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Haskell Murray

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Professor Murray teaches business law, business ethics, and alternative dispute resolution courses to undergraduate and graduate students. Currently, his research focuses on corporate governance, mergers & acquisitions, sports law, and social entrepreneurship law issues.

Professor Murray is the 2018-19 President of the Southeastern Academy of Legal Studies in Business (“SEALSB”) and is a co-editor of the Business Law Professor Blog. His articles have been published in a variety of journals, including the American Business Law Journal, the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, the Harvard Business Law Review, and the Maryland Law Review. Read More

This post is mainly for our practicing lawyer readers. If I were to venture back to a law firm, I wouldn’t ask graduating students for recommendations only from their law professors. Instead, if the student was on law review (as most BigLaw applicants are) I would ask for at least one recommendation from a law professor whose article the student edited. 

First, a law professor has less reason to exaggerate or falsely praise a student at another school. Second, a law professor who has worked on an article with a student gets excellent insight into that student’s attention to detail (or lack there of) and attention to deadlines (or lack there of). Third, the law professor/author gets to see the student do work where the rewards are not immediate nor as large as they can be in the studying/grades context. Fourth, the cite checking and editing work done on law review articles is more similar to the work of a junior associate than is (at least a good percentage of) course work. 

Yes, a law professor at another school will have limited interaction with that student and usually only virtual interaction. But a lot of legal work is done virtually…

Today, I received the position announcement below from my friend Alicia Plerhoples (Georgetown), who is doing exciting things in the social enterprise and nonprofit areas. This is an excellent opportunity, and I think anyone would be fortunate to work with her and her clinic. 

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Georgetown University Law Center –
Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Social Enterprise & Nonprofit Law Clinic

Description of the Clinic

The Social Enterprise & Nonprofit Law Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center offers pro bono corporate and transactional legal services to social enterprises, nonprofit organizations, and select small businesses headquartered in Washington, D.C. and working locally or internationally. Through the Clinic, law students learn to translate theory into practice by engaging in the supervised practice of law for educational credit. The Clinic’s goals are consistent with Georgetown University’s long tradition of public service. The Clinic’s goals are to:

  • Teach law students the materials, expectations, strategies, and methods of transactional lawyering, as well as an appreciation for how transactional law can be used in the public interest.

  • Represent social enterprises and nonprofit organizations in corporate and transactional legal matters.

  • Facilitate the growth of social enterprise in the D.C. area.

    The clinic’s local focus not only allows the

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JLSE

The Journal of Legal Studies Education (“JLSE“) is accepting article and case study submissions. The JLSE is a peer-reviewed legal journal focused on pedagogy. In 2015, I published a case study with the JLSE, had an excellent experience, and received helpful comments from the reviewers. The announcement is below:

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The Journal of Legal Studies Education is seeking submissions of manuscripts. The JLSE publishes refereed articles, teaching tips, and review of books.  Manuscripts must relate to teaching, research, or related disciplines such as business ethics, business and society, public policy and individual areas of business law related specialties. The Editorial Board selects high quality manuscripts that are of interest to a substantial portion of its readers. 

The JLSE is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal.

Please submit directly to Stephanie Greene, JLSE Editor-in-Chief, at stephanie.greene@bc.edu.

Stephanie M. Greene

Chair, Business Law Department

Professor, Business Law

Carroll School of Management

Boston College

Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

In January 2015, I wrote about a resolution to take a break from e-mails on Saturdays.

That resolution failed, quickly.

Since then, I have been thinking a lot about my relationship with e-mail.

On one hand, I get a lot of positive feedback from students and colleagues about my responsiveness. On the other hand, constantly checking and responding to e-mails seems to cut against productivity on other (often more important) tasks.

Five or six weeks ago, I started drafting this post, hoping to share it after at least one week of only checking my e-mail two times a day (11am and 4pm). Then I changed the goal to three times a day (11am, 4pm, and 9pm and then 5am, 11am, 4pm). Efforts to limit e-mail in that rigid way failed, even though very little of what I do requires a response in less than 24 hours. On the positive side, I have been relatively good, recently, at not checking my e-mail when I am at home and my children are awake. 

