Can ANYONE in Las Vegas reach Rowlands News Service?

I am one of those people who loves reading newspapers--in print, not just online. And for the past month, I have been trying to reach Rowlands News Service (702-361-6125) to find out why I haven't been getting the LA Times Sunday edition delivered. I have had it delivered for 18 months now, but the last few weeks have been spotty or missed.

I want to support the LA Times. I want to support newsprint. I am a big believer in newspapers. What I am NOT, right now, is a big believer in either the LA Times Customer Service Department or Rowlands News Service. Any hints on what I should do?

Here's the ONLY information that I have on Rowlands:

Rowlands Newspaper Service
Newspaper Distributor
7171 Industrial Rd
Las Vegas, Nevada 89118-5200

UPDATE ON 3/4/09:

Well, the LA Times Customer Service Dept. came through for me, with the marvelous Al Zaccagnini finding me a new distributor. Thanks to him, I should soon be reading my Sunday LA Times again. As for Rowlands, il n'exist pas.

Dan Filler's very cogent observations on recent big firm layoffs

See here for his post, over at The Faculty Lounge.

My letter to the Nevada Legislature

Each of us can weigh in on Nevada's budget.

Here's a text version of what I've sent.

To my colleagues in the Nevada Legislature:

I know that today’s economic climate is exceptionally challenging, and my thoughts are with you as you navigate toward a reasonable budget for our state.

I am writing to you to urge that you invest more in Nevada’s educational system, not less—and certainly not the “less” that the Governor has proposed.

My husband and I moved to Nevada in July 2007. He is a solo practitioner working for Nye County, and I am the Gordon Silver Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. We moved here from Houston, Texas. He is a native of Columbus, Ohio, and I am a native Texan, hailing from a small town outside of Houston.

Many things attracted us to Nevada: we like the climate, we enjoy the outdoors, and we have a great respect for the spirit that built Nevada. Our move was initiated by UNLV’s offer to have me join the Boyd School of Law.

This law school is an unparalleled success story: barely ten years old, and the only law school in the state, Boyd School of Law was accredited and granted membership to the prestigious Association of American Law Schools in record time. The school is nationally known for its legal writing program, its conflict resolution program, and its clinical program, which trains law students how to be ethical, competent, caring lawyers. Its graduates now pass the Nevada bar at rates far exceeding the state average, and they (and several of us on the faculty) provide proportionally more pro bono work than other lawyers in the state. My colleagues and I on the faculty take part in nationally and internationally recognized research, evidenced in part by court options that cite to our research, “top ten” lists in the Social Science Research Network tracking system,* and numerous invitations to speak at conferences all over the world. We are a top-notch law school that provides high-quality teaching, research, and service to the state, the nation, and – at least for our scholars in international law – the world. In my opinion (and I recognize that I’m biased), our law school gives far more to the state than it costs.

I know that you understand how crucial it is to help Nevadans receive a decent education, from K-12 through college (and beyond). And I know that you’re stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place when it comes to funding that education. I am extremely sympathetic when it comes to your difficult position.

I have blogged about the crisis of Nevada’s budget before: see http://nancyrapoport.blogspot.com/search/label/Nevada%27s%20budget. I have also published an opinion piece in the Las Vegas Sun: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/nov/16/recover-nevada-must-adjust-its-model/.

If we are to see Nevada through this economic crisis, though, we need to support those sectors that will rebuild Nevada’s economy – including sectors that can attract new businesses to Nevada. Nevada’s low tax rate may have worked well in the past, when the population was smaller and we could build our economy on a very few sectors, such as gaming. I’m willing to bet, though, that we could still attract new types of businesses here if we make such moves worth their while by educating their employees and the children of their employees; by providing the type of medical and other research that makes their businesses more efficient, their employees healthier, and their streets safer; and by making Nevada a place where government and the private sector combine forces to maintain a decent infrastructure.

I’ve worked at several research universities, including The Ohio State University and the University of Nebraska, before coming out here. The dollars that have come from national research grants earned by faculty members have helped to make those universities stronger, and that increased strength resulted in benefits to the citizens of those states. My own research and expert advice is about to result in jobs for several Boyd law students and graduates; I am about to be appointed as the fee expert in one of the nation’s largest bankruptcy cases, and part of that appointment carries with it the ability to hire assistants to help me sift through millions of dollars of professional fees in that case.

I would like to stay in Nevada and continue to build an exceptionally good law school. My husband would like to stay in Nevada to work with Nye County on its regulatory issues. We like it here—very much. But we both worry about what decisions you are going to have to make in this legislative session.

I am a former bankruptcy lawyer, and I have participated (and continue to participate) in the reorganization of many companies. I know that cuts are necessary, but I also know that cuts must be tempered by selective investment in profitable ventures if a business is to survive.

Please don’t follow the Governor’s proposal, which would eviscerate Nevada’s K-12 system and its system of higher education. Please come up with your own, better way to save our economy. If I can be of service in any way in your deliberations, please call on me. I have attached my resume for your convenience.

Very truly yours,

Nancy Rapoport

* Based on an SSRN count that I did earlier this month, four of us are among the top 1500 most-downloaded law authors in the country (Michael Higdon, at 1177; Jay Mootz, at 340; Jean Sternlight, at 452, and me, at 440). There are over 195 accredited law schools in the country, many with sizable faculties. For a small law faculty like ours (fewer than 50 faculty members, including non-tenure-track faculty members), this statistic is no small feat. Best of all, of these four professors at Boyd, one—Michael Higdon—is a Boyd graduate himself (class of 2001).

Congrats to Rice U students Faheem Ahmed and Anish Patel!

Rice University students Faheem Ahmed and Anish Patel won the right to represent mtvU at last night's Academy Awards. BRAVO, Faheem and Anish! For the video that won them that coveted spot, see here.

Let's play "connect the dots"

I read these three pieces in today's local paper: Gibbons'[s] budget would kill higher education (here), Drop, drop, drop . . . . (here), and Kill Yucca, then get going on the rest of our problems (here). What links them?

Well, Nevada's economy is pretty awful right now, and as things stand, higher education cuts are poised to bear the brunt of Nevada's attempt to balance the budget (the first piece). Virtually everyone in Nevada is suffering from plummeting housing prices (the second piece). And our local newspapers are still clamoring to get rid of Yucca Mountain (the third piece).

I'm still waiting to read reporting of the millions (possibly billions) of dollars that working with the federal government on envisioning Yucca as a safe place to store waste would have meant (and could still mean) for Nevada. We're talking regular infusions of cash here, plus studies by independent scientists (NOT the same folks who brought above-ground nuclear testing to Nevada in the last century, and who said that such testing was "safe") to make sure that nothing would go in the ground that posed a real risk for Nevadans. We're talking about jobs in Clark County (where Las Vegas is located) and Pahrump (Nye County, near the Yucca Mountain site). We're talking about people who, instead of facing layoffs and possible foreclosures, could pay their bills and keep their houses.

I may be biased, but the idea that Nevada should reject funding from the Federal government during the investigatory phase (the "will Yucca work and be safe?" phase) because it prefers to stick its head in the sand seems a bit short-sighted to me.

