Corporate Law Center Announces 2019–2020 Colloquium Schedule

The Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law announced its 2019–2020 schedule for the Marvin A. Chirelstein Colloquium on Contemporary Issues in Law and Business, which brings leading members of the corporate bar, business and investment communities, judges and regulators to the Law School to discuss emerging practice and regulatory issues. Consistent with the aim of the Colloquium to provide a realistic sense of the varieties of business practice and business, the 2019–2020 Colloquium includes:

• a presentation on The Road Less Traveled by Yale Law Grads with David Richter ’92, Chief Business Officer of Lime;
• a discussion on the art of legislative advocacy with Mark Campisano ’80, Vice President, Tax, Pacific Life Insurance Company;
• a conversation with Michael Held, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; and
• a talk with Michèle O. Penzer ’93, Managing Partner, New York Office, Latham & Watkins LLP.

Other Colloquium speakers will touch upon protecting lawyer-client privilege in a high-profile case, the use of blockchain technology in regulated financial institutions, and journeying from family law to being the General Counsel of Tesla. 

 The Colloquium schedule is as follows:

September 11, 2019 — David Richter ’92, Chief Business Officer, Lime.

David Richter ’92 is the Chief Business Officer of Lime, the electric scooter sharing start-up. He joined Lime in October 2018.

Richter was Uber’s Global Head of Business and Corporate Development from June 2017 through May 2018. He was a member of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), reporting to the CEO, and led the business development, corporate development and brand relevance teams. Richter first joined Uber in January 2014 as Vice President, Strategic Initiatives.

Earlier, Richter held a wide variety of roles at startup companies, including leading business and corporate development, legal, finance and product teams. He played a significant role in DivX’s 2006 IPO and in the sale of two public companies — DivX in 2010 and Sonic Solutions in 2011. Richter was also a venture capitalist at Maveron, a lawyer in private practice and a professor of intellectual property law in China.

Richter holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and B.A. in Government from Cornell University.

September 19, 2019 — Joanna Calne Hendon ’91, Partner, Spears & Imes LLP.

Joanna C. Hendon is a Partner at Spears & Imes LLP, a boutique firm focused on complex litigation and investigative work in the areas of civil litigation, white collar criminal defense, and regulatory matters including securities enforcement. Hendon has been a litigator for more than 25 years, with substantial trial experience. In May 2019, Chambers & Partners shortlisted Hendon for its New York White Collar Crime & Government Investigations Lawyer of the Year award.  According to Chambers, Hendon receives widespread acclaim for her work and “fields an impressive string of recent victories in criminal cases, including at the appellate level.” Early in her career, Hendon was a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. There, she served in the Securities and Commodities Fraud Unit and prosecuted cases involving securities fraud, bribery, mail and wire fraud, and tax fraud. During her years as a prosecutor, Hendon tried numerous cases and argued appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In 2000, she received the U.S. Attorney General’s John Marshall Award, the Department of Justice’s highest award for excellence at trial.

October 16, 2019 — Todd A. Maron, former General Counsel, Tesla.

Todd A. Maron was the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Tesla’s Board of Directors from 2013 to January 2019. During his more than five years at Tesla, Maron led the company through every legal issue that it faced, including, among many others, litigation and legislative battles with franchised car dealers so that Tesla could sell its cars directly to the public, Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity so that it could grow from an automotive company to a fully-integrated sustainable energy company, the expansion of the company into China and other international markets, the raising of well over $5 billion of new capital, an extensive litigation docket, and numerous high-profile regulatory matters. During Maron’s tenure, Tesla grew from a company of 6,000 employees, annual vehicle sales of 20,000, and annual revenue of $2 billion, to a company of 45,000 employees, annual vehicle sales of almost 300,000, and annual revenue of over $21 billion. Maron’s leadership on the Tesla executive team extended beyond just the legal department, also having led a number of other teams, including Communications, Government Relations, Policy, Employee Health and Safety, and Security.

Prior to joining Tesla, Maron was a partner at Jaffe and Clemens, where he represented high net worth individuals in complicated family law matters from 2006 to 2013. Maron began his legal career as a litigator at Irell & Manella, where he litigated a wide range of commercial cases, including securities and patent litigation.

Maron graduated from New York University School of Law in 2003 and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 2000. While at Michigan, Maron was a student manager of the men's basketball team, serving as head student manager his senior year.

October 23, 2019 — Mark Campisano ’80, Vice President, Tax, Pacific Life Insurance Company.

Mark Campisano is Vice President, Tax at Pacific Life Insurance Company, in Newport Beach, California.  In this role, Campisano is responsible for (i) the overall corporate tax positions and compliance of the Company, and (ii) advising on tax issues relating to, e.g., the Company’s structure, products, investments, and potential acquisitions.  Prior to joining the Company, Campisano was, among other things, Head of Tax Planning at TIAA-CREF and Partner and General Tax Counsel at McKinsey & Company, Inc. Campisano also served as law clerk for Associate Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. on the U.S. Supreme Court and Chief Judge Wilfred Feinberg of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.  Campisano holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, was a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, and graduated with a B.A. (magna cum laude) from Harvard College.

