Beyond Unprecedented: The Post-Pandemic Economy—Season 4

The popular podcast returns: Co-hosts and law professors Eric Talley and Dorothy S. Lund are joined by experts to explore complex economic events affecting workers, investors, and companies.

A graph showing a descending and then ascending line features the silhouette of a coronavirus.

Season four delves into the interaction between our legal and regulatory frameworks and current economic developments. Beyond Unprecedented is produced by Columbia Law School and the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership and is co-hosted by law professors Eric Talley and Dorothy S. Lund.

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Find all available episodes, download transcripts, and learn more about the hosts and guests below.

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Beyond Unprecedented: The Post-Pandemic Economy written over blue, green, and red data lines

Reintroducing “Beyond Unprecedented”—Season 4

The co-hosts kick off a fourth season of Beyond Unprecedented with Lauren Hirsch of The New York Times. They preview the season and discuss important economic and legal developments affecting companies, investors, and workers. Download a transcript.

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Beyond Unprecedented: The Post-Pandemic Economy written over blue, green, and red data lines

Episode 1: Business and Bots: Anticipating the Future of AI

With advances in artificial intelligence and the emergence of generative AI, IBM Software Senior Vice President of Product Management and Growth Kareem Yusuf discusses what lies ahead—including regulatory ramifications and how the technology may affect workers and the economy. Download a transcript.

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Beyond Unprecedented: The Post-Pandemic Economy written over blue, green, and red data lines

Episode 2: Transportation of the Future: Market Drivers and Regulatory Roadblocks

The last decade has seen growing popularity of electric and self-driving vehicles. Xuan “Sharon” Di, an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University, discusses the current capabilities of, market for, and regulatory frameworks around electric and autonomous cars. Download a transcript.

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Beyond Unprecedented: The Post-Pandemic Economy written over blue, green, and red data lines

Episode 3: Musk and Twitter: The $44 Billion Arbitrage

At the intersection of law and finance, legal financial arbitrage (LFA) is an increasingly important field that focuses on pricing differences resulting from legal or regulatory uncertainties. Chas Cocke, founder and managing partner of LB Partners, discusses LFA in the context of Elon Musk’s 2022 acquisition of Twitter. Download a transcript.

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Beyond Unprecedented: The Post-Pandemic Economy written over blue, green, and red data lines

Episode 4: Trump 2.0: Anticipating the Future of the SEC

Former chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and current Debevoise & Plimpton partner Mary Jo White ’74 discusses what to expect from the SEC in the second Trump administration—including the changes that a more conservative commission might make to existing rules and enforcement policies and the relationship between the SEC and U.S. Department of Justice. Download a transcript.

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Eric Talley portrait

Eric Talley, co-host

Eric Talley, Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law, writes and researches at the intersection of corporate law, governance, and finance. As a co-director of the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership, Talley shapes research and programs focused on the future of corporate governance and performance. He is a frequent commentator in the national media, and he speaks regularly to corporate boards, judges, and regulators on issues pertaining to fiduciary duties, governance, and finance. He is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, and he earned a J.D. and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University. Talley hosted the first three seasons of Beyond Unprecedented.

Dorothy Lund standing outside and smiling

Dorothy S. Lund, co-host

Dorothy S. Lund, Columbia 1982 Alumna Professor of Law, researches and teaches corporate law, corporate governance, securities regulation, contracts, and mergers and acquisitions. Lund’s work has been published in the Columbia Law ReviewJournal of Corporation Law, and Stanford Law Review, among other journals. She has also written for popular publications including The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Several of her articles have been voted among the top 10 corporate and securities law articles of the year. Before entering academia, Lund clerked for Chief Justice Leo E. Strine Jr. of the Delaware Supreme Court and Judge Joel M. Flaum of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. She also practiced corporate law at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York.

Headshot of Lauren Hirsch

Lauren Hirsch joined Talley and Lund for the season four premiere of Beyond Unprecedented. She is a reporter for The New York Times, where she covers deals and the biggest stories on Wall Street. She helped lead the publication’s coverage of Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. She also broke news of the $11 billion leverage buyout of Dunkin’ Brands and JetBlue’s $3.6 billion bid for Spirit Airlines. Prior to joining The Times in 2020, Hirsch covered retail for two years at CNBC, breaking news of Toys R Us’s bankruptcy. She later covered the intersection of business and policy at CNBC. Previously, Hirsch was a mergers and acquisitions team leader at Reuters, focusing on consumer and retail deals. She studied comparative literature at Cornell University and has an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Portrait of Kareem Yusuf

Kareem Yusuf is senior vice president of Product Management and Growth for IBM Software and the guest on “Business and Bots” this season. He oversees product strategy and roadmap, customer acquisition, expansion, retention based on compelling product experiences, and market perception and sentiment, across IBM’s software portfolio. Yusuf has been with IBM for more than 25 years and has held senior leadership positions in a variety of disciplines across the company including: offering management, software development, SaaS operations, mergers and acquisitions, and field technical sales. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Leeds, focused on Decision Support Systems for Civil Engineering construction. Yusuf maintains an active interest in all things technical, with a particular interest in digital media and programming languages. He is a TED Speaker and the author of Enterprise Messaging Using JMS and IBM WebSphere.

Portrait of Sharon Di, a woman with black hair in a black shirt

Xuan “Sharon” Di is an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University, and she serves on a committee for the Smart Cities Center in the Data Science Institute, also at Columbia. Di directs the DitecT (Data and innovative technology-driven Transportation) Lab, focusing on transportation systems. Her overarching research mission is to empower mobility for all, emphasizing the use of technology for social good. Di has a B.S. in traffic engineering and an M.A. in transportation information and control engineering from Tongji University, in China, and a Ph.D. in civil, environmental, and geo-engineering from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She is currently focused on pioneering the development of digital twins for urban transportation management, leveraging cyber-physical systems technology. Within this framework, her research spans diverse areas, including autonomous vehicle control on shared roads with humans, multimodal mobility optimization, and the intersection of transportation with health considerations. Di joined the hosts for “Transportation of the Future.”

Headshot of Chas Cocke

Chas Cocke is the founder and managing partner of investment firm LB Partners. Prior to his role at LB Partners, Cocke was a partner and co-founder of Investure, a leader in endowment and foundation investment management located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Previously, he was an analyst for the University of Virginia Investment Management Company. His early career included stints as an investment banking analyst at CIBC World Markets and in mergers and acquisitions at Thomas Weisel Partners. Cocke joined the podcast for “Musk and Twitter: The $44 Billion Arbitrage.”

Headshot of Mary Jo White

Mary Jo White ’74 is a litigation partner and senior chair at Debevoise & Plimpton, where she also previously served as chair of the Litigation Department. White has a distinguished record of public service: She completed a four-year term as chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Prior to that, she served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) from 1993 to 2002, becoming the only woman to hold the top position in that office’s more than 200-year history. White has also served on the Criminal Justice Act panel for the SDNY and as chair of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Committee on Admissions and Grievances. She has been recognized by The National Law Journal as one of the 50 most influential women lawyers in America and is a recipient of numerous honors. White discussed what to expect from the SEC in the second Trump administration on “Trump 2.0: Anticipating the Future of the SEC.”

About the Series
Beyond Unprecedented is brought to you by Columbia Law School and the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership and is produced by the Office of Communications, Marketing, and Public Affairs at Columbia Law School. Hear all four seasons wherever you listen to podcasts. Disclaimer: Information provided on Beyond Unprecedented does not and is not intended to constitute legal, financial, or investment advice but rather general information only.