Archive for the ‘Law Talk’ Category
“We Own GM” and Other Rhetorical Illusions
posted by Lawrence Cunningham
Misleading talk continues to plague discussions of government’s financial intervention into private enterprise, including automotive, insurance and banking companies. Latest talk, centered at General Motors but applicable to AIG, Citigroup and others, is misuse of three abstract notions: taxpayer, ownership and investment.
Standard talk sees US government’s capital transfers from the federal purse to private corporations as resulting in “taxpayers owning investments” in these companies. The upshot of this speech is the illusion that (a) people who pay US federal income tax (b) now own a bit of these corporations and (c) are entitled to enjoy investment return from that. All these conceptions are misleading. Clinging to them will complicate the process of government rescue and revival at the heart of this effort. Read the rest of this post »
June 2, 2009 at 10:09 am
Posted in: Corporate Finance, Current Events, Law Talk
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American Law Institute approves the Principles of the Law of Software Contracts
posted by Bob Hillman
Thanks to Dave Hoffman, who just completed a very successful visit at Cornell Law School, for inviting me to be a guest blogger for the month. Maureen O’Rourke, the Associate Reporter on the Principles of the Law of Software Contracts, and I are posting the following to acquaint readers with the Principles and also to respond to some criticism of one section of the Principles that creates, under certain circumstances, an implied warranty of no known material hidden defects in the software.
On May 19, the membership of the American Law Institute unanimously approved the final draft of the Principles of the Law of Software Contracts. As the Introduction to the project states, the Principles “seek to clarify and unify the law of software transactions.” The Principles address issues including contract formation, the relationship between federal intellectual property law and private contracts governed by state law, the enforcement of contract terms governing quality and remedies, the meaning of breach, indemnification against infringement, automated disablement, and contract interpretation.
The Introduction to the Principles explains further that “[b]ecause of its burgeoning importance, perhaps no other commercial subject matter is in greater need of harmonization and clarification. . . . [T]he law governing the transfer of hard goods is inadequate to govern software transactions because, unlike hard goods, software is characterized by novel speed, copying, and storage capabilities, and new inspection, monitoring, and quality challenges.” Many of the rules of Article 2 of the UCC therefore apply poorly to software transactions or not at all, and the Principles are intended to fill the void.
The Principles are not “law,” of course, unless a court adopts a provision. Courts can also apply the Principles as a “gloss” on the common law, UCC Article 2, or other statutes. Nor do the Principles attempt to set forth the law for all aspects of a transaction, but instead rely on sources external to the Principles in many areas.
The Principles apply to agreements for the transfer of software or access to software for a consideration, i.e., software contracts. These include licenses, sales, leases, and access agreements. The project does not apply to the exchange of digital media or digital databases. It applies a predominant purpose test to determine applicability to transactions involving embedded software or software combined in one transfer with digital media, digital databases, and/or services.
We are the Reporter and Associate Reporter of the software principles. We have been greatly aided by our advisors, consultative group members, ALI Council members, liaisons from the National Commissioners on Uniform State Law, Business Software Alliance, and the American Bar Association, and many additional lawyers from industry and other groups who, over the last five and one-half years, have met with us, talked with us on the phone, and exchanged e-mails with us. We believe the project moved along smoothly largely because of the efforts of all of these groups and individuals.
Nevertheless, in the two weeks leading up to approval in May, we received communications from a few software providers evidencing concern largely with one section of the Principles. Section 3.05(b) creates a non-excludable implied warranty that the software “contains no material hidden defects of which the transferor was aware at the time of the transfer.” The section only applies if the transferor receives “money or a right to payment of a monetary obligation in exchange for the software.” Because the section may be the most controversial provision, we devote the rest of this post to the issue.
June 2, 2009 at 8:12 am
Tags: American Law Institute, software contracts
Posted in: Consumer Protection Law, Contract Law & Beyond, Cyberlaw, Intellectual Property, Law Talk, Technology, Uncategorized
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Layoffs, Layoffs Everywhere
posted by Jaya Ramji-Nogales
Though news of law firm layoffs, not to mention offer rescission and complete dissolution, has been brewing for some time now, government and non-profit jobs, though harder to come by, have seemed relatively more secure. Not so, as I learned from a former colleague at the ACLU last month, where Madoff-related investments forced layoffs of ten percent of the workforce, including several staff attorneys. As a former staff attorney at the ACLU, those positions appeared to be some of the most secure in the legal profession — yours to keep for as many years as you wanted, until poof! they disappeared. And just last week, a former student of mine reported that the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office rescinded the thirteen offers it made this year (in contrast to the 25 it extends in a normal year) to third-year law students. As another student on the public interest job hunt noted today, “I thought that was why I became a professional!” Indeed — that was the deal we all signed up for; we’d put our noses to the books for three long years, incurring piles of debt, but we’d still have jobs in an economic downturn. Wouldn’t we? While job losses may be more severe outside the legal profession, a law degree is certainly no panacea, and some may begin to wonder exactly what is the value added from three years of expensive education. At the moment, I’m not sure I have an answer for my talented and hardworking students struggling to find permanent employment after graduation.
February 23, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Posted in: Law Talk
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Law Talk: Judith Maute on Contracts, Scholarship, and Movie Making
posted by Nate Oman
It’s been a while since I have been able to put together a Law Talk episode, but I still hope to keep this podcast going with two new episodes. The first new episode is simply a collection of the Battlestar Galactica interviews conducted by Dan, Dave, and Deven a couple of months ago. Enjoy all you affianados of law and science fiction!
My second new episode is an interview with Professor Judith Maute of the University of Oklahoma. As far as I know, Professor Maute has the distinction of being the only law professor who has ever had one of her law review articles turned into a movie. In this case, the movie is the recently released documentary “The Ballad of Willie and Lucille,” which looks at the iconic contracts case of Peevyhouse v. Garland Coal & Mining Co. The film was recently given the “Chris Award” by the Columbus Film Fesitival, and in our interview Professor Maute talks about teaching, historical research, movie making, judicial bribery, and the importance of a lawyer’s appreciation for facts. Enjoy!
You can subscribe to “Law Talk” using iTunes or Feedburner. You can also visit the “Law Talk” page at the iTunes store. For previous episodes of Law Talk at Co-Op click here.
October 2, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Posted in: Contract Law & Beyond, Culture, Law Talk
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Roars on Auditor Liability
posted by Lawrence Cunningham
Amid revolutionary proposals to renovate US financial regulation, auditing firms continue to push for caps on their liability for bothced audits. In a report to the Treasury Department’s Committee on the Auditing Profession, the profession’s lobbying affiliate, Center for Audit Quality, collates pending cases against large firms to dramatize their campaign.
They report 90 pending cases asserting aggregate damages exceeding $140 billion, with a third of the cases seeking more than $1 billion apiece and 7 alleging more than $10 billion. The firms say these claims, altogether, support their view that their liability exposure is unfair to them and dangerous for the financial system. The only solution, they urge, is having Congress set statutory dollar caps on claims against them, along with exclusive federal jurisdiction over these cases using a light standard of liability, scienter instead of negligence.
July 8, 2008 at 9:24 am
Posted in: Law Talk
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Law Talk: A Roundtable on Justice and Insturmentalism in Private Law
posted by Nate Oman
Over the weekend, the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities held their annual conference at Boalt Hall. This podcast episode is a recording of a roundtable discussion on justice and insturmentalism in private law, which was organized for the conference by Jeff Lipshaw. The participants include Pete Alces (William & Mary), Robin Kar (Loyola LA), Alan Calnan (Southwestern), and Nate Oman (that’s me). The discussion focuses on the philosophy of tort law and contract law, with Pete sounding a skeptical note using evolutionary biology. Enjoy!
You can subscribe to “Law Talk” using iTunes or Feedburner. You can also visit the “Law Talk” page at the iTunes store. For previous episodes of Law Talk at Co-Op click here.
April 1, 2008 at 11:01 am
Posted in: Contract Law & Beyond, Law Talk, Legal Theory
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Battlestar Galactica Interview Transcript (Part I)
posted by Daniel Solove
We are very pleased to be able to present a transcript of our interview with Ron Moore and David Eick, the creators, producers, and writers of the TV show Battlestar Galactica. Joe Beaudoin, Jr., the project leader of the Battlestar Wiki, transcribed the interview for us. We edited the transcript, but the bulk of the work was done by Joe. The transcript is also posted at the Battlestar Wiki, which has a ton of great information for fans of the show. In editing the transcript, we took the liberty of cleaning up grammatical errors and eliminating “ums” and other distractions in order to make it more readable.
In this interview, we explore the legal, political, economic, and social ideas raised by the show. If you prefer to hear to the interview, click here to listen to the audio files.
Below is the introduction to the interview and the transcript for Part I, which explores the legal system, morality, and torture. I couldn’t fit the entire transcript into one post, so Parts II and III are contained in another post. Part II examines politics and commerce. Part III explores the cylons.
March 2, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Posted in: Culture, Interviews, Law Talk, Movies & Television, Privacy, Privacy (National Security), Science Fiction, Technology
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Battlestar Galactica Interview Transcript (Parts II and III)
posted by Daniel Solove
This post contains Parts II and III of the transcript of our interview with Ron Moore and David Eick, the creators, producers, and writers of the TV show Battlestar Galactica. Joe Beaudoin, Jr., the project leader of the Battlestar Wiki, transcribed the interview for us. We edited the transcript, but the bulk of the work was done by Joe. The transcript is also posted at the Battlestar Wiki, which has a ton of great information for fans of the show. In editing the transcript, we took the liberty of cleaning up grammatical errors and eliminating “ums” and other distractions in order to make it more readable.
Our interview explores the legal, political, and economic dimensions of the show. Part II (see below) examines politics and commerce. Part III (see below) examines the cylons. Daniel Solove, Dave Hoffman, and Deven Desai pose the questions to Ron Moore and David Eick.
Click here to read Part I of the interview transcript, which examines the legal system, morality, and torture.
March 2, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Posted in: Culture, Interviews, Law Talk, Law and Humanities, Movies & Television, Privacy (National Security), Science Fiction, Technology
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Battlestar Galactica Interview Part III
posted by Daniel Solove
Dave Hoffman, Deven Desai, and I are pleased to present Part III of our interview with Ron Moore and David Eick, the creators, producers, and writers of the hit television show, Battlestar Galactica.
Part I of our interview explored the role of law in the show, exploring topics such as the legal system, lawyers, trials and tribunals, torture, necessity vs. moral principles, and deference to the military.
Part II of our interview examined the political system and economic issues.
In Part III of our interview (the final part in this series), we discuss the cylons. How do the humans view the cylons? As mere machines? As quasi-human? Are the humans heading toward a recognition of more humane treatment of the cylons? Why did the cylons choose to try to annihilate the humans? How do the cylons govern themselves? What role does the cylons’ religion play in all this? We explore these questions and more, including what political and philosophical books most influenced Ron and David in their creation of the show. We learn why Adama changes his views about Boomer and accepts her as a person. And we try to coax out spoilers for the upcoming season.
Part III of the interview is 16 minutes, 15 seconds long. You can access it, along with Parts I and II, here.
UPDATE: The interview has now been transcribed. You can read Part I here, and Parts II and III here.
February 26, 2008 at 12:11 am
Posted in: Culture, Interviews, Law Talk, Law and Humanities, Movies & Television, Politics, Science Fiction, Technology
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Battlestar Galactica Interview Part II
posted by Daniel Solove
Dave Hoffman, Deven Desai, and I are pleased to present Part II of our interview with Ron Moore and David Eick, the creators, producers, and writers of the hit television show, Battlestar Galactica.
Part I of our interview explored the role of law in the show, exploring topics such as the legal system, lawyers, trials and tribunals, torture, necessity vs. moral principles, and deference to the military.
In Part II of our interview, Dave Hoffman interviews Ron and David about politics and the economy. How did the political system of the Twelve Colonies work prior to the cylon attack? After the destruction of the colonies, how does the economy work aboard the fleet? Why do people still continue to do their jobs without compensation? How does commerce work? Why do people still use money? Dave examines these fascinating questions and more.
Part II of the interview is 13 minutes, 57 seconds long. You can also access it, along with Part I, here.
Check back Tuesday morning, when we plan to post Part III of our interview — the final part — which addresses issues involving the cylons.
UPDATE: The interview has now been transcribed. You can read Part I here, and Parts II and III here.
February 25, 2008 at 12:03 am
Posted in: Contract Law & Beyond, Culture, Interviews, Law Talk, Law and Humanities, Movies & Television, Privacy, Privacy (National Security), Science Fiction, Technology
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Battlestar Galactica Interview
posted by Daniel Solove
We are thrilled to offer readers of Concurring Opinions an interview with Ron Moore and David Eick, creators of the hit television show Battlestar Galactica. Daniel Solove, Deven Desai, and David Hoffman ask the questions. We would like to thank Professor John Ip for suggesting some of the torture questions. Our interview lasts a little over an hour, and we’ll be providing it to you in several parts over the next few days.
Our goal was to explore some of the themes of the show in a deeper manner than many traditional interviews. Ron and David graciously agreed to give us an hour of their time, and we had a fascinating conversation with them.
Our interview is structured in three parts. Part I, available in two files (see the end of this post to download), focuses on the issues of legal systems and morality. It examines the lawyers and trials in the show. It also examines how torture is depicted, as well as how the humans must balance civil liberties and security.
Part II examines politics and commerce. It explores how the cylon attack affected the humans’ political system, and it examines how commerce works in the fleet.
Part III examines issues related to cylons, such as the humans’ treatment of cylons, how robots should be treated by the law, how the cylons govern themselves politically. Additionally, Part III will explore the religious issues involved in the show.
The new Battlestar Galactica, which premiered initially as a miniseries in 2003 on the SciFi Network, is only loosely based on the earlier show by the same name during 1978 and 1980. The new Battlestar Galactica is breathtaking science fiction, and it has widespread appeal beyond science fiction fans. Numerous critics have hailed it as one of the best shows on television. Time Magazine, for example, listed it as one of the top television shows and described it as “a ripping sci-fi allegory of the war on terror, complete with religious fundamentalists (here, genocidal robots called Cylons), sleeper cells, civil-liberties crackdowns and even a prisoner-torture scandal.”
The show chronicles the struggle for survival of a small band of humans who escaped a devastating genocidal attack by intelligent robots called cylons. The humans created the cylons for use as slaves. The cylons rebelled and a war erupted between the humans and cylons. But a truce was reached, and the cylons disappeared. But forty years later, the cylons launched a massive surprise attack, destroying the human society (called the Twelve Colonies) with nuclear missiles. Only a small group of humans aboard spaceships survived.
The show depicts the humans’ difficult fight for survival and the tough choices they must make along the way. The cylons have developed technology to allow them to take human form, and some of the humans within the group of survivors are really cylons. More information about the show is here.
The show is heavily influenced by modern events, especially terrorism, war, and torture. In a time of emergency, how should we balance security and liberty? How do we deal with enemies who may be burrowed in among us? How does a society decimated in a war reconstitute its political, economic, and legal systems?
Battlestar Galactica was honored with a prestigious Peabody Award and twice as an official selection of the American Film Institute top television programs for 2005 and 2006.
Because the show explores so many interesting issues so deftly, it has attracted a large group of fans in the legal academy. We know of many law professors who count Battlestar Galactica as one of their favorite shows, and this is why we thought it would be fascinating to speak with the creators and writers of the show — Ron Moore and David Eick.
February 21, 2008 at 9:19 am
Posted in: Criminal Procedure, Culture, Interviews, Law Talk, Law and Humanities, Movies & Television, Privacy, Privacy (Law Enforcement), Privacy (National Security), Science Fiction, Technology
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Law Talk: George R. R. Martin
posted by Dave Hoffman
In today’s episode of Law Talk, we hear from George R. R. Martin, the prolific author of the “high fantasy” series The Song of Ice and Fire. George has also been a screenwriter and Hollywood producer, an editor, a chess tournament director, a union leader, and a volunteer media director for the Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. As I’ve previously written, George is a leader in the movement to bring a degree of realism to fantasy, and he has been dubbed (by Time Magazine) “The American Tolkien.”
George and I talked for almost an hour, on topics ranging from the role of law in fantasy books (starting 3.5 minutes in); the limits of magic as a plot device (20 minutes in); law professor Robert Cover (22 minutes in, brought up by me, to my shame); why most fantasy novels seem to be set in merry olde england (28 minutes in); fan fiction and copyright infringement (31minutes in); how writing sci-fi is like selling music, and whether he likes Radiohead’s distribution model (35 minutes in); how to keep control over your work when it is transformed into another medium (39 minutes in); and inheritance law (toward the end).
George is a fantastically interesting, well-read, thoughtful guy, and I think you will enjoy this interview quite a bit. (If you aren’t a fan of the books, ignore my constant, irritating, references to characters you have never heard of.) Finally, if you want to learn more about George, visit his blog (which he says isn’t one) and join the hordes of folks waiting for the next installment of the series, A Dance With Dragons, to ship.
Missed the link? Here’s the interview again. Warning: it’s a big file!
You can subscribe to “Law Talk” using iTunes or Feedburner. You can also visit the “Law Talk” page at the iTunes store. For previous episodes of Law Talk at Co-Op click here.
For other posts in the “Law and Hard Fantasy” Interview Series, see:
December 18, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Posted in: Book Reviews, Contract Law & Beyond, Culture, History of Law, Intellectual Property, Law Talk, Law and Humanities, Media Law, Sociology of Law, Wills, Trusts, and Estates
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An Interview with Pat Rothfuss
posted by Dave Hoffman
I’m very pleased to bring you the first-fruits of the Law and “Hard Fantasy” Interview Series: a talk with author Pat Rothfuss.
Pat is the author of the new epic fantasy trilogy, The Kingkiller Chronicle. Book one, The Name of the Wind, follows the adventures of a boy named Kvothe as he learns to be an arcanist, something like an alchemist mixed with a wizard, at the “University.” The story is largely told by Kvothe in retrospect. It’s autobiographic fantasy, if such a genre existed. The book has been highly praised, and for good reason. I read it early in the fall, and liked it more than any fantasy debut I can remember picking up in several years.
I hope you will find the interview interesting. I’ll warn you: Pat has a flair for … earthy … language, so you are on notice if that kind of thing offends you. My questions are in bold.
I’ve claimed elsewhere that most “high fantasy” – multi-volume books that intend to tell large stories about pre-modern worlds – contains remarkably little civil law. The agents of the criminal system, like the hangman and the sheriff, are present, but not the civil law courts. Do you agree with this basic description?
Yeah. That’s pretty fair.
Can you imagine creating and writing explicitly about a world where magic and a litigation-based, common-law system, co-existed?
Absolutely. In fact, I’ve written such a world. You don’t see much of it in this first book, but there is a working common-law system in my world. I don’t think that the rule of law and magic are mutually exclusive at all.
The problem I’m thinking of is that law really self-conceives as a scientific, proof-based, system. Even in rules-based magical system, reality inevitably gets warped.
Hmmmm….. Good point. But honestly, I think that when that happens in most books, it’s because the writer is being lazy. Think about England in the 1500’s. People believed in magic and the courts still churned along. John Dee claimed to talk to angels. Alchemists were everywhere. People really believed they could transmute metal, and hell, maybe some of them could. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t still laws against fraud or theft…
December 11, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Posted in: Articles and Books, Law Talk, Sociology of Law
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Introducing: The Law & “Hard Fantasy” Interview Series
posted by Dave Hoffman
Earlier this summer, I wrote a post titled Fantasy’s Apocalyptic Turn, about the development of the “hard fantasy” movement in modern fiction. As I commented:
[I]t is worth briefly thinking about the relationship between epic fantasy and law. Although the legal aspects of fantasy role playing games are now well-marked out, there has been little work (outside of the Potterverse) on how fantasy authors imagine legal rules’ role in society. If epic fantasy is read largely by adolescent boys, this missing attention makes a great deal of sense. You don’t see law review articles about Maxim. But, if fantasy, or hard fantasy, has become a literature for the rest of the population, it is worth thinking about the complete and total absence of civil law in these books, and the light touch of criminal law more generally. Is it impossible to imagine lawsuits and magic coexisting in the same society?
This post got some folks blogging – in agreement and dissent.
I’m still interested in the relationship between epic fantastic fiction and law, and I realized that if I really wanted to know about how law makes it way (or doesn’t) into fantasy novels, I might as well ask some actual authors about it. So, I got in touch with a few writers who I consider to be among the best practitioners of “realistic” epic fantasy, and I’ve put questions to them. Now in doing so, I realize that I’m in danger of over-intellectualizing books that require a certain amount of suspended belief to be digested. Worse, really digging into these stories calls to mind E.B. White’s quote about frogs and humor. Indeed, as the picture to the right illustrates, law’s relationship to magic has the potential to be pretty gruesome.
But it’s worth a try. Over the next several months, I’ll be bringing you several author responses. Some terrific folks are already on board, including the reigning king of the movement, George R. R. Martin, and I’m hoping for more responses to trickle in. But our first guest is a newcomer to the genre, Pat Rothfuss, author of the new, acclaimed, novel The Name of the Wind. I’ll be posting my interview with Pat (hopefully) later on in the weekend.
(Image Source: Examination of a Witch, Thompkins H. Matteson, Wikicommons)
December 7, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Posted in: Articles and Books, Intellectual Property, Law Talk, Law and Humanities, Media Law, Sociology of Law
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Law Talk: Linda Malone on Litigating Global Warming
posted by Nate Oman
In this episode we hear from my colleague Linda Malone, at William & Mary Law School. Linda is an expert on international law, national security law, and the legal issues surrounding global warming. In this episode Linda discusses new litigation strategies that are using domestic courts as a way of enforcing international norms on global warming, as well as forcing action by domestic regulators. Her remarks were originally delivered as the St. George Tucker Lecture at William & Mary, which is given each year to honor the scholarlly accomplishments of a senior member of the law faculty.
You can subscribe to “Law Talk” using iTunes or Feedburner. You can also visit the “Law Talk” page at the iTunes store. For previous episodes of Law Talk at Co-Op click here.
December 3, 2007 at 9:42 am
Posted in: Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Law Talk
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Law Talk: Oman on Civil Cases in Church Courts
posted by Nate Oman
Last week I attended the annual meetings of the American Society for Legal History in Tempe, Arizona. It was a great conference and compared, say, to the AALS meetings all of the presenters had clearly actually written and thought out their presentations before hopping on the plane. In this week’s episode I am broadcasting my own presentation at the conference. In early America many religious denominations tried to move civil disputes between church members into church courts, and lately I have been going through the records of Mormon church courts to see how the dealt with contract cases. As part of that research, I’ve written a paper that looks at the development of the Mormon judiciary, why Mormons sought to bring civil litigation within the church, and why they abandoned the effort around 1900. (I put up a short, preliminary version of my paper on SSRN.) My ASLH presentation shares some of my conclusions from that paper, which will be sent off to the law reviews this spring.
You can subscribe to “Law Talk” using iTunes or Feedburner. You can also visit the “Law Talk” page at the iTunes store. For previous episodes of Law Talk at Co-Op click here.
October 30, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Posted in: History of Law, Law Talk, Law and Humanities, Religion
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Law Talk: Doug Berman on the Evolution of Legal Scholarship
posted by Nate Oman
In this week’s episode I speak with Professor Doug Berman of Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law. Doug is an expert in criminal law and, especially, sentencing policy. He is the keeper of the Sentencing Law and Policy Blog, which has been cited by several courts. He is also an avid observer of the world of legal academia and contributes to the Law School Innovation Blog. In this episode Doug and I talk about recent developments in the world of law schools and legal academia and what they might mean.
You can subscribe to “Law Talk” using iTunes or Feedburner. You can also visit the “Law Talk” page at the iTunes store. For previous episodes of Law Talk at Co-Op click here.
October 8, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Posted in: Law School (Scholarship), Law Talk
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Law Talk: Markovits on Contracts of Adhesion
posted by Nate Oman
In this week’s episode I speak with Professor Daniel Markovits of the Yale Law School. Daniel writes in a variety of areas including the philosophy of law, the theory of toleration, and — most importantly — the theory of contract law. In 2004, Daniel published an ambitious article in the Yale Law Journal — “Contract and Collaboration” — in which he sought to offer a new theory of contractual liability based on the integrative and pro-social effects of contracts. He is now at work on a project that applies his collaborative theory of contract to the perennial problem of contracts of adhesion. The result, as you can hear in this episode, is a critique of contracts of adhesion that is unrelated to the traditional complaints of unequal bargaining power and substantive unfairness.
You can subscribe to “Law Talk” using iTunes or Feedburner. You can also visit the “Law Talk” page at the iTunes store. For previous episodes of Law Talk at Co-Op click here.
October 1, 2007 at 11:00 am
Posted in: Contract Law & Beyond, Law Talk, Law and Humanities, Legal Theory
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Law Talk: Al Brophy on Slavery, Reparations, and Institutional Responsibility
posted by Nate Oman
In this week’s episode of Law Talk, we hear from Professor Al Brophy of the University of Alabama Law School. In addition to his fame as a Co-Op guestblogger, Al is a legal historian with a special interest in issues of slavery and race in American law. Al is also interested in issues surrounding debates over reparations and apologies for slavery. In this podcast, he discusses how universities and colleges with links to slavery might deal with these issues, using the example of my own employer, The College of William & Mary.
You can subscribe to “Law Talk” using iTunes or Feedburner. You can also visit the “Law Talk” page at the iTunes store. For previous episodes of Law Talk at Co-Op click here.
September 24, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Posted in: History of Law, Law School, Law Talk, Race
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Law Talk: Gordon Smith and Contracts as Organizations
posted by Nate Oman
This week I speak with Professor D. Gordon Smith of BYU Law School (and, of course, The Conglomerate). In this week’s episode, we discuss Gordon’s paper “Contracts as Organizations” (with Brayden King), now up on SSRN. Essentially, Gordon is proposing an emperical research agenda for the study of contracts. By “contracts,” Gordon really does mean “contracts,” not contract law or contract dispute resolution. His argument is that we can use ideas from sociology and organization theory to think about contracts as a species of organization, a move that he claims opens up new possibilities in terms not only of how we answer questions about the process of contracting but also what questions we ask. Enjoy!
You can subscribe to “Law Talk” using iTunes or Feedburner. You can also visit the “Law Talk” page at the iTunes store. For previous episodes of Law Talk at Co-Op click here.
September 16, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Posted in: Contract Law & Beyond, Economic Analysis of Law, Law Talk
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