Digital Commons Network^™

Getting To Yes: The Makings Of Paid Leave In Massachusetts, Christa Kelleher, Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson, Priyanka Kabir, Lillian Hunter, Cassandra M. Porter, Center For Women In Politics And Public Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Considered one of the strongest paid family and medical leave laws in the nation, the paid leave law adopted in Massachusetts in 2018 was notable for the depth and range of robust caregiving supports and protections for workers. But just as notable is how the law came to be. After all, paid leave bills had been filed for years in Massachusetts. Decades in fact. Yet until 2018, there had been limited movement in the legislature to establish a statewide program. What led to the passage of paid leave legislation in Massachusetts with approval from a Republican Governor? What factors influenced …

Dispute Resolution Commercial Transactions Along The Belt And Road: Creating Fair And Consistent Judgments, Sara Zokaei

UC Law Journal

For over forty years, China has promulgated national policies of opening-up and cooperation with other nations. Over the past eight years, China has been expanding its efforts to uphold these policy goals via the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s global infrastructure project. With this increase in international economic activity and commercial transactions, China has recognized the need for judicial reform to better serve the legal needs of foreign parties. Given China’s preference for peaceful cooperation, arbitration, and mediation, reform was necessary to cater to the needs of foreign parties who prefer litigation.

In parallel with the Belt and Road Initiative, …

The Partnership Mystique: Law Firm Finance And Governance For The 21st Century American Law Firm, Maya Steinitz

William & Mary Law Review

This Article identifies and analyzes the de facto and de jure end of lawyers’ exclusivity over the practice of law in the United States. This development will have profound implications for the legal profession, the careers of individual lawyers, and the justice system as a whole.

First, the Article argues that various financial products that have recently flooded the legal market are functionally equivalent to investing in and owning law firms and create all the same governance challenges as allowing nonlawyers to directly own stock in law firms.

Second, the Article analyzes Arizona’s groundbreaking legalization of nonlawyer participation in law …

The Partnership Mystique: Law Firm Finance And Governance For The 21st Century American Law Firm, Maya Steinitz

Faculty Scholarship

This Article identifies and analyzes the de facto and de jure end of lawyers' exclusivity over the practice of law in the United States. This development will have profound implications for the legal profession, the careers of individual lawyers, and the justice system as a whole.

First, the Article argues that various financial products that have recently flooded the legal market are functionally equivalent to investing in and owning law firms and create all the same governance challenges as allowing nonlawyers to directly own stock in law firms.

Second, the Article analyzes Arizona's groundbreaking legalization of nonlawyer participation in law …

Contracts In The Age Of Smart Readers, Yonathan A. Arbel, Shmuel I. Becher

Articles

What does it mean to have machines that can read, explain, and evaluate contracts? Recent advances in machine learning have led to a fundamental breakthrough in machine language models, portending a profound shift in the ability of machines to process text. Such a shift has far-reaching consequences for diverse areas of law, which are predicated on, and justified by, the existence of information barriers. Our object here is to provide a general framework for evaluating the legal and policy implications of employing language models as "smart readers"-tools that read, analyze, and assess contracts, disclosures, and privacy policies.

Synthesizing state-of-the-art developments, …

No Girl Left Behind: Girls Courts As A Restorative Justice Approach To Healing, Tiffany Williams Brewer, H. Mitchell Caldwell

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.

Law School News: Rwu Law Recognized By White House 01-28-2022, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Pandemic As Panacea: The Positive Long-Term Impact Of Forced Innovation In The Legal Industry, J. Mark Phillips

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

Despite the untold disruption the COVID-19 pandemic continues to inflict upon the legal industry, several positive outcomes may ultimately emerge. These unexpected gains may not only improve the practice of law but also address long-standing weaknesses in the industry. In this article, I utilize Roger’s Innovation Diffusion model to shed preliminary light on the unprecedented phenomenon of forced, comprehensive, and immediate adoption of new technology throughout the legal industry. While doing so, I highlight the way this sudden adoption will likely change perceptions regarding perennial areas of tension, such as mental health and work-life balance. Finally, I argue that the …

P*Law 2022, Center For Public Service Law

2021–2022 Flyers

This document outlines the full schedule for P*LAW Week 2022 at Cardozo School of Law, presented by the Center for Public Service Law. Held virtually from January 24 to January 27, the week featured panels, workshops, and discussions on key issues in public interest law, including immigration policy, educational equity, criminal justice reform, reproductive rights, data privacy, military law, labor rights, and overdose prevention. Events brought together legal professionals, advocates, scholars, and Cardozo students to explore law’s role in advancing social justice and supporting vulnerable communities.

