Law Commons^™

The Odyssey Of The United States Road To Torture-How Did The United States Become A Waterboarder?, Robert Bloom

Robert Bloom

United States after 9/11 decided to ignore various international laws and engaged in torture. Talk focused on how a democratic nation with high moral values could engage in such activity

History Of American Legal Education, With An Emphasis On Clinical Education, Robert Bloom

Robert Bloom

No abstract provided.

Criminal Procedure: The Constitution And The Police, 6th, Mark Brodin, Robert Bloom

Robert M. Bloom

Examples & Explanations: Criminal Procedure: The Constitution and the Police, Sixth Edition, using the method that has made it such a successful resource for students, continues to present the discussion of criminal procedure in a way that mirrors the sequence of real-life events in law enforcement.

U.S. Exclusionary Rule: A Comparative Analysis, Robert Bloom

Robert M. Bloom

No abstract provided.

The Curse Of Bigness And The Optimal Size Of Class Actions, Alexandra Lahav

Alexandra D. Lahav

How big is too big when it comes to class actions? This short essay, written for the Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc roundtable on Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. examines that question. Size in itself should not be a barrier to certification, but courts may rightly be concerned with variation within the class. Variation causes manageability problems, but in some cases (like Dukes) variation can be managed within the class context by judicious use of statistical methods. I also demonstrate why the related argument that this class ought not be certified because it is too big and Wal-Mart will be …

History Of American Legal Education, With An Emphasis On Clinical Education, Robert Bloom

Robert M. Bloom

No abstract provided.

Nulidad Procesal: ¿Es Realmente Una Sanción?, Renzo Cavani

Renzo Cavani

In civil law context, it is common to identify the nullity in civil procedure as a sanction or a penalty because of the influence of the legislative technique. This essay, however, pretends to show that nullity is, actually, a consequence from a violation of a legal rule and not a sanction.

É comum identificar a nulidade no processo civil como uma sanção ou uma pena, por causa da influência da técnica legislativa. Este ensaio, porém, pretende demonstrar que a nulidade é, na verdade, uma consequência da violação de uma regra e não uma sanção.

Es común identificar la nulidad en …

The Odyssey Of The United States Road To Torture-How Did The United States Become A Waterboarder?, Robert Bloom

Robert M. Bloom

United States after 9/11 decided to ignore various international laws and engaged in torture. Talk focused on how a democratic nation with high moral values could engage in such activity

¿Mezclando Agua Y Aceite? Consideraciones Críticas Respecto A La Configuración Y Eficacia De Las Cláusulas Abusivas En El Nuevo Código De Consumo, Fort Ninamancco Córdova

Fort Ninamancco Cordova

No abstract provided.

An Offensive Weapon?: An Empirical Analysis Of The 'Sword' Of State Sovereign Immunity In State-Owned Patents, Tejas N. Narechania

Tejas N. Narechania

The Irrepressible Myth Of Klein, Howard M. Wasserman

Howard M Wasserman

The Reconstruction-era case of United States v. Klein remains the object of a “cult” among commentators and advocates, who see it as a powerful separation of powers precedent. In fact, Klein is a myth—actually two related myths. One is that it is opaque and meaninglessly indeterminate because, given its confusing and disjointed language, its precise doctrinal contours are indecipherable; the other is that Klein is vigorous precedent, likely to be used by a court to invalidate likely federal legislation. Close analysis of Klein, its progeny, and past scholarship uncovers three identifiable core limitations on congressional control over the workings of …

Tremors Of Things To Come: The Great Split Between Federal And State Pleading Standards, Roger Michalski

Roger Michalski

No abstract provided.

Professional Responsibility, James Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Becoming An Immigration Lawyer, Jill Family

Jill E. Family

Introduction To Law, Law Study, And The Lawyer's Role, James Moliterno, Fredric Lederer

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Hearings, Mark Spottswood

Mark Spottswood

This article explores a constantly recurring procedural question: When is fact-finding improved by a live hearing, and when would it be better to rely on a written record? Unfortunately, when judges, lawyers, and rulemakers consider this issue, they are led astray by the widely shared—but false—assumption that a judge can best determine issues of credibility by viewing the demeanor of witnesses while they are testifying. In fact, a large body of scientific evidence indicates that judges are more likely to be deceived by lying or mistaken witnesses when observing their testimony in person than if the judges were to review …

Rough Justice, Alexandra Lahav

Alexandra D. Lahav

This Essay offers a new justification for rough justice. Rough justice, as I use the term here, is the attempt to resolve large numbers of cases by using statistical methods to give plaintiffs a justifiable amount of recovery. It replaces the trial, which most consider the ideal process for assigning value to cases. Ordinarily rough justice is justified on utilitarian grounds. But rough justice is not only efficient, it is also fair. In fact, even though individual litigation is often held out as the sine qua non of process, rough justice does a better job at obtaining fair results for …

Law In The Shadow Of Bargaining: The Feedback Effect Of Civil Settlements, Ben Depoorter

Ben Depoorter

Lawmakers, courts, and legal scholars often express concern that settlement agreements withhold important information from the public. This Essay identifies, to the contrary, problematic issues involving the availability of information on non-representative settlements. The theoretical and empirical evidence presented in this Essay demonstrates that, despite the widespread use of nondisclosure agreements, information on settlements is distributed both inside and outside legal communities, reaching actors through various channels including the oral culture in legal communities, specialized reporters, professional interest organizations, and media coverage. Moreover, information on private settlement agreements circulates more widely if the agreed compensation in a given settlement exceeds …

It's All About The People: Creating A "Community Of Memory" In Civil Procedure Ii, Part One, Jennifer E. Spreng

Jennifer E Spreng

In Fall 2008, a nascent classroom community emerged among my Civil Procedure students, teaching assistants and I. That term’s adventure eventually became the vital “past” for the fully formed community that would knit students of future classes together as one.

