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Increase the meaningfulness of your work by considering how it helps others
September 5, 2017
When we find our work meaningful and worthwhile, we are more likely to enjoy it, to be more productive, and feel committed to our employers and satisfied with our jobs. For obvious reasons, then, work psychologists have been trying to find out what factors contribute to people finding more meaning in their work. Top of the list is what they call “task significance”, which in plain English means believing that the work you do is of benefit to others. However, to date, most of the evidence for the importance...
September 5, 2017
When we find our work meaningful and worthwhile, we are more likely to enjoy it, to be more productive, and feel committed to our employers and satisfied with our jobs. For obvious reasons, then, work psychologists have been trying to find out what factors contribute to people finding more meaning in their work. Top of the list is what they call “task significance”, which in plain English means believing that the work you do is of benefit to others. However, to date, most of the evidence for the importance...
SCOTUS Asked to Consider Order Denying Arbitration in Texas Ponzi Scheme Case
September 5, 2017
Last week, a group of former Ponzi scheme financial advisers asked the United States Supreme Court to overturn the Fifth Circuit’s decision affirming a lower court’s order denying their motion to compel arbitration. The former Stanford Group employees argue in their petition for certiorari that the Fifth Circuit’s holding created a circuit split that should be resolved by the nation’s highest court. In addition, the former financial advisers reportedly claim their request for arbitration...
September 5, 2017
Last week, a group of former Ponzi scheme financial advisers asked the United States Supreme Court to overturn the Fifth Circuit’s decision affirming a lower court’s order denying their motion to compel arbitration. The former Stanford Group employees argue in their petition for certiorari that the Fifth Circuit’s holding created a circuit split that should be resolved by the nation’s highest court. In addition, the former financial advisers reportedly claim their request for arbitration...
After the Storm – Preparing for Harvey Litigation
September 5, 2017
Five Tips for Hurricane Harvey Litigation (a version of this article is in this week’s Texas Lawbook) In the course of reviewing the Fifth Circuit’s commercial cases for this blog, I have read many opinons about disputes arising from Hurricane Katrina cases. In light of the havoc recently created by Hurricane Harvey, I wanted to share five observations to prepare for the litigation that will inevitably result. Record the facts. Help the people. Remember three definitions. ...
September 5, 2017
Five Tips for Hurricane Harvey Litigation (a version of this article is in this week’s Texas Lawbook) In the course of reviewing the Fifth Circuit’s commercial cases for this blog, I have read many opinons about disputes arising from Hurricane Katrina cases. In light of the havoc recently created by Hurricane Harvey, I wanted to share five observations to prepare for the litigation that will inevitably result. Record the facts. Help the people. Remember three definitions. ...
The Increasing Value of Social Skills
September 4, 2017
The progress of technology is best measured by our obsolescence: we have a knack for creating machines that are better than us. From self-driving trucks to software that reads MRIs, many of our current jobs will soon be outsourced to our own ingenious inventions. And yet, even as the robots take over, it’s clear that there are some skills that are still best suited for human beings. We might be irrational, distractible and bad at math, but we are also empathetic, cunning and creative. Robots...
September 4, 2017
The progress of technology is best measured by our obsolescence: we have a knack for creating machines that are better than us. From self-driving trucks to software that reads MRIs, many of our current jobs will soon be outsourced to our own ingenious inventions. And yet, even as the robots take over, it’s clear that there are some skills that are still best suited for human beings. We might be irrational, distractible and bad at math, but we are also empathetic, cunning and creative. Robots...
Better Educated Parents Have Children Who Are More Relaxed, Outgoing and Explorative
September 2, 2017
The evidence showed that child personality was associated with parents’ levels of education. More educated parents were more likely to have offspring who scored higher in trait Openness to Experience across almost every survey, and in the bulk of the samples more education was also associated with higher Extraversion and lower Neuroticism. A way to integrate and make sense of these three associations is that children of the more highly educated are more relaxed, outgoing and explorative; they are oriented...
