1. The Games They Will Play: An Update on the Conference Committee Tax Bill by Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (University of Michigan Law School), Lily L. Batchelder (New York University School of Law), J. Clifton Fleming Jr. (Brigham Young University – J. Reuben Clark Law School), David Gamage (Indiana University Maurer School of Law), Ari D. Glogower (Ohio State University (OSU) – Michael E. Moritz College of Law), Daniel Jacob Hemel (University of Chicago – Law School), David Kamin (New York University School of Law), Mitchell Kane (New York University (NYU)), Rebecca M. Kysar (Brooklyn Law School; Fordham University School of Law), David S. Miller (Proskauer Rose LLP), Darien Shanske (University of California, Davis – School of Law), Daniel Shaviro (New York University School of Law) and Manoj Viswanathan (University of California Hastings College of the Law)

2. The Games They Will Play: Tax Games, Roadblocks, and Glitches Under the New Legislation by Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (University of Michigan Law School), Lily L. Batchelder (New York University School of Law), J. Clifton Fleming Jr. (Brigham Young University – J. Reuben Clark Law School), David Gamage (Indiana University Maurer School of Law), Ari D. Glogower (Ohio State University (OSU) – Michael E. Moritz College of Law), Daniel Jacob Hemel (University of Chicago – Law School), David Kamin (New York University School of Law), Mitchell Kane (New York University (NYU)), Rebecca M. Kysar (Brooklyn Law School; Fordham University School of Law), David S. Miller (Proskauer Rose LLP), Darien Shanske (University of California, Davis – School of Law), Daniel Shaviro (New York University School of Law) and Manoj Viswanathan (University of California Hastings College of the Law)

3. Metcalfe’s Law as a Model for Bitcoin’s Value by Timothy Peterson (Cane Island Alternative Advisors)

Currency as we have known it has existed since 3000 B.C. with the Mesopotamian Shekel. Bitcoin is the Model T, and banks are in the horse-trading business. Within a generation, this pervasive, integral part of every economy we call ‘money’ will be an anachronism, replaced by cryptocurrency.  Recently, I have been impressed and disgusted with the volume of cryptocurrency misinformation that has been circulating around faster than Bitcoin itself. Analyses range from the ridiculously shocking to just plain lousy. Some of it is in the industry’s leading and well respected financial media.

 

After learning of Metcalfe’s law, I set out to determine, empirically and convincingly, if Bitcoin’s price had the relationship to Metcalfe’s law that many suspected.  What followed was one of the most extensively researched theses on both Metcalfe’s law and Bitcoin.  The practical result was the development of our own crypto fair value index, the Cane Island BASE Index, and an Ethereum index (the Cane Island EASE Index) soon followed.  We believe that Metcafle’s law, appropriately adjusted for diminishing marginal returns, will form the basis for valuing network-based companies such as Square, Paypal, Facebook, LinkedIn, as well as cryptocurrency in general. -Timothy Peterson

4. Jay-Z’s 99 Problems, Verse 2: A Close Reading with Fourth Amendment Guidance for Cops and Perps by Caleb Mason (Brown White & Osborn LLP)

I’m a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor.  I wrote this article several years ago, while I was teaching a criminal procedure class, to illustrate Fourth Amendment rules and help the students learn them and remember them.  The Fourth Amendment is one of the most important bodies of law we have, because it is a protective shield for individuals against the power of the state.  It’s also extremely complex.  Over the past century, Supreme Court caselaw has created a web of rules and exceptions that practitioners need to know cold.  You absolutely cannot bullshit in Fourth Amendment analysis, or you will torpedo your case.  That goes for the defense bar, the prosecution, and cops and agents in the field.  I have been tremendously gratified over the past five years to see how many people, in law enforcement, in criminal defense, and in the general public, have found this article useful in learning this area of law.  Cops have told me they read it at their Academies; FBI and ICE officials have told me they used it for trainings; law schools and bar prep programs have it on their syllabi; and defense lawyers have told me they keep copies in their offices and hand them out to clients.  We can get very cynical in this business, and feel a lot of the time like cogs in the machine.  I’m grateful to have been lucky enough to write something that a lot of people liked.  Oh– and I hope you all read my detective novel when it comes out! – Caleb Mason

5. The Elusive Backfire Effect: Mass Attitudes’ Steadfast Factual Adherence by Thomas Wood (Ohio State University (OSU)) and Ethan Porter (George Washington University)