Corporate Governance

I get a kick out of this one (hat tip to PrawfsBlawg again)

Posted on February 17, 2010
See the commentary and the comments to How to Write an Incendiary Blog Post (here).  The post refers to the original full article in the Boston Globe (here), but I got a huge kick out of the comments to the post on PrawfsBlog.  Hat tip to that blog and to my buddy Bernie Burk, who sent me the original BG version a while back...

I hate bullies--especially anonymous ones.

Posted on February 16, 2010
Just got a nastygram today from RoastMail (meaning that the sender wasn't brave enough to sign his or her own name to the email).  The person, in the guise of being concerned about professionalism, suggested that I was cluttering up everyone's inboxes with my congratulations when people at Boyd did something praiseworthy...

Musings about an essay that I'm writing.

Posted on February 15, 2010
Posted at Voir Dire (here), where I'm guest-blogging this month.  Comments gratefully accepted.  Thanks!

One of the many reasons that my friend Bernie Burk ROCKS!

Posted on February 15, 2010
See Bernie's comment to Howard Wasserman's post (http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2010/02/being-sued-v-being-held-liable.html) about the difference between being sued and being held liable on PrawfsBlawg:  It seems to me that the interesting question here is how this set of preconceptions differs, if at all, from the dynamics of blame in our culture more generally...

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I'm sad about the NASA budget cuts.

Posted on February 14, 2010
And I'm not the only one (see here).  There is not enough space on any blog to list all of the gifts that NASA's research and mission has given us throughout the years.  I'll be eternally grateful for all that NASA has done so far, and I just hope that NASA will get the opportunity to thrive in the future.

Another subscriber to the Van Niel mortgage proposal.

Posted on February 14, 2010
A while back, I described the Van Niel mortgage proposal (here).  In today's column by John L. Smith (here), he's endorsing that proposal.  It's not a groundswell for the proposal (yet), but perhaps, someday, we'll see more people recognizing that modifying the principal amounts and giving the banks a share in any short-term profits on resale is the right way to go...

Does higher education have some explaining to do?

Posted on February 14, 2010
I was reading the op-ed page this morning, and I came across Glenn Cook's A Few Questions for Carson City (here).   Among the questions that he asked, two in particular caught my eye:-- Why are higher education officials and lawmakers giving a moment's thought to closing Nevada State College at Henderson when its students actually make progress toward degrees and graduate in large numbers, while most UNLV undergraduates drop out? -- How much research at UNLV and UNR is funded by taxpayers to explore professors' personal interests, when those professors could be teaching classes instead? In this economy, and with the sacrifices UNLV and UNR face, is it really that unreasonable to ask faculty to suspend all research that isn't self-funded?Let's take these two questions together...

More kudos for David Dow.

Posted on February 14, 2010
Check out this book review (here).

How to render a Contracts professor speechless in class.

Posted on February 11, 2010
Give her samples of "UCC Coffee" and "UCC Tea" at the beginning of class.  OK, I wasn't rendered entirely speechless,* but I did get a huge kick out of this surprise. I am really enjoying this semester's Contracts section!*As if I could ever be rendered entirely speechless...

Schadenfreude.

Posted on February 10, 2010
Schadenfreude is, by definition, rather satisfying.  See this Above the Law post (here), which also contains a nifty Marine Corps reference ("Welcome to the suck.")

Elizabeth Warren on Wall Street's Race to the Bottom

Posted on February 09, 2010
Read Prof. Warren's wonderful op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal here.  BRAVA!

Hat tip to The Faculty Lounge for highlighting The Autobiography of an Execution

Posted on February 08, 2010
See here for the post.  I bought my first two copies (one for me and one for my dad) at Amazon (here).  You can hear David Dow on NPR's Fresh Air here.  BRAVO, David!

Cute blog--linked to the classic I Can Has Cheezburger

Posted on February 07, 2010
See here.

One of the many examples of how nice Jeff Yates is!

Posted on February 06, 2010
Jeff, thanks for the post welcoming my guest-blogging stint (here) on your wonderful blog, Voir Dire.  I'm looking forward to hanging out with you in your slice of the virtual universe!And here's my first post (here).

