Mr. William C. Powers, Jr., president of The University of Texas at Austin, received his B.A. (Chemistry) from the University of California at Berkeley in 1967, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from the Harvard Law School in 1973, where he was the managing editor of the Harvard Law Review (1972-73). From 1973 to 1974 he was law clerk to Judge Eugene Wright, United States Court of Appeals (Ninth Circuit). He currently holds the John Jeffers Research Chair in Law and the Hines H. Baker and Thelma Kelley Baker Chair in Law at The University of Texas School of Law, where he teaches Torts, Products Liability, Jurisprudence, Legal Process, Civil Procedure, and Contracts.

He is a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers and holds the title of University Distinguished Teaching Professor. Other University appointments have been with the Southern Methodist University School of Law, the University of Michigan School of Law, and the University of Washington School of Law.

He is author of, among others, Cases and Materials in Products Liability (Third Edition) (with Fischer, Green, and Sanders) (West Publishing Co. 2002); Cases and Materials in Torts (West 2nd ed. 1998) (with Robertson, Anderson, and Wellborn), Texas Products Liability Law (2nd ed.) (1992). He is a member of the American Law Institute, where he was Co-Reporter for the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Apportionment of Liability, and currently is a Co-Reporter for the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Liability for Physical Harm. He served as Chair of the Special Investigation Committee, Enron Corp.

Mr. Powers' session - G1: The Value of Compliance in Today's Business Environment