Business Law Symposium a Success

Andrew Coyne of the National Post, one of Canada's leading commentators on business and public affairs issues, was the closing speaker at the 13th Annual Queen's Business Law Symposium held Friday, September 29 2006. His speech ended what students hailed as a successful and enjoyable day.

James McDonald, Tess Lofsky, and Lissette Torres were the Student Coordinators for the Symposium, and had been working alongside the Director and Convener Professor Paul Paton for the past few months planning and preparing for the day's events. "We have been looking forward to the turnout," said McDonald. "It was very well attended by both students and practitioners. It proved to be a successful day of both discussion and reflection that was capped with a fine reception and dinner at the Agnes Etherington Art Center on campus."

The Day consisted of both a lunch and a dinner, with four panel discussions during the day and Mr. Coyne's closing speech in the evening. The panels consisted of one speaker presenting a paper to the audience, followed by a discussion on the paper by four to five guest panelists. The panels covered a diverse area of law, from Judicial Activism, to Class Actions, as well as Cross Border Litigation.

The first panel of the day was widely well received. Under the broad heading of Director's and Officer's Liability, Markus Koehnen presented a controversial paper highlighting the different approaches to Shareholder protection in the United States and Canada.

"The first panel was incredible," said McDonald. "There was a lot of energy and the discussion and banter back and forth was really well thought out. People came away from it with a great appreciation of the different dynamic between Canadian and US law in that area."

The focus of the remaining panels was on specific areas of law, and provided the attendees an interesting and thorough commentary. "The final three panels dealt with issues of greater complexity," said McDonald. "They were great because they really fleshed out the important aspects of those particular areas of law.... which is great for people researching or working in those areas."

Preliminary planning has already begun for the 2007 Business Symposium, and McDonald has high expectations for next year's event, stemming from both the high attendance and warm reception received with Friday's activities.

The papers presented at the Symposium will soon be available on the business law symposium link on the Queen's Website. For a copy of the Symposium's Agenda, including speakers and papers, please visit the Events section of this site.