Hot off the press: Fencing Fiduciary Duties
My article, Fencing Fiduciary Duties, has just appeared in a B.U. Law Review symposium. Here’s the abstract: This comment on the work of Professor Tamar Frankel builds on her encyclopedic discussion of the various types of duties that have been classified as “fiduciary.” I argue for a more precise definition and more limited application of ... Hot off the press: Fencing Fiduciary Duties
It’s baaack: The Shareholder Protection Act
The Shareholder Protection Act been reintroduced in Congress, and Lucian Bebchuk still likes it. He and Robert Jackson wrote an article defending the basic idea, which Bebchuk describes as to “establish special corporate-governance rules for deciding when corporate resources may be spent on politics.” He admits “the bill is unlikely to be adopted during this ... It’s baaack: The Shareholder Protection Act
The SEC under judicial supervision
You may remember Rajat Gupta, the former GS and P & G director the SEC accused in a March 1 administrative order of tipping inside info to Rajatnaram. I have previously discussed the many peculiarities of that case, including the fact that the SEC chose this as the first insider trading case (and the first ... The SEC under judicial supervision
Impractical law schools
The WSJ reports today on how “some law schools are throwing out decades of tradition by replacing textbook courses with classes that teach more practical skills.” Examples from the article: IU’s courses on “project management” and “emotional intelligence;” NYLS’s courses in “negotiation, counseling and fact investigation;” W & L’s new third year curriculum replacing “lectures ... Impractical law schools
Morgenson’s DPA scandal
It’s not easy coming up with scandals all the time. Some days there just isn’t a new scandal to report. But that space has to get filled somehow. The NYT’s Gretchen Morgenson often finds herself in this position. Her scandal for yesterday, reported as usual with Louise Story (I’ll just start calling them Morgenstory), was about ... Morgenson’s DPA scandal
More on the value of legal education
Ted Seto responds to Brian Tamanaha’s post about the price of legal education. Noting that HLS tuition rose at an annual compound rate of 7.71% from 1973 to 2011 while Cravath’s starting salary rose 6.04% he observes with appropriate caveats that law school tuition does appear to have been inflating at a rate hard to ... More on the value of legal education
Being a business lawyer
Peter Mahler’s excellent NY “business divorce” blog has a must-read post on “what it means to be a business divorce lawyer.” Bottom line: you have to know not just law, but “hand-holding,” “your client’s business,” accounting and valuation, and “the purposes and limitations of litigation.” Of course this applies to all business lawyering. Mahler’s analysis raises ... Being a business lawyer
DSK and media bias
Bret Stephens wonders why he and fellow journalists ignored the fact that “[a]lmost from the beginning, there was something amiss in the case of People v. Dominique Strauss-Kahn.” He speculates: I did enjoy the thought of this mandarin of the tax-exemptocracy being pulled from the comfort of his first-class Air France seat and dispatched to ... DSK and media bias
The next Silicon Valley?
Don’t laugh. It’s got a major international airport, cheap housing, major league sports and culture. It’s close to a world class university, great natural areas and another country. The urban pioneers who enriched other cities are increasingly priced out of them, and are mobile. State and local politicians must actually improve the place in order ... The next Silicon Valley?
Scandal of the day: a businessman in Congress
The NYT reports on a new scandal it’s discovered. Mike Thompson lives in St. Helena, California and represents it in Congress. Now, I recently spent three days in St. Helena so I can testify to what you see when you go there: grapes (at the left is the view I woke up to every day). ... Scandal of the day: a businessman in Congress
Ribstein & Lipshaw Unincorporated Business Entities 2011 Supplement
The 2011 Supplement to Ribstein & Lipshaw, Unincorporated Business Entities (4th Edition) is now available in Word and Pdf. It will be posted on the Lexis website in the next couple of weeks. If you want to teach the law of business associations as many of your students will actually be practicing it — the cutting ... Ribstein & Lipshaw Unincorporated Business Entities 2011 Supplement
Lawyers vs. software
Roger Parloff asks, “can software practice law?” He discusses class litigation over whether the web service LegalZoom.com is illegally practicing law in Missouri by helping users prepare legal documents by posing questions and then providing a customized document based on the user’s answers. The class plaintiffs don’t claim any injury other than the price they ... Lawyers vs. software
