To the Extent That...

Welcome to To the Extent That, presented by the ABA. Today’s From Boardroom to Courtroom features Kurt Wolfe—a Partner in Quinn Emanuel’s SEC Enforcement group, former in Securities co-host, and adjunct securities law professor at the University of Richmond. We’ll discuss the SEC’s landmark Stable Road / Momentus enforcement, examine newly minted SPAC accounting and disclosure reforms, and explore...

This case concerns the consequences for debtor misconduct in a Chapter 13 case. The Chapter 13 debtors, Marcus and Amanda Purdy, sought court approval to take out a mortgage to purchase a home, but the court denied the motion to incur debt and the debtor’s motion to reconsider the ruling. Undeterred, the debtors moved forward with obtaining a mortgage to purchase the property, providing a letter t...

In this episode and the next one we are going to do something unusual. We will explore the adoption of sophisticated flight control automation and look for lessons that may apply to the adoption of AI-augmented systems. To help us understand these lessons, we are fortunate to talk with Professor David Mindell of MIT. He is the acclaimed author of numerous books in this area, notably "Digital Apoll...

Host Gary J. Ross speaks with Marc Fosse, partner in Seyfarth Shaw’s San Francisco office and a nationally recognized expert on executive compensation, about the landscape of employee equity compensation. Marc outlines the differences between stock options, restricted stock, phantom equity, and profits interests. Gary and Marc then discuss some of the tax and legal concepts relating to employee eq...

The entertainment industry in the US, with revenues in 2022 of about 8.5 billion dollars, is only three hundredths of one percent of the 23.3 trillion dollar US economy. However, entertainment is far more important to society as a whole than the industry’s financials might suggest. In 2022 when large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini began to show signs of prodigious capabi...

AI is increasingly viewed as a potential co-creator of text, images, videos, music, and audio. However, in March of 2023 the US Copyright Office expressed the view that ‘copyright can protect only material that is the product of human creativity.’ In this episode Claudia Ray, a partner in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis, a major law firm with a distinguished IP practice, discusses the impo...

The debtor, a real estate contractor and developer, failed to cooperate with the chapter 7 trustee and engaged in aggressive tactics including suing the first judge presiding over the case leading to her recusal. In addition to the typical Bad Boys of Bankruptcy content, the panel explored the standards and ethical considerations surrounding judicial recusal, including the process for sua sponte r...

Ponzi schemes have persisted around the world even before the eponymous investment scheme of Charles Ponzi in the early 1920s. This case concerns a Ponzi scheme based on the purported sale of music that nobody really wanted, which was engineered by Ukrainian-American Volodimyr Pigida and his wife, Marinia Bondarenko. The scheme resulted in roughly $22 million in fraudulent proceeds. Pigida was ult...

Host Gary J. Ross speaks with Christopher Mirabile of Launchpad Venture Group about key legal terms in angel investing. Christopher, who is Chair Emeritus of both the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee and the Angel Capital Association, as well as the co-founder of Serif Investor, offers a candid take on what matters most to angel investors, with a focus on pro rata rights and information rights. C...

Host Gary J. Ross discusses the potential benefits of incorporating in Nevada (and the correct pronunciation of the Silver State) with Rew Goodenow, a shareholder at Parsons Behle & Latimer in Reno, Nevada. Gary and Rew explore why more businesses are choosing to incorporate in Nevada. Rew highlights Nevada’s long-standing pro-business legal framework, tracing its evolution from 19th-century minin...

In Episode 5, host Jordan L. Fischer, Esq. interviews Professor of Law, Nancy B. Rapoport, and Joseph Tiano, CEO of Legal Decoder, on the long term impact of Artificial Intelligence, and specifically Generative AI, on the billable hourly model. Nancy and Joe share their perspectives having interviewed numerous law firms for their recent publication, Fighting the Hypothetical: Why Law Firms Should...

This episode of the ABA-funded podcast, "Mind the Gap: Dialogs on Artificial Intelligence" was recorded at a Continuing Legal Education session. Our subject is, "The Intersection of Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence." Our two guests, Candace Jones and Jon Garon, are distinguished lawyers. Candace Jones retired recently from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Previously she was a partner...

