Zicklin Insights
ZICKLIN TALKS Business
Webinar Series
Please join Dean Bruce Weber, our benefactor Larry Zicklin, faculty members, and special guests for these webinars, featuring business executives and faculty discussing current business topics. This webinar series is offered by the Office of Executive Programs.
Litigation Finance: An Innovation in Legal Services
October 8, 11 am
Imagine you are a corporate plaintiff, and you have a high-value legal claim but you don’t want to spend your company’s working capital to pursue it, or you don’t want to wait years for the case to resolve to be able to put your expected recovery to use.
Enter the world of legal finance, where leading law firms and Fortune 500 companies use capital from legal finance providers such as Burford pay for claims to proceed or to accelerate the expected value of pending claims, judgments and awards. The capital is non-recourse, meaning the financier only receives its money back if the case wins. Thus, the risk to corporate clients and law firms is shifted to the legal finance provider.
What is the process for financing cases? What kinds of matters do legal finance providers most often pursue? How does legal finance benefit both law firms and companies? What are some notable cases? Are there disadvantages to using legal finance? What are the broader economic benefits?
In this session, Larry Zicklin (BBA, ’57, left) discusses these questions with Christopher Bogart, Esq., (top left), CEO and co-founder of Burford Capital, and the leading innovator in this field. With an introduction by Zicklin School Dean Bruce Weber (right) and a Q&A session moderated by Associate Dean Gwendolyn Webb (top right).
The Future of Work
September 10, 2024 at 11 am
First there was the COVID-19 pandemic. Then came the widespread implementation of remote work enabled by new technologies. Then came flexible work schedules combining remote and in-person work. Now we seem to have confusion.
Where is the world of work headed? Are businesses properly identifying which jobs can be done remotely and which are better in person? Are they finding the ideal mix for their own workforce?
More important for college students, what are the implications of remote work for younger workers establishing their professional credentials? What are the implications for employee engagement and organizational commitment? What research and solid evidence do we have on these questions, if any?
In this session, Larry Zicklin (BBA, ’57, left) discusses these questions with Stephan Dilchert (top left), Associate Professor of Management in the Narendra Paul Loomba Department of Management at the Zicklin School of Business, and Dan Clivner (BBA, ’85), Esq.(top center), Managing Partner LA and Global Co-Head of Private Equity at Sidley Austin LLP. With an introduction by Zicklin School Dean Bruce Weber (right) and a Q&A session moderated by Associate Dean Gwendolyn Webb (top right).
Video coming soon!
FTC Bans Non-Competes: What Are the Implications for Business?
July 9, 2024 at 11 am
The FTC recently announced a new rule banning non-compete agreements (NCAs) with the rosy goals of promoting competition and of making it easier for workers to change jobs and form innovative new businesses.
Why do businesses use NCAs? Which uses are most (or least) defensible? Which types of businesses have the most to lose if their uses of NCAs are curtailed? Are there alternatives that businesses can use to gain equivalent protections against the loss of competitive information?
Is the FTC rule consistent with the almost dizzying array of existing state laws that also govern business uses of NCAs? What about non-compete agreements that are written and either not enforced or are not enforceable?
In this session, Larry Zicklin (BBA, ’57, left) discusses these questions with Lauren Aydinliyim (top left), Assistant Professor of Strategic Management in the Narendra Paul Loomba Department of Management at the Zicklin School of Business and Prof. Matt Marx (top center), the Bruce F. Failing, Sr. Chair in Entrepreneurship at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. With an introduction by Zicklin School Dean Bruce Weber (right) and a Q&A session moderated by Associate Dean Gwendolyn Webb (top, right).
Video coming soon!
Elon Musk and the $56 Billion Pay Package: Should There Be Any Limits on CEO Compensation?
June 11, 2024 at 11 am
Elon Musk, CEO and product architect of Tesla, is famous for his unconventional compensation package, which includes large grants of stock options designed to incentivize him to drive the firm to meet ambitious market value goals. While the $56 billion in pay indicates that the firm met the performance goals set in the package, it raises important questions.
How high should executive compensation be? Is its purpose to reward the CEO without limit, or to provide just enough incentives to reach certain company goals? Is there any way of knowing how much of a firm’s performance can truly be attributed to one person? Or whether and how a firm’s financial success should be shared with the shareholders as a group, not to mention the firm’s employees, customers, vendors, and local towns and cities?
