Digital Commons Network^™

Embracing The Bot: Japan’S Love Affair With Ai Learning, Dan Rosen

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mitigating Ai Bias With Prompt Augmentation, Verónica C. Gonzales

Faculty Scholarship

Large-language-model (“LLM”) outputs are inevitably shaped by assumptions, biases, and attitudes rooted in racism and other systemic inequities embedded in the civil-law tradition. This Equity-in-Justice CLE focuses on helping civil legal service providers recognize and work to eliminate biases in generative AI outputs through equity-centered prompt augmentation and engineering. These small, cost-free interventions re-orient LLMs assistance toward fairness, cultural competency, and client-centered outcomes. Participants leave with an action plan for embedding anti-bias safeguards in everyday research, drafting, and client communication tasks.

Copyright In Characters: A Proposal For Reform, Michael W. Carroll

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

The doctrine of character copyright is an eccentricity in copyright law that should either be abandoned or substantially reformed. Originally limited to literary characters, this doctrine decomposes a narrative work in order to recognize characters as works of authorship independent of the narrative works from which they are derived. Claimants generally seek independent protection for characters for three, sometimes overlapping, reasons: (1) to repackage what would otherwise be a weak claim of substantial similarity if comparison were to be made with the work(s) from which the character has sprung; (2) to overcome obstacles posed by prior licensing decisions that have …

International Legal Guidelines For Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Governance Under The London Convention And London Protocol, Korey Silverman-Roati, Romany M. Webb

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

For the past two decades, parties to the London Convention and Protocol have negotiated rules, decisions, and amendments related to climate change. These efforts have principally focused on two sets of technologies – sub-seabed carbon dioxide storage and marine geoengineering. Initial discussions regarding marine geoengineering focused specifically on ocean fertilization but, more recently, the parties have considered an expanded array of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) approaches, including ocean alkalinity enhancement and ocean sinking of biomass. Throughout these discussions, the parties have invoked legal principles and guidelines, like the precautionary approach, to inform their assessment of how to apply the …

“Foreign-Related Rule Of Law” And The Belt And Road Initiative: A Chinese Legal- Economic Synergy, Sungmin Kim

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shielding From Culpability: The Responsibility System In Eu’S Asylum And Migration Policy, Bjarne Bachmann

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Masthead

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reopening The Past, Nadia R. Castillo

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

According to the Murder Accountability Project and Federal Bureau of Investigations, “nearly 340,000 homicides and non-negligent manslaughter cases went unsolved in the U.S. from the year of 1965 to 2021 alone” (FBI; 2021). Hidden in the corners of the Justice System are endless cases that go unsolved, untouched or just too long forgotten these crimes carry no answers, no justice, and no closure. For decades, many of these cold cases have been on a shelf collecting dust stalled by the limits of old outdated technology, limited resources, and insufficient evidence. A new era of forensic science is evolving every day, …

Dissecting The Heterogeneous Effects Of Opioid Prescribing Limit Laws On Pediatric Mortality: A Multidimensional And Negative Binomial Modeling Approach, Francine R. Vega

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Opioid prescribing for children and adolescents continues to be a significant health crisis in the United States. Early naïve exposure to opioid prescriptions has been linked to later misuse, opioid use disorder, and death. In response to the crisis, many states have implemented opioid prescribing limit laws (OPLLs) aimed at reducing exposure to opioids. These laws vary widely in their approach, including differences in dosage restrictions, prescription duration limits, informed consent requirements, educational provisions, and whether they offer explicit protections specifically for minors. Despite their widespread adoption, there is limited understanding of how heterogeneity in legal regulations affects outcomes for …

Criminogenic Risk Factors For Delinquency In Relation To The Custodial Parent: Incorporating Parent-Child Gender Dyads, Behavioral Control, And Support, Niko Noel Piña-Anastasiadis

