Law Commons^™

The Psychology Of Effective Ieas: Beyond Rational Choice Theory, Kieley Forsey

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

International environmental law suffers from poor compliance and participation, hindering its ability to address global climate issues effectively. Efforts to improve this have been borne out of a rational choice framework, in which it is assumed that states are rational actors that seek to maximize their utility. This theory has dominated international legal scholarship for decades, but it cannot adequately capture the reality of state decision-making. This work argues that rational choice theory must incorporate psychological factors in its analysis of state behaviours to strategically form effective international environmental agreements – specifically by using rewarding mechanisms as positive incentives. Using …

Amdip Annual Meeting Of Law School Diversity Professionals: Hosted By Roger Williams University School Of Law: April 23-25, 2024, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Law School News: Melissa Dubose L'04 Confirmed To Federal District Court 3-12-2024, Suzi Morales

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The Right To A Healthy Environment In Latin America And The Caribbean: Compliance Through The Inter-American System And The Escazú Agreement, Maria Antonia Tigre

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The Escazú Agreement has brought a myriad of environmental rights and duties to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), including the recognition of a right to a healthy environment and rights of environmental defenders. As a new agreement, the task of implementing the Escazú Agreement still lies ahead. Significantly, a non-judicial, non-punitive, consultative and transparent Committee to support Implementation and Compliance was established as a subsidiary body of the Conference of the Parties to promote implementation. Concomitantly, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights recognised an autonomous right to a healthy environment, establishing it as directly justiciable within the Inter-American System …

Consent Searches And Underestimation Of Compliance: Robustness To Type Of Search, Consequences Of Search, And Demographic Sample, Roseanna Sommers, Vanessa K. Bohns

Law & Economics Working Papers

Most police searches today are authorized by citizens’ consent, rather than probable cause or reasonable suspicion. The main constitutional limitation on so-called “consent searches” is the voluntariness test: whether a reasonable person would have felt free to refuse the officer’s request to conduct the search. We investigate whether this legal inquiry is subject to a systematic bias whereby uninvolved decision-makers overstate the voluntariness of consent and underestimate the psychological pressure individuals feel to comply. We find evidence for a robust bias extending to requests, tasks, and populations that have not been examined previously. Across three pre-registered experiments, we approached participants …

Feature Comment: Ethics, Compliance, And The Dispiriting Saga Of Craig Whitlock’S Fat Leonard, Steven L. Schooner

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This essay discusses the forthcoming book, Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy (480 pp, Simon & Schuster, 2024), authored by Washington Post investigative reporter, Craig Whitlock. The book chronicles the extraordinary ''Fat Leonard" saga (or scandal), involving Glenn Marine, an Asia-based ship husbanding contractor, and its "business" with the U.S. Navy. The animating character, not surprisingly, is Leonard Francis, and the book spans his career and demise, which eventually prompted investigations (of hundreds of Naval servicemembers, including 90 admirals), multiple criminal plea bargains, and a staggering number of military administrative actions.

On the one …

Feature Comment: Don’T Let Post-Employment Conflicts Derail Your Contract Award, Jessica Tillipman, Bryan Dewan

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Often referred to as “revolving door” restrictions, the U.S. Government has devised numerous laws, policies and procedures designed to combat unethical or anti-competitive conduct that may stem from a Government employee’s decision to leave federal service. The laws range from ethics restrictions designed to minimize the appearance of impropriety while a federal employee endeavors to leave the Government, to criminal laws, which seek to punish conflicts of interest and improper conduct that may occur after Government service concludes.

