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Colleen Baker

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PhD (Wharton) Professor Baker is an expert in banking and financial institutions law and regulation, with extensive knowledge of over-the-counter derivatives, clearing, the Dodd-Frank Act, and bankruptcy, in addition to being a mediator and arbitrator.

Previously, she spent time at the U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Business, the U. of Notre Dame Law School, and Villanova University Law School. She has consulted for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and for The Volcker Alliance.  Prior to academia, Professor Baker worked as a legal professional and as an information technology associate. She is a member of the State Bars of NY and TX. Read More

Professor Emeritus Arthur E. Wilmarth recently posted a new article, We Must Protect Investors and Our Banking System from the Crypto Industry.  I always learn a ton in reading his work, so I’m looking forward to the opportunity to review this paper.  Here’s the abstract:

“The crypto boom and crash of 2020-22 demonstrated that (i) cryptocurrencies with fluctuating values are extremely risky and highly volatile assets, and (ii) cryptocurrencies known as “stablecoins” are vulnerable to systemic runs whenever there are serious doubts about the adequacy of reserves backing those stablecoins. Crypto firms amplified the crypto boom with aggressive and deceptive marketing campaigns that targeted unsophisticated retail investors. Scandalous failures of prominent crypto firms accelerated the crypto crash by inflicting devastating losses on investors and undermining public confidence in crypto-assets.

Federal and state regulators have allowed banks to become significantly involved in crypto-related activities. Several FDIC-insured banks that provided financial services to crypto firms suffered substantial losses and incurred extensive legal, operational, and reputational risks during the crypto crash. Meanwhile, stablecoins issued by nonbanks and uninsured depository institutions threaten to become a new form of “shadow deposits” that could undermine the integrity of our banking system and require costly…

I’m an avid reader of Matt Levine’s Money Stuff newsletter.  Yesterday, he discussed a recently posted article by Dhruv Aggarwal, Albert H. Choi, and Yoon-Ho Alex Lee, Meme Corporate Governance.  Although I’ve not yet had time to review the paper, it’s now on my reading list, and I thought other BLPB readers might want to add it to theirs too!  Here’s the abstract:

“In 2021, several publicly traded companies, such as GameStop and AMC, experienced a dramatic influx of retail investors in their shareholder base. This Article analyzes the impact of the “meme stock surge” phenomenon on the companies, particularly with respect to their governance outcomes and structures. The paper presents three principal findings. First, as a preliminary matter, we show how the “meme stock” frenzy was affected by the introduction of the commission-free trading platform, such as Robinhood, in 2019. We show empirically that the meme stock companies experienced a larger trading volume when commission-free trading was widely introduced. Second, we examine how the influx of retail shareholders has directly affected the governance outcomes at the meme stock companies. The main finding is that, notwithstanding the promise of more active shareholder base, meme stock companies have experienced…

Tulane Law School invites applications for its Forrester Fellowship and Visiting Assistant Professor positions, both of which are designed for promising scholars who plan to apply for tenure-track law school positions. Both positions are full-time faculty in the law school and are encouraged to participate in all aspects of the intellectual life of the school. The law school provides significant support and mentorship, a professional travel budget, and opportunities to present works-in-progress in faculty workshops.  

Tulane’s Forrester Fellows teach legal writing in the first-year curriculum to first-year law students in a program coordinated by the Director of Legal Writing. Fellows are appointed to a one-year term with the possibility of a single one-year renewal. Applicants must have a JD from an ABA-accredited law school, outstanding academic credentials, and significant law-related practice and/or clerkship experience. If you have any questions about this position, please contact Erin Donelon at edonelon@tulane.edu. 

 

Tulane’s visiting assistant professor position is supported by the Murphy Institute at Tulane (http://murphy.tulane.edu/home/), an interdisciplinary unit specializing in political economy and ethics that draws faculty from the university’s departments of economics, philosophy, history, and political science. The position is designed for scholars focusing on regulation of economic …

Dear BLPB Readers:

Here is some exciting news from the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation:

“The Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation (WIFPR) is seeking a postdoctoral fellow to support its activities in the field of bankruptcy and restructuring. WIFPR sponsors research, organizes conferences and events, and supports faculty and students at the intersection of finance, law, and policy.

