Digital Commons Network^™

Up In Smoke: How Recent Court Rulings Have Torched Big Tech’S Litigation Strategy And Why It Matters, David Earl Wietlispach

Nebraska Law Bulletin (Selected Issues)

As the title of this paper suggests, there are parallels between what happened to Big Tobacco and what could happen to Big Tech should its litigation strategy fail. Big Tech, like Big Tobacco before it, could stand to lose billions of dollars in judgments and settlements. More importantly, regulations—if allowed to take root—could upend Big Tech’s platform business model. Either outcome, or both, could fundamentally rewrite the relationship between Big Tech and its users. If Big Tech’s litigation strategy truly goes up in smoke, these colossal corporations could find themselves in a magnificent mess.

Minority Day Hearing On American Innovation And The Future Of Digital Assets: From Blueprint To A Functional Framework, Hilary J. Allen

Legislative Testimony & Comments

When we hear from the crypto industry that existing regulation is incompatible with their technology, that is a misdirection. It is entirely possible for a blockchain-based technology business to comply with existing investor protection and financial stability regulation. However, for many crypto businesses, it may be true that existing regulation is incompatible with the economics of their business model, especially if their business model depends on doing things that we have learned, over the years, tend to harm people. But we have little to lose as a society from limiting the profitability of this kind of business model; unfortunately, the …

Education Equity For Transgender And Gender-Diverse Persons In India: Insights Into Implementation Hurdles, Dipika Jain, Natasha Aggarwal, Kanmani Ray, Surbhi Karwa, Disha Chaudhari, Rishav Devrani

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Part I of this article presents international, global, and national approaches to the right to education for transgender and gender-diverse persons. It then describes the Indian approach—the NALSA judgment and the Transgender Persons Act. Finally, it provides anecdotal insight into the lived experiences of transgender and gender-diverse persons and the marginalization they face.

Part II outlines: (i) the rationale of this study, (ii) the research methodology, and (iii) the questions in the right to information requests, which have formed the basis for investigating the landscape of education rights for transgender and gender-diverse students.

Part III provides an overview of the …

Sheridan Vs. State Of Nevada, 141 Nev. Adv. Op. 22 (Apr. 24, 2025), Austin Cassell

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

THE SUPREME COURT DETERMINED THAT OBSTRUCTING OR RESISTING AN OFFICER BY FLIGHT AND FAILURE TO REGISTER AS A CONVICTED PERSON ARE NOT CATEGORICALLY CRIMES OF VIOLENCE UNDER NRS 176A.510

Whose Right(S)?: Civil Rights Impact Of Cultural Conflicts In The Curriculum, S. David Mitchell

Faculty Publications

Statutes seeking to prohibit the teaching of certain curricular topics that are considered divisive infringe upon the civil rights of students, parents, and teachers. The conflict over what should be taught implicates the rights of students, specifically their right to receive and to learn information; the rights of parents, specifically the right to control the education of their children; and the rights of teachers, specifically the First Amendment and academic freedom. “Anti-Woke” legislation, as it is broadly termed, is designed to silence those who seek to engage in the critical analysis of the structural and systemic barriers that have prevented …

Teaching With Ai - And Teaching Students To Use It Well, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article argues that the rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into legal practice creates an opportunity-and need-for legal educators to rethink and improve their courses. While some faculty fear that AI will erode students' skills or encourage academic dishonesty, thoughtful use of AI tools in legal education actually can promote deeper learning, improve student writing, and reveal how students actually think. The article distinguishes between summative and formative assessment and explains how AI can produce meaningful formative feedback. It offers specific examples of AI-based assignments that can help students build core professional skills, and it highlights the importance of …

Corporations In The Crosshairs: Stakeholder Activism And The Role Of Corporations In Society, Poonam Puri

Conference Papers

TOPIC AND IMPORTANCE

Stakeholders of a corporation have an interest in pushing a company to take actions which align with their values, whether it be on environmental, social or other issues. From customers and employees to share-holders and governments, stakeholders have been increasingly advancing environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues at Canadian companies, and at companies around the world. This rise in stakeholder activism has coincided with societies that are increasingly politically and socially divided, the COVID-19 pandemic, wars in both Europe and the Middle East, and historic inflation and interest rates, as well as an ongoing and worsening climate …

The Mysterious Power Of Land Use Law: Constructing A Framework Law For Climate Resilient Development, John R. Nolon, Maureen Hartwell

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article introduces and explains Climate Resilient Development (CRD), which is relied upon by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a primary method of managing climate change. CRD "integrates adaptation measures and their enabling conditions with mitigation to advance sustainable development for all." 1 CRD illuminates the close relationship between adaptive and mitigative development and land use law, particularly the authority delegated to local governments to regulate and incentivize private land development and conservation. The Article unveils a legal structure that is followed in most states to organize local laws that affect land development; as such, it facilitates …

When Victims Become Responsible: Deputizing School Personnel And Destruction Of Qualified Immunity, Milija Zgonjanin

The Journal of Law and Education

No abstract provided.

