Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

AIG, Bailouts, and Suffering Stupidity

Post author:Christopher M. King
Post published:March 19, 2009
Post category:Business Regulation Uncategorized

File:Crown.png “A beggar’s mistake harms no one but the beggar. A king’s mistake, however, harms everyone but the king. Too often, the measure of power lies not in the number who obey your will, but in the number who will suffer your stupidity,” writes R. Scott Bakker in his latest novel, The Judging Eye.

Bakker’s proverb seems to apply to the current economic situation (climate, recession, downturn, depression, hiccup, what are we calling it again?) and especially the continuing outcry over AIG’s payment of $160 million in bonuses after accepting more than $170 billion in bailout money.

Professor Schneider Receives the Women in the Law 2009 Award by the Wisconsin Law Journal

Post author:Irene Calboli
Post published:March 19, 2009
Post category:Marquette Law School

A few weeks ago, the Wisconsin Law Journal awarded my colleague Andrea Kupfer Schneider the prestigious Women in the Law Award for 2009. Professor Schneider was one of 21 outstanding women who were selected this year by the Journal for their work with Wisconsin’s legal community. In its tribute to Professor Schneider, the Journal traces her passion for the law back to her grandfather’s practice, and describes her love for Marquette Law School and our first-class Alternative Dispute Resolution Program.

As a woman in the law, I am thrilled with Professor Schneider’s award! Nobody more than Andrea Schneider deserves this recognition for her tireless work, service, and leadership at Marquette University Law School and in so many other institutional and noninstitutional organizations. Since I have known Andrea Schneider, she has been a primary source of inspiration and example, and I know she is a guide and example for all of our students and colleagues. I admire Professor Schneider as a teacher, a great scholar, and one of the most outstanding leaders in committees and programs I have ever met in my career. As a mother, I also tremendously admire Andrea Schneider’s ability to balance work and family, multitask, and get everything done, always impeccably.

Congratulations again, Professor Schneider, and thanks so much for the wonderful role model you are for all of us women in the law!

That Must Have Been Some Presentation

Post author:Christopher M. King
Post published:March 18, 2009
Post category:Labor & Employment Law Sports & Law

The NFL Players Association new executive director, DeMaurice Smith (left), “wowed . . . player representatives with an hour long presentation,” but prior to his election was “a relative unknown quantity in NFL circles,” according to a report by Sports Illustrated‘s Don Banks. Prior to his election, Smith was a “trial and litigation partner at Patton Boggs who concentrat[ed] in white-collar criminal defense and ‘bet the company’ tort liability trials.”

So, a white-collar defense attorney who was a relative unknown in NFL circles is now leading the NFLPA into an uncertain future that features a collective bargaining agreement that expires in 2011, a year without a salary cap in 2010 (under the terms of the current CBA), and an uncertain (at best) worldwide economic climate.

I don’t know that Smith wasn’t the best choice, but I do know that the other candidates — former players Trace Armstrong and Troy Vincent and sports attorney David Cornwell — had strong ties to the NFL. Armstrong and Vincent both are former NFLPA presidents. Cornwell represented several NFL players in a federal lawsuit against the NFL seeking an injunction preventing the NFL from suspending the players for violating the NFL’s drug policy.

I’m skeptical that this is the right time for the NFLPA to bring in an outsider. The NFLPA is only looking for a new executive director because of the unexpected death of Gene Upshaw, who led the NFLPA for twenty-five years. Smith is seemingly taking a hard line with the NFL on the upcoming negotiations and is already talking of “prepar[ing] for war” and “not go[ing] back” to a salary cap if the 2010 season is played without one. Hopefully, Smith’s presentation went beyond hard-line rhetoric and laid out a plan that will ensure the labor peace and economic prosperity that are Upshaw’s legacies. As a fan of the NFL (the Packers, not the Steelers, sorry Professor Schneider), I hope the players made the correct choice for their executive director.