Law Commons^™

Alternative Dispute Resolution At The Environmental Protection Agency, Joel B. Eisen

Law Faculty Publications

This chapter examines how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods to help resolve complex environmental disputes. In recent years, the EPA's use of ADR has increased dramatically in a wide variety of settings. The EPA has made ADR a central feature of its environmental enforcement strategy, encouraged its use in Title VI and environmental justice conflict settings, and turned to negotiated rulemaking as an alternative to the cumbersome notice-and-comment process for the development of new federal regulations. Other EPA programs, such as the Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative, promote nonadversarial methods for tackling complex environmental …

The Extradition Proceedings Against General Pinochet: A Case Study In The Emerging International System Of Criminal Justice, Lee _

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The ruling of the House of Lords that General Pinochet can be extradited to Spain to stand trial for crimes against humanity lends support to the emerging theory of universal jurisdiction for certain crimes under international law. The following discussion of the elements of General Pinochet's case will show that the international community, by and large, is willing to sacrifice some national sovereignty in order to eradicate torture and other human rights violations. It will do so through an elucidation of the concepts of jus cogens, international ethics, head of state immunity, human rights crimes, universal jurisdiction, and extradition.

Virginia State Bar Committee To Study The Virginia Code Of Professional Responsibility: Substantive Differences Between The Virgina Rules Of Professional Conduct And The Code Of Professional Responsibility, Tom Spahn

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct contain provisions that: - require Virginia lawyers to take action that is not required under the Code; - prohibit conduct that is permitted by the Code; - permit conduct that is prohibited by the Code; and - permit conduct that is not explicitly permitted by the Code. The following lists describe these four categories of substantive changes. Each change refers to the applicable Rules provision, as well as the relevant Code provision (if any). For more detailed information, please refer to the Detailed Comparison Chart or to the Rules themselves.

Charter School Legislation In Virginia: How Race, Regional Tension, And The Absence Of Crisis Produced A "Weak" Law, Frederick M. Hess, Bradley C. Davis

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The widespread success of charter school legislation has fostered a perception that charter schooling is apolitical and has clouded our understanding of the politics of the issue. In a case study of Virginia's charter school program, we suggest that three important political variables have been largely overlooked to date. The "weak" form of Virginia's charter school legislation can be attributed in large part to: (1) the schism between the educationally privileged communities of Northern Virginia and those of the rest of the state, (2) the lack of a perceived educational crisis, and (3) the vocal presence of minority opposition. Teacher …

Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel, F. Emmit Fitzpatrick, Nialena Caravasos

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

As an accompaniment to the surge of litigation, we have also witnessed an increase in the claims of ineffective representation by counsel. As more and more litigants are called upon to respond to such claims, the appellate courts have been forced to delineate a basic threshold of competence. Not only is the standard by which counsel is deemed effective or ineffective constantly changing, but also decisions of the higher courts have been devoid of a guideline through which future problems may be anticipated. The review of case law below traces the evolution of both state and federal decisions during approximately …

The Delivery Of Legal Services Through Multidisciplinary Practices, James M. Mccauley

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

During the last decade, the "Big Six" accounting firms entered into the legal services market overseas by establishing, acquiring, or forming ties with law firms around the world. These entities or business relationships have been called "multidisciplinary practices" or MDPs. Unlike the United States, many European countries do not prohibit partnerships and fee splitting arrangements between lawyers and nonlawyers. The February 1998 issue of the American Bar Association Journal published an article entitled "Squeeze Play" describing a turf war between the major accounting firms and lawyers practicing law in Europe. KPMG Peat Marwick, Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young, Price Waterhouse, …

Tick, Tick, Tick…The Electoral College, A Ticking Time Bomb, Paul J. Piccard, Ann M. Piccard, Mary M. Piccard

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

What can be done about this ticking bomb? Nothing short of a constitutional amendment can stop the clock. Many amendments to change the electoral college system have been proposed.Some have cleared either house of Congress, but not one has reached the states for ratification since the Twelfth Amendment. We consider some possibilities to stop the clock below.

Charter School Legislation In Virginia: How Race, Regional Tension, And The Absence Of Crisis Produced A "Weak" Law, Frederick M. Hess, Bradley C. Davis

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

The widespread success of charter school legislation has fostered a perception that charter schooling is apolitical and has clouded our understanding of the politics of the issue. In a case study of Virginia's charter school program, we suggest that three important political variables have been largely overlooked to date. The "weak" form of Virginia's charter school legislation can be attributed in large part to: (1) the schism between the educationally privileged communities of Northern Virginia and those of the rest of the state, (2) the lack of a perceived educational crisis, and (3) the vocal presence of minority opposition. Teacher …

Virginia State Bar Committee To Study The Virginia Code Of Professional Responsibility: Substantive Differences Between The Virgina Rules Of Professional Conduct And The Code Of Professional Responsibility, Tom Spahn

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

The Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct contain provisions that: - require Virginia lawyers to take action that is not required under the Code; - prohibit conduct that is permitted by the Code; - permit conduct that is prohibited by the Code; and - permit conduct that is not explicitly permitted by the Code. The following lists describe these four categories of substantive changes. Each change refers to the applicable Rules provision, as well as the relevant Code provision (if any). For more detailed information, please refer to the Detailed Comparison Chart or to the Rules themselves.

The Misappropriation Theory Under The Chinese Securities Law - A Comparative Study With Its U.S. Counterpart, Wenyan Ma

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

The first stock exchange in China, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, opened n December 1990. Since then, China’s securities market has been a journey of unprecedented development. However, the fledgling securities market is troubled by rampant securities fraud, evidence by Chinese officials’ open admission that investment in China’s securities market is very risky because of fraud and corruption. After a tortuous six-year drafting process, on December 29, 1998, the Chinese parliament passed the country’s first national Securities Law (“the Chinese Securities Law”), hoping to regulate the overwhelming fraud and corruption in China’s securities market. The Chinese Securities Law devoted one entire …

Comparative Law As A Comprehensive Approach: A European Tribute To Professor Jack A. Hiller, Bernhard Grossfield

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

An aura of "malaise" hangs over the field of Comparative Law'- sometimes alluded to as the "drama" of Comparative Law (private and public). Indeed, the comparative scholar is often asked whether his work has any practical importance. This is the question he fears most. A German legal philosopher once criticized the whole approach as follows: "Nobody asks what comparative law is and how it should be pursued. Thus, it is less to build a new structure from the laws compared, but to leave an accumulation of raw bricks in a heap that will never be used." Still today it is …

Into The Wind: Rhett Butler And The Law Of War At Sea, John Paul Jones

Law Faculty Publications

In this article, Prof. Jones reviews Scarlett O'Hara reported in the novel Gone with the Wind about Rhett Butler's career as a blockade runner for the Confederacy, and speculates about what the law of war at sea might have meant for Captain Butler's commercial operations. He focuses on three aspects of the law of war at sea-capture or prize, blockade, and neutrality.

Introduction, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

Putting this issue together was more difficult than we initially expected. Translating and editing jurisprudential articles that fuse law with philosophy and religion requires very advanced skills and is very demanding. Despite all our collective efforts to meet these challenges we are likely to have missed some errors. We are fortunate that everyone who participated in this project was ready to do their best, and thank everyone, particularly our authors, for their commitment and perseverance. Needless to say, the articles in this issue represent the views of their authors and do not reflect views of the Journal itself. The Journal …

Muslim Women's Rights In The Global Village: Challenges And Opportunities, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

In this age of information technology that shrank our world into a global village, it is fair to ask how this recent development has impacted Muslim women's rights across the world. Having just traveled through nine Muslim countries, ranging from Pakistan and Bangladesh to the Gulf States, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon, I would answer that it is leading, slowly but surely, to reassessment and change.' Attempts to accelerate the pace of this change, however, without full understanding of its complex topology, and the deep-rooted commitment by most Muslim women to spiritual and cultural authenticity, could halt or even reverse this …

Reinventing Tax Expenditure Reform: Improving Program Oversight Under The Government Performance And Results Act, Mary L. Heen

Law Faculty Publications

In this Article, Professor Heen examines the new framework for performance-based management and oversight of federallyfunded programs, describes emerging efforts to incorporate tax expenditures into the performance review process, and places these developments into context by evaluating past experiences with tax expenditure reform. Professor Heen concludes that the new framework provides a promising executive branch mechanism for achieving a more coordinated review of functionally related government programs, whether funded or implemented through direct expenditures, tax expenditures, or regulatory programs. However, as past experience illustrates (including, for example, experience with employment subsidies such as the Work Opportunity Tax Credit and the …

