Law Commons^™

A Lot Of Knowledge Is A Dangerous Thing: Will The Legal Profession Survive The Knowledge Explosion?, H W. Arthurs

Dalhousie Law Journal

Professor Arthurs argues that with the growth and diversification of knowledge, the common body of knowledge that underpins a unified profession is becoming more difficult to sustain. The desire to know, the need to know and the resources to know have divided lawyers into subprofessions, increasingly defined by the non-lawyers with whom they work and the clienteles they serve, bound togetherif at all-only by nostalgia and some residuum of self-interest.

Mikmaw Tenure In Atlantic Canada, James [Sákéj] Youngblood Henderson

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Supreme Court of Canada has characterized aboriginal title to land as a sui generis legal interest. This essay describes the sui generis interest of Mikmaw tenure in Atlantic Canada from a Mikmaq linguistic perspective. The author argues the prerogative treaties and legislation of the eighteenth century suggest it is a reserved and protected tenure, which in Eurocentric law might be reconceptualized as allodial tenure.

The Architecture Of A Lawyer’S Operation: Learning From Frank Lloyd Wright, John F. Nivala

John F. Nivala

No abstract provided.

On Not "Getting It", Dianne Pothier

Dianne Pothier Collection

Although there has been increasing awareness regarding equity and access issues in the legal profession, that awareness has tended to miss the multi-faceted nature of the problem. The author discusses how the recognition of one kind of barrier may not assist in the recognition of others. Understanding race or gender does not necessarily imply understanding disability or sexual orientation. Students, faculty and practitioners need to challenge and question their assumptions, to guard against barriers to entry and to really belonging.

Bien qu 'ii y ail une prise de conscience grandissante en ce qui touche /es questions d'egalite et d'acces dans …

Denaturalizing The Lawyer-Statesman (Book Review), Anthony V. Alfieri

Articles

No abstract provided.

Lawyer Distress: Alcohol-Related Problems And Other Psychological Concerns Among A Sample Of Practicing Lawyers, Connie J.A. Beck, Bruce D. Sales, G. Andrew H. Benjamin

Journal of Law and Health

The findings of the research reported in this study, in conjunction with earlier studies, suggest that the professional and the personal well-being of lawyers is in serious jeopardy. Lawyers are working more, reducing vacation time, spending less time with family members, are prone to alcohol abuse, and face high levels of psychological distress. The combination of elements suggests an impending crisis for lawyers' family lives. Although the data are not sufficient to suggest that psychological distress has detrimentally affected the lawyers' ability to practice competently, the warning signs are present. Further empirical study may well reveal that lawyer distress is …

Some Thoughts About Developing Constructive Approaches To Lawyer And Law Student Distress, Peter G. Glenn

Journal of Law and Health

I am convinced, on the basis of experience as a teacher at five law schools, that it is possible to establish a law school culture in which the administration and faculty can work effectively to substantially reduce the level of unnecessary law student distress. I believe, however, that accomplishing this on any large scale among the law schools generally might require not only implementation of many of the suggestions of Professors Glesner and Kutulakis, but also that we abandon the ideas that all law schools should be fundamentally similar, built on the model of a large-enrollment major research center, and …

Lawyer Distress: A Comment, Susan S. Locke

Journal of Law and Health

I will not debate whether or not the practice of law creates dysfunction, requires dysfunction or perpetuates dysfunction. I am reminded of a colleague who, when looking at his law firm partners who practice in my field of estate planning asked, "Do you have to be eccentric to go into estate planning, or does it just make you that way after a while?" Probably the answer is a little of both, and it is as true for the practice of law in general as it is for estate planning. When the dust settles at some time in the future, we …

Glass Ceilings And Open Doors: Women's Advancement In The Legal Profession, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, Robert Sauté, Bonnie Oglensky, Martha Gever

Fordham Law Review

This is a study exploring women's integration into large corporate law practices and their mobility within firms.

Of Rat Time And Terminators, David R. Barnhizer

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

A version of rat time is being created within the legal profession as law schools pump 40,000 graduates a year into a saturated system. Understanding our present condition as a period of rat time can help us diagnose the problems of the legal profession, identify the future responsibilities of law schools and the profession, and create more effective solutions than the bandaids that have been proposed or applied thus far. This is particularly important because lawyers and law schools have lost their way. They are afraid to address their most troubling problems and to take the principled actions necessary for …

Proverbial Practice: Legal Ethics From Old Testament Wisdom, Gordon J. Beggs

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The Old Testament book of Proverbs supplied foundational moral values for our nation's legal ethics. With the adoption and revision of formal codes, moral teaching has virtually disappeared from legal ethics. This essay suggests that the wisdom of Proverbs offers a timely challenge to the character of the legal profession by advocating values which include justice, purity, mercy, humility, honesty, candor, truthful testimony, and civility.

Commentary: Policy Implications, Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.

Journal of Law and Health

It is clear to me that members of the legal profession are obliged to take these findings seriously. I shall suggest below a few reservations about the analysis. Nevertheless, the important findings are established by empirical evidence so powerful that they can be ignored only through a wish not to believe. If the findings are accepted as a description of reality, the challenge is to work out sensible courses of action in response. The challenge is formidable.

Is There A Solution To The Problem Of Lawyer Stress - The Law School Perspective, James J.A. Alfini, Joseph N. Van Vooren

Journal of Law and Health

What is the result of all this stress? As previously noted in the Beck, Sales, and Benjamin study, more and more attorneys are turning to alcohol as a "stress reliever." Also, a higher percentage of lawyers are dissatisfied with their personal relationships than the "normal population." A poll conducted for the New York Law Journal by a Manhattan polling firm found that of the lawyers polled who had been divorced, fifty-six percent asserted that their careers in the law had contributed to the breakup of their marriages. Of great concern is the fact that an increasing number of attorneys are …