Digital Commons Network^™

International Efforts To Collect Evidence Related To Russia’S Aggression Against Ukraine, Steven Hill

Saint Louis University Law Journal

International law has been at the very center of the global response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine since February 2022. Evidence collection has become one of the core elements of this international law response. The April 2023 keynote address on which this article is based focused on international efforts to collect evidence related to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Specifically, this article focuses on responses in Ukraine, the United States, the European Union, and other jurisdictions on behalf of governments, international organizations, and civil society organizations to collect evidence related to war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression by all …

Embodied Ecologies And Legal Wars: The Use Of Force, Ukraine, And Feminist Perspectives On International Law, Gina Heathcote

Saint Louis University Law Journal

In this article, I examine the international law on the use of force alongside a feminist analysis of the ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine. I draw on records of mushroom foraging to evidence how everyday practices of communities are destroyed by military aggression that disrupts the embodied ecologies reproduced in intergenerational human and nonhuman encounters. The mushrooms foraged in Ukraine, the mushrooms destroyed during military encounters, and the mushrooms growing beside land mines provide an aperture for shifting both feminist and international legal accounts of armed conflict. I argue that ecologies of harm produce means to understand the gendered violence …

Flattening The Learning Curve For International J.D. Students, Sylvia Lett

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Non-U.S. lawyers entering U.S. law schools in accelerated J.D. degree programs (known as the “AJD” – Advanced Juris Doctor Program at Arizona Law) face particular challenges adapting to 1L legal research, analysis, and communication classes. First, English is not the typical lingua franca for AJD students, many of whom come from civil law countries and are faced with the challenge of learning legal writing methods for an American common-law legal system. Second, AJD students earn a U.S. J.D. degree in only two years because these accelerated programs give one year of “credit” for their non-U.S. law degrees. As a consequence, …

Teamwork Makes A Dream Work: Collaboration In The Legal Writing, Brenda D. Gibson

Saint Louis University Law Journal

This essay provides insights into the benefits (and some of the challenges) encountered when two relatively seasoned legal writing professors decided to collaborate in their first-year legal writing courses. The essay, in self-deprecating candor, describes how my colleague and I leveraged our individual strengths to improve our legal writing students’ learning experience. Along the way, a friendship, born of deep respect, was formed.

Collaboration defined simply is no more than “a process of working with others to accomplish something.”[1] To that end, collaborative teaching, i.e., team teaching is typically two or more faculty members working together to develop instructional …

Artificial Intelligence And The Practice Of Law: A Chat With Chatgpt, Grant M. Gamm

Saint Louis University Law Journal

In late 2022, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT to the world. At the time of writing this article, ChatGPT and other generative AI models were no longer used only to generate silly responses but were being considered for substantive work in our daily lives. Specifically, this article highlights how ChatGPT and other learned language models can have a strong impact on the practice of law. Within this article, the uses of these forms of AI are explained on multiple levels: the individual attorney, the law firm, and the non-attorney. Along with its diverse applications, this article delves into potential ethical dilemmas and …

Corporate Law, Business Schools, And White-Collar Crime, Eugene Mccarthy

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Assisting Incarcerated People With Collective Action, Daniel J. Canon

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Yes, We Klan: Reviving The Ku Klux Klan Act To Punish Insurrectionists, Chandni Challa

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Consequentialist Retribution’S Real-World Ramifications And How It Impacts Judicial Credibility, Mikayla J. Lewison

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

What Cash Bail Left Behind: St. Louis’ Bail System, Three Years After Reform, Brianna Coppersmith

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A New Tool In Police-Civilian Mediations: Conflict Coaching And Its Potential Benefits, Beatrice Connaghan

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Communities across the country have implemented mediation programs as an alternative dispute resolution process for civilian complaints against police officers. These programs vary from state to state, but certain challenges exist in each, such as ensuring neutrality, encouraging participants to engage fully in the mediation, and navigating subconscious biases held by officers and civilians. In response to these issues, this article considers whether conflict coaching opportunities within these programs have the potential to improve their effectiveness in resolving disputes and better support mediation participants. Conflict coaching is an emerging conflict navigation tool and thus there is limited research on its …

The Implications Of Legalized Marijuana On Establishing Probable Cause For A Warrantless Search, Lauren Williams, Samuel D. Hodge Jr.

