Category Archives: Uncategorized

Who knew? Trump is on the side of ordinary consumers regarding “RIPOFF DRUG PRICES.”

So, you didn't predict that Trump would turn his sickening response to the white nationalist terror attack in Charlottesville into a faux pro-consumer attack on high prescription-drug prices? Me neither. Here goes: As this article by Glenn Thrush explains, "Merck’s chief executive, Kenneth C. Frazier, resigned from the president’s American Manufacturing Council on Monday, saying he objected to the […]

Study on contingent-fee recoveries and contingent fees

Eric Helland, Daniel Klerman, Brenda Dowling, and Alexander Kappner have written Contingent Fee Litigation in New York City. The authors were able to conduct this study because, by court rule, lawyers practicing in parts of New York City must file data about contingent-fee settlements. (I wonder why other courts don't require the same.) One thing I […]

Can law bloggers be subjected to Bar discipline for misstating facts or law?

by Paul Alan Levy On Friday morning, a panel at the annual meeting in New York of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers will be discussing an issue dear to the heart of blawgers who discuss subjects that make powerful figures in their own areas uncomfortable – to what extent should lawyers be subject to […]

David Dayen on Foreclosure Victims and Playing Politics

by Jeff Sovern The title of the piece, in The New Republic, is The Left’s Misguided Debate Over Kamala Harris. Perhaps non-Californians will be less interested in the parts about Kamala Harris and more interested in the parts about foreclosure victims (recall that Dayen wrote the excellent book Chain of Title about the foreclosure crisis). Here […]

“The FTC and FBI are shining the spotlight on your kid’s smart toys”

From an op-ed by Janis Kestenbaum, formerly of the Federal Trade Commission, in The Hill today: While children may be fans of talking dinosaurs, robots and stuffed animals, the federal government appears to have its concerns. At least that is the suggestion from a warning to parents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that came […]

Who Regulates Arbitration?

That's the name of this article by law prof David Noll. Here is the abstract: One of the most important battles currently being fought in the United States' "arbitration wars" involves regulation by federal administrative agencies. Since 2014, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, National Labor Relations Board, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Departments of Defense, […]

Is there a future for mass-tort class actions?

That's a key issue addressed by law prof Alexandra Lahav in Mass Tort Class Actions – Past, Present, and Future. Here is the abstract: The judicial experiment with mass tort class actions was an anemic one, albeit somewhat spectacular in a few cases that have captured the academic and professional imagination. This Essay explains that the […]

Back-breaking student-loan collection courtesy of the Commonwealth of Virginia

According to the Department of Education, there's about $1.4 trillion in outstanding U.S. student loan debt, $137 billion of which is in default (with 1.1 million students going into default in 2016 alone). No long-term solutions are on the horizon. Meanwhile, as Danielle Douglas-Gabrielle explains in this article,"thousands of Virginia students [are] caught in a […]

Will Trump suppress his government’s climate change report?

The New York Times has gotten a hold of a draft of the federal government's climate science special report. The draft report is slated to be part of the National Climate Assessment, which is required by Congress every 4 years. The draft report represents the collective judgment of scientists from, among other places, 13 federal agencies. […]