Who is this Ted Frank guy anyway?
I'm Ted Frank. Since July 1, 2005, I have been at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research as a resident fellow specializing in legal studies. AEI provides a more official Ted Frank biography, and my SSRN page is here. There's also a Wikipedia biography of questionable grammar, accuracy, and focus.
After graduating The Law School at The University of Chicago with high honors in 1994, I clerked for a year with Judge Frank H. Easterbrook on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. For the next ten years, I was at law firms in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, where I worked on a variety of matters, including rebuffing an attempt to shut down the California gubernatorial recall election over the use of punchcard ballots; handling multi-billion-dollar antitrust multi-district litigation; defending automobile and Vioxx products liability actions and various consumer class actions; and arguing in front of the Ninth Circuit on behalf of a manufacturer of bingo machines for Indian reservations. Before all of that, I graduated Brandeis University in 1991 summa cum laude with a B.A. in economics and Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans, and briefly attended Bellaire High School.
I've been blogging about litigation reform issues for Walter Olson's Overlawyered website since 2003, and for (what was a joint Manhattan Institute/AEI Liability Project site from 2005 to 2007) Point of Law since 2004. I won't be talking about that here. This site is more of a narci-blog for off-the-cuff observations and for my friends and family across the country to keep track of me. Instead of spamming a couple of dozen friends with a nifty link I saw, I'll post about it here. If you're not friends or family, but for some reason care about what I have to say, or what I'm reading or watching or listening to, you're welcome to join in the fun. I've testified before Congressional subcommittees; written op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and National Review Online; been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Associated Press, Boston Globe, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Slate.com, National Journal, Forbes, Business Week, National Review, and Weekly Standard and interviewed or spoken on BBC, ABC, C-SPAN, Bloomberg TV, NPR, Fox News, a couple of nationally syndicated talk-shows, and a bunch of local radio stations from coast to coast (and beyond, in the case of KTUU-TV-Anchorage); I also use the blog to keep track of a fraction of these appearances. The New York Times photographed me when they covered an objection I filed to a class action settlement with a contingent fee of over 3700%. Famous people who have criticized me include Rep. Barney Frank, Rep. John Conyers, Rep. Maxine Waters, and Rep. Gary Ackerman—badges of honor all. Contact me here.
The title of the blog? I like "Lagniappe," because it's a good SAT word that I learned from my days in New Orleans, and it's a fitting description of the blog: if you think my opinions on litigation reform are sufficiently interesting that you also care about my travelogues or opinions on baseball or D.C. restaurants or television, this blog is that bonus. Derek Lowe used this title way back when, but has since switched when he took the Boeing, so hopefully he won't mind.
"Ted Frank" is a surprisingly common name. Perhaps you're looking for one of my Googlegängers:
(This post is misdated, because it's effectively serving as a FAQ that will be updated periodically.)
After graduating The Law School at The University of Chicago with high honors in 1994, I clerked for a year with Judge Frank H. Easterbrook on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. For the next ten years, I was at law firms in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, where I worked on a variety of matters, including rebuffing an attempt to shut down the California gubernatorial recall election over the use of punchcard ballots; handling multi-billion-dollar antitrust multi-district litigation; defending automobile and Vioxx products liability actions and various consumer class actions; and arguing in front of the Ninth Circuit on behalf of a manufacturer of bingo machines for Indian reservations. Before all of that, I graduated Brandeis University in 1991 summa cum laude with a B.A. in economics and Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans, and briefly attended Bellaire High School.
I've been blogging about litigation reform issues for Walter Olson's Overlawyered website since 2003, and for (what was a joint Manhattan Institute/AEI Liability Project site from 2005 to 2007) Point of Law since 2004. I won't be talking about that here. This site is more of a narci-blog for off-the-cuff observations and for my friends and family across the country to keep track of me. Instead of spamming a couple of dozen friends with a nifty link I saw, I'll post about it here. If you're not friends or family, but for some reason care about what I have to say, or what I'm reading or watching or listening to, you're welcome to join in the fun. I've testified before Congressional subcommittees; written op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and National Review Online; been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Associated Press, Boston Globe, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Slate.com, National Journal, Forbes, Business Week, National Review, and Weekly Standard and interviewed or spoken on BBC, ABC, C-SPAN, Bloomberg TV, NPR, Fox News, a couple of nationally syndicated talk-shows, and a bunch of local radio stations from coast to coast (and beyond, in the case of KTUU-TV-Anchorage); I also use the blog to keep track of a fraction of these appearances. The New York Times photographed me when they covered an objection I filed to a class action settlement with a contingent fee of over 3700%. Famous people who have criticized me include Rep. Barney Frank, Rep. John Conyers, Rep. Maxine Waters, and Rep. Gary Ackerman—badges of honor all. Contact me here.
The title of the blog? I like "Lagniappe," because it's a good SAT word that I learned from my days in New Orleans, and it's a fitting description of the blog: if you think my opinions on litigation reform are sufficiently interesting that you also care about my travelogues or opinions on baseball or D.C. restaurants or television, this blog is that bonus. Derek Lowe used this title way back when, but has since switched when he took the Boeing, so hopefully he won't mind.
"Ted Frank" is a surprisingly common name. Perhaps you're looking for one of my Googlegängers:
- the former partner at Arnold & Porter?
- the president and former CEO of Axentis, Inc. (photographed here)?
- the NBC executive?
- the principal of Trinity Lutheran Church and School?
- Teddy Holtz Frank, mother of two and president of Health Promotion Associates, Inc.?
- the fictional Harvard Law Exam character?
- the New York actor from Northwestern U.?
- the American University at Cairo professor?
- Rita's husband who lives in Indonesia?
- the author of the 1979 book Deutsch für Amerikaner?
- the Wisconsin construction business owner (who may or may not also be a heroic EMT)?
- the owner of the Golf Driving Range of Texas in Kennedale?
- the 1950s light-heavyweight tomato can?
- Robin Shuford's fiance?
- the California maritime lawyer who went to USF Law?
- the expert on Swedish political elections?
- the president of Mower County Pork Producers in Minnesota?
- miscellaneous crew?
- the jazz trumpeter?
- "Day Day" of the Banka Banka cattle station in the Northern Territory?
- Ted Franks, the UK KPMG associate?
- the Missouri application developer?
- the possibly fictional reclusive Arkansas heroin-addict and punk-rocker?
- a naval captain in a Tom Clancy novel?
- one of the twelve other people with the same name on Facebook?
(This post is misdated, because it's effectively serving as a FAQ that will be updated periodically.)