Law Commons^™

Empathy And Approval, Stephen Ellmann

UC Law Journal

Professor Ellmann's Essay suggests that the positive judgment latent in empathy need not remain so veiled. On the contrary, clients often need, and lawyers should be able to offer, a more wholehearted confirmation of client feelings-a positive judgment and endorsement, of part or all of the client's world view, that he calls approvaL The functions of such explicit approval are somewhat different from, and potentially inconsistent with, those of empathy. Lawyers can effectively make use of both these techniques, but they are not interchangeable, and a recognition of the potential value of approval not only adds a technique to lawyers' …

Feminist Theory And Legal Practice: A Case Study On Unemployment Compensation Benefits And The Male Norm, Deborah Maranville

UC Law Journal

This Essay explores the application of two key insights of feminist theory to practice. First, the law is often structured to fit male life patterns in a way that creates unstated male norms which are mistaken as inevitable or natural. Second, these male norms often disadvantage women. A recent unemployment compensation case handled in the University of Washington Civil Law Clinic illustrates these insights.

The clinic challenged the denial of unemployment benefits to a client who sought only part-time work so she could care for her special needs child. Initially, feminist theory provided a basis for recognizing and challenging the …

Students And Lawyers, Doctrine And Responsibility: A Pedagogical Colloquy, University Of Maryland Law School

UC Law Journal

This Colloquy presents a variety of perspectives on the University of Maryland Law School's Legal Theory and Practice Program. The program has both a clinical and a classroom component, and attempts to expose students to the deep connections between legal rules, lawyers' choices, and the realities of the law's impact on the lives of the poor

The Faces Of Law In Theory And Practice: Doctrine, Rhetoric, And Social Context, Richard Boldt, Marc Feldman

UC Law Journal

Although the Realist critique of Langdellian educational practice has been widely accepted, Professors Boldt and Feldman demonstrate how the impact of this critique is minimized because of the disjointed way in which it is presented in the classroom. They offer an account of an integrated reconception of legal doctrine. They describe their attempts to break down the barriers in legal education and in the legal profession more generally by uncovering the doctrinal and rhetorical strategies employed by actors within the legal system to disclaim the political dimension of law and to reinforce a sense of institutional powerlessness.

Lawyers And Caring: Building An Ethic Of Care Into Professional Responsibility, Theresa Glennon

UC Law Journal

In the last decade, a new literature has arisen, grounded in feminism, reconsidering morality, identity, and moral development. Professor Glennon applies these feminist-based ideas about moral development to a pedagogy of responsibility. She explores some of the ways in which this alternative view of moral development might affect our understanding of teaching. Professor Glennon shows that students must view themselves as capable, cared-for, and empowered in order to achieve an enlarged self-definition of professional responsibility and conceive of themselves as professionals in ways other than the dominant, privatized mode.

The Practice/Theory Dilemma: Personal Reflections On The Louisiana Abortion Case, Ruth Colker

UC Law Journal

This Essay presents Professor Colker's experiences filing an amicus brief in Sojourner T. v. Roemer, the Louisiana Abortion case. She reflects on the difficulty of raising meaningful community support in the form of client sponsors for the brief. She also addresses the conflict between the desire to present the strongest legal and political arguments and the need to ensure that the brief be supported by as many community voices as possible. She examines both the problems she faced in compromising her legal argument to better represent potential clients' actual positions, and the pressure brought by other organizations trying to change …

Violence At Our Border: Rights And Status Of Immigrant Victims Of Hate Crimes And Violence Along The Border Between The United States And Mexico, Michael J. Nunez

UC Law Journal

The mounting problems of abuse and neglect faced by illegal aliens crossing the border between the United States and Mexico have called into question the legal rights and the status of these undocumented immigrants. This Note examines how illegal aliens are treated by the American judicial system when asserting constitutional or civil rights claims. The Note begins by discussing the constitutional status of the illegal alien, and proceeds to argue that remedies such as state civil and criminal actions should be available to illegal alien victims of border violence.

