Conglomerate Blog: Business, Law, Economics & Society

Victor Fleischer's Posts

Senate Finance on Taxing Sovereign Wealth (March 13, 2008)

The Senate Finance Committee is interested in taxing sovereign wealth funds. Or at least they want to learn more: Baucus... (Category: Taxation)

Current Law on Taxing Sovereign Wealth Funds: Why It's Good to Be The King (March 05, 2008)

For those interested in non-tax issues, The House Financial Services Committee is currently holding a hearing on Sovereign Wealth Funds.... (Category: Taxation)

Taxing Sovereign Wealth Funds (March 04, 2008)

My newest research project looks at the taxation of sovereign wealth funds. The paper is still a work-in-progress, but here... (Category: Taxation)

Welcome back, Brett (February 18, 2008)

The Conglomerate is pleased to welcome back Brett McDonnell for another guest-blogging stint. Brett was the very first guest on... (Category: Administrative)

Porter on Foreclosure (November 06, 2007)

Check out the NYT story (front page!) on Katie Porter and her research into foreclosure fees. Bankruptcy specialists say lenders... (Category: Corporate Governance)

Now we know the score ... (October 28, 2007)

... of the carried interest bill. Rep. Rangel introduced a new version of the Levin Bill on carried interest (i.e.... (Category: Taxation)

Andrew Ross Sorkin Interview (October 03, 2007)

My interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin appears in the NYT Dealbook print section today, or click through to Dealbook. The... (Category: Taxation)

Book/Tax Conformity for Stock Options (September 28, 2007)

Senator Levin introduced new legislation today on the tax treatment of stock options. Under current law, companies take a financial... (Category: Taxation)

Chicken Little (September 24, 2007)

Here's an excerpt from the National Venture Capital Association, talking about compensation and economic growth. Can you guess what [x]... (Category: Taxation)

AEI Carried Interest Debate (September 18, 2007)

I'm heading down to DC in the morning for a debate on carried interest hosted by the American Enterprise Institute.... (Category: Taxation)

What's the Score? (September 11, 2007)

Politico reports on the hottest tax issue in DC: How much revenue would be raised by the carried interest bill... (Category: Taxation)

Taxing Blackstone (September 05, 2007)

I'm in DC for tomorrow's Ways & Means Hearing on Fair and Equitable Tax Policy for America's Working Families. In... (Category: Taxation)

Goth and Taxes: Lee Sheppard (August 30, 2007)

Lynnely Browning profiles Lee Sheppard in the Int'l Herald Tribune. I don't always agree with Lee, but she does a... (Category: Taxation)

Knoll on Carried Interest (August 20, 2007)

Michael Knoll has a cool new paper estimating the revenue effects of changing the tax treatment of carried interest. Depending... (Category: Taxation)

The Quant Bloodbath (August 12, 2007)

Abnormal Returns has a great roundup of posts on the "quant bloodbath." Quantitative models aren't much better at accounting for... (Category: Hedge Funds)

The Academic Consensus on Carried Interest (July 31, 2007)

The Senate Finance Committee held another hearing on Carried Interest today; you can read the written testimony here. While the... (Category: Taxation)

This Week in Blackstone (June 24, 2007)

Wow, did I pick the wrong week to move. Blackstone went public, KKR is rumored to do the same, the... (Category: Taxation)

Pricing Blackstone's Tax Risk (June 20, 2007)

It's a taxation of carried interest fiesta at the WSJ today: Editorial, The Blackstone Tax (calling Congress a bunch of... (Category: Taxation)

Oaktree Capital: The Other PE PTP? (June 16, 2007)

The Blackstone Amendment stirred a lot of press coverage (see Paul Caron for all the links); I'm quoted in the... (Category: Taxation)

The Blackstone Amendment to the PTP Rules (June 14, 2007)

A bill by Baucus and Grassley was just announced. See here. It's a rifleshot approach that makes investment advisory and... (Category: Taxation)

The Blackstone IPO: Two and Twenty on Drugs (June 14, 2007)

Congress is considering closing the loophole that allows Blackstone to go public as a publicly-traded partnership without being taxed as... (Category: Taxation)

Taxing Carried Interest As Ordinary Income: A Policy Recommendation (June 14, 2007)

I've posted a revised version of my Two and Twenty paper on SSRN. The new version should be available on... (Category: Taxation)

2nd Annual Junior Tax Scholars Conference (June 05, 2007)

Miranda and I are headed off to Boston this weekend for the Second Annual Junior Tax Scholars Conference, which we... (Category: Conferences)

Stock Options and Book-Tax Conformity (June 05, 2007)

Kara Scannell and Sarah Lueck at the WSJ report Senator Levin's desire to close the book-tax gap with respect to... (Category: Taxation)

The Private Equity Election (June 04, 2007)

David Kirkpatrick has a story in today's NYT (quoting yours truly) about Mitt Romney's background in private equity. I personally... (Category: Politics)

Stagefright (June 03, 2007)

If you only know my blog persona, you may be surprised to learn that I suffer from glossophobia, better known... (Category: Conferences)

Reflections on Conference Season (May 28, 2007)

The month of May is high conference season for legal academics. The advice comes fast and furious. So this year,... (Category: Conferences)

CNBC - Closing Bell (May 16, 2007)

