Scholarly Dialogue: Donald C. Langevoort (Mar 2010)

Penn State Law Review hosted the distinguished guest Donald C. Langevoort, Thomas Aquinas Reynolds Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, on Wednesday, March 24, 2010.  Professor Langevoort presented his working paper Reading Stoneridge Carefully:  A Duty-Based Approach to Reliance and Third Party Liability under Rule 10b-5. [watch video]

Following Professor Langevoort’s presentation, Dominic Rupprecht, Penn State Law Review Articles Editor, dialogued with Professor Langevoort concerning the substance of his article.  The event was then opened for a lively public question-and-answer period.

Professor Langevoort is a pre-eminent scholar in the field of Securities Law.  He is the author or co-author of dozens of scholarly articles and book chapters on the subject, and several books, including Securities Regulation: Cases and Materials, a leading textbook on the subject, which is currently in its sixth edition.

Professor Langevoort’s paper examines Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., a recent U.S. Supreme Court case in the field of Securities Law.  Professor Langevoort argues that, rather than an expression of the Court’s “reflexive antipathy toward private securities class actions, throwing whatever was at hand into the pot to suit the business-friendly result,” the opinion in Stoneridge represents a more measured approach.  Professor Langevoort argues that “in its emphasis on remoteness and attenuation applied solely in the context of private securities litigation, Stoneridge reinvigorates duty as a limitation on liability to open market investors in order to constrain the unique liability risk that defendants face.”

Published four times annually, Penn State Law Review is the flagship law review for the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University. Published since 1897, it promotes sound legal scholarship.

This event was supported by funds from the Speaker’s Trust Fund of the Student Bar Association.