US-Ireland Alliance

Ken Feinberg’s Visit to Ireland

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October 2011:  The prominent American mediator Kenneth Feinberg and his wife, Dede, visited Dublin as guests of the US-Ireland Alliance.   Their visit was sponsored by Cross Atlantic Capital Partners and Arthur Cox Solicitors.

On Thursday, 13 October, Ken gave a talk to Irish law students and faculty at an event hosted at Trinity College Dublin.  Senator Ivana Bacik served as moderator of the event.  Ken spoke of his work on matters involving mediation and compensation.  In 2010, he was named by the Obama Administration and British Petroleum to serve as Administrator of claims relating to the Gulf oil spill.  Ken was also appointed by Bush Administration to serve as the Special Master of the Federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001.

In a Q&A session with the audience, Ken said that he thought the 9-11 compensation commission was the right thing to do, but said he doesn’t believe it would be a good idea to make a habit of creating more such commissions.  Had the 9-11 families and victims opted for court trials instead of mediation, Ken believed they wouldn’t have won cases, as the blame was with the terrorists.  Ken told the audience that Gulf oil spill claims weren’t just local, but came from all over the world -- when $20 billion is announced to be on offer, creative claims are sure to follow! There were even several claims from Ireland.  The lecture was followed by a dinner with members of the legal profession, including Michael Meghen of Arthur Cox, barrister Bill Shipsey and barrister and Alliance member Frank Kennedy.

On Friday, 14 October, Ken spoke at a luncheon at Dublin’s Westbury Hotel for the legal and business communities. Given the issue of bankers’ compensation in Ireland, Ken spoke mainly of his work in 2009 as the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation.  He was appointed by President Obama to determine the annual compensation packages for 175 senior corporate officials at companies and banks that received the most taxpayer financial assistance.   He set the compensation that would be in place until those institutions repaid the taxpayers for the bailout.  Citibank and Bank of America quickly repaid in order to get out from under the restrictions. The US Congress asked Ken to make sure pay was competitive, yet tied to performance.  He noted that the companies argued for high compensation because the execs were “irreplaceable.” Ken reminded them that graveyards are full of irreplaceable people. 

In explaining the rules for compensation, Ken explained: 1) there was a maximum base salary of $500,000; 2) bonuses could only be in the form of stock options; 3) the options couldn’t be redeemed quickly; 4) at the end of five years, 25 percent more in stock compensation could be provided if 25 percent of what was owed to the taxpayer had been repaid; 5) any perks in excess of $25,000 must be cleared in advance, with the Treasury; and 6) any pension or severance must track what is available to everyone in the company – i.e. no special deals or golden parachutes. 

As Ken serves as President of the Washington National Opera, Alliance president Trina Vargo, brought together an opera-themed dinner for the Feinbergs.  Guests included Pat Moylan, Chairwoman of the Arts Council; Virginia Kerr, prominent Irish soprano and Chair of the Opera Theater Company; Sean MacCarthaigh, adviser to Arts and Culture Minister Jimmy Deenihan; David Agler, the Artistic Director of the Wexford Opera Festival; David McLoughlin, CEO of the Wexford Opera Festival; and Paul Hennessy of PWC and a member of the board of the Wexford Opera Festival.

On Saturday, the Feinbergs, who were on their first visit to Ireland, were joined the George J. Mitchell Scholars and Alliance board member Brian Barrington for a tour of Kilmainham Jail followed by a private tour of the Yeats exhibition at the National Library.  The evening was spent at the Abbey Theatre, seeing Juno and the Paycock.  Mitchell Scholar Nick Johnson, a lecturer in Drama at Trinity filled them in on the plays of Sean O’Casey and this particular play in its historical context.

Read Irish Times interview with Ken