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Juvenile delinquency tends to be higher in single-parent households (Kroese et al., 2021). Research investigating this phenomenon has found conflicting results on whether a juvenile has lower rates of delinquency with a custodial father (paternal hypothesis), custodial mother (maternal hypothesis), or whether gender is secondary to other factors. Similarly, some studies found that the interaction of the juvenile living with a same-gendered parent was associated with lower levels of delinquency. Further complications include how parental variables, such as behavioral control and support levels, may interact with the juvenile and custodial parent gender (Hoeve et al., 2009). The current study utilizes …

The “Sweetest Sounding” Words Of Civil Rights: A Labor Origin Story Of The “Right To Work”, Thomas A. Castillo

History

This essay revisits the idea of “right to work” by offering historical context of Florida’s passage of its 1944 right to work constitutional amendment. A brief overview of the history of the term right to work and its contested nature indicates how the phrase likely led to confusion especially in the arena of political economy. A close evaluation of the amendment and its incongruent nature reveals the intent of its proponents was to deceive voters with the “sweetest sounding” words of civil rights while weakening their ability to organize labor unions. The history of safeguarding the free market entailed disciplining …

August 2025 Annual Report, Perlmutter Center For Legal Justice At Cardozo Law

Perlmutter Center Reports

The August 2025 Annual Report documents the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice’s work at Cardozo Law during Spring and Summer 2025, highlighting major legal victories, partnerships, student clinical programs, policy advocacy, community outreach, and staff achievements. Prepared for The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Foundation, it details the Center’s efforts to address wrongful convictions, challenge flawed forensic science, expand pro bono collaborations, and advance criminal justice reform, while also providing staff updates, financial information, and program impact summaries.

Legislatively Inhibiting Children's Development Of The Mens Rea To Commit Genocide During Adulthood, Susan H. Bitensky

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

This Article concerns how legislatures in America are stanching development of the criminal intent to commit genocide. Lawmakers have taken aim at genocide, not through the barrel of a gun, but, rather, by imbuing schoolchildren with values and psychological attributes that gradually counteract development of a génocidaire’s mens rea. Of course, sans mens rea, sans perpetration of this, the “crime of crimes.”

The counteractant process is the result of joining a substantively targeted pedagogy with the force of law so as to create state genocide-education mandate statutes. There has been a certain prescience in this. Accumulating expert opinion, studies, and …

Promoting Better Dispute Decision-Making With An Ai Tool Built On Rps Theory, John Lande

Faculty Publications

Traditional theories of negotiation and mediation rely on rigid models, false dichotomies, and confusing terminology that fails to reflect the complexity of real practice. This article critiques those theories and introduces Real Practice Systems (RPS) theory as a more accurate and practical alternative.

RPS theory conceptualizes negotiation and mediation as sequences of professional judgment shaped by context, experience, and goals, rather than as idealized or linear processes. It promotes a realistic and ethically responsible practice by encouraging reflection, intentional process design, and adaptability.

The article introduces “RPS Coach,” a free artificial intelligence tool built on the ChatGPT platform. It is …

Thinking Like Mediators About The Future Of Ai, John Lande

Faculty Publications

Some public discourse about artificial intelligence (AI) reflects the uncertainty and tension typical of high-stakes conflicts, where differing perceptions and strong emotions shape how people respond to change. This short essay suggests that dispute resolution professionals are well-positioned to apply our tools to this emerging and complex issue, though we don’t always do so.

The essay calls for a balanced analysis of AI’s risks and benefits, drawing on familiar dispute resolution practices like careful consideration of situations, interests, and options. It highlights the differences between individual and societal impacts of AI use on the environment and education. It encourages the …

Louisiana's Ten Commandments Statute: With Litigation Updates From Arkansas And Texas, Carl H. Esbeck

Faculty Publications

Legislators in conservative states are drawn to a belief that the Ten Commandments [“10/Cs”] underscore American’s moral, jurisprudential, and historical heritage. First the State of Louisiana, and thereafter Arkansas and Texas, enacted legislation requiring the posting of the 10/Cs in every public school and university classroom in the state. This quickly brought on legal challenges by students and their parents, along with a smattering of local clerics, together contending that these laws were unconstitutional, most prominently violations of the Establishment Clause. State attorney generals leaped to defend these statutes making the facial assertion that the 10/Cs are not so much …

