February 25, 2008

Blog Survey

Please provide feedback and assist in improving this blog by taking this quick survey.  It should take less than 2 minutes and your answers will be very much appreciated.  Just click this link here.  Thanks.

(esp)

February 25, 2008 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 19, 2008

White Collar Crime Blog Ranking

Paul Caron, over at TaxProf Blog, ranks the law professors blogs (see here) with the White Collar Crime Prof Blog coming in at # 15 on traffic ranking.  He also ranks page views.  So thanks to all who are reading this blog.

Law Prof Blog Traffic Ranking -- Visitors (Feb. 2007 - Jan. 2008)

1.   InstaPundit 70,748,231
2.   Hugh Hewitt 13,392,343
3.   Volokh Conspiracy 8,647,368
4.   Althouse 4,429,672
5.   Leiter Reports: Philosophy Blog 1,629,699
6.   TaxProf Blog 1,358,016
7.   Balkinization 1,294,363
8.   Concurring Opinions 1,125,512
9.   Sentencing Law & Policy 907,141
10. Professor Bainbridge.com 856,240
11. Jack Bog's Blog 776,272
12. Leiter's Law School Reports 726,005
13. PrawfsBlawg 639,468
14. Discourse.net 451,091
15. White Collar Crime Prof Blog 383,443
16. Conglomerate 378,787
17. Opinio Juris 323,519
18. Workplace Prof Blog 298,525
19. Is That Legal? 242,119
20. Chicago Faculty Blog 235,028
21. CrimProf Blog 211,119
22. Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog 202,324
23. Ideoblog 186,511
24. ImmigrationProf Blog 181,055
25. ContractsProf Blog 167,861
26. Empirical Legal Studies 148,157
27. Election Law Blog 127,488
28. Religion Clause 122,352
29. Family Law Prof Blog 108,608
30. MoneyLaw 100,298

(esp)

February 19, 2008 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 31, 2007

Happy New Year - Meet the Bloggers

We wish everyone a happy, healthy, and peaceful new year. 

We will be at the CALI Bloggers Booth at the AALS Conference on Thursday, January 3rd at 3 P.M.  Stop by and say hello.  (ph & esp)

December 31, 2007 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 30, 2007

What's Coming in 2008

The New Year will deliver a variety of interesting cases and issues in the white collar crime field, and here are a few developments (and predictions) that may be of interest in 2008 (in no particular order):

Have a safe and happy New Year!

(esp & ph)

December 30, 2007 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 28, 2007

2007 White Collar Crime Awards

In the finest end-of-the-year tradition of various media outlets, we again honor individuals and organizations for their work this year in the white collar crime arena by bestowing "The Collar" on those who deserve our praise, scorn, acknowledgment, blessing, curse, or whatever else you can think of that would be appropriate. Comments are open if any readers would like to suggest additional categories or winners (or losers?), remembering to keep any offerings reasonably mature and somewhat well-meaning, at least to the extent ours meet those criteria (and do not open us up to a libel suit).

With the appropriate fanfare, and without further ado, we present The Collars for 2007:

The Collar for Best Exposure of the Deficiencies in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines -- To President George Bush for finding I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's guidelines sentence to be excessive.

The Collar for Best Parent -- For the third year in a row, to Bill Olis for all his work on behalf of his son Jamie.  Last year we said one more year and we retire the award in Bill's name, and so this award now is retired and permanently bears the name of The Bill Olis Best Parent Award.

The Collar for Nice Work If You Can Get It -- to former AG John Ashcroft, appointed by a former subordinate as a monitor under a deferred prosecution agreement that will require the monitored company to pay him between $29,000,000 and $52,000,000.

The Collar for Biggest Bang From a Deferred  Prosecution Agreement-- to U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie (the subordinate mentioned in the preceding Collar) for also getting three former colleagues appointed as monitors in the same case, and this comes after his law school alma mater happened to receive a chaired professorship in 2005 pursuant to a deferred prosecution agreement (surprise!!).  Three guesses who may run for Governor of New Jersey in 2009?

