Digital Commons Network^™

Dean's Desk: Recognizing Iu Maurer Alumnae Who Have Made A Difference, Christiana Ochoa

Christiana Ochoa (7/22-10/22 Acting; 11/2022-)

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to welcome future law students as part of our annual Admitted Student Day. From their seats in the Kathleen and Ann DeLaney Moot Court Room, they look to the front of the room where they see the portraits of four trailblazing alumnae who have made indelible marks on the judiciary. Juanita Kidd Stout ’48, Sue Shields ’61, Linda Chezem ’71 and Loretta Rush ’83 all face out into the sea of newly admitted students who one day hope to forge paths of their own.As we celebrate Women’s History Month, I wanted to …

The World Moved On Without Me: Redefining Contraband In A Technology-Driven World For Youth Detained In Washington State, Stephanie A. Lowry

Seattle University Law Review

If you ask a teenager in the United States to show you one of their favorite memories, they will likely show you a picture or video on their cell phone. This is because Americans, especially teenagers, love cell phones. Ninety-seven percent of all Americans own a cell phone according to a continuously updated survey by the Pew Research Center. For teenagers aged thirteen to seventeen, the number is roughly 95%. For eighteen to twenty-nine-year-olds, the number grows to 100%. On average, eight to twelve-year-old’s use roughly five and a half hours of screen media per day, in comparison to thirteen …

Ethical Lawyering: The Role Of Honor, Conscience, And Codes (Reviewing Michael S. Ariens, The Lawyer’S Conscience: A History Of American Lawyer Ethics), Vincent R. Johnson

Faculty Articles

Michael Ariens’ new book, The Lawyer’s Conscience: A History of American Lawyer Ethics, is a monumental work, rooted in his decades of excellent scholarship in the fields of attorney professional responsibility and legal history. The Lawyer’s Conscience captures the great sweep and key features of the roughly 250-year period in American legal ethics running from colonial times to the present day. Richly detailed and vividly presented, the story takes the reader on a grand tour of the landmark events and changing ideas that have defined the aspirations, responsibilities, and accountability of members of the American legal profession.

The Public Defender Movement In The Age Of Mass Incarceration: Georgia's Experience, Robert L. Tsai

Faculty Scholarship

Focusing on the efforts of the Southern Center for Human Rights, this article offers a grassroots history of the creation of the first statewide public defender in the State of Georgia in 2003. Whereas federal court litigation to improve indigent defense failed to achieve lasting reform, a shift in tactics toward “rebellious localism,” characterized by state court lawsuits against county and city officials, succeeded in prodding lawmakers to create a new framework for delivering legal services to indigent defendants. This model of legal change was effective in documenting structural flaws and creating momentum for reform. Yet other conditions—such as front-end …

The Arkansas Ll.M. Program: Forty Years Of Leadership, Susan A. Schneider

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The University of Arkansas School of Law has been a leader in agricultural law education for over forty years through its innovative LL.M. Program in Agricultural and Food Law. This essay memorializes the history of this signature Program and charts its progress through the decades as agricultural law issues evolved and the discipline expanded.

Putting The Bar Exam On Constitutional Notice: Cut Scores, Race & Ethnicity, And The Public Good, Scott Johns

Seattle University Law Review

Nothing to see here. Season in and season out, bar examiners, experts, supreme courts, and bar associations seem nonplussed, trapped by what they see as the facts, namely, that the bar exam has no possible weaknesses, at least when it comes to alternative licensure mechanisms, that the bar exam is not to blame for disparate racial impacts that spring from administration of this ritualistic process, and that there are no viable alternatives in the harsh cold world of determining minimal competency for the noble purpose of protecting the public from legal harms. All a lie, of course.

But rather than …

Anti-Discrimination Ethics Rules And The Legal Profession, Michael Ariens

Faculty Articles

“Reputation ought to be the perpetual subject of my Thoughts, and Aim of my Behaviour. How shall I gain a Reputation! How shall I Spread an Opinion of myself as a Lawyer of distinguished Genius, Learning, and Virtue.” So wrote twenty-four-year-old John Adams in his diary in 1759. He had been a licensed lawyer for just three years at that time and had already believed himself to be hounded by “Petty foggers” and “dirty Dablers in the Law”—unlicensed attorneys who, Adams claimed, fomented vexatious litigation for the fees they might earn.

