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How Influenced Are We By Images of Brain Scans? Maybe Not As Much As We Used To Be?
December 16, 2013
While visions of brain scans dance in our head, we may not be as impressed by them as we were a few years ago. Or maybe we never were all that impressed? Just how impressed were we—and how impressed are we now? These are questions to which we have yet to find clear answers. Here are some pieces of that puzzle though. From "'Brain Porn' Not So Seductive After All?" (NPR): There's something deeply compelling about "seeing" the mind at work with the help of relatively new neuroscientific tools,...
December 16, 2013
While visions of brain scans dance in our head, we may not be as impressed by them as we were a few years ago. Or maybe we never were all that impressed? Just how impressed were we—and how impressed are we now? These are questions to which we have yet to find clear answers. Here are some pieces of that puzzle though. From "'Brain Porn' Not So Seductive After All?" (NPR): There's something deeply compelling about "seeing" the mind at work with the help of relatively new neuroscientific tools,...
Fifth Circuit Overrules NLRB, Finds D.R. Horton May Preclude Class Arbitration
December 16, 2013
After three federal circuits had already refused to defer to the NLRB’s decision in D.R. Horton, it is not surprising that the Fifth Circuit yesterday overruled the NLRB’s critical holding: that precluding class arbitrations is a violation of federal labor law. D.R. Horton, Inc. v. Nat’l Labor Relations Bd., __ F.3d __, 2013 WL 6231617 (5th Cir. Dec. 4, 2013). D.R. Horton builds homes in many states. Starting in 2006, its employees had to sign a Mutual Arbitration Agreement. The MAA called...
December 16, 2013
After three federal circuits had already refused to defer to the NLRB’s decision in D.R. Horton, it is not surprising that the Fifth Circuit yesterday overruled the NLRB’s critical holding: that precluding class arbitrations is a violation of federal labor law. D.R. Horton, Inc. v. Nat’l Labor Relations Bd., __ F.3d __, 2013 WL 6231617 (5th Cir. Dec. 4, 2013). D.R. Horton builds homes in many states. Starting in 2006, its employees had to sign a Mutual Arbitration Agreement. The MAA called...
The Starbucks-Kraft Dispute: In Business Negotiations, Prepare for Problems
December 16, 2013
A three-year dispute between Starbucks and Kraft Foods over distribution of Starbucks packaged coffee in grocery stores was resolved on November 12, when an arbitrator determined that Starbucks had breached its agreement with Kraft and ordered the coffeemaker to pay the food giant $2.75 billion, Stephanie Strom reported in The New York Times. The dispute dates back to an agreement negotiated in 1998 when Kraft began selling Starbucks packaged coffee through grocery stores. In 2010, with sales...
December 16, 2013
A three-year dispute between Starbucks and Kraft Foods over distribution of Starbucks packaged coffee in grocery stores was resolved on November 12, when an arbitrator determined that Starbucks had breached its agreement with Kraft and ordered the coffeemaker to pay the food giant $2.75 billion, Stephanie Strom reported in The New York Times. The dispute dates back to an agreement negotiated in 1998 when Kraft began selling Starbucks packaged coffee through grocery stores. In 2010, with sales...
Judge Approves $153 Million Settlement in Fannie Mae Securities Class Action
December 15, 2013
A Washington federal trial judge today approved a $153 million settlement between Fannie Mae and shareholders who sued the mortgage giant for securities fraud. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon found the settlement and plan for distributing it among the more than one million class members was "fair, reasonable and adequate." The case is the largest securities class action settlement in the D.C. federal courts since modern securities litigation laws went into effect in 1996. The order ends...
December 15, 2013
A Washington federal trial judge today approved a $153 million settlement between Fannie Mae and shareholders who sued the mortgage giant for securities fraud. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon found the settlement and plan for distributing it among the more than one million class members was "fair, reasonable and adequate." The case is the largest securities class action settlement in the D.C. federal courts since modern securities litigation laws went into effect in 1996. The order ends...
Number of Takers of the Law School Admission Test Continues to Bottom Out
December 15, 2013
The number of takers of the Law School Admission Test continues to bottom out, with an 11 percent drop as of the October administration of the exam. Takers fell from 37,780 a year ago to 33,673 last month, according to the Law School Admission Council, which develops the test. The latest number is a 45 percent decline from October 2009, when law school fervor started to ebb. As of August, law school applications to American Bar Association-accredited schools nationwide were down nearly 18 percent...