I'm tentatively scheduled to appear on CNBC's "Closing Bell" tomorrow, May 17th, at about 4 pm Eastern time. I'll be... (Category: Taxation)

AFL-CIO vs. Blackstone (May 16, 2007)

FT reports on the AFL-CIO's letter to the SEC. The union argues that Blackstone is an investment company for purposes... (Category: Securities Trading & Regulation)

Shaviro on Taxing Carry (May 15, 2007)

Professor Shaviro offers his thoughts on taxing carried interest distributions. He responds quite nicely to the "we need to subsidize... (Category: Taxation)

Private Equity Effects on Workers (May 15, 2007)

The House Financial Services Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow morning (10 am Eastern) on "Private Equity's Effects on Workers... (Category: Management)

Taxing Private Equity: Do the Right Thing (May 05, 2007)

I'm off to DC to present Two and Twenty at Monday's closed-door briefing of the Senate Finance Committee (i.e. mostly... (Category: Taxation)

May Day (May 01, 2007)

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the Senate Finance committee will hold a hearing next week on the... (Category: Taxation)

Academic Parlor Games (April 24, 2007)

In a recent post picked up by the New York Times, Frank Pasquale dissed Greg Mankiw's new paper on "The... (Category: Taxation)

Oh, Canada. (April 05, 2007)

I like Canada. Growing up in Buffalo I watched a lot of "Hockey Night in Canada," and like Don Cherry,... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

NY Times Editorial on Taxing Private Equity (April 02, 2007)

An editorial in this morning's Times mentions my paper, Two and Twenty: Taxing Partnership Profits in Private Equity Funds. The... (Category: Taxation)

Reuters and Bloomberg on Blackstone's Tax Structure (April 01, 2007)

Reuters and Bloomberg have picked up the thread on Blackstone's aggressive tax structure. Robert Willens, a highly-respected tax commentator, thinks... (Category: Taxation)

The Politics of Taxing Blackstone (March 26, 2007)

Related Posts: Blackstone IPO: The Tax Analysis, Blackstone IPO: Regulatory Arbitrage Blackstone's IPO structure is a nifty piece of tax... (Category: Taxation)

Blackstone IPO: Analysis of The Tax Risk (March 25, 2007)

Related post: The Blackstone IPO: Regulatory Arbitrage Blackstone's S-1 describes an intriguing tax structure, and it promises a tax opinion... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

The Blackstone IPO: Regulatory Arbitrage Extraordinaire (March 22, 2007)

Hat tip to Blackstone's lawyers for a fascinating deal structure. Here's a link to the S-1. I'd been wondering if... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

Boulder Diary: Googleplex Edition (March 21, 2007)

I just returned from a fascinating visit with Brad Schell, founder of SketchUp, which was acquired by Google last year.... (Category: Google)

Urban Entrepreneurship and the Promise of For-Profit Philanthropy (March 14, 2007)

On Friday, March 30th, I'll be speaking at the 2nd Annual Conference on Community Economic Development at the Western New... (Category: Entrepreneurs)

Reform Alternatives for Taxing Carry (March 11, 2007)

In Two and Twenty, I offer a menu of reform alternatives for taxing carry. One possibility, as noted in Sorkin's... (Category: Taxation)

Why We Should Change the Tax Treatment of Carry (March 11, 2007)

Today's New York Times has an article ("Of Private Equity, Politics and Income Taxes") about the Grassley proposal to tax... (Category: Taxation)

Taxing Carried Interest as Ordinary Income? (March 08, 2007)

According to a couple of sources, members of the Senate Finance Committee are considering a proposal to change the tax... (Category: Taxation)

The Fetishization of Independence (March 08, 2007)

Former Glom-Guest-Blogger Usha Rodrigues (Georgia) has posted a great new paper, The Fetishization of Independence. Here's the abstract: According to... (Category: Corporate Governance)

Partying Like It's 1999 (March 01, 2007)

The Glom is well represented here in Columbus today, as Christine and I are presenting at a conference on "IPOs... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

Bluebook vs. Technology (February 20, 2007)

Blogging about Bluebooking is Christine's bailiwick (also see her papers here and here), but I couldn't resist a link to... (Category: Law Reviews/Legal Scholarship)

Health Insurance Standard Deduction (vs. Credit) (January 23, 2007)

I like the health insurance proposal. It's not perfect, but it's a start. The president's proposal to replace the existing... (Category: Taxation)

TechStars: Angel Funding as For-Profit Philanthropy (January 15, 2007)

TechStars, similar to Y Combinator, is launching this summer in Boulder. Brad Feld has the details. Form of investment. At... (Category: Venture Capital)

Lambert on Intro to Business Organizations (January 14, 2007)

Thom Lambert has a great post describing how he introduces Hayek and Coase on his first class day of teaching... (Category: Economics)

Knoll on Implicit Taxes (January 13, 2007)

Michael Knoll has posted a fascinating and important paper, Compaq Redux: Implicit Taxes and the Question of Pre-Tax Profit on... (Category: Taxation)

Was Enron a Puzzle or a Mystery? (January 02, 2007)

In this week's New Yorker Malcolm Gladwell writes on Enron, intelligence, and the perils of too much information. Gladwell makes... (Category: Enron)

AALS Panel on Partnerships (January 02, 2007)

