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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

Dear BLPB Readers:

For those of you who might be interested in strengthening your knowledge of empirical methods, Northwestern Law School is offering two summer workshops on Research Design for Causal Inference.  An overview of the main workshop and its target audience is below.  The complete details of the main and advanced workshops are here.

“Main Workshop Overview

We will cover the design of true randomized experiments and contrast them to natural or quasi experiments and to pure observational studies, where part of the sample is treated, the remainder is a control group, but the researcher controls neither which units are treated vs. control, nor administration of the treatment. We will assess the causal inferences one can draw from specific “causal” research designs, threats to valid causal inference, and research designs that can mitigate those threats.

Most empirical methods courses survey a variety of methods. We will begin instead with the goal of causal inference, and how to design a research plan to come closer to that goal, using messy, real-world datasets with limited sample sizes. The methods are often adapted to a particular study.

Target Audience

Quantitative empirical researchers (faculty and graduate students) in social science, including law…

My coauthor, SMU Law Professor James W. Coleman, recently posted a draft of our article, Metals Derivatives Markets and the Energy Transition, on SSRN.  It’s forthcoming in Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law, and was written in connection with Business Transactions: Connecting the Threads VII, the BLPB-related conference at the University of Tennessee Law School.  I had a wonderful time at the event, which has become one of my yearly favorites, and am truly grateful for UT Law School’s consistently outstanding hospitality! 

Here’s the abstract of our article:

Despite their escalating importance, thus far, there has been minimal legal scholarship on metals derivatives markets. Given the key role of these markets in the transition to a clean energy future, increased focus on them is imperative. Hence, it is not surprising that the agendas for the last four meetings of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee each dedicated a significant portion of the meeting to metals derivatives markets and their role in the transition to a clean energy future.

Fundamentally, the United States and the world are moving from their long-term dependence on the fossil fuels that built the modern world…

Dear BLPB Readers:

“HOWARD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW invites applications for two visiting faculty
positions during the 2024-2025 academic year. Howard University, a culturally
diverse, comprehensive, research intensive and historically Black private university,
provides an educational experience of exceptional quality at the undergraduate,
graduate, and professional levels to students of high academic standing and
potential.

Position 1 – We are hiring a visiting law professor for a full-year podium visit. This
professor will teach one section of our first-year contracts course, which is a full
year course. In addition to the contracts course, we are open to a wide range of
other offerings in both semesters with a particular interest in business courses and
upper level writing seminars.

Position 2 – We are hiring a visiting law professor for a Fall 2024 podium visit. This
professor will teach one section of our fall first-year civil procedure course. In
addition to the civil procedure course, we are open to a wide range of other
offerings in the fall semester with a particular interest in business courses and
upper level writing seminars.”

The complete announcement about these positions is here: Download HUSL Visiting Faculty Announcement – AALS 01.18.24[61]

Dear BLPB Readers:

I wanted to help spread the word about various ways in which law students can begin connecting with the American Bar Association (ABA) and encourage interested readers – especially the professors! – to also assist in getting the word out! 

First, law students can join the ABA for FREE!  They can find out more here.  

Second, the annual Banking Law Committee meeting will be in Washington D.C. on January 18-20, 2024.  This year, it’s an in-person only event (other meetings this year will offer virtual options).  Law students can attend this and other meetings for FREE (to do so, a student must become a member of the ABA and the Business Law Section)! 

Of course, the ABA has many committees in addition to the one on banking, including consumer financial services, bankruptcy, corporate governance, antitrust etc. and resources and opportunities for students interested in a variety of professional legal paths (transactional, litigation, regulatory etc.).

Third, the Banking Law Committee will also have full day meetings at two ABA conferences later in 2024 (Orlando, April 4-6 and San Diego, September 12-14).  Both meetings will have in-person and online options.  Additionally, the April meeting (and perhaps the…

Dear BLPB Readers:

“The Midwest Academy of Legal Studies in Business (MALSB) Annual Conference is held in
conjunction with the MBAA International Conference. MBAA International draws hundreds of
academics from business-related fields such as accounting, business/society/government, economics,
entrepreneurship, finance, health administration, information systems, international business,
management, and marketing. The MALSB has its own program track on Legal Studies and attendees
may take advantage of the multidisciplinary nature of this international conference and attend sessions
held by the other program tracks.

Presentations in 2024 will have the option of in person or live online delivery. Tentatively MALSB paper
and panel in person/live online presentations are scheduled to begin Thursday morning (April 11, 2024)
and conclude Friday afternoon (April 12, 2024). If registration numbers require additional sessions, they
will be held Wednesday afternoon (April 10, 2024).”

