Women in the Law Series
Women in the Law Series:
Wheeling and Dealing at Private Law Firms
Monday, November 1, 2004
12:15pm to 1:20pm
Jerome Greene Hall
Room 104
Please join us as Columbia Law School welcomes three of The American Lawyer's "Top Dealmakers of the Year." Join us over lunch, as our moderator and three premier women attorneys discuss their work, their best deals, and their lives at private law firms.
Moderator
Professor David Barnard
Professor David Barnard is a founding partner of Blaqwell, Inc. He was also a partner at Linklaters. For nearly 15 years, he managed the North American operations of Linklaters from its New York office. Mr. Barnard is both an experienced managing partner and an international attorney, having worked in the areas of corporate law and international finance. He co-founded Linklaters' International Finance practice and has worked on financial transactions around the world. At Blaqwell, Mr. Barnard focuses on law firm structure, strategy, client focus programs, firm management and merger transactions.
He is also an adjunct professor at the Columbia Law School, where he teaches courses in International Financial Transactions and The Anatomy of Large Law Firms. He is active in international legal and business academic circles, and has helped organize colloquia and exchanges of ideas on the future of law firms and the legal industry. He continues to work with academic colleagues to develop thought in the areas of international law firm structures and strategy, as well as to apply that thought through his consulting work.
Panel Speakers
Marcia L. Goldstein - Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Marcia Goldstein is a senior partner and co-chair of the Business Finance and Restructuring Department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. She is lead counsel in high profile restructurings such as WorldCom and Parmalat and has represented bank groups, secured and unsecured creditors, debtors, statutory creditors' committees, trustees and other parties in other major debt restructurings and chapter 11 cases. Ms. Goldstein is on the Advisory Board of Colliers Bankruptcy, 15th Ed., has been a Visiting Lecturer in Bankruptcy at Yale Law School and is a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, where she has chaired the Committee on Legislation, and is a member of the American College of Bankruptcy. She has served as the Chair of the Committee on Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Ms. Goldstein has been named in numerous publications of "best lawyers" in the restructuring and bankruptcy area and has frequently lectured and published material for continuing legal education programs. She was also named one of "The Dealmakers of the Year" by The American Lawyer in April 2004.
Cathy M. Kaplan - Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP
Cathy Kaplan is a co-head of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP's New York Securitization Practice Group and a member of the firm's Executive Committee. She is also co-head of the firm's Accounting and Finance Committee. She has worked on a wide variety of structured finance transactions, concentrating on asset-backed financings. In addition, she has worked on many cross-border securitizations. Ms. Kaplan has been at the forefront of developing a number of types of securitization structures, including the securitization of healthcare receivables. She is featured in Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers (2003) and (2002-2003) and Chambers USA (2004). She is also listed in the Guide to the World's Leading Capital Markets Lawyers, and in the "Guide to the World's Leading Structured Finance Lawyers". Ms. Kaplan is featured in "The Best of the Best 2002," an international guide published by Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC as a leading lawyer in the area of securitization and was featured in the 2000 edition of that publication. She was also named one of "The Dealmakers of the Year" by The American Lawyer in April 1999.
Chun Wei - Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Ms. Wei joined Sullivan & Cromwell in 1989 and has been a partner since 1997. At various times, Ms. Wei has been resident in the firm's New York, London, Hong Kong and Beijing Offices. She is now managing partner of the Hong Kong and Beijing Offices. Throughout her career, Ms. Wei has represented U.S. and non-U.S. companies in securities offerings, acquisitions, joint ventures and other corporate and financial matters. She has led S&C's work in China in some of the landmark privatizations, securities offerings and acquisitions. Ms. Wei also has extensive experience in advising U.S. and European companies in making investments and acquisitions in China. Ms. Wei was recognized as one of the "45 Under 45: The Rising Stars of the Private Bar" by The American Lawyer in its January 2003 issue. She was identified as one of the "Rising Stars: Alumnae Whose Careers Bear Watching" in the Fall 2002 issue of the Columbia Law School Report. She was also featured in the article entitled "The China Connection -- Sullivan & Cromwell" included in the cover story of "America's Best Corporate Lawyers" in the Special Legal Issue 2002 of Corporate Board Member. Ms. Wei was also name one of "The Dealmakers of the Year" by The American Lawyer in April 2001.