Agenda
Breaking Through Power Draft Agenda – All Times are Approximate
Day One – Monday, September 26, 2016, Carnegie Institution of Washington Building
Building Civic Skills, Breaking Through Apathy
Moderator: Oliver Hall
9:00 am Galvanizing Democratic Energies for Justice and Posterity
Ralph Nader, Author and Consumer Advocate
9:10 am Crime in the Suites, Crime in the Streets and Corporate Personhood—The Big Change
Russell Mokhiber, Editor, Corporate Crime Reporter
9:30 am Power for the People- What Our Energy Policy Should Be
David Freeman, Friends of the Earth, Former Head of Tennessee Valley Authority
9:50 am Teaching Taxes- Politics and Practice
John Fox, Federal Tax Policy Expert
10:10 am How Congress Really Works
Joan Claybrook, President Emeritus, Public Citizen
10:30 am A Citizen’s Guide to Freeing the Press
Janine Jackson, Program Director, FAIR
10:50 am Small Claims Courts – the People’s Courts—Why Not Use Them?
Oliver Hall, Director and Founder, Center for Competitive Democracy
11:10 am Community Business is Revolutionary
Neil Seldman, Senior Staff, Waste to Wealth Initiative, Director of Recycling-Based Economic Development Program – Institute for Local Self Reliance
11:30 am Organizing for Safe Food
Ralph Nader interviews Mike Jacobson, President, Center for Science in the Public Interest
11:50 am Empowering Consumers
David Vladeck, Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
12:10 pm Stopping Corporate Power & Money in Politics
Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen
12:30: Lunch
1:20 pm The Importance of Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protections
Robert Vaughn, Professor Emeritus, American University Washington College of Law
1:40 pm Public Sentiment and Social Change—What it Takes
Peter Dreier, Chair of Urban & Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College
2:00 pm Training for Change
Jordan Estevao, Senior Strategist, National People’s Action
2:20 pm Overcoming Civic Apathy
Ralph Nader
2:40 pm Teaching Civics- A View from the Classroom
Moderator Katherine Isaac, Author of Civics for Democracy, APWU
Ayo Magwood
Robyn Lingo
Julian Dotson
3:20 pm Building A Movement
Wendy Fields, Executive Director, Democracy Initiative
3:40 pm Civic Engagement— the Responsibility of Business Leaders
Mitch Rofsky, President, Better World Club
4:00 pm The New Citizen Library
Ralph Nader
Kim O’Neil, Former President- National Council for the Social Studies
4:30 pm The Other “One Percent” for Making Change
Ralph Nader
4:50 pm Audience Feedback and Questions
5:30 pm Reception at Carnegie Institution
Tuesday, September 27, 2016, Carnegie Institution of Washington Building
Controlling What We Own, Shifting the Power
Moderator: Knut Rostad
9:00 am Turning Long Established, Commonly Held Assets into the Common Good
Ralph Nader
9:30 am Taking on Corporate Abuses by Organizing the Grassroots Stakeholders
Ray Rogers, Founder and Director of New York City based Corporate Campaign
9:50 am Reinvigorating the SEC
Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO, Better Markets
10:10 am Stock Buybacks and Executive Pay
William Lazonick, Professor of Economics, UMass Lowell
10:30 am The Extent and limits of Shareholder Control Over Management
Nell Minow, Vice Chair, ValueEdge Advisors
10:50 am Shareholder Activism- Past, Present, and Future
Robert A. G. Monks co-founder of Institutional Shareholder Services, Lens Investment Management, Lens Governance Advisors and The Corporate Library.
11:10 am The Perils of Corporate Personhood
Jeffrey Clements, President of American Promise and co-founder of Free Speech for People
11:30 am Blowing the Whistle on Securities Fraud
Sean McKessy, Attorney
11:50 am Shareholder Resolutions for Justice and Accountability
Rob McGarrah, AFL-CIO Office of Investment
12:10 pm A New Approach to Mobilize Shareholders—the Penny Brigade
Lloyd Constantine, Attorney
12:30 pm Lunch
1:20 pm Fiduciary Duties as if shareholders mattered
John Bogle, the founder and former CEO of The Vanguard Group.
1:40 pm Curbing Abuse of Shareholders through Litigation
William Lerach, Shareholder Advocate
2:00 pm Private Enforcement Myth or Reality
J. Maria Glover, Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
2:20 pm Controlling What We Own – Defending the Commons
David Bollier, Co-founder of the Commons Strategies Group, and “Blogger” at Bollier.org
2:40 pm The Real Purpose of Public Corporations
Lynn Stout, Professor of Law, Cornell
3:00 pm Turning the lights out on major financial fraud
William Black, Professor, UMKC School of Law
3:20 pm Public Banking
Ellen Brown, Founder, Public Banking Institute
3:40 pm Corporate Tax Dodges and Closing Corporate Tax Loopholes
James Henry, Senior Fellow, Columbia University Center On Sustainable Investment & former Chief Economist — McKinsey & Co
4:00 pm The Power of Knowing and Doing
Ralph Nader
4:20 pm Audience Feedback and Questions
5:30 pm Callaway Awards at Carnegie Institution
Wednesday September 28, 2016, DAR Constitution Hall
Models for Citizen Action and D.C. Statehood
Moderator: Tom O’Brien
9:00 am Opening Remarks and Proposals for a Secretariat to Prevent War, Organizing the Patrons of Advocacy and Creating an Audience Network
Ralph Nader
9:20 am Empowering Students
Andre Delattre, President, US PIRG and Student PIRG Leader
Saman Azimi, PIRG Student Leader, UConn
Donald Ross, Attorney
9:40 am Building Alumni Civic Organizations
Andrew Nurkin, Princeton AlumniCorps (undergraduate)
Bert Brandenburg, Appleseed (graduate – law schools)
10:00 am Building Community Through Bartering Time Dollars
Edgar Cahn, Professor, UDC David A. Clark School of Law
10:20 am Revitalizing Consumer Cooperatives
David Thompson, Co-Principal, Neighborhood Partners LLC
10:40 am Sustainable Funding Models for Organizing- CUBs & Cy Pres
Pat Quinn, Former Governor of Illinois
Tom O’Brien, US Steel Workers
Leah M. Nicholls, Staff Attorney, Public Justice
11:20 am How Events Spark the Creation of Organizations.
