John Flood's Random Academic Thoughts (RATs)

After many years of refusing to allow foreign law firms to open offices in India, the Indian Ministry of Law & Justice has relented. They will be able to establish offices but not practise Indian law.The last attempt to set up an office was by Ashurst a few years ago. It found itself on the [...]

[Click the post title to read more...]

How are you feeling?Knackered. I’ve just had over 600 people come through the house for the Open House weekend.This is the second year you’ve done it?Still knackered. You see, I feel I should make it a worthwhile experience, so I give them a guided tour. And it means I say roughly the same thing four [...]

[Click the post title to read more...]

Last month I published an article on barristers’ clerks in Counsel Magazine (a magazine for barristers, clerks and more). One clerk I know said, “Now wait for the letters.” I was thinking no one will be that interested to write.Wrong! Let me quote a couple of reactions:Dear Editor,I was intrigued by the cover of this [...]

[Click the post title to read more...]

I’ve always had ambivalent feelings about teaching. There are born teachers who love it, but I became an academic primarily to pursue research. For me teaching was the “price” I paid to be part of the academic community that allows me to follow my ideas.Recently I received an email from a former student of mine [...]

[Click the post title to read more...]

Credit risk has gone crazy. It appears to have emanated from the subprime meltdown in the US. What has struck me about the thirst for liquidity that has been brought about is that no one seems to have developed a secondary market in credit risk yet.Last time there was a slump that had property as [...]

[Click the post title to read more...]