Although many may have heard by now, friend-of the-BLPB Usha Rodrigues has been named the next dean at the University of Georgia School of Law. We are delighted to see this. Usha joins a long and illustrious line of law deans with business law backgrounds. We wish her well in this new role for an institution she has served for many years.
What is the Future of Contracts?
A law firm recently reached out to me to conduct a CLE on Mental Health Challenges in the Age of AI. It was an interesting request. I’ve spoken about AI issues on panels, as a keynote speaker, and in the classroom, and I wrote about it for Tennessee Journal of Business Law. I also conduct workshops and CLEs on mental health in the profession. But I’ve never been asked to combine the topics.
Before I discussed issues related to anxiety about job disruption and how cognitive overload affects the brain, I spent time talking about the various tools that are out there and how much our profession will transform in the very near future.
If you’re like many lawyers I know, you think that AI is more hype than substance. So I’ll share the information I shared with the law firm.
According to a 2024 Bloomberg survey on AI and the legal profession, 69% of Bloomberg survey respondents believe generative AI can be used ethically in legal practice. But they harbor “extreme” or “moderate” concerns about deep fakes (e.g., human impersonations, hallucinations and accuracy of AI-generated text, privacy, algorithmic bias, IP, and of course, job displacement.
Those are
Negotiation and Drafting Competitions for Law Students
One of the best ways for students to feel like "real lawyers" is for them to negotiate and draft contracts. The University of Miami will be announcing an inaugural invitational in the coming weeks so if you want to be in sunny Florida in early February, stay tuned. That competition will not require knowledge of M&A.
If M&A is your happy place, here's a fantastic opportunity from the American Bar Association.
MAC CUP II- ABA M&A Committee Invitational
Fall 2024 – January 2025
Application and Preliminary Instructions
The M&A Committee of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section is seeking applications from JD students enrolled in ABA-approved law schools in the US and Canada to participate in its annual ABA M&A Committee Invitational (the “MAC Cup”).
Get your sunscreen and sunglasses ready — the “Final Four” teams will win an expense-paid trip to Laguna Beach, California, to compete for the championship at the ABA M&A Committee’s annual meeting on January 30 – 31, 2025.
Students should apply, and will participate, in teams of two. Qualifying rounds will be held during Fall 2024, with final rounds in January 2025. Additional information is attached below. Materials from last year’s MAC Cup, and
Why I’m Having More Fun Teaching Business Associations Than Ever Before
I didn't really think it through. I actually thought that teaching Business Associations (BA) online, would mean that I would have fewer students. I'm teaching online because I have two immunocompromised parents and I don't want to take any risks. But alas, I have 90 students this semester.
Not to brag, but I'm pretty good at teaching online. I haves some students who have taken three or four classes with me online and none of them are required. But I have never taught ninety online. That number is completely contrary to best practices for online teaching and learning.
I even tried to scare some students away. Before every semester, I ask all students to complete a Google form that helps me understand them a bit better. This lets me know how to pronounce their names, what experience they have in business, where they have worked, what classes they are taking, and what they are most interested in learning about. This survey helped me understand how many of them were taking BA and Evidence at the same time. Some masochists are taking BA, Evidence, and our Transactional Skills I course, which is incredibly time consuming. But alas, only two dropped.
SEALS Conference Reflection — Mind, Soul, and Body?
Last month, I was able to attend the SEALS Conference for the first time in a few years. It was good to see a number of old friends and meet some new ones. And I really enjoyed the many discussions on a wide variety of legal topics.
While most academic panels are understandably focused on the mind, it was interesting to see a number of discussions focus on soul-related issues, including a couple on mindfulness/meditation and a few focused on religiously affiliated law schools.
Traditionally, legal academics do an excellent job sharpening the mind. “Think like a lawyer” is a phrase even my colleagues across campus know. The soul gets much less attention at most schools, but that seems to be changing a bit, especially with increasing concerns for lawyer well-being.
The body, however, seems almost entirely neglected both at the SEALS Conference and at law schools nationwide. Yes, there were tennis and pickleball tournaments, but I don’t think there was a single panel related to the physical health of our students, faculty, and staff.
At the undergraduate level, many universities have one or more required fitness classes, but I don’t know of any law school with similar requirements.
