A Hughes Hubbard & Reed partner for 35 years, James B. Kobak, Jr has had a long and varied career. He currently serves as lead counsel to the trustee for the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) liquidations of Lehman Brothers Inc. and MF Global Inc., and has served in similar roles for other liquidations almost from the inception of the SIPA statute. Jim litigates in many forums at every level, including state and federal courts, from Bankruptcy Court to the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as arbitral bodies. He has lectured and written widely, particularly on antitrust and intellectual property matters, has taught substantive antitrust and intellectual property courses at leading law schools for nearly two decades, and is a former president of the New York County Lawyers' Association.

Jim served in various roles, including as the firm's general counsel, a member and former chair of its Antitrust practice group, and a member of its Corporate Reorganization, Arbitration and Litigation departments.

Areas of Concentration

Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) Liquidations
Arbitration and Mediation (Intellectual Property, Entertainment, General Commercial)
Antitrust and Intellectual Property Litigation and Counseling
Antitrust and Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Merger Review Investigations
General counsel and chair of the firm's Practice Standards and Ethics Committee

Professional Activities

Lecturer, University of Virginia Law School (antitrust and intellectual property) (1988 – 2001)
Adjunct associate professor, Fordham Law School (patents and antitrust) (1988 – 2008)
Chair, Intellectual Property Committee, American Bar Association Antitrust Section (1995 – 1997)
New York County Lawyers' Association:
- President (2010 – 2011)
- Director (1988 – 1993; 1995 – 1997; 2001 – present)
- Executive Committee (1996 – 1997, 2002 – 2013)
- Co-chair, Justice Center (2014 – present)
- Chair, Task Force on Professionalism (2006 – 2010)
- Chair, Committee on Trade Regulation (1987 – 1988)
- Chair, Committee on Changing Trends in the Profession (1990 – 1994)
- Chair, Committee on Law Reform (1994 – 1997)
- Chair, Library Committee (1997 – 2010)
- Member, Ethics Institute and Ethics Committee (1998 – present)
President, New York County Lawyers' Association (NYCLA) Foundation (2005 – 2010)
Founder, secretary by appointment, NYCLA American Inn of Court (1993 – 2007)
Member by appointment, ABA Presidential Task Force on the Future of Legal Education (2013 – 2014)
Member by appointment, Chief Judge's Advisory Committee on the Justice Gap (2013 – 2015)
Delegate to the Houses of the American and New York State Bar Associations
Life fellow, American Bar Association Foundation
Life fellow, New York State Bar Association Foundation
Member, National Council on State Courts
American Bar Association Alternate Dispute Resolution Section
Member, Federal Bar Council for the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals (Bankruptcy Committee)
Life member, American Law Institute (consultative groups on unfair competition, complex litigation and Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code)
Member, ABA Center on Professional Responsibility, ABA Corporate Counsel Connection and Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers
New York City Bar Association (member at various times of the following committees: Trade Regulation, Federal Courts, Federal Legislation, Nuclear Technology and Law, Young Lawyers Committee and Arbitration Committee; current member, Professional Responsibility Committee)
Member, American Bankruptcy Institute, Ethics and Professional Compensation Committee
US Council on International Business, Intellectual Property Committee

Other Activities

Commentator on the draft antitrust or competition laws of Romania, Croatia and Kazakhstan on behalf of the ABA's Central European Economic Law Initiative
Assistant professor, University of Alabama Law School (1969 – 1970)
Trustee, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (2013 – present)
Trustee, Jersey City Museum (2002 – present); vice chair (2008 – present); secretary (2006 – 2008)
Trustee, New Jersey Chamber Music Society (1985–2002), president, board of trustees (1988 – 1990)
Trustee, Morristown-Beard School (1995 – 2001)
Trustee, Keene Valley Country Club (1990 – 1996)
Published essays and articles in various national and regional magazines and newspapers
American Arbitration Association and International Centre for Dispute Resolution Panel of Commercial Arbitrators

Recognition

Recommended in The Legal 500 United States in the area of Securities Litigation – Defense (2016)
Listed in Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Competition and Antitrust Lawyers and Super Lawyers since 2008
New York County Lawyers' Association Boris Kostelanetz President’s Medal (2006)
New York County Lawyers' Association (with firm), for outstanding support of NYCLA and contributions to the honor of the legal profession (January 2000)
ABA Antitrust Section, for Services and Commitment to Antitrust Section (1999 – 2000)
18th Rossman Memorial Award, Journal of Patent and Trademark Office Society (1991)

