AI and Antitrust in Focus at M&A Conference
The annual event, hosted by the Millstein Center and the Center on Corporate Governance, featured a fireside chat with Delaware Supreme Court Justice Abigail M. LeGrow.
Columbia Law School’s annual conference on mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance featured speakers from law firms, academia, and the Delaware courts, who unpacked topics such as antitrust policy and enforcement, M&A in politics, AI and M&A, and recent changes in Delaware’s corporate law. Held on November 21 on Columbia University’s Morningside campus, the event was sponsored by the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership; the Center on Corporate Governance; law firms Paul Hastings and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and financial communications firm Gladstone Place Partners.
The daylong conference included a lunchtime conversation between Eric Talley, Marc and Eva Stern Professor of Law and Business and a faculty co-director of the Millstein Center, and Justice Abigail M. LeGrow of the Delaware Supreme Court. The court is currently considering the constitutionality of the state’s recently enacted law (SB 21; see panel topics, below) that limits shareholder lawsuits against corporate directors and officers for conflicts of interest and self-dealing. The new law is widely viewed as an attempt by Delaware to bolster its advantage as the state where businesses prefer to incorporate.
Without commenting on the case itself, LeGrow said that the recent regulatory moves by Texas and Nevada mark the first time she can recall concerted competition for Delaware’s preeminence in business formation. “There’s nothing wrong with a little competition,” she said. “And if it strengthens our model and helps us innovate, … I think it’s probably not a bad thing in the long run.”
LeGrow added that Delaware’s dependence on corporate franchise tax revenue means the state will always act to protect its position, in contrast to other states that are able to rely on more diverse economic bases. That, she said, “should give people a lot of confidence in the longevity of Delaware as a place to incorporate.”
Watch panel discussions from the conference:
“Welcome Remarks”
Delivered by Lecturer in Law Igor Kirman ’96, partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
“Current Antitrust Policy and Enforcement”
Jeffrey N. Gordon, Richard Paul Richman Professor of Law and Millstein Center faculty co-director, moderated a discussion on the Federal Trade Commission’s and U.S. Department of Justice’s approaches to antitrust in the second Trump administration, as well as state-level antitrust authority. Panelists included Roger P. Alford, University of Notre Dame professor of law and former principal deputy assistant attorney general for the DOJ Antitrust Division; Elinor Hoffmann, chief of the Antitrust Bureau, the New York State Attorney General’s office; former FTC chair and Associate Professor of Law Lina Khan; Christina C. Ma ’12, partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and Joshua H. Soven, partner, Paul Hastings.
“M&A and Politics”
Associate Professor of Law and Millstein Center faculty fellow Reilly Steel moderated a discussion on the increased presence of political considerations in M&A deals with panelists John Coates, Harvard Law School; Mara Faccio, Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue University; Steven Lipin, founder and CEO, Gladstone Place Partners; Mihir Mehta, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan; and Ivan A. Schlager, partner, Kirkland & Ellis.
“AI and M&A”
Talley moderated a wide-ranging panel on AI and the law with panelists David Emanuelson, partner at Arnold & Porter; Jens Frankenreiter, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law; Lewis Liu, founder and former CEO, Eigen Technologies; Marie Oh Huber, former senior vice president and chief legal officer, eBay; Alexander F. Stern, senior vice president, strategy and M&A, IBM; and Elina Tetelbaum, partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
“Delaware’s Recently Enacted SB 21”
Dorothy S. Lund, Columbia 1982 Alumna Professor of Law and Millstein Center faculty co-director, moderated a discussion on Delaware’s recent legislation designed to retain corporations in the state. Participants included Eduardo Gallardo ’99, partner, Paul Hastings; Ann M. Lipton, professor of law and Laurence W. DeMuth Chair of Business Law, University of Colorado Law School; Edward Rock, Martin Lipton Professor of Law, New York University School of Law; and John Mark Zeberkiewicz, director, Richards, Layton & Finger.
“Closing Remarks”
Delivered by John C. Coffee Jr., Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law and director of the Center on Corporate Governance