An 11 on the 10-point scale of stupidity.

Posted on February 03, 2010
Normally, I give all Marines a great deal of respect and deference.  I love those Marines I know well:  that group includes my husband, my father-in-law, my brother-in-law, and many friends.  So I get especially irked when I come across an op-ed by a Marine who has managed to put his foot, his leg, and that part of his behind in which his head is not firmly inserted in his mouth...

Roger Williams University's latest study of faculty productivity outside the USNWR top "40"

Posted on January 31, 2010
See here for the whole study.  My favorite part is reproduced below (hat tip to Brian Leiter and to Paul Caron):THE TOP 40 SCHOOLS [AFTER USNWR'S TOP 40]  1...

New fun blog: Mark Osler's blog

Posted on January 29, 2010
I was visiting w/Mark recently, and he reminded me about his blog (here), which I've been enjoying.

Liz Warren's coolest moment ever (and she's had a ton already)!

Posted on January 27, 2010
See Liz Warren on -- wait for it!--The Daily Show (here). Best explanation of what went wrong with our financial system and how to fix it.I would be terribly jealous of her if I didn't like her so very much. BRAVA!!!!!

Hellooooooo, Disney Board--you need me!

Posted on January 25, 2010
This article in today's Wall Street Journal (here) proves it.

Richard Thaler's mortgage proposal--it makes sense!

Posted on January 24, 2010
Here's Richard Thaler's mortgage proposal in today's New York Times (here). Reminds me of another good mortgage proposal (here). Hmmmm....

Great law firm ads

Posted on January 20, 2010
Bravo to the law firm of Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman for these ads (here and here), which are funny as all get-out and ethical. Hat tip to Andrew Adam Newman of the New York Times for his article calling attention to these ads, here.

Meditation on the first day of spring semester classes--and an idea for our dysfunctional Congress

Posted on January 19, 2010
It's the first day of Spring Semester, and I'm going to meet my Contracts students for the first time this afternoon. Aside from the usual OMG moments (the bookstore ran out of our textbook, and I found out just this morning--thank goodness for Nettie, who PDF'd the first two assignments for us!), there's good excitement in the air...

Rachel Anderson's post over at The Conglomerate on advice for newly hired beginning law professors....

Posted on January 19, 2010
Her very useful post is here. To her advice, I'd only add one thing: if salary's non-negotiable, often some other perks are (e.g., more research assistant money, different travel allotments), so be creative.

My buddy Rachel Anderson's guest-blogging over at The Conglomerate!

Posted on January 18, 2010
See her first post here. Yay, Rachel!

Hat tip to my buddy Kathleen Lyon for finding this gem!

Posted on January 15, 2010
See here on writing. Thanks, KEL!

Sharon Davies has a great new book out (Oxford U. Press)!

Posted on January 14, 2010
One of the best things about the AALS Annual Meeting is getting to see old friends, and when I ran into Sharon Davies last week, her new book, Rising Road: A True Tale of Love, Race, and Religion in America (Oxford University Press 2010), was hot off the presses...

Great questions to ask the bankers

Posted on January 12, 2010
See Andrew Ross Sorkin's New York Times column, What the Financial Crisis Commission Should Ask, here.

Former UNLV-Boyd Prof gets national acclaim--BRAVO, PAVEL!

Posted on January 12, 2010
See the post on the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog here. Bravo, Pavel--now everyone can find out how great you are!

More foolishness coming about because of the USNWR rankings

Posted on January 12, 2010
This story's been brewing for a while now: the rankings are costing law students in terms of higher tuition. See this link from the TaxProf Blog here and Robert Morse's point of view here.

Andy Winchell wins PR link of the week!

Posted on January 08, 2010
Andy beat me to the punch by announcing our ABI Annual Spring Meeting panel on lawyering with the new social networking tools--see here. Thanks to the efforts of my co-chair, Ray Warner, and the amazing team of ABI Staffers (shout-out to Maggie Bradshaw), the panel featuresAndy Winchell, who writes the A Clean Slate Bankruptcy Blog;Steve Sather, who writes the A Texas Bankruptcy Lawyer's Blog; andKarim Guirguis, media and internet guru of the ABI...

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