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Securitizing Stardust: The Legal Life of Bowie Bonds
TRENT ANDERSON—In 1997, David Bowie made waves in both the music and finance worlds by transforming his back catalog into a $55 million financial instrument. The first of what became known as “Bowie Bonds,” this deal allowed him to raise immediate cash by securitizing future royalties from twenty-five of his albums. Consistent with Bowie’s persona, […]
Great Jeans Controversy: Lessons from the Sydney Sweeney AEO Campaign
PAIGE-TATUM HAWTHORNE—This past August, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) launched a campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney. In the advertisement, a camera pans Sweeny’s body clothed in AEO jeans, as she suggestively whispers, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue.” A […]
Securitizing Stardust: The Legal Life of Bowie Bonds
TRENT ANDERSON—In 1997, David Bowie made waves in both the music and finance worlds by transforming his back catalog into a $55 million financial instrument. The first of what became known as “Bowie Bonds,” this deal allowed him to raise immediate cash by securitizing future royalties from twenty-five of his albums. Consistent with Bowie’s persona, […]
Great Jeans Controversy: Lessons from the Sydney Sweeney AEO Campaign
PAIGE-TATUM HAWTHORNE—This past August, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) launched a campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney. In the advertisement, a camera pans Sweeny’s body clothed in AEO jeans, as she suggestively whispers, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue.” A […]
Illuminating the Shadows: A Conversation with Vivek Jayaram on AI, Copyright, and the Implications of a Landmark Settlement
JANAYE DOWERS—Most private settlements slip quietly into obscurity, shielded from public scrutiny. But Bartz v. Anthropic stands apart. This case proceeded as a class action that required court approval, which placed its settlement terms in the public record and cast a rare light on a process that usually remains hidden. That visibility, combined with the […]
Take It at Face Value: Court Approves Equity-Based Settlement in Clearview AI Facial Recognition Class Action
ITIEL WAINER—On March 20, 2025, a federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois approved an unconventional class action settlement that grants class members a 23% equity stake in Clearview AI, a facial recognition start-up the class sued over privacy harms, even though the company’s sucess hinges on those harms. Despite objections from a bipartisan […]
KPMG’s Approval to Practice Law Reignites Debate Around Alternative Business Structures
THOMAS PUDAS—Arizona has once again positioned itself as a pioneer in legal reform, this time by approving a license for KPMG, one of the world’s largest accounting firms, to practice law in the state. This decision comes as part of Arizona’s broader effort to modernize legal practice by allowing non-lawyers to own and operate law […]
A Breakthrough or a Band-Aid? The House Settlement and the Future of College Athlete Compensation
AARON GLAS—College athletics have long been a massive source of revenue for universities and conferences, but the stars that you watch in March Madness or the Cotton Bowl have long been prohibited from sharing in that wealth by the NCAA’s rules regulating amateurism. Now, the settlement in House v. NCAA, a landmark pending class-action settlement […]
Boycotts and Backlash: How the Florida v. Target Lawsuit May Impact Corporate Governance
ALEXANDRA FABREGAS––In today’s era of heightened political polarization, economic boycotts have emerged as a prominent form of consumer activism. American consumers increasingly leverage their purchasing power to support or oppose corporations based on ideological positions. Well-known companies such as Target, Walmart, Amazon, and Costco have faced such scrutiny. However, this rise in consumer activism raises […]
