2008 Events                                                                   2007 CEO Forum Pictures

NELF Spring Breakfast Program, April 8, 2008

 New England Legal Foundation Breakfast Program: CLASS ACTIONS AND REACTIONS: TRENDS AND DIRECTIONS IN CLASS ACTION LITIGATION

On April 8, 2008, the New England Legal Foundation held a Panel Discussion at the Boston College Club of Boston on CLASS ACTIONS AND REACTIONS: TRENDS AND DIRECTIONS IN CLASS ACTION LITIGATION.

The panel discussion was moderated by Donald R. Frederico, Esquire, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, LLP. The panelists were: Beth I.Z. Boland, Esquire, Partner, Bingham McCutchen LLP; Scott Z. Hochfelder, Esquire, General Counsel, KB Toys, Inc.; John A. Shope, Esquire, Partner, Foley Hoag LLP and Thomas M. Sobol, Esquire, Partner, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.

CEO Forum 2007, Monday, December 10, 2007

"Is Shareholder Democracy Good for Shareholders?"

For the text of the forum announcement, please visit here.

For pictures of the forum event, please visit here.

NELF Fall Panel Discussion, October 25, 2007

"Dealing with Electronic Data: Today's Best Practices in Data Management and E-Discovery"

On October 25, 2007, the New England Legal Foundation held a Panel Discussion at the Union Club of Boston on "Dealing with Electronic Data: Today's Best Practices in Data Management and E-Discovery."

The panel discussion was moderated by Paul R. Gupta, Esq., Partner, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP of New York. The panelists were: Ian Craig, Esq., Partner, Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP of the United Kingdom; Mark Bentley, Esq., Vice President, Strategic Services, Iron Mountain, Inc.; Martha Mazzone, Esq., Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Fidelity Investmetns; Andrea Aptowitz, Esq., Associate General Counsel, PerkinElmer, Inc. and David W. Wetmore, Executive Director, Fraud Investigative & Dispute Services/Legal Services, Ernst & Young LLP. 

NELF Spring Breakfast Program, May 3, 2007

"Committing Your Company to Arbitration: Benefits and Pitfalls"

On May 3, 2007, the New England Legal Foundation held a Breakfast Program at the Boston College Club in Boston on “Committing Your Company to Arbitration:  Benefits and Pitfalls.”  NELF was fortunate to have a superb panel making a high-level presentation and an active audience of experienced professionals, including both in-house and outside counsel.

Among the topics addressed by the panel were the following: what types of actions are best suited to arbitration; whether arbitration is really expeditious and cost-effective; whether arbitrators just “split the baby”; whether the benefits of arbitration outweigh the loss of judicial precedent; the relative merits of litigation, arbitration and mediation; optimal arbitration procedures; and the necessary skill sets for neutrals.  Principal take-aways from the program were:

• One’s view of arbitration depends in large part on the nature and context of the disputes which one has arbitrated and the procedures employed.
• Choosing the best method of dispute resolution for a particular controversy is a complex matter and emphatically not a matter of “one size fits all.”
• Key to a successful outcome is identifying the most appropriate ADR methodology, the desired style and skill set of the neutral(s), and optimal procedures to be employed.
• Arbitration may be an especially appropriate choice for international disputes given the need to enhance procedural and decisional neutrality and predictability and the general enforceability of arbitral awards across international borders.

The panel discussion was moderated by Richard M. Gelb, Esq., of Gelb & Gelb LLP of Boston.  The panelists were: Patrick D. Lane, Esq., Associate General Counsel-Litigation, Procter & Gamble; Kenneth R. Feinberg, Esq., Managing Partner, The Feinberg Group, LLP, of Washington, D.C.; William W. (“Rusty”) Park, Professor of Law, Boston University; and The Honorable John C. Cratsley, Associate Justice, Massachusetts Superior Court. 

For a detailed description of the panel discussion, please visit here.

NEW ENGLAND LEGAL FOUNDATION NAMES NEW GENERAL COUNSEL

On  March 19, 2007, Jo Ann Shotwell Kaplan joined NELF as its new General Counsel.  Ms. Kaplan succeeds Martin J. Newhouse, now NELF’s President, in that role.

Prior to joining NELF Ms. Kaplan served as Chief Counsel, Litigation, for Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (formerly Thermo Electron Corporation) for nearly nine years.  Before that Ms. Kaplan had a private environmental litigation practice for many years, most recently as a partner with Choate, Hall & Stewart in Boston.  Early in her career Ms. Kaplan was a Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General in the Environmental Protection Division and, in 1986, she was a candidate for Massachusetts Attorney General.  Ms. Kaplan graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1977, having served on the Virginia Law Review.

NEW ENGLAND LEGAL FOUNDATION NAMES NEW PRESIDENT

On November 14, 2006, the New England Legal Foundation announced that Martin J. Newhouse had been selected as its President. Mr. Newhouse has been with the Foundation since September 2004, when he joined it as General Counsel. Under his leadership as General Counsel, the Foundation’s legal staff filed numerous amicus briefs in precedent-setting appellate cases affecting businesses and property owners in New England and the nation, including a record number of filings for the Foundation with the United States Supreme Court in 2005.

Mr. Newhouse succeeds Andrew R. Grainger, the Foundation’s former President, who became an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court in May, 2006.

Mr. Newhouse received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Columbia University and his J.D. from Yale Law School. In addition, he has a Ph.D. from Columbia University in the field of modern European history. Prior to joining NELF, Mr. Newhouse was a litigation partner at Ropes & Gray LLP where he practiced law for nearly twenty years. Before attending law school, Mr. Newhouse was a college professor at Columbia University and Boston College. Currently, he is an Adjunct Professor at Suffolk Law School, where he teaches professional responsibility. Among his other activities, Mr. Newhouse is a Director of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities.