Columbia Law Review -

Vol. 125 No. 3

Banking Law
Note

COORDINATION RIGHTS AFTER BANK FAILURE

Daniel Hawley*

In spring 2023, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) resolved three of the four largest bank failures in U.S. history. When the FDIC resolves failed banks, this Note argues, it (unselfconsciously) allocates coordination rights—that is, the right to legally permitted economic coordination. Specifically, by reflexively merging failed banks into larger banks, the FDIC adopts antitrust law’s preference for hierarchical firm-based coordination.[...]

Racial Justice
Book Review

BIGLAW’S RACE PROBLEM

Angela Onwuachi-Willig* & Anthony V. Alfieri**

Ever since the 1970s when BigLaw firms began to hire Black lawyers into their associate ranks, these firms have wrestled with problems in both recruiting and retaining Black associates. During the ensuing decades, BigLaw firms have minimally increased the low numbers of Black attorneys who have become partners, particularly equity partners, within their organizations. Numerous scholars have explored how racial bias and discrimination, both within[...]

Corporate Law
Note

SAVING THE AMERICAN DREAM: ADAPTING ANTI-CORPORATE FARMING LAWS TO PROTECT SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSING

Reilly E. Knorr*

Throughout the twentieth century, several states adopted a new type of laws: Anti-Corporate Farming (ACF) laws. These laws generally prohibit corporations from owning farmland or engaging in the business of farming. They were originally intended to “encourage and protect the family farm as a basic economic unit” and “insure it as the most socially desirable mode of agricultural production.” While subject to criticism, these laws generally[...]

Constitutional Law
Article

UNFINISHED LIBERTIES, INEVITABLE BALANCING

Sherif Girgis*

In constitutional liberties cases, the Supreme Court has tried to reduce balancing, understood loosely to mean determining a right’s contours based on sweeping political-moral considerations, not just text and history. It fears that today’s balancing would displace a balance struck by the Founders. Balancing is indeed problematic—but this campaign to end it is[...]

Tax
CLR Forum

TAYLOR SWIFT, TORTURED POETS, AND THE TAX CODE’S FRANKENSTEIN

Hilary G. Escajeda*

Taylor Swift’s songs inspire generations of fans to sing and dance about love and to “shake . . . off” heartbreak. Swift’s hard-earned “reputation” for being a savvy music mogul inspires other creative spirits to be “fearless” in their artistic endeavors. But unless these artists are songwriters and musicians, they should keep their “eyes open” when selling their works, as they may see “red” when they discover their tax[...]