Laura Barrett, Center for Health, Environment and Justice
11:40 am How Professions Can Advance the Public Interest
Joan Claybrook, President Emeritus, Public Citizen
12:00 pm Lunch
DC Statehood—Why and What it Takes
1:00 pm Ending the Servitude and Abolishing the Colony
Ralph Nader
1:10 pm Why now is the Time for Statehood
Phil Mendelson- DC Council Chairman
1:20 pm Getting Statehood Through Congress—Strategy and Resources
Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, Delegate to Congress, DC
1:35 pm The Case for Statehood—Ending the Colony
Mark Plotkin –Poltical Commentator (Moderator for panel)
Michael Brown,DC Senator
Franklin Garcia, DC Representative
2:05 pm Mobilizing for Action in The District of Columbia and the Nation—When, How and With What
Rev. Graylan Hagler, Plymouth United Church of Christ
Keshini Ladduwahetty, Chairperson- DC for Democracy
Anise Jenkins, “Free DC” movement
Scott McLarty, DC Statehood Green
Josh Burch, Neighbors United for DC Statehood
2:55 pm Building Support for Democracy with the D.C. Establishment
Anthony Williams, Former Mayor of Washington, DC and Executive Director of Federal City Council
3:15 pm Voter Suppression
Hillary Shelton, NAACP Washington Bureau Director
3:45 pm The Best DC Constitution, The US Constitution and DC Statehood
Betsy Cavendish, DC General Counsel
Alan Morrison, Professor of Law, George Washington School of Law
4:15 pm Making Statehood a Presidential Priority—Mobilizing for Statehood Nationwide
Congressman John Conyers
4:45 pm The Winning Strategy – And a Proclamation
Ralph Nader
5:30 pm Program followed by Reception at Carnegie Institution of Washington
Thursday September 29, 2016 DAR Constitution Hall
Recognizing the Law of Torts and the Civil Justice System – Defending Yourself
Moderator: Carl Mayer
9:00 am The Underutilization of Tort Law – Our Freedom Tool for Justice
Ralph Nader
9:10 am The Need to Educate the Public on The Importance of Tort Law
Richard Newman, Executive Director, American Museum of Tort Law
9:30 am Celebrating Tort Law
Andrew F. Popper- Professor, American University Washington College of Law
9:50 am The Important History of Evolving Tort Law
Joseph Page- Professor Emeritus, Georgetown Law
10:10 am Why Lawsuits are Good For America
Carl T. Bogus, Professor of Law at Roger Williams University
10:30 am The Historic Role of the Civil Jury – and its perilous future
Andrew Guthrie Ferguson Professor of Law, UDC School of Law
10:50 am The Need to Build Citizen Support for Tort Law
Harvey Rosenfield, Founder, Consumer Watchdog
11:00 am Plaintiffs for Justice
Moderator: Harvey Rosenfield
Susan Vento
Mary Ann Karth
Laura Christian
Todd Anderson
11:40 am Litigating for Justice
Thomas V. Girardi, Attorney
12:00 pm Opportunities and Responsibilities of a 360 degree legal practice
Shanin Specter, Attorney
12:20 pm Lunch and Tort Film from AMTL
1:00 pm Using and Defending Class Action litigation
Pamela Gilbert, Attorney
1:20 pm Recognizing New Torts: The Case Study of Bad Faith
Bill Shernoff, Attorney
1:50 pm How the Supreme Court Coddles Tort Perpetrators
Carl Mayer, Attorney
2:10 pm Trial Lawyers for Justice
Moderator: F. Paul Bland
Past winners of the Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year Award
Harry Deitzler
Gerson Smoger
Mary Alexander
2:50 pm Case Study the Power of Tort Law to Break through Secrecy and Entrenched Coverups.
Mitchell Garabedian, Attorney
3:10 pm The Frontiers of Tort Law -Climate Change
Matthew Pawa, Attorney
3:30 pm Tort law and Mass Deception by Fine Print
Margaret Jane Radin, Law Professor
3:50 pm Cybertorts
Professor Michael L. Rustad, Suffolk University Law School
4:10 pm Fighting Malpractice and the Attempts to limit the rights of injured patients
Jack Olender, Attorney
4:30 pm How Tort “Deform” Harms Us
Professor Lucinda Finley, Vice Provost SUNY Buffalo Law School
4:50 pm The Agenda for Advancing Justice
Joanne Doroshow, Founder and Executive Director, Center for Justice and Democracy
5:10 pm Getting Serious About Restoring Tort Law and its Availability for the Wrongfully Injured
Ralph Nader
