NEWS AND PUBLICATIONS

May 13, 2012. The New York Times. In “Disruptions: Facebook’s Real-Life ‘Spidey Sense’,” Eric Talley says that Facebook is not engaging in market manipulation, but is simply doing a better job of monitoring data than its competitors.” Read more>

The April 2012 Update is now available!

 

 

 

April 13, 2012. Nature.com. In "Critics of California stem-cell agency address Institute of Medicine panel," Ken Taymor testified to a US Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee on possible improvements to governance of California's stem cell research funding program. He called on the IOM to recommend that the program’s oversight board members have a broader range of expertise rather than solely being advocates for research about specific diseases. Read more>

March 7, 2012. The Huffington Post. In "Why Stanford's Pyramid Scheme Is a Problem for You Too," an empirical study published by Stavros Gadinis of Boalt Hall at University of California, Berkeley found "several significant and systematic biases in the SEC's enforcement patterns" and found indrect evidence to support the thesis that "post-agency employment at higher salaries may operate as a quid pro quo in return for favorable regulatory treatment."

March 1, 2012. WSJ. In "China's State Capitalism: the Real World Implications," Stanley Lubman states that Chinese leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping's visit to the U.S. last month and the recent release of a World Bank report on the future of China's economy have helped to once again revive debate around the state-led "China model" as an alternative blueprint for economic development. As these debates unfold, it has become clear that China's version of "state capitalism" (as opposed to "market capitalism"), still is not adequately understood abroad. Read more>

Dwight Jaffee contributed to "House of Cards: Reforming America's Housing Finance System." This research compendium presents a variety of articles that discuss the problems with housing finance in the US and presents alternative reforms to the current GSE model. Read more>

February 2012. Robert Bartlett presented at the University of Indiana-Bloomington “Do Institutional Investors Really Care About 10b-5? Evidence from Institutional Investor Trading Behavior Following Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd. (2010)” Using an abrupt change in US securities law, this paper examines the value institutional investors place on the private right of action under Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Read more>

February 27, 2012. International Business Times. In "Wikileaks Release Suggests Stratfor Inside Info Plan with Goldman Sachs Exec," Eric Talley remarks that when global intelligence firm Stratfor set up an investment arm, StratCap, as a separate legal entity, it served primarily as a buffer against liability should StratCap go bankrupt.  While StratCap’s ability to benefit from privileged access to Stratfor’s intelligence opens up a legal gray area conducive to insider trading, it does not indicate that Stratfor/StratCap was directly engaged in the practice. Read more>

February 21, 2012. Bloomberg. Social network Facebook is in the so-called quiet period, mandated by federal rules dating to 1933 that aim to prevent companies from hyping and selling stocks that aren’t worth as much as the sellers claim. In "Why Facebook Must Stay Quiet" Eric Talley was quoted saying: "Since the 2005 reforms are fairly recent, and the IPO market has been cool during much of that time, lawyers are still quite conservative about how they interpret the relaxed rules."

February 13, 2012. BCLBE submitted comments to four federal agencies regarding their proposed rules to implement the “Volcker Rule” part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. BCLBE advocates for flexibility in allowing bank investment in venture capital firms because VC firms do not rely on leveraged capital structures and bank investments in them may even directly contribute to financial stability. Read more>

February 12, 2012. San Francisco Chronicle. In "Housing crisis losses - who pays?," Dwight Jaffee comments on who bears the losses from the collapse in housing prices, and comments the difficulty of developing policies to lessen their impact.

February 8, 2012. In his presentation Nicholas C. Howson elaborates on China’s illegal insider trading enforcement regime. Howson argues that the government agency's guidance is itself unlawful and unenforceable, and outlines legal challenges to the norms and enforcement of them. Click here to watch Howson's presentation and here to read his paper.

February 2, 2012. Law.com. Facebook's IPO has been eagerly anticipated as a defining moment for the latest web investing boom. In “Regulators Prepare to Examine the Facebook IPO,” Eric Talley observes that an IPO can be a company's most arduous securities filing, and may even form the basis of future lawsuits if investors were to charge they were misled. A core question, Talley indicates, is how does Facebook value its assets? Given the Internet tech sector's reliance on intangible assets, such as intellectual property rights, “this is sometimes quite difficult for a lot of tech companies... How do I value the network effect of the fact that Facebook is, by an order of magnitude, the largest social networking site in the world?” Talley asks. Read more>