The Collar for the Best Skating Not on an Ice Rink -- to Andy Fastow and Jack Abramoff (no explanations needed).

The Collar for Worst Award  -- To the ABA Journal, which originally selected -- with no apparent irony -- the gone-but-surely-not-forgotten AG Alberto Gonzales as its "Lawyer of the Year," initially defending the selection by claiming that he made the most news, even if almost all of it was bad. 

The Collar for Hottest 30-Year Old . . . Statute -- To the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which has come into its own as a "mature" criminal statute, even being noticed by the New York Times.  And get your minds out of the gutter, this is a family-friendly blog!

The Collar for Best Able to Move Past a Conviction -- hands down this one goes to Martha Stewart, who has moved on with her life with hardly a misplaced dinner fork.

The Collar for Least Qualified to Hire an Assistant U.S. Attorney -- To Monica Goodling, former White House Liaison to AG Alberto Gonzales (briefly a "Lawyer of the Year" -- see above), who admitted she allowed political considerations to enter into the hiring of career AUSAs. 

The Collar for What Started With a Bang Sure Ended With a Whimper -- To former investment banking star Frank Quattrone, who went through two trials (first jury hung), a conviction later overturned by the Second Circuit, and then received the only deferred prosecution agreement given to an individual in a white collar crime case to this point, with the condition being that he remain a good boy for twelve months.  He did, and is now free from his prior entanglements.

The Collar for the Law Firm With the Most Named Partners Charged With a Crime -- To what was known as Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman, whose three living partners (Milberg died long before the firm's troubles arose) were all charged in federal indictments, with Bershad and Schulman pleading guilty.  As a cherry on top, the firm's predecessor included another name partner who entered a guilty plea, William Lerach.

The Collar for Wildest Bribery Case in Mississippi -- To Dickie Scruggs, made famous in the movie "The Insider" about the tobacco litigation that made him rich, who now faces charges of trying to bribe a state court judge in Mississippi, along with his son and another attorney at the firm.  This one has it all: money, local politics, undercover tapes, wiretaps.  Who's writing the screenplay for this one?

The Collar for the Biggest Perjury Case Since, Well, the Last Biggest One -- Now that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby dodged prison and dropped his appeal, it's on to the next "biggest" perjury case: the prosecution of one Barry Lamar Bonds for lying to a grand jury investigating the steroids factory Balco.

The Collar for the Next Next Biggest Perjury Case Since . . . -- To Roger Clemens, who has loudly proclaimed his innocence regarding steroid use after being named in the Mitchell Report on the invasion of performance enhancing drugs in baseball, will be pressured to testify under oath before Congress when it holds hearings on the Report.  With a scheduled interview on Sixty Minutes, perhaps Congress will make lying to Mike Wallace a federal offense, because Clemens would be a fool to walk into a perjury trap on Capitol Hill.

The Collar for Hardest "What Do These Two Have In Common" Trivia Question -- To Michael Dwayne Short, formerly of Hyattsville, Maryland, who will be forever linked with I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.  Care to guess why? [Answer will be posted in the Comments on January 1 in case you care.]

The Collar for the White Collar Defendant Most Needing Relief -- To Chalana McFarland, a first-time offender who received 30 years for a mortgage fraud.

The Collar for the State With the Most High-Profile Federal Corruption Investigations -- A tie this year between Louisiana and Alabama, with Alaska starting early to secure next year's award.

The Collar for Blogs That Should Be Nominated for Some Award -- To The D & O Diary (written by Kevin LaCroix) and The FCPA Blog (written by Dick Cassin), both outstanding for their thorough, balanced posts that are uniformly informative -- they deserve recognition for the service they provide to readers but probably won't in various popularity contests.

(esp & ph)

December 28, 2007 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 24, 2007

Wishing Everyone A Happy Holiday

Wishing everyone a healthy, happy, and peaceful holiday.

