“Rethinking Consideration in the Electronic Age” Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 09-004 by Robert A. Hillman and Maureen A. O’Rourke As technology evolves at a dizzying rate, intellectual property rights and contract law must adapt to these changes in the marketplace. The free and open source software (FOSS) movement poses new challenges for a time honored legal concept such as consideration. The authors explore the issues affecting open source technologies, arguing that a contractual framework, working in tandem with intellectual property laws, is appropriate to deal with the challenges FOSS presents.
“A Fixer-Upper for Finance” Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 09-006 by Robert C. Hockett Key to any long-term or short-term solution to our present financial troubles is a proper understanding of asset price bubbles and bursts, and what to do about them. The author identifies ways that these bubbles form and recommends how the Federal Reserve can better regulate the credit markets to prevent asset price bubble bursts and their negative impacts on our economy.
“Reforming Knowledge? A Socio-Legal Critique of the Legal Education Reforms in Japan” Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 09-005 by Annelise Riles and Takashi Uchida While Americans might feel flattered to know that current reforms in Japanese legal education are patterned after the U.S. monocentric model of legal expertise, the authors maintain Japan’s traditional polycentric model is more economically efficient and better suited to achieve the goals of a liberal democratic society.
“If Lifelong Learning Is the Solution, What Is the Problem?” Working Papers Series, Social Science Resource Network by W. Bradley Wendel To properly teach law students how to act as professional attorneys, schools must first accurately define professionalism and address the factors that affect it in the marketplace. Conventional educational settings are not always suited to teach about real world decision making, and the author argues that judgment is best learned through practical experiences often beyond the control of legal educators and the bar.