Host Jordan L. Fischer talks to Monique Priestley about her career progression from an IT professional into a Vermont state representative and the technology issues surrounding her advocacy for data privacy and age appropriate software design.

In this special public service episode, Judge Elizabeth Gunn is joined by Rebecca A. Earl and Dana McWay to explore a growing and often overlooked corner of bankruptcy fraud: the exploitation of unclaimed funds. With over half a billion dollars currently held in unclaimed distributions, the system has become a target for fraudsters employing everything from falsified assignments to identity theft...

Host Professor J.W. Verret interviews Pete Tomczak, global head of investigations at Baker McKenzie, about the current state of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act practice in the wake of the new administration's pause. We discuss the real world FCPA case of US v. Lawrence Hoskins, a defendant who was acquitted in a case that went to trial and saw multiple appellate decisions that demonstrates a tendenc...

Host Professor J.W. Verret interviews Professor Charles Elson on Delaware's Marchand case. A listeria outbreak in Bluebell ice cream led to a criminal case by the federal prosecutor and a successful "Caremark" failure to oversee claim in Delaware. We interview Charles about his service as a member of the Bluebell special litigation committee that handled this matter.

In Episode 3, host Jordan L. Fischer, Esq. interviews Corey Dennis, Chief Privacy Officer & Assistant General Counsel at Legend Biotech, where he leads the global privacy, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence legal programs. In this episode, Jordan and Corey walk through two recent developments that are impacting data strategies in the healthcare and life sciences industry: the EU NIS2 Direc...

In this episode, Judge Gunn discusses the case of Steven and Lori Palladino with Mark DeGiacomo, who served as the Chapter 7 trustee in their case. Mr. DeGiacomo was tasked with administering the fallout resulting from the debtors’ Ponzi scheme run through an entity called Viking Financial Group, Inc. Mr. Palladino used Viking to promise “investors” a guaranteed 12% return on their investments, in...

From ancient times what we now call mathematical models have been used to predict the arrival of seasons, comet returns, and eclipses. With sophisticated mathematics, good data gathering, and modern computers we can now predict things like the tides and the trajectories of interplanetary probes with considerable accuracy. We have also made progress in predicting weather. For some phenomena, for ex...

In Episode 2, host Jordan L. Fischer, Esq. interviews Judy Selby, the founder of Selby Strategies and working as a certified performance coach. Judy is the author of "The Untold Secrets to Thrive as a Lawyer: Six Steps to Ignite Your Legal Career Even if You Didn’t Go to Harvard or Yale," which provides insights into every stage of a legal career. In this episode, Jordan and Judy discuss the strat...

Host Gary J. Ross talks about the Lone Star state with Brett Cenkus, principal of Austin-based Cenkus Law. While Delaware has been the center of corporate business law for the last century, a recent push to incorporate in other states has made news, especially with Elon Musk changing his companies’ incorporation to Texas last year. Brett, who is admitted to practice in both Texas and Delaware, dis...

Darren Berg started as a mortgage broker but then found himself orchestrating a $150 million Ponzi scheme. He diverted funds into a lavish lifestyle—owning multiple mansions, yachts, and a luxury bus company. When the fraud unraveled, bankruptcy proceedings led to significant legal battles, shaping Oregon’s fraudulent transfer law in the process. But Berg’s downfall didn’t end in prison—he pulled...

Host JW Verret interviews former SDNY prosecutor Sam Enzer about a $117 million crypto hack that happened in plain sight and led to fraud and market manipulation convictions for the perpetrator who bragged about his scheme on social media. JW Verret is a corporate and securities law professor at GMU Scalia Law School and regularly serves as a forensic accounting expert witness in white collar matt...

In Episode 1, host Jordan L. Fischer, Esq. interviews Damien Riehl, a technology lawyer who is currently leading the design, development, and expansion of products at vLex (formerly, Fastcase), integrating AI-backed technologies to improve legal workflows and to power legal data analytics. Damien provided a deep dive into the ways in which lawyers are leveraging AI, and how AI is already, and like...

Host Gary J. Ross discusses BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) and its relation to private equity and venture capital with Anat Alon-Beck, associate professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Gary and Prof. Alon-Beck discuss the BDS movement and its goal of applying economic and political pressure on Israel and any company doing business with Israel. Prof. Alon-Beck highligh...