Saint Louis University Law Journal

A police officer pulled over a speeding automobile. As the officer approached the vehicle, the driver lowered her window, causing the unique odor of marijuana to escape into the air.[1] This smell immediately alerted the officer to the existence of a controlled substance and established probable cause to search the operator and car.[2] Not so fast! Sniff and search is no longer an automatic justification for law enforcement to conduct a warrantless search in those jurisdictions that have legalized or decriminalized cannabis.[3]

The Supreme Court has long recognized the “automobile exception” to the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against …

Change Is Nothing New Teaching Public Policy, Nicholas W. Allard

Saint Louis University Law Journal

This Article addresses the paradox that change is nothing new for those who teach aspiring lawyers how to effectively engage in the reality of the complex public policy arena. It rejects the notion that money buys results, and success is merely a matter of quick-fix influence peddling and personal relationships. Instead, to teach students how to provide public policy analysis, advice, and advocacy, teachers must help them understand and be prepared for a relentlessly dynamic, continuously evolving professional ecosystem where the very object of the work is to either advance or forestall legal change, often involving issues contested on multiple …

Doing Law School Wrong: Case Teaching And An Integrated Legal Practice Method, Gregory J. Marsden, Soledad Atienza

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Since its inception, the Langdellian case method has been used to teach legal analysis and reasoning to generations of U.S. law students. For nearly as long, business school faculty have used their own version of the case method to teach management decision-making. In law school, a “case” is an appellate court decision, which students must analyze in preparation for Socratic questioning. To business students, a “case” is a narrative problem they must solve before debating and defending their solutions in a moderated classroom discussion.

This Article asserts that neither of these two methods are optimal to prepare students for bar …

Breaking The Cultural Cycle Of Sexual Harassment In The Professional Sports Industry: Time To Step Up Prevention & Punishment, Lauren Sullivan

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The National Football League’s Washington Football Team, now known as the Washington Commanders, faces an abundant amount of franchise issues, but its toxic workplace environment full of sexual harassment towers above the rest. This is just the most recent example of a professional sports team mistreating its women employees. Year after year, sexual harassment allegations resurface, revealing a contemplation of whether the current “solutions” for curbing sexual harassment in the professional sports industry are effective.

Current remedies, both in a legal and societal context, have inhibited efforts by women for equal treatment from the teams who employ them. When allegations …

A Taxonomy Of Professional Identity Formation, Harmony Decosimo

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Teaching Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, And Health Law As Presidential Administrations Change, Renée M. Landers

Saint Louis University Law Journal

When elections bring about changes in the political party of the president, the shifts frequently involve a change in the philosophies that inform the approach to governing. In teaching constitutional law, administrative law, and health law, this author cautions students to consider the political content of agency actions underlying the judicial opinions studied. Examining the political and discretionary judgment government officials exercise may provide an explanation for the results or an analysis when the law does not seem to account for the agency action or court decision. This Article examines the opportunities available to an incoming administration to undo the …

Where Black Lives Matter Less: Understanding The Impact Of Black Victims On Sentencing Outcomes In Texas Capital Murder Cases From 1973 To 2018, Jelani Jefferson Exum, David Niven

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The systemic disregard for Black lives in America was on full display when footage of a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd went viral. Mr. Floyd’s resultant death set off protests declaring that Black Lives Matter throughout the nation and across the world. While national attention rightfully turned to demanding police accountability for undue violence, the prevailing conversation also incorporated at least a declared concern for addressing institutionalized racism within the criminal justice system and other American institutions. The term of the day became “antiracism.” With regard to police killings, the lesson is that police officers disproportionately …

Occupational Segregation As A Driver Of Racial Health Disparities Among Black Women, Pilar C. Whitaker

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Balancing Public Health And Privacy: Lessons From Digital Contact Tracing For Covid-19 Vaccination Tracking Efforts, Carmel Shachar

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The COVID-19 pandemic has brough the tension between individual privacy and public health initiative to the fore, in part because many of the solutions to the challenges of the pandemic proposed are digital. The first year of the pandemic has revealed that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is both too restrictive of traditional public health activities but also underprotective of important categories of health data. The failure of digital contact tracing applications to make a difference in combatting the pandemic during its early stages also illustrates the tension between individual privacy and public health surveillance. In order to …

Human Rights And Disinformation Under The Trump Administration: The Commission On Unalienable Rights, Robert C. Blitt

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The former administration of Donald J. Trump shattered norms governing the responsibility to relay accurate, truthful information to the public. Whether regarding trivialities or vital issues of the day, the “Trump Doctrine” unleashed a global torrent of damaging misinformation and disinformation. This penchant for falsehood and distortion did not spare U.S. human rights policy. The administration’s decision to establish a Commission on Unalienable Rights (COUR) represented a high-water mark in its campaign to subvert international human rights norms.

