As I mentioned
earlier, I was in Vancouver over spring break, giving a lecture on
corporate board diversity, meeting some UBC
faculty, and just generally hanging about.
I spent several very happy pre-tenure years at the University of Oregon,
and always jump at any chance to head back to the Pacific Northwest – Vancouver
did not disappoint.
I was invited out by the wonderful Cristie Ford, Co-Director
of the National Centre for Business Law, whose research interests include comparative
administrative and public law, securities regulation, corporate governance, and
the legal theory surrounding public decision-making. Cristie combines an unusual and refreshing knowledge of both
public decision-making and “new governance,” as it is sometimes called, and
financial markets and institutions.
Much of her recent work focuses on the financial crisis, corporate
governance, compliance, and corruption.
Her recent piece, "New
Governance in the Teeth of Human Frailty: Lessons from Financial Regulation"
Wisconsin Law Review (forthcoming 2010), which I read in draft form earlier
this year, deals with very difficult issues relating to financial regulation. It’s nice to see someone with
Ford’s knowledge level and command of the literature grapple with them.
David
Duff, the Director of the National Centre for Business Law and the school’s
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, was also there, with thoughtful questions
and insights about corporate board diversity. And I was lucky to meet Ben Goold – whose
many accomplishments include six years as a Lecturer at the University of
Oxford Faculty of Law and a Fellow in Law at Somerville College, and stints as
a visiting researcher at the Max-Planck-Institute and the Centre de Recherches
Sociologiques sur les Droits et Institutions Pénales in Paris – over a lovely
dinner of sashimi and oysters (and lots of wine).
Finally, and this is my primary Vancouver travel tip,
pictured at the top is The Winking Judge Pub, which is directly below the best
yoga studio I’ve ever seen. Now,
our BC readers (of which there must be thousands by now) may write in to tell
me that, in fact, YYoga is
the worst yoga studio in all of Vancouver and that no local would ever go
there. I don’t care. I went every day – sometimes twice – to
the spinning/yoga class, with much nicer bikes than I’ve ever seen in a
spinning class. They have classes
all day long from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and, in addition to the four YRide (spinning/yoga)
classes each day, have classes like “yoga for stiff guys,” candlelight flow,
and yoga for recovery of cancer and other illnesses.
I’m convinced that if I lived in Vancouver I’d be 20 lbs
thinner, because I would live at this gym. You might protest that the enormous quantities of dim sum I
consumed while there would offset even the most vigorous exercise. You would be right, but wasting your
breath – I won’t listen.
Which brings me to the two lower photos, of Japadog, where Jin ate when he
was in Vancover. Like most humans,
whenever we see long lines of people standing in the rain for food, we’re going
to stand there too and order whatever they order. I don’t even
like hotdogs, but had to have one, since everyone else in Vancouver seemed to
be getting one – I have to admit that the taste of teriyaki and seaweed on a
hotdog was not unpleasant, but not one I would wait in a 50-person line in the
rain for again.
More on Vancover, my adventures there, and corporate board
diversity tomorrow.
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