Justice William Strong Lecture on Ethics and the Business Lawyer

Widener University Commonwealth Law School will host the Justice William Strong Lecture on Ethics and the Business Lawyer on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, at 5 p.m. in the Wolfberg Courtroom. A light reception will immediately follow the lecture.

This in-person program will offer 1 PA CLE credit in ethics.

For CLE questions or additional information, please contact cwcle@widener.edu.

Robert G. Pickel will present “The Importance of Ethics in Regulatory Enforcement: Adversarial, Inquisitorial or Something Else.”

Government agencies routinely rely on enforcement proceedings to ensure compliance with their regulations. While many aspects of regulatory enforcement resemble judicial proceedings, important differences can shape the roles attorneys play and the ethical obligations they face.

Pickel will examine regulatory enforcement through the lens of two traditional models of judicial process: the adversarial model, prevalent in common law systems, and the inquisitorial model, more commonly associated with civil law systems.

In the United States, regulatory enforcement is often approached from an adversarial perspective. But is that the best way to understand the process? Does regulatory enforcement have more in common with an inquisitorial system, or does it fall somewhere between the two?

The lecture will explore those questions and consider what the answers may mean for attorneys representing both regulators and regulated entities, including the ethical considerations that can arise during an enforcement action.

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