Great new blog!

My colleague (and friend!) Rachel Anderson has a great blog here. Brava, Rachel!

One of my favorite posts from one of my favorite blogs

See here.

For all of our wounded warriors

See here (hat tip to my hubby for sending this to me). You can find out more about the Wounded Warriors Project here. You can donate to the project here.

Anonymous postings are the last vestiges of cowards.

After reading the latest barrage of comments over at Wild Wild West's post about late grades (here), which managed to get picked up by the Wall Street Journal's law blog (here), I have to confess that I'm stunned that so many people feel compelled to post vitriol anonymously. Based on the tenor of their comments, I'm going to assume that the bulk of the anonymous posts were written by law students.

Even on the theory that law students often don't make the connection that they're actually going to be lawyers after they graduate and pass the bar, surely they realize that they'll have to sign letters and pleadings with their names as lawyers and that they won't be able to hide behind "Anonymous" sobriquets then? So why do they--as well as so many others--hide behind anonymous postings on blogs?

I doubt that most of them have a true fear of retribution. There are people in the world who can fear retribution: those who suffer abuse in relationships; those who are here seeking asylum from other governments; those on the wrong end of power imbalances with very nasty bosses. Those reasons are good ones for seeking anonymity. Lobbing nastygrams, especially without investigating the reasons that may have caused the complained-about situation in the first place? Not a good reason.

To you budding lawyers out there who are writing anonymous comments on the Wild Wild Law post above: maybe you should be anonymous. Were I to write some of what you've written, I'd be ashamed, too. When you become lawyers, though, you'll have to stop behaving so childishly. I'd be a lot more impressed with you if you'd have the courage of your convictions and sign your name to your comments. I have.

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to relive Apollo 11.

Check out Wechoosethemoon.org. You can listen to what NASA heard 40 years ago.

Forty years ago, I was young enough to think that going to the moon wasn't a big deal. Now I know that it was a miracle--the science worked; the people involved worked up to their potential; and for a brief moment, everyone on Earth got to see an achievement of truly international import. As an adult, I love the space program and all that it brings us.

Thanks, NASA--your people do so much for us!

What makes it so good is that the guy has Flatley's mannerisms down pat.

See here. Hat tip to my buddy Katya.

Commentary on our times.

A hat tip to my buddy Marc Stern, who forwarded this pic to me.

This just in: cats outrank us.

Thanks to my brother-in-law, more proof that Grace and Shadow rule our roost: here. Considering all of the stupid human tricks that these two cats have trained us to perform, we're not surprised.

A nice way to feed some animals.

See here. Many thanks!

My hair guru can beat up your hair guru.

See here. Congrats, Sara!

A fun read, part n

My buddy Andy Spalding is spending a year at the University of Mumbai, and here's what he's working on these days (here). Should be a fun read!

Political pressure, the rankings, and one law school's response

This morning, I read Larry Ribstein's post about the brouhaha between the Chicago Tribune and the University of Illinois Law School (here). Seems to me that we should have been discussing the pressure brought to bear on admissions years ago: pressure not just by highly connected politicians but also by powerful donors and alumni. There's a difference between strongly recommending someone for school (totally OK) and linking the failure to admit with a serious threat of retaliation (not at all OK).

Of course admissions decisions are affected by the additional benefits that some candidates bring to a school--and, within the range of acceptability (the ability of the candidate to perform decently at the school), I have no particular beef with the process. No admissions process has mathematical certainty, and there's plenty of room for leeway. At some point, of course, the candidate fails the blush test, and someone has to say no to the pressure.

How do the rankings fit in? Thanks to the weighting of LSAT and UGPA, the admission of more than, say, 25% of the class with candidates having low quantifiable indicators of success runs the risk of dropping a school's USNWR rankings. Schools may well be wary of accepting candidates with low quantifiable indicators who don't also have powerful outside references (the offsetting benefit), although many of these candidates can end up doing quite well in law school. (I'm pretty sure that I had the lowest LSAT in my Stanford Law entering class....)

In an era where we're getting angrier about corruption, Larry Ribstein is--again--quite right: get angry at the people exerting the pressure, not at the law schools that are victims of it.

A fresh take on rankings

Bridget Crawford has a fascinating post at Feminist Law Professors regarding ranking law schools using SSRN downloads (here). Hat tip to Paul Caron at TaxProf Blog for this one. Thanks, Paul!

Another ranking system that I'm eagerly anticipating is Green Bag's Deadwood Report (here).

