… you’ll probably want to start out as a young natural history collector. But is that still even legal? [Ann Althouse quoting Sir David Attenborough, Independent]
Archive for 2012
Hurricane Sandy recovery and occupational licensing
To get your power turned back on in the Rockaways, according to a spokesman for the Long Island Power Authority, you’re going to need a pre-inspection for your house not just from a licensed electrician, but from one licensed in NYC — nearby Nassau County, or upstate, won’t do. If occupational licensure makes any sense at all — and Milton Friedman had a thing or two to say about that — it certainly needs to be reconsidered under conditions of public emergency and disaster recovery, or so I argue in my new post at Cato at Liberty.
For more background on the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) as a political football, by the way, check out Nicole Gelinas in the New York Post. Also on disaster recovery, why this might be a good time to rethink municipal ordinances barring property owners from removing old trees [Chris Fountain]. And: “Can customers sue power companies for outages? Yes, but it’s hard to win” [Alison Frankel, Reuters]
November 13 roundup
- New law grads and others, come work for liberty at the Cato Institute’s legal associate program [Ilya Shapiro]
- Lawsuit against United Nations seeks compensation for mass cholera outbreak in Haiti [Kristen Boon, Opinio Juris]
- “Parents Sue Energy Drink After Girl’s Death” [NBC Washington; Hagerstown, Md.] “The New York Times Reveals That 18 Servings of an Energy Drink Might Be Excessive” [Jacob Sullum]
- Claim: There is no explosion of patent litigation [Adam Mossoff, Truth on the Market, and further]
- “After Inmates Sue for Dental Floss, Jailers Explain the Security Risk” [ABA Journal, earlier]
- Court: First Amendment protects right of “The Bachelor” producers to consider contestants’ race [Volokh, earlier]
- From Florida tobacco litigation to an, um, interesting higher-education startup [Inside Higher Ed, h/t Overlawyered commenter Jeff H.]
“‘Legally Insane’ Judge Wins Re-Election in Chicago”
“Behold the power of incumbency,” including Judge Cynthia Brim’s successful campaign to retain her $182,000/year job; her “18-year tenure,” as the Chicago Tribune puts it with wry understatement, “has been marked by controversy.” [Above the Law]
George Mason conference, “Unlocking the Law”
Last week the George Mason U. School of Law in Virginia held its second annual Henry G. Manne Law and Economics Conference, on the theme “Unlocking the Law: Building on the Work of Larry E. Ribstein,” in honor of the late University of Illinois legal scholar (and friend). Among the panelists and moderators were Henry Manne, dean emeritus of the school; John McGinnis of Northwestern; Judge Douglas Ginsburg of the D.C. Circuit; William Henderson of Indiana; and Benjamin Barton of Tennessee. I live-tweeted a few of the many interesting papers. Some highlights, in downward chronological order rather than the Twitter-standard reverse:
At George Mason U. Law & Econ conference in honor of late Larry Ribstein #GMULaw First panel’s on legal education
— overlawyered (@overlawyered) November 9, 2012
John McGinnis paper proposes undergrad option for legal education, common in other countries but banned here #GMUlaw
— overlawyered (@overlawyered) November 9, 2012
Henry Manne observes existing law school profs would fight tooth/nail against undergrad alternative. McGinnis: “well aware” of that #GMUlaw
— overlawyered (@overlawyered) November 9, 2012
Doug Ginsburg, moderating: Milton Friedman’s writing on medical licensing prefigured a lot of this discussion #GMUlaw
— overlawyered (@overlawyered) November 9, 2012
Henry Manne cites @catoinstitute study on how there are really no “nonprofit” universities, faculty captures the residuals #GMUlaw
— overlawyered (@overlawyered) November 9, 2012
McGinnis: worst waste in 7-year law training (4 undergrad + 3 law school) is not tuition but opportunity cost of students’ time #GMUlaw
— overlawyered (@overlawyered) November 9, 2012
William Henderson speaking on economic trends in BigLaw. Total law firm employment peaked in 2004, down 5% #GMUlaw
— overlawyered (@overlawyered) November 9, 2012
Henderson: meanwhile, employment in “All Other Legal Services” category growing very fast. These are firms owned by non lawyers. #GMUlaw
— overlawyered (@overlawyered) November 9, 2012
Henderson: Until crisis most laterals moved “up” to more highly ranked firms, now most move “down.” “It’s like the Hunger Games.” #GMUlaw
— overlawyered (@overlawyered) November 9, 2012
Ben Barton on disruption of law firm biz model: “20% of new LLCs in Calif. in 2011 were LegalZoom-based” (automated form provider) #GMUlaw
— overlawyered (@overlawyered) November 9, 2012
Barton: by 10 years from now, will firms like LegalZoom succeed in automating pro se litigation? If so, revolutionary #GMUlaw
— overlawyered (@overlawyered) November 9, 2012
Supreme Court roundup
- Decline Medicare benefits, lose your Social Security? Tell it to SCOTUS [Trevor Burrus and Kathleen Hunker, Cato]
- “Castle” protections against official home intrusion aren’t forfeited just because you’re a renter [Ilya Shapiro and Sophie Cole, Cato]
- Was Hitler a pirate? Answer could shape SCOTUS Kiobel decision [Alison Frankel] Inside the effort to rein in the Alien Tort Statute [Reuters] Editorials urge limiting ATS [WaPo, WSJ] More: Bainbridge, Kenneth Anderson, roundtable at Opinio Juris, Ted Frank.
- Major takings case (Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. U.S.) argued at SCOTUS [Ilya Somin, Damon Root, Federalist Society with Richard Epstein, Gideon Kanner] Court also decides to hear important regulatory takings case, St. Johns River Waste Management District v. Koontz [Somin]
- On the supposedly pro-business Supreme Court [Stephen Richer, Forbes; Ted Frank]
- Previews of the Court term [Adam Freedman, Point of Law, Federalist Society/C-SPAN, Above the Law]
- Are we nearing a “constitutional moment”? [Michael Greve with responses from William Galston and William Voegeli, Law and Liberty]
“Britain’s crackdown on Web comments sparks free-speech debate”
“Facebook and Twitter have landed several Britons in court and even jail recently. Critics decry the trend as a worrisome overreaction.” [L.A. Times]
Schneiderman vs. market-clearing prices
Some politicians just want there to be random shortages [WSJ editorial]:
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has subpoenaed the Craigslist website for the identities of people who advertised gas for sale at high prices. Mr. Schneiderman is doing this in the name of a New York law that forbids charging an “unconscionably excessive price” during an “abnormal disruption in the market.”
My new HuffPo piece: GOP votes carried Maryland Question 6 to victory
Romney voters swung in large numbers to provide the decisive margin for Maryland’s approval of same-sex marriage, according to county-level data I analyze in this new Huffington Post piece. In my own precinct Question 6 ran 14 points ahead of the vote for President Obama, a margin not uncommon in other parts of the state that could be described as economically conservative and socially moderate.
Don’t
Errant West Virginia attorney: “Mr. Robinson committed a criminal offense by beating Mr. Gump, his client, with a baseball bat” [Charleston Gazette]