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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).

Gregg D. Polsky, University of  Georgia Law, recently posted his paper, Explaining Choice-of-Entity Decisions by Silicon Valley Start-Ups. It is an interesting read and worth a look. H/T Tax Prof Blog.  Following the abstract, I have a few initial thoughts:

Perhaps the most fundamental role of a business lawyer is to recommend the optimal entity choice for nascent business enterprises. Nevertheless, even in 2018, the choice-of-entity analysis remains highly muddled. Most business lawyers across the United States consistently recommend flow-through entities, such as limited liability companies and S corporations, to their clients. In contrast, a discrete group of highly sophisticated business lawyers, those who advise start-ups in Silicon Valley and other hotbeds of start-up activity, prefer C corporations.

Prior commentary has described and tried to explain this paradox without finding an adequate explanation. These commentators have noted a host of superficially plausible explanations, all of which they ultimately conclude are not wholly persuasive. The puzzle therefore remains.

This Article attempts to finally solve the puzzle by examining two factors that have been either vastly underappreciated or completely ignored in the existing literature. First, while previous commentators have briefly noted that flow-through structures are more complex and administratively burdensome, they

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When I was in house, the biggest compliment I could receive was “sometimes I forget that you’re a lawyer.” Of course, you don’t want to hear that from certain clients because that means that you haven’t clearly established your role and authority. But, when dealing with business people, they want to know that you understand business strategy and their pain points and not just the law. 

 

Last Saturday, Laura Zagustin, the General Counsel for Viacom International Media and the Americas, served as the keynote speaker for the Miami Law Symposium on doing business in Latin America. She told the audience that although she’s the general counsel, she tries not to be “too much like a lawyer.” She didn’t expand on this, but during the Q&A, a student asked about the tensions between the profit driven requests of the business people and the need to follow the law. Zagustin focused on the necessity to protect the company and secure revenue while educating internal clients. She’s actually become so business savvy that she’s been able to negotiate with a business counterpart without any of her company’s business people with her.

 

She advised students to learn how to develop solutions but …

I have been told there may be some flexibility on the March 1 deadline.

The UMKC Law Review is pleased to announce a call for submissions relating to the law surrounding distributed ledger (“blockchain”) technology. Selected papers will be published in the Special Topics Symposium, Summer 2019 edition of the UMKC Law Review. This symposium invites proposals for papers that explore the legal and regulatory issues involved in blockchain technology. Today, blockchain technology is used to build tools and infrastructure that help lawyers draft contracts, record commercial transactions, and verify legal documents. In general, investments in blockchain technology has surged over the past year, inviting both legitimate businesses and modern-day scammers. To date, regulatory agencies have yet to determine a consistent approach to the technology that protects the public while not stifling innovation. Issue 1 of UMKC Law Review’s 88th Volume will explore these and related topics with the goal of advancing awareness of blockchain technology and cryptoassets. Articles and essays of all lengths and papers by single authors or multiple authors are invited. Preference will be given to works between 5,000 and 25,000 words. To be accepted for publication in UMKC Law Review, articles must not have been previously…

Last week I participated in the LawWithoutWalls kickoff in Segovia, Spain. LWOW, as it’s affectionately called, originated at the University of Miami and is the brainchild of Professor Michele DeStefano. Although I’ve served as a mentor since its inception, I’ve attached  LWOW’s summary of the program: 

Over the course of 16 weeks, each team co-creates a Project of Worth: a business case and practicable solution to a real problem sponsored by a corporate legal department, law company, or law firm. In the process, the program refines the skills of those involved, recharges the law market with innovations across business, law and technology, and revitalizes relationships with colleagues, clients, and future talent across the globe.  

