Academic

Ashley Judd, Harvard Graduate Student

Posted on August 05, 2009
I told myself that I was going on a blogging diet -- no more posting (other than posts that are already written -- like my series on probate in the old South) until I get dug out from the pile...

The Loving Analogy: Yes or No?

Posted on August 05, 2009
Robert George, professor of jurisprudence at Princeton, has written an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on gay marriage. His basic argument is this: redefining marriage to include same-sex unions would contradict the democratic process if courts intervened...

10 Things Adoption Agencies Won't Say

Posted on August 05, 2009
Some of us (like Aristotle, Charles Dickens, and Faith Hill) are adopted. Some of us (like Paul Newman, John McCain, and Willie Mays) are adoptive parents. And some of us (like Joni Mitchell, Roseanne Barr, and David Crosby) have placed...

Shifting, Shelling Out, or Shirking? The Mystery of the Disappearing Medical Debts

Posted on August 05, 2009
Continuing in the series that Melissa Jacoby and Mirya Holman are writing on their recent paper, Managing Medical Bills on the Brink of Bankruptcy: We?re back again on Managing Medical Bills on the Brink of Bankruptcy. Yesterday we talked about...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Mid-week Links

Posted on August 05, 2009
James Boyle at Techdirt on the AP?s recently released plan to develop a new metadata/Digital Rights Management format for news stories. Robert Shiller on risk management failure as a cause of the current financial crisis in an interview with Charlie....

The Trusts for Freedom: Or How is Reese Witherspoon Related to Probate in the Old South?

Posted on August 04, 2009
Rather remotely is the honest answer to this question. But, in my attempt to link everything to famous people--hey, if there's the "Tribe Obama Thesis," why not "Reese Witherspoon on Antebellum Trust Law"?-- I thought I'd use a connection to...

Do you Kindle?

Posted on August 04, 2009
Green Apple Books in San Francisco touts the benefit of books over The Kindle in a couple of videos you can link to here. I'm sure The Kindle will continue to increase in market share, especially once its hefty price...

Why your dean is so productive

Posted on August 04, 2009
You may have noticed that your dean is incredibly productive. He or she is able to complete an astonishing array of projects, big and small, short term and long. Or perhaps you haven?t noticed. If not, I can assure you...

Chess boxing it is, then.

Posted on August 04, 2009
Following up on Kim's posts about cheating, doping, and technology and the wonderful spectacle of a bunch of drugged-up cyclists riding up a hill - or, um, whatever that whole Tour de France thing is about - yesterday's New York...

Does Your School Tweet?

Posted on August 04, 2009
It seems to be the collective wisdom that if law schools aren't using social networking technologies, they're in the dark ages, but a lot of us "over 40s" (*ahem*) are not as savvy as our students about how we should...

Question

Posted on August 04, 2009
Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable spokesman Earl Hutchinson calls the posters that have appeared in LA, depicting President Obama as a socialist variant of Heath Ledger's Joker character, "mean-spirited and dangerous." Article here. Where were these outcries when people were...

Jacoby and Holman on The Politics of Medical Bankruptcy

Posted on August 04, 2009
I've asked Melissa Jacoby and Mirya Holman to post a little bit more about their paper, which I mentioned yesterday. This is the first of three guest posts they'll be doing over the next few days: We?re grateful to the...

Celebrity Look-Alike Sperm Sale

Posted on August 04, 2009
L.A. Sperm Bank Offers Celebrity Look-a-Like Donors KTLA News 7:18 AM PDT, July 29, 2009 LOS ANGELES -- Want to have a baby that looks like your favorite celebrity? It just a whole lot easier to design your future baby,...

The New Technologies of the Antebellum Era: Steam and Trust

Posted on August 03, 2009
Among the findings that surprised Stephen Davis and me in our study of wills in the old South is how many wills contained trusts (either explicit or implicit)--nearly 40%. I had expected that trusts would be more a post-war phenomenon....

Thinking about persistence

Posted on August 03, 2009
I would like to thank Dan Filler for inviting me to join the Faculty Lounge this month. I used to blog at "Displacement of Concepts," but found that trying to teach, conduct traditional scholarly research, and perform service to the...

