Center on Corporations, Law & Society

The Center on Corporations, Law & Society at Seattle University School of Law conducts and promotes interdisciplinary scholarship and dialogue on issues related to the roles and obligations of corporations in an increasingly privatized and interdependent global society. In addition to serving as a platform for enhanced scholarly inquiry, the Center provides a forum for sustained discussion among academics, legal practitioners, business leaders, activists, policy makers and community members on the complex and important relationships between business enterprises and their many stakeholders. Read more about CCLS.

News & Announcements

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN: Sixth Annual Seattle University Directors Training Academy on Thursday, June 12, 2008: The annual Directors Training Academy, hosted by the Center on Corporations, Law & Society in collaboration with the National Association of Corporate Directors, provides corporate board directors, senior executives and their counsel with the finest real world advice about important issues in corporate governance. Some of the confirmed speakers include:

• Howard Behar, Director, Starbucks Corp., the Gap, Inc.;
• Deborah Bevier, Director, F5, Coinstar, Fisher Communications;
• Dan Bross, Senior Director for Corporate Citizenship, Microsoft;
• Fran Conley, President and Founder, Roanoke Capital, Ltd.; former CEO and Board Chair, Cutter & Buck; former director, Edmark Corp., Data I/O Corporation, and REI;
• Richard Cooley, Chairman and CEO (Retired) of Seafirst Bank; Chairman and CEO (Retired) of Wells Fargo Bank;
• Karl Ege, Senior Counsel, Perkins Coie; former Chief Legal Officer, Russell Investments;
• Keith Grinstein, Partner, Second Avenue Partners; Director, F5 Networks, Coinstar, Labor Ready;
• Bob Nuber, Shareholder and Chairman, Emeritus, Clark Nuber;
• Broc Romanek, Editor, TheCorporateCounsel.net;
• Steve Reynolds, Chairman, CEO & President, Puget Energy and Puget Sound Energy;
• Paula Rosput Reynolds, CEO & President, Safeco; Director, Delta Airlines;
• Judith Runstad, Director, Safeco, Inc., Wells Fargo, Potlatch; Of Counsel, Foster Pepper PLLC;
• Kathy Surace-Smith, VP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, SonoSite;
• Peter van Oppen, Director, Isilon Systems; former CEO & Chair of ADIC
• Betty Woods, Board Chair, Beckman Coulter; former President & CEO of Premera Blue Cross.

Registration and detailed agenda information has been posted...(Sixth Annual Directors Training Academy)

CCLS Adds Distinguished Faculty Fellow: Professor Kent Greenfield: The Center on Corporations, Law & Society at Seattle University School of Law is pleased to announce that Professor Kent Greenfield of Boston College Law School will serve as its 2007-2008 Distinguished Faculty Fellow. Professor Greenfield, who as a leader among progressive corporate law scholars has worked informally with the Center on Corporations, Law & Society since its inception, will engage in scholarship efforts and special projects to amplify the Center’s mission of fostering dialogue and scholarship on the role law plays in understanding the relationship between corporations and society. Most recently, Professor Greenfield authored the book The Failure of Corporate Law: Fundamental Flaws and Progressive Possibilities (University of Chicago Press, 2007), which was called a “seminal” work in a book review in the Law and Politics Book Review. He also spoke at the Summit on the Future of the Corporation in November, 2008 based on his contributed paper. Learn more about CCLS Distinguished Faculty Fellow Kent Greenfield.

New Scholarship in Harvard Law & Policy Review: CCLS Distinguished Faculty Fellow Kent Greenfield’s most recent article, "Reclaiming Corporate Law in a New Gilded Age," was published in the Winter 2008 volume of the Harvard Law & Policy Review...(Read Full Law Review Article)

Corporations & the First Amendment: Examining the Health of Democracy: The proceedings from the Center on Corporations, Law & Society October 2006 conference featuring nationally-recognized scholars, attorneys, policymakers, and activists were published in the Seattle University Law Review’s Summer 2007 issue and are available for purchase. To order this symposium issue, contact sulawrev@seattleu.edu. Read an article about this cutting-edge conference in the November 2006 issue of the King County Bar Bulletin.