Note that the registration/submission deadline is January 15, 2024.  The complete call for conference participation is here. Download Malsb_call_for_participation_2024

Dear BLPB Readers:

“The Accounting Area in the Orfalea College of Business at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, is seeking to fill a full-time/academic year tenure-track position in business law as part of the university’s year-round operations initiative with a contemplated appointment in summer of 2024.

Applicants must have the ability to work with diverse students. Demonstrated experience and commitment to student-centered learning and teaching, as well as the ability to collaboratively work in multidisciplinary settings is required. Demonstrated proficiency in written and oral use of the English language is required.

Primary duties and responsibilities are to: (A) teach undergraduate and graduate business law courses; (B) maintain an active portfolio of research in business law accompanied with publication in high quality law journals and other approved peer reviewed publications; and (C) perform extensive area, college, and university service duties (e.g., curriculum committee, academic senate, etc.).”

The complete job posting is here.

Dear BLPB Readers:

“The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania will host its annual Wharton Financial
Regulation Conference on April 5, 2024. A conference dinner will be held the night before, on
April 4, 2024.

We issue a call for papers to scholars from any discipline—law, economics, political science,
history, business, and beyond—to submit papers on the following topics related to financial
regulation:

• Digital assets and the payments system
• Regional and community banking (including banking market structure)
• Central banking, monetary and fiscal policy
• Bank regulators & constitutional governance

To submit a paper, please include an unpublished manuscript not exceeding 25,000 words and a
CV to conference organizer Christina Skinner (skinnerc@wharton.upenn.edu) by February 1,
2024. Selected presenters will be notified by email by February 15, 2024.”

A pdf of this call for papers is Download 2024 Wharton FinReg Call for Papers.

Dear BLPB Readers:

“The Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in Bloomington seeks applications for a tenured/tenure-track position or positions in the Department of Business Law and Ethics, effective Fall 2024. The candidate(s)selected will join a well-established department of 27 full-time faculty members who teach a variety of courses on legal topics, business ethics, and critical thinking at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It is anticipated that the position(s) will be at the assistant professor rank, though appointment at a higher rank could occur if a selected candidate’s record so warrants.
Candidates with appropriate subject-matter expertise and interest would have the opportunity to be involved on the leading edge of a developing interdisciplinary collaboration between the Kelley School of Business and the Kinsey Institute, the premier research institute on human sexuality and relationships and a trusted source for evidence-based information on critical issues in sexuality, gender, and reproduction. Such expertise, however, is not required to be qualified and considered for the position or positions.”

The complete job posting is here.

Dear BLPB Readers:

“Private law structures the legal building blocks that most profoundly affect our social and economic life, notably property, contract, and torts as well as central aspects of family law, trust law, work law, and more. It thus governs our relationships with each other in arguably the most important spheres of our lives: in the market, the workplace, the neighborhood, and intimate relations. Private law theories develop conceptual and normative analyses of these building blocks and critically investigate their meanings, their interrelationships, their varied institutionalizations, and their implications in these and other social settings. The theory of private law has a proud legacy stretching back to antiquity, which has been continually renewed and updated. The need for a new generation of private law theory has become all the more acute given questions and challenges posed by rapid technological change, economic globalization, and the rise of new forms of family and personal relations.

The Berkeley Center for Private Law theory promotes interdisciplinary research on these themes. We organize a variety of activities designed to stimulate dialogue, to exchange and advance knowledge, and to explore new ideas. The Berkeley Center for Private Law Theory aims to foster insights into the…

Dear BLPB Readers:

“In 2022, the United States experienced 26 natural disasters, more than any other country in the
world. One storm alone, Hurricane Ian, cost the economy more than $110 billion dollars. Beyond
flooding, drought, and wildfire, in recent years the world has also seen the previously
unimaginable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple areas of human conflict,
including the war in Ukraine, which has disrupted global food supply and upended life for
millions of people. Each of these disasters brings a unique mix of impact to local businesses,
human lives, and the global economy.

What should businesses, regulators, lawmakers, and attorneys do to prepare for life in an
economy in which disasters are both more likely to strike, due to climate change, and more likely
to have profound multinational impacts, due to globalization? The American Business Law
Journal (ABLJ) seek manuscripts that address this question.

The “Doing Business in a Disaster Economy” special issue will take a broad perspective.
Submissions may cover a wide variety of topics addressing legal planning and regulatory
mechanisms for addressing disasters–before, during, and after the event. Paper topics may
include but are not limited to:
• Insolvency and financial aid, particularly for…