After introducing key concepts relating to misinformation and disinformation, this article reviews the establishment of the COUR and the substance of its …

From Crisis Springs Opportunity: Using Virtual Learning To Develop More Effective Lawyers, Anita M. Singh

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The increase in virtual, distance, and remote learning necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic has presented new challenges to law school faculty and students. But at the same time, increased virtual interactions provide us with a unique opportunity. In particular, increased virtual interactions allow us to test and stress students’ “virtual intelligence,” a suite of more intangible skills that also promotes lawyer effectiveness. These skills include traditional project management tasks and conventional social engagement, but on a heightened level given the challenges inherent in virtual interactions. Legal employers place these skills at a premium, yet at the same time report that …

Up From Javins: A 50-Year Retrospective On The Implied Warranty Of Habitability, Alan M. Weinberger

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Using Open-Source, Collaborative Online Reading To Teach Property, Timothy J. Mcfarlin

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Would you like students to read more before class? Read more deeply and critically? Help each other do that? Would you like a window into their thoughts, interests, and questions while they read? The ability to respond to them in real-time? Then read on.

Would you like more control over your course material? Stop hopping around the casebook? Speak directly to your students in their readings? Make their legal education more affordable? Then continue.

This Essay relates my early experiences in adapting an open-source (free of charge) book to my Property course and having students read it using a collaborative …

“Stealing Conflicts” No More?: The Gaps And Anti-Restorative Elements In States’ Restorative-Justice Laws, Lynn Branham

Saint Louis University Law Journal

This Article first profiles key findings emanating from a statutory analysis of the close to two hundred criminal-justice-related, as well as juvenile-justice-related, statutory provisions in the United States that pertain to restorative justice and practices (RJ/RP). This section of the Article unveils significant gaps and other substantial problems in states’ restorative-justice laws, including ways in which some of them conflict with core restorative tenets. The Article then proffers seven recommended statutory provisions for states’ consideration when enacting or amending their own RJ/RP laws. These recommended provisions, combined with fidelity in their implementation, would help remedy or avert the gaps and …

Lukyanov Doctrine: Conceptual Origins Of Russia’S Hybrid Foreign Policy—The Case Of Ukraine., Igor Gretskiy

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Mystery Of The State And Sovereignty In International Law, Oleksandr Merezhko

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Waging War Against Prior Pay: The Pay Structure That Reenforces The Systemic Gender Discrimination In The Workplace, Jessica Gottsacker

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Calculating The Gender Gap In Legal Scholarship: An Empirical Study, Shontee M. Pant

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Women have been attending law school at approximately equal rates as men for decades and began comprising a greater percentage of law school entrants than men in 2016. Yet, men continue to hold a solid majority of leadership positions across the legal field: from seats on judicial benches to podiums in front of law school classrooms. This paper examines one under-evaluated, yet critical gender gap within the legal profession: legal scholarship—specifically legal scholarship published by the flagship law reviews at the top twenty law schools. This article presents original research demonstrating that law reviews might be perpetuating the law professor …

Data Battles, Platform Shutdowns, And Digital Rights In Surveillance: Labor Politics In The Online Sex Industry, Winifred R. Poster

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Sex workers are often portrayed as groups with little authority over their jobs. But lately they are making much use of online spaces, both large scale public-facing platforms and their own smaller websites. Taking a deeper ethnographic look into their online activities, I recount a story of highly adept, technologically proficient, and expert digital navigation by sex workers online.

The analysis follows the trajectory of platforms in the online sex industry over the last two decades. First it charts the rise of platforms for matching, reviewing, and identity verification, many of which developed roughly around the 2000s, and their impact …