The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Podcast

Richard Epstein, "A History of Public Utility Regulation in the Supreme Court"

arester — Thu, 09 May 2013 19:53:14 +0000

Rate regulation today is often conceived of as an exotic topic of interest only to a select group of pointy-headed specialists. But the truth is quite the opposite. The history of rate regulation raises some of the most fundamental challenges to the organization of a free society. This lecture will trace the evolution of the doctrine from its common law origins in Sir Matthew Hale's seventeenth century treatise, De Portis Maris (Of the Gates of the Sea) through its incorporation into American Constitutional Law to the major synthesis of rate regulation in the 1944 decision in Hope Natural Gas v. Federal Power Commission. On the one side lies the need to constrain monopoly profits; on the other lies the need to prevent confiscation of the the invested capital of the regulated industry. The effort to achieve those twin goals gives rises to procedural and substantive challenges that in one guise or another are with us today.

Richard Epstein is James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Law and Senior Lecturer. This talk was recorded on April 9, 2013, as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Justice Albie Sachs, "Same Sex Marriage Decision in South Africa"

arester — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:05:43 +0000

Justice Albie Sachs of the Constitutional Court of South Africa discussed the Fourie case, gay rights, and the same-sex marriage decision in South Africa. This lecture was recorded on April 9, 2013.

Philip Pettit, "Giving Corporate Agents their Due — and Only their Due"

arester — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:13:55 +0000

Suitably organized, corporate groups mimic the capacities of individual persons and operate as agents with minds of their own. And in order to function in this agential manner, they have to be assigned legal rights that they can assert or transfer or waive in their dealings with others. But corporate bodies do not have a claim to rights on the same basis as individuals and neither, consequently, do they have a claim to the same range of rights. Notwithstanding their functional similarity to natural persons, they should be denied anything like the same status in law.

Presented by Philip Pettit, L.S.Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values, Princeton University, and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Australian National University. This talk, the 2013 Dewey Lecture in Law and Philosophy, was recorded on February 28, 2013.

Geoffrey Stone, "When Contraception Was a Crime"

arester — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 19:46:16 +0000

Geoffrey Stone (Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Law School) explores the history of laws against contraception, including discussion of those who struggled against those laws, how the tide turned, and what role the courts played in that process. This talk was recorded on February 19, 2013, as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

2013 Coase Lecture - Tom Ginsburg, "Constitutions as Products"

arester — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:38:39 +0000

Constitutional lawyers tend to study constitutions as sets of legal rules and judicial decisions. But written constitutions are also products, with different design features: they can be more or less detailed, innovative, or ambitious; they can be produced in a more or less inclusive manner; and they can have a short-term expiration date or be designed for the long haul. Why do constitutions differ? Are some designs more effective than others? As the countries of the Arab Spring struggle with constitutional change, these questions are coming to the fore. Using the tools of social science to study constitutions provides new insight into their origins, contents, and effectiveness.

Tom Ginsburg is Leo Spitz Professor of International Law, Ludwig and Hilde Wolf Research Scholar and Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. This lecture was recorded on February 12, 2013.

David Strauss, "Campaign Finance First Principles"

arester — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 18:20:20 +0000

What limits should the government be allowed to impose on people who want to give money to a political campaign, or spend money in support of a campaign? The question is complex, difficult, and very important. Limits on the way money can be used to support candidates can undermine democracy - but so can the lack of limits. For the last forty years, the Supreme Court’s decisions in this area have helped produce some controversial things: PACs, Super-PACs, corporate contributions, soft money, and the rest. Suppose we could sweep those decisions aside and start again. What would an ideal system of campaign finance regulation look like? David Strauss is Gerald Ratner Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded on January 30, 2012.

Jonathan Masur, "Well-Being Analysis vs. Cost-Benefit Analysis"

arester — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:34:07 +0000

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is the primary tool used by policymakers to inform administrative decisionmaking. Yet its methodology of converting preferences (often hypothetical ones) into dollar figures, then using those dollar figures as proxies for quality of life, creates systemic errors so large as to deprive the tool of value.

These problems have been lamented by many scholars, and recent calls have gone out from world leaders and prominent economists to find an alternative analytical device that would measure quality of life more directly. Well-being analysis (WBA) could be that alternative. Relying on data from the field of hedonic psychology that tracks people’s actual experience of life— data that has consistently survived scrutiny by passing the social science tests of reliability and validity — WBA is able to provide the same policy guidance as CBA without CBA’s distortionary conversion of preferences to dollars.

Jonathan Masur is Deputy Dean, Professor of Law and Herbert and Marjorie Fried Teaching Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded on February 4, 2012.

Lee Fennell, "Property in Housing"

arester — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:35:58 +0000

The question of how to structure and package the residential experience is a deeply interesting and difficult one. How physically large or small should residential holdings be? How densely should they be clustered? Should spaces for working, recreating, cooking, and bathing be contained within the private residential unit, shared with other households, or procured a la carte? How permanent should the connection be between a household and a living space? How much control should households have over the environment surrounding the dwelling unit? Answers to these and many other queries differ both within and between societies. A law and economics perspective that emphasizes problems of scale illuminates the ways in which law intersects with private decisionmaking to deliver housing, and can inform the task of configuring residential property optimally. This Chicago's Best Ideas lecture was recorded November 13, 2012. Lee Fennell is Max Pam Professor of Law and Herbert and Marjorie Fried Research Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School.

Alison LaCroix, "The Lost History of the Spending Power"

arester — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:42:29 +0000

The Supreme Court’s decision in the healthcare case has brought new prominence to Congress’s power to tax and spend for the general welfare under Article I, section 8, clause 1. Legislation under the spending power is often regarded as an artifact of the New Deal period. But the spending power has a longer history dating from the early nineteenth century. Between 1815 and 1850, a second generation of American founders grappled with the meaning of the Constitution, struggling to resolve a new and diverse array of questions. Chief among them was the scope of Congress’s power – specifically, its authority to oversee public works projects such as canals, roads, and railroads. Controversy over these “internal improvements” was a key issue in several elections, and presidents from James Madison to James K. Polk clashed with Congress, the states, and the Supreme Court over differing views of federal power in this area. The crucial issue was not so much the modern question, “What can Congress compel the states to do?,” but a distinctly early national question: “What can Congress do in the name of the states?” In answering this question, early-nineteenth-century Americans looked to factors such as state consent and distinguished among the appropriation of funds, the actual construction of internal improvements, and subsequent jurisdiction over those projects – factors that modern Supreme Court case law suggests are largely irrelevant to settling federalism disputes. The text of Article I and the Tenth Amendment have not changed since the founding, but this talk will explore the ways in which the universe of constitutional possibility in which they operate has shifted over the past two centuries. Alison LaCroix is Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" series on October 24, 2012.

Laura Weinrib, "Free Speech When Constitutionalism Was Unpopular"

arester — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:57:04 +0000

In the mid-1930s, the future of judicial review was uncertain. Politicians, social activists, and even legal academics denounced the federal judiciary’s hostility toward New Deal legislation as a threat to democratic progress and economicrecovery. In the face of President Roosevelt’s “court-packing plan” and competing proposals to curb judicial power, conservative lawyers sought strategies for restoring popular faith in the federal courts. Their solution, Professor Weinrib will argue, was to embrace a cause they had long denounced as a front for radical activity: the judicial protection of free speech. Afterdecades of heated clashes, the American Bar Association joined forces with its long-time adversary, the American Civil Liberties Union, to celebrate the First Amendment. In a self-conscious attempt to improve its public image, it recast the federal judiciary as a defender of personal liberties as well as economic rights. The new civil liberties consensus produced an unprecedented but durable commitment to a constitutional and counter-majoritarian theory of free speech. Laura Weinrib is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This Chicago's Best Ideas talk was recorded on November 7, 2012.

William Brodsky, "The Multi-purpose JD: How my law degree helped me in my career in business"

arester — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 20:35:51 +0000

William J. Brodsky is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CBOE Holdings, Inc. and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. As Chairman and CEO of CBOE since 1997, Brodsky has overseen a period of tremendous growth as well as product and technological innovation at the exchange. He serves as the options industry’s leading advocate in shaping market policy and regulation. In October 2008, Brodsky was the first leader of a derivatives exchange to be named as Chairman of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) and served in that capacity for 2009 and 2010. He previously served as Vice Chairman of the WFE from 2007 to 2008.

Brodsky began his career as an attorney in the securities industry with the firm of Model, Roland and Company in 1968. In 1974, he joined the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) where he became head of options trading in 1976 and served as Executive Vice President for operations between 1979 and 1982. He also served for seven years as the AMEX representative on the board of The Options Clearing Corporation.

He serves on the Kellogg School of Management Advisory Council and as a trustee of Syracuse University. Brodsky holds an A.B. degree and a J.D. degree from Syracuse University and is a member of the Bar in Illinois and New York.

This event was recorded on November 14, 2012. Mr. Brodsky was introduced by Dean Schill.

Saul Levmore, "Intermediation and Intervention"

arester — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 20:56:15 +0000

What can law do well? It tries to “intervene” in order to control antisocial behavior, to enforce promises, and to prevent violence. But it is also called on to “intermediate” so that citizens need not confront one another directly and need not even control themselves. It solves collective action problems, to be sure, but in many cases these problems are small compared to the quest for control over one’s future self. If we can identify what it is we want law to do, rather than how we market its ever-expanding reach, we might be better at designing laws. In such diverse areas as climate change, obesity control, and neighborly (tort) disputes, this CBI Lecture aims to show that some of the most important tools of legal analysis suggest changes in law and new ways of thinking about the expanding regulatory state. This Chicago's Best Ideas talk was recorded October 9, 2012. Saul Levmore is William B. Graham Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Alison LaCroix, "Sick and Tired?: The Supreme Court's New Old Federalism"

arester — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:07:14 +0000

From the scores of briefs to the extended oral arguments to the widely watched announcement of the Supreme Court’s decision in June, the case of National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius – more commonly known as the healthcare case – has received unprecedented attention from the media, politicians, and the general public. In upholding most provisions of the legislation under Congress’s taxing power but striking down a key section as beyond the scope of the spending power, the Court’s decision has been viewed by commentators as, variously, a return to meaningful limits on Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce, a repudiation of the New Deal constitutional settlement, an affirmation of that settlement, and an act of judicial statesmanship by Chief Justice John Roberts. But just how significant of a change does the decision portend – in institutions, doctrine, and federalism itself? The talk will situate the healthcare decision in constitutional history, consider trends in the Court’s federalism case law, and speculate about the future direction of the doctrine. This talk was recorded on October 1, 2012.

2012 Loop Luncheon - Saul Levmore and Martha Nussbaum, "The Offensive Internet"

arester — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:47:03 +0000

In 2010 and 2011 Professors Saul Levmore and Martha Nussbaum gave several talks about the book, The Offensive Internet, a collection of essays about apparent abuses of anonymity and freedom from liability on the Internet. While those topics remain relevant, and Internet providers continue to have unusual immunity, the situation is complicated by the ubiquity of smartphones, apps, and cameras that intrude, to be sure, but also inform and monitor. The focus may have moved from the Offensive Internet to the Intrusive Internet. Should we celebrate new technologies in this regard, and be prepared to live with some offense and intrusion, or ought we be anxious and prepared to regulate?

This talk was recorded May 4, 2012 at the University's annual Loop Luncheon.

James Oldham, “The Popular Press and the Law in Pre-Industrial England”

arester — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:48:09 +0000

The 2012 Fulton Lecture in Legal History was given on May 2, 2012 by James C. Oldham, St. Thomas More Professor of Law and Legal History at Georgetown Law.

Geoffrey Stone, "Freedom and Education"

arester — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:23:31 +0000

Geoffrey Stone, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor and former dean (’93–’02) at the University of Chicago Law School, discusses the role of freedom and education in America today. Stone is one of the world’s foremost scholars of the Constitution. His most recent books are Top Secret: When Our Government Keeps Us in the Dark (2007) and War and Liberty: An American Dilemma (2007). His book Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism (2004) received numerous national awards. This event was recorded April 19, 2012 and is part of the University of Chicago Graham School's Great Conversations lecture series and is cosponsored by the Civic Knowledge Project.

