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Randal C. Picker

Academic Faculty

Full Time Teaching Faculty

Randal C. Picker

James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law

Biography

Randy Picker graduated from the University of Chicago in 1980 cum laude with a BA in economics and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He then spent two years in the Department of Economics, where he was a Friedman Fellow, completing his doctoral course work and exams. He received a master's degree in 1982. Thereafter, he attended the Law School and graduated in 1985 cum laude. He is a member of the Order of the Coif. While at the Law School, Professor Picker was an Associate Editor of the Law Review. After graduation, he clerked for Judge Richard A. Posner of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He then spent three years with Sidley & Austin LLP in Chicago, where he worked in the areas of debt restructuring and corporate reorganizations in bankruptcy.

Professor Picker is a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference and served as project reporter for the Conference's Bankruptcy Code Review Project. He is also a commissioner to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and serves as a member of the drafting committee to revise Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code.

Professor Picker's primary areas of interest are the laws relating to intellectual property, competition policy and regulated industries, and applications of game theory and agent-based computer simulations to the law. He is the co-author of Game Theory and the Law. He currently teaches classes in antitrust, network industries, and secured transactions, while also regularly teaching bankruptcy and corporate reorganizations. He served as Associate Dean from 1994 to 1996.

Education and Experience

Education

The University of Chicago

JD, with Honors, 1985

  • Order of the Coif
  • Associate editor, The University of Chicago Law Review

MA, June 1982

  • Friedman Fellow

BA in economics with general honors, August 1980

  • Phi Beta Kappa

Experience

The University of Chicago Law School

James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, 2013-present
Paul and Theo Leffmann Professor of Commercial Law, 1989-2012
Director, Olin Program in Law and Economics, 1999-2001
Professor, 1993-1997
Academic Associate Dean, 1994-1996
Assistant Professor, 1989-1993

The Computation Institute of the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory

Senior Fellow, 2000-present

Sidley & Austin

Counsel, Chicago, IL, 1993-1999
Associate, Chicago, IL, 1986-1989

The Honorable Richard Posner, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

Law Clerk, Chicago, IL, 1985-1986

Publications

Books (Author)

  • Antitrust Law and Trade Regulation: Cases and Materials (7th ed.) (Foundation Press, 2018) (with A. Douglas Melamed & Philip J. Weiser & Diane P. Wood).cu
  • Security Interests in Personal Property: Cases, Problems, and Materials (4th ed.) (Foundation Press, 2009) (with Douglas G. Baird & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Security Interests in Personal Property: Cases, Problems, and Materials (3rd ed.) (Foundation Press, 2002) (with Douglas G. Baird & Thomas H. Jackson).cu
  • Game Theory and the Law (Harvard University Press, 1994) (with Douglas G. Baird & Robert H. Gertner).cu
  • Reforming the Bankruptcy Code: The National Bankruptcy Conference's Code Review Project (Matthew Bender, 1994).cu
  • Strategic Behavior and the Law: The Role of Game Theory and Information Economics in Legal Analysis (1993) (with Douglas G. Baird & Robert H. Gertner).cu

