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2009

Jurisprudence

Inc.

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Law

Civil Jury Trials R.I.P. - Can It Actually Happen In America Essay., Royal Furgeson Jan 2009

Civil Jury Trials R.I.P. - Can It Actually Happen In America Essay., Royal Furgeson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Civil jury trials in America have been declining at a steady rate for the last thirty years. This is a well-documented trend. If the trend continues, within the foreseeable future, civil jury trials in American may eventually become extinct. Jury trials have been central to justice in America and its states since their inception. Their importance has been stated as bringing accountability to the law and to society. As all persons, even the powerful and wealthy ones, are accountable under the law. Yet, as important as juries and jury trials are to the health of justice in America, the civil …


Loyalty In Limbo: The Peculiar Case Of Attorneys' Loyalty To Clients., Eli Wald Jan 2009

Loyalty In Limbo: The Peculiar Case Of Attorneys' Loyalty To Clients., Eli Wald

St. Mary's Law Journal

Attorney loyalty to clients is considered a cornerstone of the attorney-client relationship. Yet, loyalty is underexplored, misunderstood, and the subject of heated discord. Advocates of client-centered loyalty and their opponents both fail to provide a compelling accounting of loyalty to clients and its consequences. Leaving loyalty in limbo is an unacceptable state of affairs. The legal profession bears the continuous burden of accounting for its own practices. Because the Bar cannot assert broad client-centered loyalty as self-explanatory, the burden of disproving loyalty shifts to the critics. Critics of broad loyalty to clients are not helping advance the discourse by advocating …


Patent-Holding Patent Attorneys: Conflicts Of Interests, Confidentiality, And Employment Issues Comment., Ashley R. Presson Jan 2009

Patent-Holding Patent Attorneys: Conflicts Of Interests, Confidentiality, And Employment Issues Comment., Ashley R. Presson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Patents are grants issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which confer upon the holder, the patentee, patent rights to such intellectual property as inventions, technologies, and processes. Patent rights include the right to exclude others from “making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States.” Once the USTPO has granted a patent, the inventor may market the product. Patentees who do not have the funds or time to market the product may profit by conveying the legal rights conferred by the patent to other …


Practitioners Beware: Under Amended Trap 47, Unpublished Memorandum Opinions In Civil Cases Are Binding And Research On Westlaw And Lexis Is A Necessity., Andrew T. Solomon Jan 2009

Practitioners Beware: Under Amended Trap 47, Unpublished Memorandum Opinions In Civil Cases Are Binding And Research On Westlaw And Lexis Is A Necessity., Andrew T. Solomon

St. Mary's Law Journal

In 2003 and 2008, the Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure (TRAP) 47 was amended. TRAP 47 is the rule which governs the issuance, citation, and precedential value of unpublished and memorandum opinions. The 2003 amendment was designed to make the law more readily available by prohibiting the issuance of unpublished opinions in civil cases and authorizing memorandum opinions in place of unpublished opinions. Despite its intention, the 2003 amendment failed to make civil case law more readily available. This is because such new opinions are only available via electronic repository, such as Westlaw or Lexis. As a result, to completely …