Law Commons^™

So You Want To Teach Law, Rachel A. Van Cleave

Publications

After practicing law and perhaps specializing in a particular area for several years, you cannot help but think, "I wish they had taught me [blank] in law school." You start to wonder whether you could teach a class at a local law school. Here are some tips for pursuing such an endeavor.

Class Notes In "Skills" Courses, Wes R. Porter

Publications

Generally. a student's individual notes are near useless in a skills course. Students do "take notes" in our classes. During lectures. demonstrations. performances by their peers and instructor's critiques, they write down something. But. what do these notes look like? How useful are they after the specific exercise and after the course? Do students retain the notes? Turns out, these notes are not very useful at all.

Life Experience Matters, Wes R. Porter

Publications

The inter-generational tech knowledge gap presents a dilemma for the courts when distinguishing between lay opinion and expert testimony, explains Wes Porter of Golden Gate University School of Law.

Failure To Launch, Alan Ramo

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No abstract provided.

Community Growth And Land Use, Susan Kelly

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No abstract provided.

Urbanization, Water Quality, And The Regulated Landscape, Dave Owen

Publications

Watershed scientists frequently describe urbanization as a primary cause of water quality degradation, and recent studies conclude that even in lightly-developed watersheds, urbanization often precludes attainment of water quality standards. This article considers legal responses to this pervasive problem. It explains why traditional legal measures have been ineffective, and it evaluates several recent innovations piloted in the northeastern United States and potentially applicable across the nation. Specifically, the innovations involve using impervious cover TMDLs, residual designation authority, and collective permitting. More generally, the innovations involve transferring regulatory focus from end-of-the-pipe to landscape-based controls. I conclude that the innovations, while raising …

Teaching The Business Of Law, Maurice Zilber

Publications

No abstract provided.

Effective Email Strategies For Law Students And Lawyers, Susanne Aronowitz

Publications

While most of you have been using email for as long as you can remember, communicating as a lawyer (or future lawyer) carries some unique obligations and responsibilities. Employers, clients, deans, faculty, and licensing agencies all have an interest in how you present yourself publicly. As a savvy legal professional, using email effectively can help you cultivate a reputation for integrity and strong communication skills. Conversely, thoughtless blunders can damage not only your own reputation, but that of colleagues, co-workers, employers, and clients. By taking the same level of care with your personal correspondence that you would with your motions …

The Public Trust Navigates California's Bay Delta, Paul Stanton Kibel

Publications

California's Bay Delta, where freshwater from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers meets the saltwater from San Francisco Bay, has been mired in litigation and political controversy for decades. In the 2009 Delta Reform Act, the California State Water Board was ordered to conduct hearings to establish flow criteria to protect public trust resources in the Bay Delta. This article examines how the statutory deployment of the public trust in the 2009 Delta Reform Act built on the California Supreme Court's 1983 National Audubon decision, and details the California State Water Board proceedings leading up to the public trust Delta …

Why Cops Lie, Peter Keane

Publications

Police officer perjury in court to justify illegal dope searches is commonplace. One of the dirty little not-so-secret secrets of the criminal justice system is undercover narcotics officers intentionally lying under oath. It is a perversion of the American justice system that strikes directly at the rule of law. Yet it is the routine way of doing business in courtrooms everywhere in America.

Complex Employment Issues In Elder Care, Marci Seville, Hina Shah

Publications

While lawyers often associate estate planning with aging parents, there are, in fact, a host of employment law issues related to elder care that can leave one's head spinning. This article addresses obligations that arise under California law when you or your family members hire caregivers. When hiring a caregiver — either at home or when additional individual care is needed in a facility such as assisted living — you must comply with a complex patchwork of laws and regulations governing wages and working conditions.

Mixed Messages On Mortgage Foreclosures, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

A review of recent California decisions involving challenges to mortgage foreclosures.

