BLJ Symposium: Corporate Ethics in a Changing World

The 2021 UC Davis Business Law Symposium invites you to engage in critical conversations about corporate ethics in a changing world as we discuss key issues related to the corporate workplace of the digital age. Join us as experts in academia, legal practice, and activism discuss the role of ethics in technological innovation, the duties a corporation owes to its community, and how diversity, equity, and inclusion are best promoted in the corporate workplace. Reception to follow. Register for the Zoom link.

10–11:30 a.m. Ethics in Technology

Question: What role should ethics play in technological innovation?
Moderator: Stacy-Ann Elvy (Professor of Privacy Law and Technology Law at UC Davis School of Law)

Panelists:
Peter-Paul Verbeek (Chair of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, Chair of the Philosophy Department at the University of Twente, member of the Dutch Council for the Humanities)
Anders Albrechtslund (Director of the Center for Surveillance Studies, Professor in the Department of Digital Design and Information Studies)
Daniel Barcay (Vice President of Planet Labs, former Chief Technology Officer of Thiel Macro)
Peter Lee (Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Innovation and Technology Transfer at UC Davis School of Law)

1–2:30 p.m. Corporations & Community

Question: What duties does a corporation owe to its community?
Moderator: William Dodge (Professor of International Business Transactions at UC Davis School of Law, author of Business and Human Rights Litigation in U.S. Courts Before and After Kiobel)

Panelists:
Sohair Salam Saber (President of the Hague Institute for Global Justice, Principal at Wasel & Wasel)
Erin Axelrod (Partner at LIFT Economy, Specialty in Accelerating the Spread of Climate-Benefitting and Land-Based Businesses)
Kevin Bayuk (Partner at LIFT Economy, Senior Financial Fellow at Project Drawdown, Focus on Addressing Climate Change through Existing Practices and Technologies)
Frederick Alexander (Founder of The Shareholder Commons, former Managing Partner at Morris, Nichols, Arsht, & Tunnell LLP)

2:45 – 4:15 p.m. Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Question: How are diversity, equity, and inclusion best promoted in the corporate workplace?
Moderator: Renetta Garrison Tull (Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at UC Davis)

Panelists:
Veronica Root Martinez (Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, Director of the Program on Ethics, Compliance, & Inclusion)
Tracy Richelle High (Partner in Sullivan & Cromwell’s Litigation Group, Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee)
Lisa M. Fairfax (Professor of Business Law at The George Washington University Law School, Co-Director of the DirectWomen Board Institute)
Frank Dobbin (Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, author of Inventing Equal Opportunity)

4:30 – 5:30 p.m. Reception