AALS Update: Thursday morning I will be presenting "Two and Twenty" to the AALS Section on Agency, Partnerships & LLCs.... (Category: Conferences)

Performance-enhanced law school exam taking? (December 28, 2006)

Here in Boulder discussion of doping usually revolves around cycling. Via the CU student blog I learn that a significant... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

We all use [tax] every day. (December 03, 2006)

Miranda and I are fans of the CBS show Numb3rs -- I mean, how can we not watch a show... (Category: Television)

"If you can do tax, you can do anything." (November 19, 2006)

Over at MoneyLaw, Jim Chen argues that tax is the last bastion of generalists: In other words, tax professors are... (Category: Taxation)

Boulder Diary: Dress Code Edition (November 08, 2006)

The setting: A "Technology Meetup" in Boulder, where six entrepreneurs get 10 minutes each to pitch their products and get... (Category: Entrepreneurs)

Patenting tax strategies (October 31, 2006)

Paul Caron links to today's NYT editorial on patenting tax strategies. There were two great presentations on the topic at... (Category: Taxation)

"The Tax Shelter War is Over." (October 28, 2006)

"The tax shelter war is over. The government won." So began the remarks of Pam Olson, a Skadden partner who... (Category: Taxation)

Options Backdating, Tax Shelters, and Corporate Culture (October 25, 2006)

This Friday, at the University of Minnesota's conference on the "Future of Tax Shelters," I'll be presenting Options Backdating, Tax... (Category: Taxation)

Visa IPO (October 11, 2006)

Visa is going public. (Details here.) The IPO is necessary to create a single-entity defense to antitrust claims. This will... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

Lingua Franca (October 08, 2006)

Usha's wonderful post, Notes of a Native Daughter, really got me thinking about how my parents shaped my path to... (Category: )

The Future of Tax Shelters (September 18, 2006)

Claire Hill and Kristin Hickman have put together what promises to be a great conference at the University of Minnesota... (Category: Taxation)

Long Live the Lincoln Town Car (September 18, 2006)

Whew. Ford isn't killing the Town Car after all, which means that NYC associates can still get a lift home... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Google.org: Brilliant? (September 14, 2006)

Google announced its for-profit charity today, Google.org, which will be run by Executive Director Larry Brilliant. In Brand New Deal,... (Category: Google)

Southwest Airlines: Hedging and Shareholder Value (September 14, 2006)

I've posted a teaching case entitled Southwest Airlines: Hedging and Shareholder Value. The case, which I designed and wrote up... (Category: Corporate Governance)

Options Backdating and Compliance Norms (Nawww, Honey, It Ain't Armed Robbery if the Gun Ain't Loaded) (September 03, 2006)

Some of my favorite bloggers (Ribstein, Josh Wright and Geoff Manne (aka TOTM) are rather harshly attacking Matt Bodie's recent... (Category: Corporate Governance)

Debt Compensation in Bankruptcy? (August 30, 2006)

Yair Listokin has an interesting new paper proposing that managers of bankrupt firms be compensated with debt rather than equity.... (Category: Finance)

Research Agenda (August 28, 2006)

There was an interesting discussion a while back on Prawfs on whether it's a good idea to have a research... (Category: )

New web site (August 28, 2006)

We're off to the races here in Colorado ... classes start today. For anyone who may be interested, I've put... (Category: Entrepreneurship Education)

Which Fields Are Essential? (August 21, 2006)

Like Christine, I was fascinated by Larry Garvin's The Strange Death of Academic Commercial Law. Tax folks, too, sometimes wonder... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Scholarship and Teaching - What's Next? (August 02, 2006)

If you haven't already, check out the blog forum over at ELS on Ben Barton's great paper on scholarly productivity... (Category: )

Teaching Venture Capital (July 30, 2006)

Gordon posted recently on "Law and Entrepreneurship," a field that I think we're all still trying to define clearly. Gordon... (Category: Venture Capital)

ERISA and Hedge Funds (July 28, 2006)

This W$J article notes how the pension bill going through Congress would make it easier for pension funds to get... (Category: Hedge Funds)

Forecasting top 25 faculty (July 24, 2006)

Pop Quiz: Which group is more likely to be currently working in a top 25 tenure-track university faculty positions: (a)... (Category: Empirical Legal Studies)

The Tax Consequences of Backdating Options (July 15, 2006)

Elements of the blogosphere have been critical of the media's blowing up of the backdating options scandal. (See, e.g., Manne,... (Category: Taxation)

Trends in Tax Scholarship (June 28, 2006)

Having made it through the "extreme" conferencing of the Junior Tax Scholars conference (18 papers in 2 days -- everything... (Category: )

Hedge fund rule overturned (June 23, 2006)

Via Peter Lattman, I see that the DC Circuit has overturned the SEC rule requiring hedge funds to register. After... (Category: )

Burleigh Grime$ (June 15, 2006)

Last week it was Hedgestock (Bobo finance having its finest moment), now it's a play - as in a theatrical... (Category: Popular Culture)

2006 Junior Tax Scholars Conference (June 13, 2006)

Lily Batchelder (NYU), Miranda Perry (Colorado), and I will be hosting the first annual Junior Tax Scholars Conference this weekend... (Category: Conferences)

The Enron Narrative (June 01, 2006)

Nothing beats the threat of jail time for focusing a client's attention. Looking ahead, however, the effectiveness of the Enron... (Category: Conglomerate Forum: Enron, Enron)