Professional Publications: Books, Chapters and Testimony

Books

Editorial adviser, NYCLA Treatise on New York Ethics, Oxford University Press
Editor and task force chair, Intellectual Property Misuse: Licensing and Litigation, Chicago: ABA Section of Antitrust Law, 2000
Task force member and contributor, Report on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Chicago: ABA Section of Antitrust Law, July 2002
Editing committee and contributor, The 1995 Federal Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property: Guidelines and Commentary, Chicago: ABA Section of Antitrust Law, 1996
Editing committee and contributor, The Antitrust Counterattack in Patent Infringement Litigation, Antitrust Practice Handbook Series, Chicago: ABA Section of Antitrust Law, 1994

Chapters

Co-author, "Joint Ventures," chap. 51 in Successful Partnering Between Inside and Outside Counsel, edited by Robert L. Haig, Thomson Reuters Westlaw, 2000 – 2016
"Antitrust and Misuse Law," in the New York Intellectual Property Law Association Annual, 1997 – 2000
Chapters in International Trade & Finance Association proceedings for 1996, 1998 – 2001, 2003 – 2007:
- Co-author, with Ramsey Chamie, "Must Canada Become the Drugstore for the World and Spain and Greece the Pharmacists for Europe?" 2007
- Co-author, with Keith Lew, "Private Damage Remedies for Competition Law Violations in the European Union," 2006
- Co-author, with Jeremy DeDehouet, "Must Canada Become the Drugstore to the World?" 2005
- Co-author, with Vincent Ausilloux and Mustapha Sadni-Jalab, "Discriminating Between Monopolizing and Non-Monopolizing Dumping," 2004
- "Exhaustion of Intellectual Property Rights and International Trade," 2003, also published in Global Economy Journal 5, no. 1 (March 2005): Article 5
- Co-author, with Patrick Landers and Mark A.A. Warner, "The Globalization of Competition Law (in the New Millennium)," 2001, also published in Global Economic Quarterly 2 (June 2001): 149
- Co-author, with Patrick Landers, "The European Merger Regulation and Recent Developments Toward a Multilateral System Of Competition Regulation," 2000, also published in Globalization and International Business at the Turn of the Century, edited by Y. Desportes, 2000
- Co-author, with Patrick Landers, "Antitrust as Both Bulwark and Barrier to World Trade," 1999, also published in chap. 15 of Globalization in the 21st Century, Vol. 1, edited by K. Fatemi and E.W. Nichols, Calexico: International Trade and Finance Association, 1999
- "Intellectual Property Law, Competition and Hidden Choices Between Original and Sequential Innovation," 1998, also published in The Global Economy at the Turn of the Century, Vol. 3, edited by Gulsar Meric and Susan Nichols, 1998
- Co-author, with Anthony D'Iorio, "The High Cost of Cross-Border Merger Reviews," also published in The Global Economy at the Turn of the Century, Vol. 3, edited by Gulsar Meric and Susan Nichols, 717-736, 1998, also submitted at International Competition Policy Advisory Committee hearings, 1999
- "Some Antitrust Considerations Affecting Technology Transfers on the Two Sides of the Atlantic," chap. 40 in Competitiveness in International Business and Trade, Vol. 4, edited by D. Dimon, I.G. Tomlinson and S.E.W. Nichols, 1331-1347, Laredo: Texas A&M University, 1996
"Antitrust Change, Continuity and the Challenges That Lie Ahead," in Inside the Minds: Antitrust Laws 7, New York: Aspatore Books, 2005

Testimony

Testimony on the effects of sequestration on bankruptcy courts, hearings of New York County Lawyers' Association Task Force on Budget Cuts (Dec. 2, 2013)
Appearance at a special panel on financial institution liquidations of the UK Treasury (Aug. 20, 2013)
Testimony on regulation of financial services, House Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (Dec. 15, 2011)
Testimony on liquidation of commodity futures merchants, House Committee on Agriculture (Dec. 8, 2011)
"The Federal Circuit as a Competition Law Court," prepared remarks and testimony at Federal Trade Commission/Department of Justice hearings on intellectual property and competition (July 11, 2002)
"Technology Ventures, Current Problems and the Limited Utility of Joint Venture Guidelines," prepared remarks and testimony at the Federal Trade Commission’s hearings on joint venture projects (July 1, 1997)

