Digital Commons Network^™

Courts As Forums For Protest, Jules Lobel

ExpressO

For almost half a century, scholars, judges and politicians have debated two competing models of the judiciary’s role in a democratic society. The mainstream model views courts as arbiters of disputes between private individuals asserting particular rights. The public law or structural reform litigation emphasized the judiciary’s role in implementing social change and not simply ordering private relationships.

The ongoing debate between these two views of the judicial role has obscured a third model of the role of courts in a democratic society; a model that has been ignored by legal scholars and viewed as illegitimate by some courts. That …

Are You Experienced?: Examining The Need For Specialized Ethics Rules In Patent Litigation, Benjamin J. Sodey

ExpressO

Any attorney licensed to practice before a federal district court, regardless or his or her area of specialization, may file a patent infringement suit on behalf of a client in that court. The possibility exists, therefore, for an attorney having little or no intellectual property experience to represent clients in complex patent litigation matters. Due to this, infringement defendants and their counsel may find themselves on the receiving end of a dubious patent claim brought by attorneys lacking patent law experience. This article discusses whether the existing rules governing attorney conduct, such as professional responsibility, procedural, or statutory rules, are …

The Common Law Process: A New Look At An Ancient Value Delivery System, Dennis J. Sweeney

Washington Law Review

Have common law courts subtly and incrementally put themselves out of the substantial and traditional business of law-making or, at least, put themselves out of business as we once knew it? More personally, do I belong here? Or am I helping to betray the common law tradition I preach and practice and which has served the citizens of Washington since statehood and before? The short answer is: I think not. Each of the relevant principles, if they are to have any practical application at all, must someday be applied by a court to an actual case, to an actual controversy. …

Some Reflections On Long-Term Lessons And Implications Of The Access To Justice Technology Bill Of Rights Process, Richard Zorza

Washington Law Review

The Washington State Access to Justice Technology Bill of Rights (ATJ-TBoR) process (Process), described in detail in both its substantive and procedural aspects in other papers in this volume, has the potential to have a major impact on access to justice in the state—its first and primary goal. In addition, however, it has the potential to have broader implications in the legal world, in the process of legal innovation, in access to other services, and internationally. This paper is intended to start the debate about these implications and how they can be optimized and maximized.

Designing An Accessible, Technology-Driven Justice System: An Exercise In Testing The Access To Justice Technology Bill Of Rights, T. W. Small, Robert Boiko, Richard Zorza

Washington Law Review

The Access to Justice Technology Bill of Rights project, sponsored by the Access to Justice Board of Washington State, included a committee composed of attorneys, judges, technologists, and librarians charged with envisioning an ideal civil justice system. Our goals were to design a system with certain core values (e.g., due process and access to justice), test the system using a complex family law scenario, determine what opportunities technology brings to the table, and identify what barriers technology creates for persons using the system. This Article describes an idealized civil justice system (System) unlike anything that presently exists. The System is …

Inter-American System, Claudia Martin

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Judicial Dialogue For Legal Multiculturalism, Charles H. Koch Jr.

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article asserts that judicial exchange rather than dominance has inherent advantages as a technique for evolving a global legal culture. For insight into the global task, the Article looks first at an internecine struggle within the continental system. For further background, it describes how the U.S. Supreme Court has accommodated deviations from the basic legal model in U.S. administrative law as well as other internal U.S. legal systems. The supranational tribunals in the European setting and U.S. Supreme Court have shown the capacity to engage in dialogues over diverse legal philosophies. These experiences demonstrate the advantages of a mix …

Original Jurisdiction Actions As A Remedy For Oklahoma's Decision Deficit, Bradley W. Welsh

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

No-Citation Rules Under Siege: A Battlefield Report And Analysis, Stephen R. Barnett

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Delinquency Jurisdiction In A Unified Family Court: Balancing Intervention, Prevention, And Adjudication, Gloria Danziger

All Faculty Scholarship

This article will examine the demographics of the current juvenile delinquency caseloads and will argue that, despite trends toward greater punitive measures-including placement of juveniles in adult courts for certain offenses, the concept of a therapeutic "family-centered court," which inspired Jane Addams and her colleagues, remains the most promising approach to delinquency, articulated most notably by the proponents of the unified family court concept. The article will consider and address objections and concerns raised with respect to this approach, looking at ways in which several states have incorporated juvenile delinquency into a family-centered unified family court.

Censorship, Repression Or Denial?: Unpacking The Symptom Of People V. Wu, Penelope Pether

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

First Options, Consent To Arbitration, And The Demise Of Separability: Restoring Access To Justice For Contracts With Arbitration Provisions, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

This article describes the context and current state of the law in this area under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), urges the Court to continue its path toward actual consent to arbitration, and suggests an approach for finally reconciling the tension between Prima Paint and First Options. Part II describes the nature and historical context of the arbitrability problem. Part III focuses specifically on the doctrine of separability, which is the most critical (and most complex) of these exceptions. Part IV discusses the impact on separability of recent U.S. Supreme Court case law, especially the 1995 decision in First Options …

A Six-Three Rule: Reviving Consensus And Deference On The Supreme Court, Jed Handelsman Shugerman

Faculty Scholarship

Over the past three decades, the Supreme Court has struck down federal statutes by a bare majority with unprecedented frequency. This Article shows that five-four decisions regularly overturning acts of Congress are a relatively recent phenomenon, whereas earlier Courts generally exercised judicial review by supermajority voting.

