additional information, please

contact the Managing Editor, Laurie Lucas, at

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llucas@okstate.edu. 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

lchristi@iu.edu.

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)

20

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.