Reed Smith, the large Pittsburgh-based law firm, has announced a fundamental restructuring of its policies with regard to associate performance and promotion. According to an article in AmLaw Daily: The firm has revamped its associate model, doing away with associate classes based strictly on entry date in favor of three associate groups that will have […]
Archive | October, 2009
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Mass incarceration is social engineering.
Textbook Suggestions for IL Law & Econ Elective?
I’ve been asked to step in and teach a 1L elective course on law and economics this spring, covering for a colleague who has taken a high level economics post in the administration. I have to pick a textbook very soon. The course is for second semester 1Ls, and my goal is to attract 1Ls […]
Stuart Taylor on Obama Administration’s Endorsement of Restricting “Advocacy of Religious Hatred That Constitutes Incitement to Hostility”
That’s in his new National Journal column; Taylor is highly respected (by others as well as by me) and known to be quite moderate, so I hope this will bring the issue more attention. And it leads me to ask this question: The Obama Administration’s cosponsored U.N. Human Rights Council resolution puts it on record […]
A New Soros Initiative on the Economics Profession?
By Kenneth Anderson on October 30, 2009 1:49 pm in Academia, Economy, Finance, Financial Crisis, Legal Profession, Legal Professor, Regulation
Michael Hersh describes a new $50 million George Soros initative to try and remake the economics profession so to reclaim it from “free market fundamentalists.” The fund will be run by Robert Johnson, formerly a managing director of Soros Fund Management; it hopes to raise $200 million in matching funds. (H/T Instapundit; also Mark N […]
”When GM Took Federal Dollars, They Lost Some of Their Autonomy”
Does government interference inevitably follow government ownership of private companies? It sure seems that way. As a WSJ article reports: “Companies in hock to Washington now have the equivalent of 535 new board members — 100 U.S. senators and 435 House members.” Specifically, the story reports on efforts by various lawmakers to inflence the business […]
Left/Right bloggers agree: Economy will be top issue in 2010. Disagree on WH war on Fox
This week’s National Journal poll of political bloggers asked “What will be the top two issues in the midterm elections?” Enormous majorities on both the Left and the Right picked “Economy/jobs” as the expected top issue. On the Left, “health care reform” came in second, far ahead of the third-place “deficit/big government.” The issues of Afghanistan […]
Revising Web-based Newspaper Articles Without Informing Readers – NYT Edition
The original version of an NYT story on President Obama’s visit to the dover Air Force Base included a paragraph characterizing the trip as a staged event, “intended by the White House to convey to the nation that Mr. Obama was not making his Afghanistan decision lightly or in haste.” At some point, however, this […]
Is the Pay Czar Unconstitutional?
Former federal appellate judge Michael McConnell, now a professor at Stanford, argues that the “Pay Czar” is unconstitutional. Specifically, he argues that the “Pay Czar,” aka the Treasury Department’s “Special Master” for executive compensation, is an “officer” of the United States for purposes of the Appointments Clause (albeit likely an inferior officer) because he is […]
Should Crime Victims Have the Right to Be Heard on Federal Sentencing Guidelines Issues?
I recently argued that they should to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Currently the procedures at sentencing envision the parties arguing the various factors, but not a crime victim. This approach reflects an outdated way of thinking about criminal procedure — that only the state and the defendant have legitimate interests in the outcome of a criminal […]
How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment: A Checklist
As the last in my series of guest-posts on crime and punishment, here’s a list of fairly specific recommendations. They are designed to simultaneously reduce crime and incarceration, by (1) using prison cells more efficiently; (2) using punishments other than incarceration; and (3) controlling crime by means other than punishment. The detailed justifications can be found […]
Ninth Circuit Adopts National Standard for Internet Obscenity
In Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973), the Supreme Court announced a three-part test to determine whether a work counts as “obscenity” for purposes of constitutional law: (a) whether “the average person, applying contemporary community standards” would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, (b) whether the work […]
JStreet–The American Kadima?
The mystery of just what JStreet is, or intends to be, is growing deeper. “The party and the viewpoint that we’re closest to in Israeli politics is actually Kadima,” JStreet’s founder Jeremy Ben-Ami told the Jerusalem Post. (Hat tip: Ilya) You mean the Kadima founded by that old Likudnik*Ariel Sharon, and run by another old […]
Congratulations to GMUSL Class of 2009
July 2009 Bar Passage Rates GMUSL 1st Time Pass: 90.6% GMUSL Overall Pass: 89.1 VA 1st Time Pass: 80.2% VA Overall Pass: 75.4% UPDATE: I got an email inquiring as to whether GMU faculty gear their courses to Virginia law, or national law. The answer is that outside of specific Virginia practice electives, GMU classes […]
Rampant Speciesism
From Joly v. Pelletier, Rene Joly v. Pelletier and others, [1999] O.J. No. 1728 [QL], 1999 CarswellOnt 1587, 1999 WL 33187845 (Carswell) (Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Court File Nos. 99-CV-166273 and 99-CV-167339, May 16, 1999) (I’ve verified that this is indeed on Westlaw): Mr. Joly’s claims in these two actions, and in several others […]