2025 Business Law Review Symposium: Rethinking Going Public

10/24

Add to Calendar 2025-10-24 09:00:00 2025-10-24 17:00:00 2025 Business Law Review Symposium: Rethinking Going Public Event details: https://www.law.uchicago.edu/events/2025-business-law-review-symposium - University of Chicago Law School blog@law.uchicago.edu America/Chicago public Friday, October 24, 2025 @ 9:00am — 5:00pm

Open to the public

The 2025 Business Law Review Symposium "Rethinking Going Public: Innovation, Access, and Accountability in Modern Capital Markets," will explore how startups are receiving billions in private markets, remaining private longer, and rejecting the traditional IPO route. Scholars, practitioners, and regulators will discuss the legal, financial, and policy implications of capital markets that favor private fundraising and the potential consequences for public investors.

Join us as we rethink the meaning and future of going public.

Chicago Booth Harper Center
5807 S. Woodlawn
Rm 219

Schedule of Events

Friday, October 24
- Registration/Breakfast
  - 8:30am - 9:00am
- Opening Remarks
  - 9:00am - 9:15am
  - - Adriana Z. Robertson, The University of Chicago Law School; Faculty Advisor, The University of Chicago Business Law Review
    - Maya Desai, Editor-in-Chief, The University of Chicago Business Law Review
    - Megan Cistulli, Executive Editor, The University of Chicago Business Law Review
- PANEL I: The Evolving Capital Markets Landscape: Recent Developments and Governance Trends
  - 9:20am - 10:20am
  - - M. Todd Henderson, University of Chicago Law School
    - Mark A. Leahy, Fenwick & West
    - Elizabeth Pollman, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
    - Moderator Alexis Abboud, University of Chicago Law School
- PANEL II: Revising the Rulebook: Regulations of Innovation in Capital Markets
  - 10:40am - 11:40am
  - - William Birdthistle, University of Chicago Law School
    - Raquel Fox, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
    - Ran Ben-Tzur, Fenwick & West
    - Moderator Adriana Z. Robertson
- DISTINGUISHED ADDRESS
  - 11:45am - 12:30pm
  - - Steven Neil Kaplan, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- LUNCH
  - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
- KEYNOTE
  - 1:35pm - 2:35pm
  - - Kara M. Stein, Board Member, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
- PANEL III: SPAC Governance: Managing the Clock
  - 2:40pm - 3:40pm
  - - Philip G. Berger, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
    - Jill E. Fisch, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
    - Andrew A. Schwartz, University of Colorado Law School
    - Moderator Elizabeth Kregor, University of Chicago Law School
- PANEL IV: The Economic Significance of IPOs: The Key to Competition
  - 4:00pm - 5:00pm
  - - Robert Bartlett, Stanford Law School
    - Jay R. Ritter, University of Florida Warrington School of Business
    - Matthew Wansley, Cardozo School of Law
    - Moderator Josh Avratin, University of Chicago Law School