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Class Of 2017 Incoming Il Law Students, St. Mary's University School Of Law, St. Mary's University School Of Law

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Photographs of incoming law students for the St. Mary’s University School of Law, class of 2017

From The War On Poverty To Pro Bono: Access To Justice Remains Elusive For Too Many, Including Our Veterans, Patricia E. Roberts

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Lost And Found - David Hoffman And The History Of American Legal Ethics, Michael S. Ariens

Faculty CLE

David Hoffman was a successful Baltimore lawyer who wrote the first study of American law in 1817 and authored the first maxims of American legal ethics. Yet for more than a century after his death, Hoffman was a forgotten figure to American lawyers. Beginning in the late 1970s, Hoffman was re-discovered, and his writings on legal ethics have been favorably cited.

How and why was Hoffman “lost” to American law for over a century, and why he was “found”? Hoffman was lost to history because his view of ethics was premised on republican virtue, specifically the concept of honor. A …

Trademarks Under The North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), With References To The Current Mexican Law, Roberto Rosas

Faculty Articles

The introduction of Mexico into the international trademark arena may significantly influence the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”). NAFTA established a reliable and efficient system for trademark registration and protection. This system not only protects owners of trademarks, but also helps consumers identify and purchase goods or services that meet their needs.

Despite its membership in NAFTA, Mexico is in the process of internationalizing its Intellectual Property protections. It is evident that among countries, economic improvement is generally the main motivation to form Free Trade Agreements, and Mexico's case is no different. Mexico has pursued an …

The Shape Of Property, Chad J. Pomeroy

Faculty Articles

“Shape” means “a mode of existence or form of being having identifying features” or the “form or embodiment” of something. Form and feature, in turn, arise from pressure and time. Property law has a shape all its own: it exists as a unique body of law, with distinctive conventions and rules. And that shape, those conventions and rules, derive from a variety of pressures that have, over the centuries, molded property law into its present form. This paper seeks to understand and explain the shape of a particular area of property law – that of property forms.

Of course, this …

Universities As Constitutional Law Makers (And Other Hidden Actors In Our Constitutional Orders), Adam J. Macleod

Faculty Articles

In the stories told by opinion makers and many law professors, American constitutional law is concerned with two things-individual rights and the powers of government-and it is settled by the Court, which was established by Article III of our national Constitution. In those now-familiar tales, the United States Supreme Court creates constitutional law when heroic individuals assert their fundamental rights against an overreaching state and when Congress, state legislatures, and executive agencies are called upon to justify their expert enactments to an overreaching judiciary. To settle these constitutional disputes the Court looks either to the text of the written Constitution …

The Dignity Of The Human Person: Catholic Social Teaching And The Practice Of Criminal Punishment, Dora W. Klein

Faculty Articles

The moral foundation that supports the Catholic Church's opposition to the death penalty is wide and deep. This Article proposes that despite the oft-repeated maxim that "death is different," the same foundation that supports efforts to abolish the death penalty can also support those who seek to achieve other reforms in the practice of criminal punishment.

Why Should I Become An Associate At A Large Law Firm? And If I Do, Then What Should I Expect And How Do I Succeed?, David A. Grenardo

Faculty Articles

For law students contemplating employment with large law firms, it is helpful to consider the advantages of working at a large law firm, what to expect, how to succeed, and how to make partner. A number of attributes make big law firms attractive to students, including salaries, bonuses, and opportunities for future employment after large law firm life, such as potential in-house positions and other prestigious employment.

Law students who are looking for a steady, stable income, a tremendous resume builder or a career, and are ready to work extremely hard may enjoy working at a large law firm. Nevertheless, …

Water Is A Girl’S Best Friend: Examining The Water Valuation Dilemma, Amy Hardberger

Faculty Articles

Water allocation is currently controlled by policy that assigns a property right and hopes to protect the resource and its users. Markets can help fill this void and increase efficiency by assigning an accurate value to the good and dictating how the water is transferred and used.

