CreditSlips

In Defense of Bankruptcy Courts (or, Is Bankruptcy Really That Exceptional?)

09/18/12

Although not always acknowledged expressly, exceptionalism is pervasive in bankruptcy scholarship. Some work makes no attempt to contexualize bankruptcy within the federal courts, apparently assuming its unique qualities (for example, the disinterest in most bankruptcy venue scholarship about venue laws applicable to other multi-party federal litigation). But other projects are more deliberate in their exceptionalist pursuits.

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Arbitration Agreements

09/16/12

Brian Wolfman has an interesting post about e-Bay's new arbitration agreement with a class action opt-out.  Curiously, e-Bay's arbitration agreement isn't mandatory, but it is opt-out with a limited opt-out period.  Brian's take is that this opt-out is consumer choice window-dressing:  while there is formally a consumer choice involved, functionally it is meaningless. I agree. 

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Levitin on the Board

09/14/12

Congratulations to Credit Slips's Adam Levitin who was just named to the Consumer Advisory Board for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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Subtly TBTF

09/12/12

An important post over at Dealbook (no, it's not by me) about the difference between the Volcker Rule and general TBTF regulation of SIFIs under Dodd-Frank.

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And the wind blows wild again

09/11/12

Me, over at this place called The New York Times, on the safe harbors in the Code, again.

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A Valuable Resource: NCBRC.org

09/11/12

Sometimes we forget that, with all its flaws, consumer bankruptcy is still a remarkable institution, providing meaningful relief to more than two million Americans a year (counting co-debtors and dependents).

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Financial Failure Fiction (and Poetry)

09/08/12

If I am not mistaken, it has been a while since Credit Slips has featured discussions of "bankruptcy literature." So I thought I would report that I just finished The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter, whom Janet Maslin called a "deft humorist and catastrophist" back in 2009.

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Fleischer Does a Lubben

09/06/12

As regular Credit Slips readers know, our own Stephen Lubben has a Dealbook column over at this place called The New York Times. Now comes word that University of Colorado law professor Vic Fleischer has started a column at Dealbook on tax matters.

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