November 14, 2019 — Michael Held, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Michael Held is general counsel and executive vice president of the Legal Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the group, which include Legal, Bank Applications, Compliance, the Corporate Secretary's Office, Federal Reserve Law Enforcement Unit, and Records Management. He is also a member of the Bank's Management Committee. In addition, he serves as deputy general counsel of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Held joined the New York Fed in 1998 as a staff attorney. He has been deputy general counsel and a senior vice president in the Legal Group where he established and managed the corporate affairs division and advised senior management on corporate governance, ethics and conflicts of interest, employment law and a host of other matters affecting the New York Fed. He has also been corporate secretary for the New York Fed where he advised the New York Fed’s board of directors regarding its oversight responsibilities during and after the financial crisis and served as the New York Fed's representative on the Presidential Transition Team in connection with Secretary Timothy Geithner's nomination and confirmation as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

Prior to joining the New York Fed, Held was an associate at McDermott, Will & Emery, LLP in the litigation department and prior to that, he was an associate at Kaye Scholer LLP in the labor and employment department.

Held holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in Human Service Studies and a juris doctor degree from New York University School of Law.

February 13, 2020 — Michèle O. Penzer ’93, Managing Partner, New York Office, Latham & Watkins LLP

Michèle O. Penzer is the Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins’ New York office and is a member of the firm’s Finance Department and the Banking Practice. Penzer has built a robust finance practice, navigating clients through some of the most volatile market conditions over the past two decades.

Penzer’s practice focuses primarily on the representation of a wide range of banks and alternative lenders, as well as borrowers, in leveraged finance transactions, including acquisition financings, project financings, other senior secured lending transactions, and restructurings in a broad range of industries, including energy, communications, retail, technology, and industrials. She has significant experience in the structuring, negotiation, and documentation of secured and unsecured credit facilities, offering clients seasoned guidance at every turn.

Penzer is recognized as a leading attorney and is ranked for U.S. banking and finance in Chambers Global, Chambers USA, and The Legal 500 U.S. In 2017, Penzer was named to the inaugural list of Leading Women Lawyers in New York by Crain’s New York Business.

Beyond the unwavering commitment to her clients, Penzer is charged with overseeing the firm’s commitment to the New York legal and business community and its sophisticated client base. Penzer has held multiple leadership roles, including as former Global Co-Chair of the Banking Practice, former member of the firm’s Executive Committee and former Chair of the firm's Diversity Committee and Associates Committee. She also helped to found Women Enriching Business (WEB), a firm-wide initiative developed to help give women the tools to develop networks and business development skills.

Penzer is a member of the State Bar of New York, the New York State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. She is on the Board of Directors of the New York Women’s Foundation, a member of the Board of Advisors of the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law, a member of the Advocacy Committee of Sanctuary for Families, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Hastings Center.

April 2, 2020 — Osamu Watanabe ’85, General Counsel, Moelis & Company.

Osamu Watanabe is General Counsel at Moelis & Company. He was previously General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Sagent Advisors and prior to that held senior positions at UBS, Credit Suisse First Boston and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, including General Counsel to GRP Partners, a venture capital fund affiliated with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Watanabe was in private practice at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Melbourne from 1987 to 1997 and clerked for the Honorable Morey L. Sear, Eastern District of Louisiana.

Watanabe holds a B.A. from Antioch College and a J.D. from Yale Law School, class of 1985.

April 8, 2020 — Umar Farooq ’00, Managing Director, Head of Digital Treasury Services and Head of Blockchain, Corporate & Investment Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Umar Farooq is the Head of Digital Treasury Services and Head of Blockchain for the Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB). Prior to his current role, Farooq was the Head of CIB Fintech and the CFO responsible for financial oversight and business management across Technology, Operations, and Controls. Previously, he held leadership positions in Chase Bank including Head of Small Business Segment and National Sales Manager for Chase Business Banking. Farooq joined JP Morgan Chase in 2009. Before joining JP Morgan Chase, he was the Chief Sales Officer for CIT Group where he led revenue growth across middle market and specialty lending businesses globally. Farooq holds a B.S. in Computer Science, B.S. in Economics, and M.Eng. in Computer Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Farooq received his J.D. from Yale Law School.

All Chirelstein Colloquiums are held at Yale Law School and are open to the Yale Community. Details are available at the Center’s website.

Marvin A. Chirelstein inspired numerous students to pursue careers in the business and tax fields while he was the William Nelson Cromwell Professor at the Law School from 1965–82. A master teacher and distinguished scholar, Chirelstein’s pathbreaking casebook with Victor Brudney on Corporate Finance (first ed. 1972) introduced modern finance into the law school business law curriculum and his guide to Federal Income Taxation, now in its 14th edition, continues to illuminate the arcane tax world to law students, for which all tax teachers are forever grateful.