Dean Mark A. Sargent Presents Foulston Siefkin Lecture
Dean Mark A. Sargent, Villanova University School of Law, presented the 25th Annual Foulston Siefkin Lecture in the Robinson Courtroom and Bianchino Technology Center on Friday, February 21, 2003. Dean Sargent's lecture was entitled "Lawyers in the Perfect Storm: Sarbanes-Oxley § 307 and Corporate Lawyering Post Enron" and will appear as the lead article in the first issue of volume 43 of the Washburn Law Journal in Fall 2003.
Dean Sargent outlined factors that led to the recent failure of Enron and other large corporations, and discussed the legislation enacted to prevent such failures in the future. He pointed out that some factors were already violations of then existing law, but concluded that much of the new expanded regulation of corporations is probably justified. He went on to address the impact of new legislation on attorneys involved in corporate governance - highlighting the requirement under § 307 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that attorneys must disclose the wrongdoing of corporate clients and predicting how he believes § 307 will be implemented by corporate regulators. The statute sets up a tension between the traditional view of attorney-client confidentiality and the new idea of attorneys having a duty to inform the public of wrongdoing. Ultimately because of this tension, Dean Sargent believes there is reason to question whether the new rules, including § 307, will in fact stem the kind of corporate wrongdoing witnessed in the late 1990s.
In addition to his lecture, Sargent also made a presentation to faculty entitled "The Legal Dimensions of the Sexual Abuse Crisis in the Roman Catholic Church" on Thursday.
Mark Sargent has been Dean of the Villanova University School of Law since 1997, where he is also Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Villanova Journal of Law and Investment Management. He was formerly Piper & Marbury Professor of Law, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Faculty Editor of The Business Lawyer, and Director of the Law and Entrepreneurship program at the University of Maryland School of Law. A graduate of Cornell Law School and Wesleyan University, Professor Sargent has also taught at the law schools of Southern Methodist University, American University, and the University of Baltimore. Prior to entering law teaching, he practiced corporate and securities law with the Boston law firm of Csaplar & Bok.
Dean Sargent teaches courses in business organizations, securities regulation and the law of investment management, and has also published extensively in these fields. He has been honored with appointments as a memeber of the American Law Institute, as Reporter of the Revision of the Uniform Securities Act for the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, and as a member of the National Ajudicatory Council of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., the national self-regulatory organization for the brokerage industry. He also has been a lecturer for the ABA, ALI-ABA, PLI, and various state continuing education programs, and has served as an arbitrator in securities and corporate law disputes, an administrative hearing judge in state securities enforcement actions, and as an expert witness for the Securities and Exchange Commission, state securities regulators, and private litigants.
Since 1978, the Foulston Siefkin Lecture has been sponsored by the Wichita law firm of Foulston Siefkin LLP to enrich the quality of education at Washburn University School of Law. This lecture series brings a prominent legal scholar to Washburn Law to challenge and enhance the legal thinking of our students, faculty, and the Washburn Law Journal readership. Articles derived from the Foulston Siefkin Lecture are published in the Washburn Law Journal.
Duston J. Slinkard contributed the summary of Dean Sargent's lecture to this article.
