Empirical legal scholars have traditionally modeled trial court judicial opinion writing by assuming that judges act rationally, seeking to maximize their influence by writing opinions in politically important cases. To test such views, we collected data from a thousand cases in four different jurisdictions. We recorded information about every judicial action over each case’s life, [...]
Since the advent of the modern class action, academics and jurists have struggled to articulate the precise scope of and rationale for this peculiar mode of litigation. In a certain sense, class actions give rise to an anomalous situation in the American tradition of civil adjudication by allowing one person to litigate the individual claims [...]
In 2003, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced a set of Department of Justice (DOJ) policies designed to curtail federal prosecutors’ discretion to plea bargain. The new DOJ rules sought to ensure uniform criminal punishments and prevent criminal offenders from cutting deals to avoid deserved punishment. Yet the would-be ban on bargaining seems to [...]
How can I convey to you the disgust which your name awakens in me? The merger with Warner was a catastrophe. But the hitherto unimagined stupidity, the blind arrogance of your deal with Case simply beggars description. How can you face yourself knowing how much history, value and savings you have thrown away on your [...]
In September 2005, three former Apple Computer executives launched a new high-tech venture called Acquicor Technology (Acquicor). Acquicor raised $172.5 million in its March 2006 IPO on the American Stock Exchange. Although the amount Acquicor raised in its initial offering was unremarkable for a high-tech company with a prominent management team, Acquicor was [...]
