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The Quad (The 2023 Alumni Magazine), Southern Methodist University, Dedman School Of Law

The Quad (Law Alumni Magazine), 1988-present

• Celebrating 75 years of the SMU Dedman Law Clinical Program

• Raggio endowed lecture: A conversation with Amal Clooney

• Faculty spotlights on Professor Eric Ruben and Carla L. Reyes

• SMU Dedman Law Tax Program with impressive influence

Bordering On Solutions: A Comparative Study Of Mexican And U.S. Policies To Address Human Trafficking Along The Mexico-United States Border, Taylor Rosenbleeth

The International Law Review Association Student Forum

Mexico and the United States both contend with the issue of human trafficking and implement measures to address this prevalent challenge, not only within their respective territories, but also along their shared border region. Despite significant efforts, both nations encounter obstacles in their anti-trafficking endeavors. The U.S. promotes a comprehensive legal framework, exemplified by the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, yet faces criticism regarding deportation policies and inadequate victim support mechanisms. In contrast, Mexico has demonstrated progress through legislative advancements such as the 2012 anti-trafficking law and initiatives like the "Blue Heart" campaign, yet the country struggles with …

Revolutionizing Justice: Unleashing The Power Of Artificial Intelligence, Samuel D. Hodge Jr.

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

The practice of law is changing, and most lawyers are unprepared for this metamorphosis. This statement is not an exaggeration but the acknowledgment that artificial intelligence (“AI”) has altered the way lawyers do business. Instead of having a “battle of forms,” attorneys will now be confronted with the “battle of computers.” Linking artificial intelligence and the law, however, is a natural progression. Both operate in similar fashions: each examines and applies “historical examples in order to infer rules to apply to new situations.”

While many attorneys are unsure how to integrate this new technology into their practices, they already use …

Family Law, Joanna L. Grossman, Christine P. Leatherberry

SMU Annual Texas Survey

More than 300,000 new family law cases were filed in Texas in 2022; more than a third of those were divorces (and there were more divorces in Texas than in any other state). Tens of thousands of children live in households that are involved in family court proceedings in any given year. Family law remains one of the areas with the greatest unmet legal need—more than half of litigants are pro se in cases with enormous stakes. The work of lawyers, judges, and other professionals in this area should not be underestimated. In this Article, we will try to lighten …

Patriarchy’S Link To Intimate Partner Violence: Applications To Survivors’ Asylum Claims, Daniel G. Saunders, Tina Jiwatram-Negrón, Natalie Nanasi, Iris Cardenas

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Eligibility for asylum for survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) has recently been contested. We summarize social science evidence to show how such survivors generally meet asylum criteria. Studies consistently show a relationship between patriarchal factors and IPV, thereby establishing a key asylum criterion that women are being persecuted because of their status as women. Empirical support is also provided for other asylum criteria, specifically: patriarchal norms contribute to state actors’ unwillingness to protect survivors, and survivors’ political opinions are linked to an escalation of perpetrators’ violence. The findings have implications for policy reform and supporting individual asylum-seekers.

Greening Criminal Legal Deserts In Rural Texas, Pamela R. Metzger, Claire Buetow, Kristin Meeks, Blane Skiles, Jiacheng Yu

Deason Center Reports

Texas’ rural communities urgently need more prosecutors and public defense providers. On average, Texas’ most urban areas have 28 lawyers for every 100 criminal cases, but rural areas only have five. Many rural prosecutor’s offices cannot recruit and retain enough staff. The Constitution’s promise of equal justice for all remains unfulfilled. Rural Texans charged with misdemeanors are four times less likely to have a lawyer than urban defendants. In 2021, only 403 rural Texas lawyers accepted an appointment to represent an adult criminal defendant. In 65 rural counties, no lawyer accepted an appointment. And the problem is getting worse. Since …

Plyler V. Doe: The Education Of Undocumented Alien Schoolchildren In Texas, 1975-1982, John Powell

History Theses and Dissertations

When a Texas statute denied a free public education to those who were not citizens or legal residents of the United States, four Mexican-American families challenged the constitutionality of that statute. The Supreme Court ruled in their favor, confirming that the Equal Protection Clause protects everyone regardless of immigration status.

Law Firm Dynamics: Don’T Hate The Player, Hate The Game, Tom Kimbrough

SMU Law Review Forum

This paper concerns the business of law, a subject ignored by legal academia and sugarcoated by the organized bar. If law professors express little or no interest in this subject, their students most certainly do. Indeed, I have found that students are desperately hungry for information on the day-to-day realities of working in a law firm. Students are especially keen to learn about possible paths for career advancement within firms, across them, or across the organizations served by the firms.

Paths for career advancement do exist, but they are not easy to find or pursue. Law firms are hardly going …

Customs Law, Luis F. Arandia, D. "Bonni" Van Blarcom, James Feroli, Greg Kanargelidis, Daniel L. Kiselbach, Kathleen M. Murphy, Matt Nakachi, Rebecca Rodriquez, Brian K. Rowlands, Zachary Silver

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

Canada, Angela E. Weaver, Honorable Del W. Atwood, Jacqueline Bart, Melissa N. Burkett, Sunita D. Doobay, Daniel G.C. Glover, Julia L. Johnson, Sergio R. Karas, Adam Mauntah, Taha Qureshi, Taylor Schappert, Carrie A. Wright

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

Transnational Legal Practice, Laurel Terry

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

China's Sanctions And Rule Of Law: How To Respond When China Targets Lawyers, Thomas D. Grant, F. Scott Kieff

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Ai, Equity, And The Ip Gap, Daryl Lim

SMU Law Review

Artificial intelligence (AI) has helped determine vaccine recipients, prioritize emergency room admissions, and ascertain individual hires, sometimes doing so inequitably. As we emerge from the Pandemic, technological progress and efficiency demands continue to press all areas of the law, including intellectual property (IP) law, toward incorporating more AI into legal practice. This may be good when AI promotes economic and social justice in the IP system. However, AI may amplify inequity as biased developers create biased algorithms with biased inputs or rely on biased proxies. This Article argues that policymakers need to take a thoughtful and concerted approach to graft …

Front Matter

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

The European Union's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation: Compliance & Policy Implications, Michael Vuong

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Professional Liability, Sven Stricker, Jordan Brownlow, Tania Sethi

SMU Annual Texas Survey

No abstract provided.