Legal and Academic Journals

Author, "Dealing With Conflicts and Disqualification Risks Professionally," Winter 2015 Hofstra Law Review (April 2016)
Co-author, with Ignatius Grande, "Social Media Ethics: Keeping Up with Changing Obligations," American Bankruptcy Institute Journal (October 2015)
"Federal Circuit Court Portends Change to Generic Drug Patent Infringement Litigation and Walker Process Antitrust Claims," Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal 19, no. 8 (August 2007)
"Independent Ink, LePage’s and Philips: One Loose End Tied Up, But Bundles of Open Issues," Licensing Law Journal 26, no. 7 (August 2006)
"Antitrust Liability for Statements About Intellectual Property: Unocal, Unitherm and New Uncertainty," ABA Antitrust Law Journal 19, no. 1 (Fall 2004): 87
"Recent Developments of Interest to Patent Licensors, Licensees and Their Lawyers," Licensing Law Journal 23, no. 6 (June – July 2003): 12
"Antitrust Treatment of Refusals to License Intellectual Property," Licensing Law Journal 22, no. 1 (January 2002): 1
"Vornado and its Effect on Patent Antitrust Litigation," electronic newsletter of the ABA Intellectual Property Committee (July 2002)
"The Federal Circuit as Competition Law Court," Journal of the Patent and Trademark Society (August 2001)
"Another Look at Alcatel USA v. DGI Technologies: The Widening Pitfall of Copyright Misuse," Antitrust Report, 20-22, Matthew Bender, May 1999
"The Doctrine That Will Not Die: Nobelpharma, Walker Process and the Patent-Antitrust Counterclaim,” ABA Antitrust Law Journal 13, no. 1 (Fall 1998): 47-53
“Intellectual Property, Competition Law and Hidden Choices Between Original and Sequential Innovation," Virginia Journal of Law and Technology (online publication) 3 (Fall 1998): Article 6
"Running the Gauntlet: Antitrust and Intellectual Property Pitfalls on the Two Sides of the Atlantic," ABA Antitrust Law Journal 64 (Winter 1996): 341
"The Misuse Defense and Intellectual Property Litigation," Boston University Journal of Science and Technology Law 1, no. 2 (May 1995)
"Professional Real Estate Investors and the Future of Patent Antitrust Litigation: Walker Process and Handgards Meet Noerr Pennington," ABA Antitrust Law Journal 63 (Fall 1994): 185
"Contracting Around Exhaustion: Some Thoughts About the CAFC's Mallinckrodt Decision," Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society (July 1993): 550
"A Sensible Doctrine of Misuse for Intellectual Property Cases," Albany Law Journal of Science and Technology 2 (1992): 1
"The New Patent Misuse Law," Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society (November 1989): 859, winner of the Rossman Memorial Award
"Significant Factors in the Franchisor-Franchisee Relationship," New York Law School Law Review 32 (1987): 795
"The Uneven Application of the Attorney-Client Privilege to Corporations in the Federal Courts," Georgia Law Review 6 (1972): 339-74, reprinted in Corporate Practice Commentator 14 (1973)
"Totem and Taboo: Growth of a Common Law of Unfair Competition in New York with Some Notes on the Effect of the Lanham Act of 1946," New York Law Forum 17 (1972): 941-82
"Three Approaches to the Bureaucratic Dilemma: The Administration of the Antitrust Laws of the United States, France and the Common Market," Alabama Law Review 23 (1970): 43-97

