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Full-Text Articles in Law

Mcdonnell V. United States: Defining “Official Action” In Public Corruption Law, Christopher Murphy Apr 2017

Mcdonnell V. United States: Defining “Official Action” In Public Corruption Law, Christopher Murphy

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

McDonnell v. United States involved the former Governor of Virginia leveraging the power of his position to help a wealthy constituent gain access to top state decision makers in exchange for valuable gifts and loans. The Government argued that conduct like setting up phone calls and meetings, as well as hosting receptions on behalf of the constituent was sufficient to constitute an “official act” under public corruption laws. Governor McDonnell argued for a narrower interpretation of “official act,” claiming that his conduct was akin to run of the mill things public officials do every day to benefit their constituents. The …


Enforcing The Fcpa: International Resonance And Domestic Strategy, Rachel Brewster Jan 2017

Enforcing The Fcpa: International Resonance And Domestic Strategy, Rachel Brewster

Faculty Scholarship

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), which bans corporations from offering bribes to foreign government officials, was enacted during the Watergate era’s crackdown on political corruption but remained only weakly enforced for its first two decades. American industry argued that the law created an uneven playing field in global commerce, which made robust enforcement politically unpopular. This Article documents how the executive branch strategically under- enforced the FCPA, while Congress and the President pushed for an international agreement that would bind other countries to rules similar to those of the United States. The Article establishes that U.S. officials ramped up …


Culpability And Modern Crime, Samuel W. Buell Jan 2015

Culpability And Modern Crime, Samuel W. Buell

Faculty Scholarship

Criminal law has developed to prohibit new forms of intrusion on the autonomy and mental processes of others. Examples include modern understandings of fraud, extortion, and bribery, which pivot on the concepts of deception, coercion, and improper influence. Sometimes core offenses develop to include similar concepts, such as when reforms in the law of sexual assault make consent almost exclusively material. Many of these projects are laudable. But progressive programs in substantive criminal law can raise difficult problems of culpability. Modern iterations of criminal offenses often draw lines using concepts involving relative mental states among persons whose conduct is embedded …


The Domestic And International Enforcement Of The Oecd Anti-Bribery Convention, Rachel Brewster Jan 2014

The Domestic And International Enforcement Of The Oecd Anti-Bribery Convention, Rachel Brewster

Faculty Scholarship

International corruption law is a growing, if understudied, area of international economic law. This Article examines two aspects of governments' enforcement of the OECD's Anti-Bribery Convention. The first aspect is the member state's efforts to enforce its own national legislation prohibiting foreign corruption within its territory and with regards to its nationals doing business abroad. The OECD Treaty's obligation concerning member states' enforcement of their own national legislation is somewhat ambiguous. While the obligation to pass particular national legislation is quite clear and specific, the treaty does not specify what resources that a state must dedicate to internally enforcing these …


Qui Tam: Is False Claims Law A Model For International Law?, Paul D. Carrington Jan 2012

Qui Tam: Is False Claims Law A Model For International Law?, Paul D. Carrington

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Advocacy In The Media: The Blagojevich Defense And A Reformulation Of Rule 3.6, Leigh A. Krahenbuhl Oct 2011

Advocacy In The Media: The Blagojevich Defense And A Reformulation Of Rule 3.6, Leigh A. Krahenbuhl

Duke Law Journal

The current ethical rule governing lawyers' interactions with the media applies equally to defense attorneys and prosecutors despite their different roles and responsibilities in the justice system. With a focus on the Blagojevich trial as an example of modern lawyers' interactions with the press, this Note argues for a separate rule governing defense lawyers' extrajudicial speech. Such a rule would recognize an interest in protecting the legitimacy of the justice system and would provide clear standards to guide defense lawyers' advocacy outside of the courtroom. This Note provides an overview of the development of the trial-publicity rules, a glimpse of …


The 1970s: The Committee On Corporate Laws Joins The Corporate Governance Debate, Marshall L. Small Jan 2011

The 1970s: The Committee On Corporate Laws Joins The Corporate Governance Debate, Marshall L. Small

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.


Enforcing International Corrupt Practices Law, Paul D. Carrington Jan 2010

Enforcing International Corrupt Practices Law, Paul D. Carrington

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay strives to advance the current international movement to
deter the transnational corrupt practices that have long burdened the global economy and weakened governments, especially in “developing” nations. Laws made in the last decade to address this longstanding global problem have not been effectively enforced. Described here are the moderately successful efforts in the United States since 1862 to reward private citizens serving as enforcers of laws prohibiting corrupt practices. It is suggested that this American experience might be adapted by international organizations to enhance enforcement of the new public international laws.


International Movement To Deter Corruption: Should China Join?, Paul D. Carrington Jan 2010

International Movement To Deter Corruption: Should China Join?, Paul D. Carrington

Faculty Scholarship

Global concerns over the corruption of weak governments by firms engaged in transnational business are the source of an international movement that emerged in 1997. Special concern is presently directed at the weakness of enforcement of laws enacted in recent times to deter corrupt business practices in international trade that were enacted in response to that movement. One cause of weakness in law enforcement is the failure of China to share actively in those concerns and the efforts to address them. This essay will briefly record steps taken in other nations to address the concerns and the limited effectiveness of …


An Honest Services Debate, Sara Sun Beale Jan 2010

An Honest Services Debate, Sara Sun Beale

Faculty Scholarship

This commentary employs a fictional debate to explore the issues raised by the Supreme Court’s decision in Skilling v. United States, 130 S. Ct. 2896 (2010), which dramatically cut back on “honest services” prosecutions under the mail and wire fraud statutes. In response to an earlier decision by the Supreme Court reading these statutes narrowly, Congress enacted 18 U.S.C. § 1346, which extends mail and wire fraud to schemes to deprive another of “the intangible right of honest services.” In 2009 the Supreme Court granted certiorari in three cases presenting questions concerning the “honest services” provision. One of the cases …


Combating Corruption Under International Law, Alejandro Posadas Apr 2000

Combating Corruption Under International Law, Alejandro Posadas

Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law

No abstract provided.


Municipality Of Anchorage V. Hitachi Cable, Ltd.- Time For Adoption Of A Void Contract Remedy For Alaska Public Contracting Authorities, Sheridan Strickland Dec 1989

Municipality Of Anchorage V. Hitachi Cable, Ltd.- Time For Adoption Of A Void Contract Remedy For Alaska Public Contracting Authorities, Sheridan Strickland

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.