The postdoctoral fellow will be responsible for coordinating WIFPR’s work in bankruptcy/restructuring. More generally, responsibilities include: conducting original research on bankruptcy/restructuring, contributing to WIFPR’s academic programming, engaging with stakeholders, and assisting Faculty Directors and the Senior Fellow with WIFPR events and administration generally.

The postdoctoral fellow will receive a competitive salary and associated benefits. There is no teaching obligation.

The candidate must have a JD or PhD. The candidate should also have some experience with data analysis.

The term of appointment is two years, beginning July 1, 2023. The ideal candidate would have the intention of pursuing a research career in either law, economics, or finance.”

Full details of this open position are here.

Dear BLPB Readers:

From Professor Wade Davis:

“Minnesota State University Mankato is hiring a tenure track Business Law professor position for fall 2023. Here is a link to the Job Posting.

The Business Law program is located in the College of Business and provides students the practical knowledge and skills needed to become impactful leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals who make legally-informed, ethical, and strategic decisions. It offers a robust curriculum including courses in contract law, employment law, intellectual property, environmental law, negotiation, and international law.

The Business Law program has a stand-alone minor with approximately 40 declared students. It teaches core classes for the College of Business, the MBA program, and several departments across the university.

Applications will start to be reviewed on Feb. 28 and continue until the position is filled. Minnesota State University, Mankato is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity University and a member of the Minnesota State System. Please contact Wade Davis at wade.davis@mnsu.edu if you have any questions.”

For those readers interested in exchanges and clearing, I wanted to highlight that Oliver Wyman’s “Independent Review of Events in the Nickel Market in March 2022” was released yesterday.  As I noted in an earlier post (here), in March 2022, the price of nickel on the LME rose over 270%, and the exchange not only halted nickel trading, but also canceled trades.  Additionally, the LME, who engaged Oliver Wyman to produce this Review, released “LME Group Response to Oliver Wyman Independent Review.”  The Executive Summary – which is all I’ve had time to read thus far – notes that:

“The primary objectives of the review were to identify the factors that contributed to market conditions in the
nickel market in the period leading up to, and including, March 8, 2022, and make recommendations for how the
LME Group could reduce the likelihood of similar events occurring again”   

Dear BLPB Readers:

“Fordham JCFL Volume XXVIII: Call for Submissions Update

The Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law has extended its call for submissions for the Spring 2023 Issue of Volume XXVIII to February 3rd, 2023. 

As one of the premier student-edited business law journals in the country, the Journal ranks among the top-five specialty journals in banking and financial law, and among the top-ten specialty journals in corporate and securities law. The Journal welcomes articles and essays addressing important issues in antitrust, banking, bankruptcy, corporate governance, capital markets, finance, mergers and acquisitions, securities, and tax law and practice in the United States.

Please send all submissions to either our Scholastica page or our email at jcfl@fordham.edu. For more information regarding submissions, please visit our website. If you have any questions, please contact Brendan Finnerty, Senior Articles Editor, at bfinnerty6@fordham.edu.”

Earlier this year, co-blogger Joan Heminway posted about the University of Pennsylvania Law Review’s October 2022 Symposium, Debt Market Complexity: Shadowed Practices and Financial Injustice.  It was a fantastic program! For interested BLPB readers who were unable to attend, I wanted to share that recordings of the program were available online.   

In early November, Berkeley held a 2-day forum on corporate governance, featuring a variety of A-list speakers including Chancellor McCormick and Vice Chancellor Glasscock.  I also participated on a panel with Adam Badawi to talk about everyone’s favorite subject, Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter.  The videos from the event were just posted online, so for those of  you who couldn’t watch it live – here’s the link (also available here)!

Happy holidays, everyone. Stay warm!

Dear BLPB Readers:

“GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY invites applications for full-time tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty positions in Legal Studies in the Department of Risk Management and Insurance at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business, effective for Fall 2023. The salary level, benefits, and course-load for these positions are competitive. Candidates must have a J.D. (or a PhD) from an accredited institution. For additional information, please access the tenure-track position posting here (https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/23860) and the non-tenure-track position posting here (https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/23859).”