One option is to establish the following rule: The Supreme Court may not declare an act of Congress unconstitutional without a two-thirds majority. The Supreme Court itself could establish this rule internally, just as it has created its nonmajority rules for granting certiorari and holds, or one Justice who would otherwise be the fifth …

Volume 70

Tennessee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Does Lewis V. Casey Spell The End To Court-Ordered Improvement Of Prison Law Libraries?, Joseph L. Gerken

Law Librarian Journal Articles

The Supreme Court's decision in Lewis v. Casey raises the bar for advocates seeking court-ordered improvements in prison law libraries. Whether it dooms all such efforts to failure may well depend on the willingness of trial courts to take into account the realities of prisoners' pro se litigation.

The First Amendment In The Seventh Circuit: 2002, 36 J. Marshall L. Rev. 807 (2003), Donald L. Beschle

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

In The Supreme Court Of The United States Barbara Grutter, Petitioner, V. Lee Bollinger, Et Al., Respondents. On Writ Of Certiorari To The United States Court Of Appeals For The Sixth Circuit, Jerome S. Hirsch, Joseph N. Sacca, Scott D. Musoff, Mark Lebovitch, Linda M. Wayner

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Brief of the University of Michigan Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, the University of Michigan Black Law Students' Alliance, the University of Michigan Latino Law Students Association, and the University of Michigan Native American Law Students Association as Amici Curiae in Support of Respondents

Alarmism Versus Moderation In Responding To The Rehnquist Court, Mark Tushnet

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Congressional Power in the Shadow of the Rehnquist Court: Strategies for the Future held at Indiana University Law School, February 1-2, 2002.

Democracy By Decree: What Happens When Courts Run Government (2003), Ross Sandler, David Schoenbrod

Books

Schools, welfare agencies, and a wide variety of other state and local institutions of vital importance to citizens are controlled by attorneys and judges rather than governors and mayors. In this book, Ross Sandler and David Schoenbrod explain how this has come to pass, why it has resulted in service to the public that is worse, not better, and what can be done to restore control of these programs to democratically elected - and accountable - officials.

Sandler and Schoenbrod tell how the courts, with the best intentions and often with the approval of elected officials, came to control ordinary …

Research On Self-Represented Litigation: Preliminary Results And Methodological Considerations, Paula Hannaford-Agor, Nicole Mott

Faculty Publications

As various programs for self-represented litigants proliferate and costs increase, fund­ing agencies are beginning to demand that programs demonstrate their effectiveness through empirical evaluation. This article recounts some of the lessons learned from a National Center for State Courts' research project on improving access to justice for self-represented litigants. First, the article briefly describes the problems faced by courts as a result of the influx of self-represented litigants. The article then describes automated case-level data and litigant self-reported data from five jurisdictions and some preliminary findings. We conclude with a discussion of problems that we encoun­tered in analyzing those data.

Helping The Pro Se Litigant: A Changing Landscape, Paula Hannaford-Agor

Faculty Publications

This article describes how the influx of self-represented litigants has forced many within the court and legal communities to reconsider some of the fundamental premises on which the civil justice system is based and to respond in new and creative ways to changing litigant demands on existing court and legal resources. It focuses on changes to the delivery of legal services to low- and moderate-income people, especially the emergence of “unbundled” legal services, and addresses the practical implications related to the distinction between legal information and legal advice. Finally, it describes how judges and court staff are rethinking the conceptual …

Engaging With The State: The Growing Reliance On Lawyers And Judges To Protect Battered Women, Jane C. Murphy

All Faculty Scholarship

The passage of the federal Violence Against Women Act of 2000 (“VAWA II”) marked an important milestone in the evolution of the domestic violence movement. VAWA II created, among other things, a complex system for state and federal funding in all fifty states to provide civil legal assistance to battered women. Its passage completed a process that began in the early 1980s when domestic violence advocates shifted their focus from grass roots efforts to help battered women and their children leave abusive partners to building alliances with government and advocating for legal remedies to assist battered women. This paper looks …

A Unified Family Court, Barbara A. Babb

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Supreme Court Section 1983 Decisions: (October 2001 Term), Martin A. Schwartz

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Adversary System As A Means Of Seeking Truth And Justice, 35 J. Marshall L. Rev. 147 (2002), Robert G. Johnston, Sara Lufrano

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Access To Justice For The Self-Represented Litigant: An Interdisciplinary Investigation By Designers And Lawyers, Ronald W. Staudt, Paula Hannaford-Agor

Faculty Publications

To assist courts, the National Center for State Courts, in partnership with the Illinois Institute of Technology's Institute of Design and the Chicago-Kent College of Law, launched a research project to examine court processes and recommend modifications to eliminate or reduce procedural barriers to access for self-represented litigants. The projects had three major tasks: (1) to identify major barriers to access to justice that self-represented litigants encounter due to court procedures and administrative requirements; (2) to employ system design methodology to redesign court processes to remove those barriers, and (3) to translate the conceptual model for redesigned court system into …

Comparing Judicial Selection Systems, Lee Epstein, Jack C. Knight, Olga Shvetsova

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Gender Bias Task Force: Comments On Family Law Issues, Philip Trompeter

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Judiciary In The United States: A Search For Fairness, Independence And Competence, Stephen J. Shapiro

All Faculty Scholarship

Alexander Hamilton referred to the judiciary as “the least dangerous branch” because it could neither make nor enforce the law without help from the other two branches of government. In the years since then, however, courts and judges in the United States have assumed a much more prominent role in society. American judges preside over criminal trials and sentence those convicted, decide all kinds of civil disputes, both large and small, and make important decisions involving families, such as child custody. They have also become the primary guarantors of the civil and constitutional rights of American citizens.

The case of …

Make Way For The Aba: Smith V. Robbins Clears A Path For Anders Alternatives, James E. Duggan, Andrew W. Moeller

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

Indigents appealing criminal convictions are entitled to court-appointed counsel. The American Bar Association suggests a standard for providing the required representation. This standard is known as the Idaho Rule.