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Joshua Fershee

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Joshua Fershée, JD, became the 11th dean of the Creighton University School of Law on July 1, 2019. Fershée previously served as associate dean for faculty research and development, professor of law, and director of LLM programs at West Virginia University College of Law.

Earning a bachelor’s degree in social science from Michigan State University in 1995, Fershée began his career in public relations and media outreach before attending the Tulane University School of Law, graduating magna cum laude in 2003 and serving as editor in chief of the Tulane Law Review. He worked in private practice at the firms of Davis Polk & Wardell in New York and Hogan & Hartson, LLP, in Washington, D.C., before joining the legal academy. Read More

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Dear BLPB Readers:

Professor Peari has recently posted a new article on SSRN, An Assessment of the US Rules Which Determine the Relevant Law Applicable to Corporations: A Suggestion for Reform.  It will be published in the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law. 

Here’s the abstract:

“The article addresses one of the basic legal questions of corporations: which law governs disputes involving corporations? The US scholarship has not provided yet a comprehensive answer to this question. Which law, for example, applies to adjudicate a dispute between a Delaware corporation and a Nevada corporation, considering both usually conduct business in New York, California, Montana and Canada, with respect to delivery of goods in California? Through analyzing the external (i.e. aspects that relate to interactions between corporations and people/other corporations/bodies) and internal aspects of corporation (i.e. aspects related to the structure of corporate governance in terms of the relationship between corporate shareholders, directors, and officers), the article justifies some facets of current practices and makes key suggestions for reform. At a time when COVID-19 has caused economic disruption, corporations are inherently present in almost every aspect of our lives, and the volume of online commerce is escalating, the article tackles one of the…

Dear BLPB Readers:

“The Kelley School of Business at Indiana University seeks applications for a full-time, non-tenure-track lecturer position or positions in the Department of Business Law and Ethics, effective fall 2022. The candidate(s) selected will join a well-established department of 28 full-time faculty members who teach a variety of residential and online courses on legal topics, business ethics, and critical thinking at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Lecturers have teaching and service responsibilities but are not expected to engage in research activities. 

To be qualified, a lecturer candidate must have a J.D. degree with an excellent academic record and must demonstrate the potential to be an outstanding teacher, as well as the ability to contribute positively to a multicultural campus. We welcome candidates with all levels of professional experience. We value applicants who have a broad and diverse range of interests and experience and a commitment to teaching classes in both the legal environment of business and practical/applied business ethics. We would be especially pleased to hear from applicants who would contribute to the diversity of our department and help advance the Kelley School’s equity and inclusion initiatives and programs, particularly those whose interests or experiences intersect with issues…

Dear BLPB Readers:

The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) has published a call for papers for its Clearing and Derivatives Conference 2022:

“The World Federation of Exchanges is organising its 39th Annual Clearing and Derivatives Conference, hosted by the Malta Stock Exchange, to be held in Valetta, Malta on April 27-29, 2022.

We invite the submission of theoretical, empirical, and policy research papers on issues related to the conference topics. Papers accepted will be considered for a special issue of the Journal of Financial Markets Infrastructures (JFMI).” 

The complete call for papers is here: Download WFE 2022 Call for papers

For BLPB readers interested in financial market infrastructures (FMIs), there’s something new and exciting to put on your fall reading list!  Don’t wait too long.  Comments on the new CPMI-IOSCO Consultative report: Application of the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures to stablecoin arrangements are due by December 1, 2021.

At the request of the G7, G20, and FSB, the standard setting bodies have produced a “report [that] provides guidance on the application of the Principles for financial market infrastructures (PFMI) to systematically important stablecoin arrangements (SAs), including the entities integral to such arrangements.” 

The Executive Summary notes that: “Notwithstanding the fact that the transfer function of SAs is considered an FMI function for the purpose of applying the PFMI, SAs may present some notable and novel features as compared with existing FMIs. These notable features relate to: (i) the potential use of settlement assets that are neither central bank money nor commercial bank money and carry additional financial risk; (ii) the interdependencies between multiple SA functions; (iii) the degree of decentralisation of operations and/or governance; and (iv) a potentially large-scale deployment of emerging technologies such as distributed ledger technology (DLT).”

The report’s guidance is summarized in Table 1 (p. 5-6)…

I’m so excited to present later this morning at the University of Tennessee College of Law Connecting the Threads Conference today at 10:45 EST. Here’s the abstract from my presentation. In future posts, I will dive more deeply into some of these issues. These aren’t the only ethical traps, of course, but there’s only so many things you can talk about in a 45-minute slot. 

All lawyers strive to be ethical, but they don’t always know what they don’t know, and this ignorance can lead to ethical lapses or violations. This presentation will discuss ethical pitfalls related to conflicts of interest with individual and organizational clients; investing with clients; dealing with unsophisticated clients and opposing counsel; competence and new technologies; the ever-changing social media landscape; confidentiality; privilege issues for in-house counsel; and cross-border issues. Although any of the topics listed above could constitute an entire CLE session, this program will provide a high-level overview and review of the ethical issues that business lawyers face.