My guess is that the newspapers haven't polled Nevadans recently with the following question: would you rather that your state accept some federal funding while Yucca is being debated, or would you prefer to reject federal funding while your economy goes down the tubes?

Our second edition of the Enron book (Enron and Other Corporate Scandals: The Corporate Scandal Reader, 2d) is on Amazon now.

Jeff did the cover art (see here), and the link is here.

I am, apparently, still a "bargain."

See here.

Want to see my personal trainer, Jeff Monroe, and his wife, Priscila Monroe, on my gym's website?

Click here and then click on "guests." For Jeff's ad, see here.

Why I think that the housing portion of the bailout misses the boat

My piece today in JURIST (here). Would love your thoughts. Better yet, weigh in at www.recovery.gov. Thanks!

PLEASE SEND THESE TWO RICE U STUDENTS TO THE OSCARS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just watched this video (here), where two Rice University students, Faheem Ahmed and Anish Patel, are finalists to be correspondents for MTV-U at the Oscars on Sunday night. The video cracked me up, and these two Owls deserve to be chosen. Please vote!

Academics whose actions disappoint me more than I can say.

See here for the list of academics who have signed on to a petition of a boycott of Israel. What's going on in the Middle East is complicated, and I'm not saying that Israel is perfect, by any means. But my guess is that a lot of these academics are paying attention only to one side of the story, which is never a good thing for an academic to do.

Today's stories on mortgages

On forcing banks to prove they hold the mortgage: see here.

On courts that process thousands of foreclosures a day: see here.

Some of the parameters of the stimulus's changes for mortgages: see here.

Some of the problems with the changes: see here.

My piece today on JURIST

See here. A special thanks to Bernard Hibbitts for publishing it!

Verified by Visa = locked into infinite loop

My hubby has had a problem w/Verified by Visa that started out as a good sign, not a bad one. He had just made a large purchase, followed by a smaller purchase from the same company, and the company from which he had purchased checked to make sure that his card hadn't been stolen. Good, right? Well, although Hubby had called the company back to reassure it that he was the purchaser, Verified by Visa froze his account. Then Verified by Visa froze ALL of his Visa cards that had been linked to Verified by Visa.

Hubby spent over 2 hours on the phone to try to get his cards unlocked, to no avail. Apparently, Verified by Visa can only protect someone's cards, not un-protect them when requested to by the authorized user.

What have we learned from this experience? No more Verified by Visa. EVER.

Sometimes, you just need to think about cats to have a good day....

Take a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF8LqoIC_5k. Our cat Shadow eats wheat toast. We should video that sometime, but at 5 a.m., we're too groggy.

See also this, which reminds me of Grace. Enjoy!

My new boycott list....

For all of those product manufacturers who have automatic spammers put in random comments throughout my blog, I've created a boycott list. If you post random crud on my blog, I'll add you to this list.

Here are the first two:
WOW GOLD
CHANTIX

Please boycott these products. Thanks!

Today's moment of validation . . . .

Take a look at Jonathan Glater's article in this morning's NYT (here), which describes the changing world of law firm economics.

A side note: I was a Morrison & Foerster associate when Carl Leonard (mentioned in the article) was the managing partner. I still have a "Carl Leonard Work Hard Play Hard" button from one of the MoFo retreats, and I remember Carl with fondness.

The times, they are truly a' changin'. But for a very well-reasoned counterpoint by my buddy Jeff Lipshaw, see here.

Why I'm so proud of Rice University, part n

In an earlier post (here), I bragged about what Rice is doing to help with the global health crisis. If you'd like to see a video of what Rice, through Rebecca Richards-Kortum's program, is doing, click here for more on Rice 360.

Bravo, Rice!

I'm still exhorbitantly priced (and worth it!), but here's a new record.

See here. It's not the billing amount per se that I'm sure everyone's going to watch, but what bang for the buck folks get for those rates.

Hitting close to home

Just read about Morrison & Foerster's recent layoffs (see here). I learned so much from my time at MoFo (yes, that's its nickname), and I sure feel for the folks there, as well as for folks laid off in other law firms and other business sectors. It's a scary world right now.

A cautionary tale about law firm economics

Today's Wall Street Journal has a front page article on the economic pressures facing law firms (here), with a particular focus on Heller Ehrman's demise.

I knew many of the folks at Heller, having been a summer clerk there in the mid-1980s. The folks whom I knew were bright, talented, and dedicated, but clearly those attributes aren't enough to manage large businesses in tricky economic times. Some preliminary lessons for those choosing managers (whether those managers are for private firms, government, or academia):

1. Just because someone is great at his or her current job doesn't mean that that person is going to be good as a manager. Management has its own skill sets, and although it certainly can be learned, people often forget that being good at one set of skills doesn't automatically translate to other sets of skills.

2. Don't go only for those with glossy resumes. Sometimes the best person for the job isn't the person with the most elite background.

3. Test-drive the person by seeing how he or she has handled issues of management strategy in the past.

4. Managers aren't omniscient. Cut them slack. They'll make mistakes, and sometimes their failures are beyond their control. Don't assume that you have the same type or amount of knowledge that the managers have, and don't assume that the managers are at liberty to share with you all that they know.

Finally--graphic proof!

more music charts

Actually, we think that the green part of the graph should be much, much smaller. Thanks, GraphJam!

Why the State of Nevada needs a strong higher education system.

I'm heading home to Las Vegas this afternoon, having attended the Winter Board Meeting of the Association of Rice Alumni. This afternoon's meeting included a talk by Rebecca Richards-Kortum, the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Bioengineering. She described the many ways in which Rice University professors' research can be used to address global health issues (water-borne diseases, the high costs of getting technology to the medical personnel in developing countries who need them, etc.). Take a look (here) at what Rice's "Beyond Traditional Borders" project is doing all over the world. What makes Rice's program so special (well, among many things) is that undergraduates at Rice are participating in the research and outreach on an international scale (see here). You can read some of the students' blog posts here.

I can't think of a better illustration of why university research is such an integral part of all students' education. The film that we watched in the board meeting illustrated how Rice undergraduates were involved in the research, design, and dissemination of "science that matters." Not only were scientists involved, but also people from the Jones Graduate School of Management, as well as other disciplines, took part in the real-world problem-solving question: how do we get ideas and tools for improving health to communities with no resources at all?

I've had the pleasure of being at two flagship state universities: The Ohio State University and the University of Nebraska. Even at the less-than-flagship-funded University of Houston, faculty members do research that affects on-the-ground, real-life issues. And, of course, we at the Boyd School of Law at UNLV take our research and outreach missions very seriously. The students who take courses at any of these universities from any of the professors conducting this research or creative activity (don't forget the fine arts at all of these schools!) are benefiting from faculty members who are at the top of their game, and the students get to see for themselves what it means to have a life infused with meaning. Trust me: when you get paid to think about issues that are important to you and to convey your knowledge to other people, you have a life with meaning.

Now I'm living in a state in which the governor has proposed a cut amounting to 50% (yes, you read that right: 50%) of the budgets of the two public research universities. With a cut of that magnitude, there's no way to preserve any sort of benefit to the local, state, national, or international community from the research or outreach that we faculty members can do. The basic functions of these two universities will be gutted by these budget cuts, let alone any ability to discover and implement useful new ideas. (Even combining the two universities--an idea proposed by Geoff Schumacher in the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week as a way to navigate the budget cut--would be impossible with a 50% cut.)