Journal Articles

  • "What Should We Do About The Big Tech Monopolies?," 1 TechREG Chronicle 27 (2021). www
  • "The Arc of Monopoly: A Case Study in Computing," 87 University of Chicago Law Review 523 (2020). www
  • "The Bankruptcy Partition," 166 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1675 (2018) (with Douglas G. Baird & Anthony J. Casey ). ssrn cu
  • "Copyright and Technology: Deja Vu All over Again," 1 Wisconsin Law Review Online 41 (2013). cu
  • "The Yin and Yang of Copyright and Technology," 55 Communications of the ACM 30 (2012). cu
  • "Private Digital Libraries and Orphan Works," 27 Berkeley Technology Law Journal 1259 (2012). cu
  • "Access and the Public Domain," 49 San Diego Law Review 1183 (2012). cu
  • "The Mediated Book," 19 Supreme Court Economic Review 51 (2011). cu
  • "The Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Act: Playing Railroad Tycoon," 95 Marquette Law Review 1135 (2011). cu
  • "The Razors-and-Blades Myth(s)," 78 University of Chicago Law Review 225 (2011). cu
  • "Easterbrook on Copyright," 77 University of Chicago Law Review 1165 (2010). ssrn cu
  • "The Google Book Search Settlement: A New Orphan-Works Monopoly," 5 Journal of Competition Law and Economics 383 (2009). ssrn cu
  • "Competition and Privacy in Web 2.0 and the Cloud," 103 Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy 1 (2008). cu
  • "Fair Use v. Fair Access," 31 Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts 603 (2007). cu
  • "Pulling a Rabbi out of His Hat: The Bankruptcy Magic of Dick Posner," 74 University of Chicago Law Review 1845 (2007). ssrn cu
  • "Book Review (reviewing Herbert Hovenkamp, The Antitrust Enterprise: Principle and Execution (2005))," 2 Competition Policy International 183 (2006). ssrn cu
  • "Mistrust-Based Digital Rights Management," 5 Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law 47 (2006). cu
  • "Mandatory Access Obligations and Standing," 31 Journal of Corporation Law 387 (2006). cu
  • "Unbundling Scope-of-Permission Goods: When Should We Invest in Reducing Entry Barriers?," 72 University of Chicago Law Review 189 (2005). ssrn cu
  • "Rewinding Sony: The Evolving Product, Phoning Home and the Duty of Ongoing Design," 55 Case Western Reserve Law Review 749 (2005). cu
  • "Introduction," 72 University of Chicago Law Review 1 (2005) (with Richard A. Epstein). cu
  • "The Digital Video Recorder: Unbundling Advertising and Content," 71 University of Chicago Law Review 205 (2004). cu
  • "Introduction to Colloquium: Intellectual Property," 71 University of Chicago Law Review 1 (2004) (with Richard A. Epstein & Douglas G. Lichtman). cu
  • "From Edison to the Broadcast Flag: Mechanisms of Consent and Refusal and the Propertization of Copyright," 70 University of Chicago Law Review 281 (2003). cu
  • "SimLaw 2011," 2002 University of Illinois Law Review 1019 (2002). cu
  • "Copyright as Entry Policy: The Case of Digital Distribution," 47 Antitrust Bulletin 423 (2002). cu
  • "Pursuing a Remedy in Microsoft: The Declining Need for Centralized Coordination in a Networked World," 158 Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 113 (2002). ssrn cu
  • "Entry Policy in Local Telecommunications: Iowa Utilities and Verizon," 2002 Supreme Court Review 41 (2002) (with Douglas G. Lichtman). cu
  • "Regulating Network Industries: A Look at Intel," 23 Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 159 (1999). cu
  • "Perfection Hierarchies and Nontemporal Priority Rules," 74 Chicago-Kent Law Review 1157 (1999). cu
  • "The New Chicago School: Myth or Reality?," 5 University of Chicago Law School Roundtable 1 (1998) (with Lisa Bernstein & Richard A. Epstein & Eric A. Posner ). cu
  • "Simple Games in a Complex World: A Generative Approach to the Adoption of Norms," 64 University of Chicago Law Review [i] (1997). cu
  • "Law and Economics: Intellectual Arbitrage," 27 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 127 (1993). cu
  • "When Cities Go Broke: A Conceptual Introduction to Municipal Bankruptcy," 60 University of Chicago Law Review 425 (1993) (with Michael W. McConnell). cu
  • "Voluntary Petitions and the Creditors' Bargain," 61 University of Cincinnati Law Review 519 (1992). cu
  • "Security Interests, Misbehavior, and Common Pools," 59 University of Chicago Law Review 645 (1992). cu
  • "A Simple Noncooperative Bargaining Model of Corporate Reorganizations," 20 Journal of Legal Studies 311 (1991) (with Douglas G. Baird). cu