A Video Guide For Teaching Law Students To Use Ai Wisely, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article introduces a video that provides practical guidance about using artificial intelligence (AI) in legal education.  It presents a basic introduction to AI and describes how law students and faculty can benefit from tools like ChatGPT.  Because many students already use AI on their own, the video emphasizes the need to teach them how to use it wisely and responsibly.  The video also includes demonstrations showing how faculty can use AI to develop new simulations and how students can use it to prepare for them.  This article provides links to the video, PowerPoint slides, the chat transcript, and related …

The Use Of Ai In Canadian Courts, Shaughnessy Dow

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

Like many other fields, there has been growing discussion about the potential benefits of AI for the law. In light of the Federal Court’s interim principles and guidelines on the use of AI, this paper considers whether AI applications can assist the judiciary with its decision-making function. In doing so, it starts by considering the role that judges play in our legal system, finding that they are often called upon to consider and weigh information with human, emotional qualities and to assess the broader policy implications of their legal rulings. This paper concludes that the optimism of proponents of AI …

A Framework For Interpreting Emojis In Legal Contexts, Anne Merritt

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

In the 2023 case of South West Terminal Ltd. v. Achter Land & Cattle Ltd., a Saskatchewan court found that a thumbs-up emoji, as a standalone item of communication, constituted the acceptance of a contract between a buyer and seller. The trial judge noted that such communication was “the new reality in Canadian society” for which courts should be prepared to interpret novel units of language arising in the digital age. However, an analysis of recent Canadian cases involving emojis shows that courts have not been prepared, with inconsistencies in how emojis are represented in evidence, how they are …

The Reverse Onus At Bail For Intimate Partner Violence: An Unconstitutional And Ineffective Measure, Ella Peterson

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

The recently adopted reverse onus at bail for repeat intimate partner violence is a piece of performative legislation that is ineffectual and may harm those it seeks to protect. Part I of this paper provides an overview of intimate partner violence in Canada in order to contextualize s. 515(6)(b.1) of the Criminal Code. Part II is a Charter assessment of the reverse onus provision at issue, focusing on sections 7 and 11(e). Part III concludes with a critique of the effectiveness of the reverse onus, which fails to address the root causes of intimate partner violence.

Canada's Foreign Fighter Problem: How Should The Federal Government Manage Suspected Isis Members Held In Syria?, Mira Stephenson

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

Since the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fell in 2019, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) has arbitrarily detained tens of thousands of accused ISIS fighters and their families in Northern Syria. Among those detained are Canadian citizens. Although Canada has repatriated Canadian women and children from AANES custody, its policy approach to date has been inadequate.

Canada must take action to develop a cohesive policy for the approximately 17 Canadians remaining in AANES custody. In this paper, I will evaluate four potential policy options available to the Canadian government. First, that Canada could take …

A Quiet Privilege: Garrity, Internal Investigations, And The Need For A Preference Of Silence Among Public Employees, Jacob Abel

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

When a public employee is asked to testify against themselves or face termination, they are presented with a trilemma. They may choose to respond to questions falsely, answer truthfully, and suffer criminal sanctions, or remain silent and lose their job. In Garrity v. New Jersey, the Supreme Court resolved this trilemma by ruling that, when a public employee is compelled to answer questions, the Fifth Amendment grants the employee immunity for their testimony. The Supreme Court “solved” the trilemma again, in Gardner v. Broderick, by saying that an employee who is fired for invoking their Fifth Amendment right …

Where "Woke" And The Written Word Go To Die: How Florida's Newest Book Ban Law Violates The Fourteenth And First Amendments, Sarah N. Powell

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

The fight over banned books is as old as the nation itself. However, the number of book objections and removals in public schools has increased dramatically in the past two school years. According to PEN America, a national free speech group, Florida currently leads with the highest number of book bans in the nation: “[o]ver 40 percent of all book bans [in the U.S.] occurred in school districts in Florida.”

