Law Commons^™

Testing, Diversity, And Merit: A Reply To Dan Subotnik And Others, Andrea A. Curcio, Carol L. Chomsky, Eileen Kaufman

Andrea A. Curcio

The false dichotomy between achieving diversity and rewarding merit frequently surfaces in discussions about decisions on university and law school admissions, scholarships, law licenses, jobs, and promotions. “Merit” judgments are often based on the results of standardized tests meant to predict who has the best chance to succeed if given the opportunity to do so. This Article criticizes over-reliance on standardized tests and responds to suggestions that challenging the use of such tests reflects a race-comes-first approach that chooses diversity over merit. Discussing the firefighter exam the led to the Supreme Court decision in Ricci v. DiStefano, as well …

Say Sorry And Save: A Practical Argument For A Greater Role For Apologies In Medical Malpractice Law, Matthew Pillsbury

University of Massachusetts Law Review

This article examines both the potential benefits and detriments of the use of an apology in a legal setting. This article uses the specific environment surrounding a medical malpractice case to help illustrate how and why an apology should or should not be proffered by the Defendant. Ultimately, the reader of this article should have a solid understanding of how an apology can be admissible as evidence in the litigation of a medical malpractice lawsuit.

On Apology, Robert Ward

University of Massachusetts Law Review

On February 16, 2006, Dr. Aaron Lazare, Dean and Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, addressed an assembly at the Southern New England School of Law on his critically acclaimed book entitled: “On Apology!” According to Dr. Lazare, to be an effective apology, there must be acknowledgement, remorse, explanation and reparation. Dr. Lazare advances the hypothesis that the current proliferation of cases in our legal system is predicated on the concept that often the aggrieved party was not the beneficiary of an effective apology. In the context of the patient-physician relationship, an effective apology means telling the patient …

The Veterans Clinic And Legal Education: A Conversation With Professor Steven Berenson, Steven Berenson, Paul Lee

University of Massachusetts Law Review

This Article is a conversation between Professor Berenson and the UMass Law Review, discussing both his experience setting up the Clinic and the Clinic’s achievements. Part II provides a brief introduction to Professor Berenson’s work and how he started the TJSL Veterans Clinic. Part III considers veterans particular legal needs and how the Clinic addresses these issues. The Article concludes with some remarks from Professor Berenson regarding the future of the Clinic, and the overall movement of law schools toward greater practical education.

Self-Inflicted Wounds: How Military Regulations Prejudice Service Members, Kyndra Miller Rotunda, Ari Freilich

University of Massachusetts Law Review

This Article discusses two important facets of Military Regulation and veterans law. First, this Article explores how the Uniform Code of Military Justice treats veterans accused of committing self-injury. Thus, there is a prohibition on , including criminal prosecution of, attempted suicide, which this Article argues exacerbates the issues which many of our brave servicemen and women face upon returning home from combat, often carrying the burden of mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Second, this Article delves into Air Force Regulations, which prohibits termination, without cause, once an officer reaches the rank of Major and has served at …

Testing, Diversity, And Merit: A Reply To Dan Subotnik And Others, Andrea A. Curcio, Carol L. Chomsky, Eileen Kaufman

University of Massachusetts Law Review

The false dichotomy between achieving diversity and rewarding merit frequently surfaces in discussions about decisions on university and law school admissions, scholarships, law licenses, jobs, and promotions. “Merit” judgments are often based on the results of standardized tests meant to predict who has the best chance to succeed if given the opportunity to do so. This Article criticizes over-reliance on standardized tests and responds to suggestions that challenging the use of such tests reflects a race-comes-first approach that chooses diversity over merit. Discussing the firefighter exam the led to the Supreme Court decision in Ricci v. DiStefano, as well …

Closing The Doors To Justice: A Critique Of Pimentel V. Dreyfus And The Application Of Legal Formalism To The Elimination Of Food Assistance Benefits For Legal Immigrants, Hannah Zommick

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment contends that the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Pimentel v. Dreyfus employed a legal formalist approach and that by applying this framework, the court prevented legal immigrants, who were caught between the strict eligibility restrictions of welfare reform, from asserting their rights through the justice system. The legal formalist approach “treats the law as a set of scientific formulae or principles that are derived from the study of case law. These principles create an internal analytical framework which, when applied to a set of facts, leads the decision maker, through logical deduction, to the correct outcome in a case.” …

Supreme Court, New York County, Khrapunskiy V. Doar, Daphne Vlcek

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Appellate Division, Second Department, Langan V. St. Vincent's Hospital Of New York, Christin Harris

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Art, Craft, And Future Of Legal Journalism: A Tribute To Anthony Lewis , Richard C. Reuben

Missouri Law Review

In the modern era, few performed this function better than Anthony Lewis, the legendary U.S. Supreme Court reporter and columnist for The New York Times, who died in March 2013. A pioneer in the coverage of law and the courts, Lewis is widely credited with being one of the founders of contemporary legal journalism. Through a remarkable career that included two Pulitzer Prizes and five books, Lewis taught by example a generation of journalists how to cover the law with accuracy, insight, perspective, and passion. While the law can often be dry and technical, and cases idiosyncratic, Lewis showed legal …

