School of Law follows lecture with symposium on Nov. 11
Kansas City, Mo. – The financial crisis and Great Recession cost more than 10 million Americans their jobs and destroyed more than $10 trillion in wealth. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission has concluded the crisis was not just bad luck – it was avoidable. From 6 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10, Phil Angelides, chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, will present a free public lecture titled “The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission’s Autopsy of Our Failed Financial System” at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Law‘s E.E. “Tom” Thompson Courtroom, 500 E. 52nd St., Kansas City, Mo.
Angelides has earned national acclaim as an effective public and private sector leader in the fields of investor protection, finance, housing and corporate and financial market reform.
During his eight years in elected office, Angelides transformed the California State Treasurer’s Office into a force for progress. In 2002, he warned of excesses and abuses in the nation’s financial markets, mobilizing pension funds and investors across the country to push for reforms, fight fraud, curb egregious executive compensation and expand shareholder and investor rights.
Symposium – “FCIC and the Crisis: Preventing the Next Financial Meltdown”
Following the lecture, the UMKC Law Review will present a symposium titled “FCIC and the Crisis: Preventing the Next Financial Meltdown,” featuring the chair and the executive director of the FCIC, as well as leading scholars and experts on the financial system. The program will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 11 at the School of Law. Continuing education credits are available for the symposium.
In conjunction with the symposium, UMKC Continuing Legal Education (CLE) will present a program titled “Investigating and Preventing Fraud Claims against Banks, Officers and Agents,” which is designed for lawyers interested in litigating claims arising out of the financial crisis.
The CLE program focuses on mortgage fraud, which the FBI predicted would cause the U.S. financial crisis. Since then, U.S. federal agencies, state attorneys general and financial institutions have filed suits or enforcement actions alleging fraud against leading nonprime lenders. Bankruptcy investigations also have demonstrated that the banks were active players in massive fraud schemes.
“Federal agencies frequently hire private counsel to prosecute their fraud claims and recovery actions,” said Bill Black, associate professor of Economics and Law. “The size of the claims and recoveries in these actions has been staggering. It is essential, however, to understand fraud mechanisms and how to investigate financial frauds if one is to be successful in securing a recovery for the client. In particular, federal law and judicial philosophies can be hostile to suits against financial elites.”
As co-chairs, Black and Rafe Foreman, Douglas Stripp Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of Advocacy, have assembled a team of attorneys who have demonstrated the ability to detect, investigate and prosecute fraud while recovering assets.
Black was the executive director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention; litigation director of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board; deputy director of the FSLIC, SVP and General Counsel of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco; and Senior Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of Thrift Supervision. He is the author of “The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One: How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted the S&L Industry” and regularly contributes to national and international stories about the financial crisis.
Foreman joined UMKC after a distinguished career as a trial lawyer, most recently as a partner at Foreman, Lewis & Hutchison P.C. in Grapevine, Texas. He served as a litigation specialist, handling cases involving criminal defense, plaintiff’s personal injury, civil rights, employment, discrimination, wrongful death, excessive force and Section 1983, which is the primary means of enforcing constitutional rights.
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