Monday, October 17, 2011

Regulating Hedge Funds


Regulating Hedge Funds: Present Issues and Future Developments 

When: Monday, October 24, 2011, 1:00 PM

Where: Caplin Pavilion

The event will consist of a panel focused on the general issues in regulating hedge funds, how the industry and regulation has changed over time, and potential future changes that may affect how the investment management industry works.  Questions will also be directed to the kind of work attorneys who practice in the area see and do, and the experience of the panelists in working in the field. Afterword we will open the panel up for questions from students. 

Professor John Morley and David Selden '96, a partner at Fried Frank, will be among the participants; Professor George Geis will be moderating. 

Free Chipotle will be served.  Please fill out the RSVP form here


Monday, August 29, 2011

Virginia Law & Business Society Forum

Our first ever Virginia Law & Business Society Forum is taking place next Wednesday, September 7th, at 5PM in the Purcell Reading Room.  This event is sponsored by the Virginia Law & Business Society and will serve as an introduction to the law and business organizations and course offerings at the law school.  Everyone is welcome.  We hope to have a strong turnout of VLBS members as this will be a great opportunity to meet prospective members and faculty.  Also, it should be a lot of fun.  See below for an outline of the event
 

Virginia Law and Business Society Forum
September 7, 2011
Location: Purcell Reading Room, 5:00 - 6:30

The Virginia Law & Business Society Forum is designed to introduce the Class of 2014 to the many law and business related organizations and opportunities at the law school.  This is also a great place for student organization leadership, faculty, and students to socialize and network at the start of the new school year.  
  •  Students will receive a packet outlining the Law & Business groups on campus
  •  Professor Geis will give a brief overview of the Law & Business Program and the future direction of the program 
  • The Law & Business groups on campus will have information tables set up to discuss their organization with prospective members and how to get involved  
  • Food and adult refreshments will be served 

    List of Participating Organizations:  Virginia Tax Review, E*Society, Virginia Society for Law & Technology, Virginia Law & Business Review, Federalist Society, Rivanna Investments, JD/MBA Society

    Sunday, April 17, 2011

    Knobbe Marten IP Presentation

    The law firm Knobbe Martens is holding a lunch discussion on the firm's IP work. It is on Wednesday, April 27th, at NOON.  It will be held in room SL 294 and there will be free Chipotle. You will need to RSVP so if you are interested in attending email Jason Keating at jwk5ue@virginia.edu. We are co-hosting the event with Law & Tech, and E*Society.  This presentation will be useful for you if you are interested in IP work and/or have a technical background (hard science degree).

    Friday, April 8, 2011

    Office Space & New Events

    One piece of news and two new events..

    News

    VLBS now has office space! Room 156F is the new office space for VLBS, Rivanna Investments, and Law & Technology. We will have this space for the next two years.

    Events

    Entrepreneurs & Intellectual Property: A Lecture, Panel, & Networking Event
    Thursday, April 14 · 5:30pm - 7:30pm

    Caplin Pavilion - The Law School

    Please RSVP via 
    http://goo.gl/LzcDn by Tuesday, April 12 at 11:59 PM
    to reserve a spot.


    The presentation will be designed to help entrepreneurs to identify
    intellectual property and provide an overview of the basic techniques
    for protecting such intellectual property. Topics will include a brief
    summary of the basic types of intellectual property and discussions of
    the patent procurement process, patent enforcement, trademarks,
    copyrights and trade secrets. Following the presentation, there will
    be a panel consisting of both investors and company representatives
    who will discuss the importance of intellectual property rights and
    how issues related to intellectual property have affected their
    businesses and business decisions.
    (Partial List of Speakers, full list coming soon)

    Russell Schundler
    Russell Schundler is a principal in the Charlottesville office of
    Woods Rogers PLC.  He concentrates his practice in the firm's
    Corporate and Business Law section including mergers and acquisitions,
    bank financings and corporate finance.  He has represented businesses
    in a wide range of industries on transactions from formation through
    exit, including mergers and acquisitions, bank financings, contract
    negotiation, and formation and finance of start-up entities. He has
    also worked with private equity funds, venture capital funds and hedge
    funds with formation, offerings of interests to investors, and the
    review and negotiation of investments.

    Russell was named one of Virginia's "Legal Elite" by Virginia Business
    magazine in 2005 and 2010 and a “Rising Star” by Law & Politics
    magazine in 2007, 2009 and 2010. Active in the community, he serves as
    a director for Jefferson Area CHIP, Inc., a director for the
    Charlottesville Business Innovation Council, and as a director for
    WorkSource Enterprises.

    Russell graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia in
    1997.  He earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of
    Law in 2001.  Following law school, he worked in the Roanoke office of
    Woods Rogers between 2001-2007.  Russell returned to Woods Rogers
    after practicing for three years at McGuire Woods.

    Christopher Rhodes
    Christopher Rhodes is a registered patent attorney primarily focusing
    his practice in the firm’s Intellectual Property section.  Chris has
    represented a wide variety of organizations ranging from international
    and national corporations, startup companies, universities, venture
    capitalists and other investment firms in obtaining and enforcing
    their intellectual property.   His practice is directed towards patent
    prosecution, due diligence and opinions, patent litigation and other
    intellectual property matters in chemical, biochemical, medical
    devices, chemical and medical instrumentation and other technical
    areas.