Note, Space-Age Medicine, Stone-Age Government: How Medicare Reimbursement Of Telemedicine Services Is Depriving The Elderly Of Quality Medical Treatment, Kristen Jakobsen Osenga

Law Faculty Publications

We have the technology. What is needed is government financial commitment, so argues Kristen Jakobsen in the following discussion of "telemedicine." The term refers to the delivery of health care services by means of modern telecommunications technology. According to Ms. Jakobsen, the telephone, the fax machine, the Internet, and interactive audio-visual transmissions hold the key to making medical care more accessible and less expensive. Potential beneficiaries include vast populations of elderly in rural areas, who tend to be remote from upscale health care facilities and in need of the wherewithal to reach them. Standing in the way, in Ms. Jakobsen's …

A Unifying Theory Of Sex Discrimination, Henry L. Chambers, Jr.

Law Faculty Publications

The structure of this Article is as follows. Part I consists of a hypothetical situation which will be referenced throughout the Article to illustrate sex discrimination jurisprudence. Part II describes the Supreme Court's disparate treatment jurisprudence. Part III describes the Court's restructuring of sexual harassment jurisprudence. Finally, Part IV examines the elimination of the distinction between sexual harassment and disparate treatment and its implications, including the new hostile work environment disparate treatment claim.

Balancing Hearsay And Criminal Discovery, John G. Douglass

Law Faculty Publications

and prosecutors. Part I of this Article argues that the conventional theory of hearsaydiscovery balance does not reflect the reality of modem federal practice. An imbalance has arisen because, in the last quarter century, developments in the law of evidence and confrontation are at odds with developments-or one might say nondevelopments-in the law of criminal discovery. Since enactment of the Federal Rules of Evidence in 1975, both the law of evidence and modem Confrontation Clause doctrine have evolved toward broader admission of hearsay in criminal cases. Contrary to conventional theory, that evolution has at least matched-and probably has outpaced-the trend …

The Next Step For The Ninth Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Arthur Hellman recently published a trenchant critique of the report compiled by the Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals. In The Unkindest Cut: The White Commission Proposal to Restructure the Ninth Circuit, he emphasizes that the report adduced little empirical data which demonstrate that the Ninth Circuit operates inefficaciously. Indeed, the commissioners candidly declared: "There is no persuasive evidence that the Ninth Circuit ... is not working effectively ... .'' Despite this admission, the Commission prescribed drastic change with a divisional concept, which Professor Hellman finds flawed. He thus urges that Congress "reject the proposal …

Another Way Of Thinking About Section 105(A) And Other Sources Of Supplemental Law Under The Bankruptcy Code, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

In this article we discuss the role of 105 in bankruptcy law generally rather than in specific bankruptcy cases. We mention a few cases as examples. Mainly, we aim at 105. We work toward an understanding of this section that explains our view of the bottom issue that determines the proper role and use of 105 and also the proper role and use of supplemental law generally.

The White Commission And The Federal Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals, or White Commission, ("the Commission") recently issued a report and recommendations for Congress and the President after studying the appellate courts for a year. The Commission investigation emphasized the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, as Congress had instructed. The centerpiece of the Commission's recommendations was a divisional arrangement for the Ninth Circuit and the remaining appellate courts as their caseloads increase. Notwithstanding this focus on the Ninth Circuit, the commissioners compiled a substantial amount of objective empirical data and some subjective information on the other …

Congress And The 2000 Federal Civil Rules Amendments, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

In April 2000, the United States Supreme Court promulgated, and Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist transmitted to the United States Congress, a comprehensive package of amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Judicial Conference of the United States, the policymaking arm of the federal courts, had forwarded these proposals to the Supreme Court in September 1999, and the Justices transmitted the amendments to Congress without making any modifications. The new group of federal rules amendments warrants assessment for two reasons. First, a few provisions in the package of revisions are comparatively controversial and could significantly change important aspects …

The Federal Appeals Courts At Century's End, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals submitted its report and suggestions to the United States Congress and the President in December 1998. The Commission spent ten months studying the "structure and alignment of the Federal Court of Appeals system, with particular reference to the Ninth Circuit," and two months developing "recommendations for such changes in circuit boundaries or structure as may be appropriate for the expeditious and effective disposition of the caseload of the Federal Courts of Appeals, consistent with fundamental concepts of fairness and due process." The centerpiece of the Commission's proposal is the …

