Digital Commons Network^™

The Anticommons Intersection Of Heirs Property And Gentrification, Emma R. White

Vanderbilt Law Review

Throughout history, internal and external pressures on Black landowners have resulted in the fragmentation of ownership through heirs property. This fragmentation is analogous to the erosion of community ties within minoritized neighborhoods susceptible to gentrification. Both contexts contribute directly to involuntary exit and land loss within the Black community. This Note analyzes the history of Black property ownership within the United States to illustrate the roots of heirs property and gentrification and evaluates traditional responses to these phenomena through the lens of the tragedy of the anticommons. In doing so, it highlights flaws in existing solutions to heirs property. It …

Beneficial Conflicts Of Interest, Anita K. Krug

Cardozo Law Review

Conflicts of interest exist in both professional and private settings, and everyone experiences them from time to time. If a person harboring a conflict acts on it—meaning the person acts against interests she ought to uphold—innocent parties may be harmed. Accordingly, the key to addressing a conflict in most settings is to eliminate it, such as by prohibiting conflicted behavior or recusing oneself from a deliberative process. However, conflicts of interest have a special character in the securities realm, both because they are ubiquitous given financial firms’ myriad competing interests and because the goal of the agency charged with addressing …

Legalbench: A Collaboratively Built Benchmark For Measuring Legal Reasoning In Large Language Models, Neel Guha, Julian Nyarko, Daniel E. Ho, Christopher Ré, Adam Chilton, Aditya Narayana, Alex Chohlas-Wood, Austin Peters, Brandon Waldon, Daniel Rockmore, Diego A. Zambrano, Dmitry Talisman, Enam Hoque, Faiz Surani, Frank Fagan, Galit Sarfaty, Gregory M. Dickinson, Haggai Porat, Jason Hegland, Jessica Wu, Joe Nudell, Joel Niklaus, John Nay, Jonathan H. Choi, Kevin Tobia, Margaret Hagan, Megan Ma, Michael A. Livermore, Nikon Rasumov-Rahe, Nils Holzenberger, Noam Kolt, Peter Henderson, Sean Rehaag, Sharad Goel, Shang Gao, Spencer Williams, Sunny Gandhi, Tom Zur, Varun Iyer, Zehua Li

All Papers

The advent of large language models (LLMs) and their adoption by the legal community has given rise to the question: what types of legal reasoning can LLMs perform? To enable greater study of this question, we present LegalBench: a collaboratively constructed legal reasoning benchmark consisting of 162 tasks covering six different types of legal reasoning. LegalBench was built through an interdisciplinary process, in which we collected tasks designed and hand-crafted by legal professionals. Because these subject matter experts took a leading role in construction, tasks either measure legal reasoning capabilities that are practically useful, or measure reasoning skills that lawyers …

Unaccompanied Children And The Need For Legal Representation In Immigration Proceedings, Sejal Singh

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

An unaccompanied child is defined as someone who enters the United States under the age of eighteen, without lawful status, and without an accompanying parent or legal guardian. Despite the term’s implication, many children do not enter the country alone but are either separated from their family members at the border or left by smugglers or other migrants near the border. The number of unaccompanied minors plunged in early 2020 due to border closures and restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic; however, a recent surge has led to a strain on government resources and a backlog of cases in immigration …

Thurgood Marshall Memorial Lecture 9-13-2023, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Deconstructing Business Law Center Design, Mission, And Innovation, Patricia Hureston Lee

The Business, Entrepreneurship & Tax Law Review

This article identifies the mission, goals, and objectives in Law Centers and provides insights and a taxonomy on the distinct types of Law Center offerings. Next, the article offers a toolkit of ideas to advance stakeholder knowledge, skills, and learning outcomes. Further, the article sets forth a Law Center case study, dis-cussing the Loyola University Chicago Center for Business Law’s design, mission, goals, objectives, and programs. This article recommends that Law Centers reassess their mission, goals and objectives and re-consider enhancing their impact on corporate governance and the emerging local, national, and global issues. There is no better time for …

The Road To Prosperity. Reflections On Polish Antitrust In Turbulent Times, Jan Polański

internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (internet Quarterly on Antitrust and Regulation)

The “end of history”, which was once speculated, did not happen. In international politics, this resulted in much turbulence, in particular in 2022. In antitrust, in turn, there is a renewed interest in discussing its goals and assessment methods. When it comes to international politics and military reforms, Poland has taken important actions to ensure that in spite of the turbulent times, it will still take further steps on the road to prosperity, on which it had embarked in 1989. Less has been said about economic policy. Yet, it is economic policy that provides a solid base for an active …

Heirs Property: An Examination Of Probate Costs And The Costs Of Postmortem Probate Inaction, Reid Kress Weisbord

ACTEC Law Journal

“Heirs property” describes a legal limbo that occurs when multiple heirs or will beneficiaries inherit real property as tenants-in-common without promptly probating the estate to transfer marketable title out of the decedent’s name. This Article draws on recent empirical research to examine the demography of heirs property. It then takes a closer look at the adverse economic impact of postmortem probate inaction by and upon the decedent’s inheritors.

