I would like to welcome our new colleague, with two brief anecdotes if readers will permit.
Four years ago I was a student in a corporate research seminar. That seminar was taught by my mentor, someone with whom Larry has had vibrant scholarly debate. The class was listening to a guest lecturer, a law professor from another school, but the presentation was particularly boring. I was, however, reading Ribstein’s blog at the time. Alas, I was subsequently caught surfing the web. Not by just anyone, but a teacher I really wanted to impress. In a whisper, and initially very annoyed, my mentor leaned over and asked “what are you doing?” “Reading Ribstein,” I honestly replied. “Oh…well then forward me the link,” my mentor responded with a pat on the shoulder.
I was privileged to then clerk in Delaware after I graduated. I won’t say which Judge it was, or which Court for that matter, but I remember visiting a chambers and can recall eavesdropping on a law clerk briefing their Judge on an issue of Delaware Partnership Law and hearing the clerk say “I’m not sure about how to analyse the issue” and then hearing the clerk rattle off a list of academic authors he had initially researched. The judge’s reply was “Ribstein…did you say Ribstein? Just start with Ribstein.”
Professor Ribstein, thanks for joining our company of merry scholars. We are sincerely honored.