Training Transactional Lawyers (May 29, 2006)

Later this week I'll be in DC attending a meeting of the AALS Curriculum Committee. I think I was asked... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Nerds + Rich People = The Next Silicon Valley? (May 29, 2006)

Nerd/Programmer/VC Paul Graham has posted an essay, How to Be Silicon Valley. (HT to Phil Weiser.) Graham argues that you... (Category: Venture Capital)

Do you have the clock speed we need? (May 21, 2006)

A while back, A VC's cliche of the week was "clock speed," as in "Does he have the clock speed... (Category: )

Some People Do Care About Tax (May 12, 2006)

Yair Listokin asks: Why Doesn't Anyone Care About Tax Law? I agree with David Gamage's comment -- I think if... (Category: Conferences)

Angels Get Some Manna (May 11, 2006)

Kirk Stark points me to H.R. 5198: The Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs Act of 2006. I don't know if... (Category: Venture Capital)

B of A Credit Card Brand (April 28, 2006)

Here's a story on Bank of America's announcement that it may elbow its way into the credit card business. (Thanks... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

Nerd Branding (April 27, 2006)

Here in Boston for the Oracle/MasterCard and Bloggership conferences, I'm staying at "The Hotel at MIT." It's a Doubletree hotel... (Category: Marketing)

Harvard Conference on Case Studies (April 24, 2006)

This Wednesday I will be presenting The MasterCard IPO: Protecting the Priceless Brand at a conference on case studies hosted... (Category: Conferences)

Visiting Professorships and the AMT (April 15, 2006)

Happy tax day everyone. As Christine and others have noted, a visiting professorship can be a wonderful tax shelter. In... (Category: Taxation)

CEOs and their VCs (April 11, 2006)

Dealbook links to an interesting NVCA survey about the relationship between CEOs and VCs. Be sure to click through to... (Category: Venture Capital)

Conferences and Inside Baseball (April 06, 2006)

A reliable source tells me that, for five hours or so yesterday, ALEA allowed access to the versions of papers... (Category: Conferences)

Bobos and the New Urbanism (March 28, 2006)

As I mentioned yesterday, our new condo in Boulder will be in the Holiday Neighborhood, a development in North Boulder.... (Category: Marketing)

The Other Underpricing Puzzle: New Real Estate Developments (March 27, 2006)

We're buying a condo in a new development in Boulder (more about the neighborhood soon). I was struck by what... (Category: Finance)

Two and Twenty: Partnership Profits in Hedge Funds, VC Funds and Private Equity (March 23, 2006)

I've posted a very preliminary draft of Two and Twenty: Partnership Profits in Hedge Funds, Venture Capital Funds and Private... (Category: Taxation)

SSRN Entrepreneurship & Law Journal (March 21, 2006)

The Kauffman Foundation is sponsoring a new Entrepreneurship & Law Journal on SSRN. I'll be serving as editor of the... (Category: SSRN)

March Madness: Fleischer (UCLA) vs. Hurt (Marquette) (March 13, 2006)

I'm mired in the quagmire of subchapter K (that's partnership tax to all you taxophobes out there), working through my... (Category: Sports)

MasterCard IPO -- Protecting the Priceless Brand (March 08, 2006)

I've just posted a draft of my case study of the MasterCard IPO. It's a neat deal structure. It's mainly... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

Monkey [bleeping] Scribes? (March 07, 2006)

In my Deals class, we talk about what transactional lawyers do. I often make the case that lawyers do more... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Taxing Private Equity Profits (March 02, 2006)

I'm presenting my "Two and Twenty" paper today at UCLA on the taxation of partnership profits in private equity. I... (Category: Venture Capital)

Fit and Justify (February 26, 2006)

What kind of scholarship do you write? At the UCLA tax colloquium last week, Ted Seto offered some wonderful insight... (Category: )

To: Professor@University.edu Subject: Why It's All About Me (February 21, 2006)

My favorite NYT reporter, Jonathan Glater, has a great article about student emails. I've received some doozies, and I'd guess... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Kleiner Perkins XII: Can VCs be Green? (February 17, 2006)

Kleiner Perkins, the legendary venture capital firm, has closed Fund XII. They've raised $600 million, and in addition to the... (Category: Venture Capital)

Buy The Big Mac, Sell The Burrito - Forbes.com (February 14, 2006)

A little fast food arbitrage opportunity, thanks to McDonalds and Chipotle -- or that's what's suggested by the headline from... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

Rocky Mountain High (February 12, 2006)

Apologies for the light blogging lately. As many Conglomerate readers already know, I've had a lot of great things going... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Whopperettes and the retail IPO (February 04, 2006)

Thanks, Lisa, for bringing up the upcoming BK IPO. The current state of the Burger King brand may even be... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

Steering Culture (January 27, 2006)

I just read the most unusual exhibit to an SEC filing. Check out the Disney-Pixar merger agreement, exhibit 99. It's... (Category: Disney)

Delving into Davos (January 27, 2006)

Check out the NYT's Delving into Davos Blog. Why don't Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie show up at any of... (Category: Blogs and Blawgs)

Livingston on Religious Approaches to the Progressive Income Tax (January 26, 2006)