Legal Journalism Today: Change Or Die, Howard Mintz

Missouri Law Review

Several years ago, I was a guest speaker for a media and law class at San Jose State University, volunteering my expertise as a legal journalist with a couple decades under my belt of covering courts and law. As I went through my usual dialogue, describing some of the newfound challenges of being a journalist in this brave new digital world, one of the students piped in about Twitter, which at the time was an emerging phenomenon that I frankly considered a mind-numbing threat to intelligent reporting with the shelf life of the Pet Rock (an obsolete cultural reference that …

For Law Review Citations, Are All Citators Created Equal? A Comparison Of Four Citators, Pamela C. Brannon

Pamela Brannon

No abstract provided.

The Experiences Of School Counselors With Court Involvement Related To Child Custody, Crystal E. Hatton

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Professional school counselors are often confronted with a myriad of legal and ethical challenges when working with students and their families. While school counselors are discouraged from becoming involved in child custody matters, many are unable to avoid the process for a variety of reasons. This qualitative phenomenological research inquiry explored professional school counselors' experiences with court involvement in child custody matters and sought to understand how such experiences may have affected how they perceive their role in assisting children and families who are undergoing divorce, separation, or child custody disputes. A series of semi-structured interview questions and a written …

The Child Client: Representing Children In Child Protective Proceedings, Merril Sobie

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Dynamic Cycle Of Legal Change, John Martinez

Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy

Justice Holmes's observation that the law is a product of empirical experience, not a problem of mathematics, leaves us with the task of figuring out how the legal system actually works. Although Holmes made his statement over 130 years ago, there is still no universally accepted analytical approach for describing how the American legal system creates and changes the law. This article proposes a "Dynamic Cycle of Legal Change" as a model for understanding the structure and operation of the American legal system.

Part I first posits that we should consider the legal system from an "information systems" perspective. Part …

Navigating Pacific Fisheries: Legal And Policy Trends In The Implementation Of International Fisheries Instruments In The Western And Central Pacific Region, Quentin Hanich, Ben M. Tsamenyi

Quentin Hanich

Navigating Pacific Fisheries analyses the legal and policy context for the conservation, management and exploitation of tuna fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific region.

Equipping Students For The Real World: Using Scaffolding Experimental Approach To Teach The Skill Of Legal Drafting, Tammy Johnson, Francina Cantatore

Francina Cantatore

This article responds to the difficulty that lawyers sometimes face in maintaining the balance between protecting their clients’ legal interests and translating complex legislative provisions into plain language that conveys the appropriate message to the intended audience. Using the example of a consumer credit contract transaction, Part II highlighted common drafting challenges. With these difficulties in mind, Part III discussed the theory of teaching legal skills, with a particular focus on teaching the skill of legal drafting, suggesting that a scaffolded experiential approach to skills development is an effective way to nurture the development of students’ legal drafting skills.

Watching The Watchers: The Growing Privatization Of Criminal Law Enforcement And The Need For Limits On Neighborhood Watch Associations, Sharon Finegan

University of Massachusetts Law Review

On the night of February 26, 2012, George Zimmerman, a member of a neighborhood watch program, was patrolling his community in Sanford, Florida, when he spotted Trayvon Martin, a seventeen-year-old Africa-American high school student, walking through the neighborhood. Zimmerman dialed 911 and indicated that he was following "a real suspicious guy". The police dispatcher requested that Zimmerman discontinue following Martin, but he ignored the request and approached the teenager. In the resulting confrontation, Zimmerman used his legally owned semi-automatic handgun to shoot and kill Trayvon Martin. Martin, who was unarmed, had been returning from a local convenience store. George Zimmerman …

Enhancing The Teaching Of Lawyering Skills And Perspectives Through Virtual World Engagement, Andrea M. Seielstad

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Educators from around the globe are rapidly utilizing and transforming virtual worlds, such as Second Life, with innovative teaching strategies. Mediation and dispute resolution, and associated communication and problem-solving skills, are particularly well suited for developing in virtual worlds, as are other lawyering skills such as, interviewing, counseling, and trial advocacy. The opportunities for students and faculty to engage in cross-cultural exchange and networking are another selling feature of virtual world engagement. Virtual worlds offer particular promise for those seeking innovative and cost-effective ways to integrate more professional training and skills development into the law school curriculum. Moreover, as more …

The Kids Aren’T Alright: Rethinking The Law Student Skills Deficit, Rebecca Flanagan

Faculty Publications

This article examines empirical research on the changes in undergraduate education since the 1960’s and discusses the challenges facing law schools admitting underprepared students.

