The Voices In My Head
Fish Soup

by Barry Goldman Because I serve as an arbitrator for FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, I have a Disclosure Report posted on the FINRA website. That 11-page document shows my employment history, education and training, and it lists every place I’ve had an investment account, every agency where I’ve served as an arbitrator, every…
What the Law Supposes

by Barry Goldman “You were present on the occasion of the destruction of these trinkets, and, indeed, are the more guilty of the two, in the eye of the law; for the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction.” “If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both…
Ex Cathedra
Merry-Go-Rounds

by Barry Goldman The New York Times had a piece recently about a clever hustle called station flipping. It involves Citi Bikes, the blue rental bikes you see all over New York City. It seems the natural movement of people and bikes around the city results in periodic imbalances. Sometimes there are too many bikes…
The Righteousness Project

by Barry Goldman Rich and powerful people commit a vast amount of crime. According to Big Dirty Money: The Shocking Injustice and Unseen Cost of White Collar Crime, by law professor Jennifer Taub: White collar crime in America, such as fraud and embezzlement, costs victims an estimated $300 billion to $800 billion per year. Yet…
Defining Corruption Down

by Barry Goldman Robert McDonnell was the Governor of Virginia in 2014 when the federal government indicted him and his wife on bribery charges. A Virginia businessman named Jonnie Williams provided the McDonnells with over $175,000 in “loans, gifts and other benefits.” In exchange, the Governor “arranged meetings, hosted events, and contacted other government officials”…
Text and Pretext
Statutory Murder

by Barry Goldman Laws do not interpret themselves. No matter how carefully drafted, the language of a law can never be exhaustive and exclusive. Its boundaries will be imprecise, there will be vagueness and ambiguity, and there will always be a tension between the letter and the spirit. Statutory interpretation inevitably requires reasoned judgment. Not…
The Frozen Trucker and the Fugitive Slave

by Barry Goldman The “frozen trucker case” got a fair amount of attention a few years back. At Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing Senator Al Franken hammered him about it. You can watch it here. The facts of the case are these: Alphonse Maddin was employed as a truck driver by Petitioner TransAm Trucking…
The Traffic Cop’s Dilemma
On Principle

by Barry Goldman Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others. —Groucho Marx It’s easy to ridicule politicians for their lack of principle. Mitch McConnell comes immediately to mind. When Antonin Scalia died nine months before the 2016 election, President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to replace him on the…
The Fungus Among Us

by Barry Goldman Reading about corporate greed and depredation over the past few years, I keep getting stuck on the same question: Don’t these people have grandchildren? How can corporate decision-makers spend their days actively working to destroy the environment, pollute the water, kill off the animals, melt the glaciers, and incinerate the biosphere? Even…
Errors in Judgment
Eye Wash

by Barry Goldman There is a controversy about whether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution disqualifies Donald Trump from serving as president. Different people have different opinions. Some people have different opinions at different times. But whatever their position on the question, everyone seems to agree that the question itself is…
Law Versus Justice V

by Barry Goldman I started this series of articles by claiming the adoption of the rule of law was the second biggest mistake in the history of the human race. I modeled my claim on Jared Diamond’s assertion that the biggest mistake in human history was the adoption of agriculture. I said the move from…
Law Versus Justice IV

by Barry Goldman In my last piece I mentioned that the lawyers working on the FTX bankruptcy were billing at $2,165 an hour ($595 for paralegals). Since then we learned: A legal team that forced Tesla’s directors to agree in July to return more than $700 million in compensation to the automaker for allegedly overpaying…
Law Versus Justice III

by Barry Goldman Psychologists tell us we are susceptible to the “just world fallacy.” We think the arc of history bends toward justice. We think people, ultimately, get what they deserve. Historically, this belief led to the practice of trial by combat. God, you see, favors the just. Since that is so, we merely need…
Law Versus Justice II

by Barry Goldman This article is the second in a series. The first is here. Justice delayed is justice denied. Everyone agrees. Lawsuits should be brought in a timely manner. If too much time goes by before a case is adjudicated, witnesses become unavailable, memories fade, evidence is lost, and it becomes harder to reconstruct…