Law Commons^™

Advocacy Strategies To Fight Eviction In Cases Of Compulsive Hoarding And Cluttering, Tom Cobb, Eric Dunn, Vanessa Torres Hernandez, Jake Moroni Okleberry, Riana Pfefferkorn, Chelsea Spector

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No abstract provided.

Adapting To Administrative Law's Erie Doctrine, Kathryn A. Watts

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This Article looks to the federalism context and draws on the federal courts' experience adapting to the Court's landmark decision in Erie Railroad Company v. Tompkins. Much like Brand X, the Court's Erie decision, which commanded federal courts to apply state law in all cases not governed by positive federal law, significantly reduced the lawmaking power of the federal courts by putting the federal courts in the position of interpreting law that they cannot definitively construe. Although Erie seemed simple enough to adhere to when state law provided a clear answer, Erie posed a serious dilemma when federal courts …

The Limits Of Intelligence In Maritime Counterproliferation Operations, Craig Allen

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This article begins with an examination of the intelligence needs of those engaged in maritime counterproliferation efforts. It then turns to risk-management decision making under conditions of uncertainty, focusing on decisions at the operational level and exploring the question of whether decision strategies in the WMD context should seek to minimize false-negative or false-positive errors. It concludes that even vastly improved maritime intelligence will not obviate the need for national and operational commanders to make decisions under conditions of uncertainty and that such decisions should be made on the basis of established risk-assessment and management principles. At the same time, …

A Primer On The Nonproliferation Regime For Maritime Security Operations Forces, Craig Allen

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This article seeks to provide the reader with an overview of the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) nonproliferation regime relevant to marine security operations and to alert the reader to shortfalls in that regime that might frustrate at-sea efforts to interdict WMD shipments. It begins with a general description of the international approach to combating proliferation of WMD and then examines the individual regimes for nuclear weapons, chemical weapons (CW), biological-toxin weapons (BTW) and WMD delivery systems, such as missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. It next traces the development of several resolutions by the United Nations Security Council that target …

Global Health And Human Rights Imperative, Patricia C. Kuszler

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Open any magazine, click on a television news channel, or surf the net and you are likely to find global health highlighted as one of the foremost challenges of new millennium. First, this article will consider the meaning and measures of global health and detail the path to improved health and development prescribed by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Second, it will trace the development of international human rights law as it relates to health. Third, it demonstrate how human rights and health, long traversing parallel routes, are in fact converging in the 21st Century quest for global health–a …

Learning To Write In Code: The Value Of Using Legal Writing Exercises To Teach Tax Law, Scott A. Schumacher

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Traditionally, law school tax courses have been taught using a mix of problems, class discussion, the Socratic method, and one end-of-term exam. The goal of these courses is to introduce students to key concepts of tax law and to teach them the essential skill of reading and interpreting the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury Regulations. This traditional method of instruction is an efficient and cost-effective way of transmitting a great deal of complex information to a large number of students. It is also a good vehicle to teach the essential skill of reading and interpreting the Code. However, the time …

Moderator's Report: Legal Experts' Workshop On The Future Global Legal Order, Craig H. Allen

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In late 2006, as part of its multifaceted effort to help the Chief of Naval Operations develop a new, contemporary maritime strategy for the nation, the Naval War College convened a “Delphi group” of experts—in this case, in international law—to provide the maritime strategy development team a candid assessment of the probable state of the global legal order in 2020. The workshop, chaired by Craig H. Allen, the Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Law, was held 31 October–1 November 2006 in the College’s Decision Support Center (equipped with an advanced World Wide Web–based group collaboration and decision-support system), in …

Can China Promote Electronic Commerce Through Law Reform? Some Preliminary Case Study Evidence, Jane K. Winn, Song Yuping

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The government of the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) has announced its intention to make China a global leader in innovation by 2020. Many Chinese business leaders share this goal. The primary focus of this national strategy is to transform China into an exporter of high-technology products based on Chinese designs rather than merely a low cost, high volume manufacturer of products based on technology developed in other countries.

