A Market-based Solution to the Judicial Clerkship Selection Process

For many years, federal judges and others have labored to reform judicial clerkship hiring so judges might conduct a dignified, collegial, and efficient selection process. To date, however, these reform efforts have had little success. This Article endeavors to forge a solution to the problems endemic to the current judicial clerkship hiring process: lack of collegiality, cut-throat hiring methods, lack of efficiency, and hiring based on inadequate information about candidates. Part I of this Article explores the historical problems in the clerkship hiring process, reviews previously attempted but failed efforts at reform, and identifies problems with such approaches. Part II discusses key impediments to reforming the existing system, including discord in the judiciary and transaction costs, reviews these impediments during a recent hiring season, and finally suggests a behavioral explanation for these barriers to reform. Part III analyzes and critiques proposed solutions to the present process and chronicles their practical and theoretical failures. Part IV proposes a free-market system better able to withstand the failings of previous efforts and employs game theory and other economic concepts to show how the proposed system may provide a lasting solution to past and to present judicial clerkship hiring problems

Corporate Governance After Enron and Global Crossing: Comparative Lessons for Cross-National Improvement

This Article outlines and compares the corporate governance structures of the United States, Japan, Germany, and France. This outline and comparison is made with respect to past, present, and future characteristics and trends. As a cross-national study, it recognizes that the varying natures of differing legal, business, social, and cultural structures significantly affect the degree to which a country can implement changes to its corporate governance systems. This study includes the possibility that one country\u27s corporate model might be inapplicable to another country. Some aspects of American capitalism, nevertheless, are slowly being adopted as improvements in Germany, France, and Japan. Likewise, the U.S. is importing, to some extent, features of other countries\u27 systems.This Article also analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of corporate governance systems in Japan, Germany, and France. By doing so, a better understanding can be gained of the nature and limitations of America\u27s corporate governance system, its potential for exportation, and its capacity for importing foreign improvements. Likewise, a better grasp can be gained of the nature and limitations of other countries\u27 corporate governance systems, their potentials for exportation, and their capacities for importing foreign improvements. The recent bankruptcies of Enron and Global Crossing are used to illustrate these points. Corporate Governance, International, Bankruptc

Corporate Governance after Enron and Global Crossing: Comparative Lessons for Cross-National Improvement, 78 \u3ci\u3e\u3c/i\u3e 723 (2003)

This Article outlines and compares the corporate governance structures of the United States, Japan, Germany, and France. This outline and comparison is made with respect to past, present, and future characteristics and trends. As a cross-national study, it recognizes that the varying natures of differing legal, business, social, and cultural structures significantly affect the degree to which a country can implement changes to its corporate governance systems. This study includes the possibility that one country\u27s corporate model might be inapplicable to another country. Some aspects of American capitalism, nevertheless, are slowly being adopted as improvements in Germany, France, and Japan. Likewise, the U.S. is importing, to some extent, features of other countries\u27 systems.This Article also analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of corporate governance systems in Japan, Germany, and France. By doing so, a better understanding can be gained of the nature and limitations of America\u27s corporate governance system, its potential for exportation, and its capacity for importing foreign improvements. Likewise, a better grasp can be gained of the nature and limitations of other countries\u27 corporate governance systems, their potentials for exportation, and their capacities for importing foreign improvements. The recent bankruptcies of Enron and Global Crossing are used to illustrate these points

Rethinking the Law Firm Organizational Form and Capitalization Structure

The goal of this Article is to examine the partnership model and advocate for a change in the Model Rules that would allow for public ownership of law firms, and to make disclosure of firm financials a mandatory requirement for all firms with over 100 lawyers. Part II explores the history and evolution of limited liability and law firm structures in the United States. Part III discusses incorporated law firms and MDPs and how they might benefit U.S. law firms. Part IV looks at the developments in the United Kingdom and Australia and the forces of globalization that have an effect on U.S. policy choices, concluding that global competition for legal services may force our hand. Part V advocates for similar changes in the U.S. public ownership because allowing public ownership in law firms will benefit both law firms and their clients and make firms more competitive globally. This Part concludes by advocating for mandatory disclosure requirements to benefit firms, prospective attorneys, and their clients

The Stein Years--A Time of Advancement and Prosperity

When the seven-year administrationof the school\u27s sixth dean,CarlA Auerbach,ended,thenewLawSchoolbuildinghad become a reality, and Dean Auerbach\u27s principal goal was achieved. As Auerbachpassedthe torchto RobertA Stein, how- ever, he did so amid controversy and widespreadfrustration at the Law School with the legislatureregardingbudgets and class size. Stein,atageforty,wasyoung,energetic,andableto achieve the balanceofwhatDeanAuerbach termed scholarlyattainment with administrativesavvy. As Stein ascended to the ranks of what he describedas thebest law school deanshipopportunity in the country, \u27 he was unanimously viewed as an extremely ener- getic, enthusiasticand responsive man. 2 Chosen because he was perceived by both faculty members and administratorsalike as an open, easygoingperson who was able to communicate effec- tively, Dean Stein\u27s optimism proved to be the perfect ingredient for the Law School at the time

Governance in Chapter 11 Reorganizations: Reducing Costs, Improving Results

Throughout the past two years, Trans World Airlines, Midway Airlines, and R.H. Macy Company, as well as over 46,000 other corporations, have filed petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Of the firms that have filed Chapter 11 reorganization petitions, over eighty percent will never reorganize successfully and will not avoid a subsequent conversion to a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding. The effects of these “misfilings” are enormous. Most fundamentally, an attempted reorganization, when liquidation is the more efficient solution, can unnecessarily increase the overall costs of bankruptcy significantly

The Judicial System’s Unjust Relationship with Attorney-Client Privilege: How Judges Knowingly (and Erroneously) Abrogate Important Contractual Arrangements in Corporate Transactions

A Delaware court has recently recognized the need to enforce contracts that delineate where the attorney-client privilege rests after an asset transfer. This Article will argue that courts across the country should recognize the important and legitimate reasons for this type of decision. Part I will review how the attorney-client privilege functions for corporations and how courts respect the importance of the privilege in other contexts. Part II will review the fundamental corporate changes in which these questions can arise and situations in which courts choose to recognize the importance of protecting the attorney-client privilege. Part III will argue that courts should apply certain underlying principles that are discussed in Parts II and III to the asset-transfer context. This would result in parties being permitted to contemplate attorney-client privilege issues that may arise following an asset sale and contract to resolve the issues before they ever truly come to fruition. Example provisions are provided as a conclusion