The Cannabis Industry Needs More Green: The Necessity Of Federal Legislation To Aid Marijuana-Related Businesses In Conducting Ancillary Real Estate Transactions Notes And Student Works, Kevin M.A. Marek

Journal of International Business and Law

No abstract provided.

Is Estate Planning Ethical In An Increasingly Inequitable World?, Harry S. Margolis

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Inviting The People Into People's Court: Embracing Non-Attorney Representation In Eviction Proceedings, Gregory Zlotnick

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Evictions often hide in plain sight—and so does one of the most effective responses. Studies uniformly confirm that represented tenants avoid evictions, and with it associated downstream effects, at appreciably higher rates than unrepresented tenants. Tenant representation is one of the most cost-effective anti-poverty interventions available in our housing system. Lawyers should support its expansion, even if and when it a non-lawyer serves as that intervenor in eviction court.

This paper argues that the legal profession should embrace and expand existing pathways for training eligible and interested individuals, regardless of whether they are licensed attorneys, to assist tenants facing eviction. …

Artificial Intelligence And Interspecific Law, Daniel J. Gervais, John J. Nay

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Several experts have warned about artificial intelligence (AI) exceeding human capabilities, a “singularity” at which it might evolve beyond human control. Whether this will ever happen is a matter of conjecture. A legal singularity is afoot, however: For the first time, nonhuman entities that are not directed by humans may enter the legal system as a new “species” of legal subjects. This possibility of an “interspecific” legal system provides an opportunity to consider how AI might be built and governed. We argue that the legal system may be more ready for AI agents than many believe. Rather than attempt to …

The Somalia Affair And The Transformation Of Canadian Military Justice, Preston Lim

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Keeping Current - Probate [Notes], Julia Koert, Paula Moore, William P. Lapiana, Jake W. Villanueva

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Auditing Overseas: How The United States Can Learn From Recent Financial Audit Reform In The United Kingdom, Daniel Damitio

Northwestern University Law Review

Financial auditing is one of the cornerstones of an effective capital market structure. When performed correctly, an independent financial audit provides investors with the security they need to effectively transact based on company disclosures. When this system fails, however, the results for investors and the economy as a whole can be devastating. In recognition of this danger, the market for financial auditing in the United States is regulated by a number of governmental and nongovernmental bodies charged with maintaining its health and effectiveness. But stakeholders within the U.S. market and government have criticized these regulators for failing to adequately respond …

Addressing Barriers To Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Massachusetts Community Mediation, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Shino Yokotsuka, Karina Zeferino, Jarling Ho

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

This report presents over three years of systematically engaging, documenting and analyzing the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) needs/gaps and assets of state funded community mediation centers in Massachusetts. The report was compiled by researchers and an in-house DEI expert at the statutory state office of dispute resolution, the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The office has been serving as a neutral forum and state-level resource for over 30 years.

The report is based on qualitative research that falls into the category of community based participatory research conducted through a series of community …

On Effective Campus Ministry At A Catholic Law School: The Impact Of Sister Grace Walle At St. Mary’S University School Of Law, Caitlin Hennessy

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Lawyer’S Law School And The Metropolis: Two Law Schools’ Missions, Carlos R. Rosende

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Prisoner Of War Status And Nationals Of A Detaining Power, W. Casey Biggerstaff, Michael N. Schmitt

International Law Studies

This article examines whether a Detaining State is obliged to recognize prisoner of war status for its own nationals under Article 4A of the 1949 Geneva Convention III. It begins with an assessment of that article from the perspective of established principles for construing treaty provisions. It then adds context to that assessment by examining relevant scholarship and State practice regarding its prescriptions before and after the Convention’s negotiation and adoption. Although it concludes that denying prisoner of war status to a national of the Detaining Power is the more persuasive interpretation of Article 4A, it concludes by highlighting the …