Bragging on a Student Today . . . .
We do not often talk or write about the scholarship our students produce. A number of my students have won prizes for their work; more have seen their work published (in one case I know of, three times!). I wish I had said more about all of that as it was happening.
Today, I want to promote the work of a rising 3L that I am working with on a project. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy. His name is Caleb Atkins.
Caleb recently completed work on an article in the area of healthcare regulation, a big topic in the State of Tennessee, as you may know. Healthcare is a big business in Tennessee. Many of our students get jobs in that field.
I became interested in Caleb's research while he was working on it because of my knowledge of the merger that underlies and inspired his inquiries. The consolidation of healthcare facilities in various parts of the United States can have alarming effects on people. His article provides illustrations. I just love that Caleb has taken on this work as a student. Months ago, I asked if I could share his work
Celebrating Law Leadership!
I have written in the past about the intersections of leadership and law, including business law. See, for example, here, here, here, here, and here. And I was privileged to be the Interim Director, for over three years, of the institute for Professional Leadership at The University of Tennessee College of Law. I find there is such a strong connection between leadership and business law teaching and practice . . . .
We are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Institute for Professional Leadership this fall. The celebration, which will take place on Thursday, October 24 and Friday, October 25, will include a gala dinner and a symposium featuring workshops, a call-for-papers panel, and a series of expert panels. The "save the date" notice is included above. I hope you will consider responding to the forthcoming call for proposals and papers. But regardless, I hope you will consider attending. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions.
Law School Better than a Meme
The meme below has been going around about the different framing for medical school and law school. I get why it is kind of amusing, but it is mostly rather upsetting because it resonates too readily with too many people.
Although that has never been the institutional approach anywhere I have been, I will concede that there are at least some faculty members (and plenty members of the bench and bar) who think this way about law school and the legal profession.
When I became a dean, I decided to do it, in part, because of how much I believe in the legal profession and what we are charged to do. I believed, and I continue to believe, that lawyers are there to help people in what is often their worst of times. Even when it is not bad, it is still usually a very significant time. At the risk of being cliché, that means our jobs come with great power and responsibility.
Despite what you may hear, our law students today are capable, smart, and caring. They may not view the world the way we did, but we didn’t view the world the same as our predecessors, either. There
Counseling Creators: Influencers, Artists and Trendsetters Negotiation Competition and Conference
If you happen to be in Miami or think it's worth it to fly there next week, this is for you. I'll be moderating the panel on regulatory considerations for promoters and influencers and we have student teams competing from all over the country.
February 29 – March 1
University of Miami
Content is king. We live in the golden age where content creators, artists, and influencers wield power and can shift culture. Brands want to collaborate. Creators need to be sophisticated, understand deal points and protect their brand and intellectual property. Miami Law will be the first law school in the country to pull together law students with leading lawyers, influencers, artists, creatives and trendsetters for a negotiation competition and conference.
Negotiation Competition – Thursday, February 29
Where
Shalala Student Center, 1330 Miller Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33146
Who Should Participate
This competition is ideal for law and business students. THE. TEAMS ARE FINALIZED ALREADY.
What to Expect
Participants will have the chance to represent influencers, brands, artists, fashion companies and other creators in the first ever Counseling Creators: Influencers, Artists and Trendsetters Negotiation Competition
- Register a team of law students (can include business school students)
- Team of
Are Lawyers, Lawmakers, and Law Professors Really Ready for AI in 2024?
We just finished our second week of the semester and I’m already exhausted, partly because I just submitted the first draft of a law review article that’s 123 pages with over 600 footnotes on a future-proof framework for AI regulation to the University of Tennessee Journal of Business Law. I should have stuck with my original topic of legal ethics and AI.
But alas, who knew so much would happen in 2023? I certainly didn’t even though I spent the entire year speaking on AI to lawyers, businesspeople, and government officials. So, I decided to change my topic in late November as it became clearer that the EU would finally take action on the EU AI Act and that the Brussels effect would likely take hold requiring other governments and all the big players in the tech space to take notice and sharpen their own agendas.
But I’m one of the lucky ones because although I’m not a techie, I’m a former chief privacy officer, and spend a lot of time thinking about things like data protection and cybersecurity, especially as it relates to AI. And I recently assumed the role of GC of an AI startup. So