Rice University graduates students who become astronauts, novelists, doctors, journalists, lawyers, and teachers. (See here for some examples.) Part of the reason that Rice has such a great track record with its graduates is that it has enough funding to attract the best minds--students, faculty, and staff. I actually don't think it's an exaggeration to say that some of what Rice does can save the world--or at least parts of it.

One of my favorite movies is The Right Stuff, and one of my favorite scenes in that movie explains the politics of the space program this way:

Recruiter: Funding. That's what makes your ships go up. . . . No bucks, no Buck Ro[]gers.

I'm not trying to compare Rice to any of the large public universities with which I've been associated. Rice has a very different mission from other universities and, as you can tell, I'm passionate about Rice. I am as proud of the work that Rice is doing with its Beyond Traditional Borders program as I've been of the fact that President Kennedy announced his goals for the space program at Rice in 1962.

But Nevadans deserve to have its best people working on difficult issues, teaching Nevadan (and non-Nevadan) students, and adding far more to Nevada's economy than any state appropriation "pays for." Unless the governor really thinks that it's more important to keep taxes low than it is to improve the Nevada economy for the future, this blow to higher education is taking away our "Buck Rogers" moments. Do we really want to give up reaching for the stars so soon?

An opportunity to give Jon Ralston your thoughts about the proposed cuts to higher education

See here. I've voted in this poll. You might want to do so, too. Thanks!

More on Nevada's budget crisis

My colleague Sylvia Lazos (here) just reminded us of an interview that our Dean, John Valery White (here) gave to In Business Las Vegas last semester (here), in which he quite rightly pointed out how devastating more budget cuts would be for our law school. Reporter Stephanie Tavares began the article by observing:

The Boyd School for the past decade has built a well-respected curriculum amid low tuition and high community support.
It recently announced increases in tuition meant to take Boyd into its second phase of building a great law school.
But state-mandated budget cuts could reverse that progress.
....
The law school already has a small faculty and staff compared with similar schools
across the nation.

I'm proud of our school and the education that our students receive here. I'm proud of the research and service that my colleagues and I do here. And I believe that having more well-educated, ethical lawyers is, yes, GOOD for Nevada and everywhere that our graduates will serve.

And I'm worried that the Governor's proposed cuts (see here) will devastate Nevada's educational system (K-12 as well as higher education).

Look: Nevada doesn't have a very diversified economy. We need to attract more businesses here, and so we need to be attractive to both employers and employees. I "get" that very high taxes might scare off businesses, but wouldn't well-below-par educational systems scare off employees? Do the children of Nevada deserve to be less prepared for the 21st century than children in most other states?

We need to think hard about how to solve the budget shortfall and attract more revenue. A mantra of "no new taxes" isn't going to help--especially when the Governor has said that he is willing to tax state employees w/a 6% pay cut. Let's spread the pain out a bit and increase revenue so that we can build a better state.

A shout-out to Jack Ayer (and Ed Fein)!

Jack Ayer's blog, Underbelly (here) is always delightful (as is Jack!), and in one recent post (here), Jack, well, deconstructs a cute joke that Ed Fein (who collects groanable but funny jokes) had sent along to me. Well, Jack, your post made me think that I "got a flucky," too.

A shout-out to my dance teacher, Sergei Shapoval

Sergei's blog (here) was nice enough to give me a shout-out (here), and I wanted to return the favor. Thanks, Sergei!

Score: 13 pounds of cat, 1; two adult humans, 0

Our girl Grace (on left) was supposed to be on diet cat food. After four days of a hunger strike (hers--not ours), we finally called our vet, who told us to give up on the diet food and just give her less of the regular food.

We are still trying to figure out which one of us gave her the "stubborn" gene.

We also think that Shadow (on right) is gloating.

Thanks, Wild Wild Law!

Just wanted to thank Wild Wild Law for letting me join the blog. Thanks!

I have never been "cool."

And I'm still not cool. But seeing this WAS cool. Here's a pic of my buddy Arnold Peter (of Raskin Peter Rubin & Simon LLP) at the AMEC Awards, which counts as one of my top-ten evenings of all time. Thanks, 944!

A shout-out to Las Vegas's own James Patrick Shea

Who's in a great article in today's Las Vegas Sun about the epidemic of bankruptcies. See here. Bravo, Jim! Check out Jim and Candace Carlyon's firm here.

And here's a partial list of the "good guys" in business ethics

See here.

You heard it here (and in a lot of other places) first....

But the economy, coupled with the structure of law firms and their reliance on billable hours, is creating an environment in which a lot of formerly strong firms may well collapse. See here.

Dear government of the State of Nevada: some thoughts

I know that you're struggling right now with a horrifyingly bad economy, and you're trying to minimize the pain to Nevada's citizens. I don't envy you your choices, because you're at the point where you're deciding between choices that are devastating and those that are merely awful.

It's a bit self-serving of me personally to point out that the 6% pay cut and similar suggestions are penalizing one sector of your economy much more than the rest, especially given the trade-offs in job satisfaction that I get from working at UNLV. But I'm relatively well-compensated, compared to many of my colleague workers here. As an example, here's a recent letter written by one of my co-workers:

Honorable Legislators,

I have great concern for the proposed increases in health care cost, removal of health care for State Workers after retirement, and the proposed 6 percent pay cut for State Workers. I manage a crew of 50 grounds personnel, all of whom do not have computer access. So I am writing not only on my behalf but theirs. Some of these employees' entry wages start out at around $11.92 per hour. We have already removed their merit increases and these further cuts would be devastating to their income, child care, and health. I have served my country in the United States Marine Corps, and have served the State of Nevada for the last 24 years. On behalf of myself and those whom work along side of me, working for the State, we request that you and the State Representatives do not allow these cuts to occur; please vote against them.

I have lived in Nevada for 47 years and watched the population expand; there has to be other ways to increase revenues, business taxes for example, to raise the revenue
needed other than placing the burden on those who have served and dedicated
their life for the State of Nevada.

Sincerely yours,
Robert Lynn
Facilities Manager
UNLV Landscape and Grounds (letter edited slightly)

I've made a similar point before (see here). It's time for Nevada to consider a much more broad-based economy. We need to look more like, say, Texas (many different sectors of the economy) than like Michigan (which is teetering on the brink of failure because so much of its economy relates to the automotive industry). Texas is hurting, but Michigan may be dying.

(Actually, in one sense, I'd like to see us look a lot more like Texas or Michigan--at least in terms of support for such public goods as education and health care. That would make us a far more attractive place to recruit new types of businesses. People want to see their children well-educated and their families well cared for and safe. A slash-and-burn approach to our budget woes is the exact opposite of what we need in order to attract new businesses here. With low taxes that cannot support even the basic needs of its citizens, Nevada "gets what it pays for"--not very much.)

After I left the world of private practice to take a job in higher education, a very wise person told me that people believe in ideas that save lives or change lives. Health care saves lives; education and research changes lives. It's time to ask everyone in Nevada--not just its state employees--to invest in saving and changing lives.

And today's thought on the bailout....