Civil Justice Delay And Empirical Data: A Response To Professor Heise, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

One decade ago, Congress undertook an ambitious, controversial effort to reduce expense and delay in the federal civil justice system. The Civil Justice Reform Act ("CJRA") of 1990 instituted unprecedented nationwide experimentation by requiring that all ninety-four federal district courts scrutinize their civil and criminal dockets and then promulgate and apply numerous procedures which district judges believed would save cost and time in civil litigation. Congress also prescribed rigorous assessment of the six principles, guidelines, and techniques of litigation management and expense and delay reduction that federal districts in fact adopted and enforced. Lawmakers provided for an expert, independent evaluator …

1999 Annual Meeting: Strategic Initiatives Sessions, Timothy L. Coggins

Law Faculty Publications

The Superintendent of Documents with the U.S. Government Printing Office ... the Law Library Director of the Tel Aviv University School of Law ... Justices of the Supreme Courts of Virginia and Oklahoma ... Deans of three library schools .. . Several law school professors .. . the President of the American Judicature Society ... Judges from other courts ... plus many MLL members. These were among the more than 45 individuals who participated in the "Strategic Initiatives" sessions following the Sunday and Monday programs at the 1999 Annual Meeting and Conference in Washington, D.C, in July. The final report …

Museletter: January 2000, Gail F. Zwirner

Museletter

Table of Contents:

From Thermal Paper to Spam: Reflections on the Legal Community's Tango with Online Information Access by Paul Birch

Library Hours

Reference and Computer Services Staff Team Up to Provide Series of "Brownbag" Refresher Courses

Library Relaxes Drink Container Policy

ONE-L Lexis and Westlaw Training Schedule

Recent Faculty Publications

Why Urofsky V. Gilmore Still Fails To Satisfy, Michael D. Hancock

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit appears to have adopted the rule that any speech uttered by a governmental employee, in the course of performing the work for which the employee was hired, is per se not a "matter of public concern." A majority of the court relies on its holdings in DiMeglio v. Haines and Boring v. Buncombe Co. Bd. of Educ. for that proposition. That fact was evident in questioning from the en banc panel of the Fourth Circuit during its rehearing of Urofsky v. Gilmore on October 25, 1999. At issue was the …

The Y2k Problem: Proposed Statute To Guide Triers Of Fact In Determinations Of Negligence, William D. Horgan

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Following the coming new year, the Y2K Problem will create problems worldwide. While the exact extent of its harm is open to debate, there is no disagreement over its inevitability. In fact, some computer-related companies (including the makers of Norton Anti-Virus and Quicken for Windows have already been sued for damages arising from allegedly non-Y2K-compliant products. While various actors at all levels of business and government will be subject to legal liability for such malfunctions, this article will examine the legal liability of software producers and engineers under current remedial theories. Software manufacturers are a logical choice for this examination …

The Developing Legal Infrastructure And The Globalization Of Information: Constructing A Framework For Critical Choices In The New Millennium Internet -- Character, Content And Confusion, Tomas A. Lipinski

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

This paper reviews recent attempts to extend traditional property rights and other information controls and regulations into new media, such as cyberspace, primarily the World Wide Web. It reviews developments in copyright, trademark, trademark dilution, misappropriation, trespass, censorship, tort, privacy and other legal doctrines as they are reflected in recent United States case law and legislation, and to a lesser extent, in international agreements. Legal problems often arise because there is a conflict of viewpoints in how to best characterize space on the Internet, specifically the World Wide Web. Some argue that traditional ownership rights should apply, or perhaps a …

One Professor's Approach To Increasing Technology Use In Legal Education, Shelley Ross Saxer

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Legal educators must increase the use of technology in legal education today Although some legal educators may disagree vehemently with this statement, most have accepted the fact that technology has and will become an even greater part of the fabric of our learning institutions. Students in kindergarten spend some portion of their week in the computer lab. By the time kids reach their middle- and high-school years, many are well-versed in word processing programs, e-mail, and surfing the Internet. Elementary school teachers are trained and encouraged to use multi-media software, the Internet, and other technology in their classrooms because not …