September 2, 2017
The evidence showed that child personality was associated with parents’ levels of education. More educated parents were more likely to have offspring who scored higher in trait Openness to Experience across almost every survey, and in the bulk of the samples more education was also associated with higher Extraversion and lower Neuroticism. A way to integrate and make sense of these three associations is that children of the more highly educated are more relaxed, outgoing and explorative; they are oriented...
Researchers Use Google Street View to See the Future of Cities
September 2, 2017
You can see the subtle changes when a neighborhood is on its way up—streets get cleaner, building facades improve, new businesses start moving in. Across an entire city, however, it’s harder to track such changes, to understand in real time which neighborhoods are improving and which may need an extra boost in development. A new tool by Harvard and MIT researchers promises to do just that, with the help of machine learning and the biggest library of urban images on the Internet: Google Street...
September 2, 2017
You can see the subtle changes when a neighborhood is on its way up—streets get cleaner, building facades improve, new businesses start moving in. Across an entire city, however, it’s harder to track such changes, to understand in real time which neighborhoods are improving and which may need an extra boost in development. A new tool by Harvard and MIT researchers promises to do just that, with the help of machine learning and the biggest library of urban images on the Internet: Google Street...
Free Law Project Has Now Made Every PACER Opinion Searchable
September 2, 2017
After nearly a year of effort, the Free Law Project has downloaded every opinion and order from the federal courts’ PACER system and has made them available for search through its RECAP archive of PACER documents. The collection contains approximately 3.4 million orders and opinions from approximately 1.5 million federal district and bankruptcy court cases dating back to 1960, according to a blog post from the Free Law Project. More than 400,000 of the documents were scanned and required...
September 2, 2017
After nearly a year of effort, the Free Law Project has downloaded every opinion and order from the federal courts’ PACER system and has made them available for search through its RECAP archive of PACER documents. The collection contains approximately 3.4 million orders and opinions from approximately 1.5 million federal district and bankruptcy court cases dating back to 1960, according to a blog post from the Free Law Project. More than 400,000 of the documents were scanned and required...
Beauty Salon’s Customer Lists Weren’t Confidential When They Were on Social Media
September 1, 2017
Scrivo sued alleging, among other things, breach of contract, based on the restrictive covenant contained in the Employment...
September 1, 2017
Scrivo sued alleging, among other things, breach of contract, based on the restrictive covenant contained in the Employment...
Texas Law Expanding Mediation for Certain Surprise Medical Bills Takes Effect
September 1, 2017
On September 1st, a new law aimed at expanding a patient’s ability to mediate surprise health insurance bills will go into effect across Texas. Senate Bill 507, titled “Relating to mediation of the settlement of certain out-of-network health benefit claims involving balance billing,” allows patients to mediate balance bills in excess of $500 for emergency medical services that are considered out-of-network or are otherwise not paid for by insurance. The measure was sponsored by Senator Kelly...
September 1, 2017
On September 1st, a new law aimed at expanding a patient’s ability to mediate surprise health insurance bills will go into effect across Texas. Senate Bill 507, titled “Relating to mediation of the settlement of certain out-of-network health benefit claims involving balance billing,” allows patients to mediate balance bills in excess of $500 for emergency medical services that are considered out-of-network or are otherwise not paid for by insurance. The measure was sponsored by Senator Kelly...
Online Arbitration as a Remedy for Crowdfunding Fraud
August 31, 2017
C. Steven Bradford, Henry M. Grether, Jr. Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law, has published “Online Arbitration as a Remedy for Crowdfunding Fraud,” Florida State University Law Review, Forthcoming. In his journal article, Professor Bradford discusses creating a simplified online arbitration remedy to be used in situations where crowdfunding fraud has occurred. Here is the abstract: It is now legal to see securities to the general public in unregistered, crowdfunded...
August 31, 2017
C. Steven Bradford, Henry M. Grether, Jr. Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law, has published “Online Arbitration as a Remedy for Crowdfunding Fraud,” Florida State University Law Review, Forthcoming. In his journal article, Professor Bradford discusses creating a simplified online arbitration remedy to be used in situations where crowdfunding fraud has occurred. Here is the abstract: It is now legal to see securities to the general public in unregistered, crowdfunded...
