Law Commons^™

Stay In The Fight With Civility And Professionalism, David Spratt

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Conflicted Counselors: Retaliation Protections For Attorney-Whistleblowers In An Inconsistent Regulatory Regime, Jennifer M. Pacella

Jennifer M. Pacella, Esq.

Attorneys, especially in-house counsel, are subject to retaliation by employers in much the same way as traditional whistleblowers, often experiencing retaliation and loss of livelihood for reporting instances of wrongdoing about their clients. Although attorney-whistleblowing undoubtedly invokes ethical concerns, attorneys who “appear and practice” before the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) are required by federal law to act as internal whistleblowers under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”) and report evidence of material violations of the law within the organizations that they represent. An attorney’s failure to comply with these obligations will result in SEC-imposed civil penalties and disciplinary action. Recent federal …

Client Trust Account Fraud: Analyzing State, Federal, And International Rules And Regulations While Developing Effective Solutions For Prevention, Daniel H. Smith

Daniel H Smith

CLIENT TRUST ACCOUNT FRAUD: ANALYZING STATE, FEDERAL, AND INTERNATIONAL RULES AND REGULATIONS WHILE DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS FOR PREVENTION Daniel Hooper Smith Abstract Client Trust Account Fraud: Analyzing State, Federal, and International Rules and Regulations While Developing Effective Solutions for Prevention examines client trust accounts and fiduciary duties associated with them and categorizes three types of client trust account fraud (“CTA fraud”). In addition, this Article compares four states’ client trust account rules and regulations and discusses how fraudsters attempt to circumvent the law in each jurisdiction. This Article then analyzes state, federal, and international agency regulation with respect to client …

Wasting The Corporate Waste Doctrine: Why Waste Claims Are Obsolete In Delaware Corporate Law And Why The Waste Doctrine Is The Wrong Solution To The Problem Of Executive Compensation, Kris S. Swift

Kris S. Swift

Abstract

Kristen S. Swift

This Note makes several points, drawn from Delaware litigation history, on the futility of pleading corporate waste in Delaware. At inception, the waste doctrine was a tool for shareholder protection and empowerment; however, as calculated business risk became encouraged and later formally protected by the business judgment rule, the waste doctrine evolved to protect officers and boards and now sets a nearly impossible benchmark for misconduct that would allow shareholders to recover on a waste claim. The waste doctrine is inextricably tied to how business risk-taking is perceived by Delaware courts and shifting attitudes toward risk …

Janus Capital Group, Inc. V. First Derivative Traders: The Culmination Of The Supreme Court’S Evolution From Liberal To Reactionary In Rule 10b-5 Actions, Charles W. Murdock

Charles W. Murdock

“Political” decisions such as Citizens United and National Federation of Independent Business (“Obamacare”) reflect the reactionary bent of several Supreme Court justices. But this reactionary trend is discernible in other areas as well. With regard to Rule 10b-5, the Court has handed down a series of decisions that could be grouped into four trilogies. The article examines the trend over the past 40 years which has become increasingly conservative and finally reactionary.

The first trilogy was a liberal one, arguably overextending the scope of Rule 10b-5. This was followed by a conservative trilogy which put a brake on such extension, …

The Constitution, The Roberts Court & Business: The Significant Business Impact Of The Supreme Court's 2011-2012 Term, Corey A. Ciocchetti

Corey A Ciocchetti

The 2011-2012 Supreme Court term created quite the media buzz. The Affordable Care Act cases and the controversial Arizona immigration law dominated the headlines. But the term also included other fascinating yet less sensationalized cases. The Court heard its fair share of criminal law controversies involving derelict defense attorneys and prosecutors as well as civil procedure disputes involving qualified immunity for witness in grand jury proceedings and private parties assisting the government in litigation. The justices also entertained arguments on a federal law allowing United States citizens born in Jerusalem to have “Israel” stamped as their birthplace on a passport. …

A How To Guide For Incorporating Global And Comparative Perspectives Into The Required Professional Responsibility Course, Laurel S. Terry

Faculty Scholarly Works

This article was written for an AALS symposium on "Teaching Legal Ethics" and discusses how to incorporate global and comparative perspectives into the required Professional Responsibility course. The scope of the paper is much broader, however. The first half of the paper explains why global and comparative perspectives are relevant to contemporary law practice. This section explains why global perspectives are relevants to clients and lawyers and explains why lawyer regulators now use a more global approach to regulation than previously. The second half illustrates how one can introduce global and comparative perspectives into a professional responsibility course without taking …

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Explaining The Value Of Transactional Lawyering, Steven L. Schwarcz

ExpressO

This article attempts, empirically, to explain the value that lawyers add when acting as counsel to parties in business transactions. Contrary to existing scholarship, which is based mostly on theory, this article shows that transactional lawyers add value primarily by reducing regulatory costs, thereby challenging the reigning models of transactional lawyers as “transaction cost engineers” and “reputational intermediaries.” This new model not only helps inform contract theory but also reveals a profoundly different vision than existing models for the future of legal education and the profession.

Bond Repudiation, Tax Codes, The Appropriations Process And Restitution Post-Eminent Domain Reform, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

This brief comment suggests where the anti-eminent domain movement might be heading next.

Attorneys As Gatekeepers: Sec Actions Against Lawyers In The Age Of Sarbanes-Oxley, Lewis D. Lowenfels, Alan R. Bromberg, Michael J. Sullivan

ExpressO

Following the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on July 30, 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission has substantially increased the number of actions it has initiated against lawyers. And a substantial number of these recent SEC actions against counsel to public companies (both internal and external) have highlighted the SEC’s resolve to hold lawyers accountable for not performing adequately their SEC-conceived role as “gatekeepers” to prevent fraud and other violations of the federal securities laws. This “gatekeeper” concept has been and is being implemented through SEC actions addressing a wide variety of alleged transgressions in a wide diversity of factual …

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Price, Path & Pride: Third-Party Closing Opinion Practice Among U.S. Lawyers (A Preliminary Investigation), Jonathan C. Lipson

ExpressO

This article presents the first in-depth exploration of third-party closing opinions, a common but curious – and potentially troubling -- feature of U.S. business law practice. Third-party closing opinions are letters delivered at the closing of most large transactions by the attorney for one party (e.g., the borrower) to the other party (e.g., the lender) offering limited assurance that the transaction will have legal force and effect.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of legal opinions are delivered every week. Yet, lawyers often complain that they create needless risk and cost, and produce little benefit. Closing opinions thus pose a basic question: …

Lex Mercatoria And Legal Pluralism: A Late Thirteenth-Century Treatise And Its Afterlife, Daniel Coquillette, Mary Elizabeth Basile, Jane Fair Bestor, Charles Donahue Jr.

Daniel R. Coquillette

Lex Mercatoria is the earliest known treatment of what a later age would call “the law merchant”. This work provides important insights into the legal framework of English commerce in the reign of Edward

Incipit Lex Mercatoria, Que, Quando, Ubi, Inter Quos Et De Quibus Sit: El Tratado De Lex Mercatoria En El Little Red Book De Bristol, Daniel Coquillette

Daniel R. Coquillette

No abstract provided.

Art And Law: At Home And Abroad, Douglass Boshkoff

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Civilian Writers Of Doctors' Commons, London: Three Centuries Of Juristic Innovation In Comparative, Commercial And International Law, Daniel Coquillette

Daniel R. Coquillette

No abstract provided.