In the context of border violence, the rights theoretically granted to …

A Reexamination Of The Non-Dischargeability Of Criminal Restitutive Obligations In Chapter 13 Bankruptcies, Ann Haberfelde

UC Law Journal

In 1990, the Supreme Court held that criminal restitution was dischargeable as a debt in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceeding. Congress subsequently amended the bankruptcy laws to exclude criminal restitution from the debts dischargeable in Chapter 13 proceedings.

This amendment represents the elevation of the states' interest in their criminal laws at the expense of the policies served by the bankruptcy laws. By tracing the origins of criminal restitution as a form of punishment, examining the development of bankruptcy discharge policy, and considering the interrelation of state and federal laws, this Note proposes a more equitable solution. Rather than viewing …

The Golden State Of Labor Preemption: The Circuit Courts Have Gone Too Far, Tod A. Cochran

UC Law Journal

The doctrine of preemption is widely considered to be the most confusing area in labor law. In 1986, the Supreme Court changed the preemption playing field with its holding in Golden State Transit Corporation v. City of Los Angeles. Golden State and the circuit court interpretations of it expand the degree to which state and local actions are preempted by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). This Note argues that many of the circuit decisions have misinterpreted the Golden State doctrine in ways that expressly disadvantage workers and frustrate the principles of the NLRA.

A coherent analytical framework has yet …

Why Limit A Good Thing--A Proposal To Apply The California Antilapse Statute To Revocable Living Trusts, Rochelle A. Smith

UC Law Journal

Revocable living trusts have become a standard estate planning tool for avoiding the time, expense, and delay of probate. These popular will-substitutes allow donors to pass property at death and achieve the same result as would be obtained through a testamentary disposition. However, whereas California testators are protected by remedial measures such as the lapse and antilapse statutes, revocable living trustors are not. In California, when a devisee predeceases the testator, lapse and antilapse statutes operate together to terminate those gifts that potentially would pass to strangers while saving gifts devised to family members and passing these gifts directly to …

Balancing Ethical Imperatives And Political Constraints: The Dilemma Of New Democracies Confronting Past Human Rights Violations, Jose Zalaquett

UC Law Journal

Since the early 1980s, newly emerging democracies have been confronting the ethical and political dilemma of how to address a legacy of human rights violations committed by former governments. Unlike the circumstances surrounding the war crimes trials in the wake of World War II, when recently deposed rulers were powerless, in many contemporary political transitions the perpetrators of past abuses continue to wield considerable power. As new governments attempt to repair the damage caused by their predecessors and to prevent the recurrence of human rights violations, they must avoid provoking a backlash.

In his Lecture, Sefior Zalaquett argues that these …

On Formally Undecidable Propositions Of Law: Legal Indeterminacy And The Implications Of Metamathematics, Mark R. Brown, Andrew C. Greenberg

UC Law Journal

Recent articles in the Critical Legal Studies literature claim that results from mathematical logic show that no system of law can be formalized so that every dispute is determinate. Specifically, it has been suggested that G6del's Incompleteness Theorem and the works of Lbwenheim and Skolem inform the question whether the law compels outcomes of cases. Because those results prove that certain formal systems of mathematics are necessarily indeterminate, they might suggest that analogous claims are true of the law.

In their Article, Mr. Greenberg and Professor Brown analyze Gbdel's Incompleteness Theorem in an attempt to determine how, if at all, …

Televising California's Death Penalty: Is There A Constitutional Right To Broadcast Executions, Jeff Angeja

UC Law Journal

Any discussion of capital punishment sparks heated debate regarding not only the merits of capital punishment, but also the humanity of particular modes of execution and the efficiency and justice of the last minute appeals process. The electronic media has added a further component to this debate: Is there a First Amendment right of access to the execution chamber that would allow the electronic media to videotape an execution for subsequent viewing? If current death penalty statutes remain in effect, then this perplexing issue may represent one of the most controversial death penalty issues.

This Note first examines the criteria …