(ph) & (esp)

December 24, 2007 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 10, 2007

Every Man Has His Price

Professor Stuart Green is joining us this week as a guest blogger.  He is Louis B. Porterie Professor of Law at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University, where he has taught since 1995.  His current project is a monograph entitled Property, Crime, and Morals: Theft Law in the Information Age, which will be published by Harvard University Press.  Stuart has written extensively on white collar crime issues, and his post is about a subject near and dear to our hearts here are the White Collar Crime Prof Blog: corruption.  Welcome, Stuart, and thanks for joining us.

                                                                                                                                                

My thanks to Peter Henning and Ellen Podgor for inviting me to serve as a guest blogger this week at White Collar Crime Prof Blog. I am a professor of law at Louisiana State University and author of Lying, Cheating, and Stealing: A Moral Theory of White Collar Crime (OUP, 2006), now available in paperback.

I plan to spend at least some of the week talking about bribery. The last several weeks have brought a steady stream of such cases in the news: That of Dickie Scruggs, the big time Mississippi torts lawyer who has been indicted on charges that he offered $50,000 to sway a local judge in a relatively small fee dispute, has already received some excellent discussion on this site. Reports out of Iraq indicate that widespread theft and bribery are hindering the country’s ability to achieve political and social stability. And Pete Kott, former Speaker of the Alaska House, was sentenced to six years in a federal prison for accepting $9,000 in bribes from the founder of an oil field services company, in a case that may well end up implicating Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.

Bribery is an elusive crime. Particularly in the United States, where the political process is so thoroughly permeated by private contributions and log-rolling, it can be hard to distinguish between what’s truly corrupt and what’s not. The British, though less encumbered with the problem of political contributions, have nevertheless struggled to make sense of bribery, and the Law Commission of England and Wales has just issued a major new consultation paper calling for reform in this area. (Full disclosure: I served as a consultant on the report, writing an Appendix on the law of bribery in the U.S.) The study recommends a complete overhaul of the law of bribery.

Among its most striking recommendation is that bribery in the private sector be treated on the same terms as bribery in the public sector. The study offers both moral and instrumental reasons for abrogating the traditional distinction. It views the moral wrong of bribery as involving the "breach of a legal or equitable duty that involves a betrayal of a relation of trust or a breach of a duty to act impartially or in the best interests of another." It says that "[w]here a person breaches such a duty in return for the conferral or promise of an advantage from another, both should be guilty of bribery irrespective of whether the recipient is a public official." ¶1.16. As for practical reasons, according to the report, "the main objection to having separate offences is that it is very difficult to define with sufficient clarity the distinction between public sector and private sector functions. Increasingly, what were formerly public sector functions are sub-contracted out to the private companies while public bodies now frequently form joint ventures with private companies." ¶1.14.

Both propositions seem to me problematic. First, it could be argued that government officials who accept bribes breach a duty to the public good that is more significant than the duty breached by employees of a private firm. Second, while it is true that the lines between public and private functions has become increasingly blurred in recent years, it may make more sense simply to err on the side of treating some quasi-private functions as public (as in the case of U.S. federal program bribery) without going so far as to treat all private functions as public. Those, at least are a couple of my initial reactions to the report. I’ll have more to say about it tomorrow.

Stuart Green

December 10, 2007 in About This Blog, Corruption | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 02, 2007

Bad Movies - Good Movies

Paul Caron, King of the LawProf Blogsphere tagged me here.  It seems that a dean and some professors are playing tag and if tagged you have to name your "bad movie". (See Dean Jim Chen here, Professor Nancy Rapoport here, Professor Ann Bartow here) It's all part of the "truly bad movie meme" Well that's all well and good, but I do need to add some comments here before I drop the name.

The Paper Chase is "bad" because it has stigmatized us as a profession. We have the viewing public seeing the law prof as someone without the "caring" we so need in our profession.  To some extent this movie exposed  the Kingsfield professor, but to another extent it reinforced a Socratic methodology that is cold and unfeeling. For that it rates my choice as the "bad movie."

My tag goes to Paul Butler at Blackprof.

December 2, 2007 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 10, 2007

You Must Be A Genius?

