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Benjamin P. Edwards

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Benjamin Edwards joined the faculty of the William S. Boyd School of Law in 2017. He researches and writes about business and securities law, corporate governance, arbitration, and consumer protection.

Prior to teaching, Professor Edwards practiced as a securities litigator in the New York office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. At Skadden, he represented clients in complex civil litigation, including securities class actions arising out of the Madoff Ponzi scheme and litigation arising out of the 2008 financial crisis. Read More

Apropos of my post last week on female founders and leaders of beauty unicorns (and women-founded unicorns more generally), I want to highlight this recent piece from our local paper here in Knoxville.   The women featured in the article range from high school students to holders of advanced degrees in their respective fields.  Their businesses are all technology driven and have received significant start-up funds through competition awards and grants.  None may become unicorns.  Their growth and exit strategies may not take them there.  Regardless, their ideas have apparent traction and their businesses are experiencing early-stage success.  I found each woman and her ideas totally inspiring.

Speaking of inspiring, I also will note that a day earlier, the same news outlet published an article that focused on women-led businesses in our community–and more specifically, on advice that local female CEOs desired to offer to others who are starting or managing their own businesses.  Their counsel (which includes, among many other things, encouragement to step away from business operations to achieve greater business success, as well as life balance) is priceless.  So are some of the observations these businesswomen make along the way.  Here are a few of my favorite…

Call for Papers
AALS Section on Securities Regulation—2020 AALS Annual Meeting
Emerging Voices in Securities Regulation
Works-in-Progress Program
January 2-5, 2020
Washington, DC

The AALS Securities Regulation section invites proposals for its “Emerging Voices in Securities Regulation” works-in-progress workshop at the 2020 AALS Annual Meeting.  The workshop will bring together junior and senior securities regulation scholars for the purpose of giving junior scholars feedback on their scholarship and helping them prepare their work for the spring law review submission cycle.  A junior scholar is any untenured full-time faculty member as of January 2, 2020. 

FORMAT:  The program will involve multiple simultaneous roundtables, with one junior scholar, one or two senior scholars, and interested observers at each table.  Junior scholars’ presentations of their drafts will be followed by oral comments from senior scholars and further discussion, as time permits. 

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE:  Junior scholars who are interested in participating in the program should send an abstract (or longer summary) or draft-in-progress to Professor Eric C. Chaffee, Chair of the AALS Securities Regulation Section, at Eric.Chaffee@utoledo.edu, on or before September 16, 2019.  The cover email should state the junior scholar’s institution, tenure status, number of years in his or her current position, and any previous positions…

Hat tip to The Faculty Lounge for these!

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The University of Cincinnati College of Law is looking to hire two tenure-track professors this Fall (note that our AALS ad says only one, but we recently were approved for two), both at the level of Assistant Professor of Law.  Although we’re looking for candidates in all areas, subject areas of particular interest include business law, health law, intellectual property, property, and tax.  The job posting from the AALS bulletin appears below.  University of Cincinnati policy requires that candidates also apply through the University recruitment system, which can be accessed at http://bit.ly/2KdXJhS.  

THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI COLLEGE OF LAW invites applications from entry-level candidates for the tenure-track position of Assistant Professor of Law. We welcome candidates across all areas of law, although subject areas of particular interest include business law, health law, intellectual property, property, and tax. Applicants must possess a J.D. or equivalent degree and outstanding academic credentials and have demonstrated potential for outstanding teaching and scholarship. Relevant experience in private practice, government service, or a judicial clerkship is strongly preferred. We welcome applications from persons who would add to the diversity of our academic community and engage…

BeautyClipart

We hear a lot about unicorns in technology, finance, and the sharing economy.   But many of us do not realize that a number of unicorns are owned by women and a number of those focus on make-up and skin care–products geared to a female audience.  Female-owned beauty unicorns are all around us . . . .

Why should we care?  Well for one thing, female-owned businesses have historically been somewhat rare.  (In 1972, women-owned businesses accounted for only 4.6% of all firms, e.g.)  And for another, it has been noted that women often have a tough time financing their businesses. (See this 2014 U.S. Senate Committee report and other sources cited below for some details.) Also, it may be interesting to some (it is to me) that a business in such a traditional space can succeed so well in private capital markets given the competitive dominance of major conglomerates (most of which are publicly traded). Also, as I note in closing below (for those teaching in the business law area), the facts and trends in this space may be fodder for great exercises and exam questions.

Women-owned businesses are beginning to catch up in the…

The job postings set forth below were received from Virginia Harper Ho, Chair of the AALS Section on Transactional Law & Skills.

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Originally from Afra Afsharipour:

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS SCHOOL OF LAW invites applications for a Water Justice Clinical Lecturer, who will act as the director of the Aoki Water Justice Clinic, by October 20, 2019 and/or until the position is filled. The Aoki Water Justice Clinic is a transactional live-client legal clinic that provides technical legal assistance to small disadvantaged communities in California’s Central Valley and beyond, who lack reliable and affordable access to safe drinking water. We seek applications from candidates with a background in law who (1) possess extensive experience in state, national and international critical race and nation studies law and policy issues and (2) excellent transactional, analytical, legal writing, negotiation and advocacy skills, including high-quality precision in contract drafting, and skill in high-level and detailed analysis. All candidates must apply through the UC Recruit system at the following link: https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF03045. For full consideration, applicants should apply by October 20, 2019, although we recommend that you submit your materials as soon as possible. Candidates must have a J.D. or equivalent degree.