Notre Dame Lawyers Connect Summer 2025, Notre Dame Law School

Notre Dame Lawyers Connect

New Veterans Law Clinic

Two Notre Dame Law School graduates to clerk at U.S. Supreme Court

Class of 2025 Commencement

Class of 2025 Highest Academic Awards

Religious Liberty Summit

Death Penalty Abolition Week

Save the Date: 2025 Law Homecoming Weekend September 19 & 20

Notre Dame Affinity Alumni Reunion Weekend Recap

Alumni Events - New York, Indianapolis, Los Angeles

Sadie Blanchard and Sherif Girgis granted tenure and promoted to full professor

Lardy Scholarship Award 2025-26

Notre Dame Law Association

One Hundred Years Of Morales Y Benet V. La Junta Local De Inscripciones: The Use Of The Insular Cases To Deny Women’S Voting Rights In Puerto Rico, Joel Andrews Cosme-Morales

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The centenary of

Morales y Benet provides an opportunity to reflect on the inequalities women faced under Puerto Rican colonialism in the early 20th century, shaped by the legal imperialism of the United States over the archipelago. This article explores the holding in Morales y Benet v. La Junta Local de Inscripciones and its impact on women’s lives during the last 100 years.

The decision in

Morales y Benet came at a time when women in the mainland United States had already secured the right to vote, following decades of suffrage activism that culminated in the passage of the Nineteenth …

What's The Matter With Lozada: How The Board Of Immigration Appeals Coerces Immigration Lawyers To Breach Legal Ethics, Kari E. Hong

Articles

In general, if an attorney makes a mistake, they can cure it by notifying the forum and filing the appropriate remedy. Immigration law, by contrast, stands alone by requiring the client (or a new attorney) to corroborate any mistake by filing a bar complaint against the first attorney. This requirement was established in a 1988 case, called Matter of Lozada. Much has been written on how the Lozada rule is unnecessary (a mistake does not need to be corroborated by a bar complaint and state bars are complaining about a deluge of unnecessary complaints for negligence) and harms the immigration …

Immigration Federalism In The Second Trump Administration, Stella Burch Elias

Articles

This Article explores the ongoing transformation of state and local engagement in immigration-related rulemaking in the United States during the Second Trump Administration. The Article examines the myriad ways in which federal executive actions and state responses to those actions, alongside independent state actions and the federal government’s responses to those actions, are upending longestablished immigration law doctrines and shifting the borders of American federalism. The Article discusses legal scholars’ previous understanding of immigration federalism, embodied in United States v. Arizona, and the prior distinctions between permissible “alienage” laws and impermissible “immigration” laws, which could not be introduced by state …

I'Ve Been Here Before: My Second Run Of "The First 100 Days", Vanessa Montoya

Articles

No abstract provided.

Executive Clemency And Immigration Federalism: Reconsidering Presidential Power Over Deportation, Linus Chan, Lauren Butler, Emma Wittmer

Articles

No abstract provided.

Federalism, Family Unity, And Keeping Families Together, Kristina M. Campbell

Articles

No abstract provided.

State Of Nevada V. Eighth Judicial District Court, 141 Nev. Adv. Op. 27 (June 5, 2025)., Jacob M. Ginsburg

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

An order resolving a motion to correct an illegal sentence is not a final judgment or verdict and is therefore appealable by the state.

Urias V. First Jud. Dist. Ct., 141 Nev. Adv. Op. 24 (May 8, 2025), Daren Dunaway

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

NRS 484E.040 applies only to highways that are open to public access or to which individuals have access as invitees or licensees and therefore does not apply to private property.

In Re: Pub. Records Request To Las Vegas Metro. Police Dep’T, 141 Nev. Adv. Op. 26 ((May 29, 2025), Alexander Stevens

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

NPRA CONTROLS DISCLOSURE OF POLICE INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS

Kosor, Jr. V. S. Highlands Cmty. Ass’N, 141 Nev. Adv. Op. 34 (Jun. 18, 2025), Grace Michaelson

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

A statutory pre-suit alternative dispute resolution requirement, like NRS 38.310, is a mandatory procedural rule, not a jurisdictional bar, and may be waived or forfeited if not timely raised.