This paper will examine the implications for this strategy with regard to the use of computerized management information systems by Chinese businesses, and its relationship to recent law reform efforts intended …

Collateralizing Intellectual Property, Xuan-Thao Nguyen

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This Article identifies and critiques the collateralization of intellectual property, revealing the complexity of intersecting secured transaction law, namely Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, and doctrinal intellectual property laws such as patent law, copyright law, and trademark law. The inquiry challenges the silence surrounding the pervasive use of intellectual property as collateral in secured financing and suggests changes to the existing framework on secured financing law.

The Article proceeds as follows: Part II discusses the normative intellectual property rights for patents, copyrights, and trademarks and how such rights are utilized as corporate assets. Part III describes different forms …

Pro Se Executors—Unauthorized Practice Of Law, Or Not?, Michael Hatfield

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This Article clarifies why under Texas law an individual named as executor in a will has the right to offer the will for probate and otherwise appear in a probate court without hiring a lawyer. This Article first provides an overview of the independent administration provisions of the Texas probate code before reviewing the unauthorized practice of law prohibition and the pro se exception. After establishing that executors qualify for the pro se exception in Texas because executors appearing in court are exercising their own management rights—rather than the rights of "the estate" or the beneficiaries—the Article explores suggestions of …

Rebuilding The Profession: Recommendations For Librarians Interested In Becoming Academic Law Library Directors, Barbara A. Bintliff, Laura N. Gasaway, Penny A. Hazelton, Frank G. Houdek, Janis L. Johnston, Martha Dragich Pearson, Charles Ten Brink, Michelle Wu

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Based on papers presented at a 2005 workshop for individuals interested in becoming academic law library directors, this article begins by exploring the duties of academic director jobs—administrative skills and faculty responsibilities—before examining how to build credentials in preparation for such jobs. It concludes by focusing on the skills and knowledge needed to interview for director jobs.

Islamic Law In The Jurisprudence Of The International Court Of Justice: An Analysis, Clark B. Lombardi

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This Article asks whether ICJ opinions to date suggest that judicial consideration of Islamic legal norms has played, can play, or should play a role in the ICJ's resolution of international legal disputes or in establishing the legitimacy of the results that it has reached. It is structured as follows. Part II gives an initial overview of the ICJ to help us understand how and why judges on the ICJ have reached the answers they have. Part III describes how the ICJ's enabling statute permits the Court, at least in theory, to look at Islamic legal norms. As I will …

The Immigration-Terrorism Illusory Correlation And Heuristic Mistake, Mary De Ming Fan

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The national broil over immigration reform is fermenting an illusory correlation and mistaken heuristic. Two events illustrate the involvement of legislators in the manufacture and mplification of this heuristic mistake. A controversial bill passed by the House of Representatives in December 2005 explicitly and extensively packaged immigration control with antiterrorism.' During his term as a congressman, J. D. Hayworth published a book claiming that inflows of people over the U.S.-Mexico border pose a "terrorist threat," that the nation has witnessed an "illegal alien crime spree," and that high immigration rates from Mexico threaten social instability.[para] Such pronouncements by legislators generate …

Recent Reforms To The Japanese Judiciary: Real Change Or Mere Appearance?, Daniel H. Foote

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In June 2001, the Justice System Reform Council ("Reform Council" or "Council") issued its final report. The Council's recommendations included several proposed reforms to the judiciary, intended to insure the judiciary would "meet the expectations of the people." This essay examines a number of those recommendations and the resulting reforms.

