Queen's Law presents the Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP Distinguished Lectures in Business Law

Photo by Teddy Melvin

Dean Bill Flanagan (middle) with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP partners John Groenewegen and Clay Horner.

Queen's Law students, faculty and alumni will soon have an exceptional opportunity to enrich their knowledge of business law by engaging with internationally recognized scholars on contemporary topics.  As part of the Faculty's new distinguished lecture series, sponsored by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, three leading academics will deliver and discuss high-calibre scholarly papers in business law at Queen's in the 2009 winter term.
 
"It was clear to us that the lectures would greatly enhance the study of business law at Queen's, including making it more accessible to all students," said John Groenewegen, a partner at Osler.  "As one of Canada's leading business law firms, we are very pleased to be associated with the newly created Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP Distinguished Lectures in Business Law program and look forward to an exciting year of lectures."

The inaugural Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP Distinguished Lecturer in Business Law is Professor William Bratton from Georgetown University Law Centre.  Bratton, an internationally recognized authority on corporate governance and comparative corporate law, will present a lecture titled "Corporate Law's Persistent Debates" on January 30.
 
Professor Roberta Romano, a highly regarded corporate law scholar from Yale Law School, will present the second lecture on February 27.  Romano will discuss the prospects for the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in her paper, "The Uncertain Future of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act."
 
Renowned trusts and estates law scholar Professor Robert H. Sitkoff of Harvard Law School will deliver the final lecture of the academic year on March 27.  Sitkoff will present a paper on commercial trusts, "The Rise of the Statutory Business Trust."

Each session will feature an hour-long talk by the Distinguished Lecturer, followed by commentary from Queen's Law faculty members and prominent business law practitioners from Osler and other firms.  The Faculty will then host a wine and cheese reception for those in attendance. Alumni may also participate in the lectures via a broadcast in the Queen's University facility in downtown Toronto.
 
All Queen's Law students are encouraged to attend the lectures, and upper-year students will have the opportunity to obtain academic credit by participating in the series.  Under the supervision of series director Professor Paul B. Miller, these students may complete an individual supervised project in which they read and comment upon the lecture papers.

"Exposure to the work of the leading minds in business law will enable our students to recognize business law as a field that has great inherent scholarly value in addition to its obvious practical importance," Miller explained.  "The series will be of tremendous benefit to our business law teaching and research."

"With the generous support of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, this new speaker series will make a substantial contribution to our growing strength in the area of business law and create new learning opportunities for our students," said Dean Bill Flanagan.

For biographies of the three Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP Distinguished Lecturers in Business Law, see http://law.queensu.ca/events/oslerDistinguishedLecturesInBusinessLaw.html.