Law Commons^™

International Arbitration Scholarship And The Concept Of Arbitration Law, Stavros Brekoulakis

Stavros Brekoulakis

This article is about the concept of arbitration law and its relationship with international arbitration scholarship. It argues that the field of international arbitration scholarship has developed in isolation and never fully engaged with the crucial movements of international legal scholarship that advanced a more progressive and humanitarian concept of international law. The dearth of interdisciplinary scholarship in arbitration has had two undesirable implications. First, it has had a negative impact on how non-arbitration scholars and the public perceive arbitration. Secondly, and more importantly for the purposes of this article, it has crucially impaired the concept and autonomy of arbitration …

Contracting In The Modern World, Enrico Baffi

enrico baffi

In this paper I try explore some of the basic features of modern mass contracting. In my opinion, there are basically four characteristics of modern mass contracting: a)he reduced negotiations; b) the dissemination of standard form contracts; c) the presence of abusive clauses; d) and the recapitulation of the contract and its execution in a single act of stipulation. All the changes are the consequences in the changes of relative costs of activities: a) The reduction in negotiations is the result first of all of the costs that this activity requires and of the costs required to manage personalized contracts; …

The Problem Of Internalization Of Social Costs And The Ideas Of Ronal Coase, Enrico Baffi

enrico baffi

This work examines the influence of Coasian thought on the analysis of externalities as used by economists and legal economists. Ronald Coase, a Chicago scholar, advanced a series of criticisms of the Pigovian tax system; the theorem that bears his name is merely the best known. In his 1960 work, he sought to demonstrate that the internationalization of social costs was not always socially useful andd sometimes impossible. In addition, he identified other institutional solutions to which systems can - and often do - resort. One of these solutions is to simply authorize the harmful activity without introducing mechanisms to …

The Problem Of Internalization Of Social Costs And The Ideas Of Ronald Coase, Enrico Baffi

enrico baffi

This work examines the influence of Coasian thought on the analysis of externalities as used by economists and legal economists. Ronald Coase, a Chicago scholar, advanced a series of criticisms of the Pigovian tax system; the theorem that bears his name is merely the best known. In his 1960 work, he sought to demonstrate that the internationalization of social costs was not always socially useful and in many casesimossible. In addition, he identified other institutional solutions to which systems can - and often do - resort. One of these solutions is to simply authorize the harmful activity without introducing mechanisms …

The Problem Of Internalization Of Social Costs And The Ideas Of Ronald Coase, Enrico Baffi

enrico baffi

This work examines the influence of Coasian thought on the analysis of externalities as used by economists and legal economists. Ronald Coase, a Chicago scholar, advanced a series of criticisms of the Pigovian tax system; the theorem that bears his name is merely the best known. In his 1960 work, he sought to demonstrate that the internationalization of social costs was not always socially useful and also difficult if not impossible to realize. In addition, he identified other institutional solutions to which systems can - and often do - resort. One of these solutions is to simply authorize the harmful …

How Statistical Sampling Can Solve The Conundrum Of Compensation Disclosures Under Dodd-Frank, Michael Ohlrogge

Michael Ohlrogge

One of the more controversial measures of the Dodd-Frank bill is its requirement that companies report the ratio of their CEO’s compensation to that of their median employee. Critics of this provision have claimed that for large companies with employees and subsidiaries throughout the world, compliance with this measure alone could cost millions of dollars a year, due to the difficulties in identifying the median employee. This paper demonstrates that the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is charged with implementing this provision, has the latitude to direct companies to calculate the figure using a statistical sampling procedure which would greatly …

Collaborating With Students As Co-Authors, Wendy B. Davis

Wendy B. Davis

The purpose of this article is to describe the process of collaborating with students enrolled in a course to produce a casebook to be published after the conclusion of the course. I have written two published casebooks, with significant portions of each book written by students as contributing authors. Utilization of a variety of teaching methods facilitates learning by our students. While this article only describes one end- result, the creation of a casebook, the process of creating that book involves many different teaching methods, thus many different opportunities to address students’ differing learning styles. Students learn best when they …

Advancing An Adaptive Standard Of Strict Scrutiny For Content-Based Commercial Speech Regulation, Nat S. Stern

Nat S Stern

Over the course of several decades, commercial speech has largely shed its “subordinate status” as a class of expression ungoverned by ordinary First Amendment principles. This Article argues that the Supreme Court should take the next logical step in the evolution of its commercial speech doctrine and subject content-based regulation in this area to the standard of strict scrutiny applied elsewhere. As in other settings, strict scrutiny here could be adapted to its context. In particular, strict scrutiny in the commercial realm could incorporate the understanding that government has a powerful interest in preventing false, deceptive, and misleading representation. In …