A few days ago, I read Andrew Sullivan’s Piece in the New York Magazine on “Distraction Sickness.” His piece is long, but worth reading. A short excerpt…

For the fourth straight year, I plan to present at the Southeastern Academy of Legal Studies in Business (“SEALSB”) Annual Conference, and I am on the SEALSB executive committee.  SEALSB is one of eight regional associations under the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB), and ALSB is the national organization for legal studies professors in business schools.

More information about the conference can be found here and deadlines are included below. Today is the deadline for early bird registration, best paper submissions, and award nominations. 

Friday, September 16: 

Friday, September 30: 

  • Abstract submission deadline to be a conference presenter

Tuesday, October 11:

  • Hotel cutoff date for group rate (subject to room block availability)

Friday, October 14:

  • Submission of papers (not for award consideration) to be included on USB flash drive. (Otherwise, bring 25 copies to the conference.)

Last year, on the suggestion of an ALSB colleague, I did a post on promotion, tenure, and administrative appointment news for legal studies professors in business schools. I continue that series this year, below. I am happy to add to this list, as I am sure it is incomplete. Congrats to all!

Robert Bird (UConn) – promoted to full professor

De Vee Dykstra (South Dakota) – appointed associate dean of Beacom School of Business

Marc Edelman (CUNY) – promoted to full professor and awarded tenure

Josh Perry (Indiana-Kelley School of Business) – appointed to Dean of Undergraduate Affairs

Jamie Prenkert (Indiana-Kelley (Bloomington Campus)) – appointed Associate Vice Provost

Scott Shackelford (Indiana-Kelley) – promoted to associate professor and awarded tenure

I recently received the following information regarding two positions at The Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance. Many readers, I assume, will be familiar with their co-sponsored excellent blog, The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. 

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Executive Director

The Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance invites applications for the position of Executive Director. Together with the Faculty Director and others, the Executive Director of the Program works on building, developing, and managing the full range of activities of the Program. Under the Faculty Director’s oversight, the Executive Director manages the wide range of the Program’s operations; collaborates with major corporations, law firms, investors, advisers, and other organizations; participates in developing and directing conferences and other events for the Program; and manages the administration and personnel of the program, including fellows, research assistants, and staff. The Executive Director also collaborates with constituent groups and other professionals; participates in fundraising activities; interacts with donors and visitors; and takes on other management roles within the Program as needed. The Executive Director is involved in overseeing the Program’s website and other media outreach efforts, as well as the Program’s blog, the Harvard Law School Forum on…

In his article, Making It Easier for Directors to “Do the Right Thing?” 4 Harv. Bus. L. Rev. 235, 237–39 (2014), Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice Leo Strine wrote:

[E]ven if one accepts that those who manage public corporations may, outside of the corporate sales process, treat the best interests of other corporate constituencies as an end equal to the best interests of stockholders, and believes that stockholders should not be afforded additional influence over those managers, those premises do very little to actually change the managers’ incentives in a way that would encourage them to consider the interests of anyone other than stockholders. . . . even if corporate law supposedly grants directors the authority to give other constituencies equal consideration to stockholders outside of the sale context, it employs an unusual accountability structure to enable directors to act as neutral balancers of the diverse, and not always complementary, interests affected by corporate conduct. In that accountability structure, owners of equity securities are the only constituency given any rights. Stockholders get to elect directors. Stockholders get to vote on mergers and substantial asset sales. Stockholders get to inspect the books and records. Stockholders get the right to sue. No

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During the past few days, I have participated in a lot of meetings.

This has led to some thinking on what makes a good meeting.

To me, a useful meeting is one that accomplishes things that could not be handled appropriately by an e-mail. Some meetings are held, I am convinced, because those calling the meetings are not sure that participants read and pay attention to e-mails. This worry could be best addressed, in my opinion, by making expectations regarding e-mail management clear, perhaps coupled with consequences for those who ignore the contents.

That said, e-mail is not appropriate in all cases and here are four categories where in-person meetings can work better than e-mail:

  1. Inspire. Perhaps some can be inspired over e-mail, but it seems much easier to inspire in person. As such, I think some good meetings can be used to inspire participants to achieve organizational goals. But inspiring others, especially sometimes cynical professors, can be difficult to do.
  2. Build Relationships. Sometimes the only times you see certain colleagues are at faculty meetings, so meetings can be a good way to build relationships, especially if folks hang around before and after meetings or if significant time is

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