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Showing results for:  “price gouging”

Usha Rodrigues on Larry Ribstein

Usha Rodrigues has a characteristically delightful and poignant remembrance of Larry up over at Conglomerate: Finally, the section is done.  And it’s stronger and richer than it was just 24 hours ago.  I send my last email at 4:07.  It reads: “You’re hilarious.  And a treasure. Thanks again, U” On a Saturday afternoon.  For a ... Usha Rodrigues on Larry Ribstein

Best Antitrust Articles and Books of 2011

Danny Sokol posted some nominations for best Antitrust Article from a variety of antitrust experts.  I was supposed to include my nomination for that list but missed the deadline.  Turns out my draft list doesn’t have much overlap with the articles nominated over there, so I figured I’d share my whole list here with all ... Best Antitrust Articles and Books of 2011

What Does the Stock Market Tell Us in the Aftermath of the Failed AT&T / T-Mobile Merger?

In the wake of the announcement that AT&T and T-Mobile are walking away from their proposed merger, there will be ample time to discuss whether the deal would have passed muster in federal court, and to review the various strategic maneuvers by the parties, the DOJ, and the FCC.  But now is a good time ... What Does the Stock Market Tell Us in the Aftermath of the Failed AT&T / T-Mobile Merger?

Some Much-Needed Antitrust Skepticism on Senate Letter Urging FTC Google Investigation

Back in September, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee held a hearing on “The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition?” Given the harsh questioning from the Subcommittee’s Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Ranking Member Mike Lee (R-UT), no one should have been surprised by the letter they sent yesterday to the Federal Trade ... Some Much-Needed Antitrust Skepticism on Senate Letter Urging FTC Google Investigation

AT&T/T-Mobile RIP

Yesterday, AT&T announced it was halting its plan to acquire T-Mobile. Presumably AT&T did not think it could prevail in defending the merger in two places simultaneously—one before a federal district court judge (to defend against the DOJ’s case) and another before an administrative law judge (to defend against the FCC’s case). Staff at both ... AT&T/T-Mobile RIP

The NYT on why law school is expensive

It’s Sunday so the NYT has another David Segal screed on legal education.  This time he presents the insight that law school is expensive because of accreditation standards that prevent law schools from containing costs even if they wanted to.  Segal says, “[t]he lack of affordable law school options, scholars say, helps explain why so ... The NYT on why law school is expensive

AAI’s Antitrust Jury Instruction Project: A good idea in theory, but…

The American Antitrust Institute has announced plans to draft a comprehensive set of jury instructions for antitrust trials.  According to AAI president Bert Foer: In Sherman Act Section 1 and Section 2 civil cases, judges tend to gravitate towards the ABA Model Instructions as the gold standard for impartial instructions. … The AAI believes the ABA model ... AAI’s Antitrust Jury Instruction Project: A good idea in theory, but…

Krugman on private equity

Paul Krugman, writing in Thursday’s NYT, sees Romney as a real life version of Oliver Stone’s Gordon Gekko in the film Wall Street.  He characterizes Romney and his private equity ilk as job-destroyers, and argues that they should be taxed (and presumably also regulated) accordingly. He contrasts this with the supposed position of the GOP ... Krugman on private equity

Should there be default fiduciary duties in Delaware LLCs and LPs?

A recently published on-line symposium calls needed attention to Delaware Chief Justice Myron Steele’s remarkable article, Freedom of Contract and Default Contractual Duties in the Delaware Limited Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies, 46 Am. Bus. L.J. 221 (2009) (no free link available). The Chief Justice makes an argument that is guaranteed to shock traditional business ... Should there be default fiduciary duties in Delaware LLCs and LPs?

The ABA creeps sideways on non-lawyer ownership

The ABA is considering loosening the bar on non-lawyer ownership of law firms (HT Law Blog).  Here’s the discussion paper. For those who are thinking that this move is meaningful, forget about it.  The ABA proposal (which would still have to be approved by the ABA and then by individual states) would permit non-lawyer ownership ... The ABA creeps sideways on non-lawyer ownership

Lawyers as responsible business advisors

Katherine Franke argues that lawyers are partly responsible for the financial misdeeds protested by OWS (HT Leiter): Implicit in the OWS protests is a condemnation of an approach to lawyering that regards all legal rules simply as the price of misconduct discounted by the probability of enforcement* * * In recent years we have seen ... Lawyers as responsible business advisors

Top Ten Lines in the FCC’s Staff Analysis and Findings

Geoff Manne’s blog on the FCC’s Staff Analysis and Findings (“Staff Report”) has inspired me to come up with a top ten list. The Staff Report relies heavily on concentration indices to make inferences about a carrier’s pricing power, even though direct evidence of pricing power is available (and points in the opposite direction). In ... Top Ten Lines in the FCC’s Staff Analysis and Findings