Money Archives - Page 9 of 27 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

What a Year. What Now? Part II

Pittsburgh Quarterly asked the region’s top experts to respond to these questions: As the U.S. economy gradually recovers from the pandemic, which sectors of the market do you like now? How are you positioning client portfolios? We thank them for giving readers their responses, which follow. Read part one here. Jim Wilding, Confluence Financial Partners …

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Creative Capital

Making Monopoly Illegal

When people who don’t like free markets (i.e., almost everybody in academia) talk about antitrust law, they almost always begin by saying something like this: “One of the core defects of market economies is the inevitability of monopolistic practices.” Previously in this series: “The Tricks of the Trade: Antitrust Is More Interesting Than You Think, …

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Creative Capital

The Tricks of the Trade

The plaintiff’s law firm wanted to impress their client with how important the case was to them, and so there were never fewer than five lawyers at the plaintiff’s table. Plus, of course, the plaintiff himself. Previously in this series: “Fighting the ‘Big’ New York Law Firm: Antitrust Is More Interesting Than You Think, Part …

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What a Year. What Now? Part I

Pittsburgh Quarterly asked the region’s top experts to respond to these questions: As the U.S. economy gradually recovers from the pandemic, which sectors of the market do you like now? How are you positioning client portfolios? We thank them for giving readers their responses, which follow. Win Smathers, Shorebridge Wealth Management We manage diversified portfolios …

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Creative Capital

Fighting the “Big” New York Law Firm

Here are more vignettes to show you what it was like to try a case — a big case — with Mr. W, the senior Reed Smith partner who looked terrific but whose elevator didn’t seem to go all the way to the top floor. After that I’ll return to my original topic: “Antitrust Is …

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Creative Capital

How Was I Supposed to Know?

Mr. W was mostly trying other cases during the week, so we prepared for Big Steel v. Bigger Steel on weekends. Every Saturday and Sunday morning, I would stroll into the Reed Smith conference room at precisely 9 a.m., and every Saturday and Sunday morning, Mr. W would look up at me and say, “Dear …

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Creative Capital

Me and Mr. W

After I posted last week’s blog, a large number of people wrote in to ask how the private antitrust case turned out: Did I actually get eaten by rats? Did the case go to trial or settle? Did we win or lose? Previously in this series: “Antitrust Is More Interesting Than You Think” Your Humble …

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Creative Capital

Antitrust Is More Interesting Than You Think

When I was a 3L, that is, a third-year law student, I — like every other 3L — spent half my time studying dismal areas of the law and half my time interviewing with law firms for permanent legal jobs. One of the firms I was interested in was Cravath, Swain & Moore. (Cravath, by …

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Creative Capital

The Dramatic Conclusion

Professor H was a formidable, brilliant, intimidating and impossibly rude professor, and I’m sure he was the model for the notorious Prof. Kingsfield in the movie “The Paper Chase” (which was about Harvard Law). Previously in this series: “The Senator’s Big Idea: Joe Biden Saved Me from Pocatello, Part III” Under normal circumstances, I’d never …

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Creative Capital

The Senator’s Big Idea

Joe Biden was my new client because he’d called Joseph Hill Associates to ask about something called “federal revenue sharing” (FRS). Most people live long and happy lives without ever hearing that phrase, but, alas, not me. I was JHA’s resident expert on FRS. Previously in this series: “The Law Works in Mysterious Ways: Joe …

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Creative Capital

The Law Works in Mysterious Ways

After I was mustered out of the army, I reapplied to law school to finish my second and third years. I assumed my readmission would be pretty much automatic, but I was wrong — I was put through the wringer. Previously in this series: “Joe Biden Saved Me from Pocatello” Eventually I was required to …

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Creative Capital

Joe Biden Saved Me from Pocatello

I had no intention of going to law school. In fact, I’d already been accepted into a Ph.D. program in English Lit at Yale and fully intended to spend my life writing poetry and teaching literature on some leafy campus. But then I got my draft notice and suddenly I got a lot more realistic …

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Creative Capital

The Thrilling Conclusion

We now come to the dénouement of my story, with the episode we’ll call The Imposter. On a Saturday evening, I donned my young-lawyer uniform and headed for Glassport, Pa., situs of Copperweld’s headquarters and plants and where I was to stand in for the Baron. Previously in this series: “The Mystery Man: Baron Rothschild …

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Creative Capital

The Mystery Man

The Case of the Missing Briefs was a disaster that my legal career survived only because it turned out Mr. F didn’t actually need those particular briefs during the argument before the judge. It’s always better to be lucky than smart. Previously in this series: “Whoops! Baron Rothschild and Me, Part IV” But there were …

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Creative Capital

Whoops!

Before I reach the exciting conclusion of my series on Baron Rothschild, I want to mention just two of the many bizarre events that occurred in connection with Imetal’s attempted takeover of Copperweld Corporation. Previously in this series: “A Strange Request: Baron Rothschild and Me, Part III” Most of those strange events arose out of a …

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Creative Capital

A Strange Request

My checkered performance during l’Affaire de la Limousine had apparently put me in the Copperweld-Imetal doghouse, because I received no more assignments on that matter for a long time. Previously in this series: “A Humbling Start: Baron Rothschild and Me, Part II” I’d nearly forgotten about the takeover when I received a call from the …

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Creative Capital

A Humbling Start

As I entered the huge corner suite occupied by the head of the litigation group, I strolled by his secretary’s desk saying, “I assume he’s expecting me.” Previously in this series: “Baron Rothschild and Me” “Not likely,” she said. “He’s in New York.” I stopped dead. “But…” I stammered. “He doesn’t want you — I …

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Creative Capital

Baron Rothschild and Me

I had passed the bar exam and was working for a very large law firm in Pittsburgh. I was still so new I would get lost on my way to the men’s room. But it was wildly exciting for a working class kid from a dying mill town to be associated with such a prestigious …

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Creative Capital

How Sharpe Is Your Ratio?

“The Sharpe ratio is oversold.” — William F. Sharpe If the Sharpe ratio didn’t exist, I swear the financial industry would have to shut down. Originally developed by William F. Sharpe in the 1960s, he called it the “reward-to-variability ratio.” Sharpe first described the ratio in a paper published in the Journal of Business in …

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Creative Capital

China Proves the Point

“The founding of the People’s Republic of China marked the end of the humiliation and misery the country has suffered.” — Chinese President Xi Jinping Most people who advocate pacifism do so out of revulsion against the horrors of war, certainly an understandable, if utopian, position. But China’s Neo-Confucians adopted their anti-military stance mainly for …

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Real Estate Trends

As we enter a new calendar year, the pandemic continues to impact real estate in multiple ways. The primary thesis is that for some real estate sectors, the pandemic has only been a temporary disruption, while for others, it has accelerated preexisting conditions. But even within those premises, there are also sectors that have been …

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Creative Capital

China’s De-Militarization

“To enjoy peace, citizens must be ready for war.” — Plato, The Laws, fourth century B.C. “If you want peace, prepare for war.” — Sima Qian in the Shiji, or Records of the Grand Historian, China, 94 B.C. “Si vis pacem, para bellum [If you want peace, prepare for war].” — Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, …

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