Today at our Tax Policy Colloquium, Michael Livingston (Rutgers-Camden) presents Rendering Unto Caesar: Religious Approaches to the Progressive Income Tax.... (Category: Taxation)

Tax Economist Humor (January 24, 2006)

The transcript from last fall's Brookings conference on taxing capital income is here. Joel Slemrod from the University of Michigan... (Category: Taxation)

Is SOX leading more firms to go private? (January 24, 2006)

I had the pleasure of seeing Eric Talley present yesterday at UCLA's Corporate Governance Colloquium, which Steve Bainbridge is organizing.... (Category: Securities Trading & Regulation)

Whatever happened to tax reform? (January 19, 2006)

Beth Garrett is speaking at our Tax Colloquium this week. (Paul Caron has more details, along with a link to... (Category: Taxation)

Counterfeit Chic (January 09, 2006)

Speaking of women bloggers ... my friend Susan Scafidi (SMU) has a new blog: Counterfeit Chic. It's at the intersection... (Category: Blogs and Blawgs)

Friday AALS Panels (January 05, 2006)

Just a quick plug for my two panels at AALS tomorrow. At 8:30, I'll be on the tax panel: "New... (Category: Conferences)

Boulder Specialty Brands (December 20, 2005)

I've been in Boulder for the last couple of weeks, and I've had at least a half dozen conversations with... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

The Economics of Capital Punishment? (December 18, 2005)

Becker-Posner blogs about capital punishment. Posner writes: Early empirical analysis by Isaac Ehrlich found a substantial incremental deterrent effect of... (Category: Economics)

An alternative (progressive?) corporate law agenda? (December 12, 2005)

Many thanks to Matt Bodie for his great posts here the last two weeks. I want to follow up with... (Category: Corporate Governance)

Columbia Law Review Fellowship (December 08, 2005)

The Columbia Law Review has announced a fellowship for law review alums interested in law teaching. It sounds like a... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Pricing Legal Risk (December 04, 2005)

I've been working on a case study of the MasterCard IPO. MasterCard is going public early next year. The structure... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

"A career-limiting move of epic proportions" (December 04, 2005)

Read all about carving up the bonus pool at Goldman Sachs. Thanks to David Zaring for the tip. It's interesting... (Category: Hedge Funds)

Welcome, Matt (November 28, 2005)

A warm welcome to Matt Bodie, who will be guest-blogging with us for the next two weeks. Matt recently became... (Category: Blogs and Blawgs)

Pension Funds, Hedge Funds and Branding (November 28, 2005)

The NYT had a story yesterday about the trend of pension funds pouring money into hedge funds. Thanks to JJ... (Category: Hedge Funds)

Cultivating Gifted Kids (November 20, 2005)

Ann Althouse, sympathetically commenting on a NYT Magazine article on the "gifted child movement," suggests that we should "let kids... (Category: Entrepreneurship Education)

Sneak Peek at Hedge Fund Data (November 20, 2005)

A follow up to our discussion of hedge funds: Over the weekend I was able to get my hands on... (Category: Securities Trading & Regulation)

A Poker Puzzle (November 16, 2005)

Reading Christine Hurt and Thomas Schelling while watching the WSOP on my TiVo can only lead to one result: blogging... (Category: Gambling)

Hedge Funds: A Compensation Scheme Masquerading as an Asset Class (November 14, 2005)

After a long weekend trying to figure out exactly what I want to say in my hedge fund paper (apologies... (Category: Securities Trading & Regulation)

The Future of Hedge Fund Regulation (November 11, 2005)

I've been working on a paper on hedge funds. There I sneak in the clever point that the SEC rule... (Category: Securities Trading & Regulation)

How to Win Downloads and Influence People (November 11, 2005)

Like tax avoidance or earnings management, goosing one's academic reputation with a little creative gamesmanship is nothing new. Cf. Balkin... (Category: SSRN)

Law School Reputation: The X Factor (November 07, 2005)

Gordon asks whether publication in elite peer-reviewed and student-edited journals is the only path to pre-eminence. Perhaps. But there is... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Thanks, David (November 07, 2005)

Just a quick thank you to David Zaring, who did a fine job of stirring up trouble by writing about... (Category: Administrative)

On the Sociology of Halloween Costumes (October 31, 2005)

Happy Halloween, everyone. It's long been my favorite holiday -- it's a license to be goofy. I worry, tho, that... (Category: Popular Culture)

Bodie on Pensions and Moral Hazard (October 29, 2005)

Over at Prawfs, Matt Bodie looks at Lowenstein's NYT article on Pensions and concludes that the doomsday picture isn't really... (Category: Securities Trading & Regulation)

Still White House Counsel (October 27, 2005)

OK, Miers is out. Now that we've determined that she's a terrible writer, a sloppy thinker, a sycophant and a... (Category: Constitutional Law)

Zaring Reports: Welcome, Dave (October 23, 2005)

The Glom welcomes David Zaring (Washington & Lee), who will be guest-blogging with us. Dave's an accomplished ad law and... (Category: Administrative)

Lay preps for trial (October 21, 2005)

A friend in Houston tips me to this story about Ken Lay, who is planning to tell his side of... (Category: Enron)

Time to Short GOOG? (At least until tomorrow) (October 21, 2005)

It's a bizarro day for Glomming Google. I'm usually the most pro-Google of the bunch. Today, Gordon gets wowed. He's... (Category: Google)