Frankly, I'm trying to devise a ranking system based on the opportunities for the faculty, students, and alumni to network--something along the lines of measuring law review placements, clerkships, and careers 5, 10, and 20 years out. My theory (still working on it) is that there are really just three categories of law schools: the truly elite, distinguished more by the networking opportunities; the modal (most frequently occurring) law schools, which are good but don't have the same networking opportunities; and the truly sub-par schools, which provide few if any options for their graduates, especially with respect to bar passage. If anyone has any ideas for methodology, I'm open.

Thanks again, Faculty Lounge!

My final post as this month's guest blogger is here.

Some more details on the Beyond Text conference at the University of Edinburgh.

See here. My time as a guest blogger at The Faculty Lounge is almost over, and I had a blast!

My newest guilty pleasure: LawShucks.com

I'm becoming addicted to LawShucks.com. Lots of great stuff about BigLaw and about big bankruptcies. Enjoy!

How I spent last week (in Edinburgh)

Had a blast at the Beyond Text conference in Edinburgh. For a description, see here. More soon!

Congratulations, Michael Asimow!

Michael's newest book, Lawyers in Your Living Room! Law on Television, is now out and available here. Yes, my essay on Shark is in it, as is Keith Rowley's essay on The West Wing. Congrats, Michael!

See my buddy Sara, who's a star, at a big hair show (no, not a show about big hair) in Orlando!

See here. Sara's incredibly creative, loads of fun, and a joy to watch. YAY, Sara!

Gotta love this one--thanks, Bankruptcy Bill!

See here.

I fear for the next generation of lawyers.

Not only are they moving into a world that's increasingly precarious (generally) and into a legal world in which the rules of survival are getting more brutal, but they're doing so after coming into law school significantly less prepared. They don't have the liberal arts (or science) background that so many of us did (which enabled us to relate what we were learning in law school to other ways of thinking and analyzing), but they're simply not prepared to communicate well. Are they not getting solid training in basic writing (and I'm talking about spelling and punctuation problems) skills? We have very, very smart students. But too many of them aren't prepared for a complicated world. And it's not just students at Boyd. I've seen these problems at every school at which I've taught.

In a world that's going to be far more competitive, we need to help our students catch up to the skill level of students from other countries. But HOW?

Bravo, Steve Gillers!

Wonderful speech (see here)!

Latest musings on problems in higher education, over at The Faculty Lounge

See here. Looking forward to your comments.

Well, we're not going to be national champs in college baseball this year....

We just lost to LSU, which means that I hope that LSU takes the whole smash. I am a very sad Owl tonight. On the other hand, has LSU ever done experiments with Twinkies (see here)? I didn't think so....

A compendium of funny exam (and other) turns of phrase, over at The Faculty Lounge

See here, and please add your own over at that blog.

Happens everywhere, apparently.

See here. Personally, I think it happens when (1) some folks don't have enough to do, and (2) senior members of the community don't tell the mean folks to back off.

I'm having fun guest-blogging over at The Faculty Lounge

Dan Filler has invited me to guest-blog over at The Faculty Lounge this month. (Thanks, Dan!) Here's my first post.

Why I love the blog "Bankruptcy Bill"

Where else can you get bankruptcy haiku or other fun bankruptcy thoughts? See here. For the conflicts counsel haiku, see here. For my thoughts on conflicts in bankruptcy cases, see, e.g., here.

A Memorial Day thought from our friend David Polyansky

One of our best friends, David Polyansky, has written this beautiful piece about Memorial Day and what it really means (here). My husband, my father-in-law, my brother-in-law, and my sister-in-law (and my late mother-in-law) have all served our country proudly, and I count myself so fortunate to have married into the Van Niel family.

Thank you to all of those who have served and who are serving right now, and to the families of those who have and are serving.

For those of you who would like to send some good thoughts to another friend of ours, Danny Phillips, who is currently serving, you can send him email at sfc_danny_phillips@yahoo.com.

HELP! Calling all computer gurus!

Hi, all--have a question for you: I use a MacBook at home and a Windows XP at school. I have an external hard drive, and when I copy things from my MacBook to my Windows, I see a lot of these types of files:

.* (no prefix--just files that look more faint than "real" files).

When I search for these and then try to delete them, my external hard drive won't delete them. Any advice for how to get rid of them or for what causes them? Thanks!