Specifically, this interactive session will discuss issues related to ABA Model Rules 1.5 (fees), 1.6 (confidentiality), 1.7 (conflicts of interest), 1.8 (prohibited transactions with a client), 1.10 (imputed conflicts of interest), 1.13 (organizational clients), 4.3 (dealing…

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

It’s time to relax and recharge. If you’re a professor or a student, you’ve likely just started class again. If you’re like me, you’re already behind and a bit overwhelmed. If you’re a practicing lawyer, you may be working at home, in an office, or both. With all of the uncertainty about office re-openings, the economy, wildfires, hurricanes, and COVID, you may be a bit stressed, and not in a good way (yes, there is “good” stress). Lawyers, as we know, have high rates of burnout, chronic stress, suicide, depression, substance use disorders, and other maladies that could affect the way we practice law and our level of fulfillment while practicing. 

I’ve been a happy lawyer for thirty years. But I’ve had personal and health challenges, so I’ve spent most of the past eighteen months learning healing modalities to help me physically and mentally. I’ve become certified in meditation facilitation, NLP (neurolinguistic programming), EFT (emotional freedom technique)/tapping, reiki, mental health first aid, and hypnotherapy. 

Below are some of the quick fixes that work for me. I’ve also conducted CLEs for lawyers on stress management, and have received feedback that the methods below work. I’ve even taken…

I’ve posted on Cuba and business in the past. See here, here, and here, for example.

I have 3,000 pictures of Cuba from my four visits to research and speak on business and human rights. I’ve written three law review articles and met with farmers, judges, lawyers, families of people who have “disappeared,” restaurant owners and others. For the law review articles see, Ten Ethics-Based Questions for U.S. Companies Seeking to do Business in Cuba, The Cuba Conundrum: Corporate Governance and Compliance Challenges for U.S. Publicly-Traded Companies, and You Say Embargo, I Say Bloqueo—A Policy Recommendation for Promoting Foreign Direct Investment and Safeguarding Human Rights in Cuba.

This is a different kind of post. It’s more personal. 

My first visit in 2016 was during the Bienal art festival, where some of the most talented artists in the region had their work featured by the New York Times. I visited some of them in their homes. Later in the trip, I spent time with members of the Florida bar to learn from local lawyers and economists. One lawyer who spoke with us had to move to the US after someone misreported what he…

Our relatively new Transactional Skills program has been such a success that we need to hire one or two additional adjuncts immediately for the Fall.  Our current adjuncts work for BigLaw, in-house, and boutique firms. Classes start in August but the current sections are full and 2Ls start registration on Tuesday. 

The course description is below:

This interactive, practice-oriented course will be structured around the acquisition of an asset or business and some of the key agreements required to complete the transaction. Students will act as junior associates and work on one deal throughout the semester representing either the buyer or seller. Although the class will focus on certain provisions common to all contracts, students will negotiate and draft documents which may include a non-disclosure agreement, letter of intent outlining the main terms, due diligence memo, portions of an asset purchase agreement, a licensing agreement, or an employment agreement. Students will also communicate in writing to their clients throughout the duration of the transaction and will learn the proper selection and use of form agreements. Grades will be based on class participation, group and individual assignments, and a take-home exam, which will consist of writing an agreement. Students will watch …

A reminder that Emory’s 2021 conference on transactional law and skills education is next Friday, June 4, 2021. It is virtual and registration is only $50. Register here.

Today, I’m submitting a guest post by Professor Jen Randolph Reise of Mitchell Hamline School of Law.  On Friday the 11th, I’ll post my reflections from the Emory conference. Jen and I have bonded over our mission to bring practical skills into the classroom. Her remarks are  below:

I’m looking forward to hearing from many leaders in transactional legal education, including keynote speakers Joan MacLeod Heminway, Marcia Narine Weldon, and Robert J. Rhee on the theme of “Emerging from the Crisis: Future of Transactional Law and Skills Education.” Marcia will also be talking about her experience launching a transactional program at Miami, joined by three of her adjunct professors.

For my part, I’ll be presenting a Try-This session sharing how I have used exercises that integrate key technological resources and techniques into teaching doctrinal courses. I’ve written in this blog before in praise of practice problems, especially in the asynchronous or flipped classroom. These exercises take that one step farther by creating a self-paced, guided discovery and low-stakes practice of some skills…

Cancel culture has been a hot topic for years, so when the University of Miami Law Explainer podcast asked me to talk about it, I had some reservations. I’m not shy, but I’m also not looking to be a headline in our campus newspaper, a meme, or a topic on Fox News. But I have strong feelings about this, and I agreed to speak.

I’m providing the link to the 20-minute interview here. I talked about my history as a radical protestor in college and law school (and my run in with Rush Limbaugh),  the effect of boycotts and buycotts, whether Teen Vogue missed a teachable moment after firing an editor for tweets she made as a teenager, whether corporations are doing the right thing when they bow to pressure from vocal consumers, the uproar over the 1619 project, and more. If you want a break from drafting contracts or writing exams, take a listen and let me know what you think.