Book Sections

  • "Platforms and Adjacent Market Competition: A Look at Recent History," in Digital Platforms and Concentration (University of Chicago Booth School of Business, 2018). cu www
  • "Coase Calibration," in Ronald H. Coase (University of Chicago Law School, 2014). cu
  • "Antitrust and Regulation," in Economic Regulation and Its Reform: What Have We Learned?, Nancy L. Rose ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2014) (with Dennis W. Carlton). cu www
  • "Cybersecurity: Of Heterogeneity and Autarky," in The Law and Economics of Cybersecurity, Mark F. Grady & Francesco Parisi eds. (Cambridge University Press, 2006). cu
  • "The Law and Economics of Contract Damages," in Chicago Lectures in Law and Economics, Eric A. Posner ed. (West, 2000). cu
  • "An Introduction to Game Theory and the Law," in Chicago Lectures in Law and Economics, Eric A. Posner ed. (Foundation Press, 2000). cu
  • "Corporate Reorganizations," in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law, Peter Newman ed. (Grove Dictionaries, 1998). cu
  • "Corporate Reorganization," in 1 The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law.1998). cu
  • "When Cities Go Broke: A Conceptual Introduction to Municipal Bankruptcy," in Municipal Bankruptcies: How to Handle a Chapter 9 from Start to Finish (Practising Law Institute, 1995) (with Michael W. McConnell). cu
  • "Municipal Bankruptcies: Preservation of State Authority in the Presence of Exclusive Federal Power," in Municipal Bankruptcies: How to Handle a Chapter 9 From Start to Finish, Jonathan M. Landers ed. (Practicing Law Institute, 1995). cu
  • "Overview of History and Eligibility: Preservation of State Authority in the Presence of Exclusive Federal Power," in Municipal Bankruptcies: How to Handle a Chapter 9 from Start to Finish (Practising Law Institute, 1995). cu

Other Publications

  • "The DOJ Seeks To Unbundle Apple’s Core," ProMarket, April 2, 2024. www
  • "The European Commission Fines Apple 1.84 Billion Euros and Spotify Still Isn’t Happy," ProMarket, March 19, 2024. www
  • "Randy Picker: A Brief for the Public?," ProMarket, September 15, 2023. www
  • "Randy Picker: Understanding Firm Entry and the Internal Growth Presumption in the Draft Merger Guidelines," ProMarket, August 1, 2023. www
  • "Creation over Time in Copyright and Patent," ProMarket, June 5, 2023. www
  • "The FTC’s Non-Compete Ban Will Force Questions Over the Scope of its Authority," ProMarket, January 11, 2023. www
  • "How Would the Big Tech Self-Preferencing Bill Affect Users?," ProMarket, June 16, 2022. www
  • "Is US Antitrust Action Against Big Tech Likely This Year?," Brink News, February 13, 2022. www
  • "Security Competition and App Stores," Concurrentialiste, August 23, 2021. www
  • "The House’s Recent Spate of Antitrust Bills Would Change Big Tech as We Know It," ProMarket, June 29, 2021. www
  • "Europe Lacks a Vision for How Apple’s App Store Fees Should Work," ProMarket, May 5, 2021.
  • "Reviewing Facebook’s Mergers Could Have Negative Ripple Effects," ProMarket, February 3, 2021.
  • "Kicking Around Section 230: Don’t Confuse Politics and Policymaking," ProMarket, November 20, 2020.
  • "Structural Separation and Self-Preferencing: What are the Right Lessons of History," ProMarket, October 8, 2020.
  • "Big tech, antitrust and the future of regulation," SciencesPo, August 13, 2020. www
  • "The House’s Big Tech Hearing: Break Ups Large and Small?," ProMarket, August 2020. www
  • At the Heart of the European Commission’s Investigations of Apple Is a Basic Question: How Should Apple Make Money?, ProMarket. June 24, 2020 www
  • "The European Commission Picks a Fight with Google Android over Business Models," ProMarket, July 23, 2018. www
  • "With Amex Ruling, Modern IO Theory Makes Important Inroads with SCOTUS," ProMarket, June 28, 2018. www
  • "AT&T Shellacs the Government in Time Warner Merger Case," ProMarket, June 13, 2018. www
  • "The Bankruptcy Partition," CLS Blue Sky Blog, April 30, 2018 (with Douglas G. Baird & Anthony J. Casey ). www
  • "Shooting a MOOC," Washington Post, July 13, 2015. www
  • "Delivering Packages (on the Internet)," The Media Institute, March 16, 2015. www
  • Exploring the Contours of the Freedom to Teach, (Ithaka S+R). 2014) (with Lawrence S. Bacow & Nancy Kopans ). www
  • "Injunctions and Standard Essential Patents," The Media Institute, May 6, 2014. www
  • "New Personalization A Cure For Google Acts," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 15, 2012, at p. A9. www
  • "The Lessons of Enron," Fathom, 2002 (with Douglas G. Baird, Daniel R. Fischel & Julie A. Roin). www
  • "A New Experience for Microsoft," Financial Times, July 24, 2001.
  • "Fat Pipes and Faulty Regulation," Financial Times, December 19, 2000.
  • "Modified Beam-it, Napster Could Be Happy Compromise," May 17, 2000.
  • "A Firm That Failed Well," Wall Street Journal, October 12, 1998 (with Daniel R. Fischel).
  • "Law and Economics II: The Sequel," University of Chicago Law School Record, 1993.