Unfortunately, current markets lack the ability to send an accurate price signal that reflects the true value of water, leading to unintended consequences that could rapidly deplete resources rather than protect them. For the market to be accurate in pricing water, all costs must be included, allowing consumers to make an informed decision. …

Mandamus Review Of The Granting Of The Motion For New Trial: Lost In The Thicket, Richard E. Flint

Faculty Articles

A trial court’s broad discretion in granting a new trial has been one of the mainstays of Texas jurisprudence since early statehood. Historically, this discretion was not subject to review through the ordinary appellate processes. This principle remains inviolate today, as the granting of a new trial is an interlocutory order from which the appellate courts of Texas do not have jurisdiction. Furthermore, the use of an original mandamus proceeding to compel a trial court to set aside the granting of a new trial has had only limited application.

However, in response to the case of In re Columbia Medical …

Mismatch: How Affirmative Action Hurts Students It’S Intended To Help, And Why Universities Won’T Admit It (Book Review), Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

Mismatch is one of the most important books about law and public policy published recently. The authors, Richard H. Sander and Stuart Taylor, Jr., offer a provocative and deeply researched conclusion: empirical evidence strongly suggests that affirmative action in the admission of African-Americans and Hispanics to selective colleges and law schools is more harmful than helpful.

The problem of underrepresentation of African-Americans and Hispanics in the American legal profession is a continuing problem. But the work of Richard Sander strongly indicates that relying on the power of affirmative action has generated deleterious effects for those this “solution” was designed to …

The Collini Case: A Novel (Book Review), Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

Ferdinand von Schirach is a German criminal defense lawyer who has previously published two vivid and brilliant short story collections. His latest book, The Collini Case: A Novel, like his short stories, gives the reader telling details that offer insights into the human condition. But The Collini Case seems less interested in its characters than in teaching about the continuing stain of Germany’s past. This leads von Schirach to use stock figures who have suffered stock tragedies and who engage in stock actions. The novel is simply not realistic enough to suspend disbelief, and only barely avoids being a melodrama. …

The Texas Supreme Court: A Narrative History, 1836–1986 (Book Review), Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

The historical material and resources available for American legal historians is both too much and too little. Hundreds of published case opinions became thousands of opinions by the end of the 1820s, leading lawyers to conclude that no one could know the entirety of the law. Yet this cascade of information is also too little, because the work of treatise writers and magazine editors of the time was ruthlessly focused on then-existing legal concerns.

For these reasons, James L. Haley works within difficult strictures in his book, The Texas Supreme Court: A Narrative History, 1836–1986. Because his story is about …

Using A Civil Suit To Punish/Deter Sponsors Of Terrorism: Connecting Arafat & The Plo To The Terror Attacks In The Second Intifada, Jeffrey F. Addicott

Faculty Articles

Civil litigation has fantastic potential to punish acts of terror and to deter future acts. However, there exists a conundrum regarding the establishment of the factual connection between the regime that secretly sponsors or supports terror and the actual acts of terror. To hold a regime responsible for terrorism, accountability must be established.

The ongoing civil action of Sokolow v. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) perfectly illustrates this dilemma—on the one hand the offending regime disavows acts of terror while on the other hand it secretly supports and orchestrates terror. However, Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian National Assembly (PNA), …

The Possibility Of Private Rights And Duties, Adam J. Macleod

Faculty Articles

Is it possible for us to know what we owe others, or do we need the state to tell us? To ask the question this way could be understood as a provocation. It might suggest that the possibility of private rights and duties - a possibility that common law takes for granted and which lawyers witness in their daily practice threatens the foundations of the legal realist jurisprudential project and the liberal political project. But it is not my intention here to attack those projects. I simply want to consider the possibility that legal realism and liberalism might not be …

The Second Amendment Implications Of Regulating 3d Printed Firearms, Michael L. Smith

Faculty Articles

3D printed firearms have arrived, and commentators are beginning to ask whether and how this new technology can be regulated. An inevitable question that governments and courts will need to confront when considering restrictions on 3D printed firearms is whether these restrictions violate the Second Amendment. In this paper, I argue that most restrictions on 3D printed firearms would survive Second Amendment challenges. In carrying out this argument, I consider a complete ban on the manufacturing and possession of 3D printed firearms and conclude that even this complete ban would be likely to survive Second Amendment challenges. Because these particularly …

