Law Commons^™

Who Sits On Texas Corporate Boards? Texas Corporate Directors: Who They Are And What They Do, Lawrence J. Trautman

Lawrence J. Trautman Sr.

Corporate directors play an important role in governing American business, in the capital formation process, and are fundamental to the stewardship of economic growth. Texas businesses play a disproportionately important role among the states in aggregate U.S. job creation, responsible for 37% of all net new American jobs since the post 2008-2009 recovery began. It is the job of the board of directors to govern the corporation. The duties and responsibilities of a corporate director include: the duty of care; duty of loyalty; and duty of good faith. This paper results from the author’s previously assembled biographical data for most …

Promoting Inclusion Through Exclusion: Higher Education's Assault On The First Amendment, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

To obtain a meaningful educational experience and achieve the benefits of a diverse student body, students should confront beliefs they find abhorrent and discuss topics that bring discomfort. As it stands now, universities are transforming classrooms and campuses into sanctuaries for the over-sensitive and shelters for the easily-offended. In so doing, higher education is embracing a new, and bizarre, form of homogeneity that subtly coerces faculty members and students into restricting, not expressing, their views, and creating a climate that favors less, not more, expressive conduct. This approach undermines First Amendment values and further divorces higher education from the real …

Replay That Tune: Defending Bakke On Stare Decisis Grounds, Charles Adside Iii

Charles adside III

No abstract provided.

Corporate Boardroom Diversity: Why Are We Still Talking About This?, Lawrence J. Trautman

Lawrence J. Trautman Sr.

What exactly is board diversity and why does it matter? How does diversity fit in an attempt to build the best board for any organization? What attributes and skills are required by law and what mix of experiences and talents provide the best corporate governance? Even though most companies say they are looking for diversity, why has there been such little progress? Are required director attributes, which are a must for all boards, consistent with future diversity gains and aligned with achieving high performance and optimal board composition? My goal is to provide answers to these questions, and to discuss …

Nigger Manifesto: Ideological And Intellectual Discrimination Inside The Academy, Ellis Washington

Ellis Washington

Draft – 22 March 2014

Nigger Manifesto

Ideological Racism inside the American Academy

By Ellis Washington, J.D.

Abstract

I was born for War. For over 30 years I have worked indefatigably, I have labored assiduously to build a relevant resume; a unique curriculum vitae as an iconoclastic law scholar zealous for natural law, natural rights, and the original intent of the constitutional Framers—a Black conservative intellectual born in the ghettos of Detroit, abandoned by his father at 18 months, who came of age during the Detroit Race Riots of 1967… an American original. My task, to expressly transcend the ubiquitous …

Promoting Equitable Law School Admissions Through Legal Challenges To The Lsat, Al Alston

Al Alston

No abstract provided.

How Quickly We Forget: The Short And Undistinguished Career Of Affirmative Action, Robert Parrish

Robert Parrish

Diversity initiatives in higher education, also known as affirmative action are nearing their nadir. For those who have been watching the jurisprudence and the progression of events closely this should come as little surprise. These initiatives have been under attack since their very inception and now sit teetering on the brink of being declared unconstitutional as the United States Supreme Court considers Fisher v. Texas. Beginning with Regents of California v. Bakke in 1978, the Supreme Court has gradually and consistently whittled away these higher education diversity programs, leaving them currently in a vulnerable and legally precarious position. The Court’s …

Boardroom Diversity: Why It Matters, Lawrence J. Trautman

Lawrence J. Trautman Sr.

What exactly is board diversity and why does it matter? How does diversity fit in an attempt to build the best board for an organization? What attributes and skills are required by law and what mix of experiences and talents provide the best corporate governance? Even though most companies say they are looking for diversity, why has there been such little progress? Are required director attributes, which are a must for all boards, consistent with future diversity gains and aligned with achieving high performance and optimal board composition? How might women and people of color best cultivate the skills necessary …

Corporate Leadership And The Unfinished Diversity Movement, Evan M. Roberts Mr.

Evan M Roberts Mr.