Martha Nussbaum, "Teaching Patriotism"

arester — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 18:20:27 +0000

Schools teach patriotism all the time, but many people think that this is a bad idea. Patriotic rituals may convey misplaced and hierarchical values; they may coerce conscience; and they may promote a dangerous type of uncritical homogeneity. On the other hand, it seems difficult to motivate sacrifices of self-interest for the common good without patriotic emotion. Prof. Nussbaum argues that there is a way of negotiating these difficulties and teaching a type of patriotism that is rooted in good values, protective of conscience, and friendly to critical thinking and dissent. Prof. Nussbaum illustrates her argument from the history of the U. S. and India, discussing Lincoln, King, Gandhi, and Nehru. This talk was recorded on April 10, 2012, as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series and was sponsored by Winston & Strawn LLP. Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago Law School.

Omri Ben-Shahar, "No Contract"

arester — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:33:22 +0000

A popular type of consumer transaction is called "No Contract." Businesses lure consumers with the "no contract" assurance - a promise that consumer can walk away anytime, without any commitment. This scheme is increasingly common in cable and phone services, health clubs, security services, and other transactions that used to require minimum duration. What is a “No Contract” contract? What does the misnomer “No Contract” intend to signal to consumers? What effects does the “No Contract” arrangement have on other elements of the transaction? What do consumers have to give up in order to enjoy the “No Contract” guarantee? Is it overall good for consumers? In this talk, recorded for the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series on March 27, 2012, Professor Ben-Shahar discussed the place of “No Contracts” in broader context of consumer protection, and his ongoing work on the failings – and the promise – of consumer law.

Economy, Law, and Entrepreneurialism: A Conversation with Sam Zell

arester — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 20:31:10 +0000

On April 3, 2012, the Law School hosted a timely discussion with Sam Zell, one of the world’s leading investors, on "The Economy, Law and Entrepreneurialism." Zell, whose investment interests span real estate, energy, logistics, transportation, media, and health care, was joined in conversation with Dean Michael Schill.

Zell is one of the most insightful analysts of economic trends, whose successful investment strategy has made him a perennial member of Forbes billionaire list. Zell founded Equity Group Investments (EGI), the private entrepreneurial investment firm, more than 40 years ago. EGI created one of the largest real estate investment trusts (REITs) in history. He also is chairman and co-founder of Equity International. EI has invested in 22 portfolio companies, including homebuilding, retail, warehousing, distribution, office, hospitality, self-storage, senior living and specialty finance sectors spanning Latin America, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe.

Previously, Mr. Zell served as chairman for Equity Office Properties Trust (EOP), the largest office REIT in the U.S. EOP was sold in February 2007 to The Blackstone Group for $39 billion in the largest private equity transaction in history at the time.

Among Zell’s investment “fundamentals” are these maxims: “When everyone is going right, look left.” “Look for good companies with bad balance sheets.” “Liquidity=Value.” “Understand the downside.” Mr. Zell serves on the JPMorgan National Advisory Board; the Eurohypo International Advisory Board; the President’s Advisory Board at the University of Michigan; the Visitor’s Committee at the University of Michigan Law School; and with the combined efforts of the University of Michigan Business School, he established the Zell/Lurie Entrepreneurial Center. Mr. Zell’s continual assistance to Michigan’s MBA program has also enhanced the Business School’s Polish Studies Program. He was appointed a DeRoy Visiting Professor in Honors at the College of Literature, Science and the Arts at the University of Michigan. He is a long-standing supporter of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Real Estate Center, and has endowed the Samuel Zell/Robert Lurie Real Estate Center at Wharton. Mr. Zell has also endowed the Northwestern University Center for Risk Management.

A native Chicagoan, Mr. Zell is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan Law School. He began his career in real estate as an undergraduate at the University by managing apartment buildings throughout Southeast Michigan.

Clinic Information Session II

arester — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 19:18:43 +0000

This introduction to the Law School clinical programs was recorded on May 18, 2012. It included representatives from the following clinics:

Young Center Immigrant Children’s Advocacy Clinic – Maria Woltjen
Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship – Beth Kregor
Housing Initiative Clinic – Jeff Leslie
Corporate Lab Clinic – David Zarfes and Michael Bloom
Poverty and Housing Law Clinic – Larry Wood
Gendered Violence and the Law Clinic – Neha Lall
Prosecution and Defense Clinic – Jeff Leslie

Elizabeth Anderson, "Tom Paine and the Ironies of Social Democracy"

arester — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:47:51 +0000

The 2011-12 Dewey Lecture in Law and Philosophy, recorded on February 29, 2012, was presented by Elizabeth Anderson, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and John Rawls Collegiate Professor of Philosophy and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan.

Critics of every social insurance proposal in the U.S., including recent health care reform, have called them socialist attacks on private property. To be sure, social insurance is a central pillar of social democracy, and social democratic parties originated in a socialist critique of capitalism. Yet the equation of social insurance with socialism is doubly ironic. The first realistic proposal to abolish poverty by means of universal social insurance was Thomas Paine, who explicitly advanced his scheme as a defense of private property against socialist revolutionaries. And the first actual social insurance scheme was introduced by Otto von Bismarck, who advanced it against the German Social Democratic Party, which opposed his plan. This talk will consider how Paine grounded the justification of social insurance in a neo-Lockean theory of private property rights, and explore the implications of the ironic inversion of social insurance from a bulwark of to a perceived assault on capitalism.

Clinic Information Session I

arester — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 18:31:37 +0000

This introduction to the Law School clinical programs was recorded on May 17, 2012. It included representatives from the following clinics:

Criminal and Juvenile Justice Clinic – Randolph Stone
Mental Health Advocacy Clinic – Mark Heyrman
Employment Discrimination Clinic – Jeff Leslie
Exoneration Project Clinic – Tara Thompson
Abrams Environmental Law Clinic – Mark Templeton
Civil Rights and Police Accountability Clinic – Craig Futterman
Federal Criminal Justice Clinic – Alison Siegler

Mary Anne Case, "Ronald Coase's Theory of the Firm and the Family"

arester — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:01:01 +0000

This talk, recorded on May 1, 2012, as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series, puts in an explicitly Coasian context some of the speaker's prior work on the new reproductive technologies and on analogies in the evolution of the laws governing marriage and business corporations. Just as one is now generally free, as Coase observes, to structure one's business affairs in corporate or partnership form, as a franchise operation, or as a sole proprietorship through a series of individual, isolated market transactions, so both law and society now offer a variety of ways to structure one's personal life: the provision of sex and of care (for example, elder and child care) and the production of children can each now be outsourced or internalized within a legally recognized family structure.

Using analysis of both long history and the recent past to make predictions about possibilities for the future, the talk will remind listeners that the Mom and Pop production of children has been no more universal a model than the Mom-and-Pop business enterprise.

Mary Anne Case is Arnold I. Shure Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Dean Michael Schill, Dan Doctoroff '84, and Prof. R. H. Helmholz, "Remarks at 2012 Hooding Ceremony"

arester — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 17:43:09 +0000

Remarks by Dean Michael Schill, Dan Doctoroff, '84 (CEO of Bloomberg LP and winner of the Distinguished Alumni Award), and R. H. Helmholz (Ruth Wyatt Rosenson Distinguished Service Professor of Law) at the 2012 Law School Hooding Ceremony in Rockefeller Chapel on June 9.

Todd Henderson & Richard Sandor, "Good Derivatives: A Story of Financial and Environmental Innovation"

arester — Thu, 31 May 2012 19:18:23 +0000

This discussion between Professor of Law M. Todd Henderson and Richard L. Sandor, (CEO, Environmental Financial Products, LLC, and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School) was sponsored by the Law School and Chicago Booth School of Business and was recorded on April 17, 2012.

Information Privacy: A Fireside Chat with FTC Commissioner Julie Brill

arester — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:47:41 +0000

Julie Brill, a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, participated in a fireside chat with Professors Randal Picker and Lior Strahilevitz on Thursday, April 26, 2012.

Julie Brill was sworn in as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission on April 6, 2012. Since joining the Commission, Ms. Brill has worked actively on issues most affecting today's consumers, including protecting consumers' privacy, encouraging appropriate advertising substantiation, guarding consumers from financial fraud, and maintaining competition in industries involving high tech and health care.

Commissioner Brill has received several national awards for her work protecting consumers. She has testified before Congress, published numerous articles, and served on many national expert panels focused on consumer protection issues such as pharmaceuticals, privacy, credit reporting, data security breaches, and tobacco. Commissioner Brill has also served as a Vice-Chair of the Consumer Protection Committee of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association.

Commissioner Brill graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University and from New York University School of Law, where she had a Root-Tilden Scholarship for her commitment to public service.

Ambassador James C. Hormel, '58, "Breaking the Pink Ceiling"

arester — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:35:06 +0000

Scheming Washington insiders, Congressional power plays, and allegations of pedophilia were not enough to keep James C. Hormel, Class of 1958, from becoming America’s first openly gay ambassador. In his new memoir, Fit to Serve, Jim recounts a life of public service and private struggle, from his privileged childhood in the Minnesota meatpacking family to the long, personal journey and six-year fight that culminated in his appointment in 1999 as Ambassador to Luxembourg. This history might have been different were it not for University of Chicago protesters who shook Jim – then dean of students at the law school (1961-67) – from his conventional life and onto the path to social justice. Hear Jim Hormel’s insights into his ambassadorial quest and his perspective on what the rebellious Chicago students of the 1960s have in common with their peers today. This talk was recorded January 25, 2012.

Todd Henderson, "Pay-for-Performance Puzzles, Public and Private"

arester — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:10:09 +0000

In this 2012 Coase Lecture on Law and Economics, Professor M. Todd Henderson examines the rise of pay for performance in corporate America, and considers several puzzles about legal regulation of executive compensation and the use and non-use of performance incentives in other areas, ranging from hospitals to schools to government bureaucracies. It was recorded on January 24, 2012.

Geof Stone, "Understanding Supreme Court Confirmations"

arester — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:47:22 +0000

How has the Supreme Court confirmation process changed over the years? Are members of the Senate more prone to oppose nominees today than they were in the past? If so, to what extent is this due to the controversy over the Bork nomination? Professor Stone will discuss these and other questions arising out of the process by which the Senate does -- or does not -- confirm a President's nominees to the Supreme Court. This Chicago's Best Ideas talk was recorded January 26, 2012, and was sponsored by Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP. Geoffrey Stone is Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Law School.

Anup Malani, "Contract Law, Transactions Costs and the Boundary of the Firm"

arester — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:13:44 +0000

In 1937, Ronald Coase asked a profound question: if markets are so efficient at allocating resources, why are so many resources allocated within firms? Coase’s answer was that market allocation entailed transactions costs and, when these were very high, transactions will take place within firms. Oliver Williamson, a Nobel Prize winner like Coase, elaborated on the sorts of transactions costs that discouraged market transactions. Among these was the holdup problem: buyer agrees to pay a set price for a widget to be supplied by seller at some future date, but when the date arrives the seller demands a higher price. Oliver Hart, with co-authors Sanford Grossman and John Moore, suggested this problem could be overcome if the buyer owns a key asset of the seller or the seller’s whole firm. This can prevent the seller from holding up the buyer. In this manner Hart et al. transformed Coase’s theory of how large firms were into a theory of who owns firms. Since then there have been numerous efforts to demonstrate that asset ownership or integration is not necessary to overcome the holdup problem. In this presentation, Professor Malani will describe a number of surprising contract provisions that can be used to tackle the holdup problem and how contract law can affect the scope and ownership of firms.

This talk was recorded on November 9, 2011 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series. Anup Malani is Lee and Brena Freeman Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Anu Bradford, "The Brussels Effect: The Rise of a Regulatory Superstate in Europe"

arester — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:38:49 +0000

It is common to hear Europe described today as the power of the past. Europe is perceived to be weak militarily. Its relative economic power is declining as Asia’s is rising. Its common currency may be on the verge of disintegrating. On the world stage, the European Union is thought to be waning into irrelevance due to its inability to speak with one voice. Contrary to this prevalent perception, "the Brussels Effect" highlights a deeply underestimated aspect of European power that the discussion on globalization and power politics overlooks: Europe’s unilateral power to regulate global commerce. It explains how Europe is successfullyexporting its legal institutions and standards—ranging from antitrust and privacy to health and environmental regulation—to the rest of the world and why the markets, other states and international institutions can do little to constrain Europe's global regulatory agenda.