Fun reads--Richard Mendales's Collateralized Explosive Devices: Why Securities Regulation Failed to Prevent the CDO Meltdown, and How to Fix It

You can download Richard's paper from SSRN (here). Richard's got strength in both the commercial (Contracts through Bankruptcy) and corporate (Agency & Partnership, Corporations, and Securities Regulation) sides of business law. One of his courses looks at the ethics issues for transactional (non-litigator) lawyers. I've always enjoyed his stuff.

NYT is absolutely correct about Yucca Mountain

One of today's New York Times editorials points out (here) correctly that the administration's budget for Yucca Mountain, cut almost to the bone, doesn't give anyone the ability to learn about the science of storing nuclear waste. What we need is a real, non-partisan, blue-ribbon panel of scientists to determine what the U.S. should do about storing the waste--not a group of politicians, but people for whom scientific inquiry is a way of life. Bravo to the NYT for recognizing that it's time for scientific inquiry, not for speechifying. It's also important to note that cutting Yucca's budget doesn't move the policy issues forward. Cutting the budget means that the inquiry has to be done on the cheap, which in turn means that we run the risk of not getting the right information about the best approach for storing the waste.

Reasonable minds can differ about the advisability of storing waste, but reasonable minds should be open to scientific study. Let's give scientific inquiry a chance.

Three good articles from the WSJ--all on one page....

Three I-told-you-so moments (here, here, and here). Enjoy!

My nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court

Personally, I'd love to see U.S. District Court Judge Lee Rosenthal (see here) nominated. She's everything I'd want in a USSC Justice: she's exceptionally intelligent & experienced; she's not an ideologue (on either side of the spectrum); she writes like a dream; and she's a thoughtful jurist.

Our latest take on Nevada's budget crisis

We still love it here, but we're concerned about Nevada's future (see here for yesterday's op-ed in the Las Vegas Sun).

Of course, not everyone thinks that we should wait until retirement to leave. My University email inbox had this, um, testy response from a Mr. Ed Chapman (ed_chapman2002@yahoo.com):

.......don't you just love the Review-Journal and the Sun when they frequently print pieces by people who whine and compalin [sic] about the"system", [sic] but offer no solutions. If Houston is so wonderful, why don't you move there. Move now, we do not want you here. Just another academic with a law degree. Too many attorneys in Las Vegas anyway, just like there are too many dentists. Go away. No one has asked you to stay here.

Bye!

Dear Mr. Chapman: It's nice to know that you read the Sun and the Review-Journal. I have actually suggested solutions to the crisis--cut some expenses and add some taxes. Reasonable minds can disagree as to whether a combination of cutting and raising revenue can work. But Jeff and I haven't given up on Nevada yet.

The death of the billable hour continues

This morning's ABA Journal post on the percentage of ACC-member GCs who dislike the billable hours system (see here) continues the slow demise of the billable hour. Over time, the profession is going to have to come up with viable alternatives that compensate lawyers fairly but still encourage efficiency in representation.

Does anyone know how to fix Microsoft Word for Mac and the creation of .doc.hqx files

My Microsoft Office for Mac keeps turning my .doc documents into .doc.hqx documents that are unreadable. Does anyone have any solutions? Thanks!

Reason #1,029,203,245 why I love NASA

Our buddy Randy just sent us this info, tied into yesterday's Earth Day celebration:

Celebrating 2009 Earth Day: NASA is Leading the Greening

People around the world set aside Earth Day each year to reflect on the beauty, abundance and health of our home planet. At NASA, every day is Earth Day. We all should be proud of our contributions to the understanding of Earth, its climate and its future.

More than 40 years ago, the image that prompted the modern environmental movement was taken from a NASA spacecraft that took humans to the moon for the first time. During the Apollo 8 mission, astronaut Bill Anders took the iconic Earthrise photograph. He commented, "We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth." One of the legacies of the Apollo program was a profound appreciation of the fragility of our planet and a need to become better stewards of it. It was when we first left the planet that we came to realize its importance.

Today, NASA maintains 15 Earth-observing satellites in orbit, with another 11 missions in development or under study. During the coming decade, NASA's Earth science research program will be analyzing data to understand and predict trends in Earth's climate system for both research and applications.

Our Earth science missions, and NASA support to other government agencies such as NOAA, provide information to researchers studying climate, disease transmission, agriculture and weather. We also provide information directly to the organizations that deal with urban planning, agriculture, floods, earthquakes, fires, hurricanes and others applying remote sensing data.

