If We're Going To Talk

In Almost Every Profession - Whether It's Law Or Journalism, Finance Or Medicine Or Academia Or Running A Small Business - People Rely On Confidential Communications To Do Their Jobs. We Count On The Space Of Trust That Confidentiality Provides. When Someone Breaches That Trust, We Are All Worse Off For It.

Despite Our Founding Principles And The Many Ways Our Constitution Has Protected Individual Liberties, We Do, Let's Admit It, Have A Long History Of Shutting People Out--african Americans, Women, Gays And Lesbians, People With Disabilities--and Throughout Our History, We Have Found Too Many Ways To Divide And Exclude People From Their Ownership Of The Law And Protection Under The Law.

When I Became Secretary Of State, I Felt One Of My Primary Jobs Was Building Relationships Around The World. And I Did Spend A Lot Of Time And Effort Thinking Through, How Do I Connect With This Person?..

I Don't Think I've Read Any Of The Books That Have Been Written About Me.

I Think We've Got To Look At Corporate Law. Back In The Day When I Studied It, There Were Different Constituencies That Were To Be Served, And I Think There Was A Real Wrong Turn About 20 To 25 Years Ago When The Theory Began To Be Promoted That Your Highest Duty - In Fact, Some Would Argue, Your Only Duty - Is To Maximize Shareholder Return. I Just Don't Buy It. And It Wasn't The Original Underpinnings Of The Legal Theory Of Corporate Law.