Lawrence.com

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline will speak on "Trial By News Conference: The Politics of Corporate Investigations," at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 8, at the Dole Institute of Politics on the University of Kansas campus. The event, co-sponored by the KU College Republicans student organization, is open to the public."Phill Kline is pioneering a very different approach for attorneys general handling corporate investigations," said Bill Lacy, institute director. "The attorney general's view is that you don't announce investigations of alleged corporate wrongdoing unless absolutely essential. This puts him in a different camp from attorneys general like New York's Eliot Spitzer who hold a news conference first and investigate or settle later."Kline, a 1987 KU School of Law graduate, will speak on the relationship between his office and the business community. He also will address the two prevailing philosophies of state attorneys general in the context of how to ethically use the power of their offices in investigations of publicly traded corporations.Kline, a former state legislator who was elected in 2002 and is seeking re-election this year, is chair of the Midwest Region of the National Association of Attorneys General and holds a seat on the association's executive committee. He recently spoke at the National Press Club as part of a conference of the Republican National Trial Lawyers.