The Ninth Annual Berkeley Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom

Adam Badawi is a Professor of Law at UC Berkeley. He writes widely on issues of law and finance with an emphasis on corporate governance, corporate transactions, and shareholder litigation. Much of his recent work uses text analysis and machine learning to analyze debt agreements, merger documents, and shareholder class action complaints. At Berkeley Law, he teaches Contracts, Corporations, Mergers and Acquisitions, and seminars related to these topics.

His research includes Does Voluntary Financial Disclosure Matter? The Case of Fairness Opinions in M&A (forthcoming, The Journal of Law and Economics) (co-authored with Matthew D. Cain and Steven Davidoff Solomon), How Informative is the Text of Securities Complaints? (forthcoming, Journal of Law, Economics & Organization), Social Good and Litigation Risk (forthcoming, Harvard Business Law Review) (co-authored with Frank Partnoy); and Is There a First-Drafter Advantage in M&A?, California Law Review (2019, California Law Review) (co-authored with Elisabeth de Fontenay) (selected as one of the top 10 corporate and securities articles of 2019 by Corporate Practice Commentator).

Prior to joining the faculty of Berkeley Law in 2017, Badawi was a Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. He has been a Visiting Professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and he served as a Bigelow Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School. Before joining the academy he was a litigator in the San Francisco office of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP and was a law clerk to the Hon. Michael McConnell of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Professor Gadinis’ research examines questions in corporate law and financial regulation, both domestic and international. He is particularly interested in the interplay between companies and regulators, exploring the institutional framework for law enforcement, compliance, and risk management. In the last few years, he has focused on sustainability and social issues as an attempt to expand the scope of corporate governance. In Corporate Law and Social Risk (co- authored with Amelia Miazad) (2020 Vanderbilt Law Review), the focus is on stakeholder outreach as a governance system seeking to identify and address social risks for the business. In a follow-up article, A Test of Stakeholder Capitalism (co-authored with Amelia Miazad), they explore how corporations relied on feedback from stakeholders to address the implications of the Covid pandemic. His article The Hidden Power of Compliance (co-authored with Amelia Miazad) (2019 Minnesota Law Review) explores how extensive internal reporting within companies impacts the liability of board members. In Collaborative Gatekeepers (co-authored with Colby Mangels) (2016 Washington & Lee Law Review) he explores anti-money laundering law as a model of pro-active misconduct reporting. Gadinis’ work has also traced the spread of financial standards around the world, showing how private, regulator, or government supports leads to distinct results (Three Pathways to Global Standards, 2015 American Journal of International Law). Gadinis has argued that systemic risk reforms introduced after the 2008 financial crisis has resulted in increasing the role of political appointees over independent regulators in the oversight of the financial system (2012 California Law Review).

Before entering into academia, Gadinis practiced corporate law for four years in Europe. Gadinis completed his S.J.D. at Harvard in May 2010. He also holds an LL.M. degree from the University of Cambridge (UK), and a law degree from Aristotle University, Greece.

Ethan Klingsberg co-heads Freshfields’ US Corporate/M&A practice. He’s one of the most prolific corporate lawyers in the country, heading up market-leading projects from coast to coast in all sectors and for companies of all sizes. Every guide regularly recognizes him as a leading corporate lawyer, and he’s received numerous MVP, All-Star, Legend, and Dealmaker accolades. He often appears on BloombergTV and CNBC to discuss M&A, governance, shareholder activism, the SEC, and board processes, and publishes essays on corporate law topics in The Financial Times, Reuters Breaking Views, MarketWatch, The New York Law Journal, and Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. Ethan has been elected by his colleagues at other firms as a Fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel and received the Burton Award for Legal Achievement for his writing on fiduciary duties. He co-founded the Berkeley Law Spring Forum on M&A and the Boardroom ten years ago and has co-hosted the event every year since then. He is very grateful to the amazing teams at Berkeley and Freshfields that make this event a stand-out.

Irene Liu is the founder of Hypergrowth GC and serves as an Executive in Residence at the UC Berkeley School of Law. With deep expertise in artificial intelligence, Irene is also an AI Advisor for the California Senate, Berkeley Law’s AI Institute, and Women Defining AI.

After successfully building and scaling international, multi-billion dollar technology companies, she now channels her expertise into helping other companies grow as an advisor, thought leader, and executive coach.

Irene worked as a Trial Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice in the Antitrust Division and at the Federal Trade Commission in the Bureau of Consumer Protection. She later became the Chief Financial and Legal Officer at Hopin, a technology community engagement platform, where she oversaw legal, finance, policy, and trust & safety teams. Additionally, she served as General Counsel at Checkr, a modern background check provider, where she led legal, compliance, policy, finance, and customer education teams.

Irene is a frequent contributor to the Thomson Reuters Institute and hosts the “Coffee Break with Irene” series on Berkeley Boost and the “Hypergrowth GC” video series on Luminate+.

Angeli Patel is the Executive Director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Business. She is also a Lecturer at Berkeley Law for the Business in Society and the Sustainable Capitalism & ESG Executive Education course. Previously, Angeli was an attorney in the Sustainability & ESG Advisory Practice at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in San Francisco, where she advised clients on the governance of climate and social risks. Angeli has also held an advisory role at the UN Global Compact Network Australia focused on corporate sustainability matters. Prior to her legal career, Angeli was at The White House’s Office of Management and Budget in the Obama Administration and served as a policy advisor at the Ministry of Finance in the Government of Chile. In addition to her career in law and government, Angeli is an adviser to Mandala, a mental health and DEI startup, and launched her own puzzle company for women of color in 2021.