Online Legal Advice: Ethics In The Digital Age, Paige A. Thomas

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

The rise of the Internet changed the way initial interactions between lawyers and prospective clients happen. Unfortunately, a host of problems concerning privacy rights and consumer usage have emerged. In this digital age, where immediacy and response time are driving factors in an attorney’s online presence, the approach to establish an attorney-client relationship is far more informal. Due to the quick rise of the Internet and social media, the Model Rules of Professional Conduct do not offer a clear answer for attorneys using social media. An inherent danger lies in off-the-cuff remarks, made on the Internet—a platform generally associated with …

The Socratic Method As A Pedagogical Method In Legal Education, Lowell Bautista

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

The Socratic Method has been traditionally regarded as the core of legal pedagogy. It has come to define legal education for nearly two centuries and remains a potent influence on the method of instruction found in most modern law schools around the globe. In particular, the Socratic Method is almost universally acknowledged as the defining characteristic of the American legal education system. In fact, the Socratic Method is so entrenched in modern American legal pedagogy that it has been opined that ‘a law school just isn't a law school without the Socratic method.’ In the Australian context, the suggestion that …

Southeast Asia's Maritime Piracy: Challenges, Legal Instruments And A Way Forward, Ahmad Amri

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Piracy is considered a critical maritime security threat in Southeast Asia. Whilst piracy has always been a perennial problem in the region, this threat has received increasing attention over the past few years. Reports published by the International Maritime Organization as well as the International Maritime Bureau show an alarming increase in acts of piracy on Southeast Asian waters over the past decade. In ancient times, the main drivers of piracy were raiding for plunder and capture of slaves; however, in modern times, developments in politics, economics and even military technology have drastically altered the universal crime of piracy. There …

Engendering 'Rural' Practice: Women’S Lived Experience Of Legal Practice In Regional, Rural And Remote Communities In Queensland, Trish Mundy

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

The experience and marginalised status of women lawyers within the Australian legal profession has been well documented over the past two decades. However, very little is known empirically about the ways in which 'rural' space and place might transform or impact that experience, and their relationship with the retention of women in rural, regional and remote (RRR) practice. This article reports on a phenomenological study of the lived experience of female solicitors practising in RRR communities in Queensland. The study asked 23 solicitors (male and female) about their experience of life and legal practice in their communities. This article concludes …

Dowry In Bangladesh: A Search From An International Perspective For An Effective Legal Approach To Mitigate Women’S Experiences, Afroza Begum

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

For some 40 years, Bangladesh has fought a losing battle against the existence of dowries and their associated abuse with no indication of even a minimal impact as dowry demands inflate and violence increases. In one year alone, dowry related violence claimed the lives of 325 women and contributed to 66.7 per cent of the violent incidents against women. This article aims to investigate the appropriateness and effectiveness of legal approaches to dowry and propose a different standard for redressing women’s disadvantaged situation in the traditional culture of Bangladesh.

Applying The Critical Lens To Judicial Officers And Legal Practitioners Involved In Sentencing Indigenous Offenders: Will Anyone Or Anything Do?, Elena Marchetti, Janet Ransley

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

In recent years there have been many attempts aimed at transforming the relationship between Indigenous people and the criminal justice system in Australia. Some of these attempts have been directed at policing relationships, including such measures as community and night patrols. Others have focused on prisons, including attempts at greater cultural accommodation, and even the building of Aboriginal prisons. The focus of this article, however, is on the relationship between Indigenous people and court processes, especially in regards to sentencing. In particular, the article explores innovative sentencing courts, practices and principles introduced across the Australian jurisdictions specifically aimed at Indigenous …

Medicaid Expansion As Completion Of The Great Society, Nicole Huberfeld, Jessica L. Roberts

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

On the doorstep of its fiftieth anniversary, Medicaid at last could achieve the ambitious goals President Lyndon B. Johnson enunciated for the Great Society upon signing Medicare and Medicaid into law in 1965. Although the spotlight shone on Medicare at the time, Medicaid was the “sleeper program” that caught America’s neediest in its safety net—but only some of them. Medicaid’s exclusion of childless adults and other “undeserving poor” loaned an air of “otherness” to enrollees, contributing to its stigma and seeming political fragility. Now, Medicaid touches every American life. One in five Americans benefits from Medicaid’s healthcare coverage, and that …

Reasonable Accommodations On The Bar Exam: Leveling The Playing Field Or Providing An Unfair Advantage?, Amanda M. Foster

Valparaiso University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mismatch And The Empirical Scholars Brief, Richard Sander

Valparaiso University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Segregation In United States Healthcare: From Reconstruction To Deluxe Jim Crow, Kerri L. Hunkele

Honors Theses and Capstones

During the time period between Reconstruction and the Deluxe Jim Crow era, African Americans were legally oppressed, which hindered their ability to live fully and equally in society with whites. This was especially true in terms of healthcare. Segregation laws were implemented to separate blacks from the rest of society in everyday life; the worst of these laws affected the ability of African Americans to gain access to medical care that was equal to whites. This inequality prevented blacks from being accepted into society and from living quality lives that stem from adequate healthcare. Although the federal and state governments …