From Ruth Colker, Distinguished University Professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law:

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law seeks entry-level or junior lateral candidates for at least one tenure-track position.  Our primary areas of need are Dispute Resolution, Business Law, and Race and Law.  Secondary areas of need include Antitrust, Banking/Insurance, Civil Procedure/Complex Litigation, Commercial Law, Evidence, Immigration, Intellectual Property/Law and Technology, Natural Resources/Energy Law, Poverty/Social Welfare Law, Property/Real Estate, and Wills & Trusts.  The position will begin in the 2020-21 academic year.  A J.D. or the equivalent is required.

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law is committed to building and maintaining a diverse and inclusive community to reflect human diversity and improve opportunities for all.  Diversity, inclusion, and equity are essential to the excellence of our community, culture, and curriculum, and the pursuit of this excellence is critical to our educational mission.  We value diversity in all of its dimensions, including gender, gender identity or expression, race, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, physical and learning abilities, socioeconomic status, veteran status, and viewpoint.  We seek to reflect multiple perspectives, backgrounds, and interests in all facets of our…

I am just back from the 2019 Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) conference.  I participated in several different kinds of activities this year.  This post reports out on each.

I first served as a participant in a series of discussion groups tailored to provide information to aspiring law professors.  The attendees included newly minted fellows and VAPs, mid-to-later-career lawyers/judges looking to switch to full-time law faculty (some already adjuncts or visitors), and (in general) law practitioners testing the waters for possible engagement with the Association of American Law Schools faculty recruitment process.  SEALS has served selected prospective law professors with a specialized track of preparative programming for a number of years.  This set of discussion groups represents an extension of that type of programming, on a more general informational level, to a wider audience of folks interested in careers in law teaching.

I also presented in a discussion group, sponsors by West Academic, on “Teaching to Engage.”  Steve Friesland of Elon Law moderated the session.  I shared some of my “first class” and assessment simulations for business law doctrinal and experiential courses.  I learned from many others who shared their own ways of engaging students.

This just in from Adrienne D. Davis, Vice Provost. William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law, and Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity at Washington University in St. Louis:

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW invites applications from entry-level or junior lateral candidates for tenure-track positions, to begin in the fall of 2020. We are particularly interested in corporate & securities law and constitutional law. Candidates must have at a minimum a JD, a PhD, or the equivalent in a related field. In addition, candidates should have strong scholarly potential and a commitment to excellence in teaching. Duties will include teaching assigned courses, researching and publishing scholarly work, advising students, and participating in law school and university service. Diversity and inclusion are core values at Washington University, and strong candidates will demonstrate the ability to create inclusive classrooms and environments in which all students can learn and thrive. The committee will be reviewing applications submitted through the AALS Faculty Appointments Register, but we are willing to consider materials outside of the FAR process.

Although we have no deadline, applications will have the best chance of full consideration if we receive them by August 19, 2019. Application materials should…

For last year’s Business Law Prof Blog symposium at UT Law, I spoke on issues relating to the representation of business firms classified or classifiable as social enterprises.  Last September, I wrote a bit about my presentation here.  The resulting essay, Lawyering for Social Enterprise, was recently posted to SSRN.  The SSRN abstract follows.

Social enterprise and the related concepts of social entrepreneurship and impact investing are neither well defined nor well understood. As a result, entrepreneurs, investors, intermediaries, and agents, as well as their respective advisors, may be operating under different impressions or assumptions about what social enterprise is and have different ideas about how to best build and manage a sustainable social enterprise business. Moreover, the law governing social enterprises also is unclear and unpredictable in respects. This essay identifies two principal areas of uncertainty and demonstrates their capacity to generate lawyering challenges and related transaction costs around both entity formation and ongoing internal governance questions in social enterprises. Core to the professionalism issues are the professional responsibilities implicated in an attorney’s representation of social enterprise businesses.

To illuminate legal and professional responsibility issues relevant to representing social enterprises, this essay proceeds in four parts.

This just in from Ellen Yee at Drake Law School:

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT – DIRECTOR OF THE ENTREPRENEURIAL/TRANSACTIONAL LAW CLINIC AND ASSISTANT/ASSOCIATE/PROFESSOR OF LAW

DRAKE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL invites applications for the position of Director of the Entrepreneurial/Transactional Law Clinic. The position may begin in either the Spring 2020 or Fall 2020 semester and will be a twelve-month position. The directorship will be annual or long-term contract depending on the candidate’s qualifications and preferences. Duties will include supervising and assessing Clinic students representing nonprofit organizations and emerging entrepreneurs.   The Clinic primarily focuses on assisting startup businesses and nonprofits in underserved communities in Polk County, Iowa that are not able to afford retained counsel.   In addition, graduate students and other researchers at Iowa State University provide another source of Clinical transactional cases, many of which include advanced issues involving tech transfers, capital structures, and software licensing. The Director will have the opportunity to build on the success of the existing clinic, which serves a vibrant, diverse community of innovators.  In addition, there may be opportunities to teach doctrinal and experiential-learning courses depending on the law school’s curricular needs.

Candidates must possess a J.D. or comparable law degree and be admitted to, or…