You must be a genius if you are reading and understanding this blog. 

Dan Solove over at Concurring Opinions has a site to a Blog Readibility Level (see here).  So if you plug in the white collar crime blog site - it comes up as Genius Level. Now Professor Solove doesn't point out this white collar crime blog as one of the law school blogs that has been designated at the Genius Level, but he does show that Brian Leiter's Law School Reports rates a - COLLEGE (POSTGRAD), to which Professor Leiter suggests that we check out some of his other blogs. (see here).  He might also have considered that if you plug in the entire law professors blog network ( lawprofessors.typepad.com/) it comes up as genius.

(esp)

November 10, 2007 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 14, 2007

One Million Viewers

Today the White Collar Crime Prof Blog recognizes that there have been one million viewers to the blog since it started in November of 2004. We'd like to take a moment from our white collar crime entries to say thank you to all our viewers. We appreciate all the material you send our way, all the comments you make to our entries, and most of all - your clicks returning to what we write.

(ph & esp)   

October 14, 2007 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 01, 2007

New Blog - Audit Trail

The White Collar Crime Blog welcomes Audit Trail to the blogshere. 

(esp & ph)

May 1, 2007 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 16, 2007

Happy Anniversary TaxProfBlog

Today marks the three-year anniversary of TaxProf Blog - the blog of Professor Paul Caron (Cincinnati).  On his blog you will find incredible statistics demonstrating the growth of his blog and the many blogs that have come from the Law Professor Blogs Network he created.  Congratulations, Paul.

April 16, 2007 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 31, 2006

What's Coming in 2007

The New Year will deliver a variety of interesting cases and issues in the white collar crime field, and here are a few developments (and predictions) that may be of importance in 2007 (in no particular order):

We appreciate the number of readers who contact us with suggestions and comments, and hope we provide you with helpful information and commentary (even if you don't always agree with one or both of us).  We wish everyone a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year.

(ph & esp)

December 31, 2006 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 29, 2006

2006 White Collar Crime Awards

In the finest end-of-the-year tradition of various media outlets, we have decided to honor individuals and organizations for their work this year in the white collar crime arena by bestowing "The Collar" on those who deserve our praise, scorn, acknowledgment, blessing, curse, or whatever else you can think of that would be appropriate. Comments are open if any readers would like to suggest additional categories or winners (or losers?), remembering to keep any offerings reasonably mature and somewhat well-meaning, at least to the extent ours meet those criteria (and do not open us up to a libel suit).

With the appropriate fanfare, we present The Collars for 2006:

The Collar for Best Naming -- Paul J. McNulty for finally getting Larry Thompson's name off of the revised Holder Memo.

The Collar for Best Parent -- second year in a row -- Bill Olis for all his work on behalf of his son Jamie.  One more and we retire the award in Bill's name.

The Collar for the Best Government Move -- The DOJ for entering into a deferred prosecution agreement with Frank Quattrone that reads like an agreement in a juvenile case.

The Collar for the Best Cooperating Witness -- Jack Abramoff for causing politicos to fall as a result of this cooperation.

The Collar for the Best Avis -- Jeff Skilling for receiving a sentence below Bernie Ebbers.

The Collar for the Best Deal -- Andy Fastow for obtaining a sentence below the agreed amount in the plea agreement.

The Collar for Missed Opportunities -- Federal prosecutors who failed to object when Andy Fastow's counsel presented a below-plea agreement statement at sentencing.

The Collar for Shaking Up the Government -- Judge Lewis Kaplan for his decision in the Stein case.

The Collar for Worst E-Mail Response -- Former Hewlett-Packard chief ethics officer Kevin Hunsaker asked whether pretexting was legal, and after getting a response saying it was near the edge, replied, "I shouldn't have asked."

The Collar for Best Fugitive -- former Comverse Technology CEO Kobi Alexander, who has "settled" in Namibia with his family while facing a federal indictment for securities fraud for options backdating at the company.

