Divestment and the Law — Natasha Hausdorff, Prof. Max Schanzenbach and Dan Harris

This is a recording of a UKLFI Charitable Trust webinar on Divestment and the Law With Prof. Max Schanzenbach and Dan Harris, chaired by Natasha Hausdorff. It took place on Thursday, 30 April. Major investment funds are coming under increasing pressure to divest from companies on grounds related to Israel or the supply of military equipment. In this webinar leading experts will discuss whether and in what circumstances such divestments are permitted under UK and US law. Max Schanzenbach is the Seigle Family Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law. He received his JD from Yale Law School and his PhD in economics from Yale University. Schanzenbach joined Northwestern University as an assistant professor of law in 2003, received tenure in 2006, and was named the Seigle Family Professor of Law in 2015. From 2010 to 2013 he was Director of the Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth. From 2011 to 2016 he was the co-editor-in-chief of the American Law and Economics Review. Prof. Schanzenbach’s articles have been published in leading law reviews and economics journals, including Yale Law Journal and Stanford Law Review. His most recent article, with Prof. Robert Sitkoff, in Harvard Law Review is on “Divesting University Endowments”: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.c.... Dan Harris has been a practising lawyer for 30 years across the world’s leading financial centres. He advises clients operating in the wholesale securities and derivatives markets and has for many years advised at the intersection of public international law, BDS and finance. His article, “Israel, Defence Stocks and Divestments: Equity’s Intervention When LGPS Fiduciaries Play at Geopolitics” was recently published in the Cambridge Law Journal: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journa.... Natasha Hausdorff is a barrister at 6 Pump Court Chambers and a frequent speaker on International Law. She has a law degree from Oxford University, qualified as a solicitor at Skadden, and subsequently gained an LLM from Tel Aviv University, focussing on public international law and the law of armed conflict. She clerked for Miriam Naor, President of Israel's Supreme Court, and was a fellow at Columbia Law School's National Security programme. Natasha is legal director of UKLFI Charitable Trust. Natasha’s work explaining legal issues relating to Israel has been recognised by the American Jewish Committee’s award for moral courage and by the honour of lighting one of the torches on Har Herzl to mark Israel’s Independence Day.