Anu Bradford is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.This talk was recorded on January 18, 2012, as part of the University of Chicago Law School's "Chicago's Best Ideas" lecture series.

Craig Futterman, "Race in the Obama Era"

arester — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:17:19 +0000

As we near the end of the first term of our nation’s first African American President, does race still matter? How have our perceptions of race changed?

In this talk, "Race in the Obama Era: Observations from Eight Square Blocks of Chicago's South Side," recorded on November 17, 2011, Clinical Professor of Law Craig Futterman will share observations and experiences arising from his and his students’ engagement working on issues of police accountability from the ground floor of a family high rise in a Chicago public housing community that made up eight square blocks of Chicago’s South Side.

Prof. Futterman argues that engaging this “view from the ground” is necessary to inform our policies and conversations around fundamental issues of race and class in America and to move us toward a more just society.

Catharine MacKinnon, "Trafficking, Prostitution, and Inequality"

arester — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:05:05 +0000

International Women’s Human Rights: Paradigms, Paradoxes, and Possibilities, a Sawyer Seminar organized by the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, addresses contradictions within the concept and practice of women’s human rights. The year-long program will include public lectures, symposia, faculty seminars, an undergraduate workshop and a large international conference in spring quarter, “Engendering Rights in India: The Colonial Encounter and Beyond.” Made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Catharine A. MacKinnon, Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, specializes in sex equality issues under international and constitutional law. She pioneered the legal claim for sexual harassment and, with Andrea Dworkin, created ordinances recognizing pornography as a civil rights violation and the Swedish model for addressing prostitution. The Supreme Court of Canada has largely accepted her approaches to equality, pornography, and hate speech.

This talk was recorded November 14, 2011.

Futterman, McAdams, and Strahilevitz on "United States v. Jones"

arester — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:35:18 +0000

In November, the Supreme Court heard arguments in United States v. Jones, which will decide whether the Constitution allows police to put a tracking device on a car without either a warrant or the owner's permission. We asked several faculty members for their reaction to the arguments, including Deputy Dean and Sidley Austin Professor of Law Lior Strahilevitz, Bernard D. Meltzer Professor of Law Richard McAdams, and Clinical Professor of Law Craig Futterman.

Lior Strahilevitz, “Exclusion and Exclusivity: Past, Present & Future”

arester — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:48:45 +0000

This lecture was recorded October 27, 2011, at the celebration of Deputy Dean Lior Strahilevitz's appointment as the Law School's inaugural Sidley Austin Professor of Law.

Conference on Constitutions in Authoritarian Regimes: Session II

arester — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:38:32 +0000

Constitutions, it is conventionally believed, are institutions that define and limit the boundaries of government. Yet the formal constitution is an institution adopted by virtually every modern political regime, including many that would appear to have no interest in codifying any form of limitation on government power. We have very little understanding of the logics and dynamics of constitutional design and practice in countries that have “constitutions without constitutionalism”. This conference, held on October 21-22, 2011, explored the roles that constitutions play in authoritarian regimes, drawing on a wide range of cases to try to produce some general conclusions.

Session II

Tom Ginsburg, University of Chicago, James Melton, IMT Institute, Lucca Italy, and Zachary Elkins, University of Texas, “The Contents of Authoritarian Constitutions”
- Commentator: Milan Svolik, University of Illinois
Paper: Michael Albertus, University of Chicago and Victor Menaldo, University of Washington, “Dictators as Founding Fathers? The Role of Constitutions Under Autocracy”
- Commentator: Steven Levitsky, Harvard University

Aziz Huq, "Changing the Rules of the Game as You Play: The Supreme Court at the Cusp of O.T. 2011"

arester — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:26:23 +0000

This lecture by Assistant Professor of Law Aziz Huq was recorded October 3, 2011, as part of the Law School's annual First Mondays lecture series.

Saul Levmore, "Ponzi Schemes and Law's Domain"

arester — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:12:43 +0000

Ponzi schemes come in many sizes. The colossal fraud engineered by Bernard Madoff is an occasion to rethink the legal rules and remedies associated with such episodes. But then there are smaller Ponzi-like schemes, such as fraud in law school admissions, and the question of whether law does or should play any role. At the other extreme are nation-size Ponzi schemes, such as our recent mortgage-and-foreclosure crisis and, similarly perhaps, long-range deficit spending in many countries, such that one generation defrauds another. In this CBI, Professor Saul Levmore asks why law might be much better at one of these levels than at the others. Concrete problems can help us understand law's comfort zone, or its proper domain.

The Law School would like to thank Faegre & Benson LLP for sponsoring this event, which was recorded on October 3, 2011.

Panel Discussion: Hot Topics in Tech Law

arester — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:19:27 +0000

This panel, sponsored by Law, Inc. and held on April 28, 2011, discussed hot topics in techology policy, law, and innovation.

Participants included:

DC's leading antitrust attorney (outside counsel for Microsoft), Rick Rule
Managing editor of a major technology blog (and former copyright attorney), Nilay Patel
The Theo Leffmann Professor of Commercial Law and Technology Policy, Randal Picker, and
Moderator Rick Karr, technology journalist for PBS, NPR and Columbia University

Gender, Law, and the British Novel: The Nature of Law

arester — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:33:59 +0000

This panel was recorded May 15, 2010, as part of the conference "Gender, Law, and the British Novel," organized by Martha Nussbaum, Alison LaCroix, and Jane Dailey. Participants included:

Nicola Lacey, "Could He Forgive Her? Gender, Agency and Women's Criminality in Trollope"
Douglas Baird, "Law, Commerce, and Gender in Trollope’s Framley Parsonage”
Bernadette Meyler, "Liminal Legalities: Traveling Women in Defoe's Fictions"
Geoffrey Stone, "Origins of Obscenity"
Chair: Randy Berlin

Panel: "China, the WTO, and International Economic Law"

arester — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:29:25 +0000

This panel was recorded April 6, 2011, as part of the China and International Law Symposium sponsored by the Confucius Institute and the University of Chicago Law School.

Chair: Karen Alter, Northwestern University
Panelists: Anu Bradford, University of Chicago; Julia Qin, Wayne State University; Jiangyu Wang, National University of Singapore; Peter Yu, Drake University

Hendrik Hartog, "Quantum Meruit and Old Age Care in American Family Life"

arester — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:28:03 +0000

This Fulton Lecture in Legal History, recorded May 5, 2011, draws from Professor Hartog's forthcoming book, Someday All This Will Be Yours: A History of Inheritance and Old Age. It uses transcripts from a series of late nineteenth and early twentieth century New Jersey cases to explore the problem of who should be paid for household work and for intimate caretaking. The transcripts reveal both intimate details of family life and some of the political and ethical dilemmas that attended to the situations of adult children in a mobile and free society.

Joshua Cohen, "Democracy v. Citizens United?"

arester — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:42:22 +0000

The 2011 Dewey Lecture in Law and Philosophy entitled "Democracy v. Citizens United?," was presented on April 20, 2011, by Joshua Cohen, the Marta Sutton Weeks Professor of Ethics in Society and Professor of Political Science, Philosophy, and Law at Stanford University.

Alison Siegler and Daniel Rosengard '11, “Special Considerations in Representing the Non-Citizen Client"

arester — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:44:17 +0000

This is a recording of a training seminar presented by the Federal Criminal Justice Project for federal criminal defense attorneys entitled “A Comprehensive Overview of Immigration Considerations and Consequences From Bond Through Sentencing and Beyond.” Approximately 60 federal defenders and Criminal Justice Act Panel attorneys attended the seminar, which was held on May 5, 2011, at the office of the Federal Defender Program in Chicago. Two clinic students (Daniel Rosengard and Roger Sharpe) and Prof. Siegler presented at the seminar, along with Claudia Valenzuela, the associate director of the National Immigrant Justice Center. This seminar was part of an FCJP initiative to educate the federal criminal defense community about the immigration consequences of criminal convictions and to change the way the defense bar approaches bond considerations in cases involving non-citizen defendants.

"The Rise and Fall of Judicial Self-Restraint" with Judge Richard Posner

arester — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 19:05:25 +0000

Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit will deliver a lecture on the history of the theory of judicial self-restraint as articulated primarily by Thayer, Holmes, Brandeis, Frankfurter, and Bickel (the "Thayerians"). He will discuss and evaluate the various grounds on which the theory (or tradition) has been defended, describe its virtual abandonment by the academy and rejection by both wings of the U.S. Supreme Court, and examine the reasons for its rise and fall.

Commentators: Lee Epstein, the Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law, and Aziz Huq, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago School of Law School

The Brennan Center Jorde Symposium, an annual event, was created in 1996 to sponsor top scholarly discourse and writing from a variety of perspectives on issues that were central to the legacy of William J. Brennan, Jr. The fall lecture is typically held at the University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall, where Tom Jorde taught for many years. The spring lecture is at a different law school every year. Both lectures and the four commentaries are published annually in the California Law Review. For more information, visit http://www.brennancenter.org/content/pages/2010-11_brennan_center_jorde_... .

This event was recorded April 14, 2011.

Convocation 2011: Hooding Ceremony

arester — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 18:41:32 +0000

Remarks from the Law School's 2011 Hooding Ceremony on June 11, 2011. Speakers included Dean Michael Schill, Debra Cafaro, '82 (recipient of the Distinguished Alumna Award), and Professor Douglas Baird.

Richard Epstein, "Clinical Trials on Trial: How Should the FDA Do Its Job?"

arester — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 18:37:40 +0000

One of the major functions of the FDA is to check new drugs for their safety and effectiveness. The chief tool for doing this has been the double-blind clinical trial. Over the past 20 years ago, the requirements for these trials have become ever more stringent, reducing the probability that new chemical entities will be approved, delaying their onset into the market, and increasing their costs. The FDA claims that these stark measures are needed to discharge its chief function of consumer protection. In this talk, Professor Epstein disputes that contention, to argue that many of the FDA standards are analytically unsound and socially counterproductive. The constant demand for compassionate exemptions on the one hand, and widespread off-label use of approved drugs are clear signs that the current system is out of whack and in need of serious recalibration. Richard Epstein is James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Law and Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded May 2, 2011 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Adam Samaha, "Tiebreakers"

arester — Thu, 19 May 2011 20:59:15 +0000

What is a tiebreaker? Are some tiebreakers better than others? Does law have tiebreakers? Are ties so terrible that we need to break them? In this CBI, Professor Samaha offers answers to these questions. Using various examples from life and law, he will explain how tiebreakers can be thought of as a peculiar sort of lexically inferior decision rule. He will then indicate when tiebreaking decision structures seem appropriate, as well as the trade-offs associated with different kinds of tiebreakers. For instance, randomization is a tiebreaker that is often theoretically attractive but politically infeasible, while using a variable relevant to the merits of a decision is often politically feasible but theoretically flawed. Finally, Professor Samaha will suggest that, in important ways, law is one large and imperfect tiebreaker for the rest of social life.

Adam Samaha is Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded on April 26, 2011 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Eric Posner, "Obama and the Imperial Presidency"

arester — Thu, 05 May 2011 17:34:02 +0000

Commentators criticized the Bush administration for expanding presidential powers, but the Obama administration has not tried to curtail them, nor has Congress or the courts. In this talk, Professor Posner will trace the evolution of the imperial presidency, and explain why the powerful executive has become entrenched in the U.S. system of government.

Eric Posner is Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded April 29, 2011, as the Law School's annual Loop Luncheon.

