MEDIA CONTACT: Pat Vaughan Tremmel at (847) 491-4892 or at p-tremmel@northwestern.edu

September 19, 2002

Legal Experts Focus on Corporate Changes

CHICAGO --- Leading practitioners, including former SEC chairman David S. Ruder and former Microsoft general counsel William Neukom, will discuss legal and legislative responses to Enron and WorldCom financial irregularities at Northwestern University School of Law’s 41st Annual Corporate Counsel Institute to be held in Chicago and San Francisco.

The institute will focus on best practices that corporations should adopt in the changing corporate law landscape.

Ruder, the William W. Gurley Memorial Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law, will deliver the keynote address at the Chicago session, to be held Oct. 10 and 11 at the School of Law, 357 E. Chicago Ave. Neukom will deliver the keynote address at the San Francisco session to be held Dec. 5 and 6 at Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St.

This annual Corporate Counsel Institute brings together distinguished legal experts from across the nation to analyze current trends and developments facing corporate counsel. Particularly timely, this year’s institute will focus on legal and legislative developments arising from the Enron and WorldCom situations and will provide practical solutions so that corporate counsel can respond appropriately. Participants will discuss the latest developments in disclosure obligations, enforcement and litigation, officer and director liability, intellectual property, privacy laws, and other common problems and solutions.

Under the leadership of Ruder, the Corporate Counsel Institute has flourished for more than 40 years. Northwestern University School of Law continues to build upon the strengths of its nationally prominent continuing legal education program by aggressively addressing rapidly evolving concerns of today’s legal and business worlds.

"This year’s program promises to be a leading analysis of the new financial and legal landscape facing corporate counsels," said David E. Van Zandt, dean and professor at Northwestern University School of Law. "David Ruder will provide invaluable insight as a former SEC chairman."

The annual institute, presented by the Corporate Counsel Center of Northwestern University School of Law, is being held in cooperation with the American Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association and the Bar Association of San Francisco.

Sponsored by the Northwestern University School of Law, the Corporate Counsel Institute is recognized for mandatory continuing legal education credit in New York, California, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and other states. Tuition is $900. For more information, go to www.law.northwestern.edu/contexec or call (312) 503-8932.