Gatekeepers and SEC Conferences

In April 2005, the Center and the Columbia Law School Center on Corporate Governance hosted the first annual Deals Roundtable, bringing together prominent academics, practitioners, business leaders, and regulators for intensive, off-the-record discussions of important contemporary issues in the field of corporate and securities law. The first Roundtable focused on the roles and responsibilities of capital markets gatekeepers in light of changing regulations and practices. A luncheon discussion was led by Harvey Goldschmid. 

Afternoon sessions included a paper on gatekeepers by John Coffee and a panel discussion with Brandon Becker (Co-Chair of the Securities Department at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, and former Director of the SEC's Division of Market Regulation), Daniel Goelzer (Board member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board), Richard Ketchum (NYSE Chief Regulatory Officer), Simon Lorne (Vice Chairman and Chief Legal Officer of Millenium Partners, and former SEC General Counsel), and Mary Jo White (Chair of the Litigation Group at Debevoise & Plimpton, and former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York), among others.

In June 2005, the Center hosted a meeting of the SEC's Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies. The Committee's principal purpose is to assess the impact of the U.S. securities regulatory system on smaller companies and make recommendations for change. Agenda items included consideration of a recommendation to scale securities regulations for smaller public companies, including expansion of the small offering exemption.