Blog Archives
I’m a Lawyer, Not a Fighter: Conquering Lawyer Bullies
August 13, 2016
The word "bully" conjures up many images. There's the playground bully. The teen bully. The workplace bully. And in the new millennium, there's the cyberbully. But what about the lawyer bully? Litigation by nature is adversarial. But the lawyer bully is one who preys on younger or less experienced lawyers. The lawyer bully yells. Interrupts. Belittles. Harasses. The lawyer bully often strikes during depositions or communications when no judge is present to put the bully in her place....
August 13, 2016
The word "bully" conjures up many images. There's the playground bully. The teen bully. The workplace bully. And in the new millennium, there's the cyberbully. But what about the lawyer bully? Litigation by nature is adversarial. But the lawyer bully is one who preys on younger or less experienced lawyers. The lawyer bully yells. Interrupts. Belittles. Harasses. The lawyer bully often strikes during depositions or communications when no judge is present to put the bully in her place....
Another AI Startup Wants to Replace Hedge Funds
August 13, 2016
Dear, Wall Street: Silicon Valley is increasingly coming for you. A machine intelligence system, dubbed Emma AI, is starting a fund that hopes to outsmart the humans and computers that make a living trading stocks. It’s part of a wave of tech startups aiming advanced machine learning at financial markets. Automation is not new to Wall Street. But Shaunak Khire, Emma’s creator, claims his system differs from current finance computing — high-frequency trading and “quant” data science — because...
August 13, 2016
Dear, Wall Street: Silicon Valley is increasingly coming for you. A machine intelligence system, dubbed Emma AI, is starting a fund that hopes to outsmart the humans and computers that make a living trading stocks. It’s part of a wave of tech startups aiming advanced machine learning at financial markets. Automation is not new to Wall Street. But Shaunak Khire, Emma’s creator, claims his system differs from current finance computing — high-frequency trading and “quant” data science — because...
Academic Tenure
August 12, 2016
In academia, a subset of faculty has tenure, which allows its beneficiaries to retain their professorships without mandatory retirement and with only limited grounds for revocation. Proponents of tenure argue it protects intellectual freedom and encourages investment in human capital. Detractors contend it discourages effort and distorts the academic labor market. This article develops a framework for examining academic tenure in the context of U.S. law schools. We construct a unique data set of tenured...
August 12, 2016
In academia, a subset of faculty has tenure, which allows its beneficiaries to retain their professorships without mandatory retirement and with only limited grounds for revocation. Proponents of tenure argue it protects intellectual freedom and encourages investment in human capital. Detractors contend it discourages effort and distorts the academic labor market. This article develops a framework for examining academic tenure in the context of U.S. law schools. We construct a unique data set of tenured...
IBM One Step Closer to Mimicking the Human Brain
August 12, 2016
A breakthrough in cognitive computing has enabled scientists to imitate large populations of neurons Scientists at IBM have claimed a computational breakthrough after imitating large populations of neurons for the first time. Neurons are electrically excitable cells that process and transmit information in our brains through electrical and chemical signals. These signals are passed over synapses, specialised connections with other cells. It’s this set-up that inspired scientists at IBM to try and mirror...
August 12, 2016
A breakthrough in cognitive computing has enabled scientists to imitate large populations of neurons Scientists at IBM have claimed a computational breakthrough after imitating large populations of neurons for the first time. Neurons are electrically excitable cells that process and transmit information in our brains through electrical and chemical signals. These signals are passed over synapses, specialised connections with other cells. It’s this set-up that inspired scientists at IBM to try and mirror...
Filing Criminal Complaint Did Not Waive Arbitration
August 12, 2016
In Cash Biz, LP v. Henry, the San Antonio Court of Appeals held that a party who filed a criminal complaint against another did not substantially invoke the judicial process, otherwise acting as a waiver of an agreement to arbitrate. In this case, a payday lender entered into a credit service agreement that contained a "waiver of jury trial and arbitration provision" with its borrowers. When the borrowers' checks were declined for insufficient funds, Cash Biz contacted the local district attorney's...
August 12, 2016
In Cash Biz, LP v. Henry, the San Antonio Court of Appeals held that a party who filed a criminal complaint against another did not substantially invoke the judicial process, otherwise acting as a waiver of an agreement to arbitrate. In this case, a payday lender entered into a credit service agreement that contained a "waiver of jury trial and arbitration provision" with its borrowers. When the borrowers' checks were declined for insufficient funds, Cash Biz contacted the local district attorney's...
Across Five Eras: Patent Validity and Infringement Rates in U.S. Courts, 1929–2006
August 11, 2016
We use structural break analysis to estimate rates of patent validity and infringement in decisions on the merits in U.S. courts over 1929–2006. We separately estimate these rates for district court and appeals court decisions. We find multiple structural breaks in both validity and infringement, and the breaks do not coincide. The rate of validity falls around 1939 and rises around 1983, while the rate of infringement rises around 1950 and falls around 1991. We argue that these breaks, and the variation...
August 11, 2016
We use structural break analysis to estimate rates of patent validity and infringement in decisions on the merits in U.S. courts over 1929–2006. We separately estimate these rates for district court and appeals court decisions. We find multiple structural breaks in both validity and infringement, and the breaks do not coincide. The rate of validity falls around 1939 and rises around 1983, while the rate of infringement rises around 1950 and falls around 1991. We argue that these breaks, and the variation...
Companies Hoisted by Arbitral Petards in Consumer Cases
August 11, 2016
A petard was a primitive bomb used to breach a wall. A bell-shaped iron casing would be filled with gunpowder and then affixed to the wall; a soldier would light the fuse, and the casing would direct the force of the blast toward the wall. Apparently, petards often exploded before the soldier could run away, hoisting (lifting) the soldier in the blast. Thus, the phrase "to hoist with his own petard" (Hamlet) means "to be harmed by one's plan to harm someone else". That's an apt description for what...
August 11, 2016
A petard was a primitive bomb used to breach a wall. A bell-shaped iron casing would be filled with gunpowder and then affixed to the wall; a soldier would light the fuse, and the casing would direct the force of the blast toward the wall. Apparently, petards often exploded before the soldier could run away, hoisting (lifting) the soldier in the blast. Thus, the phrase "to hoist with his own petard" (Hamlet) means "to be harmed by one's plan to harm someone else". That's an apt description for what...
The Role of Influence in the Arc of Tort “Reform”
August 11, 2016
Obviously—and this has been said all day long—protecting citizens’ rights to access to justice is essential to our democratic system of government. What I want to do today is to share some thoughts with about how political, judicial, and commercial influences have contributed to tort reform and related developments. I begin with a slide with a picture, partly because I want to be like Judith Resnik, and also because when I thought about what I wanted to speak about, I recalled a TV commercial...
August 11, 2016
Obviously—and this has been said all day long—protecting citizens’ rights to access to justice is essential to our democratic system of government. What I want to do today is to share some thoughts with about how political, judicial, and commercial influences have contributed to tort reform and related developments. I begin with a slide with a picture, partly because I want to be like Judith Resnik, and also because when I thought about what I wanted to speak about, I recalled a TV commercial...
Neuroscientist Explains How Team USA’s Star Twists, Turns and Flips
August 10, 2016
But to understand how these functions are executed, everything gets more complex. For each muscle, there is about 300 to 400 motor neurons that innovate it to move. Each of those motor neurons receive about 25 inputs from the brain. In a recent study, Dr Jessell found that there are as many as 200 classes of nerve cells that influence movement. And understanding every single one of these cells and neurons counts is crucial to understanding why one body is different to another. 'You can imagine...
August 10, 2016
But to understand how these functions are executed, everything gets more complex. For each muscle, there is about 300 to 400 motor neurons that innovate it to move. Each of those motor neurons receive about 25 inputs from the brain. In a recent study, Dr Jessell found that there are as many as 200 classes of nerve cells that influence movement. And understanding every single one of these cells and neurons counts is crucial to understanding why one body is different to another. 'You can imagine...
Cognitive Emotion and the Law by Harold A. Lloyd
August 10, 2016
An excellent article on learning and legal reasoning: Cognitive Emotion and the Law by Harold A. Lloyd. Abstract: "Many wrongly believe that emotion plays little or no role in legal reasoning. Unfortunately, Langdell and his “scientific” case method encourage this error. A careful review of analysis in the real world, however, belies this common belief. Emotion can be cognitive and cognition can be emotional. Additionally, modern neuroscience underscores the 'co-dependence' of reason and emotion....
August 10, 2016
An excellent article on learning and legal reasoning: Cognitive Emotion and the Law by Harold A. Lloyd. Abstract: "Many wrongly believe that emotion plays little or no role in legal reasoning. Unfortunately, Langdell and his “scientific” case method encourage this error. A careful review of analysis in the real world, however, belies this common belief. Emotion can be cognitive and cognition can be emotional. Additionally, modern neuroscience underscores the 'co-dependence' of reason and emotion....
