Aaron Edlin Comments on FTC Antitrust Review of Google

-KGO-TV, June 24, 2011 by Mark Matthews
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/business&id=8211468

“There are a huge number of complaints: people, many websites feel that what Google is doing in unfair,” UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law Prof. Aaron Edlin, Ph.D., said. Edlin is an expert on antitrust issues. He says there been a lot of pressure for the government to investigate Google to see if what they are doing is illegal. “And it may be, though my betting right now is that a case won’t be brought,” Edlin said.

-San Francisco Chronicle, Business Report, June 24, 2011 by James Temple and Casey Newton
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/24/MNPS1K1SDQ.DTL

Building a successful antitrust case against Google would require proving both that the company is a monopoly and that it has abused its position to undermine competitors and harm customers, said Aaron Edlin.

-San Francisco Chronicle, Business Report, June 25, 2011 by James Temple
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/24/BU9G1K2BJT.DTL

Aaron Edlin … said it’s difficult to know whether any abuse has occurred, in part because it isn’t clear to the outside world what factors determine Google’s search rankings. The FTC subpoenas could shine more light on the company’s actual practices and the driving motivations for its decisions, he said.

Elisabeth Semel Criticizes Death Penalty

-The Daily Californian, June 22, 2011 by Jalal Buckley
http://www.dailycal.org/2011/06/22/senator-to-introduce-bill-to-ban-death-penalty/

“There are many problems with its application, particularly how it discriminates against people of color,” Semel said. “It doesn’t prevent crime at the front end, in terms of stopping crimes from happening, it doesn’t provide for rehabilitation, it doesn’t deter crime, it doesn’t work.”

-The Recorder, June 24, 2011 by Kate Moser and Cheryl Miller
http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/index.jsp (registration required; go to H:\Law School in the News\In the News 2011\News Clips for article)

Having more trials in triable cases would be a good thing, death penalty opponents say. “These ought to be going to trial,” said Elisabeth Semel, a professor and director of the Death Penalty Clinic.

Jeffrey Selbin Calls for Greater Access to Legal Aid

Center for American Progress, June 22, 2011 by Jeffrey Selbin, Josh Rosenthal, and Jeanne Charn
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/06/pdf/evidence.pdf

Never before have more low-income Americans needed civil legal aid. About 57 million Americans, one-third of them children, qualify for free legal help when a foreclosure notice comes, a divorce looms, or debts mount after a job loss. But half or more who seek help are turned away because legal aid providers lack sufficient resources. Tens of millions more moderate-income Americans are ineligible for free legal aid, yet lack reliable access to an affordable lawyer.

John Yoo Says Value of Law Degree Determined by Market

-Inside Higher Ed, June 21, 2011 by Kevin Kiley
http://bit.ly/lWKsG7

John Yoo … argued in a blog post that these law schools are simply trying to protect the value of the degree by making it more scarce. “Education is a product in the market, like any other,” he wrote. “The producers (law schools) sell a service (a legal education) at a price (tuition) to consumers (students). If there is an oversupply of the product, or the demand falls, then the price should drop and eventually the quantity will fall until the market clears.”

-The Wall Street Journal, June 21, 2011 by Patrick G. Lee
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/06/21/the-slightly-shrinking-legal-academy/?KEYWORDS=Berkeley

Given the shrinking demand for law school education – or, as Yoo would put it, a high-priced product in oversupply – it only makes sense that the “quantity will fall until the market clears,” Yoo concludes.

Jeanne Woodford, Franklin Zimring Discuss Move to End Death Penalty

Catholic San Francisco, June 21, 2011 by George Raine
http://www.catholic-sf.org/news_select.php?newsid=16&id=58697

“Just imagine asking public servants to wake up every day and have them go to work planning to kill somebody,” said Woodford, who now leads a campaign to eliminate capital punishment in the nation. “It takes a toll on you. You begin to realize how much you are affected by participating in an execution. You have spent 30 to 60 days planning to kill somebody. How can that not affect you?”

Frank Zimring said, “There is in American history a long tradition of prison wardens who identify with the humanity and aspirations of the prisoners. You also have a divide between administrators who saw this as an adversarial relationship and administrators who saw it as a branch of human services, and Jeanne Woodford came from the psychology of human services. It’s a great tradition.”

Stanley Lubman Notes Disconnect in Chinese Governance

The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, June 21, 2011 by Stanley Lubman
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/06/21/chinas-critical-disconnect/

Underfunded local governments frequently dilute and undercut implementation of national laws and policies in their effort to sustain growth and increase local revenues…. There is a frequent disconnect between local governments and Beijing that is aggravated by the center’s underfunding of local governments.

Malcolm Feeley Explains Prosecution Strategy in Auto-Fatality Case

The Tribune, June 21, 2011 by Nick Wilson
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/06/20/1650145/driver-in-fatal-avila-beach-crash.html

Professor Malcolm Feeley said that, typically, prosecutors look at a suspect’s criminal record and the circumstances of the crash when trying to decide whether to charge a driving fatality as second-degree murder…. “Prosecutors also are famous for charging at one level and then reducing charges as the case continues,” Feeley said. “Certainly any charge is a bargaining chip, and prosecutors usually offer something in the way of reduction.”

Holly Doremus Comments on Threatened Railroad Lawsuit

Associated Press, June 21, 2011 by Noaki Schwartz
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/22/travel/main20073328.shtml

Holly Doremus, an environmental law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said there has been debate over what constitutes solid waste, but in this case there’s no doubt the tiny toxic elements are waste…. “It’s not a slam dunk either way, and I think it’s very creative by the NRDC to have found this possibility,” she said.

James Phillips Studies Gender Impact on SCOTUS’ Oral Arguments

Deseret News, June 17, 2011 by Jamshid Ghazi Askar
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700145109/Justices-act-differently-for-women.html

“Oral arguments are the face of the Supreme Court,” Phillips said. “Most of what the court does is behind closed doors, so the court is kind of shrouded in mystery. We really only get to see the court function publicly in oral arguments…. Personalities come out, and you get to see the living, breathing aspect of the court out on display.”