Building Bio-Based Supply Chains: Theoretical Perspectives On Innovative Contract Design, A. Bryan Endres, Jody M. Endres, Jeremy J. Stoller

A. Bryan Endres

By 2030, the United States will consume over 300 million tons of forest and agricultural feedstocks for energy production. The supply chain necessary to provide unprecedented quantities of new “bioenergy crops,” however, is fraught with uncertainty. The vertically integrated model the nascent sector currently uses may have limited opportunity for expansion to meet renewable energy mandates. A hybrid structure is likely to emerge as the industry evolves, in which end-users closely cooperate with a large number of heterogeneous producers through long-term contracting rather than as direct owners or operators of biomass farms. This “vertically coordinated” industry model is dependent on …

Consent Order- A Bailout Package For Violators In The Indian Securities Market, Anurag Tripathi, Abhishek Chanda

Anurag Tripathi

Since SEBI was given statutory power in 1992 it has done great deal in both securing the interest of the investors and development of securities market in India. Under the SEBI act, 1992 SEBI came up with elaborate procedure for punishing the violators of the securities laws so as to cause deterrence. However, soon it was realised that SEBI was overburdened with piling up of cases and had short fall in collection of penalty which led to revenue losses to the government. Thus, SEBI came up with the Consent Order Mechanism which is a sort of out of court settlement …

Building A Better America: Tax Expenditure Reform And The Case Of State And Local Government Bonds And Build America Bonds, Blaine G. Saito

Blaine G. Saito

Currently most subnational government borrowing in the United States is done via tax-exempt muni bonds. But they are riddled with problems. They are inefficient at delivering the subsidy, and they create economic distortions of investment choices. They are inequitable, and they have significant democratic deficiencies. Direct payment Build America Bonds (BABs) provide an alternative, as they directly pay a cash subsidy to a subnational government. While there are simple technical problems that can easily be remedied, BABs face significant political hurdles that will prevent the permanence of the program. Policy entrepreneurship is a way forward. The piece also discusses how …

Vertical Boilerplate, James Gibson

James Gibson

Despite what we learn in law school about the “meeting of the minds,” most contracts are merely boilerplate -- take-it-or-leave-it propositions. Negotiation is nonexistent; we rely on our collective market power as consumers to regulate contracts’ content. But boilerplate imposes certain information costs, because it often arrives late in the transaction and is hard to understand. If those costs get too high, then the market mechanism fails. So how high are boilerplate’s information costs? A few studies have attempted to measure them, but they all use a “horizontal” approach -- i.e., they sample a single stratum of boilerplate and assume …

Prime Time For Japan To Take Another Step Forward In Lay Participation: Exploring Expansion To Civil Trials, Matthew J. Wilson

Matthew J. Wilson

As juries in the U.S. and other parts of the world have increasingly come under attack, many countries in Asia have recently turned to juries or quasi-juries in an effort to enhance judicial credibility, ensure justice, facilitate civic engagement, and even stimulate economic reform and recovery. In fact, Japan has led the recent movement of citizen participation in criminal judicial proceedings, and other Asian powers including South Korea, Taiwan, and China have followed its lead to varying degrees. Eyes around the world are focusing on Japan to see how its new jury system (more commonly known as its “lay judge …

Legal Applications Of Modern Finance, Matthew E. Cavanaugh Mba Cpa Esq.

Matthew E. Cavanaugh MBA CPA Esq.

While scholars and practitioners have applied economics to law successfully for decades, there has been almost no similar application of modern finance. Courts have used the central concept of classical finance, time value of money, for many years, but their use is still unsophisticated.

This article details two ways to apply modern finance to law. This article first describes a method of improving courts’ time value of money calculations, by using a systematically complete four factor analysis to determine the appropriate discount rate. This article then describes a method of calculating future damages that uses market price of risk, based …

Ten Dollars For 10,736 Mortgages: Should Nominal Consideration Supersede Real Property Recording Law, John P. Hunt

John P Hunt

Our review of mortgage securitization transactions from 2005 to 2007 suggests that many intermediate mortgage transfers structured as promissory note sales involved the exchange of only nominal or other dubious consideration. The Uniform Commercial Code requires consideration “sufficient to support a simple contract” as a prerequisite for treatment of a transaction as a promissory note sale. Treatment as a sale triggers the Code’s “mortgage follows the note” provisions, which may protect transactions from claims that the mortgages involved are unenforceable, are vulnerable to competing claimants, or were never transferred in the first place. Mortgage securitization transactions are potentially exposed to …

Dodd-Frank's Inappropriate Treatment Of Insurance Companies: A 'Sifi' Situtation, Mark M. Makhail

Mark M Makhail

Abstract available upon request.

The Taxonomy Of Global Securities: Is The U. S. Definition Of A Security Too Broad?, Frederick H. C. Mazando

Frederick H. C. Mazando

This Article compares the scope of the notoriously broad U.S. federal securities laws definitions of a “security” with its counterparts in four major global financial jurisdictions to illustrate the nature and extent of the disparate global securities definitions that profoundly shape international financial rules and potential areas of harmonizing global securities definitions. The global trade in securities developed and grew exponentially in the last three decades without a securities treaty or effective global securities rules largely because there is no global consensus on what securities are or how best to regulate them. The disparate global securities definitions are sine qua …

Construing Laws Governing International And U.S. Domestic Contracts For The Sale Of Goods: A Comparative Evaluation Of The Cisg And Ucc Rules Of Interpretation, Sarah H. Jenkins-Hobbs

Sarah H Jenkins

Some twenty-four years after the effective date of UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and seventy-eight contracting states, U.S. domestic lawyers, judges, academics, and law students remain challenged by the provisions and policies of the Convention. Early on, the practicing bar in the United States ignored or was oblivious to the applicability of the Convention. Some encouraged domestic clients to opt-out of the Convention’s coverage, choosing instead the security of the Uniform Commercial Code, without assessing the viability of the Convention given the client’s business goals or risk tolerance. The Model Rules of Professional Conduct mandate …

Adjusting Unconscionability As An Alternative To The "'Fair Contracts' Approval Mechanism", Daniel J. Cohn

Daniel J. Cohn

Courts are in the habit of enforcing contracts. Courts enforce contracts governing consumer transactions even though empirical data show consumers do not read those terms. The big question is, “Should they?” One legal scholar, Shmuel I. Becher, has answered that question with a resounding “yes, but differently.” Becher proposes a creative and comprehensive third-party approval system for consumer contracts, known as the “‘Fair Contracts’ Approval Mechanism.” In this Paper, I identify several fatal problems associated with Becher’s proposed system, and—given those problems—propose an alternative method of protecting consumers. Specifically, I suggest adjusting the unconscionability doctrine to include a sliding-scale analysis …

Construing Laws Governing International And U.S. Domestic Contracts For The Sale Of Goods: A Comparative Evaluation Of The Cisg And Ucc Rules Of Interpretation, Sarah H. Jenkins-Hobbs

Sarah H Jenkins

Some twenty-four years after the effective date of UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and seventy-eight contracting states, U.S. domestic lawyers, judges, academics, and law students remain challenged by the provisions and policies of the Convention. Early on, the practicing bar in the United States ignored or was oblivious to the applicability of the Convention. Some encouraged domestic clients to opt-out of the Convention’s coverage, choosing instead the security of the Uniform Commercial Code, without assessing the viability of the Convention given the client’s business goals or risk tolerance. The Model Rules of Professional Conduct mandate …

Construing Laws Governing International And U.S. Domestic Contracts For The Sale Of Goods: A Comparative Evaluation Of The Cisg And Ucc Rules Of Interpretation, Sarah H. Jenkins-Hobbs

Sarah H Jenkins

Some twenty-four years after the effective date of UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and seventy-eight contracting states, U.S. domestic lawyers, judges, academics, and law students remain challenged by the provisions and policies of the Convention. Early on, the practicing bar in the United States ignored or was oblivious to the applicability of the Convention. Some encouraged domestic clients to opt-out of the Convention’s coverage, choosing instead the security of the Uniform Commercial Code, without assessing the viability of the Convention given the client’s business goals or risk tolerance. The Model Rules of Professional Conduct mandate …

Construing Laws Governing International And U.S. Domestic Contracts For The Sale Of Goods: A Comparative Evaluation Of The Cisg And Ucc Rules Of Interpretation, Sarah H. Jenkins-Hobbs

Sarah H Jenkins

Some twenty-four years after the effective date of UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and seventy-eight contracting states, U.S. domestic lawyers, judges, academics, and law students remain challenged by the provisions and policies of the Convention. Early on, the practicing bar in the United States ignored or was oblivious to the applicability of the Convention. Some encouraged domestic clients to opt-out of the Convention’s coverage, choosing instead the security of the Uniform Commercial Code, without assessing the viability of the Convention given the client’s business goals or risk tolerance. The Model Rules of Professional Conduct mandate …

Construing Laws Governing International And U.S. Domestic Contracts For The Sale Of Goods: A Comparative Evaluation Of The Cisg And Ucc Rules Of Interpretation, Sarah H. Jenkins

Sarah H Jenkins

CONSTRUING LAWS GOVERNING INTERNATIONAL AND U.S. DOMESTIC CONTRACTS FOR THE SALE OF GOODS: A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF THE CISG AND UCC RULES OF INTERPRETATION ABSTRACT Some twenty-four years after the effective date of UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and seventy-eight contracting states, U.S. domestic lawyers, judges, academics, and law students remain challenged by the provisions and policies of the Convention. Early on, the practicing bar in the United States ignored or was oblivious to the applicability of the Convention. Some encouraged domestic clients to opt-out of the Convention’s coverage, choosing instead the security of the …

Whatever Happened To The Prudent Man? The Case For Limiting The Influence Of Proxy Advisors Through Fiduciary Duty Law, Jodi Slaght

Jodi Slaght

Proxy advisors are third-party consultants that charge investment advisers for advice about specific companies, and provide “for” or “against” recommendations on shareholder voting issues. Currently, proxy advisors are not regulated by the SEC or any other government agency. At least one commentator has noted that the influence of proxy advisors is so substantial that it “cannot be overstated.” Additionally, proxy advisors are not required to disclose the methodologies used to render their recommendations.

The influence and lack of accountability of proxy advisors has become a cause for concern. In response, the SEC issued a concept release in 2010 addressing possible …

Assessing The Costs & Benefits Of Credit Card Rewards: A Response To Who Gains And Who Loses From Credit Card Payments? Theory And Calibrations, Steven Semeraro

Steven Semeraro

Abstract: Assessing the Costs & Benefits of Credit Card Rewards: A Response to Who Gains and Who Loses from Credit Card Payments? Theory and Calibrations For two decades, economic and legal academics have speculated about the impact of the fees that merchants pay for credit card acceptance. Since all customers pay the same price, the theory goes, everyone pays for the benefits that go only to credit card users. A recent Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (FRBB) policy paper written by economists Scott Schuh, Oz Shy, and Joanna Stavins entitled Who Gains and Who Loses from Credit Card Payments? Theory …

Escaping Battered Credit: A Proposal For Repairing Credit Reports Damaged By Domestic Violence, Angela K. Littwin

Angela K Littwin

Debt and domestic violence are connected in ways not previously imagined. A new type of debt – which I have labeled “coerced debt” – is emerging from abusive relationships. Coerced debt occurs when the abuser in a violent relationship obtains credit in the victim’s name via fraud or coercion. It ranges from secretly taking out credit cards in victims’ names to coercing victims into signing loan documents to tricking victims into relinquishing their rights to the family home. As wide-ranging as these tactics can be, one consequence consistently emerges: ruined credit ratings. Coerced debt wreaks havoc on credit scores, which …

As Greece Goes, So Goes The E.U.: Defending Europe With A Sovereign Debt Restructuring Framework, Elizabeth H. Dahill

Elizabeth H Dahill

This Article discusses the current sovereign debt crisis in Europe and proposes that European policymakers adopt a European Debt Restructuring Framework [EDRF] modeled after the IMF’s Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism [SDRM], sovereign bond contracts’ Collective Action Clauses [CAC] and the U.S Bankruptcy Code’s Chapter 9.

Extending The Eu Financial Regulatory Framework To Aifm, Credi Derivatives, And Short Selling, Enrico Baffi, Dino Lattuca, Paolo Santella

enrico baffi

The European Commission followed the impulse from G20 for a coordinate response to the financial crisis by adopting a proposal for a Directive to mandate the clearing of suitable classes of OTC derivatives (the so-called EMIR proposal) and a proposal on alternative investment funds (AIFMD). However, the Commission further enlarged the regulatory perimeter by including in the AIFMD proposal also private equity funds and by adopting a proposal for Regulation on short selling. In particular, the EMIR proposal, currently (March 2011) under discussion at the Council and the European Parliament, follows closely the multilateral regulatory efforts by providing mandatory clearing …

The End Of Shareholder Litigation? Allowing Shareholders To Customize Enforcement Through Arbitration Provisions In Charters And Bylaws, Paul D. Weitzel

Paul D. Weitzel

Shareholder litigation has been heavily criticized for its inability to compensate harmed shareholders or deter managerial misconduct. While some have suggested abolishing shareholder litigation altogether, this article takes a more moderate approach. I propose allowing shareholders to enforce charter and bylaw provisions that require arbitration of certain disputes. For example, an acquisitive company may require arbitration of merger-related suits, while allowing non-merger suits to proceed in court. Likewise, a company in an industry known for volatile stock prices could require a price drop of three or four standard deviations before the suit could be brought in court, rather than arbitration. …

How The Poor Got Cut Out Of Banking, Mehrsa Baradaran

Mehrsa Baradaran

The United States currently has two banking systems—one for the rich, one for the poor. It wasn’t always this way. Throughout U.S. history, the government has enlisted certain banking institutions to serve the needs of the poor and offer low cost credit to enable low-income Americans to escape poverty. Credit unions, savings and loans and Morris Banks are three prominent examples of government-supported institutions with a specific focus of helping the poor. Unfortunately, these institutions are no longer fulfilling their missions and high-cost, usurious, and sometimes predatory check-cashers and payday lenders have quickly filled the void. These fringe banks do …