Please join us for a conference on ESG, in memory of Millstein Center Founder and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Senior Partner Ira M. Millstein.
Over a few short years, “ESG” has gone from a good-governance nostrum to a hotly contested element of the US political landscape. This conference, which brings together insights from the legal academy, the practitioner community, the regulators, and the various institutions involved in shareholder voting, will offer a unique perspective on current ESG questions.
First: the US and EU have gone down quite different ESG paths. How so and why so? Second: the SEC’s “final” climate change disclosure rule is now under attack from various sides. What is the state of play? And irrespective of a litigation outcome, how will companies, especially multinationals, accommodate the diverse disclosure requirements of California, the SEC, the EU, and international standard setters like the ISSB? Third: in response to client and political pressures, the asset managers have been working out systems of “pass-through voting” on various ESG-inflected proposals. How will these systems work and will they function as a meaningful channel for shareholder preferences?
The conference will feature introductory remarks by Jim Millstein (Co-Chairman, Guggenheim Securities, LLC) and a conversation with Erik Gerding (Director, Division of Corporation Finance, US Securities and Exchange Commission), moderated by Eric Talley (Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership, Columbia Law School). Panel topics will include:
ESG Legislation and Regulation: E.U. vs. U.S.
Merritt B. Fox (Arthur Levitt Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center for Law and Economic Studies, Columbia Law School) will moderate the discussion, and panelists will include:
- Jeff Gordon (Richard Paul Richman Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership, Columbia Law School)
- Stavros Gadinis (George R. Johnson Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Business, UC Berkeley School of Law)
- Rebecca Grapsas (Partner and Sustainability & ESG Practice Leader, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP)
ESG Landscape and Recent Developments in the U.S.
Speakers will include:
- Michael Gerrard (Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice and Founder and Faculty Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School)
- Lyuba Goltser (Partner and Co-Head of Public Company Advisory Group and Sustainability & ESG Practice Leader, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP)
- Chad Spitler (Founder and CEO, Third Economy)
Pass-Through Voting and ESG
Dorothy Lund (Professor of Law, Columbia Law School) will moderate the discussion, and panelists will include:
- John Roe (Managing Director and Head of Investment Stewardship (Americas), BlackRock)
- Danielle Gurrieri (Vice President, Head of Bank, Broker Dealer Product Management, Broadridge)
- Elizabeth Kantrowitz (Head of Client Success for Investor Solutions, Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc.)
- Jonathon Zytnick (Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown Law)
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Co-Sponsored by:
Columbia Law School’s Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership and
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in collaboration with Broadridge