December 15, 2013
The number of takers of the Law School Admission Test continues to bottom out, with an 11 percent drop as of the October administration of the exam. Takers fell from 37,780 a year ago to 33,673 last month, according to the Law School Admission Council, which develops the test. The latest number is a 45 percent decline from October 2009, when law school fervor started to ebb. As of August, law school applications to American Bar Association-accredited schools nationwide were down nearly 18 percent...
Bringing the Disruption of the Legal Services Market into the Law School Classroom
December 15, 2013
Is it important to help law students understand the disruptions that are now occurring in the legal industry? Well, let me ask a more fundamental question. How can a law professor efficiently obtain better information on these complex and diffuse changes? None of us legal academics are experts in this area, and that's a problem in and of itself. In the process of struggling with these questions, I decided to carve out 15% of the grade in my Corporations class for team-based profiles of NewLaw companies....
December 15, 2013
Is it important to help law students understand the disruptions that are now occurring in the legal industry? Well, let me ask a more fundamental question. How can a law professor efficiently obtain better information on these complex and diffuse changes? None of us legal academics are experts in this area, and that's a problem in and of itself. In the process of struggling with these questions, I decided to carve out 15% of the grade in my Corporations class for team-based profiles of NewLaw companies....
An Update on Milbank’s Big Bet
December 15, 2013
Two years ago, when all other large law firms were slashing expenses to prop up partner profits, Milbank Tweed went in the opposite direction and invested heavily in an executive education program for midlevel associates. The program, called Milbank@Harvard, required all 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th year associates to spend one week per year at Harvard University taking course work from HLS and HBS professors along with Milbank partners. At the time, I wrote an in-depth analysis for the Am Law Daily....
December 15, 2013
Two years ago, when all other large law firms were slashing expenses to prop up partner profits, Milbank Tweed went in the opposite direction and invested heavily in an executive education program for midlevel associates. The program, called Milbank@Harvard, required all 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th year associates to spend one week per year at Harvard University taking course work from HLS and HBS professors along with Milbank partners. At the time, I wrote an in-depth analysis for the Am Law Daily....
Is There a Future for Solos and Small Firms?
December 14, 2013
“I do not see much of a future (beyond 2020) for most small firms ….” — Richard Susskind, Tomorrow’s Lawyers Will the next 5–10 years really see the end of solos and small law firms? I’ve heard Susskind talk before, but today, I sat down with him at the William Mitchell College of Law to find out more about his predictions as they pertain to small law firms. The future according to Susskind Susskind’s most-recent book, Tomorrow’s Lawyers, is short and worth a read, but I will...
December 14, 2013
“I do not see much of a future (beyond 2020) for most small firms ….” — Richard Susskind, Tomorrow’s Lawyers Will the next 5–10 years really see the end of solos and small law firms? I’ve heard Susskind talk before, but today, I sat down with him at the William Mitchell College of Law to find out more about his predictions as they pertain to small law firms. The future according to Susskind Susskind’s most-recent book, Tomorrow’s Lawyers, is short and worth a read, but I will...
Demand for Legal Work Is Down 5% This Year, 6.4% in BigLaw
December 14, 2013
[D]emand for hours dropped by 5 percent from about 6.1 million in 2012 to 5.8 million in the first nine months this year....
December 14, 2013
[D]emand for hours dropped by 5 percent from about 6.1 million in 2012 to 5.8 million in the first nine months this year....
Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law to provide $20K grant to Pennsylvanians
December 14, 2013
Pennsylvania residents applying to law school have a new reason to consider Penn State: a renewable annual grant of $20,000 available through the Commonwealth Scholars program. “We have a superb academic program with some of the nation’s finest classroom teachers and experiential learning opportunities. Yet our research shows that some individuals are unable to take advantage of it because of cost. This program will increase access to legal education for well-qualified Pennsylvania residents...
December 14, 2013
Pennsylvania residents applying to law school have a new reason to consider Penn State: a renewable annual grant of $20,000 available through the Commonwealth Scholars program. “We have a superb academic program with some of the nation’s finest classroom teachers and experiential learning opportunities. Yet our research shows that some individuals are unable to take advantage of it because of cost. This program will increase access to legal education for well-qualified Pennsylvania residents...
