Law Commons^™

Dean's Column: Academic Success At Boyd, Jennifer Carr

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No abstract provided.

Reasonable Men?, Ann C. Mcginley

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After the Supreme Court recognized sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination under Title VII, lower courts used the reasonable person standard to measure whether the behavior was sufficiently severe or pervasive to constitute a hostile working environment. Cultural and radical feminists objected to the reasonable person measure, and many supported a reasonable woman standard, which the Ninth Circuit adopted. Because of its tendency to essentialize how women would react, many feminists soon abandoned their support for the standard. A number of circuits, however, continue to use the reasonable woman or reasonable victim standards.

Most of the scholarship concerning …

The Ministerial Exception And The Limits Of Religious Sovereignty, Ian C. Bartrum

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This paper explores potential theoretical limits on the jurisdictional independence of religious sovereignty in the context of the ministerial exception.

Proposal For An International Convention On Online Gambling, Marketa Trimble

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The proposal, which will be published as a chapter in a volume from the Internet Gaming Regulation Symposium co-organized by the William S. Boyd School of Law of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in May 2012, presents the outline of an international convention ('Convention') that will facilitate cooperation among countries in enforcement of their online gambling regulations while allowing the countries to maintain their individual legal approaches to online gambling. Countries continue to vary in their approaches - some permit and regulate, and others prohibit online gambling, and even countries that permit and regulate online gambling approach the issue …

Timeline Of African-American Legal History In Nevada (1861-2011), Rachel J. Anderson

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For the first time in Nevada history, this timeline depicts selected events in the history of African-American lawyers, civil rights, and diversity in Nevada's bar and bench. It includes many historically significant pictures and is part of a special Black History Month issue of the Nevada Lawyer, the official publication of the State Bar of Nevada. That issue highlights the achievements and contributions of African-American lawyers in Nevada in honor of the 51st anniversary of the first African American (Charles L. Kellar) passing the Nevada state bar examination, the 48th anniversary of the first two African Americans admitted to the …

Dean’S Column: Collaborations With Professional Associations, Rachel J. Anderson

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This co-authored article documents the cooperation and synergies between the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the Las Vegas Chapter of the National Bar Association (LVNBA). The LVNBA is the local affiliate of the National Bar Association, which is the nation’s oldest minority bar and largest national association of over 44,000 predominately African-American lawyers, judges, professors, and law students. The article is part of a special Black History Month issue of the Nevada Lawyer, the official publication of the State Bar of Nevada. That issue highlights the achievements and contributions of African-American …

Preserving The Past In The Present For The Future: Las Vegas Chapter Of The National Bar Association Archive At The Wiener-Rogers Law Library, Jeanne Price, Rachel J. Anderson

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This co-authored article documents the establishment of the Las Vegas Chapter of the National Bar Association (LVNBA) Archive in 2011 at the Wiener-Rogers Law Library at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law, which may be the first of its kind in the nation. The LVNBA archive was established in cooperation with the LVNBA, the local affiliate of the National Bar Association, which is the nation’s oldest minority bar and largest national association of over 44,000 predominately African-American lawyers, judges, professors, and law students. Materials donated by the LVNBA and its members document the role …

Initial Impressions: Trademark Protection For Abbreviations Of Generic Or Descriptive Terms, Mary Lafrance

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No abstract provided.

Further Support For Mental Health Parity Law And Mandatory Mental Health And Substance Use Disorder Benefits, Stacey A. Tovino

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In this Article, I provide additional support for my recent proposal* to extend federal mental health parity law and mandatory mental health and substance use disorder benefits to all public healthcare program beneficiaries and private health plan members. I begin by examining health-related doctrine outside the context of mental health insurance law, including disability discrimination law, civil rights and human rights law, health information confidentiality law, healthcare reform law, and child and adult health and welfare law, and I find that not one of these laws provides inferior legal protections or benefits for individuals with mental illness. I also analyze …

Changing The Modal Law School: Rethinking U.S. Legal Education In (Most) Schools, Nancy B. Rapoport

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This essay argues that discussions of educational reform in U.S. law schools have suffered from a fundamental misconception: that the education provided in all of the American Bar Association-accredited schools is roughly the same. A better description of the educational opportunities provided by ABA-accredited law schools would group the schools into three rough clusters: the “elite” law schools, the modal (most frequently occurring) law schools, and the precarious law schools. Because the elite law schools do not need much “reforming,” the better focus of reform would concentrate on the modal and precarious schools; however, both elite and modal law schools …

The “Ethical” Surplus Of The War On Illegal Immigration, Francis J. Mootz Iii, Leticia M. Saucedo

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The Aristotelian philosopher, Gene Garver, suggests that rhetorical claims have an "ethical surplus" that extends beyond the specific claim being advanced at the moment. This follows from the fact that rhetoric includes not only logos, but also pathos and ethos. We adopt the thesis of "ethical surplus," but in a negative context. The "war on illegal immigration" has generated an ethical surplus that leads its promoters beyond the specific claim of securing borders against unlawful entry. After demonstrating that there is an express rhetoric of "war" used in connection with Arizona's adoption of recent anti-immigrant legislation, we explore …

The Case For Value Billing In Chapter 11, Nancy B. Rapoport

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This article explores the forces contributing to very high professional fees in large Chapter 11 cases and suggests that lawyers might want to consider valuing their services in ways other than the traditional billable hour approach.