Mary Anne Case, "'You're Telling Me It's Wrong to Do to the Prisoners What the Army Does to Its Own Soldiers?'"

arester — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:40:16 +0000

Among the disturbing reports from a variety of venues at which the U.S. military has conducted interrogations of Islamic male detainees are those detailing exploitation of sexual and gender stereotypes and taboos as a central part of efforts to humiliate and degrade detainees. Professor Case's analysis will be structured around three quotations, two from interrogators (including the lecture’s title) and one from a detainee. It will demonstrate that precedents for all of the sexualized abuses, and for most of the non-sexualized abuses, could be found in what soldiers themselves experienced in military hazing. Abuse is not simply about treating the prisoners as “the other,” but about doing to “them” what was done to “us.” And what was done? In the words of one detainee, “They wanted us to feel as though we were women, the way women feel and this is the worst insult, to feel like a woman.” The use of feminization as a means of degradation, whether in interrogation or basic training, is not only harmful to sex equality, but also to military effectiveness. For example, although gentler interrogation techniques have a proven track record and are favored by most experts, harsh techniques are now in favor, because, as one interrogator said, otherwise, “They’ll think we are … pussies.” Professor Case will consider ways in which these practices do gender-based harm, not only to the men who are their alleged targets, but to the military women involved, voluntarily or not, in carrying them out, as well as to women generally. Mary Anne Case is Arnold I. Shure Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded on April 13, 2011 as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" lecture series.

Geof Stone & Alexander Tsesis, "Sticks, Stones, and the Constitution: The Regulation of Hate Speech"

arester — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:36:58 +0000

This debate between Geof Stone (Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago Law School) and Alexander Tsesis (Assistant Professor of Law, Loyoal University Chicago) was recorded on February 14, 2011 and was sponsopred by APALSA, BLSA, and Outlaw.

Bernard Harcourt, "The Illusion of Free Markets: Laissez faire and Mass Incarceration"

arester — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:17:44 +0000

It is widely believed today that the free market is the best mechanism ever invented to efficiently allocate resources in society. Just as fundamental is the belief that government has a legitimate and competent role in policing and punishing. The result, in this country, has been an incendiary combination of laissez faire and mass incarceration. Today, the United States incarcerates over one percent of its adult population, the highest number and rate in the world. In this CBI, Professor Harcourt will trace the birth of the idea of natural orderliness in economic thought and its gradual evolution into today’s myth of the free market, and explore how it could possibly have produced the largest government-run penal sphere on the globe.

This talk was recorded on February 21, 2011, as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series. Bernard Harcourt is Julius Kreeger Professor of Law & Criminology and Chair and Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago.

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Creating Capabilities: Directions for Law and Policy

arester — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:13:36 +0000

This panel was recorded April 24, 2010 as part of the conference "Creating Capabilities," held at the University of Chicago Law School and organized by James Heckman, Martha Nussbaum and Robert Pollak.

Directions for Law and Policy: Social Norms, Families, Legislation, Courts
Once we have a sense of what our goals are and what forms of intervention might be effective, we still need to think about social and political structure: what can law do, by contrast to informal social norms and families? In the realm of law, what roles can one see for courts, legislation, and administrative agencies? For family policy and family privacy?

Chair: Eric Posner
Emily Buss
Steven Durlauf
Robert Ellickson

Anup Malani and Jonathan Masur, "The True Cost of Patents"

arester — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:01:41 +0000

Patents encourage innovation by granting inventors exclusive rights to sell their inventions. The resulting monopoly profits are a reward for innovation. It is commonly thought, however, that these monopoly profits price some consumers of inventions out of the market. This loss of consumption is an “efficiency” cost of patents. Thus, according to the conventional wisdom an optimal patent regime should balance the value of innovation to those who can purchase it against the efficiency cost of lost consumption to those who cannot purchase it. In our CBI talk, we question whether patents result in foregone consumption and reject the conventional tradeoff that drives optimal patent policy. We argue that there exist contractual mechanisms, such as health insurance and patent pools, that mitigate or stop consumers from being priced out of the market for innovations. Instead, the main concern with patents is that it transfers wealth from consumers to inventors. Anup Malani is Professor of Law and Aaron Director Research Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School and Jonathan Masur is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded January 24, 2011 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Thomas J. Miles, "Economics and Judicial Behavior"

arester — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:15:24 +0000

The 2011 Coase Lecture in Law and Economics was presented by Thomas J. Miles , Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School, on January 25, 2011.

Panel on "Family Law Reform: Global Dimensions"

arester — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:07:49 +0000

This panel was part of the conference Democracy and Gender Equality in the Muslim World, organized by Martha Nussbaum and Madhavi Sunder on May 8, 2009. Speakers included:

Moderator: Emily Buss, Fried Professor of Law, University of Chicago
Zainah Anwar, Project Director for the Global Movement for Justice and Equality in the Muslim Family
Janet Halley, Royall Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Havva Guney Ruebenacker, Harvard Law School, S.J.D. Candidate
Sylvia Vatuk, Professor of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Chicago

Alicia Davis, "Is There a Corporate Governance Clientele Effect?"

arester — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:16:08 +0000

Institutional investors, because of their relatively larger ownership stakes, have more incentive than retail investors to monitor the companies in which they invest, particularly if it is costly to exit. Since owning shares in a well-governed firm reduces an investor’s own monitoring costs and also may provide higher liquidity and lower associated trading costs, such investments are attractive to institutional investors. In a recent study, Visiting Professor Alicia Davis finds that higher governance quality, as defined by a metric that heavily weights internal governance factors (e.g., board composition), is associated with higher proportions of institutional trading and ownership. This finding is consistent with the presence of a corporate governance clientele effect and the reasonable conjecture that institutions have more reason to prefer well-governed companies than retail investors. However, Davis also finds that higher governance quality, as defined by a metric focused on external governance (i.e., exposure to the market for corporate control), is associated with higher proportions of trading and ownership by individuals. It is unlikely that retail investors have a stronger aversion to firms with antitakeover protections in place than institutions, so this result is unlikely due to the presence of a corporate governance clientele effect. One possible explanation lies beyond investor governance preferences. Retail investors, in general, are more loyal to management than their institutional counterparts. This often makes individual investors key players in close votes accompanying battles for corporate control and firms with large retail shareholder bases, on the margin, less attractive takeover targets. Therefore, the presence of retail investors may function as a partial substitute for antitakeover defenses. The fact that the study’s overall findings hold only for firms that pay dividends--and the ones therefore more likely to engender retail investor loyalty--lends support to this view. This talk was recorded on November 16, 2010 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Michael Schill, "The Mortgage Meltdown and Its Aftermath"

arester — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 16:39:45 +0000

The spectacular rise and fall of the housing market over the past decade has shaken the foundations of virtually every aspect of our economy. In this CBI, Dean Schill will briefly survey the causes and consequences of the "mortgage meltdown." With the current crisis as a backdrop, he will focus on two or three topics related to his research interests which include (1) whether legal and policy incentives for home ownership are desirable, (2) ; whether the structure of mortgage law makes sense and (3) the advantages and disadvantages of proposals for resolving the current mortgage crisis. This talk was recorded November 9, 2010, as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series. Michael Schill is Dean and Harry N. Wyatt Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.

"Markets, Firms and Property Rights: A Celebration of the Research of Ronald Coase" (Panel 5)

arester — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:58:16 +0000

This panel was recorded on December 5, 2009 as part of the conference "Markets, Firms and Property Rights: A Celebration of the Research of Ronald Coase." The conference brought together a group of scholars to honor the life and research of Ronald Coase. 2009 marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of Coase’s seminal paper on the Federal Communications Commission. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of his paper on “The Problem of Social Cost,” and his 100th birthday.

The panel included:

Moderator:
Kevin Murphy, University of Chicago

Competence as a Random Variable: One More Tribute to Ronald Coase
Richard A. Epstein, University of Chicago

R.H. Coase and the Neoclassical Model of the Economic System
Harold Demsetz, UCLA

Measuring Coase's Influence
William Landes, University of Chicago

The event was sponsored by the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School, the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the Information Economy Project at George Mason University, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the China Center for Economic Research, the Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics, and the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.

Harvey Levin, '75, "Privacy and the Media"

arester — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:24:34 +0000

Harvey Levin, '75, is the Executive Producer of TMZ.com and TMZ TV. He also is a Host of The People's Court and was Creator and Executive Producer of Celebrity Justice. Mr. Levin has taught at the University of Miami School of Law, Whittier College School of Law, and Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. This talk was recorded on October 18, 2010.

Saul Levmore, "From the Wheel to Open Source Software: Growth and Property Rights"

arester — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:59:20 +0000

Reasonably secure property rights are widely understood as important for economic growth, though it is also understood that interest groups and politicians can benefit from particular configurations of rights. What might change in a world where intellectual property dominates? How should we expect innovators to be motivated in the next century? The history of the evolution of property rights, and of the roles played by courts and legislatures in defining these rights, offers clues about our legal and technological future.

Saul Levmore is William B. Graham Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded October 12, 2010, as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Geof Stone, "Elena Kagan, John Roberts and the First Amendment"

arester — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 20:16:25 +0000

This talk was delivered On October 4, 2010, as part of the Law School's annual First Mondays lecture series for alumni. Geof Stone is Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Law School and a 1971 graduate of the Law School. He was introduced by Michael Schill, Dean and Harry N. Wyatt Professor of Law.

Jonathan Masur, "Third-Party Patent Doctrines and Licensing Behavior"

arester — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 20:18:35 +0000

Jonathan Masur is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded June 19, 2010 as part of the Licensing of Intellectual Property Conference sponosred by the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics.

Akbar Ganji: "Solutions to the Problem of Gender Discrimination in Islam"

arester — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:53:52 +0000

Gender inequality in a variety of forms exists in all religious traditions. Contemporary Muslims in order to solve this problem and reconcile their religious heritage with the modern world have proposed various solutions to this dilemma. This talk will examine these proposed solutions as well as assess the strengths and weakness of these approaches.

Akbar Ganji is an Iranian journalist and writer. This talk was presented on May 8, 2009 as the keynote of the conference "Democracy and Gender Equality in the Muslim World," held at the University of Chicago Law School.

Introduction by Martha Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Chicago.

Sarah Barringer Gordon, "The Spirit of the Law: Separation of Church and State from 1945-1990"

arester — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:06:54 +0000

The University of Chicago Law School is proud to welcome Professor Sarah Barringer Gordon, Arlin M. Adams Professor of Constitutional Law and Professor of History at Penn Law School, for the 2010 Fulton Lecture in Legal History. Professor Gordon's lecture, entitled "The Spirit of the Law: Separation of Church and State from 1945-1990," will touch on the same themes explored in her book The Spirit of the Law, published this year by Harvard University Press. This lecture was recorded on May 13, 2010.

Conference on Gender, Law, and the British Novel: Keynote Panel

arester — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:36:52 +0000

This panel, which featured a talk by Sara Paretsky, author of the V.I. Warshawski novels, and discussion by Nicola Lacey of the London School of Economics and Law School faculty Martha Nussbaum and Alison LaCroix, was part of a conference on Gender, Law, and the British Novel that was held at the University of Chicago Law School on May 14-15, 2010. The conference was co-sponsored by the Center for Gender Studies.

Karl Llewellyn, "Elements of the Law - Introductory Lecture"

arester — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:20:25 +0000

This lecture by famed legal scholar Karl Llewellyn, who joined the Chicago law faculty in 1951, was recorded on October 18, 1957, by Peter Clarke, AB '56, JD x'59. Picking up where he left off in his classic Bramble Bush lectures, Prof. Llewellyn provides an introduction to law school and the legal profession in the Class of 1959's first Elements of the Law class.

Amartya Sen, Keynote Address at Conference on Creating Capabilities: Sources and Consequences for Law and Social Policy

arester — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:11:52 +0000

This conference, organized by James Heckman, Martha Nussbaum and Robert Pollak, examines a variety of conceptions of human capability, including the Human Development and Capabilities Approach in relation to the recent literature on the economics, neuroscience, and psychology of human development in order to enrich both fields. The conference will foster a broader notion of capability formation than just formal education or cognition. It will adopt a life cycle perspective on capability expression and formation. Recent research documenting the contributions of families, schools, governments, and other institutions of society (including religious bodies, community groups, foster care, the juvenile justice system, and on-the-job training) to the formation of capabilities in children, adolescents, and young adults suggests that a broader framework for the Human Development Approach would be useful. The aim of the conference is to integrate recent advances in understanding how capabilities are produced into the Human Development Approach and to study the implications of the revised research program for law and public policy. Amartya Sen, the 1998 winner of The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, provided the keynote address on April 23, 2010.