Hat tip to my buddy Ed Fein for passing this one along (see here).

Why it's important to proofread, part 2

Why one should proofread before sending a document out, part 2 (see here). (For part 1, see this post.)

Why it's important to proofread, part 1

See here. Hat tip to Seymour Serebnick, my buddy who sends me all sorts of cool stuff. For a lovely take on why this mistake would count as a CLM (career-limiting move), see here.

Thanks, AMEC!

I had a wonderful time at the 4th Annual Counsel of the Year awards last Friday. For information about this year's awards, see here. For pictures, see here. (Yes, that's my dance teacher, Sergei Shapoval, with me in one of the photos. I brought a real-live artist with me, as my hubby Jeff was giving firearms instruction to my cousin visiting from NYC that weekend. That would be my learning-film-editing cousin, Josh Kahn.) A special shout-out to Arnold Peter, the center of all things in my life that are media and entertainment law related.

Newsflash: Skilling loses most of his appeal but will get resentenced

See the story here. The Westlaw cite for the opinion is 2009 WL 22879.

A shameless plug for the Seventh Annual DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal Symposium

Seventh Annual DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal Symposium--Into the Sunset: Bankruptcy as Scriptwriter of the Dénouement of Financial Distress

Thursday, April 16, 2009, 10:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Westin Michigan Avenue, 909 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois

For Better or Worse: Chapter 11 in the Post-BAPCPA Downturn

BAPCPA, the 2005 Bankruptcy Code overhaul, brought some significant changes to corporate reorganization, leading some to dub Chapter 11 as the "National Foreclosure Act." This panel will examine the myths and realities behind this description by focusing on the more sweeping BAPCPA amendments: time restrictions on assumption or rejection of commercial leases, the limited plan exclusivity period, 20-day administrative expense claims and the attempted reigning in of executive compensation.

A Fistful of Dollars: Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Bankruptcy

The presence of hedge funds and private equity in bankruptcy has become more prevalent in recent years, altering, sometimes dramatically, the outcome of troubled companies' reorganization efforts. In addition to exploring the impact of these non-traditional bankruptcy players, our experts will also discuss the latest twist—what happens when these entities themselves are threatened with insolvency.

The Importance of Being Earnest: Bankruptcy's Disclosure Rules

Bankruptcy is a transparent process and the transparency begins with the disclosure requirements of Bankruptcy Rules 2014, 2016 and 2019. These rules require that certain professionals working in the bankruptcy system disclose their connections with a variety of entities, including their past or present engagements, their fee arrangements with their client in the case, the identity of clients if more than one is represented and more. This panel will discuss pertinent provisions of these important bankruptcy rules, highlighting what must be disclosed and the sometimes dire consequences that follow a failure to comply.

Tickets are $85.00 on or before March 16, 2009 and $100.00 after that date. Price includes luncheon and written materials. Judges and students are free. CLE credit offered. For more information, contact Megan Bosau or Chalet Braziel at (312) 362-6178 or depaul.bclj@gmail.com.

Texas Bowl--a picture is worth 1,000 words

Rice 38, Western Michigan 14

Can someone please help me find a link to this really funny Cinemax promo?

I just saw a "happy holidays" promo on Cinemax that was a spoof of former Soviet propaganda about the West, but I can't find a link to it anywhere. If you know of the link, can you please let me know? Thanks!

Shameless self-promotion

Our second edition of the Corporate Scandals book is coming out next month, thanks to the hard work of Foundation Press: see here.

Fun at the Holiday Dance Classic 2008

See here, here, and here. Thanks, SuperShag!

A shout-out to the Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel (AMEC)

AMEC (here) is the Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel, which was created to advance the professional development and to recognize the achievements of in-house legal counsel within the media and entertainment industry. It's a marvelous organization for networking and education, and I'm looking forward to attending the 2008 Counsel of the Year Awards out in LA this coming January. Here is the list of nominees (and, yes, I really am tickled to death that I'm among 'em):

COUNSEL OF THE YEAR

David C. Friedman
Executive Vice President & General Counsel
Summit Entertainment

Andrea R. Hartman,
Executive Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
NBC Universal, Inc.

Claudia Teran
Senior Vice President
Fox Cable Networks

PWC DAN BRANDHORST MEMORIAL DEALMAKER

Neil Klasky
Vice President
Fox Networks Group

Kristin McQueen
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Business and Legal Affairs
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

Frank H. Smith
Senior Vice President Business & Legal Affairs
AFG / Walden Media

RISING STAR

Relani Belous
Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs WW Television Distribution
MGM

Jeff Friedman
Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs
Reveille

Caroline Jasmine Vranca
Executive Director, Business & Legal Affairs
Yari Film Group, LLC


SPORTS COUNSEL

David Cohen
Executive Vice President & General Counsel
Sterling Mets, L.P. (New York Mets)

Ethan Orlinsky
Senior Vice President & General Counsel
Major League Baseball Properties

Bobby Sharma
Vice President & General Counsel, NBA Development League
National Basketball Association

TECHNOLOGY, NEW MEDIA AND VIDEO GAMES

Linda Bagley
Managing Vice President and Counsel
The Walt Disney Company

Elizabeth Matthews
Executive Vice President & Deputy General Counsel
MTV Networks

Clarissa Weirick
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Warner Bros. Digital Distribution

LABOR, EMPLOYMENT AND PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE

Sheldon Kasdan
Vice President and Senior Labor Counsel
NBC Universal

Robert D. Manfred, Jr.
Executive Vice President
Major League Baseball

Stuart Tenzer
Senior Vice President
William Morris Agency

HOSPITALITY/LOCATION-BASED ENTERTAINMENT

Danielle Bernthal
Assistant General Counsel, Six Flags, Inc.

Scott McLester
Executive Vice President & General Counsel
Wyndham Worldwide Corporation

PUBLIC SERVICE

Nancy B. Rapoport
Gordon & Silver, Ltd. Professor, William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

David Sherwyn
Associate Professor of Law, Cornell School of Hotel Administration & Academic Director, Center for Hospitality Research, Cornell University

EXCELLENCE IN BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT

David Matlin
Vice President, Legal Affairs
Home & Garden Television (HGTV)

David B. Stern
EVP, General Counsel & Head of Business Affairs
Key Brand Entertainment, Inc. (dba Broadway Across America)

OUTSTANDING MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW FIRM

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
Loeb & Loeb LLP

Thanks, AMEC! It's an honor to be included in this list!

OK, Chantix spammers--you asked for it.

Links to some of the stories about how dangerous Chantix is alleged to be: See here and here, for example.

Click here for some info on the FDA warning about Chantix.

So, Chantix spammers, do you still want to keep making me remove your comments on my blog, or will you cut it out?

Dear Chantix and all other annoying spam commenters

CUT IT OUT. I don't want you posting your ads on my blog. Had I wanted ads, I would've put them on my blog. I don't want advertising in general, and I don't want YOUR advertising in particular.

A timely (end of semester) story . . . .

From the ABA Journal (here).

I like BOTH Pete Wentzes (Petes Wentz?)

Here's a recent post from Pete Wentz (here), of Fall Out Boy -- and son of Pete Wentz of Apco Worldwide (here). I'm really impressed with Pete Wentz (the dad)'s abilities in terms of strategic planning, and I really love the music of Pete Wentz (the son) and Fall Out Boy. Check both of them out....