This comment explores topics relating to diversity in the board room. It begins by covering the benefits a diverse board brings to firm, focusing on the business case rationales of saving firms money, strengthening core business concepts and corporate governance and increasing shareholder value. Next, the comment explores why, despite the apparent value a divers e board brings to a firm, corporations remain largely homogenized at the highest levels. Current legal, social and economic principles such as tournament theory and labor market externalities appear to shed light on what specific problems diversity advocates must contend with if they hope to …

The Racial Metamorphosis Of Justice Kennedy, With An Eye Towards The End Of The Second Reconstruction, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer

Luis Fuentes-Rohwer

This Essay examines the recent turn in Justice Kennedy’s race jurisprudence. The shift is palpable, from a narrow and uncompromising approach to the use of race by state actors to a more nuanced and contextual understanding of the role that race plays in American society. This is no small change, best explained by Justice Kennedy’s status on the Court as a “super median.” This is a position of power and influence, as any majority coalition must count on Justice Kennedy’s vote; but more importantly, it is also a position of true independence. Justice Kennedy entertains his idiosyncratic and very personal …

Spatial Diversity, Nicholas Stephanopoulos

Nicholas Stephanopoulos

Why do Supreme Court opinions denounce some districts as political gerrymanders but say nothing about other superficially similar districts? Why does the Court deem some majority-minority districts unnecessary under the Voting Rights Act, or even unconstitutional, but uphold other apparently analogous districts? This Article introduces a concept -- “spatial diversity” -- that helps explain these and many other election law oddities. Spatial diversity refers to the variation of a given factor over geographic space. For example, a district with a normal income distribution is spatially diverse, with respect to earnings, if most rich people live in one area and most …

Achieving Diversity In The Parents Involved Era: Evidence For Geographic Integration Plans In Metropolitan School Districts, Julian Vasquez Heilig, Meredith Richard, Kori Stroub, Michael Volonnino

Julian Vasquez Heilig

In the wake of the Parents Involved decision, which rendered unconstitutional voluntary school integration plans using individual student race, districts have adopted a number of alternative integration strategies to combat the re-segregation of America’s schools. One promising approach, developed by Berkeley Unified School District, uses neighborhood demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as proxies for student race and ethnicity in assigning students to schools. This study provides the first empirical assessment of such “geographic integration models” by 1) modeling how accurately neighborhood demographic and socioeconomic characteristics predicted student race/ethnicity, and 2) estimating the potential increases in school diversity under such a plan. …

The Promise Of Grutter: Diverse Interactions At The University Of Michigan Law School, Meera E. Deo

Meera E Deo

In Grutter v. Bollinger, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld affirmative action at the University of Michigan Law School on the grounds of educational diversity. Yet, the Court’s assumption that admitting diverse students into law school would result in improved race relations, livelier classroom conversations, and better professional outcomes for students has never been empirically tested. This article relies on survey and focus group data collected at the University of Michigan Law School campus itself in March 2010 to examine whether and how diversity affects learning. Data analysis makes clear that there are sufficient numbers of students of color on campus …

The Promise Of Grutter: Diverse Interactions At The University Of Michigan Law School, Meera E. Deo

Meera E Deo

In Grutter v. Bollinger, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld affirmative action at the University of Michigan Law School on the grounds of educational diversity. Yet, the Court’s assumption that admitting diverse students into law school would result in improved race relations, livelier classroom conversations, and better professional outcomes for students has never been empirically tested. This article relies on survey and focus group data collected at the University of Michigan Law School campus itself in March 2010 to examine whether and how diversity affects learning. Data analysis makes clear that there are sufficient numbers of students of color on campus …

Judge Harold Baer's Quixotic Crusade For Class Counsel Diversity, Michael H. Hurwitz

Michael H Hurwitz

In this comment, the author discusses the recent rulings of U.S. District Court Judge Harold Baer, Jr. directing that proposed class counsel provide evidence of its racial and gender diversity. After summarizing the provisions of Rule 23(g) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that govern the appointment of class counsel, the author analyzes Judge Baer’s rulings in light of Rule 23(g)’s requirements. The author concludes that Judge Baer’s rulings are inconsistent with the Rule’s requirements and, instead, represent the judge’s effort to impose his own policy views over the interests of the class members served by the Rule’s narrow …

The Case For Candor - Application Of The Self-Critical Analysis Privilege To Corporate Diversity Documents, Pam Jenoff

Pam Jenoff

The Case For Candor: Application Of The Self-Critical Analysis Privilege To Corporate Diversity Initiatives Pam Jenoff Diversity has become an increasingly important part of American corporate culture in the past several decades, with companies devoting significant resources to the assessment of diversity and the implementation of plans to improve demographics, employee relations and morale. Attempts to undertake these diversity initiatives are greatly limited, however, by concerns over potential legal liability. Counsel, apprehensive that documents and other information regarding diversity issues and corrective measures may subsequently be used as evidence by plaintiffs in discrimination lawsuits, often discourage or veto outright the …

