I've got two ongoing broad research projects at the moment. I recently completed a book manuscript for Duke University Press titled Under Cover of Science: American Legal-Economic Theory and the Quest for Objectivity, and expect it to go into the editing phase soon. It was a mammoth undertaking (incorporating legal theory, economics, philosophy and science), and I'm glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel. As a follow-up, I'm working on a book proposal that will address some of the same questions raised in Under Cover of Science in a broader framework. In a totally unrelated field, I'm doing research on the economic structure of fee contracts between mutual funds and their money managers. The issue raises a host of legal, business and economic concerns that I think are quite interesting. Up to this point in my career, I haven't done much research in the corporate field, though my practice background is in corporate transactions. My hope is to devote more energy to corporate issues in the immediate future and take a bit of a break from reading the likes of Descartes and Newton.

I published "Ideological Conflict, African American Reparations, Tort Causation and the Case for Social Welfare Transformation" last year [84 Boston University Law Review 1193 (2004)] as part of a slavery reparations symposium. I take a skeptical view of the legal case for African American reparations but then explore political possibilities. It was fun working on something with more of a contemporary policy focus, and it gave me a chance to quote from Barack Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I also just submitted a revision to a book chapter originally authored by my colleague Hope Lewis on state law obligations of mutual fund directors in Robert Robertson's Fund Governance: Legal Duties of Investment Company Directors. It gave me a great chance to combine my interests in corporate governance and the mutual fund industry.

I'm a transactional lawyer so I don't handle cases. The most interesting transaction I worked on as a lawyer was an initial public offering involving a biotechnology company by the name of Aphton Corporation. It was a lot of fun getting to know the business and personalities involved. I actually got a chance to use what I'd learned in my undergraduate "biology for dummies" course in crafting the company's registration statement. It was also good because the offering was relatively small so the partners actually trusted me to do most of the work.

The best "work related" book has been John Bogle's Battle for the Soul of Capitalism. Bogle puts forth an interesting thesis connecting the failures in corporate and what he describes as investment America and lax fiduciary stewardship. While I think he goes too far in his criticism and is a bit narrow in his investment philosophy, the book raise intriguing issues. As for non-work related books, I'd have to say Kathy Shorr's Provincetown: Stories from Land's End is the best. My wife, son and I go to Provincetown often and love the place. Shorr's book gives a lot of information about P-town that provides an additional layer of understanding about its topography and inner workings.

I'd have to say hanging out with my son, Adrian. He's almost 5 and at that age where his personality is taking shape. He's learning things about the world at an astounding rate. One of the things we do is run his Thomas the Tank Engine train set in our basement. It's actually fairly complicated, and requires some attention and teamwork so that the engines don't crash. He's also quite the artist, so I've taken up being his assistant.

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