Developing Talent, Marcie Areias

Publications

Investing in attorney development is critical to the success of any law firm, regardless of its size. With the recession drastically shrinking recruiting efforts and attorney numbers, firms must focus on retention and training for a broader skill set. Over the last few years, the number of firms with personnel dedicated specifically to attorney development has been on the rise. Now, large law firms have departments focused specifically on development efforts, and smaller firms are appointing partners and committees to handle such matters.

Playing To Your Strengths: Re-Energizing Yourself And Your Career In 2011, Marcie Areias

Publications

With the holiday cheer now over, it is not uncommon to feel a little down this time of year. However, there is something you can do to re-engage yourself at work and build the confidence you need to serve your clients successfully: develop your strengths. Whether you work in the public or private sector, are a managing partner or entry-level associate, your contributions are integral to the success of your office. Building upon the strengths you and your colleagues possess will lead to effective team building and ultimately better client service.

Ninth Circuit Strikes Out On Hearsay, Peter Keane

Publications

The recent Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion, United States v. Barry Bonds , is a murky distortion of an important Federal Rule of Evidence. Quite apart from any celebrity status about a decision regarding the upcoming perjury trial of the former Giants' slugger, the ruling significantly affects the admissibility of evidence in the federal courts in an unfortunate and erroneous way.

Winter 2011 Utton Center Newsletter, Utton Center, University Of New Mexico - School Of Law

Publications

No abstract provided.

Wilkes V. Springside Nursing Home, Inc.: A Historical Perspective, Mark J. Loewenstein

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No abstract provided.

Ip Legal Ethics In The Everyday Practice Of Law: An Empirical Perspective On Patent Litigators, William T. Gallagher

Publications

This article presents preliminary findings from a qualitative empirical study of patent litigators. Part of a larger and ongoing project studying intellectual property lawyers in patent, trademark, and copyright enforcement and litigation actions, this article focuses on ethical decision-making by patent litigators in the pretrial discovery process. The article is based on data from in-depth, semistructured interviews with fifty-five patent litigators and from a detailed case study of the infamous Qualcomm patent sanctions case. The article critically examines how patent litigators perceive of and respond to ethical issues that arise in the discovery process. It also analyzes the structural and …

A Unique Bench, A Common Code: Evaluating Judicial Ethics In Juvenile Court, Michele Benedetto Neitz

Publications

Recent cases involving ethical scandals on the juvenile court bench have caught the interest of legal scholars, judges, practitioners, and the public. This article proposes a new theoretical framework for assessing these problems and articulates a series of vital ethical reforms.

Despite their distinct role in an atypical court, juvenile court judges are not subject to unique ethical standards. Most jurisdictions have adopted the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct as the ethical code guiding juvenile court judges. However, this Model Code, intended to apply to any person in a decision-making capacity, was created for a more conventional type of …

Broadening Low-Wage Workers' Access To Justice: Guaranteeing Unpaid Wages In Targeted Industries, Hina Shah

Publications

The need to restructure the limited liability rule as it applies to low-wage workers' wages is more compelling than ever. As the Wins case illustrates, a simpler and more straightforward mechanism is needed to ensuring that low-wage workers recover the wages they earned. This article offers an in-depth analysis on the problems faced by wage creditors and sets forth recommendations for reform that would guarantee low-wage workers' wages, thus exempting them from the limited liability rule. Part II traces the history of the limited liability rule. Particular attention is paid to the justifications for the limited liability rule, the effect …

The Pendulum In Federal Sentencing Can Also Swing Toward Predictability: A Renewed Role For Binding Plea Agreements Post-Booker, Wes R. Porter

Publications

This article argues that in addition to the swing toward increased judicial discretion and overall lower sentences, the pendulum also can swing toward predictability and informed decision making for the defendant. The federal sentencing scheme must allow a defendant to pursue, negotiate, and contract for what the defendant believes is a uniform, proportional, and fair sentence. Increased use of binding plea agreements in federal court could complement the progressive developments following Booker and restore some predictability and informed decision making to federal sentencing. However, without significant rule, policy, and perception changes, like those proposed in Part VI of this article, …

“I Coulda Been A Contender”: Lost Profits After A Contract Breach, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article forewarns litigators and transactionalists of the potential pitfalls regarding lost profits where a seller breaches a contract ti convey property. Considerations cover the various stages of a purchase agreement from negotiating the deal, conducting litigation, and introducing evidence.