Raskolnikov on the Design of Tax Penalties (October 21, 2005)

Alex Raskolnikov (Columbia) has posted his paper on the design of tax penalties, which I briefly blogged about last week.... (Category: Taxation)

Miersisms. Or am I misunderestimating, the nominee? (October 18, 2005)

Dave Hoffman points me to Miers' written response to the Senate, which includes the following gem (p.50): My experience on... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Tax Reform -- X tax? (October 18, 2005)

Dan Shaviro and Paul Caron discuss the press story reporting that the tax reform commission will endorse David Bradford's X-tax... (Category: Taxation)

The Value of a JD/MBA (October 17, 2005)

Two recent Harvard JD/MBAs survey alumni and discuss career paths in this interesting paper. Recommended reading for anyone thinking about... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Columbia Roundtable on Tax Shelters (October 17, 2005)

Paul Caron blogs Lee Sheppard's coverage of the Columbia Roundtable on Narrowing the Tax Gap. I was at the conference... (Category: Taxation)

Miers and the Sociology of Tax Shelters (October 11, 2005)

Paul Caron has noted the involvement of Miers' law firm (while she was co-managing partner) in some shady tax shelters.... (Category: Taxation)

Can Institutional Blawgs Thrive? (October 06, 2005)

Matt Bodie has a great post on the future of blogging. I think we've entered the "Internet Boom" phase, as... (Category: Blogs and Blawgs)

Concurring Opinions Spinoff (October 05, 2005)

Dan Solove and Kaimi Wenger have spun-off from Prawfs. They even have a registration statement. Just like a real registration... (Category: Blogs and Blawgs)

Google's Free WiFi -- Time to go national? (October 03, 2005)

Gordon notes Google's plan to provide free wifi in San Francisco. This could be the beginning of a huge move... (Category: Google)

Tax Colloquia in the Spring (October 03, 2005)

Dan Shaviro's schedule at NYU is up, along with what looks like an amazing conference in honor of David Bradford.... (Category: Taxation)

Hedge funds going retail (September 30, 2005)

This story from the NYT describes a hedge fund that's not only asking for retail investors, but pitching the fund... (Category: Securities Trading & Regulation)

Give Back The Tax Cut (September 30, 2005)

Via Brian Leiter, I find GiveBackTheTaxCut.org, which asks patriotic Americans to give back the Bush tax cut to charity. The... (Category: Taxation)

State tax conference (September 28, 2005)

Good call, Kristin: The Supreme Court granted cert in Cuno vs. Daimler Chrysler, the case that Kristin Hickman's conference at... (Category: Taxation)

Continuity of Interest Doctrine (September 28, 2005)

Joshua Blank (Wachtell) has an interesting paper arguing that we do away with the continuity of interest doctrine for corporate... (Category: Taxation)

State tax conference (September 26, 2005)

Speaking of tax conferences ... Taxprof Kristin Hickman is organizing a conference on State Tax Incentives at Minnesota on Friday... (Category: Conferences)

What's Bigger Than Cisco, Coke, Or McDonald's? (September 26, 2005)

Check out this article about Stephen Feinberg's Cerberus Capital Management LP. It's part hedge fund, part buyout fund, part monster.... (Category: Corporate Governance)

Taxing Capital Income (September 25, 2005)

The Brookings/Urban Institute conference on Taxing Capital Income was interesting on several levels. For one thing, it reminded me that... (Category: Taxation)

Conference on Taxing Capital Income (September 22, 2005)

Tomorrow I will be heading to a conference at Brookings on Taxing Capital Income: Do We? Should We? Can We?... (Category: Taxation)

The Market for Lemons (September 21, 2005)

Tomorrow I am teaching Akerlof's article on asymmetric information, and in preparation I stumbled across this essay: Writing the "The... (Category: Law & Economics)

Those Airport Security Lines (September 20, 2005)

Ever wonder what economic effect those long lines have? These guys can tell you. Not surprisingly, increased screening drives down... (Category: Travel)

Top Law Schools for Aspiring Corporate Law Associates (September 20, 2005)

Christine points to an interesting story about the hiring practices of the top 50 law firms. As usual, I agree... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Professor William Black on Enron (September 17, 2005)

Professor William Black (Texas, criminology) has posted an interesting comment on one of my prior posts, A Case Study in... (Category: Business Ethics)

MasterCard IPO (September 17, 2005)

More on the Mastercard IPO. My students and I will be looking at this deal as a case study later... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

Ribstein on Google (September 17, 2005)

Larry R has posted some good comments on my paper and Christine's paper. It's hard to disagree with most of... (Category: Google)

More Google Branding (September 14, 2005)

Even Bloomberg.com is picking up the theme: Google shares ended the session at $311.68, almost matching the initial digits in... (Category: Marketing)

Brand New Placement (September 13, 2005)

Last week I frantically incorporated the first round of comments on my branding paper into a revised draft, which I... (Category: Law Reviews/Legal Scholarship)

PhD vs. practice experience (September 12, 2005)

I'm late to the party, but the Prawfs debate on whether a PhD is necessary to do serious law-and-econ (and... (Category: Law & Economics)

Lazard (September 09, 2005)

Departure e-mails are usually boring. This one is not. (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

Seminar Blogging: The Experiment Begins (September 07, 2005)

