Christopher Kutz

Chris Kutz Notes Problems with Privately Funded University Research

The Daily Californian, May 6, 2009 by Carol Yur
http://www.dailycal.org/article/105588/increased_role_of_private_funding_concerns_some_ca

One concern with privately funded research is that companies want immediate gains, which may conflict with the university’s interests, said Christopher Kutz, a Boalt Hall School of Law professor and vice chairman of the campus’s Academic Senate. “There are some special concerns about private corporate funding having to do with short-term profit interest,” he said. “Finding an intersection with short-term interests with the university’s interest can be challenging, but I think it’s also possible.”

Christopher Kutz Explains Limits of Spanish Case against U.S. Attorneys

The Daily Californian, April 1, 2009 by Erika Oblea
http://www.dailycal.org/article/105041/professor_john_yoo_may_be_charged_in_spanish_court

The court accuses Yoo and other lawyers of the administration with creating a legal framework that justified the torture of a Spanish citizen, said Christopher Kutz, a Boalt Hall School of Law professor and vice chairman of the campus’s Academic Senate. But because the case is being reviewed in Spain, Kutz said it is doubtful whether Yoo and the other lawyers will be arrested. “The likelihood of him being arrested and standing trial is basically zero,” Kutz said. “The case has legal significance apart from that, because it concerns the possible violation of serious domestic and international laws.”

Chris Kutz and Christopher Edley Address Questions about Professor’s Off-Campus Legal Work

San Jose Mercury News, March 20, 2009 by Matt Krupnick
http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_11962421

Edley, who was on President Barack Obama’s transition team and who has held positions in two Democratic administrations, said he and others on campus are conflicted about how to handle Yoo…. “All of us need to work through the tension of the principles that preserve the excellence and independence of the university versus the principles that govern society.”

“A criminal conviction is not necessary,” said Christopher Kutz, a law professor and vice chairman of the UC Berkeley Academic Senate. But discipline based on anything less is “new territory, and it’s dangerous territory,” Kutz said.

Chris Kutz Describes Genesis of Blue Sky: New Ideas for Obama Administration Web Site

The Daily Californian, January 27, 2009 by Leslie Toy
http://www.dailycal.org/printable.php?id=104062

“I just noticed in talking to faculty how much of a shared excitement there was about the upcoming Obama administration,” Kutz said. He has invited scholars from all departments to submit their own ideas without restricting them to their official areas of expertise. “I hope that it will be an opportunity for more Berkeley faculty to voice and attract the ideas that they have.”

Law School Scholars Propose New Ideas for the Obama Administration

San Francisco Chronicle, January 25, 2009 by Chris Jay Hoofnagle, Christopher Kutz, Jacob S. Hacker, Larry Karp, Jinhua Zhao
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/25/INT315F820.DTL&type=printable

-Chris Hoofnagle Recommends Public Reporting of Identity Thefts
Despite its incidence and severity, consumers have few tools to avoid identity theft. A light touch regulatory approach could spark a revolution in the prevention of fraud if banks and other credit-granting institutions were required to publicly report the number of identity theft incidents, the forms of identity theft and the amount of loss suffered or avoided.

-Chris Kutz Wants Executives to be Liable for Company Losses
So let’s require firms that want to pay in stock options to include a liability component as well, so that executives share both in the upside and downside risks. Liability would force managers to account for the risks they take with other people’s money.

-Jacob Hacker Prescribes Health Care Reforms
In acting now on health care, we’ll be keeping Americans healthy, reducing the financial risks of health care, and encouraging good health-industry jobs. We’ll also be tackling the leading long-term threat to the federal budget: runaway health costs.

Chris Kutz Wants a Downside Risk to Executive Pay

San Jose Mercury News, Nov. 27, 2008 by Christopher Kutz
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_11089895

It squares with a basic moral conviction that we should help clean up our own messes, not leave them for others. When AIG or Fannie Mae executives parachute away from their dying companies, we’re cleaning up their wreckage. Liability would force managers to account for the risks they take with other people’s money.