The genesis of this early classroom community was my ideal of “the good lawyer” as the small-firm or small-jurisdiction practitioner I had known as a seven-year solo practitioner in a town of 50,000 people. That ideal was a combination of “the rhythms of the law” that run throughout the specialties; a more respectful and less stratified model of professionalism, and …

Antitrust, Class Certification, And The Politics Of Procedure, Joshua P. Davis, Eric L. Cramer

Joshua P. Davis

This Article develops two arguments against a possible trend in federal appellate courts toward imposing a new, heightened standard for class certification in antitrust cases. Recent case law can be read to imply that trial judges may make findings of fact on the merits in deciding class certification, including about whether plaintiffs will be able to show with class-wide evidence that every class member was harmed by allegedly anticompetitive conduct. The first argument is that the potential new standard would require a showing at class certification on an issue—whether all class members were injured—that plaintiffs need not, and typically do …

Resolving Cases On The Merits, Jay Tidmarsh

Jay Tidmarsh

Prepared for a Symposium on Civil Justice Reform, this essay examines the role of the “on the merits” principle in modern American procedure. After surveying the possible meanings of the phrase, the essay critiques its most common understanding due to its economic inefficiency and its lack of strong philosophical support. Relying on the recent work of Amartya Sen, the essay proposes that the principle be replaced with a “fair outcome” principle that melds both “procedural” and “substantive” concerns.

Solving “The Burklow Problem”: Federal Question Jurisdiction Of Tucker Act And Labor-Management Relations Act Cases After Textron Lycoming V. Uaw, Jennifer E. Spreng, Roberto J. Escobar

Jennifer E Spreng

No abstract provided.

O Controlo Jurisdicional Da Actividade Da Autoridade Da Concorrência, Victor J. Calvete

Victor J. Calvete

Actions - and omissions - of the Portuguese Competition Authority (AdC) are bound to be reviewed by the courts, if parties injured so decide. However, the legal framework that provides for that review is somehow complex - and the more so after Law n.º 52/2008, of August 28, changed the powers of the Commercial Courts. The ensuing analysis predates those changes (accounted for in the final version), and provides a comprehensive guide of the different paths to be followed in reaction to the actions/omissions of the AdC, as well as cautionary warnings on some of the traps along the way.

Procedural Adequacy, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

This short piece responds to Jay Tidmarsh’s article, Rethinking Adequacy of Representation, 87 Texas Law Review 1137 (2009). I explore Professor Tidmarsh’s proposed “do no harm” approach to adequate representation in class actions from a procedural legitimacy perspective. I begin by considering the assumption underlying his alternative, namely that in any given class action both attorneys and class representatives tend to act as self-interested homo economicus and we must therefore tailor the adequacy requirement to curb self-interest only in so far as it makes class members worse off than they would be with individual litigation. Adopting the “do no harm” …

Teoría De Las Medidas Autosatisfactivas. Una Aproximación Desde La Teoría General Del Proceso, José Balcázar Quiroz

José Balcázar Quiroz

No abstract provided.

Régimen De Prisión Preventiva En América Latina: La Pena Anticipada, La Lógica Cautelar Y La Contrarreforma / Pre-Trial Detention Regime In Latin America: The Pre-Trial Punishment, Flight Risk And The Counter Reform, Claudio Fuentes Maureira

Claudio Fuentes Maureira

One of the main reasons that justified the criminal procedure reform in Latin America was the possibility to overcome and changed different practices that were very problematic. One of these complex situations was the excessive use of pre-trial detention in the context of criminal investigations; in particular, the abuse of this institution had a dangerous outcome when it comes to the protection of the human rights of the detainees.

From the mid 90’s onwards, most of the Latin American countries started a reform of their criminal institutions and proceedings. A considerable portion of the legal framework was heavily modified in …

Evidentiary Issues In The New York City Housing Court, Gerald Lebovits

Hon. Gerald Lebovits

Veil-Piercing, Peter B. Oh

Peter B. Oh

From its inception veil-piercing has been a scourge on corporate law. Exactly when the veil of limited liability can and will be circumvented to reach into a shareholder’s own assets has befuddled courts, litigants, and scholars alike. And the doctrine has been bedeviled by empirical evidence of a chasm between the theory and practice of veil-piercing; notably, veil-piercing claims inexplicably seem to prevail more often in Contract than Tort, a finding that flouts the engrained distinction between voluntary and involuntary creditors. With a dataset of 2,908 cases from 1658 to 2006, this study presents the most comprehensive portrait of veil-piercing …