Apologies for the light blogging lately. I have been busy presenting and revising the branding paper and doing class preparation... (Category: Corporate Governance)

Is Katrina a Natural Disaster? (September 02, 2005)

I just watched President Bush, speaking to reporters, refer several times to the devastation caused by this "natural disaster." I... (Category: Social Responsibility)

MasterCard IPO (September 01, 2005)

MasterCard is going public. One aspect of the structure that sounds interesting: they are setting aside 10% of the shares... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

New Financial Product (August 29, 2005)

Investment Dealers' Digest (via NYT) describes Ecaps, the newest debt-equity hybrid from Lehman. The marketing / branding hook is that... (Category: Taxation)

United Airlines, um, humor (August 28, 2005)

I flew in to National Airport today on United. I usually enjoy the approach over the Potomac, with the view... (Category: Travel)

Brand New Deal: The Google IPO (August 28, 2005)

I've posted a rough draft of my Google/branding paper on SSRN. The paper still has a ways to go, but... (Category: Google, Initial Public Offerings, Marketing)

Hedge Fund Insolvency - New York Times (August 25, 2005)

Prepare to read more stories like this one in the years to come. Hedge fund investors usually have the right... (Category: Securities Trading & Regulation)

Noise-Canceling Headphones (August 21, 2005)

Eric Goldman properly complains about airline announcements and notes, I mention all of this because, on my last flight from... (Category: Travel)

Hiring Chairs (August 18, 2005)

Dan Markel is helping out this year's rookies by compiling a list of the appt committee chairs at each school.... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

The Google Branding Continues (August 18, 2005)

Google is doing a secondary follow-on offering. Feld points out that they are selling 14,159,265 shares. If you put a... (Category: Google)

SSRN Rankings and Accounting Gamesmanship (August 18, 2005)

Entrepreneurial TaxProf Paul Caron has posted his paper with Bernie Black on SSRN rankings. See also Bainbridge, Kerr, Ribstein, and... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Immortal (August 18, 2005)

Immortal?? I don't even have tenure. Meanwhile, having admitted unlawful conduct, KPMG is fighting back. My instincts are with KPMG... (Category: Business Ethics)

Ugly Shoes Are In (August 17, 2005)

Crocs is going public. If you haven't seen them -- imagine rubbery clogs with holes in them. They are pretty... (Category: Initial Public Offerings)

KPMG: seeking clarification of terms (August 16, 2005)

Bainbridge links to Tom K's coverage of KPMG. Both refer to it as the "criminalization of agency costs." If the... (Category: Business Ethics)

Gen X, Six Feet Under, and Branding (August 16, 2005)

All Alone is All We Are. Except for our iPods. I am feeling some existential angst lately, brought on by... (Category: Marketing, Popular Culture, Television)

Is Financial Engineering Socially Productive? (August 15, 2005)

As I prepare to teach Deals again this fall, I have been reading Eichenwald's account of the Enron meltdown, Conspiracy... (Category: Business Ethics)

“Big Tent” Empiricism (August 15, 2005)

Lior S has an interesting post on qualitative vs. quantitative empiricism over at PrawfsBlawg. Lior says that qualitative empiricism is... (Category: Law & Economics)

Ovitz and Innovation (August 13, 2005)

Michael Madison thinks that the Disney decision encourages innovation. Because directors are free to screw up without being second-guessed, they... (Category: Conglomerate Forum: Disney, Disney)

Law Porn and the Branding of Legal Education (August 12, 2005)

Yesterday's NYT had a story on branding colleges. Today, in my research on branding, I ran across an article that... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

The Tax and Financial Engineering Angle (August 10, 2005)

I will leave the Delaware fiduciary duty stuff to the experts, but I thought I would talk a bit about... (Category: Conglomerate Forum: Disney, Disney, Taxation)

Search Engine Payola (August 09, 2005)

Josh asks about the relationship between consumers and search engines. I actually think that Google is way out front on... (Category: Google)

Taxing Internet Porn (August 05, 2005)

Paul Caron points me to S.1507, a Senate bill that would impose a 25% excise tax on Internet porn. Is... (Category: Taxation)

(Sir Thomas) More on Financial Engineering (August 04, 2005)

I'm not looking to get into a drawn out debate over Enron, but Tom Kirkendall has posted a long, thoughtful... (Category: Business Ethics)

The Shame of Payola (August 02, 2005)

Josh makes a strong case that payola is efficient. At least in terms of competition. What he doesn't quite convincingly... (Category: Business Ethics)

A Case Study in the Ethics of Financial Engineering (August 02, 2005)

Larry Ribstein fawns over Tom Kirkendall's post about the Nigerian Barge case. The basic facts are that Enron "sold" some... (Category: Enron)

A New Poker Shark Sits Down at the Table (August 01, 2005)

I want to welcome Josh Wright as our newest guest blogger. Josh is an Assistant Professor of Law at George... (Category: Administrative)

Ethics of Rankings (August 01, 2005)

One more thought about rankings: One of the commenters to Todd Z's post asks how law schools can teach their... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Rankings Manipulation (August 01, 2005)

Todd Z points us to yesterday's NYT article on the manipulation of law school rankings. We should not be surprised... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Thanks Will (August 01, 2005)

Just a quick thank you note to Will Baude for his fine stint as the first student guest-blogger here at... (Category: Administrative)

