Law Commons^™

Assessing The Unethical Phenomenon Behind Hollywood’S Handshake Agreements, Daniel Rico

University of Miami Business Law Review

The Hollywood Film Industry has maintained a unique characteristic of allowing substantial capital investments to regularly proceed on the basis of oral (“handshake”) agreements.1 These handshake agreements result in an uncertain threat of legal enforcement and an increased exposure to contract liability. Nevertheless, handshake contracts have become so prevalent in Hollywood’s entertainment industry that no matter one’s opinion on the merits of using these contracts, attorneys have conformed to this longstanding tradition in order to stay competitive.

As a result, this longstanding practice of conducting business through handshake agreements has contributed to another time-honored Hollywood tradition: contract disputes. Hollywood’s flexible …

Uber And The Need For Particularized Regulation, Kayla Marie Heckman

University of Miami Business Law Review

With technology constantly evolving, the law must evolve with it. Uber Technologies, Inc. (“Uber”) has transformed the transportation industry by making transportation readily available with the touch of a button on one’s mobile phone. Uber is now one of the leading companies in transportation and operates worldwide. While this expansion has been great for consumers, it has come with significant drawbacks and challenges. Uber threatens the taxi industry, the cities in which it operates, and even its own drivers. This Note will discuss how Uber’s rapid growth is disrupting transportation in major cities quicker than its impact can properly be …

Airdrops: “Free” Tokens Are Not Free From Regulatory Compliance, Bridgett S. Bauer Esq.

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

The United States: Big Data, Little Regulation, Megan Valent

University of Miami Business Law Review

In the United States today, there is no single law to address the privacy concerns associated with the collection of consumer data. Lawmakers have introduced policies that seek to address data privacy at the federal level, but Congress has not yet acted to create a comprehensive law to protect consumers. On the contrary, in 2016, the European Union passed its General Data Protection Regulation to address the dangers associated with “Big Data” and to give consumers control over their data.

Unfortunately, in the United States consumers are often unaware of how their data is being handled and what is done …

Smart Contracts: Implications On Liability And Competence, Ryan Hasting

University of Miami Business Law Review

Smart contracts are increasingly popular in business and law. Smart contracts are also becoming increasingly complex. Advances in technology allow smart contracts to handle far more intricate transactions than the traditional—and simple— vending machine example. With increased complexity comes increased responsibility. When parties rely on an attorney to review or draft a smart contract, that attorney must understand what he or she is reading or writing. Smart contracts, however, are not written in a language most attorneys can understand, let alone write. While a general description of the contract may be translated into plain English, the contract itself is written …

Bank Resolution And Creditor Distribution: The Tension Shaping Global Banking –Part Ii: The Cross-Border Dimension, David Ramos, Javier Solana

University of Miami Business Law Review

New bank resolution frameworks that aim to address the complex task of managing the collapse of a large financial institution stand in considerable tension with basic principles and policy objectives of insolvency law. In this two-part study, we present an analytical framework that aims at helping us understand how this tension can undermine the effectiveness of the new bank resolution frameworks. In the first part of this article, we introduced our three-layered framework and explored its first two layers: the group dimension, and the duality of crisis-prevention and crisis-management tools. In this Part II, we explore the last layer: the …

The Bleeding Edge: Theranos And The Growing Risk Of An Unregulated Private Securities Market, Theodore O'Brien

University of Miami Business Law Review

America’s securities laws and regulations, most of which were created in the early twentieth century, are increasingly irrelevant to the most dynamic emerging companies. Today, companies with sufficient investor interest can raise ample capital through private and exempt offerings, all while eschewing the public exchanges and the associated burdens of the initial public offering, public disclosures, and regulatory scrutiny. Airbnb, Inc., for example, quickly tapped private investors for $1 billion in April of 2020, adding to the estimated $4.4 billion the company had previouslyraised.2 The fundamental shift from public to private companies is evidenced by the so-called “unicorns,” the more …

Front Matter And Table Of Contents

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Modernizing The Fair And Equitable Treatment Standards In The Energy Charter Treaty, Sydney Thurman-Baldwin

University of Miami Business Law Review

As oil and gas continue to be hot commodities for national economies, the number of international arbitrations in the energy sector has continued to rise in recent years. As the utilization of International Arbitration continues to rise in Energy disputes, so does the invocation of The Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”). The ECT promotes inter-governmental cooperation with contracting parties in the energy sector through its provisions on investment protection, provisions on trade, transit of energy, energy efficiency, environmental protection and dispute resolution. These provisions are considered to be the cornerstone of the treaty, fostering a ‘level playing field’ for foreign investments …

The Untouchable Executive Authority: Trump And The Section 232 Tariffs On Steel And Aluminum, Arim Jenny Kim

University of Miami Business Law Review

In 2018, President Trump championed his way through the imposition of the Section 232 Tariffs—a heavy tax on various imports, including steel and aluminum—by broadcasting a supposedly-imminent threat to the U.S. national security. This plea, however, has been criticized as a veil for President Trump’s economic protectionism policy. Meanwhile, others have questioned the constitutionality of the statute creating the President’s authority to impose these tariffs in the first place. This Comment explores the issues arising from President Trump’s Section 232 Tariffs on steel and aluminum: (1) the validity and justiciability of President Trump’s actions under Section 232 of the Trade …

Dismantling The Wto: The United States’ Battle Against World Trade, Aaron Seals

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

For Once, A Defense Of Amtrak: Do Market Participants With Regulatory Authority Violate Due Process?, Blayne Justus Yudis

University of Miami Business Law Review

The National Basketball Association (“NBA”) regulates American professional basketball.. After acquiring the New Orleans Hornets in 2010, the NBA temporarily became both the league regulator and a franchise owner. As owner, the NBA vetoed a trade that would have sent the Hornets’s best player to another team. Was the NBA acting out of self-interest when it blocked the trade? In other words, was its trade block fair?

Federal Courts have recently dealt with this issue in Association of American Railroads v. U.S. Department of Transportation. Following a decade of litigation, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decided that granting …

Horseshoes And Hand Grenades: Frank V.Gaos And The Problem With Class Action Cy Pres Distributions, Jorge Galavis

University of Miami Business Law Review

Nearly Just

Frank v. Gaos is a case that weighed the merits of cy pres, a pesky complex doctrine left applied to my dismay. When in class action settlements, there are remaining funds, Defendants seem to benefit from what the Plaintiffs won.