Part 1: Where is the legal profession today and where is it likely to go in the future?

Bryant Garth is Chancellor’s Professor at the University California-Irvine School of Law, where he has taught since 2012. He served as dean of Southwestern Law School (2005 –2012); dean of the Indiana University-Bloomington School of Law (1986 –1990); and director of the American Bar Foundation (1990 –2004). His scholarship focuses on the legal profession, the sociology of law and globalization. Two of his books co-authored with Yves Dezalay, DEALING IN VIRTUE (1996) and ASIAN LEGAL REVIVALS (2010), were given the Herbert Jacobs Award as the best books in the field of Law and Society published that year. Garth served as co-editor of the Journal of Legal Education from 2011– 2014. He is on the executive coordinating committee of the “After the J.D.” project, the first longitudinal study of the legal profession; chairs the advisory committee of the Law School Survey of Student Engagement; and serves on the board of the National Association of Law Placement Foundation.

Gillian K. Hadfield is the Richard L. and Antoinette Schamoi Kirtland Professor of Law and professor of economics at the University of Southern California. She studies the design of legal and dispute resolution systems; contracting; and the performance and regulation of legal markets and the legal profession. Her recent work focuses on the innovation and design of legal institutions and regulations to promote access to justice and economic growth in both advanced and developing countries, and relational contracting, particularly in innovative and rapidly evolving settings. Hadfield served as clerk to Chief Judge Patricia Wald on the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit. She has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Columbia and NYU law schools, a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, and a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution. She is a past president of the Canadian Law and Economics Association.

David B. Wilkins is the Lester Kissel Professor of Law, vice dean for global initiatives on the legal profession, and faculty director of the Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School. He is also a senior research fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of the Faculty Committee of Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics. Wilkins has given over 45 endowed lectures at universities around the world and is a frequent speaker at professional conferences and law firm and corporate retreats. He is the author of over 80 articles on the legal profession in leading scholarly journals as well as a co-author of several books, including THE INDIAN LEGAL PROFESSION IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION (forthcoming 2016), DIVERSITY IN PRACTICE (2015) and PROBLEMS IN PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR A CHANGING PROFESSION (5th edition, 2009). His research interests include the legal profession, legal ethics, diversity and globalization.

Michael A. Battle ’81 is a Senior Partner at Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP, focusing on complex commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and appeals. He previously served as Director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, where he oversaw all 93 United States Attorneys. He then was a partner at the Washington D.C. office of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, where he worked on cases involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, health care fraud, False Claims Act cases, and Disadvantaged Business regulatory violations.

Douglas W. Dimitroff ’89, a partner in Phillips Lytle LLP, focuses his practice in the areas of commercial real estate and telecommunications law as leader of the firm’s Project Development and Telecommunications Teams. He represents some of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. He also has extensive commercial real estate expertise having represented a broad range of clients on office, industrial, retail and mixed use projects. He is also the leader of the Canadian Cross Border Team.

Ann E. Evanko ’79 is President and Managing Member of Hurwitz & Fine, P.C. Her primary areas of practice are Employment Law, Corporate Law and Business & Commercial Litigation. She advises clients on all aspects of employment law issues and defends employers in the full range of litigated matters including claims of discrimination, employment contract disputes and covenants not-to-compete. She also regularly advises clients on employment risk management and conducts in-house training programs.