BizDeansTalk (July 29, 2005)

BizDeansTalk is a new blog by two business school deans and assorted guests. I can't say I care much for... (Category: Blogs and Blawgs)

Speaking of rankings ... (July 27, 2005)

Newmark's door has a ranking of econblogs. His post does not include business-law-prof-blog rankings, but here's what my twenty minutes... (Category: Blogs and Blawgs)

Rankings and Business Law Faculty (July 27, 2005)

Posner has a new paper up on SSRN that discusses law school rankings. Posner questions Leiter's emphasis on faculty scholarship:... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Don't just stand there. Buy something. (July 25, 2005)

Becker and Posner take on whether corporations should act in a way that is "socially responsible" when it conflicts with... (Category: Social Responsibility)

Acting Professor (July 21, 2005)

At UCLA junior faculty carries the title "Acting Professor of Law" rather than Associate or Assistant Professor (the traditional titles... (Category: Law Reviews/Legal Scholarship)

On Pro Bono Work (July 20, 2005)

Many Conglomerate readers know that before I entered law teaching, I worked at a big firm in New York. What... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Will Baude (July 18, 2005)

I want to welcome Will Baude as a guest blogger. Many of you may already know Will from Crescat Sententia.... (Category: Law Student Blogs)

Don't Super Size Me: The economics of roadside dining (July 18, 2005)

Like Gordon, I generally try to eat at local places, rather than franchises, when I'm on the road. I find... (Category: Franchising)

Thanks (July 18, 2005)

A quick thank you to Darren Roulstone for guest-blogging with us here at Conglomerate. My favorite line from his stint:... (Category: Administrative)

Take Me Home, Country Roads (July 14, 2005)

Light blogging the next few days as I head off to Wild, Wonderful West Virginia for a reunion with Judge... (Category: Travel)

The Colin Powell Brand (July 13, 2005)

Paul Kedrosky has a nice post commenting on today's NYT story, which reported that Colin Powell was joining the legendary... (Category: Venture Capital)

The Poor Schmucks (July 12, 2005)

Christine's post on What's in a Name? reminds me of "Lawsuit Shmawsuit," where Kozinski & Volokh discuss the use of... (Category: Law Reviews/Legal Scholarship)

Underpants Gnomes (July 10, 2005)

Gordon tells me that traffic is up. That is good news. Prima facie evidence, perhaps, that the Taxing Blog merger... (Category: Disney)

The Working Poor (July 08, 2005)

Dan Shaviro has more on Holt's paper from the ATPI yesterday. Here's the jaw-dropper from Holt (or the one that... (Category: Taxation)

Hedge fund fraud (July 07, 2005)

Larry Ribstein argues against hedge fund regulation, noting that the exemption for funds with two-year lock-ups creates perverse incentives. I... (Category: Securities Trading & Regulation)

Making Work Really Pay (July 07, 2005)

Stealing a scoop from TaxProf, I'll be liveblogging for the next couple of hours from the American Tax Policy Institute,... (Category: Taxation)

Poker and the Law (July 06, 2005)

The recent thread on gambling and financial markets reminded me of a conversation I had last week with Josh Wright,... (Category: Law & Economics)

RSS Feeds (July 05, 2005)

Larry Ribstein is indeed serious about questioning the costs vs. benefits of blog mergers. It's funny how what started off... (Category: Alliances)

Antitrust concerns (July 05, 2005)

Thanks for the kind words, Gordon. It is a privilege to be aboard. As for antitrust concerns and reader value,... (Category: Alliances)

Thanks (February 28, 2005)

I've reached the end of my guest blogging stint -- thank you, Gordon and Christine. It's been fun. So much... (Category: Blogs and Blawgs)

The Missing Preferred Return (February 28, 2005)

The draft of The Missing Preferred Return is finally up on SSRN. I'd appreciate any comments from VCs, lawyers, profs... (Category: Venture Capital)

On a Sad Note (February 28, 2005)

David Bradford, a public finance economist at Princeton and a friend to many of us, passed away last week. He... (Category: Current Affairs)

The Bias of Law Review Page Limits (February 24, 2005)

I sent out my article yesterday on Expresso. It's a relief to have it off my desk. As I think... (Category: Law Reviews/Legal Scholarship)

Was the Google IPO a Marketing Gimmick? (February 23, 2005)

I taught a really fun seminar session today on the Google IPO. Last summer Google used a Dutch Auction to... (Category: Google)

Musings on Page Limits and Tenure Standards (February 21, 2005)

With some painful editing, I've gotten my article on VC compensation down to a svelte 25,000 words. All I had... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)

Tablet PCs (February 20, 2005)

If you're an academic like me, you probably spend at least 10-20 hours a week reading other people's papers. I... (Category: Technology)

The Network Effects of Blogging (February 16, 2005)

I'm blogging from a hotel in San Francisco -- I've just finished presenting my paper on VC compensation to Jeff... (Category: Blogs and Blawgs)

Gun-Jumping Statements (February 16, 2005)

I haven't read the SEC reform proposal, but I'm hoping it has something to do with, and has the effect... (Category: Google)

Look-See Visits and Tipping Points (February 15, 2005)

For what it's worth, I think we are rapidly approaching the tipping point where look-sees are no longer a prerequisite... (Category: Law Schools & Lawyering)