Presentations
  • "Why Facilities-Based Competition?," University of Pennsylvania Law School, March, 2003; S.J. Quinney College of Law at University of Utah, April 2003
  • Digital Rights Management Panel at University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, January 2003
  • "Understanding Statutory Bundles: Does the Sherman Act Come with the Telecommunications Act," Center for the Digital Economy at Manhattan Institute, December 2002
  • "Introduction to Electricity Regulation," Agent 2002 Conference on Social Agents: Ecology, Exchange and Evolution at University of Chicago/Argonne National Lab, October 2002
  • "The Lessons of Enron," The University of Chicago Law School, April 2002 (moderator and panel discussant)
  • "Copyright as Entry Policy: The Case of Digital Distribution," U.S. Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition Distinguished Lecturer Series, March 2002
  • "Exploring Concepts with ABMS," Capturing Business Complexity with Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation, March 2002
  • "Firm Valuations and Real Options: The Shutdown Decision in Chapter 11," National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges Annual Meeting, October 2001 (with Douglas Baird).
  • "Understanding Microsoft: The Decline of Centralized Coordination in a Peer-to-Peer World," Institutional Seminar on New Institutional Economics: Organizing and Designing Markets, June 2001
  • "SimLaw 2011," University of Illinois Conference on Empirical and Experimental Methods in Law, April 2001
  • "Intellectual Property: Looking at Napster," University of Michigan Conference on Law Policy and the Convergence of Telecommunications and Computing Technologies, March 2001
  • "Endogenous Neighborhoods and Norms," Max Planck Project Group Common Goods: Law, Politics and Economics, June 2001; Virginia, March 2000; Georgetown, April 1999; Chicago, April 1999
  • "Alternative Methodologies in Law and Economics," American Association of Law Schools, 1998
  • "Testing in Silico: Computer-Based Approaches in Law and Economics to Norms and Social Interactions," Wilbur Katz Lecture at University of Chicago Law School; Columbia Law School, 1997; American Association of Law Schools, 1998
  • "Designing Verifiability: Boyd's Implications for Modern Bankruptcy Law," University of Pennsylvania Law School Bankruptcy Conference, May 1997; Donner Bankruptcy Conference at George Mason University Law School, January 1997
  • "Simple Games in a Complex World: A Generative Approach to the Adoption of Norms," Stanford University; University of Chicago; California Institute of Technology; Georgetown University; American Law and Economics Annual Meeting, 1996-1997
  • "A Primer on Secured Transactions in Personal Property," November 1996
  • "An Introduction to Game Theory and the Law," University of Illinois, March 1995; University of Kansas, February 1996
  • "Insolvency, Extended Liability and Industry-Based Solvency Structures," Stanford Law and Economics Workshop, November 1995; January 1996
  • "Bankruptcy Rules, Managerial Entrenchment, and Firm-Specific Human Capital," Georgetown Law & Economics Workshop, October 1994
  • "Rotten Apples?: Industry Issues, Contagion, and Bankruptcy," Washington University Interdisciplinary Conference on Bankruptcy and Insolvency Theory, February 1994
  • "Law and Economics Perspectives on Bankruptcy," Seventh Circuit Bankruptcy Judges Conference, December 1993
  • "The Pros and Cons of Chapter 11: A Law and Economics Perspective," 4th Annual Meeting of the Insolvency Institute of Cananda, October 1993
  • "An Introduction to Game Theory and the Law," Third Coase Lecture at University of Chicago Law School, April 1993
  • "Current Developments in Bankruptcy and Real Estate," Chicago Bar Association, March 1993
  • "Game Theory and the Law: Chapters 4 and 5," Faculty Workshop at George Mason University Law School, December 1992; Faculty Workshop at University of Virginia Law School, November 1992
  • "Game Theory and the Law: Chapters 1 and 2," Faculty Workshop at New York University Law School, September 1992
  • "Bankruptcy and the Allocation of Control," Annual Meetings of American Law and Economics Association, May 1992; The Law and Economics Workshop at University of Chicago, February 1992; February 1992 (with Robert Gertner)
  • "Bankruptcy Workouts and Debt Contracts, by Alan Schwartz," John M. Olin Centennial Conference in Law and Economics at University of Chicago, April 1992
  • "Bankruptcy Rules, Entrenchment, and Human Capital," Work-in-Progress Workshop at University of Chicago, April 1992
  • "Voluntary Petitions and the Creditors' Bargain," The University of Cincinnati College of Law Fifth Annual Corporate Law Symposium, March 1992
  • "Security Interests, Misbehavior and Common Pools," Harvard Law School Law & Economics Workshop, September 1991; Work-in-Progress Workshop at University of Chicago, July 1991
  • "A Simple Noncooperative Bargaining Model of Corporate Reorganizations," The Law and Economics Workshop at University of Chicago, November 1990 (with Douglas G. Baird)
  • "Civil Justice Reform," Federal Judge's Seminar at University of Chicago Law School, June 1990
  • "Fundamentals of Corporate Bankruptcy Law," Harvard Business School Finance Seminar, May 1990