Thomas Sowell's op-ed about the gay marriage bans

After reading Thomas Sowell's op-ed about the recent election and the success of such measures as Proposition 8 in California (see here for his op-ed), I thought for a while about why I disagreed with him on this issue (see here).

For one thing, marriage can't just be about protecting the ability of a man and a woman to have children. My marriage doesn't include children, so either my husband and I don't deserve to have the protections afforded to married people, or something else must be going on in the institution of marriage to justify protecting people like us (childless by choice) as well as protecting people who want to have children, but can't. I suppose that one could argue that we could always decide to have children, so marriage is there to protect our "children potential" or that we could adopt children--but then, unless a state chooses to ban adoption by lesbians and gay men, the "children potential" of gay marriages is just as possible as our own "children potential" in my marriage.

The other argument--that banning gay marriage is different from banning inter-racial marriage--rests on the assumption, I think, that being a member of a particular race is immutable but that being gay or lesbian (or transgendered) isn't immutable. That argument doesn't work for me, either, based on what I've read about being homosexual and based on my own experiences with my lesbian and gay friends. The whole "where do you draw the line" argument--that allowing gay marriage will lead inexorably to allowing, say, person-canine marriage (yep, I've heard that one) ignores the fact that states limit man-woman marriages on line-drawing reasons all the time. For example, there are limits on marrying under-age opposite-sex people.

My hope is that, in a few short years, this debate will go the way of the debate on inter-racial marriage. In the meantime, though, a whole lot of people whom I love are going through some serious hurt as they listen to some of the rhetoric being lobbed their way. Their hurt is my hurt, too.

Why I love the Financial Times, part 2:

A great article about Pete Wentz, of Fall Out Boy (here).

Why I love the Financial Times

There are two wonderful articles on the European Lehman bankruptcy (here and here).

I'll bite--what IS it about other people's marriages that so bother the "Yes on Prop. 8" people?

I just found out that Prop. 8 passed in California. That's the proposition banning same-sex marriages.

I don't get it. Just what is so hard about letting two people in love get the same civil rights that I've had for the past 12 years? Does a same-sex marriage threaten my marriage in any way? Is giving same-sex couples certain legal rights going to somehow threaten opposite-sex couples (including, BTW, those who have taken their marriage vows and then gotten divorced--which is, of course, legal and "doesn't" threaten the sanctity of marriage)?

I hear that the SF City Attorney is going to file suit, claiming that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional (see here). Good.

I understand that a lot of people are uncomfortable with same-sex marriage, for a variety of reasons, and I don't want to marginalize any good-hearted opposition to my own views. But I believe that denying same-sex couples these civil rights smacks of the same popular hesitation that accompanied mixed-race marriage not that long ago. Too many of my friends have had to resort to a variety of legal machinations just to get the right to visit their partners in hospitals, or to have survivorship rights, or to enjoy any of the myriad rights that I get to take for granted as a married woman. I know that times will change, and I foresee a time when this hot-button issue will be of only historical interest, but I sure wish that times were changing a bit faster.

In memory of Deanna Redder

It's always so sad when good people die, especially when they die so young. Here is the obituary of Deanna Redder, one of my former students at The Ohio State University College of Law (here). One of her friends from that time, Kathleen Lyon, let me know of this tragedy. Deanna will be greatly missed.

Top five reasons that the Disney Board could use me

As I was reading John Schnatter's op-ed in Saturday's Wall Street Journal, "Where Were the Boards?" (here) -- an opinion with which I wholeheartedly agree -- and ruminating about our family's recent visit to Disney World, I couldn't help thinking that some large public companies could really use an infusion of new blood. I've been interviewed for two boards but didn't make the cut, so I think it's time to be more aggressive. If any of you out there want to propose me for Disney's board, here are five good reasons:

1. I've been studying board behavior ever since Enron imploded, and I think that I could add a lot to a board's ability to cut through "groupthink."

2. Although I'm not a candidate for any board's audit committee, I'm enough of an outsider to be useful to, for example, a board's compensation committee (although, to be fair, I'm not in favor of huge payouts to C-level officers who haven't performed well).

3. I believe in taking the long-term view, rather than tying decisions to the short-term (quarter by quarter) view.

4. I love Disney--ever since a friend and I went to Disneyland after the California bar, I've associated Disney with a very happy state of mind. I collect Disneyana, I watch Disney movies, I go to Disney parks, and I read about Disney whenever there are articles on it. My ever-patient husband puts up with this obsession to a magnificent degree.

5. I'm (obviously) not already loaded up on public boards.

So--how about it, Disney? Think outside the box!

Twenty-five years ago in Beirut

Our hearts go out to the families of those brave Marines lost in the Beirut bombing 25 years ago today. See, e.g., here and here.

We've gotten permission to post this ad for lateral candidates:

UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS—WILLIAM S. BOYD SCHOOL OF LAW invites applications for at least one tenure-track Associate Professor or tenured Full Professor of Law position, with appointment to begin with the 2009-2010 academic year. We have substantial flexibility in subject matter interests, with special interest in clinical teaching. We seek candidates with excellent academic records and experience and who have a strong commitment to scholarship and teaching. Candidates must have earned a JD from an ABA-accredited law school or an equivalent degree. Applicants for Full Professor must have records of substantial accomplishment and qualifications sufficient to be awarded tenure. Salary will be commensurate with the labor market. This position, like all faculty positions, is contingent on funding. Application review will begin immediately.

The Boyd School of Law is a fully-accredited public law school in state-of-the-art facilities at the center of the UNLV campus. We have a diverse faculty of new and experienced legal educators drawn from top institutions. The Boyd School of Law has 488 students enrolled (372 full-time,116 part-time) and 41 full-time faculty. For more information on the Boyd School of Law, see our website at http://www.law.unlv.edu/. UNLV is a premier metropolitan research university located in the nation’s fastest growing city. It is the state’s largest comprehensive doctoral degree granting institution, with more than 28,000 students and more than 850 full-time faculty. UNLV provides traditional and professional academic programs for a diverse student body and encourages innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to teaching, learning, and scholarship. For more information on the University, see the UNLV website at http://www.unlv.edu. Applicants should submit a letter of interest, along with a detailed resume, three professional references, and off-prints of your published works.

Contact: Professor Nancy Rapoport, Chair, Appointments Committee, UNLV—Boyd School of Law, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway – Box 451003, Las Vegas, NV 89154-1003.

UNLV is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity educator and employer committed to excellence through diversity.

Update on that letter to the Dallas lawyer

After I wrote about the letter questioning the collegiality of a particular lawyer (here), the lawyer who received the letter wrote back to me and asked me to publish his response. Here it is:

Here is my response relative to Jeff Murphrey’s letter of September 26, 2008 about hurricane related sewage in his yard in which he slams me and seems to slam the lawyers from the great city of Dallas, Texas. His letter has received a lot of play on legal blog sites. Please publish this on your blog site.

I am glad I am from Dallas, I am proud of the fine group of lawyers who practice in this great city, and I am proud of my actions related to Mr. Murphrey’s late cancellation of the deposition. Dallas, like Houston, has thousands of very professional and capable attorneys, like myself, who represent their clients in a very professional, competent and ethical way. Mr. Murphrey’s implied slam on Dallas attorneys and his slam on me are totally off base and unjustified. Click here for the real story behind Jeff Murphrey’s letter: www.marklandhanley.com.

Dale Markland

Markland Hanley LLP

2200 Ross Avenue, Suite 4100W

Dallas, TX 75201

469.341.3633 (main)

469.341.3634 (direct)

469.341.3640 (fax)

dmarkland@marklandhanley.com

Why proofreading is so very important for lawyers....

Reason #1 (here). Reason #2 (here).

In memory of David Young

Texas lawyers lost a talented writer and gentle person this past week, and I wanted you to know a little bit about him. Here's his obituary:

David Bruce Young of Austin, Texas, passed away suddenly Sunday evening, October 5 at his home.

He was born in Columbia, Missouri on November 1, 1945, to Raymond Arthur and Virginia Garton Young. He was preceded in death by both of his parents. He is survived by his wife Flossie, son Michael and wife Mistie, four grandchildren, and son Jay.

Dave attended Williams College and graduated Magna Cum Laude. From there he went on to Oxford University to earn a Bachelor of Philosophy, followed by Masters and Doctoral degrees from Columbia University. He later attended law school at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, graduating with highest honors.

Dave published an annotated translation of Beccaria’s Crimes and Punishment. He was a brilliant, prolific writer, and took great pride in the published (and often cited) legal articles and other works too numerous to mention.

Since moving to Austin in 1992, where he was employed at McGinnis, Lochridge and Kilgore, he has been involved at Bethany United Methodist Church, the C.S. Lewis Society, and judging debates in moot court.

He married Flossie Corder in 1973. His sons, Michael and Jay, were the pride of Dave’s life, and he delighted in all of their accomplishments. His joy was complete when Michael married Mistie Shelton, who brought four wonderful grandchildren into the family.

Those who knew him will always remember his intelligence, quick wit, and humor. He will be greatly missed as a colleague, friend, grandfather, father, and husband.

A Memorial Service will be held at 1 P.M. on Friday, October 10, 2008 at the Bethany United Methodist Church, 10010 Anderson Mill Road, Austin, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorial contributions may be made to the Hill Country Institute for Contemporary Christianity (online donations preferred), the Bethany Foundation, or to the charity of your choice.

Please join us in honoring David by visiting our Memorial at www.mem.com. Through this site we invite you to share your thoughts and fond memories with our family.

I will miss David--what a remarkable person he was, and what a loyal friend. May his memory be as a blessing.

Someone should hire this soon-to-be-graduate!

I've known Stephen Chen, who will be receiving a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center and an M.P.H. from the University of Texas School of Public Health this coming May, for over three years. He was my research assistant while he was still an undergrad at UT, and he proved himself to be diligent, creative, and intelligent--and an extremely nice guy, to boot.

He's everything that I think a law firm should want, but in part because he was pursuing dual degrees, his GPA isn't as high as some law firms might wish. I don't think that a high GPA is the sole predictive factor for becoming a good lawyer. I do think that emotional intelligence, coupled with academic intelligence, can predict a budding lawyer's success much better than just a GPA.

You can click on Stephen's resume here. PLEASE think about interviewing him. You won't be disappointed.

"Hello Skinnyjeans" and its particular brand of "customer service"

After reading about how wonderful "Hello Skinnyjeans" were, I ordered a pair on August 3. I waited and waited -- and waited and waited -- for the jeans to be delivered. I emailed the company on August 24, and Catherine Hart told me then that the jeans would be ready "in another 1-2 weeks." After not hearing anything again for a month, I emailed the company again on September 25, and Celine at the company told me that I'd get the jeans in a week.

Today, I emailed the company to say that I wanted my jeans by Tuesday, or I wanted a refund.

Catherine Hart sent me this email in response:

We are finally in stock and I can transmit your order to the warehouse now. Conversely, I am happy to cancel your order and refund you as no one wants pissy customers. You paid by paypal which forces immediate payment and I’m thinking of canceling it for that reason. Let us know asap.

Catherine Hart
hello@skinnyjeans.com

My response to her was as follows:

Yes. This particular pissy customer is tired of dealing with a company that promises one thing and never delivers. Please refund my money today.

I'm sure that the jeans are great. The customer service, however, is not. With all of the good brands of jeans out there, why spend money on brands that don't care enough to (1) notify customers when there's a delay or (2) follow through on their promises?

Let's see if Hello Skinnyjeans is better at fulfilling its promise of a refund than it was at actually delivering the jeans.

It's ok to stop sending me law school publications that describe a bunch of achievements now--I've voted already.

As chair of this year's appointments committee here at Boyd, I've been getting all of those glossy publications touting various law schools' achievements. You can stop sending me the "law porn" now. I've sent in my USNWR votes.

This year, of course, USNWR asked voters to pick up to 15 schools that we thought of as having "top" part-time programs. I used the highly unscientific method of asking my colleagues which part-time programs had impressed them, and then I added my own experience teaching in two part-time programs.

I'm a fan of the program here at Boyd School of Law. It's small (heck, the whole school is small!), and we tend to consider the part-time students when we're thinking about such things as clinic experiences and externships. I know that, at a lot of part-time programs, issues like clinic and externship opportunities slide under the radar.

Thinking about 15 good programs is probably about par for having some collective knowledge about the quality of offerings out there. As I've said before, trying to evaluate 190+ schools' overall programs is impossible.

It'll be interesting to see what USNWR does with all of this new information.

Oh, and sending me the "law porn"? Didn't help at all. I didn't read a single one of the glossies that I received. I didn't have the time, and I did have a healthy skepticism about the likelihood that the glossies bore any resemblance to the truth. Of course, that's why I'm looking forward to the Green Bag's project (for more on that project, see here).

Most interesting Civ Pro rap video I've seen

OK, it's the only one I've seen (see here), but it IS interesting . . . . Can a bankruptcy law rap be far behind?

Hat tip to Kathleen Lyon for letting me know about this one.

If you're looking to place a child with loving parents, I know two people who'd be great

My friends Tori & Jennifer are looking to open their loving home to a child (see here).

And a shout-out to Ann Ryan Robertson

Ann's a buddy of mine who was highlighted recently in Texas Lawyer (here). Brava, Ann--I'm kvelling!

Want to be listed as a follower of my blog?

Just click here. Thanks!

A shout-out about an intriguing idea in criminal law

Geoff Mousseau pointed me to his company's website (here), which helps white collar defendants with the process of going through the criminal justice system. Geoff himself has personal experience with the criminal justice system, and he believes that he can help to translate the experiences of defendants accused of committing white-collar crimes for the lawyers representing those defendants. My guess is that Geoff's right, and that he will be able to help.

Why we never learn from economic crises

I've posted some thoughts over at JURIST (here), and the second edition of our Enron text (Enron and Other Corporate Fiascos: The Corporate Scandal Reader (Nancy B. Rapoport, Jeffrey D. Van Niel, and Bala G. Dharan, eds.) (Foundation Press 2008) is slated to come out this December. The second edition tries to answer the question of why we never seem to learn from our mistakes, and it takes a look at cognitive errors that humans are hard-wired to make (among other things). We think (the three editors) that this book will be useful in law schools, business schools, and undergraduate courses--and we hope that you'll agree.

For those law professors who are going to the AALS annual meeting in San Diego, you should be able to look at the book at Foundation Press's booth.

And, over at the Legal Profession Blog . . . .

I've reproduced a letter that a friend sent to me (see post here) to illustrate how obstreperous some attorneys can be. I'm not so sure that the reference to Dallas is gratuitous--you might want to watch this clip (here) from the song "Dallas, Texas," on the Austin Lounge Lizards' Highway Cafe of the Damned CD.

This reminds me of Judge Markell's opinion in In re Martinez, 393 B.R. 27 (Bankr. D. Nev. 2008), in which the court sanctioned the attorneys for Wells Fargo (and Wells Fargo itself) for refusing to correct a stipulation allowing relief from the automatic stay ON THE WRONG HOUSE. As the opinion explains,

This court is concerned that Cooper Castle and its lawyers sacrificed their professional independence to the demands of a large institutional client. They should have counseled Wells Fargo to agree to vacate the mistaken stipulation, and informed them that any other course of conduct was unreasonable and one in which they could not participate. Instead, they followed Wells Fargo's instructions without apparent regard to their professional obligations. In short, rather than remain as independent professionals counseling Wells Fargo, Cooper Castle and its lawyers instead chose to become unthinking agents for Wells Fargo's ends.

Failing to cooperate when the circumstances clearly call for it is a Very Bad Idea.

UNLV (Boyd School of Law) is hiring....

And I'm the appointments chair. Also on our committee are Chris Blakesley, Keith Rowley, Jay Mootz, and Leticia Saucedo. So far, the University has approved our search for a Director of Academic Support, and we may also be looking for visitors and for laterals (depending on funding and University approval).

Here's our ad for the Director of Academic Support position:

Position # 4497
Search # 9063

DIRECTOR OF ACADEMIC SUPPORT at the
THE WILLIAM S. BOYD SCHOOL OF LAW,
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS

The William S. Boyd School of Law of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) invites applicants interested in joining our faculty as an Assistant Professor in Residence – Academic Support. The qualifications for the Director of Academic Support position include a record of academic success in law school and experience suggesting the aptitude to direct a creative and ambitious academic support program. The faculty also expects that the Academic Support Director will be a resource for the faculty to increase teaching effectiveness. The existing program is administered by the Director, with the assistance of an Associate Director, and includes workshops, tutoring, special classes, orientation programs, bar preparation classes, counseling, and other strategies to enhance the learning environment at our law school. The Director may teach substantive, non-bar, non-ASP related classes. The position is a 12-month, non-tenure track, renewable contract position.

The Boyd School of Law, a state-supported law school, is the only law school in Nevada. Located at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in one of the fastest growing cities in the country, the law school commenced classes in August 1998. It has a faculty of 42 new and experienced legal educators drawn from law schools around the country, and is located in a state-of-the-art facility in the center of the University campus. With nearly 500 students, the law school offers a full-time day program, a part-time day program, and a part-time evening program.

The Boyd School of Law is a diverse community of faculty, students, and staff who work together, collegially and respectfully, to maximize the potential of its students and to help the law school fulfill its aspirations. We welcome applications from those who wish to participate in this sort of community, and we strongly encourage women and people of color to apply. For more information on the Boyd School of Law, see our website at http://www.law.unlv.edu/. Please contact Professor Nancy B. Rapoport at (702) 895-5831 or nancy.rapoport@unlv.edu if you have questions about the position.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Review of credentials will begin immediately and the search is to remain open until the position is filled. If you are interested in applying for this position please apply on-line at: https://hrsearch.unlv.edu and submit a letter of interest, a detailed resume that highlights relevant professional experience and qualifications, salary history, and the names, addresses and telephone numbers of three professional references who may be contacted.

For assistance with UNLV's on-line applicant portal, contact Jenn Martens at (702) 895-3886 or hrsearch@unlv.edu. UNLV is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action educator and employer committed to excellence through diversity.

If you have any nominees for this position, we'd sure like to hear their names. Many thanks!

Well, THAT explains it....

From one of my favorite blogs (GraphJam.com):

More on LSAT-free admissions and the rankings

There are lots of good posts on this issue (see, e.g., here, here, here, and here), and I'm guest-blogging about it at Race to the Bottom (see here).

Looking forward to reading your comments on all of this.

And while I'm doing videos that tickled my fancy....

This clip from The Daily Show (here) is one of my favorites.

The point of corporate mergers

As seen in this video from the Colbert Report (here). Have patience: the video is about halfway through the clip.

Thinking of all those who suffered damage during Hurricane Ike

See here for some pictures of the disaster and here for a news report of one of the local landmarks (near where Jeff & I used to live) burning to the ground. Although our family was lucky (only a few days of no power for my dad, back in Houston), so many others are still suffering.

Suggestion for the Green Bag's proposed rankings system

Al Brophy's latest article, on the correlation between the citation rankings of law reviews and the school's overall rankings, is a new must-read (see here).

Welcome to Race to the Top!

I want to welcome to the rankings conversation a new blog: Race to the Top (see here). I'm on the advisory board of this group, and I'm excited about the mission:

[W]ith no information on educational quality, research shows that respondents simply replicate the previous year's U.S. News rankings, and the scores remain fairly static over time.

Given the question U.S. News asks, we need to think more about evaluating schools based on the quality of education that they provide for students, or the "value added" by the institution, in filling out the survey.

Similar to the Green Bag's survey, which is going to check to see if law schools' publications bear any relationship at all to the reality of their faculty productivity (see here), Race to the Top will try to measure those intangibles that go into a school's real educational quality. Please consider completing Race to the Top's survey.

Bravo to the co-founders (David Fagundes of Southwestern and Jason Solomon at Georgia)!

Enron's back in the news....

This morning's Wall Street Journal gives the update (here). For me, this news couldn't happen at a more apropos time: I just turned in the draft of our second edition of the Enron book for Foundation Press. It'll be called Enron and Other Corporate Fiascos: A Corporate Scandal Reader. There'll be both a print book and a website (so that we can continue to update analysis of the scandals that just keep a'comin'.)

Foundation Press has been patient (thank you, FP!), and I'm hoping that the book will come out in early 2009.

Roger Lowenstein got it exactly right.

In today's New York Times, Roger Lowenstein discusses why we didn't learn from the Long-Term Capital bailout (here). Marvelous essay.

Ann Bartow's meme

Ann Bartow has tagged me (see here) to get my five favorite non-legal blogs (thanks, Ann!), so here they are. And I'm not embarrassed to admit them. Well, not very embarrassed, anyway....

1. GraphJam.
2. I Can Has Cheezburger.
3. Fail Blog.
4. Funny or Die.
5. FrancisStokes.com (for God, Inc.).
   

OK, now I'm tagging Glenn Reynolds, Jack Ayer, John Steinberg, and Jim Chen.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Marquette!

Paul Secunda has just told me that Marquette is entering the blogosphere w/a faculty blog (here). Should be a lot of fun to read. Congrats, Marquette!

