Foreclosure lawyers as mortgagees
The NYT reports on foreclosure lawyers who are getting paid contingency fees for mortgage savings, and are themselves getting mortgages from their clients to secure their fees: The Ticktin mortgages resemble the loans that the clients originally got from Countrywide, GMAC and other lenders. Each will be a contractual obligation with the law firm, labeled ... Foreclosure lawyers as mortgagees
Following the sun, or not
From Nick Rowe (HT MR) (see also): [L]et T be the time everybody else chooses, and let S be the time the sun chooses. So my reaction function is t = R(T,S). Assume that dR/dT>0, dR/dS>0, and dR/dT+dR/dS=1. What this means is that if everybody else gets up one hour later, I will get up (say) ... Following the sun, or not
Don’t blame me, I voted for nobody
Illinois has filled the Obama seat with a Republican. Too bad for the Democrats that (1) Blago couldn’t sell the seat; and (2) they didn’t want an election back when they could have elected a Democrat. And now Senator Kirk will be able to vote to continue the Bush tax cut in the lame duck ... Don’t blame me, I voted for nobody
Movies, capitalism and anti-semitism
Jean-Luc Godard’s getting an honorary Oscar which, as the NYT reports, presents a problem. Godard is “an avowed anti-Zionist and advocate for Palestinian rights,” and made a documentary which included alternating images of Golda Meir and Adolf Hitler. Most notably for present purposes, he told Le Matin in 1985: “What I find interesting in the ... Movies, capitalism and anti-semitism
A new argument against federal proxy access
Dodd-Frank included new federal rules regarding proxy access, which have significant problems. Now a new paper by Becker, Bergstresser and Subramanian provides an additional argument against these rules, Does Shareholder Proxy Access Improve Firm Value? Evidence from the Business Roundtable Challenge. Here’s the abstract: We measure the value of shareholder proxy access by using a ... A new argument against federal proxy access
Indoors and outdoors whistleblowing
Today’s WSJ notes criticism of Dodd-Frank’s bounty provision for whistleblowers on the ground that it undermines the internal reporting provisions of the previous financial law, Sarbanes-Oxley. The WSJ notes that plaintiffs lawyers eager to handle complaints on behalf of whistleblowers are getting the word out, issuing press releases and publishing articles about the new law ... Indoors and outdoors whistleblowing
The limits of fiduciary duties: tomorrow at B.U.
Tomorrow at Boston University I’ll be joining a distinguished group to discuss the Role of Fiduciary Law and Trust in the 21st Century, inspired by the work of Professor Tamar Frankel. Those who have followed my work will not be surprised that I’m going to focus on the limits of fiduciary duties, and their inappropriate ... The limits of fiduciary duties: tomorrow at B.U.
Don’t vote
[In honor of the coming election. The following is reprised from the last election. It still applies.] Here’s the basic instruction (stop after 1:22). Dubner & Levitt giving the sober economics (of course it’s about social norms). Gordon Tullock, in the inimitable style I recognize from being officed down the hall from him back at ... Don’t vote
Proxy advisors as regulatory spawn
John Carney comments on the rise of proxy advisory firms. He attributes this partly to increasing complexity caused by the securities industry. He notes the irony that “[r]eforms to securities regulations that were ostensibly intended to empower shareholders or further ‘shareholder democracy’ have instead resulted in increasing domination of proxy questions by a small clique ... Proxy advisors as regulatory spawn
Death of Big Government
I’ve been talking (maybe to death) about how high costs, competition, outsourcing, etc., have contributed to the Death of Big Law. Now Bloomberg reports (HT Law blog) that Mark Cuban’s lawyer told U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton in Washington that he was seeking a creative solution to moving the case along, noting the federal government ... Death of Big Government
Citizens United and the shareholder protection gambit
Last January in Citizens United the Supreme Court delivered a blow to the opponents of corporate speech by enabling corporations to spend directly on political campaigns rather than relying on PACs and lobbying. A majority of the Court concluded that public debate could be best promoted by protecting all speech, regardless of speaker. A sizable ... Citizens United and the shareholder protection gambit
More on lawyers and foreclosure-gate
A few days ago I wrote that a cause of foreclosure-gate was the law industry’s failure to fully adapt to mass production, at least partly because of current ethics rules. But lawyers are, of course, fully capable of litigating the mistakes that result from this business model. Yesterday’s WSJ examines “the growth of a legal ... More on lawyers and foreclosure-gate