The American Legal Profession In The Twenty-First Century, Stephen M. Sheppard

Faculty Articles

Lawyers in the United States work in public service, private counseling, and dispute resolution, but many also work outside of traditional legal practice. The million-member American bar, second largest in the world, grows more diverse by gender, and ethnicity and older on average. All members of this learned profession must qualify by education or examination and by proof of good character and fitness before taking an oath to serve as an attorney. Thence, there are few limitations on the form of legal practice, though many law firms require an associateship before an attorney becomes an owner of the firm. Economic …

Collateral Damage: Protecting Cultural Heritage In Crimea And Eastern Ukraine, Zoe Niesel

Faculty Articles

Since the early spring of 2014, the world has watched Russia utilize military forces to invade and annex territory belonging to Ukraine. These actions are, unsurprisingly, raising concerns in Eastern Europe over the prospect of armed conflict in the region, the political consequences of Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory, and the effect of this conflict on ordinary civilians. But there is another potential cost associated with Russia's actions that should not be overlooked - the loss of Ukrainian cultural heritage. History is replete with examples of the destruction of cultural heritage during periods of instability, from Napoleon's systematic looting of …

Scientific, Legal, And Ethical Foundations For Texas Water Law., Gabriel Eckstein, Amy Hardberger

Faculty Articles

Water law is the field of law concerned with the ownership, control, and use of water resources, both surface and subsurface. Although most closely related to property law, recent developments in other legal fields, especially in environmental law, have heavily influenced the interpretation, application, and development of water law. As a result, water law today encompasses a broad perspective and often takes into account individual and community rights, environmental issues, commerce and economics, and other societal and legal concerns. Significantly, modern water law is also an interdisciplinary practice. In light of the continuously expanding body of knowledge of the hydrologic …

Escaping Liability Via Forum Non Conveniens: Conocophillips's Oil Spill In China, Chenglin Liu

Faculty Articles

In 2011, a year after British Petroleum (BP) 's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, ConocoPhillips's subsidiary in China caused a massive oil spill in the Bohai Sea. A group of fishermen suffered severe property damage as a result of the oil spill. After a failed attempt to have their complaint heard in a Chinese court, the fishermen sued ConocoPhillips in the United States District Court in Houston, Texas. It is very likely that the Houston District Court will deem the Chinese courts the more appropriate forum for this case and grant ConocoPhillips's motion for forum non conveniens dismissal. …

Think Twice: Charging Orders And Creditor Property Rights, Chad J. Pomeroy

Faculty Articles

What do you do? As a lawyer (or prospective lawyer), I mean – what do you do (or what will you do) in exchange for a salary or hourly fee? You will probably be expecting a lot of money for your services; so what, exactly, is it that you will do to justify that payment?

The answer, of course, is varied because lawyers do lots of different things. And, among these activities, there are some things that only lawyers can do. Chief among those is suing people. Suing people is something that only lawyers do because states do not generally …

Against The Profit Motive: The Salary Revolution In American Government, 1780–1940 (Book Review), Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

In Against the Profit Motive, Nicholas R. Parrillo expertly explains how and why state and federal governments moved from paying their employees fees to paying them salaries. The book offers insights into the history of government finance and administrative law, shifting dramatically in time, subject matter, and geography. The book begins with a helpful fifty-page introductory summary and then is divided into two parts, each of which considers a type of activity that generated fees for government officers: facilitative payments and bounties. Further, Against the Profit Motive illustrates, in the disparate areas of criminal law enforcement, tax collection, and naval …

The Invention Of Murder: How The Victorians Revelled In Death And Detection And Created Modern Crime (Book Review), Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

The Invention of Murder, by Judith Flanders, is an extraordinary achievement—an exhaustively researched history of 19th-century Great Britain written with verve. Flanders uses the conceit of murder to immerse the reader in 19th-century legal, cultural, and social history. Her depth of knowledge appears to encompass everything related to every murder during this place and time. As a legal history, the book explains a number of developments in English law. As a cultural history, the book discusses the importance in the early 19th century of broadsides, penny-bloods, illegal penny-gaffs, licensed plays, and newspapers; all centered around murder and mayhem. As a …

Lost And Found: David Hoffman And The History Of American Legal Ethics, Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

David Hoffman was a successful Baltimore lawyer who wrote the first study of American

law in 1817 and authored the first maxims of American legal ethics. Yet for more than a century after his death, Hoffman was a forgotten figure to American lawyers. Beginning in the late 1970s, Hoffman was re-discovered, and his writings on legal ethics have been favorably cited.

