A financial perspective on the legal education market
Today’s WSJ offers an interesting perspective on the law school cost/student debt debate: from the folks who invest in student loans. According to the article, these guys say: Law school * * * can end up a sucker’s bet in periods of high unemployment U.S. has far more law schools than other professional schools, resulting ... A financial perspective on the legal education market
Where have all the IPOs gone?
Ritter, Gao and Zhu ask, Where have all the IPOs Gone? Well, not to young men everywhere, but to the older men and women who run the big companies that have replaced public markets as the key venture capital exit. Here’s the abstract: During 1980-2000, an average of 311 companies per year went public in ... Where have all the IPOs gone?
The jurisprudential significance of blogs
Gordon Smith notes that this issue came up at a Columbia conference on Delaware law and courts. He observes that the Glom gets a plug on a speaker’s slide. So I’ll mention that above the Glom on the pictured slide we find. . . Truth on the Market.
Wal-Mart lawyers
Yesterday’s WSJ discussed Wal-Mart’s (possible) plan to dominate the industry of primary health-care clinics: Wal-Mart said in its proposal document that it is interested in offering services, including clinical care such as asthma, sleep apnea and osteoporosis monitoring, diagnostic services such as allergy and blood testing, and preventive services such as vaccinations and physical exams, ... Wal-Mart lawyers
Going to 11
Veterans certainly deserve their day but I hope they won’t mind my sharing it with Nigel Tufnel. Surely you recall his memorable question: Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not 10. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at 10. You’re on 10 here, all the way up, all the way up, ... Going to 11
Law school applications and opportunity costs
Many believe that law school applicants have been misled about or just don’t understand the market for legal services. I think it’s worth exploring the alternative hypothesis that law school is college grads’ best opportunity despite the market. Today’s WSJ discusses one possible basis for this conclusion — college students’ poor choice of what ... Law school applications and opportunity costs
What happens to a law firm’s work after the firm dies?
Today’s WSJ covers the Howrey bankruptcy and specifically the ex-partners’ and their new firms’ potential liabilities for unfinished business taken from Howrey. As the article says, Howrey’s bankruptcy trustee, the custodian of its claims under state law, “has the right to sue for profits generated by work that partners started at their old law firms ... What happens to a law firm’s work after the firm dies?
Law firms’ competition
The biggest competition for law firms is not other law firms but in-house counsel. So reports the ABAJ. I make a similar point in a paper I’m presenting at a University of Wisconsin program next week. There are two reasons for this: pressures on firms to reduce fees, and law’s information revolution which is reducing ... Law firms’ competition
Say on say on pay?
“Say on pay” seems like one of those “chicken soup” ideas — at best salutary and at worst unobjectionable. Who could object to letting the shareholders vote on executive pay? Minor Myers, for one, in The Perils of Shareholder Voting on Executive Compensation. He suggests that “the more involved shareholders are in a firm’s managerial ... Say on say on pay?
Abolishing corporate personhood
Since the day it was handed down, Citizens United has been a kind of political flypaper for bad laws. The first dead bugs sought to exploit the decision’s caveats by targeting disclosure and shareholder approval (the Shareholder Protection Act, critized here) and prohibiting political expenditures by government contractors (the Disclose Act). More recently, CU-haters are ... Abolishing corporate personhood
Crisis in legal education or business cycle?
Bill Henderson vs. Orin Kerr (in comments, with reply by Henderson). HT Leiter. Henderson: U.S. Legal Education is in the midst of a large, structural transformation. This structural shift is driven by a confluence of factors, which includes three significant trends: The decline, or plateau, of the traditional time and materials legal services model The ... Crisis in legal education or business cycle?
The NYT on non-lawyer-financed law firms
The NYT has finally caught onto non-lawyer financing of law firms, and specifically the possibility of Wal-Mart lawyers, now being ushered in by England’s new Legal Services Act. As the article notes, “[s]uch a move could upend the industry’s stiff adherence to the partnership system in favor of full-fledged corporations that have access to the ... The NYT on non-lawyer-financed law firms