Adams believed his embrace of virtue, along with genius …

Foreword, Patricia E. Roberts

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Foreword written by Patricia E. Roberts upon her first year as the 10th dean of St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas.

Legal Services Needs Assessment For Rio Grande Valley Residents In Texas: A Comprehensive T3 Report, Amber Baylor, Nandita Chaudhuri, Luz E. Herrera, Felipe Hinojosa

Faculty Scholarship

This report presents the findings of a legal needs assessment and oral history project that was simultaneously undertaken from August 2019 to September 2020 in the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas. The purpose of the research is to provide a detailed discussion about access to legal information and to document the pertinent legal needs in the Rio Grande Valley. The project documented respondents’ perceptions of the area’s legal assets and needs.

The report captured information from more than 600 individuals who participated in surveys, focus groups, and interviews to create an overview of the historic legal-resource environment that exists …

Rural Social Safety Nets For Migrant Farmworkers In Michigan, 1942–1971, Emily A. Prifogle

Articles

In the 1960s, farmers pressed trespass charges against aid workers providing assistance to agricultural laborers living on the farmers’ private property. Some of the first court decisions to address these types of trespass, such as the well-known and frequently taught State v. Shack (1971), limited the property rights of farmers and enabled aid workers to enter camps where migrants lived. Yet there was a world before Shack, a world in which farmers welcomed onto their land rural religious groups, staffed largely by women from the local community, who provided services to migrant workers. From the 1940s through the 1960s, federal, …

Saying Thanks With Some Self-Reflection, John Henry Schlegel

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Racial Reckoning Of Public Interest Law, Atinuke O. Adediran, Shaun Ossei-Owusu

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

People’S Electric: Engaged Legal Education At Rutgers-Newark Law School In The 1960s And 1970s, George W. Conk

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

On Bankruptcy’S Promethean Gap: Building Enslaving Capacity Into The Antebellum Administrative State, Rafael I. Pardo

Scholarship@WashULaw

As the United States contends with the economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, federal bankruptcy law is one tool that can be used to resolve the financial distress suffered by individuals and businesses. When implementing this remedy, the question arises whether the law’s application should be viewed as limited to addressing private debt matters, without regard for the public interest. This Article answers the question by looking to modern U.S. bankruptcy law’s first forebear, the 1841 Bankruptcy Act, which Congress enacted in response to the depressed economic conditions following the Panic of 1837. That legislation created a judicially administered …

An Analysis Of The Competing Views On The Interpretation Of The U.S. Constitution, Joseph Longo

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis will examine the competing interpretations of the United States Constitution and the different effects these interpretations would have on the American government and legal systems. By examining legal precedents and different philosophical views, the varying interpretations will be examined and put through real-world scenarios. The founding of America was over 200 years ago, but philosophical views throughout history shall be used in the understanding of the different interpretations and real-world consequences. The thesis will not claim that one interpretation is proper and the perfect one for the United States, rather it will challenge each view in an attempt …

Unifying The Field: Mapping The Relationship Between Work Law Regimes In Ontario, Then And Now, Claire Mumme

Dalhousie Law Journal

Since the mid-20th century in Canada, labour and employment law have been treated as two separate but related fields. In 1981 Brian Langille argued in “Labour Law is a Subset of Employment Law” for the unification of the fields, so that all forms of waged work were understood as matters of public policy, rather than leaving some types of work to private law regulation. Taking up Langille’s argument, this paper argues that employment contracts, individual and collective, are structured through the overlap, interaction and gaps between work law regimes. The creation of a unified field moves from studying the regimes …

Law School News: Judge Rogeriee Thompson, Legal Pioneer Dorothy Crockett Among Influential "Women Of The Century" 08/19/2020, Eryn Dion, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Kidnapping Reconsidered: Courts Merger Tests Inadequately Remedy The Inequities Which Developed From Kidnapping's Sensationalized And Racialized History, Samuel P. Newton

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

A Comprehensive Procedural Mechanism For The Poor: Reconceptualizing The Right To In Forma Pauperis In Early Modern England, Annie Prossnitz

