By the Bard Association which many of you are members and those of you are not, hope you will become. It is the Affinity Group of lawyers in washington dc and elsewhere to try to support not only art in general but this from the computer in specific. As you know, tonights argument is based on the text of William Shakespeares macbeth which was produced by the theater this spring and directed by liesel on this very stage. It was a wonderful event and im sure many of you attended it. I want to start with a trend by thanking the people that you will see on the stage and the people who are not on the stage but make this possible. This event comes together in large part because theres a group of people with whom i am honored to work, who work on coming up with the ideas, coming up which plate we will do and figuring out what the legal questions can be. These are the people who year in and year out make this possible. I realize after last winter that while i always think them in general i wan
Shakespeare discussion. Tonight discussion is shakespeare and the rules of war from athens to alecto aleppo. Please, silent your Electronic Devices and let you know that video photography of this discussion is prohibited. At this point, it is my honor to introduce tonights moderator, steven ryan. He is a member of our board of trustees as well as the Bard Association and has chaired our fundraiser for many years. He is the head of Government Strategy at mcdormand, will and emory and previously served as the general counsel to the u. S. Senate committee on Governmental Affairs alongside the honorable john cliff. In addition, he has served as Deputy Council of the president s commission on organized crime, directing investigations against. [inaudible] and other criminals during the reagan administration. Thats part of his commission to pro bono work, he has represented operation hope of Financial Literacy group the past decade. It is my honor to welcome steve ryan. [applause] thank you v