How and why was Hoffman “lost” to American law for over a century, and why he was “found”? Hoffman was lost to history because his view of ethics was premised on republican virtue, specifically the concept of honor. A …

A Death At Crooked Creek: The Case Of The Cowboy, The Cigarmaker, And The Love Letter, By Marianne Wesson (Book Review), Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

Marianne Wesson’s A Death at Crooked Creek tells the story of one of the most intriguing mysteries in American legal history. For evidence teachers, and possibly even law students, Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Hillmon is a classic nineteenth century mystery story. The case raises the question: Was the deceased John W. Hillmon, who had recently taken out the extraordinary sum of $25,000 in life insurance, or was it Frederick Adolph Walters, an itinerant who had left Iowa a year earlier?

In addition to teaching at the University of Colorado School of Law, Wesson is the author of three mystery …

The Agony Of Modern Legal Ethics, 1970–1985, Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

When the American Bar Association (ABA) adopted its Code of Professional Responsibility at its annual meeting in August 1969, the American legal profession was a publicly respected and economically vibrant body. Lawyers, though always more feared than loved, became increasingly important in post-World War II America. The demand for their services exploded for a quarter-century, and lawyers assumed an increased role in the economic and political life of the United States. During the 1950s and early 1960s, the Cold War led American lawyers and other public figures to re-emphasize the rule of law as defining the difference between the United …

Punitive Damages, Chinese Tort Law, And The American Experience, Vincent R. Johnson

Faculty Articles

In a country such as China, with abundant consumer products and the inevitability of product defects, claims for punitive damages are sure to arise under Article 47 of the new Chinese Tort Law. Article 47 provides that “(w)hereany producer or seller knowingly produces or sells defective products, causing death or serious damage to the health of others, the injured party may request appropriate punitive damages.” As Chinese jurists and scholars interpret Article 47, they may wish to consider whether lessons can be drawn from the American experience. During the past two decades, few areas of American law have changed more …

Father, Son, And Constitution: How Justice Tom Clark And Attorney General Ramsey Clark Shaped American Democracy, By Alexander Wohl (Book Review), Vincent R. Johnson

Faculty Articles

In Father, Son, and Constitution, Alexander Wohl brings to life two major figures of American law: Tom C. Clark and his son, Ramsey Clark. The story focuses primarily on the middle third of the twentieth century and the many heated constitutional challenges that arose during that era.

With an engaging literary style, Wohl perceptively examines not merely the lives and careers of Tom and Ramsey Clark, but the key roles they played in the issues of their day. The story proceeds from Pearl Harbor and World War II, to the Cold War, to desegregation, to the problems that beset President …

King Tut And Tahrir Square: The Egyptian Revolution Of 2011 And The Advantage Of Viewing Cultural Heritage Destruction Through A Right To Culture Lens, Zoe Niesel

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Canon 1095 And The Dignitas Connubii: The Role Of Consent, Incapacity, And Psychic Anomalies In Cases Of Matrimonial Nullity, Roberto Rosas

Faculty Articles

This Article will focus on the following points: (1) the essential elements of marriage; (2) the basic principle of matrimonial consent; (3) the nature of consent; (4) acts through which consent is formed; (5) matrimonial nullity in Canon Law; (6) Canon Law and the Dignitas Connubil (Dignitas); and (7) recent jurisprudence concerning matrimonial nullity. It aims to shed light and clarify paragraphs 2 and 3 of Canon 1095 of the Code by making clear how the causes of defect of discretion of judgment and the inability to assume the essential obligations due to some sort of psychic disorder or anomaly …