Week Of January 24, 2022 - January 28, 2022, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Today at Cardozo 2022

Events occurring this week have been sponsored by:

• Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA)
• Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights (CLIHHR)
• Cardozo Law Review
• Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy
• Latin American Law Student Association (LALSA)
• Public Interest Law Advocacy Week (P*LAW)

Mdl Nationalism, Federalism, And The Opioid Epidemic, Abbe R. Gluck

DePaul Law Review

No abstract provided.

Public Health Equity Law: Considering Law As A Tool In Achieving Health Equity, Dawn Pepin

DePaul Law Review

No abstract provided.

Brief Of Amici Curiae 23 Law Professors In Support Of Petitioner, Leslie Salzman, Rebekah Diller, Bet Tzedek Civil Litigation Clinic

Amicus Briefs

On January 18, the Bet Tzedek Civil Litigation Clinic, co-directed by Professors Rebekah Diller and Leslie Salzman, filed a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief in support of certiorari in the case of a deaf student who suffered 12 years of isolation and distress because his school refused to provide him with a qualified sign language interpreter (Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools). The clinic filed on behalf of 23 law professors who argued that the Court’s intervention was needed to ensure that disabled students can pursue damage claims when their rights are violated in school settings.

Reconceiving Ethics For Judicial Law Clerks, Gregory Bischoping

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Judicial law clerks hold a unique and critical position in our legal system. They play a central part in the functioning of the judiciary, oftentimes writing the first draft of their judge’s opinions and serving as their trusted researcher and sounding board. Moreover, they are privy to the many highly confidential processes and private information behind the important work of the judiciary. It stands to reason the comprehensive set of ethical duties that bind the world of lawyers and judges should also provide guidance for judicial law clerks. The most important among those ethics rules is a duty of confidentiality. …

Untangling Attorney Retainers From Creditor Claims, Cassandra Burke Robertson, Jesse T. Wynn

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Clients will often use a retainer to secure an attorney’s representation. But clients in economic distress may have creditors that are eager to access the client’s funds in the attorney’s hands. Attorneys, clients, courts, and regulators have struggled to understand who has the best claim to such retainer funds. In this Article, we attempt to untangle the most common areas of confusion. We conclude that Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) offers strong protection for an attorney’s interest in client retainers through security interests, even though some courts have misapplied the UCC in this context. Further, we recommend …

Ethical Limits On Promising To Pay An Adverse Award Of Attorney’S Fees Against One’S Client, Chase C. Parsons

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Abstract forthcoming.

The Overreach Of Limits On 'Legal Advice', Lauren Sudeall

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Nonlawyers, including court personnel, are typically prohibited from providing legal advice. But definitions of “legal advice” are unnecessarily broad, creating confusion, disadvantaging self-represented litigants, and possibly raising due process concerns. This Essay argues for a narrower, more explicit definition of legal advice that advances, rather than undercuts, access to justice.

Government Speech And The Establishment Clause, Alexander Tsesis

Scholarly Publications

This Article argues that the Establishment Clause prohibits public actors or agencies from adopting religious messages and symbols. The limitation is explicitly stated in the First Amendment, which restricts government from encroaching on religious belief and ritual. Separation between private and public spheres protects thought, belief, and practice under the Free Exercise Clause and prevents official orthodoxy under the Establishment Clause. One religion clause requires government to respect deeply held personal beliefs that are parallel to beliefs in God, while the other clause prohibits government from participating in sectarian conduct. Government speech can describe, explain, contextualize, and characterize religious rituals …

Common Law Divorce, Michael J. Higdon

Scholarly Works

Common law marriage has existed in the United for more than 200 years. Although not permitted as widely today, every state continues to recognize a common law marriage from one of the handful of states that still permit parties to wed in this informal manner. In contrast, never has there been anything even approaching common law divorce—and for good reason. Namely, the states’ desire to ensure that those who leave unsuccessful marriages do so in such a way that their interests (as well as their children’s) are adequately protected. Nonetheless, even though not sanctioned by law, informal divorce not only …

Judges In Lawyerless Courts, Anna E. Carpenter, Colleen F. Shanahan, Jessica K. Steinberg, Alyx Mark

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

The typical American civil trial court is lawyerless. In response to the challenge of pro se litigation, scholars, advocates, judges, and courts have embraced a key solution: reforming the judge’s traditional role. The prevailing vision calls on trial judges to set aside traditional judicial passivity, simplify court procedures, and offer a range of assistance and accommodation to people without counsel.