In this session, Larry Zicklin (BBA, ’57, left) discusses these questions with Jeroen van Kwawegen, Esq (top left)., of the law firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP, and Gregory Varallo, Esq (top, center)., also of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP. With an introduction by Zicklin School Dean Bruce Weber (right) and a Q&A session moderated by Associate Dean Gwendolyn Webb (top right).
Video Coming Soon!
Is Private Equity the Business of Plunderers, or Just a Part of Our Capitalist System?
May 14, 11 am
Some private equity firms have really bad reputations. They have been the cause of the near or full destruction of formerly well-run, stable firms, such as Toys “R” Us, HCR ManorCare, and Allstate Insurance, among many others. In some cases, the destruction has spread widely within an industry, such as healthcare.
Among the original premises of private equity firms is that they would take on troubled firms, improve their operational efficiencies, and help restore them to profitability. Taking into consideration the serious harm that private equity firms have done to the economy, we ask whether there are any private equity firms that deserve praise for doing what they were intended to do—that is, turning around underperforming and struggling firms for the benefit of all.
In this session, Larry Zicklin (BBA, ’57, left) discusses these questions with Gretchen Morgenson (top left), co-author with Joshua Rosner of These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs — and Wrecks — America. She is currently the senior financial reporter with the NBC News Investigative Unit, and before that wrote for both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for financial reporting. With an introduction by Zicklin School Dean Bruce Weber (right) and a Q&A session moderated by Associate Dean Gwendolyn Webb (top right).
Will the Insurance Industry Help Solve Our Climate Challenge?
April 9, 2024 at 11 am
One of the biggest impediments in addressing climate change is the fact that the public sees little or no economic incentive to do so, when it is others who bear the cost of climate-related events. But insurance companies are suddenly either refusing to write homeowner’s insurance in areas they consider too risky or pricing climate risk into the premiums and making the insurance unaffordable. And the public is beginning to feel the pain.
We will be discussing the implications of these changes in insurance coverage and prices on both business and the general public, as well as changing government policies in this area.
In this session, Larry Zicklin (BBA, ’57, left) discusses these questions with Lin Peng, (top left), Krell Chair Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, and Alice Hill (top, center), the David M. Rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations. With an introduction by Zicklin School Dean Bruce Weber (right) and a Q&A session moderated by Associate Dean Gwendolyn Webb (top right).
Understanding Online Scammers and Victims:
A Cameroon-based Study
March 12, 2024 at 11 am
We have all heard the very sad stories of victims of online scams who have lost money, the affection of a hoped-for pet, or even the love of their life. But we hardly know anything about the scammers themselves.
Who exactly are they? Why are so many of them from African countries? Are they motivated solely by financial gain? Is this their career path? How do they feel about their victims? What are the costs to their societies over and above the losses their victims suffer? What can we learn by knowing more about the scammers themselves?
In this session, Larry Zicklin (BBA, ’57, left) discusses these questions with Alain Claude Tambe Ebot (top left), Assistant Professor, Department of Information Systems and Statistics, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, and Volkan Topalli (top, center), Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, The Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University. With an introduction by Zicklin School Dean Bruce Weber (right) and a Q&A session moderated by Associate Dean Gwendolyn Webb (top right).
Why is Baseball The Only Professional Sport to Have An Antitrust Exemption?
February 13, 2024 at 11 am
Unique among professional sports in the US, Major League Baseball is exempt from antitrust laws, allowing owners to take anti-competitive actions to their benefit at the expense of players, rival sports leagues, and even their devoted fans.
The exemption dates back to 1922. How did it come about? Is it really fair for baseball to have this exemption, while other major sports don’t have it? How has it affected the game and the business of baseball? How has it lasted so long? What are the modern legal and economic arguments in favor of ending the exemption? What changes are likely, or even feasible, in view of the current state of legal cases challenging it?
In this session, Larry Zicklin (BBA, ’57, left) discusses these questions with Marc Edelman (top left), Professor of Law, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, and John T. Holden (Top, center), Associate Professor, William S. Spears Chair in Business Administration, Spears School of Business, Oklahoma State University. With an introduction by Zicklin School Dean Bruce Weber (right) and a Q&A session moderated by Associate Dean Gwendolyn Webb (top right).