Anup Malani, “Is it Possible to Interpret Statutes 'Objectively?'"

arester — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:32:44 +0000

Anup Malani is Professor of Law and Aaron Director Research Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School. This Chicago's Best Ideas talk was recorded May 1, 2010 at the Law School's annual Reunion celebration.

Thomas E. Perez, "Advancing Equal Opportunity for All: Civil Rights in 2010 and Beyond"

arester — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:31:50 +0000

Our nation has undeniably made great progress toward fulfilling the promise of equal opportunity and equal justice. But our remarkable achievements are milestones along the path rather than the culmination of our journey. Discrimination and bigotry persist in blatant forms - burned crosses, burned churches, hate-fueled assaults - and in subtle, yet equally devastating, forms. We see it in our education system, where many children still go to substandard schools. We see it in the foreclosure crisis, where communities of color were all too frequently preyed upon by lenders who used the corrosive power of fine print to transform the American dream into a nightmare. We see it in the workplace, where glass ceilings continue to shatter opportunities despite great gains. In 2010, the Civil Rights Division is working to tackle both the longstanding challenges to equality, and the emerging issues that stand in the way of fulfilling our nation's greatest promise.Thomas E. Perez is Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Dept. of Justice. This talk was recorded April 22, 2010 and was sponsored by the Law School.

M. Todd Henderson, "Unsafe Harbors"

arester — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:05:58 +0000

Most of what we think about as "law" involves a background rule that conduct is legal with an exception for what lawmakers define as illegal. But there are several other ways in which law is made. The most obvious is the concept of a "safe harbor," where the background rule is that conduct is illegal with an exception for what lawmakers define as legal. In this lecture, Professor Henderson will discuss the choice between these alternatives, and introduce two new types of law: unsafe and super-safe harbors. The lecture will show their application in areas ranging from criminal law to securities law to intellectual property. M. Todd Henderson is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, and a 1998 graduate of the Law School. This talk was recorded on May 1, 2010 at the Law School's Reunion, as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas Series.

Geof Stone, "OT 1972: A Year With Justice Brennan"

arester — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:57:12 +0000

In 1972-73, Geoffrey Stone served as a law clerk to Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. The 1972 Term was an eventful one for the Supreme Court, resulting in landmark decisions in such areas as obscenity, equal protection, abortion, and criminal procedure. Moreover, the 1972 Term marked a critical transition from the "liberal" era of the Warren Court to a new era, which has now lasted for almost forty years, in which the Court has been dominated by increasingly "conservative" justices. Professor Stone will discuss his experiences and insights during the Court's 1972 Term. Geoffrey R. Stone is Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded April 20, 2010 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Richard Epstein, "Can the United States Survive Health Care Reform?"

arester — Thu, 06 May 2010 17:02:23 +0000

The recent health care bill represents what is likely to turn out to be the most comprehensive health care reform ever, Medicare included. Yet many of its provisions were included in the last minute without serious discussion or debate. And those provisions that have been in all versions of the bill since the outset are likely to have profound, if unintended consequences. In this talk, Professor Epstein will explain why he thinks that the combined weight of these many programs is likely to produce a major implosion in health care services in both the short and the long run. Richard Epstein is James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded April 8, 2010 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Gary Haugen, "A New Mandate for Human Rights"

arester — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:38:44 +0000

The University of Chicago Law School is proud to welcome Gary Haugen '91 for the 2010 Ulysses and Marguerite Schwartz Memorial Lecture. The Schwartz Lectureship is held by a distinguished lawyer or teacher whose experience is in the academic field or practice of public service. Haugen is President and CEO of International Justice Mission, a human rights organization with operations in 12 countries. Haugen's lecture, entitled "A New Mandate for Human Rights: Why a Half Century of Human Rights Activism and International Development is Failing the Poor, and What Can Be Done about It," probes why significant contributions by the international development and modern human rights movements have failed to establish a platform of basic rule of law in the developing world. This lecture was recorded February 18, 2010.

Martha Nussbaum, "Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach"

arester — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:11:25 +0000

International agencies used to measure the quality of life in a nation simply by looking at GDP per capita. Recently that approach has been challenged by an approach that focuses on people's "capabilities": what they are actually able to do and be, their substantial freedoms, in some central areas of life. As one of the architects of that approach, Nussbaum will discuss its origins and structure, and the arguments for and against it. Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded March 2, 2010 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas series.

Rosalind Dixon, "Partial Constitutional Amendments"

arester — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:43:09 +0000

Art. V of the Constitution makes the formal process of constitutional amendment extremely difficult - in fact far too difficult according to most constitutional scholars. But does it matter? And if so, what can we do about it? Amending Art V seems near impossible...and the idea, advanced by some Yale law professors, that we should be free to amend the Constitution via a national referendum seems equally implausible (not to mention undesirable). Professor Dixon therefore proposes a new solution to the problem: that the Supreme Court should treat failed amendments supported by a Congressional majority as "partial" constitutional amendments.

Rosalind Dixon is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded Feb. 16, 2010 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas Series.

Jacob Gersen, "Political Economy of Public Law"

arester — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:57:37 +0000

The 2010 Coase Lecture in Law and Economics was presented by Assistant Professor of Law Jacob Gersen. Entitled "Political Economy of Public Law," the lecture focused on economic analysis of political institutions, mainly separation of powers problems and different strategies for allocating government power in constitutional theory.

Michael Walzer, "Trying Political Leaders"

arester — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:08:06 +0000

The subject of this year's Dewey Lecture is the political morality and wisdom of putting political leaders on trial after we have endured their leadership (and other nations, perhaps, have endured their crimes). Political trials have a long history-and the judgments we make of their judgments are highly contested. Professor Walzer will try to suggest a comparative politics of political trials; they have a very different character, and very different purposes, in different national and international settings. And, like all trials, their justice and wisdom hang on their character and purpose.

Michael Walzer is Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey.

This Dewey Lecture in Law and Philosophy was recorded January 20, 2010.

Emily Buss, “What the Law Should (and Should Not) Learn From Child Development Research”

arester — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:33:10 +0000

The law has always treated children differently, and these differences in treatment are largely attributed to differences in capacity. Children lack the decision making ability and the self-control of adults, the cases and commentary explains, and therefore should be given less control over their own lives, and blamed less severely for their offenses. For much of the 20th century, these developmental arguments were grounded in life experience and conventional wisdom. More recently, however, developmental psychologists and legal scholars have joined forces to argue for legal rights and responsibilities that more accurately and consistently reflect psychological (and, most recently, neuroscientific) research about how children change as they grow up. This heavy reliance on developmental science was embraced by the Supreme Court in Roper v. Simmons, the 2005 case ruling that the Constitution prohibited the imposition of the death penalty for offenses committed by juveniles. While the Roper analysis can be applauded for its careful attention to social scientists' increasingly sophisticated understanding of children's capacities, it also demonstrates certain risks that come with this inter-disciplinary approach. In her talk, Buss will consider these risks, and suggest an approach to the formulation of children's rights that rests less on our current understanding of children's capacities and more on the role we want the law to play in shaping how children grow up.

Emily Buss is Mark and Barbara Fried Professor of Law and Kanter Director of Policy Initiatives at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded January 25, 2010 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas series.

Panel Discussion: Easterbrook on Statutes

arester — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:35:23 +0000

This panel discussion was the second in a series of three events, initiated by the University of Chicago Law Review, celebrating Judge Frank Easterbrook's 25 years on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The panel, which featured professors Douglas Baird, Saul Levmore, Martha Nussbaum, David Strauss, and Judge Easterbrook, was held on January 13, 2010.

Panel Discussion: Easterbrook on the Constitution

arester — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:33:42 +0000

This panel discussion was the second in a series of three events, initiated by the University of Chicago Law Review, celebrating Judge Frank Easterbrook's 25 years on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The panel, which featured professors Aziz Huq, Jonathan Masur, Geoffrey Stone, and Judge Easterbrook, was held on January 12, 2010.

Panel Discussion: Easterbrook on Contracts and Copyright

arester — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:29:01 +0000

This panel discussion was the first in a series of three events, initiated by the University of Chicago Law Review, celebrating Judge Frank Easterbrook's 25 years on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The panel, which featured professors Omri Ben-Shahar, Randy Picker, Eric Posner and Judge Easterbrook, was held on January 11, 2010.

Ronald Coase: "Markets, Firms and Property Rights"

arester — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:14:51 +0000

This address by Ronald Coase (Clifton R. Musser Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Chicago Law School) to the conference "Markets, Firms and Property Rights: A Celebration of the Research of Ronald Coase" was recorded November 23, 2009.

Eric Posner and Adrian Vermeule, "Tyrannophobia"

arester — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 22:00:07 +0000

This talk was presented on October 16, 2009 at the Conference on Comparative Constitutional Design at the University of Chicago Law School. Eric Posner is Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, and Adrian Vermeule is John H. Watson, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. John Carey (Dartmouth College) provided commentary on the paper.

Martha Nussbaum, "Personal Laws and Equality: The Case of India"

arester — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:32:21 +0000

This talk was recorded on October 17, 2009 as part of the Conference Comparative Constitutional Design held at the Unversity of Chicago Law School. Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Law School. Rajmohan Gandhi (University of Illinois) provides commentary.

Saul Levmore, "What’s the Right Drinking Age? and Other Problems of the Slippery Slope"

arester — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:11:06 +0000

Legal scholars praise "incrementalism" and "minimalism" in law, which is to say the idea that law should progress in small steps and lawmakers should intervene less rather than more. But the acclaim for these approaches ignores the role of interest groups in our legal system. There are many issues where there is good reason to think that legislating step-by-step is a recipe for getting to the wrong result.

Saul Levmore is Dean and William B. Graham Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded on November 10, 2009 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas Series.

Bernard Harcourt, "Neoliberal Penality: A Genealogy of Excess"

arester — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:38:36 +0000

What work do the categories "the free market" and "regulation" do for us? Why do we incarcerate one out of every one hundred adults? These seemingly unrelated questions, it turns out, are deeply interconnected. The categories of free and regulated markets emerged as an effort to make sense of irreducibly individual phenomena—unique forms of social organization. In the process, the categories helped shape the dominant belief that the economic realm is characterized by natural order, and that the only legitimate sphere of government intervention is policing and punishment. The consequences have been devastating: first, in distorting and expanding the penal sphere beyond our worst possible dreams, and, second, in naturalizing and masking the regulatory mechanisms inherent to all markets that massively redistribute wealth. In this CBI, Professor Harcourt challenges these categories and asks us to imagine a world where the terms "free" and "regulated" markets no longer exist.

This talk was recorded May 21, 2009 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Shakespeare and the Law: Keynote Discussion featuring Justice Stephen Breyer, Richard Posner, Martha Nussbaum, & Richard Strier

arester — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:52:20 +0000

The University of Chicago Law School's "Shakespeare and the Law" conference brought together thinkers from law, literature, and philosophy to investigate the legal dimensions of Shakespeare's plays. Participants explored the ways in which the plays show awareness of law and legal regimes and comment on a variety of legal topics, ranging from general themes, such as mercy and the rule of law, to highly concrete legal issues of his time. Other papers investigated the subsequent influence of his plays on the law and explored more general issues concerning the relationship between law and literature.

The keynote session of the conference featured Justice Stephen Breyer, Judge Richard Posner, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics Martha Nussbaum, and Frank L. Sulzberger Distinguished Service Professor Richard Strier (English, University of Chicago). It was recorded May 15th, 2009.

Panel Discussion on Gay Marriage with Professors Mary Anne Case, Martha Nussbaum, David Strauss and Lecturer James Madigan

arester — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:49:29 +0000

This panel discussion was recorded on October 20, 2009 and was sponsored by Outlaw, the Law School Democrats, and the Law School Republicans. Mary Anne Case is Arnold I. Shure Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School; Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago Law School; David Strauss is Gerald Ratner Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School; and James Madigan is Class of '00 and Lecturer in at the University of Chicago Law School.

Tom Ginsburg, "On the Evasion of Executive Term Limits"

arester — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:36:59 +0000

Tom Ginsburg is Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This paper, co-written with Zachary Elkins (University of Texas at Austin School of Law) and James Melton (IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Italy) was presented on October 17, 2009 at the Conference on Comparative Constitutional Design at the University of Chicago Law School. Jose Antonio Cheibub (University of Illinois) provides commentary on the paper.