New Ccp §580e: Deficiency Protection For Certain Short Sales, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article discusses the addition of CCP 580e to the current antideficiency statutes, the kinds of borrowers protected and lenders affected. The article coves the new 580e exceptions and the protection it provides in short sales.

Wrongfully Convicted: The Overrepresentation Of The Poor, Susan Rutberg

Publications

Professor Susan Rutberg introduced a panel of her students who presented papers, each focused on an individual cause of wrongful convictions and a proposed solution to this identified problem. The panel illustrated how law school students can use the lens of their inexperience to articulate straightforward approaches that might reduce the circumstances that produce wrongful convictions and alleviate some of the hardship such convictions cause.

Chinese Soup, Good Horses, And Other Narratives: Practicing Cross-Cultural Competence Before We Preach, Marci Seville

Publications

Before we undertake teaching our students about cross-cultural competence, we need to examine carefully our own practices, and those of our colleagues and institutions, to ensure that we are not complicit in the very practices of cross-cultural “incompetence” that we hope to train our students to avoid. While there is a substantial body of scholarship on teaching this competence to our students, there is less written about practicing it ourselves as teachers and members of academic institutions. This essay will examine the latter subject and will hopefully provide some productive suggestions on ways to expand cross-cultural competence for our law …

Instream Flow And The Public Trust: Statutory Innovation In California's 2009 Delta Reform Act, Paul S. Kibel

Publications

No abstract provided.

Unjust Patents & Bargaining Breakdown: When Is Declaratory Relief Needed?, Chester Chuang

Publications

The Declaratory Judgment Act is a statute designed to give parties uncertain of their legal rights the ability to obtain a fair and impartial determination of those rights. Any action for declaratory relief must meet certain minimum jurisdictional requirements, but, interestingly, even if the case meets those requirements, the Act expressly gives courts the discretion to accept or decline the case. When, then, should a court take such a case, and when should it decline? This question is particularly important in patent cases given the frequency with which declaratory relief actions arise in patent litigation.

This Article contends that a …

Wrongfully Incarcerated, Randomly Compensated - How To Fund Wrongful-Conviction Compensation Statutes, Deborah M. Mostaghel

Publications

It is sadly true that there are people in this country who are sentenced to prison, and even death, for crimes they did not commit. Some have been exonerated and released, largely as the result of innocence projects that have helped prisoners assemble DNA evidence that shows they were not the perpetrators. Some have been exonerated years after they died in prison. Many others are no doubt never exonerated. For a wrongfully convicted person, exoneration is the end of one road but only the beginning of another. Unbelievably, exonerees starting out on the road back to society find that they …

Engaging The Legal Academy In Disaster Response, Rachel A. Van Cleave, Davida Finger, Laila Hlass, Anne S. Hornsby, Susan S. Kuo

Publications

More than six years ago, volunteer lawyers, law students, and law faculty from the Gulf Coast and around the country provided assistance to communities devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the systemic failures of their own government. The volunteers provided much-needed support at a time when existing legal institutions were completely overwhelmed. Through their participation, the law students learned important firsthand lessons about the lack of equality in society, the possibility of redress through law, and the limitations of law.

Disasters present challenges and opportunities for law schools and other academic institutions with social justice missions because they expose …

The Importance Of U.S. Law And Teaching Methods To Korean Undergraduates, Helen H. Kang

Publications

I will talk about three aspects of teaching American law outside of the U.S. and incorporating U.S. legal teaching methods or pedagogies in teaching American law. First, I will briefly discuss international trends as they relate to adoption of the American legal education system – in form, substance, and in delivery. Second, I will talk about the reasons for these trends and what they may signify for teaching American law here in Korea. And, finally, I will talk about the future of teaching American law to Korean students and using American teaching methods.