Despite widespread support for judicial role reform, we know little of whether and how judges are implementing pro se assistance recommendations. Our lack of knowledge stands in stark contrast to the responsibility civil trial judges bear – and the power …

A Study Of Tax Lawyers Discussing Duties, Michelle M. Kwon, Michael Hatfield

Scholarly Works

This Article reports the first qualitative empirical study of U.S. tax lawyers. We interviewed women lawyers who were tax planning specialists. Though this is the first such study of U.S. tax lawyers, this methodology has been used often to study the professional ethics of other tax practitioners around the world. We had three research questions that we sought to answer through dynamic conversations on topics such as the distinctions between good and bad tax plans and good and bad tax lawyers and also the joys and stresses of tax practice. Our first research question was as to the make-up of …

Florida State Law Alumni Magazine & Annual Report (2022), Florida State University College Of Law Office Of Development And Alumni Affairs

Alumni Newsletter & FSU Law Magazine

No abstract provided.

Making The Case For Law Tech, Janet Kearney

Staff Publications

As the concept of a “practice-ready” attorney continues to grow in both law firms and law schools, law school libraries are meeting this need by offering programming related to legal technology. In this article, a law librarian from the United States discusses their successes and failures in creating and maintaining legal technology programming, a first step in a larger conversation on practice-ready law graduates. This article is based on a June 2021 presentation given at the annual conference of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians.

De-Gentrified Black Genius: Blockchain, Copyright, And The Disintermediation Of Creativity, Tonya M. Evans

Faculty Scholarly Works

In a 2016 acceptance speech during the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards, actor and activist Jesse Williams used the phrase “gentrifying our genius” to refer to the insidious process of misappropriating the cultural and artistic productions of Black creators, inventors, and innovators. In that speech, he poignantly and unapologetically condemned racial discrimination and cultural misappropriation. This Article chronicles the nefarious history of the creative disempowerment of creators of color and then imagines an empowering future for those who successfully exploit their creations by fully leveraging copyright ownership and transfer termination. To that end, I reference the considerable scholarship of Professor …

Pandemic Response Through Whole Person Care: The Intersection Of Physical And Mental Health And The Law, Jennifer Kinsley Smith, Esq., Elizabeth J. Lattner, Ma, Allison Kreiner, Md, Edward J. Kilbane, Md, Ma, Keyvan Ravakhah, Md, Mba

Annals of Health Law and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Must American Artists Starve?

Florida A & M University Law Review

This legal essay proposes a solution to the problem of artist and publisher compensation as deprived by MMA and discusses the realities and limitations of pursuing a Takings Clause violation under the Fifth Amendment. It further proposes a modern perspective on copyrighted works as property to lay the intellectual foundation for copyright reform and offers that the “best efforts” standard should replace the “commercially reasonable efforts” standard since modernizing copyright law is essential to the music industry. Lastly, the author suggests a practical approach to pursuing a Due Process claim under the Fifth Amendment.

The Global Rise Of International Commercial Courts: Typology And Power Dynamics, Weixia Gu, Jacky Tam

Chicago Journal of International Law

Over the past decade, there has been a proliferation of International Commercial Courts (ICCs) across the globe. ICCs are specialized tribunals within the domestic court hierarchy tailored for the adjudication of complicated cross-border commercial disputes. Most ICCs share similar features, such as a set of flexible procedural rules comparable to those in international arbitration, multilingual court proceedings, and the recruitment of overseas judges or foreign legal experts.

The global phenomenon calls for a systematic comparative study of the different generations of ICCs and their power dynamics. This Article will offer a unique typological framework to study the evolution of ICCs. …

An Early Intervention Approach To Reducing Evictions And Improving Child Welfare, David A. Dana

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Helping Asylum Seekers And New Asylees Find Their Way In The United States, Kristin Briner

Children's Legal Rights Journal

People seek asylum in the United States (U.S.) when their home country is no longer safe due to persecution or other forms of violence. However, obtaining asylum is a notoriously complicated process due to the numerous government agencies involved, the immigration courts' backlogs, and the possibility of detention while awaiting a hearing. The current U.S. immigration system is itself a large barrier to individuals seeking asylum, and information regarding legal rights and protections are often inaccessible to asylum seekers. In this way, the U.S. immigration officials cause massive injustices against asylum seekers and those who have been granted asylum ("asylees"). …

Professional Speech At Scale, Cassandra Burke Robertson, Sharona Hoffman

Faculty Publications

Regulatory actions affecting professional speech are facing new challenges from all sides. On one side, the Supreme Court has grown increasingly protective of professionals’ free speech rights, and it has subjected regulations affecting that speech to heightened levels of scrutiny that call into question traditional regulatory practices in both law and medicine. On the other side, technological developments, including the growth of massive digital platforms and the introduction of artificial intelligence programs, have created brand new problems of regulatory scale. Professional speech is now able to reach a wide audience faster than ever before, creating risks that misinformation will cause …