Time for a really new law school
Delaware is thinking about a new law school. Bainbridge and Pileggi don’t like it. Says Steve: the last thing Delaware–or the country as a whole–needs is another law school churning out graduates into a still dismal job market. We need to be killing off the bottom dwellers, not starting new ones. I agree, with a ... Time for a really new law school
Lawyers as capitalists
The WSJ reports: Clients are seeking ways to lower their legal costs, and more of them are asking law firms to share the risk of litigation, particularly in intellectual property cases, with contingency payment arrangements in which the clients pay no fees upfront. Under this arrangement, a law firm only gets paid if it wins. ... Lawyers as capitalists
The general economy vs. the law job economy
LawBlog seems surprised that while jobs are picking up generally, the law industry is still losing jobs. No surprise to me: as I discuss here and here, the problems with legal jobs are structural, not cyclical. The financial crisis precipitated a demand-side rethinking of legal services that was long overdue. By the time the rethinking was ... The general economy vs. the law job economy
The prosecutor finds a consolation prize
Lattman: Mr. Bharara’s focus on insider trading has surprised many people on Wall Street. They had expected his office to instead bring criminal charges against top executives at the large banks that were at the center of the financial crisis. The government’s gotten a lot of heat for not charging these executives, including at the ... The prosecutor finds a consolation prize
Little big law
According to AmLaw, citing unnamed sources, Howrey will vote this Wednesday on whether to dissolve. Given massive departures that the article says “have left Howrey a shadow of its former self” the conclusion would seem to be foregone. So now what? Consider some of the questions: How much does the firm owe, and what does ... Little big law
The iPad 2 and the E2
Professor B says: In the last week I used my iPad to: Watch QI on Youtube. Watch TV shows, movies, and music videos from my iTunes library. Online banking. Online shopping. Web access. WSJ. BBC. Dinner reservations over Open Table. Deer Hunter. Online poker. Document access via Dropbox. Document editing via Quick Office. IMDB. Twitter ... The iPad 2 and the E2
My new paper on the future of legal education
As previously reported, I spoke last week at the Iowa Law Review Symposium on The Future of Legal Education. The CHR discussed some of the festivities. Here’s some tidbits from that article (which didn’t report on my panel or talk): Law schools are not moving with changing times. Richard A. Matasar, dean of New York ... My new paper on the future of legal education
The constitutional privacy rights of business entities
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Roberts, held in FCC v. ATT, Inc.: We reject the argument that because “person” is defined for purposes of FOIA to include a corporation, the phrase “personal privacy” in Exemption 7(C) reaches corporations as well. The protection in FOIA against disclosure of law enforcement information on ... The constitutional privacy rights of business entities
The myth of competition among non-profit law schools
In Law & Economics in Japan, Harvard’s Mark Ramseyer tries to explain why Japanese scholars have mostly not embraced law and economics to the extent of their peers elsewhere. He tries on some explanations — “the location of legal education in the undergraduate curriculum, and the long-term Marxist domination of economics faculties” — but is ... The myth of competition among non-profit law schools
Abercrombie’s Ohio express slows down
Last December Abercrombie filed a preliminary proxy statement announcing a plan to reincorporate from Delaware to Ohio. Steve Davidoff and I commented on the move. Steve noted that, while Abercrombie had highlighted various reasons for the move, the shareholders had to dig through the disclosures to learn that it was, as I said in December, ... Abercrombie’s Ohio express slows down
What’s in the Howrey name?
The Recorder (HT Law Blog), discussing the Howrey endgame: One issue that’s in play is the matter of the prestigious Howrey name. A former Howrey lawyer in California said Winston might pay $2 million or more for the Howrey moniker. The goal had been to name the new firm Winston Howrey, but one lawyer told ... What’s in the Howrey name?
An inside speech for Inside Job
I didn’t watch the Oscars last night, following my usual habit. But I note that “Inside Job” was supposedly the best documentary. The filmmaker, Charles Ferguson, said in accepting “Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by massive fraud, not a single financial executive has ... An inside speech for Inside Job
