On February 7-8, 2013, the Insurance Law Center at the University of Connecticut School of Law will host a symposium titled The Political Economy of Financial Regulation in Washington, in tandem with the Center for Law, Economics and Finance at George Washington University Law School, the Center for Banking and Finance at the University of North Carolina School of Law, and the Institute for Law and Economic Policy.  The conference will bring together legal scholars, regulators, judges, practitioners, economists, political theorists and other social scientists to discuss the role of the political process in financial services regulation and the role of money in both. Keynote speakers will include Nobel prize winner Dr. Joseph E. Stiglitz of Columbia University, Dr. Simon Johnson of MIT, and Professor Michael S. Barr of the University of Michigan.

Attendance is free.

On Monday, January 28, 2013, at 4:00 p.m., Dr. Christian Armbrüster will give a talk on the European Union Solvency II initiative.  Dr. Armbrüster is a noted insurance law expert from Berlin, Germany.  The lecture will take place on the law school campus in Janet M. Blumberg Hall in Hosmer Hall.  A reception will follow and parking is free.  For directions to the law school campus in Hartford, see here.  To RSVP, please email Patricia Carbray at patricia.carbray@uconn.edu.

Dr. Armbrüster will be joining us from the law faculty of the Free University of Berlin, where he holds the title of Chair of Private Law, Company Law, Insurance Law and Conflict of Laws. A well-known authority on insurance law, he is a member of the Insurance Board of the Federal Financial Services Control Authority (BaFin) in Bonn, Germany, as well as of numerous scientific boards and committees in the area of insurance. Dr. Armbrüster received his Ph.D. in Insurance Law in 1994 and his Habilitation in Company Law in 2000 from the Free University of Berlin. Before joining the faculty there in 2004, he was a tenured professor at Bucerius Law School in Hamburg from 2000 to 2003. Since 2007, he has served as a judge on the Berlin Court of Appeal (Kammergericht) in the fields of Commercial and Company Law. Dr. Armbrüster has also served as a legal expert at multiple hearings of the Federal Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag) on various law making initiatives.

 

Conference Schedule

8:40-9:00 Introductory Remarks

Willajeanne F. McLean, University of Connecticut School of Law, Interim Dean & Professor of Law

Patricia A. McCoy, Connecticut Mutual Professor of Law & Director of Insurance Law Center

Sara C. Bronin, Associate Professor of Law, Program Director, Center for Energy & Environmental Law

9:00-9:45 Morning Keynote

Michael B. Gerrard, Sabin Professor of Professional Practice, Director of the Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School

10:00-11:15 Climate Change Litigation and Insurance, from Kivalina to AES v. Steadfast

Moderator

Kurt Strasser, Phillip I. Blumberg Professor of Law

Panelists

Rex Heinke, Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

William F. Stewart, Partner, Stewart Bernstiel Rebar

Laura A. Foggan, Attorney at Law, Wiley Rein LLP

11:15 – 12:00 Climate Change Science, Foundations and Frontiers

Introduction

Joseph A. MacDougald, Professor in Residence, Executive Director, Center for Energy & Environmental Law

Speaker

Anji Seth, Associate Professor, University of Connecticut School of Law.

12:00-1:30 Luncheon with Keynote Speaker

John H. Fitzpatrick, Secretary General, The Geneva Association

1:30-3:00 Federal International Responses

Moderator

Peter Kochenberger, Executive Director, Insurance Law Center and Associate Clinical Professor of Law

Panelists

Dr. Richard Murray, Special Advisor to the Geneva Association on Liability and Legal Matters

Mr. Butch Bacani, Program Leader, United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative

Fran ois Robert Ewald, Professor of Insurance at the Conservatoire National des Arts et M tiers (Paris) and Director of the Ecole Nationale d’Assurances (Paris)

Mr. David Snyder, Vice President for International Policy, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America

School of Law UConn Home Faculty Directory Staff Directory Disclaimers, Privacy & Copyright University of Connecticut School of Law

 

Professors Mark Weiner and  Stephen Utz will hold a conversation on the approach to health insurance delivery taken in the recent national health care legislation and will review the major constitutional challenges being brought against the law.  Faculty Lounge, April 28 12:00 pm.

Sponsored by the Insurance Law Center and the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal

When a drug is alleged to harm large numbers of patients, a credit card company charges its many customers allegedly undisclosed fees for international transactions, or numerous people experience illnesses they claim result from exposure to toxins, plaintiffs bring large numbers of lawsuits. Defendants’ and plaintiffs’ lawyers are continually refining methods for resolving such large-scale disputes. Increasingly, they rely on statistical techniques to do so. The questions for this conference are what are the appropriate techniques for resolving such cases? How do they resemble what insurance companies already do? Are they fair? What legal limitations exist on such settlements and how (if at all) should the law change to better accommodate these changes on the ground? This conference brings together special masters, insurance professionals, economists, political scientists and legal scholars to discuss how risk is quantified in litigation, especially high value, large-scale complex cases such as mass torts, consumer class actions and antitrust suits.

Keynote Address:

Kenneth R. Feinberg

Founder and Managing Partner, Feinberg Rozen LLP, Author of What is Life Worth? (Public Affairs Press, 2005). Among his many accomplishments, Kenneth Feinberg is the Administrator of the BP Claims Fund and was the Special Master of the Federal September 11 Victim Compensation Fund.

Conference Agenda

Other speakers include:

Robert G. Bone, University of Texas Law School

Edward K. Cheng, Vanderbilt Law School

Howard Erichson, Fordham Law School

Deborah Hensler, Stanford Law School

Samuel Issacharoff, New York University Law School

Joseph B. Kadane, Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Statistics

Francis McGovern, Duke Law School

Adam Scales, Washington & Lee School of Law

Alex Stein, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided to those who register by April 8, 2011. Registration is free.

*Approved for NY CLE Credit

This program is appropriate for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys (Course #TRT0325).

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED.

To register for this event please RSVP via our rsvp form.

For other inquiries, call Patricia Carbray at (860) 570-5184 or send an e-mail to patricia.carbray@uconn.edu. Out-of-town guests may book rooms at the Hartford Downtown Marriott.

If you require reasonable accommodations for a disability, please contact Jane Thierfeld Brown at (860) 570-5130 at least two weeks in advance.

This educational session will feature an expert panel from the insurance industry that will address the laws and risks surrounding data privacy and how a company can protect itself from cyber attack. The panel will also discuss the types of insurance available for companies to protect or defend the firm in the event of a data breach, as well as how insurance buyers’ attitudes are changing about cyber threats.

TIME: 2:00 – 4:30 p.m. – registration begins at 1:00 p.m. – networking reception to follow workshop

LOCATION:

University of Connecticut School of Law

William R. Davis Courtroom in William F. Starr Hall, Hartford, CT

COST:

$20 Members / $35 NonMembers

Panel Discussion:

Moderator: Timothy Francis, Travelers Insurance

Panelists:Richard Bortnick, Cozen O’Connor

Peter Foster, Willis Insurance Brokers

Robert Wice, Beazley

PLEASE NOTE: Judie Driscoll from the FBI will not be speaking at this event.