The Archives

Everything written by Larry Ribstein on law, economics, and more

The Uncorporation reviewed

Grant Hayden and Matt Bodie review my Rise of the Uncorporation in a forthcoming Michigan Law Review.  Here’s the abstract of their article, The Uncorporation and the Unraveling of ‘Nexus of Contracts’ Theory:   This is a review of The Rise of the Uncorporation, by Larry E. Ribstein (Oxford University Press 2010). The Rise of ... The Uncorporation reviewed

The brave new world of choice of law

Suppose you’re a gay couple and you want to have a baby.  You could try adopting one and deal with the tangle of laws about gay adoption.  Or you could just plant some sperm and eggs in one or more surrogates and design one or more kids that are biologically yours. The variations are discussed ... The brave new world of choice of law

Judge Kozinski on over-criminalizing agency costs

In U.S. v. Goyal, the government contended that the defendant, former CFO of Network Associates, had violated GAAP by causing the company to recognize revenue from certain sales sooner than it should have, and of lying to the company’s auditor.  The jury convicted defendant of securities fraud, false SEC filings, and making materially false statements ... Judge Kozinski on over-criminalizing agency costs

Civil Gideon and lawyer licensing

Ted Frank cites my post recognizing that lower income debtors lack proper representation because of what I called “the stranglehold of lawyer licensing.” But then he says that I forget() the public choice aspect of the legal cartel’s response to the problem: rather than end the cartel that is causing the problem, the legal community ... Civil Gideon and lawyer licensing

The insider trading sideshow in the corporate crime circus

Jesse Eisinger is upset that the wrong people are going to jail. Nobody from Lehman, Merrill Lynch or Citigroup, no top AIG or Bear Stearns executives, no big mortgage company executive, not even Angelo Mozillo.   Eisinger dismisses the insider trading prosecutions as a “sideshow” to take attention away from the lack of prosecutions over the banking ... The insider trading sideshow in the corporate crime circus

Alternative careers in law

Conventional law jobs might be getting harder to find, but there are alternatives, as I noted in my work-in-process with Bruce Kobayashi described here.  Recent news stories suggest the range of options. Financing divorce cases Here’s the NYT story about Balance Point Divorce Funding, with more from Christine.  As the Times story notes, this is ... Alternative careers in law

Larry Ribstein on Free to Lose?

Larry E. Ribstein is the Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Chair in Law and the associate dean for Research, University of Illinois College of Law I thought I’d aim my opening post at the question that motivated my interest in this symposium:  is behavioral economics leading us to the end of free markets and the takeover ... Larry Ribstein on Free to Lose?

ABA Journal interview on foreclosure-gate

I discuss here my views of the links between foreclosure-gate and lawyer licensing’s stranglehold on innovation in the legal services market. Update:  And here’s a slightly longer version of the original post for the Washington Times.

Trading all around the beltway

We’ve heard about insider trading by politicians and the need to stop it.  But information wants to be free.  Information in Washington flows through many gullies and streams.  It shouldn’t be surprising that it comes through lobbyists as well. Or that hedge funds are there to scoop it up. Huang and Gao, Capitalizing on Capitol ... Trading all around the beltway

ABA Blawg 100: Vote for us

Tell the world you like Truth on the Market. Vote here.

Foreclosure-gate and the injustice of lawyer regulation

I’ve written how the collapse of the mortgage boom has put unprecedented stress on our legal system.  Mortgages were securitized on a massive scale, but then had to be enforced at the micro level. While the finance industry was mutating rapidly, the law has remained a cottage industry, with individual lawyers representing individual clients in ... Foreclosure-gate and the injustice of lawyer regulation

The SEC’s crackdown on efficient markets

Holman Jenkins has some thoughts on what he calls the insanity of the rumored government initiative against insider trading: Society is served * * * when investors and management get the best possible feedback on what products and services and business models are most demanded by the public. The SEC has a different view. * ... The SEC’s crackdown on efficient markets