Law Commons^™

Determinism V. Free Will & Genetic Evidence Of Addiction In Plea Bargaining And Sentence Mitigation: Conversion Of Incarceration To Probation And Rehabilitation Based On Genetic Addiction Risk Severity (Gars) Test, Kenneth Blum, Paul Mullen, Richard Green

St. Mary's Law Journal

In this Article, Dr. Kenneth Blum and his team present the case of a presently abstinent, thirty-five year old alcoholic (“AG”) who has several convictions for DWI. AG has undergone and continues to be engaged in out-patient substance abuse treatment. He entered treatment before adjudication and was mandated by the court to continue treatment to assist in maintaining sobriety. Treatment included the administration of the Genetic Addiction Risk Severity (“GARS”) Test.

AG was facing a probable five-year sentence for his fifth DWI conviction in Bexar County, Texas. However, because AG’s genetic risk results indicated a genetically induced dopamine dysfunction, hypodopaminergia, …

Faithless Electors And The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact After Chiafalo V. Washington, Coy Westbrook

St. Mary's Law Journal

In conclusion, the opinion of the Court in Chiafalo sets a dangerous precedent. The Court gave the states the power to control and to remove electors who failed to cast their votes in accordance with the candidate who won their state’s electoral votes. However, with the growth of the National Popular Vote now in sixteen jurisdictions, there are questions as to whether the Supreme Court, when faced with a challenge to this interstate compact, would hold that the Compact was in violation of the Constitution. Additionally, with the possibility that the NPVIC may violate state constitutions, there will be rigorous …

From Patients To Patents: The Disappearing I Of Innovation, Maggi Robert

St. Mary's Law Journal

The creation of the Mayo/Alice two-step test for patent eligible subject matter flipped the patent world upside down. Following its establishment, invalidation rates soared—particularly in the healthcare sector—impacting patients everywhere. The importance of patents in healthcare innovation and innovation generally has been emphasized as the consequences of this framework are realized.

The United States is no longer seen as a clear leader in innovation, and as a result, the economy is at risk. Start-ups and investors have turned to foreign nations where return on their investments in innovation are protected. This level of uncertainty regarding patents has never been seen …

Covid-19 And Cancelled 2020 College Football Games Contracts: Force Majeure?, Drew Thornley

St. Mary's Law Journal

After COVID-19, majeure clauses accounting for the possibility of a pandemic will become the norm in college football game contracts. Indeed, some contracts are already including pandemics in their lists of force majeure-triggering events. Such language has already been added to collegiate game contracts. For example, a contract signed in May 2020 for the 2025 football game between Wisconsin and Miami (Ohio) lists as force majeure-triggering events “regional or global epidemics, pandemics, quarantines, and other similar health threats (e.g.[,] coronavirus, influenza, etc.).” Scholars explain that “the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic warranted immediate revisitation of college football contracts.”

However, …

Gender Identity, Sports, And Affirmative Action: What's Title Ix Got To Do With It?, Michael E. Rosman

St. Mary's Law Journal

There is much talk these days of promoting “equity” rather than “equality.” When applied outside athletics, Title IX promotes non-discrimination, usually associated with equality. As it has been applied to sports, though, it may be our most prominent “equity” statute, making sure each sex gets its fair share.

The questions this article seeks to address are legal ones that the debate about trans females seems to bring to the fore. How did we start with a statute whose language looks very similar to every other civil rights statute—and, indeed, that acts just like every other civil rights statute outside of …

The Dark Side Of Due Process: Part Iii, How To Use Irreverent Double-Talk To Speak Back To Bad Men, Joshua J. Schroeder

St. Mary's Law Journal

Most American lawyers take for granted that the common law established almost all the ordinary causes of action we know today. As Joseph Story’s Commentaries acknowledged, the common law is the basis of the entire U.S. system of law. Common law struggled with feudal and canon forms and eventually transformed them for the benefit of ordinary people even in the face of the most heinous travesties of the English and American past.

The Witch Judges of Salem, Massachusetts and the Parliament of Saints in England did not prevail through despotic radicalism to demolish the common law through codification. Legal positivism …

Law School Rankings And The Impossibility Of Anti-Racism, Rory D. Bahadur

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article uses the U.S. News law school rankings to illustrate how powerful, invisible, and stubborn systemic racism is. This Article does not level allegations of intentionally blameworthy conduct at U.S. News, or any person or entity. More broadly, this Article does not address conscious and deliberate racism, or the examples of this type of racism with which America’s history is replete. Nor is this Article attempting to undervalue the significant impact of deliberately racist actions in American history on the economic disparity between white people and people of color.

