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Stefan J. Padfield

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Director of the NCPPR's Free Enterprise Project. Prior experience includes 15+ years as a law professor, two federal judicial clerkships, private practice at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP, and 6 years enlisted active duty (US Army). Immigrant (naturalized).

I have been a dean for two days.  So, obviously, I have it all figured out.  (That’s very much a joke). 

My sample size is small, but it seemed like a good time for me to take a shot at comparing what it’s like to be a new dean versus what it’s like to be a new professor. Admittedly, I am working hard to remember what it was like to be a professor in his first two days. I have the benefit of hindsight with that, while my life as dean is very much real time.  But hey, it’s a blog, so I will give it a try. 

  • As a new professor, I was worried (very worried) that I did not know everything about the subject matter and that it would be obvious. As a new dean, I expect that others don’t expect me to know everything, and if they do, I know they’re wrong.    
  • As a new professor, I wanted everyone to like me.  As a new dean, I’d still appreciate that.  But I don’t need it, and I don’t expect it, and I know it is impossible. (It’s impossible as a professor, too, by the way,

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A recent Tennessee court decision subtly notes that limited liability companies (LLCs) are not, in fact corporations. In a recent Tennessee federal court opinion, Judge Richardson twice notes the incorrect listing of an LLC as a “limited liability corporation.”  

First, the opinion states:

The [Second Amended Complaint] alleges that Defendant Evans is a resident of Tennessee, Defendant #AE20, LLC is a California limited liability company, and Defendant Gore Capital, LLC is a Delaware limited liability “corporation.”3

3 Gore Capital is in fact a limited liability company.

FERNANDO CAMPS, Pl., v. GORE CAPITAL, LLC, KARL JAMES, ANGELA EVANS, and #AE20, LLC, Defendants., 3:17-CV-1039, 2019 WL 2763902, at *1 and n.3 (M.D. Tenn. July 2, 2019) (emphasis in original). 

Judge Richardson later notes, in footnote 11:

Plaintiff states that he was sent documents that listed Gore’s (not #AE20’s) principal place of business as being in Chattanooga, Tennessee, although the SAC lists Gore as a “Delaware limited liability corporation (sic)[.]”
Id. 2019 WL 2763902, at *6 n.11 (M.D. Tenn. July 2, 2019). 
 
Given all the times I have complained about courts not correcting such mistakes, I figured I should give this opinion a well-deserved shout out for getting this

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Veil piercing continues its randomness. Back in April, in Hawai’i Supreme Court decision, Calipjo v. Purdy, 144 Hawai’i 266, 439 P.3d 218 (2019), the court determined that there was evidence to support a trial court jury’s decision to pierce the veil of an multiple entities and hold the sole member/shareholder of the entities liable.  (An appellate court had determined that there was insufficient evidence to support veil piercing.)

The decision may be sound, but the evidence for the decision makes the outcome seemingly inevitable. In determining there was evidence to support the jury’s decision, the court notes the plaintiff’s allegations were that “sole ownership and control is one of many factors that can establish alter ego and, therefore, evidence of Purdy’s ownership and control was pertinent to this claim.”  The court then explains, 

In this case, the jury was presented with evidence that Purdy exercised exclusive ownership and control over Regal Corp. and Regal LLC. Purdy testified that he was the sole shareholder, director, and officer of Regal Corp. and the sole member and manager of Regal LLC. This court has held that “sole ownership of all of the stock in a corporation by one individual” is one relevant factor to determine alter ego. Id. (quoting Associated

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I’m not great at unplugging. That’s a trait I suspect rings true with a lot of people, especially lawyers. I am working on it. Writing this post while on vacation is not a great example of that, though I’m writing this while I’m on a plane, and the kids are occupied with their own electronic flashy things. 

 

I have tried very hard to put most anything that can wait to the side during our travels. I’ve not always succeeded, but I’m doing better than I usually do, so that’s good. 

 

Setting work aside (especially cellphones/email) is something a lot of try to do on vacation, but I also know I need to do a better job of it on a daily basis. If I’m accessible to people all the time electronically, I am necessarily less available to those right in front of me. There are times when that’s a necessary balancing act, but not always. 

 

In some ways, that’s a lesson I learned a long time ago (though I continue to need reminders), and I have done better in certain settings, such as individual meetings with students and colleagues. But even for myself, when I am writing …

I am in Colorado attending the Law & Economics Center’s 34th Economics Institute for Law Professors. It’s a fantastic conference, and I highly encourage you to attend if you can. You can view this year’s agenda here. (If you have trouble with the links, try a different browser.  If that doesn’t work, let me know.)

This past Wednesday, during the “Economics of Innovation and Dynamic Competition” class, Prof. John Yun discussed the difference between static and dynamic models of competition, and how this might impact our assessment of monopolists. One aspect of this discussion focused on the concept of “deadweight loss.” For those of you not familiar with this concept, go watch the following 3-minute video from “ACDC Econ”: https://youtu.be/YNcPxPz9fng .

The video provides the standard assessment that monopolies create “deadweight loss” and that this deadweight loss is inefficient. Consequently, the conventional wisdom is that government regulation/intervention is therefore justified. However, this analysis is based on comparing the expected behavior of a monopolist with a static model of perfect competition. One of the problems with using a static model is that it fails to take into account where we’ve been or where we’re actually likely to go. A…

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My colleagues started this series off well with Part I and Part II in the series, and I will try to build on their thoughts. There are so many decisions to make when you get started, including what book to use, what style you will use in the classroom, and what form or forms of assessment you will use.  To start, I will echo Joan Heminway’s advice because I think it is so critical: First, be yourself. 

It’s easy to to think of teachers you liked and think you need to teach like them to be effective. While we can all learn a lot from our best teachers, if you look closely, I think you’ll find that the thing best ones have in common (in addition to being prepared) is that they are true to themselves. That is not to say that every person is the same in classroom as they are outside.  Some people need to be actors — they take on a persona when they hit the classroom.  Others wear their hearts on their sleeves. Others are clinical, and still others are relaxed and casual. 

You may not know immediately your full style or classroom voice, but in…