Nefarious Notarios: Responding To Immigration Scams As White Collar Crime As A Matter Of Public Policy, Sarah Cossman

Refugee Law & Migration Studies Brief

Immigration scams targeting non-citizens can have devastating impacts on an individual's status and ability to remain in the United States legally. The phenomenon of notario fraud occurs when an individual misrepresents themself as a notario publico in an effort to defraud immigrants seeking legal services. In Spanish-speaking countries, a notario publico is a highly trained legal professional, akin to an attorney, who provides legal advice and drafts legal documents. The term is a false cognate. The English equivalent, a notary, is an individual with narrow witnessing duties and much less discretion. Problems arise when individuals obtain a notary public license …

Legal Representation And The Metaverse: The Ethics Of Practicing In Multiple Realities, Madeline Brom

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Badges Of Honor: Professional Conduct, Consumer Protection, And Accolades In Lawyer Advertising, Kiren Dosanjh Zucker, Bruce Zucker

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Ethics At The Speed Of Business, James A. Doppke Jr.

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

This paper discusses several ways in which the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct, and the Illinois Supreme Court Rules, construct barriers that prevent lawyers and businesses from accomplishing reasonable commercial goals. Often, those barriers arise from outdated concepts, or terminology that does not reflect current business realities. The paper argues for the amendment of specific Rules to enhance lawyers’ and businesses’ respective abilities to conduct their affairs more efficiently, without sacrificing public protection in the process.

Welcome Address, Lauren Mckenzie

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Addressing Barriers To Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Massachusetts Community Mediation, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Jarling Ho, Shino Yokotsuka, Karina Zeferino

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

This report presents over three years of systematically engaging, documenting and analyzing the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) needs/gaps and assets of state funded community mediation centers in Massachusetts. The report was compiled by researchers and an in-house DEI expert at the statutory state office of dispute resolution, the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The office has been serving as a neutral forum and state-level resource for over 30 years.

The report is based on qualitative research that falls into the category of community based participatory research conducted through a series of community …

Racial Impact Assessment In Land Use Planning And Zoning, William West

Pace Environmental Law Review

Racial impact assessments are tools that attempt to predict the effects of actions to help policymakers evaluate the consequences of those actions before their implementation. This article explains the history of race and land use in the United States, the development of racial impact assessments, and the emerging trend of racial impact assessments in land use planning and zoning. The article concludes with an analysis of how racial impact assessments in land use might develop in the future.

The Practitioner King - A Study Of Legal Education And Practice In Pakistan, Summaiya Zaidi

PhD Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of legal education and practice in Pakistan and investigates the rise of the legal practitioner through a socio-historical examination. It seeks to determine the extent to which legal education in Pakistan is bound by colonial norms of practice through a genealogy of the legal practitioner in South Asia where the practitioner emerges as a dominant actor in the legal field. This dissertation argues that the fields of legal education and practice cannot be studied separately because the two are intimately connected for three main reasons: firstly, the law degree serves as an entry requirement to …

The International Patent Practice Narrative: Patent Agents, Epistemic Capture And The Patent Bargain, Wissam Joseph Aoun

PhD Dissertations

This work explores the question of how professionalization of patent agency along with its accompanying discourse has affected the direction of international patent institutions and networks. Professionalization of patent agency is defined as the government regulation of who may provide patent agent services to the public through the form of professional licensing requirements. To the extent that professionalization of patent agency has created a unique discourse of patent agency, to what degree and in what respects has this discourse transformed global patent institutions? In particular, has this discourse created a form of ‘epistemic’ or ‘cultural’ capture that has the effect …

The ‘100-Mile Border Zone’ And The Surveillance Of Frontline Immigrant Advocates, Brandon Burkey, Isabella Jackson

The Reporter: Social Justice Law Center Magazine

No abstract provided.

Legal Needs And Health Outcomes For People With Cancer In Medical-Legal Partnership Programs: A Systematic Review, Allison B. Dowling, Caitlin Schille Jensen, Abigail Sweeney, C. Scott Dorris, Deborah F. Perry

HJA Scholarship

Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) integrate lawyers into the medical team to address patients’ unmet legal needs that create barriers to good health and well-being (i.e., “health-harming legal needs”) and improve health outcomes. Given the growing popularity of MLP as an innovative healthcare model, this review has two objectives: to identify peer-reviewed literature measuring (1) cancer patients’ legal needs, and (2) outcomes for cancer patients after receiving MLP legal services. A systematic literature search was conducted in concordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) for the period 2006- 2022. Four articles met the inclusion criteria for objective …