When “Skin in the Game” is Literal
Back in the Bush years, health policy was all about making sure patients consumers had “skin in the game,” and faced real costs whenever they sought care. More cautious voices worried that patients...
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Management Wants Precarity: A California Ideology for Employment Law
The reader of Talent Wants to be Free effectively gets two books for the price of one. As one of the top legal scholars on the intersection of employment and intellectual property law, Prof. Lobel...
View ArticleSome Brilliant Thoughts on Social Media
The LSE has a consistently illuminating podcast series, but Nick Couldry’s recent lecture really raised the bar. He seamlessly integrates cutting edge media theory into a comprehensive critique of...
View ArticleWhy Some Risk Sending Intimate Pictures to “Strangers” and What It Says About...
It is, as always, an honor and a pleasure to speak with the Co-Op community. Thank you to Danielle for inviting me back and thank yous all around for inviting me onto your desks, into your laps, or...
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Book Symposium: Driesen’s The Economic Dynamics of Law
Next week, we will be hosting a symposium on David Driesen’s book The Economic Dynamics of Law (Cambridge University Press, 2013). The symposium will be held from Mar. 31 to Apr. 3, 2014. As the...
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Social Science in an Era of Corporate Big Data
In my last post, I explored the characteristics of Facebook’s model (i.e., exemplary) users. Today, I want to discuss the model users in the company–i.e., the data scientists who try to build stylized...
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Interview on The Black Box Society
Balkinization just published an interview on my forthcoming book, The Black Box Society. Law profs may be interested in our dialogue on methodology—particularly, what the unique role of the legal...
View ArticleFrom Piketty to Law and Political Economy
Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century continues to spur debate among economists. It has many lessons for attorneys, as well. But does law have something to offer in return? I make that case in...
View ArticleLegal Scholarship & the University
Just a quick note to make explicit something implicit in my last post: I not only agree with Dave Hoffman’s point about the enduring value of many modes of law teaching, but also think that we could do...
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The Black Box Society: Interviews
My book, The Black Box Society, is finally out! In addition to the interview Lawrence Joseph conducted in the fall, I’ve been fortunate to complete some radio and magazine interviews on the book. They...
View ArticleMethodological Pluralism in Legal Scholarship
The place of the social science in law is constantly contested. Should more legal scholars retreat to pure doctrinalism, as Judge Harry Edwards suggests? Or is there a place for more engagement with...
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Four Futures of Legal Automation
There are many gloom-and-doom narratives about the legal profession. One of the most persistent is “automation apocalypse.” In this scenario, computers will study past filings, determine what patterns...
View ArticleIs the Happiness Industry Creating Algorithmic Selves?
In a recent podcast called “Thinking Allowed,” host Laurie Taylor covered two fascinating books: The Wellness Syndrome, and The Happiness Industry. One author discussed a hedge fund that’s now managing...
View ArticleComplicating the Narrative of Legal Automation
Richard Susskind has been predicting “the end of lawyers” for years, and has doubled down in a recent book coauthored with his son (The Future of the Professions). That book is so sweeping in its...
View ArticleRethinking the Political Economy of Automation
The White House recently released two important reports on the future of artificial intelligence. The “robot question” is as urgent today as it was in the 1960s. Back then, worry focused on the...
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