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Corporate mergers bring about a 90 percent chance of shareholder lawsuits. Most cases settle for minor disclosures—and large attorneys’ fees. A new article co-authored by Steven Davidoff Solomon offers a novel way to assess the value of these disclosures, while lowering litigation costs to benefit shareholders.

As multidistrict litigation (MDL) skyrockets, Andrew Bradt says these cases should be pegged to the plaintiff’s proper home district. Bradt’s approach, cited and adopted in a recent federal case, would allow courts to apply choice-of-law rules from the plaintiff’s original state, yet still permit direct filing.

Chris Hoofnagle’s new book Federal Trade Commission: Privacy Law and Policy probes the agency’s colorful 100-year history. Hoofnagle says the FTC has regulated technology from its inception, contrary to popular belief. He explains how its rules influence our daily lives and provide myriad consumer benefits.

To help lawyers keep pace with a fast-changing practice area, Paul Schwartz has co-authored the third edition of Privacy Law Fundamentals. The book tracks new statutes, cases, and enforcement actions. It also explains key state privacy laws and tackles vital issues such as when federal law preempts state law.

In equal protection cases, David Schraub sees a one-way street that needs two-way traffic. His article notes that while judges consider whether certain minority groups qualify as a “suspect class” deserving of heightened judicial review, they should also reassess such designations as times change. If not, Schraub foresees a constitutional doctrine “past its point of expiration.”

Refuting claims that arrests at all ages usually involve just one person, Franklin Zimring says co-offenders are prevalent in most serious youth crimes. Analyzing single and multiple arrests of different offenses in seven states, Zimring and Hannah Laqueur ’13 write that group behavior has a major impact on adolescent crime.

Bertrall Ross says the Supreme Court’s distrust of the political process has led the justices to treat the state like a witness in its own trial. Ross writes that the court’s partisan blocs overly scrutinize lawmakers’ factual records. He argues that this should occur only when there’s proof of democratic malfunction.

Professor Mary Ann Mason says California’s new anti-discrimination law protecting pregnant grad students could become a model for states across the U.S. Her recent article explains why the law, which orders higher education to abide by Title IX, will help more female students achieve their professional goals.

Grand jury rulings in Ferguson and Staten Island not to indict white police who killed unarmed blacks may reflect trends Ian Haney Lopez noted in 2012. Intentional Blindness tracks a “devolution of equal protection” and jurisprudence “geared toward excluding evidence of the evolving mistreatment of non-Whites.”

While affirmative action may stigmatize students from disadvantaged groups, Prasad Krishnamurthy and Aaron Edlin say group-blind admissions is not the remedy. Erasing social inequality-based stereotypes, their paper argues, would perversely require a higher admission standard for marginalized students.

A report co-written by Steven Davidoff Solomon explains why top plaintiff law firms fare better than their peers in class actions challenging M&A deals. Zealous Advocates or Self-Interested Actors? shows how these firms pursue conflicts of interest, file more documents with the court, and bring more significant motions.

When Ferguson erupted over the police killing of an unarmed black teenager, Sr. Fellow Richard Rothstein investigated how the town became a segregated black suburb. In The Making of Ferguson, he blames old 20th century government housing and zoning policies, among others, as the root of the town’s troubles.

In Intellectual Property, Innovation, and the Environment, editors Peter Menell and Sarah Tran provide insight into the evolving debate over IP law and the environment. The material is considered essential reading for lawyers, economists, and policy-makers working in the fields of energy and climate change.

In his lecture, Our Broken Death Penalty, Judge William Fletcher argues that the practice can’t be repaired and predicts the U.S. will abolish it in time. He says it’s applied erratically, arbitrarily, and unfairly at every rung of the process, from the police investigation to the courts and state execution.

In Awakening the People’s Giant, Asst. Prof. Fred Smith explores the relationship between two constitutional doctrines that have faced “withering criticism”: sovereign immunity, which protects states from federal lawsuits; and the guarantee clause, which reinforces the principles of representative government.

Disputes over German bonds issued during the Weimar era took decades to resolve, with some cases still in flux. In Back to the Past: Old German Bonds and New U. S. Litigation, Professor Richard Buxbaum follows the trail of these financial instruments and the legal tactics used to settle international claims.

Libraries are reluctant to digitize books whose copyright owners can’t be found, fearful of infringement lawsuits. While some argue for a legislative fix, clinic director Jennifer Urban writes that U.S. Copyright Law’s ‘fair use’ doctrine might offer a more flexible and less costly solution.

In “Land Recording and Copyright Reform,” Professor Molly Van Houweling argues that copyright reformers can look to real property law as a model for reform. For example, she says the copyright system could be improved by incentivizing better record keeping, akin to U.S. land law.

In a paper co-authored by Prof. Katerina Linos and Kimberly Twist, the two discuss results of a survey conducted before and after SCOTUS decisions. Their ‘real-world’ findings show that people are more apt to accept the ruling if they watch news shows that emphasize the court’s majority viewpoint.

In Refracted Justice, Prof. Laurel Fletcher argues that international courts and tribunals consistently frustrate the victims of mass atrocities. In her analysis of transitional justice and victims’ rights, she questions whether the International Criminal Court can live up to its moral commitments.

In Breaking Bad, Prof. Dan Farber examines the government’s reliance on “breakeven analysis” to calculate risks and benefits of agency regulations. He suggests that this type of analysis, although workable on paper, may not be ideal in practice.

In Marriage Equality and Postracialism, Prof. Russell Robinson says the fight for same-sex marriage has aggravated a fissure between black and gay communities. Although the marriage equality movement bills itself as a descendant of the black civil rights movement, he says “it often treats its forefather as dead.”

Prof. David Gamage says the tax provisions of Obamacare will penalize low- and moderate-income workers unless reforms are enacted. In Perverse Incentives Arising from the Tax Provisions of Healthcare Reform, Gamage suggests ways to preserve the act’s benefits, while eliminating its penalties.

In FTC v. Actavis, the U.S. Supreme Court considered antitrust challenges to reverse-payment patent settlements. In Activating Actavis, Prof. Aaron Edlin and his co-authors help clarify the ruling for attorneys and courts involved in antitrust litigation.

Asst. Prof. Prasad Krishnamurthy has co-authored a study of one of the world’s largest food assistance programs in Chhattisgarh, India. The findings contradict popular thought as to which policies increased consumption of food rations. This distinction is critical as India moves to adopt similar programs nationwide.