The environmental movement continues to this day. Today's students are using NASA tools, like the EarthKam, to learn about Earth and the challenges we face. Sustainability of Earth and its resources is a fundamental part of NASA's mission. NASA research is essential to national and international efforts to employ Earth observations and scientific understanding in service to society.

As NASA and the world continue to look to the stars for inspiration, we learn more about our own planet. With every planet we visit, every moon we examine and every planetary system we discover with our spacecraft and telescopes, we learn more about our home. Every technology we develop to sustain life off the planet helps us improve life on Earth. As you reflect on this Earth Day, be proud of your part in improving our understanding of and appreciation for Earth and think about what actions you can take to make it an even better place.

For more information about NASA Earth Day activities: see here.

For more information about NASA Earth Science: see here.

For more information about how NASA benefits everyday life: see here.

Hat-tip to our buddy Randy for letting us know. For an interview with Denis Hays, the founder of Earth Day and a Stanford Law classmate and friend of mine, see here.

And for an interesting essay on BigLaw....

See here.

Two of the best opinion pieces published in the last few weeks

Jake DeSantis's A.I.G. resignation letter (here) and Nassim Nicholas Taleb's piece in this morning's Financial Times, listing ten ways to Black-Swan-Proof our world (here). As an aside, Taleb teaches at NYU's Polytechnic Institute, which was (before its affiliation change) one of my dad's alma maters.

It's a textbook! It's a weapon!

Richard Pachter of the Miami Herald has this to say (here) about our second edition of the Enron book. Although he missed a letter of Jeff Van Niel's last name (Jeff is NOT to be confused with the Knights who say "Ni!"), my favorite part of the (very short) review was his suggestion that "[i]f they ever decide to throw the book at Madoff or any of the other financial criminals, this 1,200-page-plus tome is the one I'd heave."

Reminds me of the old Saturday Night Live commercial about Shimmer (here): "It's a floor wax! It's a dessert!"

I wonder if law students who buy our book will need "carry concealed" licenses....

A horrifying website--and an update

My dad and my friend Seymour called my attention to this site, jewwatch.com, I was appalled. There's a petition to remove the site from Google:

To: Google.com
When performing a search for the word "Jew" on google.. the first result is a site that has been notorious for being anti-Semitic.. the site is called jewwatch.com .... Google is the # 1 search site and the fact that the first search result would yield an anti-Semitic site is all too common in a growing era of increased Anti-Semitism.... In order for Google to remove this, it needs a petition of over 50,000 requests....
Sincerely,
The Undersigned

Please take the time to sign this petition (here). Thanks!

3/18/09: An update from my wonderful buddy, Rachel Anderson, who points out that Google has fixed this problem (see here):

Rachel says: "There is a Press Release by th Anti-Defamation League Praising Google for Responding to Concerns About Rankings of Hate Sites here: http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Internet_75/4482_75.htm."

I thought that you might like to know that Google is working with the Anti-Defamation League to address its role in this (see here).

THANKS, RACHEL!

DePaul's upcoming Biz & Comm L J 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.
Speakers: Jo Ann J. Brighton, K&L Gates, Charlotte, North Carolina; Judge Joy Flowers Conti, United States District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Richard E. Mikels, Mintz Levin, Boston, Massachusetts

Luncheon: The Desperate Hours, Pro Bono Publico
Speaker: Peter Ashmore, Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation, Chicago, Illinois
Luncheon sponsored by Development Specialists, Inc.

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.
Speakers: Marti Kopacz, Grant Thornton LLP, New York, New York; Jeff J. Marwil, Winston & Strawn LLP, Chicago, Illinois; Sandra E. Mayerson, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP, New York, New York; Bradley D. Sharp, Development Specialists, Inc.,
Los Angeles, California

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.
Speakers: Judge John H. Squires, United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois; Steven B. Towbin, Shaw Gussis Fishman Glantz Wolfson & Towbin LLC, Chicago, Illinois; Daniel Zazove, Perkins Coie, Chicago, Illinois

Registration
Tickets are $85.00 on or before March 16, 2009 and $100.00 after that date. Written Symposium materials will be distributed via e-mail prior to April 16; printed materials are available the day of the Symposium for $12. 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.

Generous Symposium Sponsors

COMMERCIAL LAW LEAGUE OF AMERICA
AND ITS PATRON FUND

DEVELOPMENT SPECIALISTS, INC.