In addition to the ethical and criminal considerations that must be taken into account when navigating the Government’s myriad post-Government employment restrictions, …

Centrality And Compliance: Unitary Vs. Federalist Political Systems In The Implementation Of The Kyoto Protocol In Argentina And Uruguay, Aidan Homan

Baker Scholar Projects

When Uruguay and Argentina first gained their respective independence in the early 1800s, they appeared to be following the same path of development As countries that came from the same Spanish colonization, share almost identical agricultural economies, and retain a close relationship, it is logical that they would follow similar trajectories. This assumption proves to be inaccurate in more ways than one, but most prominently within the environmental sphere. One way to analyze this difference in policy implementation lies in compliance with international environmental treaties which contain specific goals and limits for all parties involved. The Kyoto Protocol presents a …

International Law In The Boardroom, Kishanthi Parella

Scholarly Articles

Conventional wisdom expects that international law will proceed through a “state pathway” before regulating corporations: it binds national governments that then bind corporations. But recent corporate practices confound this story. American corporations complied with international laws even when the state pathway broke down. This unexpected compliance leads to three questions: How did corporations comply? Why did they do so? Who enforced international law? These questions are important for two reasons. First, many international laws depend on corporate cooperation in order to succeed. Second, the state pathway is not robust, then or now. It is therefore vital to identify alternatives to …

Increasing Compliance With International Pandemic Law: International Relations And New Global Health Agreements, Matthew M. Kavanagh, Clare Wenham, Elize Massard Da Fonseca, Laurence R. Helfer, Elvin Nyukuri, Allan Maleche, Sam F. Halabi, Adi Radhakrishnan, Attiya Waris

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Schutte & Polansky: Shifting The Landscape Of False Claims Act Litigation & Compliance, Jessica Tillipman, Teddie Arnold

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The Supreme Court issued two opinions in June 2023 that are set to alter the False Claims Act (“FCA”) landscape for years to come. In United States ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu Inc., 143 S. Ct. 1391 (2023) the Court elevated the scienter element of the FCA in cases dealing with a defendant’s compliance with law or regulation, whereby no longer can a defendant point to an objective interpretation of an ambiguous law or regulation to the exclusion of a company’s subjective knowledge at the time of claim submission. In United States, ex rel. Polansky v. Exec. Health Res., Inc., …

The Market For Corporate Criminals, Andrew K. Jennings

Faculty Articles

This Article identifies problems and opportunities at the intersection of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate crime and compliance. In M&A, criminal successor liability is of particular importance, because it is quantitatively less predictable and qualitatively more threatening to buyers than successor liability in tort or contract. Private successor liability requires a buyer to bear bounded economic costs, which can in turn be reallocated to sellers via the contracting process. Criminal successor liability, however, threatens a buyer with non-indemnifiable and potentially ruinous punishment for another firm’s wrongful acts.

This threat may inhibit the marketability of businesses that have criminal exposure, …

Changemakers: Master Of Studies In Law: 'Something New And Different...': Monique Kuester, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Compliance Through Model Checking, Avishkar Mahajan, Strecker Martin, Seng Joe Watt, Meng Weng (Huang Mingrong) Wong

Centre for Computational Law

In this short note, we describe part of a case study about Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act, which we first presented in-formally, then formally as interacting Timed Automata. From these, we derive desiderata on a language and verification framework for reasoning about compliance.

10-Minute Ebd: Is Oil-Pulling Useful In Treating Periodontal Disease?, Heather Willey Rda

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

The 10-Minute Evidence-Based Dentistry Column illustrates how to implement the evidence-based dentistry search process to quickly identify and apply the best literature to answer a clinical question. Through critical appraisal, the author of this article answers the clinical question: Is Oil-Pulling Useful in Treating Periodontal Disease? Examining the potential utility of oil-pulling as a treatment for periodontal disease and comparing it to conventional periodontal therapies. The study conducted an evidence-based search using various databases and keywords related to oil-pulling, periodontal disease, and oral health. The results revealed that oil-pulling is not a substitute for standard oral hygiene practices, and insufficient …

The Role Of Law And Myth In Creating A Workplace That 'Looks Like America', Susan Bisom-Rapp

Faculty Scholarship

Equal employment opportunity (EEO) law has played a poor role in incentivizing effective diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and harassment prevention programming. In litigation and investigation, too many judges and regulators credit employers for maintaining policies and programs rather than requiring employers to embrace efforts that work. Likewise, many employers and consultants fail to consider the organizational effects created by DEI and harassment programming. Willful ignorance prevents the admission that some policies and programming harm those most in need of protection.

