Online Edition '25
Consecutive
2025

Online
Article
Online Edition '25
Beyond the Draft: How the NWSL’s CBA Challenges Labor Restrictions in Professional Sports
Maëlle Quartetti
The University of Chicago Law School '26.

The NWSL’s progressive CBA could provide a blueprint for other leagues to pursue similar advancements. Sports experts have already questioned whether other leagues focused on attracting players from international markets—like the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) will follow suit or if player’s associations in leagues with notably low salaries will push for enhanced player autonomy, increasing player leverage in negotiations. Given the potential for change signaled by the NWSL’s new CBA two key questions arise: (1) Whether the traditional antitrust justifications for restrictive practices in professional sports still hold true in today’s evolving sports landscape and, (2) if other leagues follow suit, what mechanisms can they adopt to maintain competitive balance while embracing greater player autonomy and fairness.

Online
Article
Online Edition '25
The Eichleay Trilemma
Matthew Dumm
The University of Chicago Law School '26.

One imperfect measure of damages which has found acceptance in the judicial system is the Eichleay formula, named for the case in which it originated.2 In Eichleay, the Armed Services Board of Contracting Appeals was tasked with interpreting a provision in a contract for the construction of a missile defense site.3 The contract provided that “[i]n the case of suspension of all or any part of the work for an unreasonable length of time causing additional expense or loss, not due to the fault or negligence of the Contractor, the Contracting Officer shall make an equitable adjustment in the contract price and modify the contract accordingly.”4 The issue in the case was how much of the contractor’s overhead costs should be attributed to the delay, and therefore compensated.5 The board adopted a formula holding the government responsible for the percentage of the company’s overhead costs proportional to the percentage of the firm’s total billings the contract made up.6 So, if a company has billings of $100,000 for the contract period, and the contract which the government unreasonably delayed completion of was worth $10,000, the Eichleay formula entitles the company to recover one tenth of its overhead expenses for the period of the delay. This Article begins by surveying judicial approaches to the Eichleay formula, proceeds to explain why a traditional breach-of-contract action proves an inadequate remedy, and concludes by assessing the formula’s tradeoffs and the extent to which parties may contract around it.

Online
Article
Online Edition '25
The Limitation of Liability Act and DIVE BOAT Act’s Impacts on Covered Small Passenger Vessels: Considerations from Tort Law and Other Protected Industries
Maria Stevenson

University of Chicago '26.

The question of whether the LOLA protection for vessels like the Conception is warranted can be analyzed through the lens of its relationship with tort law and comparisons to other protected industries like nuclear power and railroads. Section II will describe the background and history of the LOLA, Section III will analyze the LOLA’s relationship with tort law, and Section IV will compare considerations important in other protected industries with the considerations for the LOLA.

Online
Article
Online Edition '25
Public Interest and Politics: How FTC v. Kroger Illustrates the Modern Role of the State Attorney General
Jonathan Coleman
University of Chicago Law School '25.

Behind the failed Kroger–Albertsons merger lies a story of coalitions and ambition. FTC v. Kroger offers a case study of how the state attorney general’s role has evolved from local law enforcement to national policymaking. In the federal case, state attorneys general divided along partisan lines in their efforts either to block the merger or to see it enforced. After tracing the development of the office in modern America, this essay argues that FTC v. Kroger captures the dual nature of the state attorney general as both guardian of the public interest and political actor. Ultimately, the case illustrates how the state attorney general now shapes nationally significant federal litigation through multistate coalitions that can elevate the attorney general to the national stage.

Online
Article
Online Edition '25
Equitable Estoppel Against the Federal Government: The Case of SEC v. Coinbase
Uven Chong
University of Chicago Law School ‘26

The now-dismissed case against Coinbase is a symptom of a dynamic regulatory environment where rules for cryptocurrency trading are uncertain. The hallmark uncertainty within the cryptocurrency industry creates a fertile ground for evaluating equitable estoppel claims, where companies are forced to rely on inconsistent messages and unsettled policy to their detriment.

Indeed, Coinbase raised an equitable estoppel defense in its case against the SEC. Coinbase argued that it relied on the SEC’s representations that Coinbase was not violating securities law. The facts of Coinbase’s case could lay the groundwork for future cases to push the traditionally strict boundaries of equitable estoppel against government entities.

The purpose of this comment is to evaluate the strength of Coinbase’s equitable estoppel claims. Given the case’s dismissal, equitable estoppel is no longer relevant to Coinbase. But by evaluating the strength of the doctrine against this case, future cryptocurrency firms may be able to use its lessons as a defense should the policies shift against cryptocurrency firms again.

Online
Article
Online Edition '25
The Potential Antitrust Implications of Tying Hardware with AI
Chase Hiatt
University of Chicago Law School ‘26

Artificial intelligence (AI) has begun to significantly impact many sectors of the economy and everyday life. As generative AI models improve at unimaginable rates, AI will become continually integrated into our daily lives. This will undoubtedly involve integrating AI tools into the technology that millions of people use daily, including PCs, phones, digital watches, and televisions—technology that many people cannot live without. Indeed, some companies are already beginning to do so. Seems great, right? Maybe so, but only time will tell how effective the integration of AI into hardware will be.

Online
Article
Online Edition '25
Materiality, the ‘Reasonable Investor,’ and the SEC’s New Climate-Related Disclosures Rule
Bernard S. Sharfman
Research Fellow with the Law & Economics Center at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.

The touchstone of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) new rule on climate-related disclosures, The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors (the “Rule”), is materiality. As Cyndy Posner pointed out, there are over 1,000 references to material or materiality in the Rule. Such an approach must have pleased those commentators who feared the Rule would result in public companies being burdened with providing costly disclosures of non-material information and investors being overwhelmed with information they do not need or want.

Online
Article
Online Edition '25
Forthcoming Litigation for Companies That Employ Dark Patterns
Rachel Finegold
University of Chicago Law School ‘26

When you enter a company’s website, perhaps to buy a product, it is common to receive a pop-up message that asks you to enter your email address to receive promotional materials. The options presented to you in this pop-up may read something akin to “I like to stay informed,” and “I like to be left out.” However, if the website is attempting to make you feel bad about declining to provide your personal information, then you may have experienced a dark pattern.

Online
Article
Online Edition '25
Is There Always Money in the Banana Stand? The Importance of Fee Awards to Vindicating Shareholder Voting Rights
James Janison
Associate at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman LLP.  All views expressed herein are my own and not those of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP or its clients.

A recurring joke in the TV series Arrested Development is that a real estate mogul beset by hard financial times refrains to his son, “there’s always money in the [family-owned] banana stand.” Every time he does, the son—who has taken over the family real estate empire—expresses exasperation, as a boardwalk shop selling frozen bananas is obviously no cure for the family’s financial woes. In an act of defiance, the son eventually burns the banana stand down. Enraged, the real estate mogul explains that there was literally $250,000 in cash lining its walls. The stockholder franchise is Delaware’s banana stand.

Online
Article
Online Edition '25
Spot the Difference: Examining the SEC’s Treatment of Bitcoin Futures and Spot Exchange-Traded Funds
Jenny Hu
Brown University ‘26

Thank you to Ari Gabinet, Senior Fellow in Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, for his invaluable insights.

The issue of Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) is not new, but it has only recently surged into the public consciousness with the SEC’s reluctant approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January 2024. However, the general discourse surrounding these novel financial products is mixed: to some, they pose a threat to market stability and open a door for hefty investor losses; to others, they represent a crucial step in the greater legitimization of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as viable assets.