Instead, I make an untrue assumption: All Americans of every …

Marijuana Legalization: Child-Centered Considerations In Texas Family Law Matters, Julie Whitson

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Deep South’S Constitutional Con, Lynn Uzzell

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Inter-Circuit Judicial Splits Surrounding The Class Action Fairness Act’S “Local Single Event” Exception—A Proposal To Resolve The Confusion, Odalys Vielma

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Hermeneutics For Legal Research And Analysis, Konstantin G. Vertsman

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Dark Side Of Due Process: Part Ii, Why Penumbral Rights And Cost/Benefit Balancing Tests Are Bad, Joshua J. Schroeder

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Lawyers As Caregivers, Paula Schaefer

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

This Article argues that clients—much like patients in a healthcare setting—need their lawyers to be caregivers. The Article opens by developing a definition of caregiving in medicine and law. It then turns to five key components of caregiving in medicine, explaining the substantial research that this care is crucial for patient satisfaction, trust, and healing. Medical educators have drawn on this research to better prepare medical professionals to be excellent caregivers. The Article then explores the evidence that an attorney’s clients have the same needs and suffer similar harm when attorneys fail to meet these needs. Next, the Article turns …

Daubert/Kumho Tire And The Legal Malpractice Expert Witness, Warren R. Trazenfeld, Robert M. Jarvis

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

In legal malpractice cases, parties almost always end up using expert witnesses. Whether a particular legal malpractice expert is qualified to testify often is a hotly contested issue. In this Article, the authors provide recommendations for how to qualify a legal malpractice expert and how to challenge a legal malpractice expert’s qualifications.

Judged By The (Digital) Company You Keep: Maintaining Judicial Ethics In An Age Of Likes, Shares, And Follows, John Browning

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Just like lawyers, judicial use of social media can present ethical pitfalls. And while most scholarly attention has focused on either active social media conduct by judges (such as posting or tweeting) or on social media “friendships” between judges and others, this Article analyses the ethical dimensions of seemingly benign judicial conduct on social media platforms, such as following a third party or “liking,” sharing, or retweeting the online posts of others. Using real-world examples, this Article analyses how even such ostensibly benign conduct can create the appearance of impropriety and undermine public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of …

Patients, Corporate Attorneys, And Moral Obligations, Ioan-Radu Motoarcă

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

There are two main questions that any account of corporate lawyers’ moral obligations needs to answer: (1) Do corporate lawyers have moral obligations to third parties? and (2) In cases of conflict between obligations to the corporation and obligations to third parties, which should prevail? This Article offers answers to these questions in the context of lawyers working in medical corporations. I argue that lawyers do have moral obligations to third parties, and that in cases where patients’ rights are being violated by a medical company, patients’ rights should prevail. Consequently, attorney–client confidentiality rules should be relaxed to allow for …

The Foundational Skill Of Reflection In The Formation Of A Professional Identity, Neil W. Hamilton

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

There is a growing scholarly literature on the professional development and formation of law students into the core values, guiding principles, and well-being practices considered foundational to successful legal practice.* This growing scholarly literature can guide effective curriculum development to foster student growth toward later stages of development on these learning outcomes. This Article focuses on the skill of reflection as one of the most effective curricular strategies to foster each student’s growth toward later stages of these learning outcomes. This same curricular strategy will also be effective in engaging practicing lawyers to grow toward these same goals. Part II …

The Sale Of Law Practice In Texas: The Need For A Rule, Ryan Hagens

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Abstract forthcoming.

An Analysis Of Products Liability Defenses In The Aftermath Of Hopkins., John F. Scarzafava

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Federal Courts: Review Of The Remand Order., Stephen V. Rible

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Implied Warranties Of Quality On Used Motor Vehicles In Texas., John F. Hunt

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Signature On Single Collateral Assignment Does Not Serve As Indorsement On Series Of Promissory Notes., Laurence A. Canter

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Spouse Cannot Be Divested Of Title To Separate Real Property Under Texas Family Code 3.63., Jerry Morell

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

State Is Required Under Texas Forfeiture Staute To Assume Burden Of Proving Proceeds Were Used In Gambling Activity., Curtis Vaughan Iii

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Death Prone Jurors: The Disintegration Of The Witherspoon Rule In Texas., Mary Elizabeth Carmody

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Qualifying Title Vii Class Action Discrimination Suits: A Defendant's Perspective.

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Reasonable Rulemaking Under Osha: Is It Feasible., Donald R. Taylor

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Jurisdictional And Procedural Aspects Of Securing Judgments Against Parties Secondarily Liable - A Proposal For Reform., Gershon D. Cohen

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Texas Statute Conferring Jurisdiction On District Courts Over Election Contests Is Inapplicable To Contests Of Congressional Election., Susan G. Wright

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Texas Statutes Amended To Provide For Execution By Intravenous Injection Of A Lethal Substance., John H. Gordon Jr.

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.