 

Law and business students from 35 schools around the world work together virtually (other than the kickoff) and learn about branding, business plans, legal tech, and marketing from some of top minds in the world during weekly webinars. This year’s topics include:

  • Team A: Waste Not, Want Change: How can advances in technology further a reduction in food waste? (Sponsored by Accenture) 
  • Team B: Organizing Chaos: How can distributed ledger technology facilitate advances in identification management in the foster care system? (Sponsored by

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Dean, School of Law University of Miami

The University of Miami invites nominations and applications for the position of Dean of the School of Law. The next Dean should be an innovative thinker and approachable leader who welcomes the opportunity to articulate a vision for the growth of a law school that builds on its long history of excellence. The University of Miami, considered among the top tier institutions of higher education in the U.S. for its academic excellence, superior medical care, and cutting-edge research, is the largest private research university in the southeastern United States. The University comprises eleven degree-granting schools and colleges, which are Architecture, Arts and Sciences, Miami Business, Communication, Education, Engineering, Law, the Miller School of Medicine, the Patricia and Philip Frost School of Music, Nursing and Health Studies, and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. The core of the University is its 2,660 full-time faculty housed in three academic campuses within the greater Miami area. The University receives over $360 million annually in external research funding and has been classified as a Doctoral University with Highest Research Activity (R1) by the Carnegie Commission. We strive to create an environment where everyone contributes to…

I wasn’t one of those people who decided to become a lawyer after watching To Kill a Mockingbird, Witness for the Prosecution, and Twelve Angry Men, but they were some of my favorite movies. These movies and TV shows like Suits, How to Get Away with Murder, and Law & Order “teach” students and the general public that practicing law is sexy and/or confrontational. When I teach, I try to demystify and clear up some of the falsehoods, and that’s easy with litigation-type courses. When I taught Business Associations, it was a bit tougher but we often used movies or TV shows to illustrate the right and wrong ways to do things. As an extra credit assignment, I asked students to write a critique of what the writers missed, misrepresented, or completely misunderstood.

This semester, I will be teaching a transactional drafting course where the students represent either the buyer or the seller of a small, privately owned business. I would like to recommend movies or TV shows that don’t deal with multibillion dollar mergers, but I haven’t been watching too much TV lately. I’m looking for suggestions along the lines of Silicon Valley (which…

 

 

It’s the  start of a new year and a new semester. As Joan wrote earlier this week, we need to step back and take stock of our mental health. I’m the happiest lawyer I know and have been since I graduated from law school in 1992, but many lawyers and students aren’t so lucky. In fact, I probably spend 25-35% of my time on campus calming students down. Some have normal anxiety that fades as they gain more confidence.  I often recommend that those students read Grit or at least listen to the Ted talk. Others tell me (without my asking) about addictions, clinical depression, and other information that I should not know about. I know enough to refer to them to help. Closer to home, my 22-year old son has lost several friends to suicide. Many of those friends went to the best high schools and colleges in the country and seemed to have bright futures. And as we know, the suicide rate for lawyers is climbing.

Thankfully, the American Bar Association has gathered a number of resources for law students here. Practicing lawyers can find valuable tools for lawyer well-being here and a podcast for lawyers…

Happy New Year! I had another post planned but will post it tomorrow.

As we get ready for the next semester and look for new inspiration, we may want to learn about some best practices. Scott Fruehwald has posted his roundup of the best legal education articles of 2018 here. Since I couldn’t make it to AALS this year, I plan to spend part of my weekend digesting the articles mentioned in the post. Make sure you let him know of any articles that should be added to the list. 

In January 2018, Larry Fink of Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, shocked skeptics like me when he told CEOs:

In the current environment, these stakeholders are demanding that companies exercise leadership on a broader range of issues. And they are right to: a company’s ability to manage environmental, social, and governance matters demonstrates the leadership and good governance that is so essential to sustainable growth, which is why we are increasingly integrating these issues into our investment process. Companies must ask themselves: What role do we play in the community? How are we managing our impact on the environment? Are we working to create a diverse workforce? Are we adapting to technological change? Are we providing the retraining and opportunities that our employees and our business will need to adjust to an increasingly automated world? Are we using behavioral finance and other tools to prepare workers for retirement, so that they invest in a way that will help them achieve their goals?

In October 2018, Blackrock declared, “sustainable investing is becoming mainstream investing.” The firm bundled six existing ESG EFT funds and launched six similar funds in Europe and looked like the model corporate citisen.

So does Blackrock…