Legal and Industry Magazines and Periodicals

Co-author, with Eleni Theodosiou-Pisanelli, "Liability for Violating the Automatic Stay: How Cutting Corners Costs Money," American Bankruptcy Institute's Ethics and Professional Compensation Committee Newsletter (May 2016)
Co-author, with Ignatius Grande, "Specialties, Endorsements and Other Social Media Traps for 'Bankruptcy Lawyers,'" ABI Ethics and Professional Compensation Committee Newsletter (Nov. 2, 2013)
Co-author, with Rob Funkhouser, Ethan Litwin, Michael Salzman and Alain Vincent, antitrust commentaries for Mondaq database (September 2012)
Co-author, with Jeff Coleman, "Ted Banks on the Latest Antitrust Compliance Challenge: Getting the Message to Generation X," Antitrust Compliance Bulletin 2, no. 1 (March 2008)
Co-author, with Jeff Coleman, "Value-Based Training and the Mushy Middle," Antitrust Compliance Bulletin 1, no. 4 (November 2007)
Co-author, with Carole Basri and Jeff Coleman, "Antitrust Compliance Programs – Taking the Next Step," Antitrust Compliance Bulletin 1, no. 2 (March 2007)
"Special Issuers in Antitrust Review of M&A Transactions After Consummation," Bloomberg Finance (July 2007)
"Problems and Developments in the Laws of Monopolization," Aspatore Executive Report (2006)
"Authorized Generics: Still Legal—and Holding," Pharmaceutical Executive (September 2006)
"Permission Granted: Generic Companies Think Authorized Generics Are Unfair. Does the Law Agree?" Pharmaceutical Executive (May 2004)
Co-author, with Renee Redman, "Antitrust Update," Mergers & Acquisitions 3, no. 1 (May 2002): 25
Co-author, with Mark A.A. Warner, "A New Antitrust for the New Millennium? A View from Both Sides of the Atlantic," Mergers & Acquisitions
Co-author, with Charles Avrith, "Antitrust Update," Mergers & Acquisitions 1, no. 10 (February 2001): 41
"Wintel, Balancing Harm and Innovation," Computer Law and Tax Report 26, no. 6 (December 1999)
"Microsoft: Questions of Harm and Remedy," Computer Law Association Bulletin 14, no. 4 (Winter 1999): 118-124
Co-author, with Renee Redman, "Applying Privilege Rules to Joint Ventures," New York Law Journal, Corporate Section (Oct. 8, 1998): 1
"Antitrust Tackles Wintel Monsters," Computer Law and Tax Report 25, nos. 1 and 2 (July – August 1998)
"Microsoft Case Portends Vast Antitrust Consequences," Computer Law and Tax Report 24, no. 7 (January 1998)
Co-author, with Richard P. McGuire, "FTC Looks at Merger’s Antitrust Effects on R&D," National Law Journal (March 31, 1997)
"Antitrust: Areas to Watch in the '90s," Licensing Law Journal 14, no. 9 (October 1996): 5
"The Mutable Interface: Standard Setting, Antitrust and Intellectual Property," The Multimedia Law Report 2, no. 10 (August 1996): 5
"Enforcers Focus on IP Issues – Standard Setting and Antitrust," National Law Journal (May 6, 1996): B-7
"The Revised Antitrust Guidelines: An Update for the Multimedia Professional," Multimedia and Technology Licensing Law Report 2, no. 3 (August 1995)
"New Antitrust Guidelines for Software Licensing," Computer Law and Tax Report 21, no. 1 (June 1995)
"Avoiding the Antitrust Potholes on the Way to the Electronic Super Highway," Multimedia and Technology Licensing Law Report 1, no. 6 (November 1994)
"Antitrust Doctrines Apply in Video Age," New York Law Journal Intellectual Property Supplement (March 7, 1994)
"An Intellectual Property Lawyer’s Seasons Greeting," New York Law Journal (Dec. 27, 1993)
"A Modest Proposal for the Ills of Litigation," New York Law Journal (December 1991)
Co-author, with Mary K. Fleck, "Commercial Defamation Claim Added to Revised Lanham Act," National Law Journal (Oct. 30, 1989)
"The New Patent Misuse Law – What It Does and Does Not Do," New York Law Journal (March 10, 1989)
"A Modest Proposal for Deposition Reform," New York Law Journal (May 27, 1988)
Co-author, with Patrick J. Barrett, "Amended Federal Rule 11 and Antitrust Legislation," New York Law Journal (July 22, 1985): 1, 4
"New Antitrust Rules Relating to Joint Ventures," Computer Law Strategist 1 (March 1985): 4-5
"Application of Antitrust Laws to Joint Research, Development," New York Law Journal 192 (Dec. 10, 1984): 1, col. 3; 6, col. 1; 7, col. 1; 46, col. 5; (Dec. 11, 1984): 3, col. 1; 5, col. 1