The single reform to the judiciary that has received the most publicity is the introduction of the saiban'in system, through which ordinary citizens will participate directly in judging serious crim:inal cases and thus will have the opportunity to express their views directly in the deliberation of those cases. That system, …

Alaska Native Rights, Statehood, And Unfinished Business, Robert T. Anderson

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Alaska Native aboriginal rights to land and associated resources were never dealt with in a comprehensive fashion until 1971, when Congress passed the Alaska Native Lands Claims Settlement Act (ANILCA). Although general principles of federal Indian law provided strong support for the proposition that Alaska's Native people held aboriginal title to much of the new state, the Alaska Statehood Act itself carefully disclaimed any effect on aboriginal title. This approach was in keeping with the Congress's past dealings with Alaska Native property rights. This article outlines the history of Alaska Native aboriginal rights through the Statehood Act along with their …

Using Stock And Stock Options To Minimize Patent Royalty Payment Risks After Medimmune V. Genentech, Sean M. O'Connor

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This Article proposes a more or less functional equivalent mechanism to a patent royalty stream through the use of stock and stock options in the licensee. The stock would coarsely track the overall fortunes of the licensee, while the options could be more finely tuned to vest and become exercisable upon events and milestones that would have been used for payments in a traditional license fee plus royalty stream licensing deal.

There may be problems of liquidity, of course, during the period where the licensee is still privately held and thus has no ready markets for its stock. But even …

Public Interest Research, Collaboration, And The Promise Of Wikis, Tom Cobb

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One of my central goals in teaching law is to help students find ways to apply their emerging analytical powers and professional skills to promote the public interest.A related goal is to create an engaging learning experience in which students see each other—and other members of the legal community—as key resources in their education.

To help accomplish these goals, I have been formally and informally collaborating with clinics—the traditional home of public interest law and collaborative learning in most law schools— to find ways to infuse my legal writing classes with clinical methods and values. This article describes a class …

Fifth Circuit Survey: Taxation, Michael Hatfield

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During the survey period, the Fifth Circuit decided nine federal tax cases. Four of the nine cases were appealed from district courts. The remaining five were appealed from the Tax Court. Three of the Tax Court's five decisions (60%) were affirmed, and three of the four district court decisions (75%) were affirmed. Thus, the Fifth Circuit affirmed most of the lower court decisions (66%). Interestingly, only three of the decisions (33%) favored the taxpayer—EC Term of Years Trust v. United States; Garber Industries, Inc. v. Commissioner; and Estate of Baird v. Commissioner—even though the Fifth Circuit …

The Health Care Choice Act: The Individual Insurance Market And The Politics Of "Choice", Elizabeth Pendo

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The Health Care Choice Act of 2005 (HCCA) aims to reform perceived problems in the individual market, and is touted as part of the solution to the problem of the uninsured. It purports to allow individuals who are not eligible for or cannot afford group coverage to purchase an individual policy in and from any state. If passed, the HCCA would allow health insurers to offer individual policies of insurance from any state without being required to comply with the laws of the insured's own state. Its proponents claim that it would lower the cost of individual health insurance by …

Command Of The Commons Boasts: An Invitation To Lawfare?, Craig H. Allen

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The first panel in this, the 2006 Naval War College, International Law Department conference on "Global Legal Challenges: Command of the Commons, Strategic Communications, and Natural Disasters," has been asked to offer a US perspective on current assertions regarding the US command of the commons. It is my privilege to moderate the discussion by a distinguished panel that includes Vice Admiral Lowell E. ("Jake") Jacoby, US Navy (retired) the immediate past director of the Defense Intelligence Agency; Vice Admiral John G. Morgan, Jr., US Navy, deputy chief of naval operations for plans and strategy (N3/N5); and Rear Admiral Joseph L. …

The Use And Misuse Of High-Tech Evidence By Prosecutors: Ethical And Evidentiary Issues, Robert Aronson, Jacqueline Mcmurtrie

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This essay first addresses the ethical and evidentiary standards for the emerging use of high-tech computer-generated animations and computer-assisted closing arguments. Next, this essay considers the same questions within the context of forensic DNA evidence. Third, this essay considers the ethics of prosecutors' use of such evidence and the consequences for the misuse of this evidence. Finally, this essay suggests remedies to ethical problems facing prosecutors in their use of this kind of evidence.