Judges Commons^™

“Far From The Turbulent Space”: Considering The Adequacy Of Counsel In The Representation Of Individuals Accused Of Being Sexually Violent Predators, Michael L. Perlin, Heather Ellis Cucolo

Michael L Perlin

Abstract:

For the past thirty years, the US Supreme Court's standard of Strickland v. Washington has governed the question of adequacy of counsel in criminal trials. There, in a Sixth Amendment analysis, the Supreme Court acknowledged that simply having a lawyer assigned to a defendant was not constitutionally adequate, but that that lawyer must provide "effective assistance of counsel," effectiveness being defined, pallidly, as requiring simply that counsel's efforts be “reasonable” under the circumstances. The benchmark for judging an ineffectiveness claim is simply “whether counsel’s conduct so undermined the proper function of the adversarial process that the trial court cannot …

Positive Prognosis For Judges: A Look Into Judge-Directed Negotiations In Medical Malpractice Cases, Kristine Gamboa

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The article examines the effectiveness of the judge-directed negotiation program in the Unified Court System of New York State under the analysis of various medical malpractice lawsuits, which plays a vital role in the legislational reform in the field of medical malpractice. It informs that Douglas McKeon, Judge of the Bronx County Supreme Court had developed the concept of judge-directed negotiations. It overviews the praises and criticisms behind the success of the program.