Alison Siegler, "Is Life Without Parole for Juveniles Who Commit Non-Homicides Constitutional?"

arester — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:06:02 +0000

Alison Siegler is Assistant Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School and is the Director of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic’s Federal Criminal Justice Project. This talk was recorded On October 15, 2009 and sponsored by the Chicago chapter of the American Constitution Society.

Jonathan Masur, "The Assertive Supreme Court: Patent Law and the Future of Economic Regulation"

arester — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:59:19 +0000

Jonathan Masur is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded October 5, 2009 as part of the Law School's annual First Monday Lecture Series.

Douglas Baird, "Eero Saarinen's Law School"

arester — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:27:48 +0000

This Chicago's Best Ideas lecture was recorded May 2, 2009, as part of the Law School's annual reunion festivities. Douglas Baird is Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Alison Siegler and Students, "Clinics in Action: The Federal Criminal Justice Project"

arester — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:16:02 +0000

Assistant Clinical Professor of Law Alison Siegler, as well as students Stephanie Holmes, Brynn Lyerly, Emma Mittelstaedt, Chris Stanton, Daniel Bork, Kristin Love, and James Burnham, discuss the work of the Federal Criminal Justice Project. Part of the Law School's Mandel Legal Aid Clinic, the FCJP's primary mission is to zealously represent indigent defendants charged with federal crimes while giving students a unique opportunity to practice in federal district court. The FCJP is the first legal clinic in the country that exclusively represents clients charged with federal felonies, and is one of only a few legal clinics that allows students to appear in federal district court on behalf of criminal defendants. This talk was recorded March 2, 2009.

M. Todd Henderson, "The Nanny Corporation"

arester — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:02:26 +0000

We are all familiar with the Nanny State: governments telling us what we can put in our bodies, to wear seatbelts, not to talk on our cell phones while driving, and so on. But governments are not the only institutions that act paternalistically—we are seeing the rise of the Nanny Corporation. Firms big and small are imposing nanny-like restrictions on employees, in some cases even sending monitors to employee homes to check for adherence to company policies on smoking, eating, and extra-curricular activities. Should we fear or trumpet the arrival of the Nanny Corporation?

In this episode of Chicago’s Best Ideas, Professor Henderson makes the case for the Nanny Corporation, arguing that individuals in any common pool, including employees and shareholders in firms and citizens in jurisdictions, want the managers of those common pools to act paternalistically toward other individuals, because this lowers the costs of being in the pool. The government nanny and the corporate one can thus be thought of as competing in the "market for paternalism" to deliver nanny rules to individuals that demand them.

Chicago’s Best Ideas, a lecture series begun in honor of the University of Chicago Law School’s Centennial, highlights the intellectual innovations of the School’s distinguished faculty.

Richard Epstein, "On the Record about Off-Label Drug Uses"

arester — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:01:36 +0000

This talk was recorded May 1, 2009, at the University of Chicago Law School's annual Loop Luncheon. Richard Epstein is James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Law School.

M. Gregg Bloche, "Doctors and Interrogators: Implications of the CIA Torture Memos"

arester — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:19:13 +0000

M. Gregg Bloche, M.D., J.D., was Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, Professor of Law at Georgetown University, and Non-Resident Senior Fellow (on leave) at the Brookings Institution. Dr. Bloche recently worked with the Obama campaign to help draft Obama's health proposal, and has written for a variety of publications, including leading law reviews, the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA, and the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post. His recent written work has considered physicians' conflicts of loyalty, problems that arise from uncertainty over the value of medical treatment, and the health policy implications of individuals' contradictory desires. This talk was recorded May 5, 2009 and sponsored by the Health Law Society.

James Q. Whitman, "The Verdict of Battle"

arester — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:00:00 +0000

In its classic form, a “decisive” pitched battle was a beautifully contained event, lasting a single day, killing only combatants, and resolving legal questions of immense significance. Yet since the mid-nineteenth century, pitched battles no longer decide wars, which now routinely degenerate into general devastation. Why did pitched battle ever work as a conflict resolution device? Why has it ceased working since 1860? James Q. Whitman is Ford Foundation Professor of Comparative and Foreign Law at Yale Law School. This Maurice and Muriel Fulton Lecture in Legal History was recorded May 7, 2009.

Gary Haugen and Richard Posner, 2009 Hooding Ceremony Remarks

arester — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Gary Haugen is a 1991 graduate of the Law School and President and CEO of International Justice Mission, a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. He received the Law School's Distinguished Citizen Award. Richard Posner is Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School and Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. These remarks were recorded June 12, 2009.

Madhavi Sunder, "Reading the Qur'an in Kuala Lumpur"

arester — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:26:00 +0000

The Enlightenment took us from a world of Empire to an Age of Reason and equality in the public sphere. But it left the private spheres of culture and religion in the Dark Ages of imposition and unreason. In the Enlightenment worldview, freedom in the public sphere is freedom itself. Human rights came to be defined as “rights guaranteed in the secular political world.” But today on the frontlines of women’s movements in the Muslim world we hear challenges to this view of freedom and equality. Significantly, Muslim women’s challenges do not reject Enlightenment values but seek to take them further. No longer content to accept freedom in the public sphere and tyranny in the private, individuals in the modern world increasingly demand change within their religious communities in order to bring their faith in line with democratic norms and practices. In this talk Professor Sunder tells of a rising, transnational grassroots movement led by Muslim women to read the Qur’an for themselves, thus taking the traditional Enlightenment values of critique and participation the next mile, to religion itself. Madhavi Sunder is Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded May 7, 2009, as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas series. Chicago’s Best Ideas, a lecture series begun in honor of the University of Chicago Law School’s Centennial, highlights the intellectual innovations of the School’s distinguished faculty.

David Weisbach, "Climate Change: What Do We Know? What Do We Need to Know?"

arester — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:00:00 +0000

David Weisbach is Walter J. Blum Professor of Law and Kearney Director of the Program in Law and Economics. This talk was recorded April 22, 2009 and was sponsored by the Environmental Law Society.

"Law Enforcement and Fairness in Shakespeare" feat. D. Wood, F. Easterbrook, D. Bevington, R. McAdams, and R. Strier

arester — Thu, 21 May 2009 05:00:00 +0000

This panel was recorded on May 16, 2009 as part of the University of Chicago Law School's "Shakespeare and the Law" Conference. The papers presented included "Equity in Measure for Measure" (David Bevington), "Law, Disobedience, Justification and Mercy" (Diane Wood), "Criminal Responsibility in Shakespeare" (Richard McAdams) and “Shakespeare's Problems with Law” (Richard Strier).

Jeremy Epstein, "Problems of Litigating WWII Art Restitution Claims"

arester — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:00:29 +0000

Jeremy Epstein is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago where he teaches a seminar about litigating title disputes in art law. He is a partner in the Litigation Group of Shearman & Sterling and, from 1995-2000, served as head of the Litigation Department. He has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions litigation, securities litigation, antitrust, criminal defense and litigation involving the fine arts. He received his JD from Yale University and his BA from Columbia University. This talk was recorded April 20, 2009 and was sponsored by the Jewish Law Students Association.

Geoffrey Stone, "Obama's Supreme Court"

arester — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0000

What will the election of Barack Obama mean for the Supreme Court of the United States? To answer this question, it is necessary to understand the current make-up of the Court and its direction. What are the predispositions of the current Justices? What do we mean today by the terms "liberal" and "conservative"? What does it mean to say that a Justice believes in "strict construction," "original meaning," "judicial activism," or "judicial restraint"? How should we assess the competing perspectives on judicial interpretation? And, when the dust settles, what can we expect of the Obama Supreme Court? Geoffrey Stone is Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded April 14, 2009 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Adam Cox and Rosalind Dixon: "Immigration and Human Rights: Prospects and Perils"

arester — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0000

This discussion, the inaugural event of the International Human Rights Society, explored the role rights discourse can and should play in advocacy for renewed efforts towards immigration reform under the Obama administration. Adam Cox and Rosalind Dixon are Assistant Professors of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.

"The First Fifty Years are the Hardest: Defining Future Models of Clinical Legal Education"

arester — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:00:00 +0000

This panel, which discussed new clinical strategies and methods, featured Craig Futterman (Clinical Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School), Stephen Wizner (William O. Douglas Clinical Professor, Yale Law School), Marc Kadish (Director of Pro Bono Activities, Mayer Brown), and Michael Pinard (Professor of Law, University of Maryland Law School). It was recorded February 23, 2008, as part of the Mandel Clinic's 50th Anniversary Symposium.

Conference Panel: "Reputation and Cyberspace"

arester — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:00:00 +0000

This conference panel, recorded November 22, 2008 at the Law School's "Speech, Privacy, and the Internet: The University and Beyond" conference, features Visting Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School Anupam Chander (“Youthful Indiscretion in an Internet Age”), Professor of Law and Walter Mander Teaching Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School Lior Strahilevitz, ("Rehabilitating Online Reputation"), and Loftus Professor of Law at Seton Hall Law School Frank Pasquale (“Reputation Regulation: Rationalizing Internet Intermediary Responsibility").

Omri Ben-Shahar, "Myths of Consumer Protection: Information, Litigation, and Access"

arester — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Omri Ben-Shahar is Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded February 17, 2009 as the annual Ronald H. Coase Lecture in Law and Economics.

Martha Nussbaum and Diane Wood, "Constitutions and Capabilities"

arester — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0000

In this talk, subtitled "A Dialogue about Political Philosophy and the Judge's Role," Professor Nussbaum discussed her "capabilities approach," a normative approach to basic political principles that has implications for how constitutions should be both written and interpreted. Judge Wood approached the topic pragmatically, asking to what extent a judge could really use such a normative approach of this sort, and what the consequences might be. Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago Law School. Diane P. Wood is a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School. Chicago’s Best Ideas, a lecture series begun in honor of the University of Chicago Law School’s Centennial, highlights the intellectual innovations of the School’s distinguished faculty.

Richard Epstein, "The Coming Meltdown in Labor Relations"

arester — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Labor relations consists of two broad areas—unions and employment discrimination. Both areas have been stable for some time. The last major labor law reform was in 1959. The employment discrimination law dates back to 1991. The new Obama administration is, however, ramping up tough legislation in both these areas. Professor Epstein will examine three prominent proposals—the Employee Free Choice Act, The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and the Paycheck Fairness Act. His somber conclusion is that, their noble titles notwithstanding, these legislative reforms make little sense in either good or bad economic times. The new legal uncertainties, and the high administrative costs, and the misaligned legal incentives associated with these proposals will reduce the gains from trade in labor markets, and resulting higher unemployment will only deepen the current downturn. Richard Epstein is James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded on Januray 27, 2009 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Posner Answers the Feminists: A Debate on Sex Discrimination

arester — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0000

This debate between Richard Posner (Senior Lecturer in Law and Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit) and Martha Nussbaum (Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics) and Mary Anne Case (Arnold I. Shure Professor of Law) was moderated by Geoffrey Stone (Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor). It was recorded January 26, 2009 and was co-sponsored by Outlaw, the American Constitution Society, the Federalist Society, and Law Women's Caucus

Richard Posner: "Let Us Never Blame a Contract Breaker"

arester — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Richard Posner is Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School and Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. This talk, in which he argues that concepts of fault or blame are not useful addenda to the doctrines of contract law, was recorded September 27, 2008 as part of a conference at the University of Chicago Law School entitled, "Fault in Contract Law." The conference was organized by Frank and Bernice Greenberg Professor of Law Omri Ben-Shahar and Fischel-Neil Visiting Professor of Law Ariel Porat.

Richard McAdams, "The Fourth Amendment in Transition?"

arester — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Richard McAdams is Bernard D. Meltzer Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded October 6, 2008 as part of the Law School's annual First Monday series of lectures.

