Legal Commentary

In this morning's NYT, one of my favorite writers there, Clyde Haberman, goes to town on John Thain, the Merrill Lynch CEO who's been recently deposed.  I understand the sense of frustration and anger; indeed, I'm a shareholder in Bank of America, which bought ML late in 2008 and has since declined precipitously. So it's no surprise to see popular anger (like Clyde's) over reports stating that Thain spent $1.2 million

to redecorate his office ? purchases like an $87,784 area rug, a $68,179 19th-century credenza, a $35,115 commode and an $18,468 George IV chair. The rug alone cost the equivalent of nearly two years? pay for the average worker in New York State. 

As Haberman writes, "If anyone should blush, you?d think it would be Mr. Thain." But Haberman wants the Thains of the world to be held up to scorn and shaming, despite my efforts to persuade him otherwise. My recent arch-nemesis appears to agree:

"Folks like John Thain are perfect candidates for public shaming on billboards and in the press," Professor Calandrillo said. ?Their good name is what allows them to succeed in business. Once that is stripped, they have little left.? Others in business, he added, may then think twice about their own actions.

Update: Over at Co-Op, Danielle Citron notes with greater specificity the dangers of even the privately-instigated shaming punishments, alerting us to the fact that shaming the Thains of the world can be "particularly potent in our networked age: online and offline shaming can ruin reputations, produce privacy invasions, and lead to offline stalking and physical violence."  She develops that argument in much greater detail in a very interesting piece entitled Cyber Civil Rights, which appeared in the BU Law Review a few months ago and which you can download here.