This approach has resulted in two problems. One is a doctrinal dilemma because important presumptions embedded in antidiscrimination law …

Are All Risks Created Equal? Rethinking The Distinction Between Legal And Business Risk In Corporate Law, Adi Libson, Gideon Parchomovsky

All Faculty Scholarship

Should corporate legal risk be treated similarly to corporate business risks? Currently, the law draws a clear-cut distinction between the two sources of risk, permitting the latter type of risk and banning the former. As a result, fiduciaries are shielded from personal liability in the case of business risk and are entirely exposed to civil and criminal liability that arises from legal risk-taking. As corporate law theorists have underscored, the differential treatment of business and legal risk is highly problematic from the perspective of firms and shareholders. To begin with, legal risk cannot be completely averted or eliminated. More importantly, …

Climate Change Compliance, Susan S. Kuo, Benjamin Means

Faculty Publications

Unless corporations prioritize climate change mitigation, efforts to control global warming will fail. Yet, the strategies that have been proposed for enlisting corporations are insufficient to the task. In our era of political polarization, a comprehensive “Green New Deal” to transition the U.S. economy away from fossil fuels is a nonstarter. Nor can we expect corporate risk management or social responsibility to fill the gap; there are practical limits to how far corporate managers can depart from strategies designed to maximize profits for investors.

This Article contends that climate change is a compliance issue. Scholars have overlooked compliance as a …

The Twenty-First Annual A.A. Sommer, Jr. Lecture On Corporate, Securities & Financial Law At The Fordham Corporate Law Center, Matthew Diller, G. Jeffrey Boujoukos, Ben A. Indek, Allison Herren Lee

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Hb 1013: Georgia Mental Health Parity Act, Justin Crozier, Betsy Hicks, Jordan Kalteux

Georgia State University Law Review

The Act overhauls Georgia’s mental health system by enforcing compliance with federal mental health parity law. Most notably, the Act requires health insurers to provide coverage for mental health and substance use disorders equitably with physical health and defines generally accepted standards of care. The Act requires insurers to submit annual parity compliance reports and requires the Commissioner to make annual data calls and submit annual reports. The Act requires compliance with a minimum 85% medical loss ratio. The Act provides for cancelable loans to Georgia residents enrolled in related educational programs and creates grant programs for accountability courts. The …

Using Ai To Reduce Performance Risk In U.S. Procurement, Jessica Tillipman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

In recent years, several U.S. government agencies have pioneered the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their "responsibility determinations" (reviews of, among other things, contractor representations and certifications, past performance history, civil and criminal settlements, exclusions (such as suspensions or debarments), and contract terminations). As federal agencies continue to think strategically about how to improve processes and reduce risk in their procurements, technology-driven solutions will play a critical role in this undertaking.

Power, Exit Costs, And Renegotiation In International Law, Timothy Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

Scholars have long understood that the instability of power has ramifications for compliance with international law. Scholars have not, however, focused on how states’ expectations about shifting power affect the initial design of international agreements. In this paper, I integrate shifting power into an analysis of the initial design of both the formal and substantive aspects of agreements. I argue that a state expecting to become more powerful over time incurs an opportunity cost by agreeing to formal provisions that raise the cost of exiting an agreement. Exit costs - which promote the stability of legal rules - have distributional …

Strange Bedfellows? Representative Democracy And Academic Engagement With The Defense Industry, Steven L. Schooner, Evan Matsuda

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This chapter concludes a book that grew out of 2015 a conference hosted by the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law, which brought together defense industry leaders, academics, and lawyers to discuss ethical challenges to the defense industry. Authors from the academy, practitioners, and policy-makers offer perspectives and insights such that the collection spans a broad range of disciplines, from philosophy, economics, law, and political science, to the management of corporate compliance.

In addition to attempting (no doubt unsuccessfully) to tie many of the book's themes together, the chapter itself asserts that the academic community …

Canada's Integrity Regime: The Corporate Grim Reaper, Jessica Tillipman, Samantha Block

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

In 2019, SNC-Lavalin made global headlines after it was revealed that the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, had interfered in the prosecution of the company for the bribery of Libyan officials. Although the scandal was primarily viewed as political, it also highlighted flaws in Canada’s Integrity Regime; specifically, the regime’s unworkable and draconian approach to debarment. This Article will address the pressing need in Canada to modify its debarment remedy and enact a system that more effectively protects the government’s interests. To illuminate the current issues facing Canada’s Integrity Regime, this Article will begin by examining Canada’s debarment system, outlining …

Mckinsey & Company’S Conduct And Conflicts At The Heart Of The Opioid Epidemic, Hearing Before The House Committee On Oversight And Reform, Jessica Tillipman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

On April 27, 2022, Jessica Tillipman, Assistant Dean for Government Procurement Law Studies at The George Washington University Law School testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform regarding McKinsey & Company's potential Organizational Conflict of Interest between its contracts with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and its commercial, opioid manufacturer clients. Her testimony addressed the longstanding need to update and clarify the current legal framework governing Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCIs) in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the importance of government contractors maintaining strong internal ethics and compliance programs.

Organizational Conflicts Of Interest: Cautionary Tales, Jessica Tillipman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

A recent, high-profile investigation involving McKinsey & Company (McKinsey) and its contracts with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reminded us that organizational conflicts of interest (OCIs) are an integrity issue that never should be written off as a check-the-box exercise during the procurement process. This incident highlighted the need to address critical gaps in this area of the law. This article appeared in the August 2022 issue of Contract Management magazine published by the National Contract Management Association. Used with permission.

Artificially Intelligent Boards And The Future Of Delaware Corporate Law, Christopher Bruner

Scholarly Works

The prospects for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to impact the development of Delaware corporate law are at once over- and under-stated. As a general matter, claims to the effect that AI systems might ultimately displace human directors not only exaggerate the foreseeable technological potential of these systems, but also tend to ignore doctrinal and institutional impediments intrinsic to Delaware's competitive model – notably, heavy reliance on nuanced and context-specific applications of the fiduciary duty of loyalty by a true court of equity. At the same time, however, there are specific applications of AI systems that might not merely be accommodated by …

Artificially Intelligent Boards And The Future Of Delaware Corporate Law, Christopher Bruner

Scholarly Works

This article argues that the prospects for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to impact corporate law are at once over- and under-stated, focusing on the law of Delaware – the predominant jurisdiction of incorporation for US public companies. Claims that AI systems might displace human directors not only exaggerate AI’s foreseeable technological potential, but ignore doctrinal and institutional impediments intrinsic to Delaware’s competitive model – notably, heavy reliance on nuanced applications of the fiduciary duty of loyalty by a true court of equity. At the same time, however, there are discrete AI applications that might not merely be accommodated by Delaware corporate …

The Challenges Of Applying Computational Legal Analysis To Mhealth Security And Privacy Regulations, Brian Tung

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As our world has grown in complexity, so have our laws. By one measure, the United States Code has grown over 30x as long since 1935, and the 186,000-page Code of Federal Regulations has grown almost 10x in length since 1938. Our growing legal system is too complicated; it’s impossible for people to know all the laws that apply to them. However, people are still subject to the law, even if they are unfamiliar with it. Therein lies the need for computational legal analysis. Tools of computation (e.g., data visualization, algorithms, and artificial intelligence) have the potential to transform civic …

23rd Annual Open Government Summit: Attorney General State Of Rhode Island : Access To Public Records Act & Open Meetings Act July 30, 2021, Office Of The Attorney General State Of Rhode Island

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.