Temple Law in the News

Temple Law has had a number of its faculty comment on pressing issues related to business law over the past semester, ranging from critiques of Uber to highlighting the SEC’s new investor research initiative. Please join us in reviewing these respective observations of Professors Mehra, Lipson, Lin, Harvey, and Rogers below.


Delaware Online | March 27, 2017
EU Approval Boosts Dow-DuPont Merger Hopes
Professor Salil K. Mehra

“The European Union has approved the proposed $130 billion merger between Dow Chemical and DuPont, the companies announced. The approval is conditional upon Dow and DuPont divesting certain assets, but it is a big victory for the companies. It is the first green light a regulatory body has given the deal that will result in Dow and DuPont combining into a massive corporation…Antitrust reviews are conducted independently and can differ from country to country. Salil Mehra, a professor of antitrust law at Temple University, said the European Union’s support of the deal is a good sign that the remaining jurisdictions will follow suit. ‘There is a lot of consistency because there has been a concerted effort to harmonize some of the antitrust approaches,’ he said.”

Global Finance | March 22, 2017
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Structured Bankruptcy Dismissals -Update
Professor Jonathan C. Lipson

“The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an increasingly popular bankruptcy-court tactic, structured dismissals of bankruptcy cases by way of settlements that override payment priority rules. ‘It’s an important case because it clarifies that the bankruptcy-court priority rules are guardrails that powerful claimants cannot evade just because it serves their interests,’ said Jonathan Lipson, a professor at Temple University Beasley School of Law, who co-authored an amicus brief signed by more than a dozen bankruptcy scholars. Mr. Lipson said lower courts treated cash-strapped Jevic Transporation as a ‘rare case, when it was anything but rare. Companies frequently enter bankruptcy with little or no unencumbered assets and there’s no reason to think that that’s going to change.’ Allowing a ‘rare case’ exception, he said, invited litigation, while keeping the priority scheme clear promotes settlements that bring all creditors on board.”

Jim Hamilton’s World of Securities Regulation | March 14, 2017
SEC launches ‘POSITIER’ investor research initiative at evidence summit
Professor Tom C.W. Lin

“The SEC recently held a day-long ‘Evidence Summit’ to mark the start of its new investor research initiative, Policy-Oriented Stakeholder and Investor Testing for Innovative and Effective Regulation…Tom Lin, a law professor at Temple University Beasley School of Law, explained that the heart of the SEC’s disclosure regime, the reasonable investor, is a ‘convenient fiction.’ Designing regulations for the ‘idealized’ reasonable investor is not difficult, he said, but the idea of a reasonable investor puts day traders, hedge fund managers, and retirees all in the same category of ‘reasonable investor,’ despite having asymmetrical information. Disclosure reform efforts should recognize diverse investors, including enhancing disclosure by using new media technology such as interactive interfaces like the SEC’s new rule requiring reports filed with the SEC to include hyperlinks to exhibits.”

Crain’s Philadelphia | March 13, 2017
Heads Up, Philly Employers: Salary Question Out of the Question Starting May 23
Professor Hosea H. Harvey

“Research makes it abundantly clear that people of color and women are sorely disadvantaged in the negotiation process,” Harvey said. Lawmakers elsewhere aren’t unaware of this problem. To help close its own gender wage gap, Boston offered negotiation classes to every woman working in the city. On a national level, a proposed law called the “Paycheck Fairness Act” included “negotiation skills training for girls and women” as one way to help close the gender pay gap. Then again, studies suggest that when compared to men, employers react more negatively to women who ask for more money. If that’s true, and the law does end up lowering the initial salaries offered to women in certain jobs, women will be stuck in a difficult place. “As a man of color who is deeply sympathetic to this, it’s not clear to me that this is the space in which to apply traditional anti-discrimination tools,” Harvey said.

The Verge | March 6, 2017
Can Uber Be Saved From Itself?
Professor Brishen Rogers

“Ride-share service, Uber, seems embroiled in a new scandal each news cycle. “How did things get so bad? In many ways, Uber is its own worst enemy, said Brishen Rogers, a law professor at Temple University who studies the social cost of ride-sharing. ‘This is another example of the company disregarding very basic, foundational rules around employment and fair play in markets,’ Rogers told The Verge. ‘It is very frustrating to see, because I think the company is genuinely innovative, but keeps getting in its own way.'”

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