The Collar for Best Practice Group Profit Machine -- Options-timing investigations, which trigger internal probes conducted by hordes of lawyers, separate counsel for various directors and officers, and new counsel for the board to sort out all those lawyers.

The Collar for Best Ignoring of a Federal Judge -- The U.S. Bureau of Prisons, which has not sent one of the high profile defendants from the Enron and WorldCom cases (Skilling, Ebbers, Fastow, etc.) to the federal correctional institution recommended by the sentencing judge.

The Collar for Best Defense Motion -- Attorney David Spears, who filed for bail pending appeal for his client, William Fuhs, one of the defendants in the Enron Nigerian Barge trial.  The Fifth Circuit released Fuhs first because Spears had the presence of mind to file the motion immediately after oral argument, buying his client a little bit of extra freedom.

The Collar for Best Swag Auction -- Jody Nelson, former CFO of Patterson-UTI Energy, embezzled $77 million from the company, and saw his unfinished 19,000 square foot Lubbock mansion go on the auction bloc. That's a lot of house, even in Texas.

December 29, 2006 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 23, 2006

Being Thankful on Thanksgiving

Reflecting on who in the white collar crime world is giving thanks on this Thanksgiving Day --

1. Jamie Olis can be thankful to the Fifth Circuit panel that reversed his initial sentence of 24 years, with a special thank you to the Hon. Edith Jones who authored the opinion, an opinion that allowed him to be resentenced to six years.

2.  Andy Fastow can be thankful to the prosecutors who did not object when his defense counsel presented reasons for a lower sentence than the ten years specified in his plea agreement.

3. The KPMG 16 can be thankful that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote an incredible decision that calls into question some of the government's actions with respect to the Thompson Memo.

4. Eric Holder can be thankful that Larry Thompson decided to redraft his memo so that when everyone criticizes the memo they call it the Thompson Memo.

5. Kobi Alexander can be thankful that he ended up in Namibia as opposed to country that would move quickly to extradite him back to the United States.

6. Jack Abramoff can be thankful that he had a lot of friends in high places to talk about when the government came calling.

7.  U.S. District Judge Sim Lake can be thankful the Enron trial is now behind him, although the possibility of a retrial should Skilling's appeal be successful may give him a bit of dyspepsia, along with the cranberry log.

8.  The Enron Nigerian Barge Defendants can be thankful the Fifth Circuit's view of "right of honest services" fraud went their way.

9.  Law Firms with white collar practice groups can be especially thankful for the extra servings provided by the options back-dating turkey.

If readers have any thanks they would like to add, please do so in the comment section.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  (esp & ph)

November 23, 2006 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 01, 2006

The Blog Turns Two

We started way back on November 1, 2004, and now are heading into the "Terrible Twos."  We'll try not to throw too many tantrums.  Thanks for stopping by to visit, we certainly appreciate the many comments and suggestions received from readers. (ph & esp)

November 1, 2006 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 13, 2006

Blog Juiced at 6.1

White Collar Crime Prof Blog has a 6.1 "Blog Juice Rating," determined by:

Here are the Blog Juice Ratings for various law professor blogs:

Juice_ranking_3

(esp) (chart supplied by Professor Paul Caron - Tax Prof Blog - here)

October 13, 2006 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 15, 2006

Please Take the Survey

Please take a moment to fill out our short reader survey at the top. We would like to have a better idea about who is reading this blog so we can better serve you. Thanks in advance for your help.

(esp & ph)

March 15, 2006 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 21, 2006

Podgor from Georgia State to Stetson

Stealing a page from the Leiter's Law School Report blog on the Law Professor Blog Network, co-editor Ellen Podgor will be making the move from Georgia State University to Stetson University permanently when she becomes the Associate Dean of Faculty Development and Distance Education on June 1, 2006.  She will also continue her teaching and research in white collar crime and international criminal law.  Congratulations! (ph)

February 21, 2006 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 31, 2005

What to Expect in 2006

What Can We Expect in 2006 :

We wish everyone a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year.

(ph & esp)

December 31, 2005 in About This Blog | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack