NeXus Journal - 2009 Symposium

NeXus: Chapman’s Journal of Law and Public Policy Presents

The 80th Anniversary of The Great Crash of 1929: Law, Markets, and The Role of The State

A Legal Symposium

October 30, 2009
12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Chapman University School of Law

In connection with the 80th anniversary of the historic crash of 1929, Chapman University School of Law's Journal of Law and Policy is pleased to host a symposium on Friday, October 30th, 2009 on the topic of Law, Markets, and the Role of the State. From October 24th to October 29th 1929, the New York Stock exchange dove nearly forty percent. The Great Crash of 1929 has been cited as one of the biggest contributors to the Great Depression. 80 years later, almost to the day, similar problems and predicaments face the markets and the State in the modern financial arena. With a new President, Cabinet, and legislative programs on the docket, there are significant questions revolving around the role of the State when the nation faces economic crisis. Some questions are unique to the modern financial system; others draw reference to the response to the Great Crash of 1929. The purpose of this symposium is to explore the range of historical and current issues that arise within the intersection of the Law and the Market. Further, the Symposium seeks to approach such questions from both a philosophical and practical viewpoint.

Panel I: The Economic and Regulatory Landscape in the Aftermath of the “Great Recession.” 

This panel will focus on the regulatory responses to past and present economic crisis. Panelists have written extensively on regulatory law, monetary policy, and international economic responses to large-scale financial crisis.

Panel II: “Practical and Theoretical Implications of State Sponsored
Financial Reform.”

This Panel will focus on the theoretical questions regarding the role of the State in response to financial crises. Panelists will explore issues of constitutional law, financial law, and the constructs which support state intervention in times of economic peril.

Symposium Schedule
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Check-in
12:00 Introduction: Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez
12:00 – 2:00 p.m.      

Panel I: The Economic and Regulatory Landscape in the Aftermath of the “Great Recession.”

     •       Dean Timothy Canova (Moderator)
     •       The Honorable Tom Campbell
     •       Professor Andrew Morriss:
          o       “Changing the Rules of the Game: Offshore Financial Centers, Regulatory Competition, & Financial Crises”
     •       Professor Lydie Nadia Cabrera Pierre-Louis
          o       Hedge Fund Fraud and The Public Good
     •       Dr. Michael Intriligator
          o       “The Current Worldwide Financial and Economic Crisis”
     •       Professor Erik Gerding
          o       “The Dangers of Dual Classes of Financial Institutions:  How Sweden’s 1990 Financial Collapse Presaged the Global Financial Crisis”
     •       Professor Geoffrey Rapp
          o       False Claims, Not Securities Fraud:  Towards Corporate Governance by
Whistleblowers

2:00-3:00 p.m.
Intermission with cocktails and hors d'œuvres (law school lobby)

3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Panel II: “Practical and Theoretical Implications of State Sponsored Financial Reform”
     •       Professor Hugh Hewitt (Moderator)
     •       Professor Roger Torneden
          o       Circa-1934 Dollar Devaluation: Intended or Just Inevitable?
Certified Financial Planner(tm), in 2007, began warning his Personal Financial Planning students of an imminent and severe U.S. recession. He has updated all his analyses for Chapman's Economic Symposium with a plan to discuss the upcoming several years of economic expectations for the U.S. economy with particular references to lessons from the Great Depression and implications for future American lifestyle adjustments.
     •       Professor Robert Wagner
          o       Too Close for Comfort: the problem with stationary SEC officers
     •       Professor Kevin Tierney
          o       Of Peaks and Valleys, Feast and Famine, Boom and Bust
     •       Professor Thomas Ehrlich Reifer, Ph.D.
          o       Lawyers, Money & Power:  Wall Street Lawyers, Investment Bankers &
Global Financial Crises, Late Nineteenth to Early Twenty-first Century.
     •       Professor Scott Colesanti
          o       The Utility of Stock Market “Circuit Breakers” and Related Attempts at Curtailing Volatility
     •       Professor Donald J. Kochan
          o       Black Tuesday and The Graying of the Legitimacy of Governmental Intervention:  When Tomorrow is Just A Future Yesterday

5:00 – 7:00 
En Banc Reception for Authors, Presenters, Students, Faculty and Guests.