Additional Activities

Professional Affiliations

  • American Bar Association
  • American Law & Economics Association
  • National Bankruptcy Conference
  • American Bankruptcy Institute
  • American Association of Law Schools
  • National Bankruptcy Conference
  • Project Reporter, Bankruptcy Code Review Project (1993-present)
  • National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (1991- present)
  • Bar admissions, Illinois, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

Service

  • The Council of the University Senate (2002-present)
  • The Board of the University of Chicago Laboratory School (2001-present)
  • Chair, The Board of Computing Activities and Services (1999-2001); member, (1998-2001)
  • Chair, The Board of the Library, The University of Chicago (1994-1996)
  • The Board of the Library, The University of Chicago (1993-1996)
  • Administrative Cost Reduction Steering Committee (1994)
  • Dean Search Committee at the Law School (1993-94)

Editorial Work

  • Editorial board, Journal of Business Law Education
  • Contracts and Commercial Law Advisory Board, Social Science Research Network
  • Editorial board, Bankruptcy, Reorganization and Creditors' Rights, Social Science Research Network
  • Referee, Journal of Legal Studies; Journal of Law and Economics; Journal of Law, Economics and Organization

Events

  • The Corporate Yardstick, Odyssey, WBEZ radio (May 9, 2002)
  • Antitrust in the Global Economy, Odyssey, WBEZ radio (October 4, 2001)
  • "A New Experience for Microsoft," The Financial Times (July 24, 2001)
  • The Trial of Microsoft, Odyssey, WBEZ radio (July 2, 2001)
  • Fat Pipes and Faulty Regulation, The Financial Times (December 19, 2000)
  • The Microsoft Break-Up, Odyssey, WBEZ radio (June 22, 2000)
  • The Microsoft Split, Chicago Tonight, WTTW TV (June 8, 2000)
  • "Modified Napster, Beam-It Could Be Happy Compromise," CNN Online (May 17, 2000)
  • "A Firm That Failed Well," The Wall Street Journal (October 12, 1998)
  • Credit Card and Bankruptcy Issues, The Talk of the Nation, National Public Radio (June 11, 1998)
  • "In Microsoft Case, Justice is on Dangerous Path to Stifling Innovation," www.thestreet.com(January 18, 1998)
  • Moderator, Current Bankruptcy Issues, Financial Lawyers Conference of Los Angeles (April 1998)
  • Organizer, Special Program for sixty Federal Bankruptcy Judges at the request of the Federal Judicial Center (September 1997)

Congressional Testimony

  • U.S. House, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, Hearing on H.R. 833, the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1999 (March 18, 1999)
  • U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, Hearing on S.1914, the Business Bankruptcy Reform Act (May 19, 1998)
  • U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, Hearing on S.1301, the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1997 (March 11, 1998)