Fourscore and Seven Years Ago

Seven years ago, I was still trying to figure out how many
's I needed to make a tab space in an HTML document. Meanwhile Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner was starting their annual "New Media and Emerging Technologies" seminar, grappling with "larger" issues. Well, seven years later -- on April 17th -- they held their annual seminar with a focus on "Staying Interactive in the High Tech Environment." Outsourcing, E-Commerce, B2B, Privacy, Digital Rights Management, Intellectual Property, Domain Names and other issues were discussed and examined by noted attorneys with the firm. After the talks, I chatted with one of the speakers, Brown Raysman Attorney Jeffrey Neuburger. Brown Raysman Attorney Stuart Bressman and Goldman Sachs VP and Assistant General Counsel, Principal Investment Area Jake Brown and I spoke about the seminar. Brown Raysman Attorney Kristen Matthews introduced me to one of the firm's alumn-turned-client Cendant Senior Counselor Susan Loring Crane. A lively discussion was going on in one part of the room, as Bookspan SVP Legal, Postal and Government Affairs Robert Posch told me about the company's successes. As he doled out facts, such as 2.5 million of the 10 million customers from this 77-year-old firm are re-enrollments, and that the company is the result of a merger between Bertelsmann, Inc. (at which point he produced VP Legal Affairs Jacqueline Chasey) and AOL/Time Warner. Robert also pointed out that the Book of the Month Club and many other clubs have been absorbed by Bookspan. Administrator of Regulatory Affairs Maxine Claire Moss and Staff Counsel Neil McTeigue agreed with Robert's comment that this unsexy business is the one that's making the money. Amen!