Methane Removal Under The Paris Agreement, Romany M. Webb

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, the international community agreed to “strengthen the global response to climate change” by limiting the “increase in global average temperatures to well below" 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and ideally to 1.5 degrees Celsius. As recognized in the Agreement, to stay within these limits, global greenhouse gas emissions must be rapidly reduced, “so as to achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century” — a situation commonly described as “net zero.” The need to reach net zero has prompted growing …

Varied Legal Parameters Shape Fiduciaries’ Ability To Act On Climate Risk, Cynthia Hanawalt, Andy Fitch

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Commentators who advocate either for or against corporate and asset managers addressing climate risks often refer to “fiduciary duty” as justification for their claims. Yet no field of corporate or asset management actually imposes one standalone fiduciary duty. Nor do any two business-law fields impose the same fiduciary regime. Instead, these fields adopt differing arrays of fiduciary duties to address various types of relationships, comprising a different blend of affirmative obligations and/or prohibitions, assessed with different degrees of strictness by enforcers and courts. As a result, overgeneralizations about fiduciaries’ duty in all business-law contexts tend to further obscure what a …

Pricey Harrison Interview, Pricey Harrison, Gene Nichol

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Facing Faculty Fears About Ai, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This essay addresses a widespread but rarely voiced concern among faculty: the fear of appearing uninformed, unprepared, or even outmatched by students when incorporating AI into their teaching. While worries about cheating, hallucinations, de-skilling, and loss of control are legitimate, this essay encourages faculty to shift from fear to curiosity. It argues that acknowledging uncertainty can strengthen faculty–student relationships and model the curiosity and humility we hope to cultivate in students.

It outlines two general strategies for faculty: restricting AI use when students need to build foundational skills, and requiring it when students are ready to develop professional judgment using …

Getting Help From Ai To Update Your Syllabus (Even If You Think It's Just Fine), John Lande

Faculty Publications

Law school faculty often reuse the same syllabi from year to year, assuming that if a course "isn't broken," it doesn't need fixing. But with the upcoming NextGen Bar Exam, new lawyer licensing regimes, and the widespread use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, the context for teaching dispute resolution is changing rapidly.

This short article encourages faculty to reflect on their syllabi and consider how generative AI tools can support thoughtful, efficient updates. It offers practical strategies for adapting to bar exam and licensing developments, incorporating AI skills into courses, integrating representation and neutral perspectives, and redesigning assignments to …

Cocking V. State Of Nevada, 141 Nev. Adv. Op. 21 (Apr. 24, 2025), William Boyden

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

NEVADA SUPREME COURT RULES THAT CONCEALED CARRY AND SERIAL NUMBER REQUIREMENTS DO NOT VIOLATE THE SECOND AMENDMENT.

Justice Making, Justice Spaces And Justice Users, Dean D' Cruz, Reboni Saha, Siddhrath Peter De Souza, Varsha Aithala, Naomi Jose, Sharada Kerkar

Books

This insightful book reimagines how justice systems can be reshaped to better serve the needs of people—especially those who are disadvantaged. Focusing on public spaces in Goa—courtrooms, police stations, protest sites, and classrooms—it asks how these spaces are structured, and what must change for them to truly support those seeking justice.

Drawing on insights from practitioners, activists, and researchers, the authors explore how ordinary people relate to these spaces and the barriers they face. Through grounded case studies and theoretical reflections, the chapters of this work offer a wider commentary on how we might design justice systems that are more …

Politicization Of Antitrust: Part Ii - Politics And Communication By Antitrust Enforcers, Stephen Calkins

Law Faculty Research Publications

Early communications from the new Trump antitrust agencies seem unusually partisan. One can find multiple references to Make America Great Again and ushering in America’s Golden Age. Veteran observers’ instinct is that this is not business as usual. This essay checks that intuition against some facts. In particular, it examines press releases introducing officials and/ or referring to the White House, and the first ten speeches or other publications (as collected on agency websites) for current FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater, and a good number of their predecessors. The conclusion: yes, things are different. The typical …

Moot Court Teams Earning National Accolades, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

t was a banner year for the Law School’s moot court competitors, as one team brought home a championship trophy, multiple teams made deep runs in national tournaments, and several students earned impressive individual honors.

“For our external competitions against other schools, we had to have tryouts this year because we had a record number of applicants,” said Professor Lane McFadden, who teaches Legal Writing and Research and Appellate Advocacy and supervises the Law School’s appellate moot court programs. “The rising 2Ls are now excited because the students who are only a year or two ahead of them have done …

Summer 2025

Ergo

No abstract provided.