An Update on My Paper, Capital Discrimination

Previously, I announced that my paper, Capital Discrimination, would be forthcoming in the Houston Law Review, and had just been posted publicly to SSRN.  As I explained in that post, the paper explores the problem of gender discrimination against women as business owners and capital providers, and proposes changes to both statutory law and common law fiduciary duties in order to address gender-based oppression in business.

The paper itself describes several business law cases from different jurisdictions, including Shawe v. Elting, a matter very familiar to business lawyers, and which involved an acrimonious dispute in the Delaware courts.  Just before Christmas, an attorney representing Philip Shawe sent this cease and desist letter to SSRN, demanding that the paper be removed from that site as defamatory. 

On New Year’s Day, SSRN removed the paper in response to Shawe’s letter.  After that, Houston Law Review could no longer assure me that the article would run in its journal, and stated that they would not preclude me from submitting the paper for publication elsewhere.   

Tulane’s counsel has sent a response letter to SSRN in hopes of having the paper restored but for now, to ensure that the paper is not kept out of sight indefinitely, I have made a copy available at this link.  This draft of the paper includes a reference to Mr. Shawe’s defamation claims.

 

An update to the update:  As of the morning of February 14, SSRN has restored the paper, and it is available at the original link, here.  SSRN put out a twitter comment on the situation here.

An update to the update to the update:  I am pleased to report that the Houston Law Review informed me yesterday (February 18) that, with the consent of its Board of Directors, the Review has committed to publishing Capital Discrimination.  I particularly want to thank the student editors for their persistence and support.  A new version of the draft has been uploaded.  With any luck, this saga is now complete and I look forward to publication in the April-ish/May-ish.