Lipshaw & Henderson's post related to this morning's WSJ article on the USNWR rankings

Bill Henderson & Jeff Lipshaw have done a masterful job over at Legal Profession Blog (here) taking the implications of Amir Efrati's story (see my post here) to their logical conclusions.

Amir Efrati's WSJ article about the USNWR rankings--and a couple of points

Amir Efrati's article on how USNWR might redo the rankings to prevent some of the gaming that's been going on (see here; for the WSJ blog take on the article, see here) does a great job of pointing out how the gaming has occurred and the ramifications of the change. (For the TaxProf Blog take on Amir's article, see here; for Jeff Lipshaw's take at Legal Profession Blog, see here; and for the story behind my story, see here.)

Here are some take-aways that I can see from Amir's article: Phil Closius's approach (as described in the article)--there's nothing malum in se in gaming the rankings, because the rankings are a set of rules w/o moral content--is an attractive argument, not least because it allowed his schools to admit people into the part-time program who likely would have been forced out had his schools "counted" their quantitative stats in the numbers that they turned into USNWR. If you accept that USNWR drives admissions decisions (and it does), then gaming USNWR does minimal harm to the school's ranking while maintaining a valid educational program.

But that's a bit of a slippery slope, isn't it? It's the same argument that justifies hiring graduates in time to make the May 15 deadline for "graduates employed at graduation"--OK in my mind if they're doing real work, not so much OK if they're doing make-work or no work at all. And, of course, just a few more steps down that slope takes us to the urban legend of schools that call grads to find out if they're working, only to mark them as "employed" if they fail to return three calls in a row.

We scream bloody murder when companies fake their numbers to meet analysts' expectations, because the fake numbers give the market bad information for investors. But we've been winking when we game the system in terms of rankings.

In one sense, we shouldn't be too surprised. After all, we're teaching our students to parse the law very carefully so that they can come right up to the edge of the line while representing their clients. (Take a look at Larry Ribstein's post at Ideoblog (here) and John Steele's post at Legal Ethics Forum (here). But should we be doing the same thing, or should we be setting an example by rejecting the presumption that any rankings system should drive our admissions, or our placement, or our educational program?

Deans have enormous pressure to make the numbers. Alumni pressure them, university administrators pressure them, the faculty pressures them, and the students pressure them. I'm not saying that it's easy to resist the temptation to game the system--or that some gaming might not serve other purposes (such as preserving a hotly controversial part-time program). But let's not fool ourselves by using "gaming" to describe this behavior. This is serious business.

A short history lesson

Because I think that there will be yet another article this week on the rankings and my relationship to it, here's a brief recap of what happened at my last job during my final year as dean. In September of that academic year, one of the senior faculty members who was unhappy with me sent in a colleague of his to meet with me. He told her to tell me that, if I didn't resign, he'd find a way to embarrass me publicly and ruin my career (his words, through her). I told the provost and some key alumni, and we all agreed that I wasn't going to be bullied out of office.

Sure enough, when the rankings came out, in March of that same academic year, the school had slipped by a few points. It's my understanding that the same faculty member, along with a few others on the faculty, worked with some law students to use the rankings as a pressure point to get me to resign. The law students, who were certainly worried about the effect of the rankings on their employment options, allowed themselves to get worked into a dither by a few manipulative people, and I don't really blame them for getting involved in the fray (although I worry about their gullibility).

I resigned because I was tired of working at a place that was so dysfunctional that it would permit that kind of behavior from colleagues on the faculty. It's fair to say that the rankings were part of the reason that I resigned, because the rankings were used as a rallying cry; it's not, however, fair to say that I resigned because of the rankings.

Now let's talk about the good results that came from that resignation: I'm much less stressed and much happier, and I'm at a place that is one of the most collegial law schools in the country. The Boyd School of Law at UNLV proves that it's possible for people to be actively engaged in scholarship and to be good teachers--and to encourage each other on a regular basis. When I look down the hallway, I see people writing, talking to each other without jealousy, and mentoring students. It's pretty hard to beat this environment (although 115 degrees in the summer can get onerous).

And at my old post? People seem happy with the new dean, and I wish the school well. There are many talented, nice people at that school, and the school has many resources that UNLV doesn't yet have.

What was an awful time for me (and, I'm sure, not very pleasant for anyone back then) has turned into a blessing (although I miss living in the same city as my dad). I know that I'll get to rehash my relationship to the rankings for a while to come, and as long as people realize that the negative effects of the rankings can be disastrous for legal education, I guess that--on balance--I can live with that.

Newsflash from JetBlue: JFK Airport is filled with microclimates

Having stayed at this year's ABA annual meeting long enough to watch my friend Sarah Weddington win a special Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award today (BRAVA, SARAH!), I headed out to JFK to catch an early evening JetBlue flight home to Las Vegas.  

When I arrived, I discovered that JetBlue had canceled tonight's flight to Las Vegas due to inclement weather.  The next available flight into which JetBlue would have been able to slot me was tomorrow afternoon--not nearly good enough, since I have to be back in Las Vegas to practice for this week's Nevada Star Ball competition (among other things).  Apparently, though, the microclimate over at JFK Terminal 6 was far too wretched to contemplate flying westward.

Luckily for me, the microclimate over at Terminal 3--Delta Airline's terminal--was more hospitable, and I'm typing this post while waiting for a flight that will, technically, get me home tomorrow (as JetBlue had offered to do).  But Delta will get me home at 12:30 a.m., not 5:30 p.m., on August 11th.

Do I blame JetBlue for weather delays?  Not at all.  Do I want JetBlue to be prudent about flying in bad weather?  Of course I do.  But something's up when flights to Vegas are leaving out of the same airport, to the same destination, on the same day--just three hours later.  And I would have been a lot happier with JetBlue had the person answering the customer service line offered to get me closer to Las Vegas today, so that I could have had a chance to get home from another city--say, one to which JetBlue also flies, or one that links to Las Vegas on my favorite airline (Southwest).   A little creativity on the customer service agent's part would have gone a long way towards making me happier.

I know that New York is a big city.  And maybe, just maybe, JFK is a bigger airport than I think it is.  But two different microclimates--one in which it's safe to fly to Las Vegas and one in which it's not?  Hmmmmmmmmmm....

Please help me give credit where credit is due!

Can anyone help me with the attribution for this wonderful PowerPoint (here)? Thanks!

The most important paragraph in a very important post

From this morning's post in The Race to the Bottom's discussion on the change in USNWR's methodology regarding PT students' LSATs and UGPAs (here):

Whatever a law school does in the short term [about the change in methodology], it is clear that this change will result in continued homogenization of entering classes, with law schools having an incentive to ensure that the part time and full time divisions have comparable numbers. In other words, while some law schools may game the numbers, by throwing weaker students into the part time division, other law schools likely take a more untraditional student body in the part time division, perhaps those working (in other words those likely to be older) and, particularly with schools in urban areas, perhaps more diverse. Lumping the two programs together will make it harder for the untraditional student to find a spot in law school.

(Emphasis added.) Although I might quarrel with the use of the phrase "weaker student"--the use of LSAT and UGPA, after all, only captures part of a student's ability to perform in law school--I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment.