Digital Commons Network^™

Distinction Without A Difference: Federal Court Says Sexual Orientation Discrimination Is Sex Discrimination, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

The relationship between sex discrimination and sexual orientation discrimination has always been somewhat of a contested issue. Courts have routinely declared that they bear no relationship to one another, while advocates have long argued that they are one and the same. This matters because Title VII and other antidiscrimination laws with similar scope expressly protect against sex discrimination, but not against sexual orientation discrimination.

In a recent, groundbreaking ruling, Videckis v. Pepperdine University a federal district court has denounced the line between these two types of discrimination as “illusory and artificial,” leading it to rule that a claim of sexual …

Anger Management: Charlie Sheen’S Ex-Fiancée Sues Over Sheen’S Failure To Disclose Hiv Status, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

According to the complaint recently filed in a California court, Charlie Sheen did a lot of things for which Scottine has every right to be angry. The allegations run the gamut from physical abuse to forcing her to have an abortion to putting a hit on her ex-husband to wantonly exposing her to HIV without her consent. For these and other alleged wrongs, she seeks money damages.

A No-Fault Remedy For Legal Malpractce?, Melissa Mortazavi

Hofstra Law Review

The last forty years have seen a marked rise in legal malpractice lawsuits. Recent numbers show that no abatement is in sight; instead the number of large legal malpractice claims is steadily increasing. Although lawyers have a personal interest in limiting liability, they also have a professional one in protecting clients from harm arising due to malpractice. But how can the legal profession curtail and manage malpractice liability while also providing relief to injured clients? Applying existing tort scholarship on no-fault alternative systems to professional legal services, this Article argues that no-fault may be a viable option in many common …

A Tribute To Monroe Freedman, Stuart Rabinowitz

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reflections Of An Ethics Expert And A Lawyer Who Retains Him, M. H. Hoeflich, Bill Skepnek

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

When Clients Sue Their Lawyers For Failing To Report Their Own Malpractice, Benjamin P. Cooper

Hofstra Law Review

What consequences should befall the lawyer who fails to disclose a significant error to his client? In a previous article, I examined the lawyer’s ethical duty to report his own malpractice to his client, a topic that had previously received little attention from courts and commentators, and concluded that the duty is well-grounded in Rules 1.4 and 1.7. Therefore the lawyer who fails to disclose his error to his client is subject to discipline. This Article addresses the client's ability to state an independent claim against the lawyer for failing to disclose his own malpractice -- a topic that has …

Front Matter

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Remarks At Monroe Freedman’S Memorial, Eric Lane

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Monroe Freedman: Friend, Role Model, And Colleague, Roy Simon

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Foreword: Legal Malpractice Is No Longer The Profession’S Dirty Little Secret, Susan Saab Fortney

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Aggregate Settlements And Attorney Liability: The Evolving Landscape, Lynn A. Baker

Hofstra Law Review

This Article was prepared for the Hofstra Law Review conference on "Lawyers as Targets: Suing, Prosecuting, and Defending Lawyers." Over the past several decades, attorneys involved in mass tort settlements, especially those representing the plaintiffs, have faced an increasing number of large-dollar liability claims centered on the aggregate settlement rule: that is, the state equivalents to Rule 1.8(g) of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. During this period, courts have held that fee forfeiture, potentially totaling millions of dollars, is an appropriate remedy for violations of the Rule, even in the absence of any demonstrated economic harm to the …

Lawyers On Trial: Juror Hostility To Defendants In Legal Malpractice Trials, Herbert M. Kritzer, Neil Vidmar

Hofstra Law Review

In contrast to medical malpractice, legal malpractice is a phenomenon that has attracted little attention from empirically-oriented scholars. This paper is part of a larger study of legal malpractice claiming and litigation. Given the evidence on the frequency of legal malpractice claims, there are surprisingly few legal malpractice cases that result in jury verdicts. There are many possible explanations for this, one of which reflects the perception that lawyers are held in such low esteem by potential jurors that they risk harsh treatment by jurors when they are defendants in legal malpractice trials. Because we could find no empirical evidence …

The Litigation Privilege: Its Place In Contemporary Jurisprudence, Louise Lark Hill

Hofstra Law Review

Historically, lawyers have been immune from civil liability for statements related to litigation which may injure or offend an opposing party during the litigation process. This protection is referred to as the “litigation privilege,” which originated in medieval English jurisprudence and continues to be recognized in the United States today. The rationale supporting the litigation privilege is that the integrity of the adversary system outweighs any monetary interest of a party injured by her adversary. Remedies other than lawsuits are available to parties who feel they have been damaged “by malicious statements or conduct during litigation.” For instance, misconduct in …

The Law Of Unintended Consequences: Whether And When Mandatory Disclosure Under Model Rule 4.1(B) Trumps Discretionary Disclosure Under Model Rule 1.6(B), Peter R. Jarvis, Trisha M. Rich

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dealing With Conflicts And Disqualification Risks Professionally, James B. Kobak Jr

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Some Early Thoughts On Liability Standards For Online Providers Of Legal Services, Benjamin H. Barton

