Law Commons^™

Becoming A Competent 21st Century Legal Ethics Professor: Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Technology (But Were Afraid To Ask), Catherine Lanctot

Catherine J. Lanctot

This Article provides a roadmap for rebooting the legal ethics curriculum. It describes how to revise a traditional legal ethics class to respond to twenty-first century law practice, and provides a detailed overview of the landscape of technological issues currently affecting the practice of law, including many cautionary tales of lawyers who ignored their ethical responsibilities.

We have finally hit the tipping point with respect to the use of technology within the legal profession, as bar regulators have begun to warn attorneys that they may no longer plead ignorance of technological advances if such ignorance harms the interests of their …

The Crispr Revolution: What Editing Human Dna Reveals About The Patent System’S Dna, Robin C. Feldman

Robin C Feldman

Begone, Euclid! Landlord Custom And Zoning Provision Engaging Retail Consumer Tastes And Technologies In Thriving Urban Centers, Michael N. Widener

Michael N. Widener

Technology capacity and innovations conflate notions of private and public spaces; the latter today incorporate the Internet “lane,” while private spaces seek access to that pathway. Merchants and their landlords seemingly find themselves in a paradox. They must embrace consumer technology expectations to populate mercantile premises as public spaces. At the same time, merchants must make stores and restaurants places of novelty to grip the attention of customers seeking to share the intimacy of their experience with everyone. Technology presents physical retailing with its greatest threat while potentially becoming its strongest ally if properly channeled. Advocates for urban centers’ sustained …

Thinking About Technology - Cybersecurity: Breaches And Heartbleed To Byod—Are Bankers, Entertainment Company Executives, Celebrities, Postal Workers, Ice Cream Lovers, Home Builders, And Cios The Only Ones Who Should Be Concerned?, Darla W. Jackson

Darla W. Jackson

In 2013 and 2014, we have continually heard about data security breaches and cybersecurity has become a major concern for the legal community. Reports of information leakage and security breach concerns at legal information vendors, firms, universities, and even courts continued to increase. Ms. Jackson addresses the increasing cybersecurity concerns and suggests some considerations for law librarian, legal information professionals, and the organizations they serve in determining the measures to address security threats.

Digital Peepholes | Remote Activation Of Webcams: Technology, Law And Policy, Lori Andrews

Lori B. Andrews

A World Without Privacy: Why Property Does Not Define The Limits Of The Right Against Unreasonable Searches And Seizures, Sherry F. Colb

Sherry Colb

No abstract provided.

Technology And Intellectual Property: New Rules For An Old Game?, Elizabeth A. Rowe

Elizabeth A Rowe

This foreword to the first issue of 2009 for the Journal of Technology Law and Policy discusses the questions presented by the merger of technology and intellectual property and considers how best the two areas should co-exist.

The Internet Of Things And Wearable Technology: Addressing Privacy And Security Concerns Without Derailing Innovation, Adam D. Thierer

Adam Thierer

This paper highlights some of the opportunities presented by the rise of the so-called “Internet of Things” and wearable technology in particular, and encourages policymakers to allow these technologies to develop in a relatively unabated fashion. As with other new and highly disruptive digital technologies, however, the Internet of Things and wearable tech will challenge existing social, economic, and legal norms. In particular, these technologies raise a variety of privacy and safety concerns. Other technical barriers exist that could hold back IoT and wearable tech — including disputes over technical standards, system interoperability, and access to adequate spectrum to facilitate …

Practice Lean! Implementing Technology-Driven Lean Six Sigma In A Law Firm, Frank A. Urbanic

frank a urbanic

No abstract provided.

