Professor John C. Coffee Jr. to Address U.N. General Assembly on the Role of Credit Rating Agencies

New York, September 9, 2013—John C. Coffee Jr., the Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, has been asked by Vuk Jeremić, president of the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, to serve on a panel on the role of credit rating agencies in the global economy.

The Sept. 10 high-level debate will provide an opportunity for experts from government, international NGOs, and business to discuss the challenges associated with the current methods of credit rating agencies. Coffee, a leading expert on securities law and the only academic on the agenda, will join a discussion of policies and proposals for solutions.

The daylong debate will be held at the U.N. headquarters in New York City, and marks the first time this contentious topic will be formally addressed before the U.N. General Assembly.

Other participants include Merli Baroudi, director and chief credit officer of the World Bank Group; Thomas Wieser, president of the European Union’s Euro Working Group; and Shaukat Aziz, former Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Pakistan. Attendees will include representatives from U.N. member states and civil society organizations, and the event will be webcast live for the public.  Coffee's panel is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. EST.