Lectures and Programs – Antitrust, Intellectual Property, Insolvency and ADR

Panelist, "Default in a Day," FIA conference, February 2017
Panelist, "Default in a Day," FIA conference, July 2016
Panelist, "Conflicts and Disqualification Issues-Before, During and After Litigation," Federal Bar Council CLE, April 2015
Panelist, "The Bleeding Edge of Insolvency," panel on Safe Harbors and Avoidable Transfers, 2014 American Bankruptcy Institute-NYU Advanced Bankruptcy Workshop, November 2014
Speaker, "Headache Prevention: Lessons on Conflicts of Interest," ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting, March 26, 2014
Panelist on financial institution failures, Wharton Restructuring and Distressed Investing Conference, Philadelphia, February 2013
Speaker, "Patents v. Antitrust, "New York City Bar Association Conference, June 2012
Speaker, Lessons from Lehman Conference, presented by Hughes Hubbard at the New York County Lawyers' Association, September 2010
Speaker/Moderator, Fordham Law School International Conference on Intellectual Property, 2006 – 2008
Speaker, New York City Bar Association programs on Intellectual Property Due Diligence, 2005 – 2008
Speaker, Association of University Technology Managers Annual Meeting, San Diego, March 2008
Speaker, New York State Bar Association Antitrust Section Annual Meeting, New York, February 2005
Speaker, "Patent Misuse," American Intellectual Property Association Annual Meeting, Houston, May 2003
Speaker, "Antitrust and the Federal Circuit – Speaking Different Languages," ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting, Washington, DC, April 2002
Program chair, "The Interactions of Antitrust and Intellectual Property Law," New York County Lawyers' Association, New York, May 1, 2002
Speaker, ABA Antitrust Section Conference on Navigating the Minefield: Antitrust Risks of Acquiring and Enforcing Intellectual Property, Philadelphia, May 2001
Speaker, Inventure Place National Inventors Hall of Fame and National Council of Intellectual Property Law Associations, the Eighth, Ninth and 10th Annual Continuing Legal Education programs on Intellectual Property Practice, Akron, OH, September 1998 – 2000
Speaker, LECG Corp. Conference on Emerging Antitrust, Intellectual Property and Finance Issues in the New Millennium, Napa, CA, August 2000
Speaker, PLI Programs on Intellectual Property Antitrust, New York, 1999 – 2006 (materials appear in PLI Course Handbook no. G-52 each year)
Speaker, International Trade and Finance Association Conferences on Globalization: Miami, May 2007; Lodz, Poland, May 2006; Istanbul, May 2005; San Antonio, May 2004; Vaasa, Finland, May 2003; Washington, DC, May 2001; France, June 2000; Casablanca, Morocco, June 1999; Atlantic City, NJ, May 1998; San Diego, May 1996
Speaker and panelist at ABA Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution programs presented by ABA ADR Section Entitlement Committee for Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and Cardozo Law School, 2002 – 2003
Speaker, "Intellectual Property and Antitrust: The Crossroads," ABA Conference, San Francisco, June 2000
Speaker, Computer Law Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, February 2000
Speaker or moderator (or both) at the following New York American Corporate Counsel Association programs in New York:
- "The New SEC 'Ethics Rules' for Attorneys, What They Mean for You," February 2003
- "International Antitrust for the US Lawyer," March 2001
- "Changes in Hart-Scott-Rodino," March 2001
- "Antitrust and the Internet," May 2000
- "The New Guidelines on Joint Ventures and Competitor Collaborations," October 1999
- "Microsoft and Intel: March Madness or the New Monopolization?" March 1999
- "Joint Ventures," March 1998
- "Antitrust Developments: Benchmarking and Other Emerging Issues," March 1997
- "How to Infringe in Business Without Really Trying," 1992
Speaker at programs on (1) intellectual property basics for antitrust lawyers and (2) antitrust/intellectual property litigation at ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting, Washington, DC, April 1998
Speaker at a program on internet commerce at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, April 1998
Speaker, The Bond Market Association Bond Market Leadership Summit, Washington, DC, September 1997
Speaker, Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Electronic Commerce Conference, Boston, September 1997
Speaker at programs on (1) bad faith litigation claims and (2) the Microsoft case and antitrust and global telecommunications policy, ABA Annual Meeting, Toronto, August 1998
Moderator and speaker, "The Effect of Intellectual Property Protection on Competition and Sequential Innovation," ABA Annual Meeting, San Francisco, August 1997
Testimony at Federal Trade Commission hearings on joint venture policy, Washington, DC, July 1997
Presentation and moderator, "Antitrust and Alternatives to Sham Litigation Claims," ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting, April 1997
Presentation on Antitrust Developments, Association of Corporate Patent Counsel, Orlando, FL, January 1997
Speaker, "Antitrust Issues," Business Developments Associates Multimedia Law Institute, Santa Monica, CA, May 1996
Speaker, "Intellectual Property," Business Developments Associates Antitrust 1996 Conference, Washington, DC, March 1996
Speaker and moderator, "Misuse Doctrine," ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting, March 1996
Speaker, CLE International Antitrust Conference, Washington, DC, December 1995
Speaker, "Running the Gauntlet: Antitrust and Intellectual Property Pitfalls on the Two Sides of the Atlantic," ABA Annual Meeting, August 1995
Moderator, "Recent Developments in the Antitrust Treatment of Intellectual Property," Association of the Bar of the City of New York, March 28, 1995
Speaker, panel on Misuse, ABA Annual Meeting, Aug. 9, 1994
Speaker, panel on Antitrust and Patent Litigation, ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting, 1994
Speaker, "Antitrust and Misuse Issues in Enforcing, Acquiring and Licensing Intellectual Property," NYU CLE Summer Institute on Intellectual Property, July 1992
Speaker, "Terminated Dealers: Alternatives to Antitrust," New York Law School, 1987