Access To Counsel For Defendants In Lower Criminal Courts, Alyssa M. Clark, Andrew L. B. Davies, Karise M. Curtis

Other Publications

Criminal defendants unable to afford an attorney are entitled to one for free in the United States, but how and when they obtain access to that lawyer is another question. We examine judicial attitudes and behavior in granting access to counsel in areas where logistics are particularly forbidding. Based on survey responses from 1,091 magistrate judges presiding in lower criminal courts in suburban and rural jurisdictions in upstate New York, we describe both the procedures used to determine defendants' financial eligibility for free counsel, and the logistical challenges that surround securing the physical presence of a lawyer at the first …

Paying For Energy Peaks: Learning From Texas' February 2021 Power Crisis, Colleen M. Baker, James W. Coleman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

From February 14–19, 2021, winter storm Uri blanketed Texas with extreme cold. Tragically, the severe temperatures overwhelmed the state’s power system. Texas’ power grid ended up more than 20 Gigawatts short of the electricity Texans needed 2 – more power than all of California produces on an average day. Over two-hundred lives were lost3 and an estimated $295 billion in damage resulted.4 Yet many had long regarded Texas’ electric power system, and its regulation, as a model for others. What happened? That question is the focus of this article. This article first provides an overview of the severe power outages …

Blockchain Disruption: Digital Assets Are Changing How We Do Business, Nick Curley

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

Digital assets are changing the way businesses think about equity, labor, business models, and business organization. Digital assets, like Bitcoin or Ethereum, provide incredible opportunities to further align shareholders with the objectives of the entity.

Each time humanity advances its technology for ledgers, markets explode, and we witness immense wealth creation. Digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum are the next great step forward for ledger technology. While there are incredible opportunities to leverage this new technology, there are also incredible risks. There are many public examples of “hacks” of prominent blockchains like Ethereum and Solana. Blockchain technology has captured the …

Texas Hospitality: Pro-Refugee Activism, Volunteerism, And Coalition-Building In Xenophobic Times, Sara Mosher

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

This project employs ethnographic methods to explore the experiences of forty ordinary Texans of different social and religious backgrounds who were active in pro-refugee volunteer and advocacy work during the four chaotic years of the Trump administration. The goal of this research is to better understand people’s reasons for volunteering and advocating on behalf of refugees during a time of political upheaval, when prominent public figures in positions of leadership around the country have repeatedly framed refugees as a threat to American security and cultural identity. Despite the crucial roles that local volunteers typically play in the process of refugee …

The Quad (The 2021 Alumni Magazine), Southern Methodist University, Dedman School Of Law

The Quad (Law Alumni Magazine), 1988-present

• 20th Anniversary of the Naming of SMU Dedman Law

• Underwood Law Library Celebrates 50 Years

• Mustang Bar: Connect. Educate. Engage.

• Giving & Impact

• Two Law Alumni Named Recipients of SMU Distinguished Alumni Awards

Ending Injustice: Solving The Initial Appearance Crisis, Pamela R. Metzger, Janet C. Hoeffel, Kristin Meeks, Sandra Sidi

Deason Center Reports

Most Americans expect that if they are arrested, they will quickly appear before a judge, learn about the charges, and have an attorney assigned to defend them. The reality is vastly different. After arrest, a person can wait in jail for days, weeks, or even months before seeing a judge or meeting an attorney. This report chronicles the resulting initial appearance crisis and highlights its devastating consequences. More importantly, it provides policymakers and advocates with actionable recommendations.

Europe, Thomas Stanton, Laurent De Muyter, Angelique Devaux, Audrey Kavets, Valeria Miller, Jorg Rehder, John Richards, Andreas Ripken, Roselyn Sands

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

Transnational Legal Practice, Laurel Terry

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity, Mark E. Wojcik

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

Young Lawyers Interest Network (Yin), Sara Blackwell, Siena Caruso, Jose Francisco Mafla, Manoj Kumar

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

Arbitration Clauses In Intellectual Property Contracts: Past, Precedence, And Future, Julien Chaisse, A. Marisport

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Professional Liability, Chelsea Glover, Sven Stricker, Stephanie Assi

SMU Annual Texas Survey

This article is a survey of the relevant developments in professional liability law from December 1, 2019, through November 30, 2020. The article focuses on law likely to be influential to Texas practitioners.

Let’S Move Criminal Justice Reforms Upstream: A Perspective From The Bench, Bridget Mccormack

SMU Law Review

“[S]ometimes it feels like this. There I am standing by the shore of a swiftly flowing river and I hear the cry of a drowning man. So I jump into the river, put my arms around him, pull him to shore and apply artificial respiration. Just when he begins to breathe, there is another cry for help. So I jump into the river, reach him, pull him to shore, apply artificial respiration, and then just as he begins to breathe, another cry for help. So back in the river again, reaching, pulling, applying, breathing and then another yell. Again and …

The Obligation To Prosecute Or Extradite (Belgium V. Senegal)

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.