A New Meaning to Security Screening

Posted on August 03, 2009
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is trialling "whole body" security scanners for the first time, according to last week's Cleveland Plain Dealer. The new scanners see right through travellers' clothes and pick up security threats that metal detectors can miss, such...

Welcome Guest Blogger Robert Heverly

Posted on August 03, 2009
We're very pleased to welcome Professor Robert Heverly to the Lounge. Rob is a Visiting Professor at Michigan State University College of Law. From 2003-2008, he was a Lecturer in Law and Director of the LL.M. Programme in Information, Technology...

Jacoby and Holman on Managing Medical Bills on the Brink of Bankruptcy

Posted on August 03, 2009
Wondering about the connections between bankruptcy and medical bills? Melissa Jacoby (UNC Law School) and Mirya Holman (Duke Law School) have an important new paper on "Managing Medical Bills on the Brink of Bankruptcy: Evidence and Implications from a National...

And You Thought The UCC Was Challenging!

Posted on August 03, 2009
Co-lounger Kim Krawiec alerted me to this story in today's edition of The New York Times: No Casual Fans at World Series of Baseball Trivia. (Hey Kim -- did you know that your initials -- KK -- represent "two strikeouts"...

What Does Goldman?s VaR Mean?

Posted on August 03, 2009
Goldman Sach?s recent record profit announcement has been much in the news lately. See Chart 1 at right (image source CNN). And in some quarters at least, so has its Value-At-Risk (or VaR), which has also steadily increased. See Chart...

Singing the National Anthem

Posted on August 02, 2009
Revisiting a post from a few years back at propertyprof: I thought I?d pass along a link to Marvin Gaye?s rendition of the National Anthem at the 1983 NBA All Star Game. Given the recent discussion of what language we...

Terry-cloth jumpsuits

Posted on August 02, 2009
That's what I remember most about hand-me-downs as a kid - striped, fluorescent terry-cloth jumpsuits that my Aunt Eve pieced together from a McCall's pattern. That, along with bell-bottoms, concert Ts, and 2 inch heels on occasion. Being among the...

Food for Thought

Posted on August 02, 2009
How many people in the world go hungry every day? a) 500 million b) 700 million c) 900 million The correct answer is "none of the above." The actual number now exceeds one billion people, according to the U.N. World...

Testing Sport?s Limits : Cheating, Doping, and Technology

Posted on August 02, 2009
Last week, in Vive Le Tour! Vive Le Dope!, I discussed the issue of doping in professional cycling, contrasting the views on sports doping of Harvard Political Philosopher Michael Sandel and Judge Richard Posner, and suggesting that both missed an...

Applied Legal History: Demystifying the Doctrine of Odious Debts

Posted on August 01, 2009
Amidst all the talk of probate in the old South, I've been meaning to talk about another paper that Sarah Ludington and Mitu Gulati and I have up, "Applied Legal History: Demystifying the Doctrine of Odious Debts." The short version...

I love the internet! ... For Its Electronic Library

Posted on August 01, 2009
I'm sitting here working on my paper on Quaker ideas about justice for the Pastorius conference (and cursing why I agreed to this -- but I know it'll be fun once I get the paper finsihed). I just found that...

Thaler On Posner

Posted on August 01, 2009
Last week, I blogged about Richard Posner?s Wall Street Journal critique of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009, Treating Financial Consumers as Consenting Adults, in which he also took on behavioral economics and leading behavioral economist, Richard Thaler:...

Weekend Links

Posted on August 01, 2009
Feminist law professor Ann Bartow asks whether Lucia Whalen (aka the ?lady who called 911?) should also get a beer. That might make Al happy, but I vote that we forget the Bud Lite and non-alcoholic brews, and suggest a...

It's Saturday! Baseball Trivia!

Posted on August 01, 2009
What team roster has included the highest number of players later elected to the Hall of Fame? (I found a roster with nine.) Pictured: Jackie Robinson -- card #1 in the 1953 Topps set. He was one of six future...

"Blogging" "On" "Unnecessary" "Quotes"

Posted on August 01, 2009
Via Memo To Self, the "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks. Two of my favorites: Real estate "investments" And some kind of code

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.