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Childhood Trauma And Special Education: Why The "Idea" Is Failing Today's Impacted Youth, Felicia Winder

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Amending State Putative Father Registries: Affording More Rights And Protections To America’S Unwed Fathers, Ivy Waisbord

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

End Matter

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legal Malpractice In International Business Transactions, Vincent R. Johnson

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Baby Mama: Appellate Court Declares Sherri Shepherd Is The Legal Mother Of A Child Born To Her Via Surrogate, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

Although surrogacy ostensibly dates to biblical days—Abraham and Sarah’s handmaiden, Hagar, for example—it is quintessentially a modern path to parenthood. In its initial iteration, so-called traditional surrogacy, the arrangement called for artificial insemination of the surrogate carrier with sperm from the intended father, whose wife provided no genetic material but was the intended mother and a party to the contract. As reproductive technology advanced, and in vitro fertilization was first developed and then improved, a new type of surrogacy became the norm. With gestational surrogacy, the carrier provides only the womb, while both egg and sperm come from the intended …

Though Obsolete, The Civil Union Continues To Mystify Courts, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

Before there was marriage for same-sex couples, there was the civil union. It was a precursor to marriage equality, one that provided the benefits and obligations of marriage without the name—a political compromise before the Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality. Although the civil union has been made essentially irrelevant, it continues to raise legal questions about the rights and status of its participants. A recent case in New York, O’Reilly-Morshead v. O’Reilly-Morshead , shows continuing confusion about a status that was not quite marriage, but not quite anything else either.

Enactment Of The Women’S Equality Agenda: A Fitting Bicentennial Birthday Gift For Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

At the end of October, New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, signed into law the Women’s Equality Act (WEA), a broadbased bill he proposed more than two years ago. The bill was designed, in his words, to “break down barriers that perpetuate discrimination and inequality based on gender” and to restore New York to “its role as a progressive leader on women’s rights.”

One might point to different historical eras to make the claim that New York has been a progressive leader on women’s rights, but the clearest support for that claim is found in the year 1848. That was the …

Justice Imperiled: The Anti-Nazi Lawyer Max Hirschberg In Weimar, Germany, Eric M. Freedman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Leader With Few Followers: New York On Family Law, Joanna L. Grossman, Barbara Stark

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

A new law in New York, partially effective this week, will reform alimony law and reverse a longstanding rule of marital property that helped earn New York the label “a leader with few followers.” The new law was precipitated by New York’s adoption of a true nofault divorce law in 2010 and alimony reform that was demanded as a compromise by opponents. The 2010 changes were controversial, perhaps even more so after they went into effect. Now, five years later, parties on different sides of the debate have agreed on a different compromise going forward. And, almost as a side …

Differing Interpretations Of International Law Could Spark Major Naval Conflict Between The Us And China, Julian G. Ku

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

The United States and China seem to be edging closer to a naval showdown over freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. The US has announced it plans to conduct naval patrols within 12 nautical miles of China’s controversial “artificial islands” in order to uphold the principle of “freedom of navigation” under international law. China’s state-run English-language newspaper has called such plans “provocative” with one Chinese admiral even threatening to deliver a “head on blow” to any foreign forces threatening Chinese sovereignty of the disputed islands.

For The Love Of Batgirl: California Passes Much-Needed Fair Pay Law, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

Yvonne Craig, who played Batgirl in the 1960s television show, recently passed away. As Batgirl, she fought for truth and justice against fictional adversaries; and in a public service announcement that aired in the 1970s, she fought for equal pay for real women. ...

Craig, may she rest in peace, put her face and her beloved fictional persona behind the Equal Pay Act (EPA), the centerpiece of the federal effort to eradicate pay discrimination. This law—enacted in 1963, one year before the broader ban on employment discrimination embodied in Title VII—guarantees equal pay for equal work for men and women …

Reimbursing Clinicians For Advance-Care-Planning Consultations: The Saga Of A Healthcare Reform Provision, Janet L. Dolgin

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

The article examines the laws aimed to reimburse clinicians for advance care planning consultations with Medicare patients in the U.S. Topics discussed include politics of healthcare reform, state-law provisions for advance care planning, introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in the country, and laws defined by the PPACA for payments to clinicians for consultations regarding orders for life sustaining treatment.

Hit The Gym, Borgatababes, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

This was more or less the message from a New Jersey appellate court, which rejected most of the discrimination claims brought by a group of female casino waitresses who were suspended, fired, or otherwise subjected to a policy restricting weight gain. In a rambling and sometimes poorly reasoned opinion, Schiavo v. Marina District Development Company, a New Jersey appellate court joins a long line of courts that simply refuse to see the illegal and harmful stereotyping embodied in sex-specific dress codes.

"A Republic If You Can Keep It", Eric Lane

Constitution Day Lectures

On this day, over 200 years ago, thirty-nine brave delegates of the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the document they had created, the U.S. Constitution.

This year, Eric Lane, Dean of the Maurice A. Deane School of Law and the Eric J. Schmertz Distinguished Professor of Public Law and Public Service at Hofstra University, gave a presentation, “A Republic If You Can Keep It.” The event was held in the Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater, 1st Floor Axinn Library.