Mississippi College Law Symposium on BP Gulf Oil Spill

On this Friday, February 18, Mississippi College School of Law will be hosting a law review symposium, Beyond the Horizon: The Gulf Oil Spill Crisis -- Analyzing Economic, Environmental, and Legal Implications of the Oil Spill.  Here's the short-form brochure:  Download MC Law Review Symposium Brochure.

Speakers include Professors Jamison Colburn (Penn State), Kenneth Murchison (LSU), David Robertson (Texas), Edward Sherman (Tulane), and Trudy Fisher (Miss. Dep't Envt'l Quality).  Moderators include Jeffrey Jackson (Mississippi College) and Betty Ruth Fox (Watkins & Eager).  Papers will subsequently be published in the Mississippi College Law Review.

I will also be speaking at the symposium, discussing issues of claim-administrator compensation, transparency, and independence in connection with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility.  My talk will expand upon my prior blog posts raising concerns (see here and here), which last summer triggered two articles in Forbes (see here and here), as well as a post from Legal Ethics Forum.  Two weeks ago, the federal MDL court overseeing the BP litigation granted in part plaintiffs' motion to have the court oversee communications by the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, and the MDL court ordered that the Gulf Coast Claims Facility may not state that it is "neutral" or completely "independent" of BP.  Here's the MDL opinion:  Download Order - Mot to Supervise GCCF Doc 1098 2-2-2011.  On the recent MDL opinion, see also this Reuters article from Moira Herbst, quoting David Logan (Roger WIlliams), Monroe Freedman (Hofstra), and me.

BGS

UPDATE -- Here's the full-length brochure for the symposium:  Download MC Law BP Symposium Handout.