Vague statutory language and procedures in recent legislation have made banning books even easier. This Note challenges the constitutionality of section 1006.28, Florida Statutes (2024), one of Florida’s newest book …

Redressing The Harm Of Accelerated Approval, Laura Karas

Articles

The accelerated approval pathway of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enables drugs to come to market more quickly than would be possible under a traditional FDA approval pathway. Accelerated approval is based upon the agency's determination that changes in a surrogate or intermediate clinical endpoint are "reasonably likely" to predict a clinical benefit meaningful for patients. In essence, the pathway affords sick patients earlier access to potentially beneficial drugs while trials to confirm clinical benefit continue. Accelerated approval has been likened to a social compromise in which promising drugs enter the market sooner in exchange for a …

Ai Governance In China: A Tale Of Three Digital Empires, Charles C. Wang, Siyi Lin, Xia Wu, Yiman Li

UC Law SF International Law Review

Since 2021, China has strategically expedited artificial intelligence (AI) legislation and refined algorithmic governance to compete with the US and the EU. The rapid growth of algorithm filing cases is a direct result of the “Made in China 2025” Initiative which prioritizes AI development driven by domestic leading tech companies like DeepSeek. As world-class digital powers, China, the US, and the EU diverge in their categorization of AI risks and adoption of regulatory measures. China’s centralized single-agency regulatory infrastructure differs from the multi-agency and decentralized governance models in the US and the EU, respectively. China does not impose the same …

Letter From The Editor, Justin Vickers

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Ideological (Mis)Framing Of Comparative Procedure, Stefania Cirillo

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

This article critiques the pervasive role of ideology in comparative studies of civil procedure, rejecting the notion that scholarly interpretation is purely technical. It highlights three main harms of ideological influence: misinterpretations of legal systems, flawed rule transplants, and exclusion of Global South perspectives. These drawbacks stem from the comparatist’s tendency to adjust reality to fit ideological preconceptions, leading to distortions in comparative analysis. While ideology often distorts comparative analysis, its complete exclusion risks neglecting moral and social dimensions. Thus, the article calls for a balanced methodology: a descriptive analysis rooted in culturalism to account for the ideological and societal …

The Latin Exclusion: Examining The Eu And The White House’S Policy Favoritism Toward Migrant Sending Latin American Nations While Punishing Similar Pressures Globally, Nicolas Garon

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

Too often, negative perceptions of a country, whether from its government or a few citizens, result in broad restrictions applied to all nationals, either formally through policy or informally through officials’ discretion. A global norm persists in which nationals from poorer countries facing migratory pressures are subjected to heightened scrutiny and restrictive measures that deter movement to wealthier nations. Regardless of how liberal a receiving country may claim to be, states consistently adopt conservative stances on migration. Western nations, as primary destinations, often impose the harshest measures, such as travel bans and additional visa requirements, frequently based on speculative migration …

The Legal Framework Of Smart Contracts In The Arabian Gulf, Ilias Bantekas, Ameneh Yousuf Saif Al-Hosseini

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

New tools have aided contractual transactions, particularly so-called smart contracts. Such tools have an impact on the formation of contracts and the implementation of the parties’ mutual obligations. Entities in the Arab world have generally hesitated to apply smart contract technology to high-end transactions out of fear that at some point these will not sit comfortably with existing legislation. The civil law landscape is still blurry. This article focuses on analyzing the legal framework of smart contracts in selected Arab countries and uses English smart contract regulation in order to compare how their regulation was tamed there and whether the …

Punishment In “Disneyland”: A Magical Review Of Singaporean Sentencing Law, Policy & Practice, Lucas Brolin

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

Staying in Singapore is like visiting Disneyland, with a catch: Imagine indulging in the world’s most magical place, but Jeffrey Katzenberg gives you a walloping if you cut in line. Deploying this self-described “winning formula,” Singapore quickly rose to prosperity. Admirers and critics mutually note Singapore’s cleanliness, safety, and efficiency. Empirical metrics suggest these accolades are not anecdotal: Singapore scores at the top of global development indexes, boasts a low crime rate and high judicial clearance rate, has comprehensive infrastructure, clean public facilities and streets, and more. Singapore’s governance is rightly credited for its prosperous outcomes. However, it also invites …