September 2023

I found the message below in my “in box” yesterday from Celia Bigoness and Beth Lyon at Cornell Law and thought it important to share the opportunities they reference with the broader BLPB community.  I hope it is useful to those of you considering long-term non-tenure-track roles in the entrepreneurial law space.

I’m happy to share that Cornell Law School is seeking two new clinicians to work in our Entrepreneurship Law Clinic (ELC) and help us create the law school’s first dual-campus clinic. Expanding the ELC, made possible by a generous gift creating the Blassberg-Rice Center for Entrepreneurship Law, represents Cornell Law School’s commitment to community-engaged learning and partnerships throughout New York state.

We are searching for one clinician to be based at our Ithaca campus, and one clinician to be based at the Co at Cornell Law:rnell Tech campus in New York City. Both new hires will have a full-time teaching responsibility in the ELC, working alongside the ELC’s founder and the director of the new center, Celia Bigoness. Both appointments will be to the long-term, presumptively renewable, contract track for permanent clinical faculty at Cornell Law School, with voting rights and academic leave rights consistent with the…

BLPB(labor-day-messages-email-headers-6)

I am the daughter of two Depression Era babies.  My parents always appreciated what they had and worked hard to earn it.  And they were aware of and respected those who contributed their time and efforts to bring them products and services.

On Labor Day, it seems appropriate to channel my parents’ gratitude and share it here.  Too often, I take for granted that so much in my life comes from or relies on the labors of others.  I welcome the opportunity today to remember and give thanks.

Parenthetically, I have learned over time (through leadership training and mindfulness activities) that gratitude is an amazingly powerful character strength for lawyers.   As explained on the Via Institute on Character’s website, 

The character strength of gratitude involves feeling and expressing a deep sense of thankfulness in life, and more specifically, taking the time to genuinely express thankfulness to others. This thankfulness can be for specific gifts or thoughtful acts. . . .Gratitude tends to foster the character strengths of kindness and love, and therefore is closely associated with empathy and with connection to others.

I am certain you can see from this excerpted description why gratitude can be a great asset…

Berkeley Center for the Study of Law and Society

Applications for Visiting Scholars Program

THE APPLICATION PERIOD FOR THE 2024-25 ACADEMIC YEAR IS NOW OPEN. 

Please submit your application by December 1, 2023 by e-mail to csls@law.berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail) 

 Inquiries may be made to CSLS at csls@law.berkeley.edu

 

For more information about the Visiting Scholars program and the Center for the Study of Law and Society, see here.

In posts in this space, and in my articles, I’ve criticized the idea that statements may be deemed immaterial or otherwise of little importance to reasonable investors merely because they are generic or stated at a particular level of generality.  Lots of really important statements are technically “generic,” I would say.  Consider fairness opinions!  Or representations that financial statements are in compliance with GAAP!

Well, joke’s on me because in New England Carpenters’ Guaranteed Annuity and Pension Funds v. DeCarlo, 2023 WL 5419147 (2d Cir. Aug. 23, 2023), the Second Circuit held that the general phrasing in a clean audit opinion may, in fact, render the statements immaterial to investors.  The court affirmed the dismissal of a securities fraud complaint on the ground that – even though the plaintiffs had shown the audit was shoddy and violated auditing standards (and the underlying financials were false) – the plaintiffs had not included specific allegations that the audit statements were material.

As the District Court concluded, the Complaint fails to allege any link between BDO’s misstatements in the 2013 Auditor Opinion and the material errors contained in AmTrust’s 2013 Form 10-K. The audit statements to which the Appellants

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psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Academic/job/… 

Penn State Law, located in University Park, Pennsylvania, invites applications for visiting positions for the spring 2024 semester and the 2024-25 academic year. The rank of this non-tenure-track, term appointment will be Visiting Professor of Practice, Visiting Lecturer, Visiting Assistant Professor, Visiting Associate Professor, or Visiting Professor, based on the applicant’s experience level. The appointment will begin in spring 2024 or fall 2024 and run from one to three semesters, depending on the applicant’s start date and preferences. An extension of the appointment may be possible.

Penn State Law will consider applicants in a variety of subject matter areas. Areas of particular interest include Corporations; Contracts; Real Estate Transactions; Transactional Design and Drafting; and Law and Accounting. Other areas include Trial Advocacy; Evidence; Professional Responsibility; Contract Drafting; Arbitration; Negotiation; Mediation; Criminal Law; Criminal Procedure; Administrative Law; and Constitutional Law.

A law degree – J.D., LL.M., or J.S.D. – is required. The successful applicant will also have experience that suggests the ability to effectively teach students, prior teaching experience as an adjunct professor, guest lecturer, or other equivalent experience teaching/supervising law students in an academic context, or relevant practice experience.
The Pennsylvania State University is committed to and accountable for…