Among the landmark occasions in the legendary history of Berkshire Hathaway and its iconic co-leaders, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, was a 1996 symposium held in New York at Cardozo Law School. The focus of the symposium was Warren's letters to Berkshire shareholders. The format was a series of panels with two dozen different experts dissecting all the ideas in the letters, about corporate governance, takeovers, investing, and accounting. Intellectual sparks illuminated the two-day affair, which drew unusual press interest for an academic convocation.

While the principal tangible result of the conference was the publication of the international best-seller, The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, the transcript of the symposium is now being made available with annotations and updated commentary that show just how timeless the topics are and how venerable the principles Buffett laid out remain. Lawrence Cunningham hosted the event, edits The Essays, and now publishes this archival treasure, with current assessments by such luminaries as Robert Hagstrom as well as several participants from the original symposium.

Lawrence Cunningham's dozen books include The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, which Cunningham self-published into an international best-seller translated into a dozen languages, as well as Quality Investing (written with portfolio managers at AKO Capital) and The AIG Story (written with Hank Greenberg).

Cunningham loves teaching, writing, reading, running, biking, swimming, and spending time with his wife and two daughters, especially at the beach. At George Washington University, he teaches business law to promote deal-making and transaction design that keeps everyone out of court--the last place he believes any business person should be.

An apolitical and accessible sort, Cunningham's writings appear in trade magazines like Directors & Boards, university journals like the Columbia Law Review, blogs, and mainstream media such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and the Financial Times. His books are widely reviewed, including in the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Times of London, and USA Today.