Deconstructing Transnationalism: Conceptualizing Metanationalism As A Putative Model Of Evolving Jurisprudence, Paul Enríquez

Paul Enriquez

This Article builds upon Philip C. Jessup’s revolutionary scholarship to pave new pathways for interdisciplinary research and expand the normative constitutional framework of universal human problems. To that end, this Article ties American constitutional theory to the new era of international globalization and provides context that facilitates the discussion of racial and ethnic diversity in education from a domestic and international perspective. By arguing for compelling treatment of diversity in elementary and secondary learning institutions, this Article introduces a new theory of constitutional interpretation vis-à-vis international law. This theory, called metanationalism, rejects Harold Koh’s theory of transnationalism and demonstrates that …

Principles-Based Securities Regulation In The Wake Of The Global Financial Crisis, Cristie L. Ford

Cristie L. Ford

This paper seeks to re-examine, and ultimately to restate the case for, principles-based securities regulation in light of the global financial crisis and related developments. Prior to the onset of the crisis, the concept of more principles-based financial regulation was gaining traction in regulatory practice and policy circles, particularly in the United Kingdom and Canada. The crisis of course cast financial regulatory systems internationally, including more principles-based approaches, into severe doubt. This paper argues that principles-based securities regulation as properly understood remains a viable and even necessary policy option, which offers solutions to the real-life and theoretical challenge that the …

Judicial Diversity On State Supreme Courts, John D. Castiglione, Gregory L. Acquiaviva

John D. Castiglione

State courts of last resort are, in many ways, the primary expositors of law in the United States. Criminal law, contracts, family law, wills, trusts, and estates -- just to name a few -- fall within their purview. And yet, we know surprisingly little about just who sits on these courts -- state supreme court judges have been described as “perhaps the most important and least written about group within the judicial system” of the United States. Indeed, the last study on the characteristics and experiences of the state supreme court justices is almost fifteen years old. This Article presents …

Modern Disparities In Legal Education: Emancipation From Racial Neutrality, David Mears

David Mears

Abstract

Wealth, leadership and political power within any democratic society requires the highest caliber of a quality legal education. The Black experience is not necessarily a unique one within legal education but rather an excellent example of either poor to substandard quality disseminated unequally among racial and socioeconomic stereotypes based upon expected outcomes of probable success or failure. It is often said, “Speak and so it will happen” – many within the halls of academia work hard to openly predict failure yet seemingly do very little to foster success internally within the academic procedures and processes based on the customer …

Punishment, Invalidation, And Nonvalidation: What H.L.A. Hart Did Not Explain, Richard Stith

Richard Stith

Elaborating first upon H. L. A. Hart's distinction between imposing duties and imposing disabilities, this article explores the two senses mentioned (but not fully explained) by Hart in which power-holders may be legally disabled. Legal invalidation (nullification) of norms that have been generated by vulnerable power-holders is seen to reduce diversity or pluralism in every normative sphere, from the supranational to the intrafamilial. By contrast, mere legal nonvalidation (noncognizance) of such norms tends to preserve the autonomy of the power-holders that created the norms, thus enhancing legal pluralism. Punishment for creating forbidden norms amounts in principle to an in-between sort …

Student Body Diversity: A View From The Trenches, Gail S. Stephenson

Gail S. Stephenson

Although educators have stressed the value of classroom diversity for 150 years, American law schools are becoming less diverse. Total minority enrollment in ABA-approved law schools was down for the academic year 2005-2006, and the number of African Americans enrolled has reached its lowest point since 1990-1991. The ABA revised Standard 211 (renumbered 212) to require law schools to “demonstrate by concrete action” their commitment to diversity. This revision has been quite controversial, drawing opposition from those who do not believe that diversity is important.

The author, who teaches at a historically black law school with a fairly even mix …

Embracing Segregation: The Jurisprudence Of Choice And Diversity In Race And Sex Separatism In Schools, Nancy Levit

Nancy Levit

Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, segregation based on race and sex is sweeping the nation's educational systems. Courts are rapidly dismantling desegregation orders, and when those desegregation orders end, school districts racially resegregate. At precisely the same time this end to racial desegregation is occurring, the government is beginning to sponsor sex segregation in schools as well. The No Child Left Behind Act provides over $400 million in federal funds for experiments in education, such as single-sex schools and classes. Embracing Segregation draws connections between the end of racial desegregation and the beginning of government-sponsored sex segregation …

Integration Without Classification: Moving Toward Race-Neutrality In The Pursuit Of Public Elementary And Secondary School Diversity, Paul Diller

Paul Diller

No abstract provided.