Law Commons^™

Forfeiture Of The Right To Counsel: A Doctrine Unhinged From The Constitution, Stephen A. Gerst

Stephen A Gerst

The Sixth Amendment right to an attorney is so fundamental that the United States Supreme Court has carefully developed requirements to ensure that an indigent defendant does not go to trial in any criminal case where there is a possibility of a deprivation of freedom without an attorney unless there is an affirmative waiver of the right to counsel on the record. However, the Supreme Court has not addressed what the record must show for finding that a defendant has lost his right to counsel as a result of the defendant's own misconduct toward the court or the defendant's attorney. …

Chapter 7 - Restricting Fair Use To Save The News, Ryan T. Holte

Prof. Ryan T. Holte

Ryan T. Holte in “Restricting Fair Use to Save the News: A Proposed Change in Copyright Law to Bring More Profit to News Reporting” examines the present condition of the media and the economic and public policies behind protecting news. He further discusses current means of protecting information through copyright and misappropriation law, before proposing a change in the Copyright Act to better allow the news industry to reap profits from news reporting.

Where Do We Come From? Innovation And Regulatory Response In The Banking Industry Before The Crisis, Bruno Meyerhof Salama

Bruno Meyerhof Salama

Decanting And Its Alternatives: Remodeling And Revamping Irrevocable Trusts, Tom E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

No abstract provided.

Social Security Spouse And Survivor Benefits 101: Practical Primer Part Ii (Or Another Reason To Put A Ring On It), Francine J. Lipman, James Williamson

Francine J. Lipman

As the country and courts continue to debate the importance of marriage in a variety of contexts, when determining Social Security benefits it is clear that marriage matters. Marriage matters for Social Security benefits planning because of meaningful spouse and survivor benefits. Given the broad and deep devastation of a record recession on retirement and saving accounts, including the continuing demise of defined benefit plans with joint and survivor benefits protection, Social Security benefits, generally, and spouse and survivor benefits, specifically, have become and will continue to be a more significant percentage of retirees’ income. As a result of the …

Who Watches The Watchmen? 'Vigilant Doorkeeping,' The Alien Tort Statute, & Possible Reform, Keith A. Petty

Keith A. Petty

The Alien Tort Statute (ATS) allows alien plaintiffs to file civil actions in U.S. district courts for torts violating the law of nations or U.S. treaties. After the 2nd Circuit’s Filartiga decision in 1980, the debate began as to whether the ATS was a useful tool against human rights violators or an intrusion into U.S. foreign relations. In 2004, the Supreme Court in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain resolved some of the questions left open by Filartiga.

Sosa concluded that ATS claims must be limited to law of nations violations as well defined as those recognized in 1789. The Court tasked the …

Consnet To Settle? A New Twist In The Tri-Partite Relationship, David F. Tavella

David F. Tavella

CONSENT TO SETTLE? A NEW TWIST IN THE TRI-PARTITE RELATIONSHIP BY DAVID F. TAVELLA Abstract This article examines the ethical obligations of defense counsel retained by a party’s insurance company regarding settlement of a case. The article examines the traditional relationship between an insured and retained defense counsel. the article next examines some alternative theories to describe the relationship, and the duties and obligation with each theory. The article next looks at the relationship between the insurer and insured, particularly the insurer’s ability to settle a case without the insured’s consent. The article next discusses defense counsel’s obligation under the …

Human Rights, Anti-Discrimination And Social Security Benefits: Recent Uk Case Law, Mel Cousins

Mel Cousins

Since the adoption of the Human Rights Act 1998, challenges to UK social security law on the basis of the European Convention on Human Rights have become common - especially under the anti-discrimination provisions of Article 14. However, few of these challenges have been successful and, in general, the English courts have shown a poor understanding of the principles of human rights law. The recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Stec (2005) 41 EHRR SE 295 and the House of Lords in RJM (2008) UKHL 63 have clarified important issues including the material scope of the …

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 …

In Defense Of Intellectual Property Anxiety: A Response To Professor Fagundes, Aaron K. Perzanowski

Aaron K. Perzanowski

In this Response to Professor Fagundes’s Property Rhetoric and the Public Domain, Professor Perzanowski expresses skepticism about two assumptions underlying the argument for embracing property rhetoric to promote the public domain. This argument assumes, first, public recognition of social discourse theory as an account of property and, second, rhetorical advantages of social discourse theory that are comparable to those of more familiar notions of private property. Perzanowski concludes that the simple intuitive appeal of Blackstonian property cautions against styling the struggle for balanced copyright and patent policy as a debate over competing property interests.

Determination Of Starting Sentences In Israel—System And Application, Oren Gazal-Ayal, Ruth Kannai

Oren Gazal-Ayal

The Israeli Penal Law Bill (Amendment No. 92, Structuring Judicial Discretion in Sentencing) 5766-2006 proposes that a committee be set up to establish sentences that will serve as starting points for judges in their sentencing deliberation (starting sentences). The Israeli Minister of Justice asked the authors to propose starting sentences for three prevalent serious offences in order to show the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) the methodology of determining such starting sentences and to help facilitate the debate about the consequences of these new guidelines. The ministers intended the Knesset to legislate these proposed starting sentences in the appendix to the …

When The Veil And The Vote Collide: Enhancing Muslim Women’S Rights Through Electoral Reform, Amber R. Maltbie

Amber R Maltbie

Voter identification laws serve a critical purpose in the consolidation of emerging democracies and post-conflict situations. By serving as a prophylactic curb against voter fraud when trust in the electoral process is low, voter identification laws strengthen the public’s perception of an election’s integrity and the legitimacy of the government elected. However, even when administered absent any discriminatory intent, these laws can have unintended consequences, especially for Muslim women who wear a veil that covers the face. For new democracies or post-conflict states with large or majority Muslim populations, voter turnout among women can be suppressed if the jurisdiction’s electoral …

Patent Reforms Must Focus On The U.S. Patent Office, Ron D. Katznelson

Ron D. Katznelson

No abstract provided.

Panama And The Specter Of Climate Change, Ruth Gordon

Ruth Gordon

No abstract provided.

¿En Qué Se Parece Hamilton A Belaúnde? Matrimonio Gay Y La Proposition 8, Enrique Pasquel

Enrique Pasquel

No abstract provided.