'I Know My Rights, You Go'n Need A Warrant For That:' The Fourth Amendment, Riley's Impact, And Warrantless Searches Of Third-Party Clouds, Laurie Buchan Serafino

Laurie B. Serafino

Scholars have frequently suggested that the Fourth Amendment ought to be applied with varying degrees of rigor depending on the seriousness of the crime investigated. Courts have largely rejected such an offense-specific approach to constitutional protections, but have demonstrated deference to the Executive Branch in matters of national security in other contexts. The particularly heightened concern raised by the threat of terrorism suggests that, at least in the context of these most serious of cases, courts ought to engage in some form of balance that recognizes the uniquely strong government interest. Such an approach, however, has to recognize that the …

Litigation Technology For The Modern Practitioner, Jonathan H. Lomurro Esq. Llm, Christopher T. Campbell Esq, Matthew K. Blaine Esq, Stephanie L. Lomurro Esq, Christina V. Harvey Esq

Jonathan H. Lomurro Esq. LLM

No abstract provided.

Commodification Of The Female Egg: Stem Cell Technology And The Future, Rachel Rose Ostrander

Rachel Rose Ostrander

As the science of stem cell research progresses it is difficult to tell what implications it will have on our society and for women. I will begin this discussion by examining how science has viewed women in the past, and use this as a basis to conjecture about how they will be viewed and treated in the future. Prevalent gender bias in scientific writing should be a cause for concern as the science of stem cell research and commodification of the female egg becomes more of a reality.

The process of egg donation has stirred much debate in the feminist …

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Free Speech? Visions Of The Future Of Copyright, Privacy And The First Amendment In Science Fiction, Daxton R. Stewart

Daxton "Chip" Stewart

Science fiction authors have long projected the future of technology, including communication devices and the way in which future societies may use them. In this essay, these visions of future technology, and their implications on the future of media law and policy, are explored in three areas in particular – copyright, privacy, and the First Amendment. Themes examined include moving toward massively open copyright systems, problems of perpetual surveillance by the state, addressing rights of obscurity in public places threatened by wearable and implantable computing devices, and considering free speech rights of autonomous machines created by humans. In conclusion, the …

To Read Or Not To Read: Privacy Within Social Networks, The Entitlement Of Employees To A Virtual “Private Zone” And The Balloon Theory, Shlomit Yanisky-Ravid

Shlomit Yanisky-Ravid Professor of Law

Social networking has increasingly become the most common venue of self-expression in the digital era. Although social networks started as a social vehicle, they have recently become a major source for employers to track personal data ("screening") of applicants, employees or former employees.

This article addresses the questions of whether this casual business routine harms employees' rights to privacy with regard to data users post in social networks, what the drawbacks of this routine may be, and why and how privacy rights should be protected to secure private zones within the virtual sphere. The article suggests that a privacy right …

Social Innovation, Peter Lee

Peter Lee

This Article provides the first legal examination of the immensely valuable but underappreciated phenomenon of social innovation. Innovations such as cognitive behavioral therapy, microfinance, and strategies to reduce hospital-based infections greatly enhance social welfare yet operate completely outside of the patent system, the primary legal mechanism for promoting innovation. This Article draws on empirical evidence to elucidate this significant kind of innovation and explore its divergence from the classic model of technological innovation championed by the patent system. In so doing, it illustrates how patent law exhibits a rather crabbed, particularistic conception of innovation. Among other characteristics, innovation in the …

Katz On A Hot Tin Roof: The Reasonable Expectation Of Privacy Is Rudderless In The Digital Age Unless Congress Continually Resets The Privacy Bar, Charles E. Maclean

Charles E. MacLean

The Katz reasonable expectation of privacy doctrine has lasting relevance in the digital age, but that relevance must be carefully and clearly guided in great detail by Congressional and state legislative enactments continually resetting the privacy bar as technology advances. In that way, the Katz “reasonableness” requirements are actually set by the legislative branch, thereby precluding courts from applying inapposite analogies to phone booths, cigarette packs, and business records. Once legislation provides the new contours of digital privacy, those legislative contours become the new “reasonable.”

This article calls upon Congress, and to a lesser extent, state legislatures, to control that …

Aereo's Errors, Ira Steven Nathenson

Ira Steven Nathenson

This article scrutinizes the many troubling errors made by the United States Supreme Court in its decision in American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. Aereo’s streaming television service allowed subscribers to watch broadcast television on a computer, tablet, or smartphone without requiring them to be directly connected to cable, satellite, or a local antenna. Aereo’s system was designed to comply with existing copyright law by using thousands of antennas, each of which was designated for only one subscriber at a time. Aereo was sued for copyright infringement by a number of leading television broadcasters. The United States Supreme Court, …

Grounding Drones: Big Brother’S Tool Box Needs Regulation Not Elimination, Melanie M. Reid

Melanie M. Reid

One of the most significant contemporary issues in privacy law relates to law enforcement’s new domestic surveillance tool: unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as, drones. Law enforcement’s use of aerial surveillance as an investigatory tool is currently under attack. In the past, if law enforcement chose to follow a suspect throughout the day, either on the ground or in the air, they need not worry about seeking a warrant or determining whether probable cause or reasonable suspicion exists to justify their surveillance. Aerial surveillance of criminal suspects has been considered outside the protections of Fourth Amendment law. In the 1980’s, …

Orwellian Surveillance Of Vehicular Travels, Sam Hanna

Sam Hanna

What would someone learn about you if all your automobile travels were ubiquitously tracked beginning today? Creating an indefinite database of a person’s previous automobile travels to formulate deductions on intimate details of people's lives is precisely what law enforcement agencies are currently able to accomplish with automatic license plate recognition (“ALPR”). With the ubiquity of ALPR cameras, continuous government surveillance of automobile travels is no longer a figment of the imagination. Consequently, the judicial and legislative branches of government must embark on balancing the private and public interests implicated by this technology. Failure to set suitable boundaries around the …

Can Lawyers Be Luddites? Adjusting To The Modification Of The Aba Model Rules Of Professional Conduct Regarding Technology, Darla W. Jackson

Darla W. Jackson

No abstract provided.

Lawyering In The Shadow Of Data, Dru Stevenson, Nicholas J. Wagoner

Dru Stevenson

Attorney bargaining has traditionally taken place in the shadow of trial, as litigants alter their pretrial behavior—including their willingness to negotiate a settlement – based on perceptions of likely outcomes at trial and anticipated litigation costs. Lawyers practicing in the shadow of trial have, in turn, traditionally formed their perception of the likely outcome at trial based on their knowledge of case precedents, intuition, and previous interactions with the presiding judge and opposing counsel in similar cases. Today, however, technology for leveraging legal data is moving the practice of law into the shadow of the trends and patterns observable in …

Technologies Of Compliance: Risk And Regulation In A Digital Age, Kenneth A. Bamberger

Kenneth A. Bamberger

Legal scholarship has been silent about a phenomenon with profound implications for governance: the automation of compliance with laws mandating risk management. Regulations—from bank capitalization rules, to Sarbanes—Oxley's provisions on financial fraud and misrepresentation, to laws governing information-privacy protection—frequently require regulated firms to develop internal processes to identify, assess, and mitigate risk. To comply, firms have turned wholesale to technology systems and computational analytics that measure and predict corporate risk levels and “force” decisions accordingly. In total, the third-party market for compliance-technology products—known generally as “governance, risk, and compliance” (GRC) software, systems, and services—alone grew to $52 billion last year, …

Technology, Competition, And Values, Frank Pasquale

Frank A. Pasquale

Law can advance or retard the distributive effects of innovation and its diffusion in many ways. Certain technologies merit special monitoring because they promote the leveraging of economic advantage into social or cultural advantage without substantially increasing overall social welfare. Others threaten to undermine collective values and perceptions commonly used to evaluate technology. A final category threatens to do both, creating unfair or wasteful competition while blunting our capacity to recognize its morally dubious character. As new sectors of life become more game-like and competitive, methods of leveling the playing field developed in sports and college admissions might become more …

A Discourse On The Public Nature Of Research In Contemporary Life Science: A Law-Policy Proposal To Promote The Public Nature Of Science In An Era Of Academia-Industry Integration, Michael J. Malinowski

Michael J. Malinowski

This article addresses the impact of integration of academia, industry, and government on the public nature of research. The article concludes that, while the integration has benefited science immensely, regulatory measures should be taken to restore the public nature of research in an age of integration.

Legal Education In Disruption: The Headwinds And Tailwinds Of Technology, Jon M. Garon

Jon M. Garon

By harnessing improvements on communications and computational systems, law firms are producing a revolution in the practice of law. Self-help legal manuals have transformed into sophisticated interactive software; predictive coding can empower clients to receive sophisticated legal advice from a machine; socially mediated portals select among potential lawyers and assess the quality of the advice given; and virtual law firms threaten to distintermediate the grand edifices of twentieth century Big Law. These changes may profoundly restructure the legal practice, undermining the business model for many solo and small firm practices.

This paper focuses on the implications of these profound disruptive …

Humans And Humans+: Technological Enhancement And Criminal Responsibility, Susan W. Brenner

Susan Brenner

This article examines the implications our use of technological enhancements to improve our physical and/or cognitive abilities will necessarily have on the processes of imposing criminal responsibility on those who victimize others. It explains that while our use of such enhancements is still in its infancy, it is more than likely that their use will dramatically accelerate over the next century or less. The articles examines how law has historically approached the concept of a “legal person,” with reference to “normal” humans, “abnormal” humans, animals, objects, supernatural beings and juristic persons. It also reviews how two other authors have analyzed …

Sue My Car Not Me: Products Liability And Accidents Involving Autonomous Vehicles, Jeffrey K. Gurney

Jeffrey K Gurney

Autonomous vehicles will revolutionize society within the decade. These cars will cause accidents. Tort liability, however, is not ready for the introduction of autonomous vehicles, and, thus, liability will not be assessed to the party that is responsible for the accident. This Article addresses the liability of autonomous vehicle by examining products liability through the use of four scenarios: the Distracted Driver; the Diminished Capabilities Driver; the Disabled Driver; and the Attentive Driver.Based on those scenarios, this Article argues that the autonomous technology manufacturer should be liable for accidents while the vehicle is in autonomous mode. This Article suggests that …

Watch The World "Burn": Copyright, Micropatent And The Emergence Of 3d Printing, Matthew A. Susson

Matthew A Susson

Where the Industrial Revolution introduced the notion of mass production of goods — and thereby upended previous economic models — 3D printing now “makes it as cheap to create single items as it is to produce thousands,” which “may have as profound an impact on the world as the coming of the factory did.” In short, a new fabrication revolution is coming.

3D printing is, put simply, a technology that allows one to transform a digital file into a physical product — in other words, we can now print actual objects. Technology that allows users to manufacture complex objects at …

The Income Of The 21st Century: Online Advertising As A Case Study For The Implications Of Technology For Source-Based Taxation, Assaf Y. Prussak

Assaf Y. Prussak

Throughout history, traditional trade and commerce, whether by land, sea or air, were always performed in a very physical manner, thus subjecting them to constraints and barriers imposed by both natural and man-made borders and jurisdictional lines. The computer and Internet revolutions, however, created a new medium for trade and commerce – the virtual marketplace. This unique platform for engaging in trade and commerce created new opportunities for value and profit generation in novel ways not previously available. One of these Internet-based revenue-generators is online advertising. With growing worldwide accessibility to the Internet, double-digit growth rate, and stronger-than-ever financial reports …

Thinking About Technology - Lawyers Can’T Be Luddites Anymore: Do Law Librarians Have A Role In Helping Lawyers Adjust To The New Ethics Rules Involving Technology, Darla W. Jackson

Darla W. Jackson

It is understood and well documented that technology affects almost every aspect of the practice of law. In August 2012 the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates, recognizing the influence of technology, voted to amend the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Legal professionals have begun to comment on how such changes may affect lawyers in every area and size of practice. Although many lawyers have expressed the sentiment that they did not become lawyers to learn about technology, the changes to the standards of professional conduct will necessitate that attorneys have some basic technological competence. Those attorneys desiring …