Northwestern University Law Review

In early modern England, litigants could petition for in forma pauperis status in order to seek free legal services, including representation. Scholars have often invoked this history to bolster the claim for a reinforced in forma pauperis right today. This Note explores the origins of the right to in forma pauperis status from a different angle. At the core of this Note is an examination of ninety-two primary-source in forma pauperis petitions and court documents, filed in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English courts of equity, namely Chancery, the Court of Requests, Star Chamber, and Exchequer. Rather than the mythical, rarely used, …

Mezei's Day In Court: Debtors' Prisons, Substance Abuse, And The Permissiveness Of Civil Detention In American Immigration Law, Conor Mcdonough

Northwestern University Law Review

American immigration law mandates the civil detention of certain classes of migrants while their legal cases proceed through the courts. Due to the peculiar nature of immigration law, many migrants find themselves detained for years on end without receiving the level of due process that normally attends imprisonment. This Note draws on historical and comparative analysis to argue that the mandatory detention provisions of American immigration law are not civil, but functionally criminal, and that detained migrants are therefore owed a modicum of due process that they do not currently receive.

This Note traces the history of immigration law in …

Against Executive-Controlled Administrative Law Judges, Stephanie N. Higginson

Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award

No abstract provided.

Celebrating The First Women Lawyers In Rhode Island, Michael M. Bowden

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Thomas L. Shaffer, Legal Ethics, And St. Mary’S University, Vincent R. Johnson

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Tribute to Thomas L. Shaffer

The Remarkable First 50 Women Law Graduates Of St. Mary’S University: Part One, Regina Stone-Harris

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

The Virtue Of Vulnerability: Mindfulness And Well-Being In Law Schools And The Legal Profession, Nathalie Martin

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the role of vulnerability in transforming individual relationships, particularly the attorney-client relationship. In this essay, Martin argues that broadening our expressions can improve our client relations and decrease the likelihood that when that inevitable mistake occurs, we will be sued for it. Also, based upon virtue ethics, that practicing vulnerability is also virtuous and thus worthwhile in and of itself.

This essay starts by describing the traits people look for in lawyers as well as evidence that clients often feel that their lawyers are less than human. Then examines how legal education contributes to this problem by …

Law Library Blog (October 2019): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Turning Points In The History Of St. Mary’S University School Of Law (1980–1988), Vincent R. Johnson

St. Mary's Law Journal

St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas has existed for nearly a century. Thus far, there have been seven important written histories of St. Mary’s University School of Law, but no one has yet attempted to write a comprehensive history of the law school, nor have any members of the faculty published autobiographies. Having taught law at St. Mary’s since 1982, Professor of Law Vincent R. Johnson shares his first-hand account about the life of the law school during most of the 1980s (specifically 1980 to 1988). That period encompasses the bulk of the deanship of James …

“The More Things Change, The More They Remain The Same:” Lawyer Ethics In The 21st Century, Gregory C. Sisk

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

At an accelerating pace since the recession, our legal profession has been undergoing structural changes in the delivery of many legal services. At the same time, longstanding principles of ethics continue to govern the day-to-day lives of practicing lawyers.

This article lays out four examples of how meaningful change in lawyer practice has been accomplished since the turn-of-the-century with continued adherence to bedrock professional concepts. First, the rules now embrace the multi-jurisdictional practice of law, while the disciplinary authority of each jurisdiction is emphatically confirmed and strengthened. Second, rules on lawyer advertising are streamlined to grant largely open-ended permission for …

Making The Modern American Legal Profession, 1969–Present, Michael Ariens

St. Mary's Law Journal

The American legal profession has changed dramatically over the past half-century greatly due to the solution and problem of “scale.” This was most noticeable after the American Bar Association’s adoption of the Code of Professional Responsibility. The reputation of lawyers and the legal community would continue to evolve in the eyes of the public. As such, the demand for lawyers and large law firms who had the capacity and means to handle such vast and varied issues would present itself. The increasing demand from large law firms over the years led to unprecedented growth and impact to the way in …

The United Nations Compensation Commission: Mass Reparations Apotheosis, Gregory Townsend

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.