    Chris recently returned to Roanoke after practicing in the
    Boston/Cambridge area, where he also earned his law degree from
    Suffolk University Law School while working as a patent agent for a
    multi-office intellectual property law firm.  Prior to being a patent
    agent, Chris earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of
    Virginia and received his Bachelors of Science degree in chemistry
    from Roanoke College.

    **Food and Beer will be served**


    America’s Fiscal Crisis: Challenges and Solutions
    With Pete Peterson, Co-Founder of the Blackstone Group

    April 12, 2011

    4:00 pm, UVA Chapel


    University and Charlottesville communities are invited to a
    conversation between Pete Peterson and Dean Harry Harding of the
    Batten School. Peterson is the 2011 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal
    in Citizen Leadership recipient, recognizing his distinguished career
    as a Cabinet Secretary, a national leader on efforts to control the
    federal deficit, and a lifelong philanthropist. Sponsored by the Frank
    Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, no RSVP necessary.

    Saturday, April 2, 2011

    New VP of Membership

    Congratulations to Jason Keating the new VP of Membership! His role will be general recruitment and retention of members for the Society. He is a contact point for members to express concerns, provide feedback, and set forth ideas regarding VLBS. 

    Tuesday, March 29, 2011

    Event Recap -- Wilson Sonsini

    On March 28th, Mike Labriola came to talk about the transactional practice at the firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Here is a summary of the event, including background on the speaker and the main points discussed.

    Background: Before Mr. Labriola came to law school he was a public accountant for several years. He came to UVA law and graduated in 2005. He participated in Wilson's summer associate program while he was a student and joined the firm's DC office.

    Summary:  Mr. Labriola says that the work at Wilson is very diverse due to the large number of clients they have. He estimates that the firm represents 350 public clients, and over 3500 private clients. The bulk of these companies are in the tech/biotech industry.  The majority of the firm’s focus is transactional in nature and Mr. Labriola’s specialty is corporate securities.

    He said what drew him to Wilson is the fact that the firm is well regarded (has represented more IPOs than anyone in the world) and the firm is very willing to let young associates get involved.  Tech companies by nature are generally leanly staffed and rely on outside counsel for a lot of their legal needs. This enables associates at a firm like Wilson to work on more than just a discrete piece of legal work that the company’s general counsel doesn’t want to do. A core principle of Wilson is that they are full service and want to remain with a company over the long haul. This means that associates develop a long term working relationship with companies and have the opportunity to take a business advisor role in addition to offering legal advice.

    Wilson has many other practices in addition to transactions, including antitrust, white collar, and general litigation. The main thrust of the firm is transactions so all the other practices are intimately tied to that practice.

    He gave general advice to those who are interested in transactions as well. He said that all the litigation-like topics that are covered in law school are important because transactions is about avoiding litigation if at all possible.  It is important to know the litigation implications of all the aspects of a deal.

    Mr. Labriola closed the discussion by talking about the interplay between IPOs and mergers and acquisitions and how market factors and regulation have cut back on the number of IPOs which increases the amount of time he devotes to M&A. He said that the main duty of transactional lawyers is to protect the client from making mistakes today that are going to have serious negative effects down the line. As a transactional attorney you help the client avoid the landmines that exist in the negotiation and implementation of deals by working closely with them and understanding their legal and business needs.

    End Note: Thanks to everyone who made it to the talk, we had a great turnout for a great event. We are planning on continuing the employer spotlight series by bringing in speakers who are in fields that the VLBS membership is interested in. If you have suggestions for the series or know somebody who would like to participate in the series let us know.

    Wednesday, March 23, 2011

    Meeting Minutes

    Thanks to everyone who made it out to our first meeting. There were great ideas put forth.  The future is bright for VLBS. Here are the big points from the meeting.

    1. We are taking applications for a new position on the executive board. The position is VP of Membership and this person will serve as a liaison for the general membership in the executive board. Interested individuals should email Steven Ryan

    2. Our purpose. The purpose of this organization is to be an umbrella organization at which channels student interest in law and business in a variety of ways. We will do this through publicizing events pertaining to our interests in business and law, coordinate student introduction to the law and business program at UVa law, foster alumni relations, networking, and more.

    3. We have a variety of programming ideas in the works. There currently is the employer spotlight event with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati on March 28th, and a law and business kickoff planned for September 7th.  The law and business kickoff is intended to be an introduction to the law and business groups and resources that we have at UVa law. We are also working on events that have to do with alternative careers in law and business, practice area spotlights, alumni networking, and professional skills sessions through the Career Services office.

    4. We are collecting dues for next year. For the rest of the semester dues are $10 and this covers your membership for next year as well. If you wait until next year to pay your dues it will be $15-$20.  So pay your dues now and save some money. Give your dues to Jason Mann (you can put them in his mailbox, and make checks out to Virginia Law & Business Society).  These dues will cover the high quality events we have planned and enable our organization to expand and grow. Dues paying members will be able to hold leadership positions and take full advantage of the organization. Also, you will get a shirt.

    5. The next steps for the organization. By the time to register for fall classes comes around we will have a "how to" guide on taking classes at Darden (without being a JD/MBA). We are also in the process of drafting a constitution for the organization and are attempting to secure office space from the SBA.

    6. Committees. If you are interested in joining a committee please email me and I will get information out to you about that process. We are planning on having an information session in which interested individuals can discuss how we want the committees to function in the future. There will be a need for committee involvement in events/planning as well as in communications.

    7. Listserv and feedback. If you want to be on the law and business society listserv please email me and I will add you to the list. Also, if you have any feedback or suggestions feel free to contact me or anyone else on the board. 

    Power Point Slides: Here