GOLAN & CHRISTIE LLP

GREENEBAUM DOLL &MCDONALD PLLC

LEXISNEXIS

WESTLAW

And another great idea for the economy

In response to this post (here), one of our best friends suggested the following:

Here's my plan: (1) stimulate the economy by increasing federal monies available to state universities -- I received a heck of an education and now pay back by working and paying taxes -- others will do the same - give a person fish and they eat one meal, teach them to fish and they eat for the rest of their lives; (2) stimulate the economy by investing in our infrastructure -- roads, railroads, etc. will be useful for a long time and create jobs; (3) don't do universal health care -- we can't afford it; (4) increase the social security tax but create a higher payout for those who contribute far more to the program -- make it more palatable; (5) change the internal revenue code so that home equity loans are no longer deductible -- that's what got us into this mess people borrowing against their homes to buy stuff they really didn't need; (6) keep the Bush tax cuts in place at least for now -- people need to have more money in their pockets, not less; (7) create tax incentives for buying American-made cars (even Honda if they are truly made here); and (8) require all seniors in high school between the ages of 18-20 to attend one summer in basic training (unfortunately, we are not ready if we need to call up more troops -- a little discipline, physical fitness, and readiness would not be a bad thing for our kids and this country -- although not tied to the economy, we are going to need more troops in the coming years (Iran and Afghanistan)).

Thanks, Scott--we always like your VERY sensible advice!

BRAVO, Race to the Bottom Blog!

The Race to the Bottom (http://www.theracetothebottom.org/home/covering-churchill-v-university-of-colorado.html) is going to cover the trial of Ward Churchill, the CU Professor who made critical comments about the US in connection with 9/11.

Here's the info, straight from my colleagues at Race to the Bottom:

Students from the Race to the Bottom and the Student Employment Law Association at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, and faculty from the College of Law and the Daniels College of Business, will be providing daily coverage of the suit brought by Ward Churchill, a former tenured faculty member in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, against the University of Colorado. The trial begins on March 9 in the Denver District Court.

Churchill came to the public forefront when reports surfaced about an essay he wrote that contained critical comments about the US concerning the 9/11 attacks on the trade towers in NY (the comments are posted on Wikipedia).

Churchill was ultimately dismissed from the University of Colorado. He has brought suit alleging essentially that he was dismissed for exercising his first amendment rights because of the criticisms in the 9/11 essay. The University of Colorado, on the other hand, is asserting that Churchill was dismissed because his conduct fell "below minimum standards of professional integrity."

Students and faculty will attend every session of the trial. They will post after each session, assessing the progress of the trial. In addition, others will be asked to participate and write occasional commentary.

The trial is not a corporate governance matter so the posts will not appear on the main page of The Race to the Bottom. Instead, there is a special link to Churchill v. University of Colorado accessible from the main page of The Race to the Bottom.

Primary materials, including the complaint and the answer, are posted on the DU Corporate Governance web site.

Should be VERY interesting!

A hat tip to John D. Geanakoplos and Susan P. Koniak

This morning's New York Times op-ed by John Geanakoplos and Susan Koniak (here), Matter of Principal, is right on point: without reducing the principal of underwater mortgages, foreclosures are more likely to be merely delayed rather than actually avoided. For my favorite mortgage proposal to date, see here.

The Van Niel mortgage proposal

So I was talking with Jeff Van Niel this morning, and he came up with a simple and effective mortgage proposal for the rest of us--those of us who are current on our mortgage payments, who have jobs, but who are underwater because of plunging home values. (See here for my op-ed at JURIST on this subject.) His plan is simple and elegant:

Banks w/borrowers who are underwater but current should offer the following deal:

They will reduce the interest rate on the mortgage to a lower rate (at least what the folks who have defaulted are being offered, thanks to the bailout) and agree that, for every X years that the borrowers remain current on their loans, the banks will reduce the outstanding principal amount of the loan. Over time, everyone wins: the banks won't own the underwater houses, housing prices won't continue to plummet, and borrowers will have an incentive to stay current.

Common-sense idea, right? So why aren't the banks doing this?

And while I'm at it, why can't both political parties move more toward the center and work toward a more moderate proposal? I'm worried that the bailout isn't going to work, that we'll be on the hook for far too much money, that the proposal creates all sorts of moral hazard issues, and that -- even though I believe that there are good intentions on both sides -- the political incentives for both sides to dig in their heels far outweigh the long-term consequences of people's decisions.

I hope that the air in Washington isn't so different from the rest of the country that moderates of both parties are suffocated.

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.