Law Commons^™

Rethinking Chutes: Incentives, Investment, And Innovation, Simone M. Sepe, Charles K. Whitehead

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Eighty-two percent of public firms have golden parachutes (or “chutes”) under which CEOs and senior officers may be paid tens of millions of dollars upon their employer’s change in control. What justifies such extraordinary payouts?

Much of the conventional analysis views chutes as excessive compensation granted by captured boards, focusing on the payouts that occur following a takeover. Those explanations, if they ever were complete, miss the mark today. This Article demonstrates, theoretically and empirically, that chutes are less relevant to a firm during a takeover than they are before a takeover, particularly in relation to firms that invest in …

Litigation Trolls, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

Third-party financing of litigation has been described with a variety of unflattering metaphors. Litigation financers have been likened to gamblers in the courtroom casino, loan sharks, vultures, Wild West outlaws, and busybodies mucking about in the private affairs of others. Now Judge Richard Posner has referred to third-party financers as litigation trolls, an undeniably unflattering comparison to patent trolls. But what it is, if anything, that makes third-party financers “trolls”? Legal claims are, for the most part, freely assignable, the proceeds of claims are assignable, and various strangers to the underlying lawsuit, including liability insurers and plaintiffs’ contingency-fee counsel, are …

Religion And Social Coherentism, Nelson Tebbe

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Today, prominent academics are questioning the very possibility of a theory of free exercise or non-establishment. They argue that judgments in the area can only be conclusory or irrational. In contrast to such skeptics, this Essay argues that decisionmaking on questions of religious freedom can be morally justified. Two arguments constitute the Essay. Part I begins by acknowledging that skepticism has power. The skeptics rightly identify some inevitable indeterminacy, but they mistakenly argue that it necessarily signals decisionmaking that is irrational or unjustified. Their critique is especially striking because the skeptics’ prudential way of working on concrete problems actually shares …

Challenging The Randomness Of Panel Assignment In The Federal Courts Of Appeals, Marin K. Levy, Adam S. Chilton

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Review Of “Interventions: A Life In War And Peace”, By Kofi A. Annan, Njunga Michael Mulikita

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

This book offers a highly informative account of the life story of the seventh UN Secretary-General, Kofi Atta Annan, the first Sub-Saharan African UN Chief to emerge from within the vast bureaucracy of the United Nations. It is a riveting account narrated by the consummate UN diplomat who served in all the Organisation’s major duty stations ranging from Geneva, Switzerland, through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to a peacekeeping mission in the hot and dusty Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, and ultimately the 38th Floor of the UN Headquarters, New York.

Mineral Taxation And Resource Nationalism In Zambia, Sangwani Patrick Ng’Ambi

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

This article examines the resource nationalism cycle in Zambia. The resource nationalism cycle has episodically plagued investors in resource rich nations. Host states, lacking the financing and technical know-how, invite foreign investors to explore and exploit their vast natural resources. The former offer all sorts of fiscal incentives to appear attractive to the latter. Once operations commence and the resource experiences a sustained upward growth trend, the host state may retract the fiscal incentives previously offered, or simply nationalise assets, in a bid to exercise greater control over their natural resources and maximise the benefits accruing from high prices. The …

Measuring The Chilling Effect, Brandice Canes-Wrone, Michael C. Dorf

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Supreme Court doctrine grants special protection against laws that “chill” protected speech, most prominently via the overbreadth doctrine. The overbreadth doctrine permits persons whose own speech is unprotected to challenge laws that infringe the protected speech of third parties. The Court has not generally applied overbreadth and the other speech-protective doctrines to other constitutional rights even though other rights could also be subject to a chilling effect. The case law simply assumes that the chilling effect only acts on the exercise of speech, and that this justifies treating speech differently from other rights.

We tested these assumptions with respect to …

The Moral Hazard Paradox Of Financial Safety Nets, John Crawford

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Reducing Inequality With A Retrospective Tax On Capital, James Kwak

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Inheritance Equity: Reforming The Inheritance Penalties Facing Children In Nontraditional Families, Danaya C. Wright

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Lightening The Va's Rucksack: A Proposal For Higher Education Medical-Legal Partnerships To Assist The Va In Efficiently And Accurately Granting Veterans Disability Compensation, Stacey-Rae Simcox

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Injections, Infections, Condoms, And Care: Thoughts On Negligence And Hiv Exposure, Dustin J. Lee

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

When It Comes To Privilege, You're Better Off Dead: Protecting Attorney-Client Communications Sent Through Prison Email Systems, Christopher J. Milazzo

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Foreword: The Restatement Of Employment Law Project Symposium: Assessing The Restatement Of Employment Law: Essay, Samuel Estreicher, Matthew T. Bodie, Stewart J. Schwab

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Migration Of Women Domestic Workers From Sri Lanka: Protecting The Rights Of Children Left Behind, Rasika Jayasuriya, Brian Opeskin

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Diggin' Deep Into Gold Fields: South Africa's Unrealized Black Economic Empowerment In The Shadows Of Executive Discretion, Adam Kassner

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Fashioning A General Common Law For Employment In An Age Of Statutes Symposium: Assessing The Restatement Of Employment Law: Essay, Michael C. Harper

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Judicial Assessment Of The Restatement Of Employment Law Symposium: Assessing The Restatement Of Employment Law: Transcript, Marsha S. Berzon, Christine M. Durham, Lee H. Rosenthal

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Notice, Consent, And Nonconsent: Employee Privacy In The Restatement Symposium: Assessing The Restatement Of Employment Law: Essay, Steven L. Willborn

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cyber Responsibility To Protect: Legal Obligations Of States Directly Affected By Cyber-Incidents, Oren Gross

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Understanding Sexual Violence In Conflict For Investigation And Prosecution Purposes, Anne-Marie De Brouwer

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The European Commission's Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Over U.S. Mergers And Acquisitions: Closing The Gap Between Brussels And D.C, Lea Verdy

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Trending And The Restatement Of Employment Law's Provisions On Employee Mobility Symposium: Assessing The Restatement Of Employment Law: Essay, Michael Selmi

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Relationships Of Trust And Confidence In The Workplace Symposium: Assessing The Restatement Of Employment Law: Essay, Deborah Demott

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Restating Employment Remedies Symposium: Assessing The Restatement Of Employment Law: Essay, Charles A. Sullivan

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Drafting Chapter 2 Of The Ali's Employment Law Restatement In The Shadow Of Contract Law: An Assessment Of The Challenges And Results Symposium: Assessing The Restatement Of Employment Law: Essay, Robert A. Hillman

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Too Many Notes"? An Empirical Study Of Advocacy In Federal Appeals, Gregory C. Sisk, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The warp and woof of American law are threaded by the appellate courts, generating precedents on constitutional provisions, statutory texts, and common-law doctrines. While the product of the appellate courts is regularly the subject of empirical study, less attention has been given to the sources and methods of appellate advocacy.

Given the paramount place of written briefs in the appellate process, we should examine seriously the frequent complaint by appellate judges that briefs are too long and that prolixity weakens persuasive power. In a study of civil appeals in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, we …

The Problem With Words: Plain Language And Public Participation In Rulemaking, Cynthia R. Farina, Mary J. Newhart, Cheryl Blake

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This Article, part of the special issue commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Administrative Conference of the United States (“ACUS”), situates ACUS’s recommendations for improving public rulemaking participation in the context of the federal “plain language” movement. The connection between broader, better public participation and more comprehensible rulemaking materials seems obvious, and ACUS recommendations have recognized this connection for almost half a century. Remarkably, though, the series of presidential and statutory plain-language directives on this topic have not even mentioned the relationship of comprehensibility to participation until very recently. In 2012, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (“OIRA”) issued …

Possible Futures For The Legal Treatise In An Environment Of Wikis, Blogs, And Myriad Online Primary Law Sources, Peter W. Martin

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

Major law publishers have begun producing ebook versions of some of the legal treatises they own. Despite asserted advantages over both print and online versions of the same content, these represent a step back from what treatises have become within the major online services and even further from what they might become now that numerous sources of primary law are directly accessible via the Internet.

The article traces the corporate and technological developments that have placed existing treatises in their present posture. Drawing upon the author’s own work preparing a legal treatise designed for digital rather print delivery, it reviews …

Don’T Forget About The Jury: Advice For Civil Litigators And Criminal Prosecutors On Differences In State And Federal Courts In New York, Ariel Atlas

Cornell Law Library Prize for Exemplary Student Research Papers

In civil cases, forum selection has become an integral part of litigation strategy. Plaintiffs have the initial choice of where to file a complaint, and thus where to begin a lawsuit. Defendants have the power to remove cases, under circumstances prescribed by statute, from state court to federal court. Many factors enter into the decision of where to file a complaint or whether to remove a case including convenience, applicable law, and suspected biases. But what about the jury? Should a plaintiff consider characteristics of the jury when deciding where to file a complaint or a defendant in a civil …