February 2019

This from our friend Heather Johnson at Hofstra Law:

This May and June, Hofstra Law will offer a three-credit or five-credit study abroad program on International Financial Crimes and Global Data Regulation. Both programs will begin Sunday, May 19; the three-credit program will conclude on June 1, 2019 and the five-credit program will conclude on June 13, 2019. The courses will be taught by Hofstra University School of Law Professor Scott Colesanti and Professor Giovanni Comande from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna.

It will be held in Pisa, Italy, and is co-sponsored by the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. This year, we have added a dinner with the Dean of our Law School, Gail Prudenti and an excursion to Milan to visit the Borsa headquarters!

The deadline is Friday, March 29, 2019 — those interested should apply as soon as possible!

The course is open to law students around the country; students must have completed their full-time 1L course work by the start of this program. Attached to this e-mail you’ll find the up-to-date application, a poster about the program as well as the tentative schedule. Interested students should apply by AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Students joining us from other universities…

I teach in the Energy Management Program at the University of Oklahoma, which was “the first of its kind” and recently celebrated its 60th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee.  Last spring, the title of a book in the office’s library caught my eye: Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should. The importance of prudence, a sensible and careful attitude when you make judgements and decisions; behaviour that avoids unnecessary risks, is often underappreciated, particularly in the area of financial market innovation.  Intrigued, I borrowed the book and began to read.  Although I’d never spoken with its author, Mike S. McConnell, I’d seen him in attending the Program’s Board of Advisors Meetings. 

The book’s Introduction has a great quote that I’ve now used in both classroom and lecture settings: “We did things because we could do them – not because we should do them.  I think Enron crossed the line between “could” and “should” and never actually saw it.  Moreover, it happened at many levels, from matters with the Board to our contention that “gray” financial structures were within the rules.  These structures may have been within the rules, but I’m not sure that means we should have used…

It’s a crazy time for me right now, so this week I just offer five feature articles that I read last year, each of which did a business-related deep dive that, for one reason or another, had my jaw-dropping (and in more than one case, had me laughing out loud).

Josh Dzieza, Prime and Punishment: Dirty Dealing in the $175 Billion Amazon Marketplace. On the dirty tricks sellers use to sabotage their rivals and the quasi-court system Amazon has created to handle complaints.  Compare, by the way, to Molly Roberts on Facebook’s proposal for its own Facebook court.

Taffy Brodesser-Akner, How Goop’s Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow’s Company Worth $250 Million.  One of the things that struck me here was where the author points out that women’s health concerns are often dismissed by doctors, which might drive them to seek help from nontraditional sources.  I’ve heard a similar explanation for the anti-vaxx movement – pregnant women are objectified and ignored by the medical establishment, which drives them to reclaim some kind of agency by rejecting that establishment entirely.

Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson, A Dress for Everyone: Claire McCardell took on the fashion industry — and revolutionized what women …

Last week I participated in the LawWithoutWalls kickoff in Segovia, Spain. LWOW, as it’s affectionately called, originated at the University of Miami and is the brainchild of Professor Michele DeStefano. Although I’ve served as a mentor since its inception, I’ve attached  LWOW’s summary of the program: 

Over the course of 16 weeks, each team co-creates a Project of Worth: a business case and practicable solution to a real problem sponsored by a corporate legal department, law company, or law firm. In the process, the program refines the skills of those involved, recharges the law market with innovations across business, law and technology, and revitalizes relationships with colleagues, clients, and future talent across the globe.  

 

Law and business students from 35 schools around the world work together virtually (other than the kickoff) and learn about branding, business plans, legal tech, and marketing from some of top minds in the world during weekly webinars. This year’s topics include:

  • Team A: Waste Not, Want Change: How can advances in technology further a reduction in food waste? (Sponsored by Accenture) 
  • Team B: Organizing Chaos: How can distributed ledger technology facilitate advances in identification management in the foster care system? (Sponsored by

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