Gat, Solvay, And The Centralization Of Patent Litigation In Europe, Marketa Trimble

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No abstract provided.

The Word Commons And Foreign Laws, Thomas O. Main

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Dual trends are colliding in U.S. courts. The first trend is a tidal wave of cases requiring courts to engage the domestic laws of foreign legal systems; globalization is the principal driver of this escalation. The second trend is a profound and ever-increasing skepticism of our ability to understand foreign law; the literature of pluralism and postmodernism has illuminated the uniquely local, language-dependent, and culturally embedded nature of law. Courts cope with this dissonance by finding some way to avoid the application of foreign law. But these outcomes are problematic because parties are denied access to court or have their …

Shadow Citizens: Felony Disenfranchisement And The Criminalization Of Debt, Ann Cammett

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The disenfranchisement of felons has long been challenged as anti-democratic and disproportionately harmful to communities of color. Critiques of this practice have led to the gradual liberalization of state laws that expand voting rights for those who have served their sentences. Despite these legal developments, ex-felons face an increasingly difficult path to regaining the franchise. This article argues that, for ex-felons in particular, criminal justice debt can serve as an insurmountable obstacle to the resumption of voting rights and broader participation in society. This article uses the term “carceral debt” to identify criminal justice penalties levied on prisoners, “user fees” …

Mandatory Binding Arbitration Clauses Prevent Consumers From Presenting Procedurally Difficult Claims, Jean R. Sternlight

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The longstanding debate over the benefits and detriments of mandatory arbitration in the consumer context has often focused on the wrong issue. Although we have now argued for almost twenty years over whether it is appropriate to require consumers to arbitrate rather than litigate claims against providers of products and services, too often commentators have asked whether consumers win or lose when they bring claims in arbitration, rather than whether consumers’ claims are suppressed or eliminated altogether as a result of companies’ use of mandatory arbitration clauses. The United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion brings …

Still Too Close To Call? Rethinking Stampp's "The Concept Of A Perpetual Union", Daniel W. Hamilton

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No abstract provided.

The Un "Surrogate State" And The Foundation Of Refugee Policy In The Middle East, Michael Kagan

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Many challenges surrounding refugee protection relate to a de facto shift of responsibility from sovereign governments to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to directly administer refugee policy. This phenomenon is legally anomalous, and it is UNHCR policy to avoid the operation of such "parallel structures." Yet the existence of a UN "surrogate state" offers important advantages to some host governments, which makes state-to- UNHCR responsibility shift difficult to reverse. Using the Arab Middle East as a case study, this article argues that, while not ideal, UNHCR's state substitution role offers important symbolic and material benefits to governments that host refugees …

Graduated Response By Industry Compact: Piercing The Black Box, Mary Lafrance

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No abstract provided.

Setting Us Up For Disaster: The Supreme Court's Decision In Terry V. Ohio, Thomas B. Mcaffee

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No abstract provided.

Beyond The Water Cooler: Speech And The Workplace In An Era Of Social Media, Ann C. Mcginley

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No abstract provided.

Psychological Parentage, Troxel, And The Best Interests Of The Child, Rebecca L. Scharf

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No abstract provided.

Tsunami: At&T Mobility Llc V. Concepcion Impedes Access To Justice, Jean R. Sternlight

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No abstract provided.

Dean's Column: Unchain The Children, Mary Berkheiser

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No abstract provided.

Toward Acceptance Of Uterus Transplants, David Orentlicher

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No abstract provided.

Post-Racialism And Searches Incident To Arrest, Frank Rudy Cooper

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For 28 years the Court held that an officer's search incident to arrest powers automatically extended to the entire passenger compartment of a vehicle. In 2009, however, the Arizona v. Gant decision held that officers do not get to search a vehicle incident to arrest unless they satisfy (1) the Chimel v. California Court's requirement that the suspect has access to weapons or evanescent evidence therein or (2) the United States v. Rabinowitz Court's requirement that the officer reasonably believe evidence of the crime of arrest will be found therein. While many scholars read Gant as a triumph for civil …

Guaranteeing The Rights Of Public Employees, Ann C. Mcginley, Kenneth Dau-Schmidt

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In this Essay, Professors Ann McGinley and Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt introduce the important issues to be examined in this Symposium Issue examining the erosion of rights guaranteed to public employees by recent state legislation.

The Hunt For Noncitizen Voters, Fatma E. Marouf

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No abstract provided.

Stoney Road Out Of Eden: The Struggle To Recover Insurance For Armenian Genocide Deaths And Its Implications For The Future Of State Authority, Contract Rights, And Human Rights, Jeffrey W. Stempel, Sarig Armenian, David Mcclure

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The Armenian Genocide during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire continues to represent one of history’s underappreciated atrocities. Comparatively few people even know about the 1.5 million deaths or the government-sponsored extermination attempt that provided Hitler with a blueprint for the Nazi Holocaust. Unlike the Holocaust, however, there was never any accounting demanded of those responsible for the Armenian Genocide. In the aftermath of both tragedies, insurers seized upon the resulting disarray and victimization to deny life insurance benefits owed as a result of the killings. American-based litigation to vindicate rights under the Armenian polices faced substantial legal and …

Federal Courts At The Boyd School Of Law, Anne R. Traum

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No abstract provided.