Lee Fennell, "Risk Reversals"

arester — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Law often allocates risk, as through tort doctrines. Should people be able to undo or "reverse" such risk allocations by, for example, selling their rights to any claims that may later develop? Scholars have interestingly examined this question, as well as many other innovative ideas for rearranging risk outside of traditional insurance markets. This talk focuses attention on some related but underexplored questions surrounding risk reversibility itself—such as the optimal amount of stickiness in society's default risk allocations, the effects of heterogeneity in risk arrangements, and the implications (cognitive and otherwise) of starting from one risk baseline rather than another. Lee Fennell is Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded October 22, 2008, as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas series. Chicago’s Best Ideas, a lecture series begun in honor of the University of Chicago Law School’s Centennial, highlights the intellectual innovations of the School’s distinguished faculty.

Saul Levmore, "The Internet's Anonymity Problem"

arester — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:00:00 +0000

There is the well known problem, or reality, of juvenile and destructive communication on the Internet, normally engaged in behind the protective cover of anonymity. Is this somehow a different problem on the Internet than it is elsewhere and, if so, are there solutions that are effective and justifiable? This CBI affords an opportunity to think about the subject, if it is that, of “Internet Law.” It introduces the idea of a hypothetical bargain among citizens or communicants, as a means of thinking about likely, or perhaps desirable, regulation and practice. It then grapples with the question of whether the interest in, or legal rule protecting, free speech trumps this bargain, or democratic solution. Saul Levmore is William B. Graham Professor of Law and Dean of the University of Chicago Law School. This lecture was recorded November 11, 2008 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas series. Chicago’s Best Ideas, a lecture series begun in honor of the University of Chicago Law School’s Centennial, highlights the intellectual innovations of the School’s distinguished faculty.

Martha Nussbaum, "From Disgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and Constitutional Law"

arester — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded October 30, 2008 as part of the Law School's Diversity Week, and sponsored by Outlaw.

Faculty Panel on the Bailout, featuring Douglas G. Baird, Anupam Chander, Rosalind Dixon, and M. Todd Henderson

arester — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000

This faculty panel was recorded on October 9, 2008 and was sponsored by the Federalist Society.

“Bailouts 1.0: The New Law and the Future,” a faculty panel featuring R. Picker, D. Baird, M. Todd Henderson, and John Cochrane

arester — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000

This panel was recorded on October 15, 2008, and sponsored by the Law School Democrats and the Law School Republicans.

Karl Llewellyn: "Marriage and Family" Classroom Lecture

arester — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Karl Llewellyn taught at the University of Chicago Law School from 1951 until his death in 1962. In this undated classroom recording, he takes an often light-hearted look at the implicit legal structures within what was at the time considered the "typical" American family.

Adam Samaha: "Muskets and Glocks: The Second Amendment Reborn?"

arester — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Adam Samaha is Assistant Professor of Law and Herbert and Marjorie Fried Teaching Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded as part of the Law School's annual Loop Luncheon series on May 5, 2008.

Gerhard Casper: "Forswearing Allegiance"

arester — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Gerhard Casper is President Emeritus, Stanford University, and former Dean of the University of Chicago Law School. This lecture, the 2008 Maurice and Muriel Fulton Lecture in Legal History, was recorded May 1, 2008. Prof. Casper was introduced by Dean Saul Levmore.

Cass Sunstein and Richard Epstein: "Should Conservatives Vote for Obama?"

arester — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:00:00 +0000

This debate between University of Chicago Law School professors Cass Sunstein and Richard Epstein was recorded on March 3, 2008, and was cosponsored by the Federalist Society and the Black Law Students Association.

M. Todd Henderson: "Predicting Crime (without the Pre-Cogs)"

arester — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:00:00 +0000

In the absence of pre-cognitive superbeings and Tom Cruise, how are police and policy makers supposed to allocate scarce crime-fighting resources? There is a vibrant academic literature on predicting crime, with models of various types offered as the best way of estimating future crime rates. Many of these involve mapping software, which plots the past in the hopes of extrapolating to the future. Police use some of these techniques, but most are very crude, using things like weather or the location of liquor stores as "hot spots" to estimate crime rates. Police also use experience and gut instinct. All of the various methods, whether formal models or inside the head of the commissioner of police, are deployed in haphazard and isolated ways. In this lecture, Professor Henderson presents an alternative. M. Todd Henderson is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.This talk was recorded May 13, 2008 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Geoffrey Stone: "The World of the Framers: A Christian Nation?"

arester — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:00:00 +0000

It has become commonplace in American political discourse for Christian evangelicals to assert that the United States was founded as a "Christian nation" and that in recent decades secularists have gained control and distorted our nation's founding traditions and values. In this lecture, Professor Geoffrey Stone examines the beliefs of the Framers on this question. What did they think about Christianity, about the role of Christianity in the American nation, and about the relationship between religion generally and self-governance? The answers to these questions are important not only to constitutional interpretation, but even more fundamentally to an understanding of who we are – and who we are supposed to be – as a nation. Geoffrey Stone is Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded April 21, 2008 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Tom Ginsburg: “Why China Allows its Citizens to Sue the Government: Administrative Litigation in China”

arester — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Tom Ginsburg is Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded on May 6, 2008 and was sponsored by the China Law Society.

Richard Epstein: "Is the Administrative State Consistent with the Rule of Law?"

arester — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Without question, the most distinctive feature of the modern social democratic state is the rise of administrative agencies, which at the federal level function as a shadowy Fourth Branch of government that fits uneasily into our constitutional scheme of separation of powers, and which at the state level oversee vast swaths of economic activity. Defenders of the current administrative setup claim the elaborate procedural safeguards built into today’s administrative law effectively blunt the risk of arbitrary power, whose exercise has always been in tension with the rule of law. In this talk, Professor Epstein will explain why he thinks the massive discretion routinely confided in administrative agencies is in fact inconsistent with the rule of law on a wide range of matters dealing with economic liberties, tort liability, private property, and the institutional autonomy of voluntary associations. Richard Epstein is James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Director of the Law and Economics Program at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded on January 29, 2008 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas series.

Martha Nussbaum: "Equal Respect for Conscience: The Roots of a Moral and Legal Tradition"

arester — Fri, 30 May 2008 05:00:00 +0000

This talk was presented as the University of Chicago's 2008 Nora and Edward Ryerson Lecture. The Ryerson Lectures grew out of a 1972 bequest to the University by Nora and Edward L. Ryerson, a former Chairman of the Board. The University's faculty selects each Ryerson Lecturer based on a consensus that a particular scholar has made research contributions of lasting significance. It was recorded on May 14, 2008. Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago Law School

Abner Mikva and Jason Huber: "Against All Odds: Litigating Federal Criminal Appeals in the Seventh Circuit"

arester — Fri, 09 May 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Judge Abner Mikva and Jason Huber of the Appellate Advocacy Clinic at the University of Chicago's Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic discuss the work and history of the Appellate Advocacy project. This talk was recorded on April 14, 2008 as part of the Goodwin and Procter Clinics in Action Lunch Series.

Mary Anne Case: "Feminist Fundamentalism"

arester — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:00:00 +0000

At a time when so many different religious fundamentalisms are coming to the fore and demanding legal recognition, this talk will seek to vindicate feminist fundamentalism, defined as an uncompromising commitment to the equality of the sexes as intense and at least as worthy of respect as, for example, a religiously or culturally based commitment to female subordination or fixed sex roles. Both individuals and nation states can have feminist fundamentalist commitments, as the talk will illustrate. Mary Anne Case is Arnold I. Shure Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded April 9, 2008 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series.

Saul Levmore: "Climate Change and the Battle of the Generations"

arester — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Why have we taken so few precautions in the face of threatening climate change? This CBI talk focuses, first, on the difficulty of dealing with a long-off threat in our political system. The question is how voters and their politicians can be encouraged to care about problems that can be deferred for consideration by a different electorate or set of taxpayers – but at much higher cost. We know that we should solve most long term problems sooner rather than later, but there are pressures that put off painful solutions. Professor Levmore draws on what we know about “median voters” and median citizens, for that matter, in order to hazard guesses about the coming battle among generations. In this “battle,” young voters will grow increasingly concerned about what is likely to occur as they age – but these voters do not yet have sufficient political power. In turn, arrangements among countries will be seen to depend in part on the disparate age profiles of countries. The topic, in other words, is global warming and the public choice problem of intergenerational bargaining. Saul Levmore is Dean of the Law School and William B. Graham Professor of Law. This talk was recorded February 12. 2008, as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas series.

Eric Posner and Cass Sunstein: "Climate Change Justice"

arester — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Greenhouse gas reductions would cost some nations much more than others, and benefit some nations far less than others. Significant reductions would impose especially large costs on the United States, and recent projections suggest that the U.S. has relatively less to lose from climate change. In these circumstances, what does justice require the U.S. to do? This talk by Eric Posner and Cass Sunstein on April 1, 2008 was presented by the University of Chicago Environmental Law Society and the International Law Society.

Richard Posner and David Lat: "Judges as Public Figures"

arester — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Richard Posner is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School and ajudge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. David Lat is the author of two popular legal blogs, "Above the Law" and "Underneath Their Robes." This Federalist Society discussion was recorded February 21, 2008, and was moderated by Professor of Law and Walter Mander Teaching Scholar Lior Strahilevitz.

Richard Epstein on Two Recent SCOTUS Decisions

arester — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Richard Epstein is James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago. This talk, which discusses Riegel v. Medtronic and Rowe v. New Hampshire, was recorded February 21, 2008 at the request of the Federalist Society.

Robert Goodin: "An Epistemic Case for Legal Moralism"

arester — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Robert E. Goodin is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and of Social & Political Theory in the Research School of Social Sciences at Australian National University. This talk was recorded January 16, 2008 as the 2007-2008 John Dewey Lecture on Jurisprudence. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, or so we are told. But why on earth not? The statute books run to hundreds of volumes. How can an ordinary citizen know what all is in them? The best way might be for law (at least in its wide-scope duty-conferring aspects) to track broad moral principles that ordinary citizens can know and apply for themselves. In contrast to more high-minded and deeply principled arguments, this epistemic argument for legal moralism is purely pragmatic – but importantly so. For law to do what law is supposed to do, which is to be action-guiding, people need to be able to intuit without detailed investigation what the law is for most common and most important cases of their conduct, and to intuit when their intuitions are likely to be unreliable and hence that they need to investigate further what the law actually is.

Anup Malani: "Understanding Corporate Philanthropy"

arester — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Anup Malani is Professor of Law and Aaron Director Research Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded January 16, 2008 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas Lecture Series. Much of current scholarship views corporate philanthropy managerial waste or profiteering. In this talk, Professor Malani argues that both views are correct, and incomplete. Corporate philanthropy is the corporation’s entry into the market for private financing of public goods, also called the production of “warm glow.” This market was previously dominated by non-profit charities and the government. The feature that distinguishes corporate production of warm glow from other goods is that the corporation’s shareholders and workers are also its consumers. (Would you rather own or work for Google or Altria?) The key choices for the consumers of warm glow are whether to purchase from corporations or their competitors, and whether to do this via ownership, employment or product purchase. The talk will discuss the competitive advantage of corporations over charities and the government, and the importance of tax law in determining how consumers purchase warm glow from corporations. © 2008 The University of Chicago.

Ela Bhatt: "Organizing Working Poor Women: The Sewa Experience"

arester — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:00:00 +0000

Dr. Ela Bhatt, recipient of the University of Chicago's 2007 William Benton Medal for Distinguished Public Service, presented a public lecture on Novermber 27th in the Weymouth Kirkland Courtroom. Ela R. Bhatt is widely recognized as one of the world’s most remarkable pioneers and entrepreneurial forces in grassroots development. Known as the “gentle revolutionary” she has dedicated her life to improving the lives of India’s poorest and most oppressed women workers, with Gandhian thinking as her source of guidance. In 1972, Dr. Bhatt founded the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) – a trade union which now has more than 1,000,000 members. Founder Chair of the Cooperative Bank of SEWA, she is also founder and chair of Sa-Dhan (the All India Association of Micro Finance Institutions in India) and founder-chair of the Indian School of Micro-finance for Women. Dr. Bhatt was a Member of the Indian Parliament from 1986 to 1989, and subsequently a Member of the Indian Planning Commission. She founded and served as chair for Women’s World Banking, the International Alliance of Home-based Workers (HomeNet), and Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing, Organizing (WIEGO). She also served as a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation for a decade. Dr. Bhatt has received several awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Right Livelihood Award, the George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award, and the Légion d’honneur from France. She has also received honorary doctorates from Harvard, Yale, the University of Natal and other academic institutions. In 2007, Dr. Bhatt was named a member of The Elders, an international group of leaders whose goals include catalyzing peaceful resolutions to long-standing conflicts, articulating new approaches to global issues that are causing or may cause immense human suffering, and sharing wisdom by helping to connect voices all over the world. The Benton Medal The William Benton Medal for Distinguished Public Service is given to individuals who have rendered distinguished public service in the field of education. This field includes “not only teachers but also . . . everyone who contributes in a systematic way to shaping minds and disseminating knowledge.” Previous Benton Medal recipients include John Callaway, Katharine Graham, and Senator Paul Simon.

