Beyond Unprecedented: The Post-Pandemic Economy

The co-hosts kick off season six of Beyond Unprecedented with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz partner Elina Tetelbaum. They dig into the current shareholder activism landscape and evolving relationship between investors, companies, and regulators, touching on quarterly reporting, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approach to shareholder activism, and the activism outlook for the coming year.

With the recent rise of prediction markets into a multibillion-dollar industry, WilmerHale partner Michelle Nicole Diamond CC ’08, LAW ’12 discusses that dramatic growth and the complex legal and regulatory questions they raise.

With the U.S. Supreme Court invalidating most of President Trump’s signature tariff policy and the Trump administration imposing new—and contested—tariffs in response, Yale Law Professor Natasha Sarin analyzes the current U.S. tariff regime and what lies ahead.

The past year has seen growing challenges to the independence of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Lev Menand, associate professor of law at Columbia Law School, discusses the Trump administration’s legal fight to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, the U.S. Department of Justice’s probe of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and the implications of political pressure on the Fed.

The co-hosts kick off a fifth season of Beyond Unprecedented with Guggenheim Securities Co-Chairman Jim Millstein ’82. They preview notable political, economic, and technological shifts shaking up the corporate and legal landscapes, and dive into the federal government’s recent equity investments in the private sector as well as U.S.-brokered third-party investments with other countries.

Former chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and current Debevoise & Plimpton partner Mary Jo White ’74 discusses what to expect from the SEC in the second Trump administration—including the changes that a more conservative commission might make to existing rules and enforcement policies and the relationship between the SEC and U.S. Department of Justice.

At the intersection of law and finance, legal financial arbitrage (LFA) is an increasingly important field that focuses on pricing differences resulting from legal or regulatory uncertainties. Chas Cocke, founder and managing partner of LB Partners, discusses LFA in the context of Elon Musk’s 2022 acquisition of Twitter.

The last decade has seen growing popularity of electric and self-driving vehicles. Xuan “Sharon” Di, an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University, discusses the current capabilities of, market for, and regulatory frameworks around electric and autonomous cars. Download a transcript.

With advances in artificial intelligence and the emergence of generative AI, IBM Software Senior Vice President of Product Management and Growth Kareem Yusuf discusses what lies ahead—including regulatory ramifications and how the technology may affect workers and the economy.

The co-hosts kick off a fourth season of Beyond Unprecedented with Lauren Hirsch of The New York Times. They preview the season and discuss important economic and legal developments affecting companies, investors, and workers.