Gardere’s Faulk to Present Mock Supreme Court Arguments at International Litigation Conference

July 5, 2011 - PRLog -- HOUSTON – Instead of clarity, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in American Electric Power Company Inc. v. Connecticut resulted in a number of unanswered questions. Those concerns will be addressed when members of the International Association of Defense Counsel stage mock High Court arguments as part of the July 9-14 IADC Annual Meeting in Whistler, British Columbia. The program is entitled “Mock Supreme Court Argument – Public Nuisance at the Crossroads: Should the Tort System Regulate Climate Change?”

Among the participants for the July 12 program will be experienced Supreme Court advocate and Houston environmental attorney Richard O. Faulk of Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP. Mr. Faulk will represent industry interests before a panel of distinguished former and current federal and state appellate judges. His adversary will be David M. Axelrad of California’s Horvitz & Levy, one of the nation’s most respected appellate specialists.

The distinguished judicial panel includes former Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court Thomas R. Phillips, former U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Judge and current president of Baylor University Kenneth Starr, and Justice Evelyn J. Lundberg Stratton of the Supreme Court of Ohio.

“The use of the tort system to regulate climate change has been a highly contentious issue for years – and that debate was not fully resolved by the recent ruling in AEP v. Connecticut,” says Mr. Faulk, Chair of the Gardere Litigation Department. “Many difficult questions remain outstanding, and this argument will highlight and discuss most of them.”

Mr. Faulk, who also leads Gardere’s Environmental Practice Group and Climate Change Task Force, co-authored an amicus curiae brief regarding the merits of the case that argued that federal courts should not regulate climate change, but instead should defer to the political branches of the federal government. A copy of the amicus curiae brief can be found at www.gardere.com/Binaries/Press%20and%20Publications/AmElectricvStConnecticutBrief.pdf.

Houston attorney Joseph F. Speelman of Blank Rome LLP will provide an introductory analysis of the case, and a post-argument discussion will be led by Professor Donald Gifford of the University of Maryland School of Law.

Mr. Speelman, who formerly served as Associate General Counsel of Litigation for LyondellBasell Industries, stressed that “businesses need clear and defined standards by which to guide their conduct and ensure compliance. Unfortunately, these torts, as alleged, are so vague and standard-less that they provide no guidance whatsoever to responsible executives and counsel.”

For Mr. Speelman, the argument is a reunion of old friends, “I am particularly honored to work once again with my colleague Richard Faulk of Gardere Wynne Sewell,” he says. “In my years with LyondellBasell Industries, Richard won many important trial and appellate victories for us – and we honored him as one of our most outstanding and successful advocates. His work before the nation’s appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court, and his published legal scholarship has been prolific, profound and influential.”

Founded in 1920, the International Association of Defense Counsel is an invitation-only professional association for corporate and insurance defense lawyers around the world devoted to the development of skills, professionalism and camaraderie benefiting its members and their clients, as well as the civil justice system, the legal profession and society in general.

Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, an AmLaw 200 firm founded in 1909 and one of the Southwest’s largest full-service law firms, has offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston and Mexico City. Gardere provides legal services to private and public companies and individuals in areas of energy, hospitality, litigation, corporate, tax, government affairs, environmental, labor and employment, intellectual property and financial services.