Mark Heyrman: "Why the Legal Standard for Involuntary Commitment to Mental Hospitals Doesn't Matter (Much)"

arester — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:00:00 +0000

Mark Heyrman is Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded on November 6, 2007 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas Series. © 2007 The University of Chicago Law School. "In the 1970's most states tightened their standards for involuntary commitment. During the past fifteen years the movement has been in the opposite direction--relaxing those standards. This talk will apply ideas developed by former Law School Dean Norval Morris to explore the effects (if any) these changes have had and will have on the number of persons involuntarily confined in psychiatric hospitals and why other institutional arrangements are substantially more important in explaining past and future fluctuations in the number of such commitments."

Cass Sunstein: "The Second Amendment: The Constitution's Most Mysterious Right"

arester — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 05:00:00 +0000

Cass Sunstein is Karl N. Llewellyn Dist. Service Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded on October 23, 2007 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas Series. © 2007 The University of Chicago Law School. "What does the Second Amendment mean? The Supreme Court has not told us, and the history seems shrouded in mist. Professor Sunstein will argue that as a matter of history, the Second Amendment probably does not create an individual right, because it was designed to protect state militias. Modern readers have immense difficulty in recovering the original meaning, because our circumstances are radically different from those of the founding. He will also argue, however, that the Court should not reject an individual right, in part because the nation is so polarized. The discussion will have many implications for constitutional interpretation and the role of the Court in political life."

David Currie Reads the U.S. Constitution

arester — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:00:00 +0000

David Currie, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago Law School, passed away on October 15, 2007. In honor of his life and work, we present this unique recording of his reading of the United States Constitution. The recording was made on April 26 and May 5, 2006 at the studios of WHPK at the University of Chicago and post-production was done at the Digital Media Lab at the University of Chicago in May of 2006. The studio engineer was Patrick Reisinger and the post-production engineer was Luis-Manuel Garcia.

Geoffrey Stone: "The Roberts Court: STARE WHAT?"

arester — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:00:00 +0000

Geoffrey Stone is Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded October 1, 2007 at the University Club in Chicago, as the annual "First Monday" lecture. © 2007 The University of Chicago.

Emily Buss: "Aging Out of Foster Care: An Update on the Chicago Foster Care Project"

arester — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 05:00:00 +0000

Emily Buss is the Mark and Barbara Fried Professor of Law and Kanter Director of Chicago Policy Initiatives at the University of Chicago Law School. Recorded May, 2007. © 2007 The University of Chicago.

Richard Epstein: "Why Should the U.S. Subsidize the World With Our High Prescription Drug Prices?"

arester — Fri, 18 May 2007 05:00:00 +0000

Christine Desan: "From the Mercantilist World to Market-Based Liberalism: Money as a Constitutional Medium"

arester — Fri, 11 May 2007 05:00:00 +0000

Christine Desan is Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. This Maurice and Muriel Fulton Lecture in Legal History was recorded May 10, 2007.

Anup Malani: "Valuing Laws as Local Amenities"

arester — Tue, 01 May 2007 05:00:00 +0000

Anup Malani is Professor of Law and Aaron Director Research Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded April 25, 2007 as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" series. © 2007 The University of Chicago.

Lior Strahilevitz: "How's My Driving? For Everything and Everyone"

arester — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 06:00:00 +0000

Lior Strahilevitz is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded January 24, 2007, as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" lecture series. © 2007 The University of Chicago.

Anup Malani: "Culling Chickens"

arester — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 06:00:00 +0000

Anup Malani is Professor of Law and Aaron Director Research Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded January 23, 2007 as the annual Ronald H. Coase Lecture in Law and Economics. © 2007 The University of Chicago.

Geoffrey Stone: "Government Secrecy v. Freedom of the Press"

arester — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 06:00:00 +0000

Geoffrey Stone is Harry Kalven, Jr., Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded January 10, 2007 as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" lecture series. © 2007 The University of Chicago.

Bernard Harcourt: "Against Prediction: Punishing in an Actuarial Age"

arester — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 06:00:00 +0000

Bernard Harcourt is Julius Kreeger Professor of Law and Criminology, Faculty Director of Academic Affairs, and Director of the Center for Studies in Criminal Justice at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded November 13, 2006 as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" lecture series. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Richard Posner and Brian Leiter: "What Do and What Should Judges Do?"

arester — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 06:00:00 +0000

Richard Posner is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School. Brian Leiter was Visiting Professor of Law when this discussion was recorded. This talk was recorded November 16, 2006. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Cass Sunstein on Thurgood Marshall's Conception of Equality

arester — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 06:00:00 +0000

Cass Sunstein is Karl N. Llewellyn Dist. Service Prof. of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School. He clerked for Justice Marshall in the 1979-80 term. This talk was recorded in November, 2006, as part of a series of talks hosted by the Black Law Students Association in honor of the 40th anniversary of Thurgood Marshall's appointment to the Supreme Court. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Adam Samaha: "Meet the New Boss"

arester — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 05:00:00 +0000

Adam Samaha is Assistant Professor of Law and Herbert and Marjorie Fried Teaching Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded October 4, 2006, as part of the Law School's "First Monday" lecture series. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Cass Sunstein: "Nudge: The Gentle Power of Libertarian Paternalism"

arester — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 05:00:00 +0000

Cass Sunstein is Karl N. Llewellyn Dist. Service Prof. of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded October 3, 2006, as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" lecture series. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Al Alschuler on the George Ryan trial

arester — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 05:00:00 +0000

Al Alschuler is Julius Kreeger Professor of Law and Criminology Emeritus at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded June 5, 2006, as part of the Law School's annual Emeritus Luncheon. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Richard Painter: "Ethics and Corruption in Business and Government"

arester — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 05:00:00 +0000

Richard Painter was Special Assistant to the President and Associate White House Counsel from 2005-2007, as well as S. Walter Richey Professorship in Corporate Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. This Maurice and Muriel Fulton Lecture in Legal History was recorded on May 11, 2006. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Tracey Meares: "Attention Felons: Reducing Gun Crime in Chicago"

arester — Fri, 26 May 2006 05:00:00 +0000

Tracey Meares was Max Pam Professor of Law and Director, Center for Studies in Criminal Justice at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded on May 10, 2006, as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" lecture series. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Geoffrey Stone: "The Commander in Chief"

arester — Mon, 08 May 2006 05:00:00 +0000

Geoffrey Stone is Harry Kalven, Jr., Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded May 5, 2006 as part of the Law School's annual Reunion Weekend. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Richard Rorty: "Dewey and Posner on Pragmatism and Moral Progress"

arester — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 05:00:00 +0000

Richard Rorty (1931-2007) was Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature and Philosophy at Stanford University. This talk was recorded April 10, 2006 as the annual Dewey Lecture in Law and Philosophy. © 2006 The University of Chicago

Bernard Harcourt: "Language of the Gun: A Semiotic for Law & Social Science"

arester — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 05:00:00 +0000

Bernard Harcourt is Julius Kreeger Professor of Law and Criminology, Faculty Director of Academic Affairs, and Director of the Center for Studies in Criminal Justice at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded April 5, 2006 as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" lecture series. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Richard Posner and Geoffrey Stone: "Presidential Power in an Age of Terror: A Debate on NSA Wiretapping"

arester — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 06:00:00 +0000

Richard Posner is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School. Geoffrey Stone is Harry Kalven, Jr., Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This debate was recorded January 31, 2006, and was moderated by Joseph Margulies, trial attorney and Lecturer at the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Chicago Law School. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Douglas Baird: "Coase's Journey"

arester — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 06:00:00 +0000

Douglas Baird is Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk, which examines the ideas on the nature of the firm that won Ronald Coase a Nobel Prize, was recorded February 7, 2006 as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" lecture series. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Justice Stephen Breyer: "A Day In the Life of a Supreme Court Justice"

arester — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 06:00:00 +0000

Stephen Breyer is Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. This talk was recorded at an informal lunchtime gathering with University of Chicago Law School students on February 8, 2006. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Justice Stephen Breyer; "Judicial Activism: Power Without Responsibility?"

arester — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 06:00:00 +0000

Stephen Breyer is Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. This talk was recorded on February 7, 2006, as the Ulysses and Marguerite Schwartz Memorial Lectureship at the University of Chicago Law School. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Martha Nussbaum: "The Roots of Respect: Roger Williams and Religious Fairness"

arester — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 06:00:00 +0000

Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded January 31, 2006 as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" lecture series. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Lior Strahilevitz: "Information Asymmetries and the Rights to Exclude"

arester — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 06:00:00 +0000

Lior Strahilevitz is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded January 24, 2006, as the annual Ronald Coase Lecture in Law and Economics. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Geoffrey Stone: "Sexing the Constitution"

arester — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 06:00:00 +0000

Geoffrey Stone is Harry Kalven, Jr., Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded January 12, 2006 as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" lecture series. © 2007 The University of Chicago.

Cass Sunstein on the Chicago Judges Project

arester — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 06:00:00 +0000

Cass Sunstein is Karl N. Llewellyn Dist. Service Prof. of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School. This interview was recorded as part of the Research at Chicago series. © 2006 The University of Chicago.

Cass Sunstein: "The Greatest Speech of the Century"

arester — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 06:00:00 +0000

Geoffrey Stone: "Perilous Times"

arester — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 06:00:00 +0000

Geoffrey Stone is Harry Kalven, Jr., Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This interview was recorded as part of the "Research at Chicago" series. © 2005 The University of Chicago.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: "Foreign Law and Constitutional Interpretation"

arester — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 17:25:34 +0000

Saul Levmore: "The Future of Obesity Regulation"

arester — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 06:00:00 +0000

Saul Levmore is Dean of the Law Shool and William B. Graham Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded November 18, 2005 as the annual Wilber Katz lecture. © 2005 The University of Chicago

Emily Buss: "Turning Best Ideas into Practice, Chicago’s Policy Initiative on Foster Care"

arester — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 06:00:00 +0000

Emily Buss is the Mark and Barbara Fried Professor of Law and Kanter Director of Chicago Policy Initiatives at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded Novermber 10, 2005 as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" lecture series. © 2005 The University of Chicago.

Saul Levmore: "The Wisdom of Groups and the Use of Experts"

arester — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 06:00:00 +0000

Saul Levmore is Dean of the Law School and William B. Graham Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded September 29, 2005 as part of the "Chicago's Best Ideas" lecture series. © 2005 The University of Chicago

Douglas Lichtman and Randy Picker: "After Grokster"

arester — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 06:00:00 +0000

Randal Picker is Paul H. and Theo Leffmann Professor of Commercial Law and Senior Fellow at The Computation Institute of the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory; Douglas Lichtman was Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. This discussion was presented by the Law School's Intellectual Property Law Society October 21, 2005. © 2005 The University of Chicago

Peter Singer: Q & A

arester — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 06:00:00 +0000

Peter Singer is Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, University Center for Human Values, Princeton University. This talk was the 2004 Dewey Lecture.

Peter Singer: "America's Responsibilities as A Global Citizen"

arester — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 06:00:00 +0000

Peter Singer is Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, University Center for Human Values, Princeton University. This talk was the 2004 Dewey Lecture. Prof. Singer was introduced by Martha Nussbaum.

Ronald H. Coase: The 17th Annual Coase Lecture

arester — Tue, 01 Apr 2003 06:00:00 +0000