Lectures and Programs – Professionalism and Professional Responsibility

Speaker, "Third Party and Expanded Liability Claims Against Lawyers," Practising Law Institute web seminar, February 2017
Panelist, "Ethics and Technology 2017 Update: Cybersecurity, Cybercrime and Cryptocurrencies," New York County Lawyers Association, February 2017
Speaker, "Dealing With Conflicts," Lawline CLE webcast, January 2017
Panelist, "Should On-Line Providers of Legal Forms Be Regulated? If So, By Whom? If Not, Why Not?" New York County Lawyers Association, September 2016
Panelist, "Ethics and Technology: What You Need to Know About E-Discovery, the Panama Papers, Attorney Liability for Hacks and Other Recent Developments," New York County Lawyers Association, May 2016
Panelist, "Conflicts-A Comparison of European, UK and US Standards," Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers' 7th International Professional Responsibility Conference, April 2016
Panelist, "Fulfilling Your Ethical Obligations: Learn What You Need to Know About The New Technology to Avoid Ethical Violations and Security Risks," New York County Lawyers Association, January 2016
Speaker, "Ethical Considerations in Starting Your Own Practice-What You Need to Know," New York County Lawyers Association, December 2015
Panelist, "Ethics and Technology: Recent Developments and Potential Risks No Lawyer Should Ignore," New York County Lawyers Association, October 2015
Speaker, "Dealing with Conflicts and Disqualification Risks Professionally," Hofstra Law's Ethics Conference, April 2015
Speaker and ethics panelist, "Bridge the Gap," New York County Lawyers' Association, Dec. 19, 2013
Speaker and panelist, "Conflicts of Interest and Engagement Letters," ABA National Conference on Professional Responsibility, May 2013
Speaker, "Risk Management and Regulatory Compliance," Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers Conference, Amsterdam, May 2008
Panelist, "Attorney Professionalism in an Age of Profit-Seeking," New York State Bar Association, Annual Meeting, New York, January 2008
Speaker, "Ethics Update Program," New York County Lawyers' Association, December 2007
Speaker, "Ethics for the New Attorney," New York County Lawyers' Association, October 2007
Speaker, "The New Attorney Advertising Rules," New York County Lawyers' Association, January 2007
Speaker, PLI's MCE Bridge the Gap Program, New York, December 2000
Moderator, "Physician-Assisted Suicide: Should the Law Be Changed?" New York County Lawyers' Association, November 1995
Moderator, "Lawyer Bashing," New York County Lawyers' Association, June 1994
Moderator, "Careers and Career Change in a Time of Change," New York County Lawyers' Association, February 1993
Moderator, "Coping with Change," New York County Lawyers' Association, April 1992

Highlighted Matters

Lead counsel to the SIPA trustee for the liquidation of Lehman Brothers Inc. and MF Global Inc., and earlier in liquidations of Weis Securities Inc., A.R. Baron & Co. Inc. and New Times Securities Services Inc.
Redington v. Touche Ross & Co.: Argued the case in the United States Supreme Court
Patent/antitrust, trademark, unfair competition and copyright matters for not-for-profits, publishers, pharmaceutical companies and consumer products companies
NYPIRG v. Whitman: Representation of New York Public Interest Research Group (pro bono) in consolidated appeals concerning New York's implementation of Title V of the Clean Air Act

James B. Kobak, Jr.

Senior Ethics Counsel