Digital Commons Network^™

The Disproportionate Impact Of Legal Deserts: A Policy Proposal To Address The Legal Needs Of Rural Nevadans, Madelyn Wold

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Despite the large number of attorneys in the United States, the disproportionate concentration of attorneys in urban areas leaves rural residents to navigate the complex legal system on their own. This uneven distribution creates ‘legal deserts’, or areas where residents lack access to attorneys. The Southwestern United States has especially dire legal deserts, and Nevada is no exception. While defendants in criminal matters are guaranteed legal representation, parties in civil legal issues are not granted the same right to representation. Civil legal issues largely impact vulnerable populations and can have profound impacts on individuals’ family, economic circumstances, and physical wellbeing. …

Analyzing Methods To Support Students Left Behind In Colorado Primary/Secondary Schools, Grace Hudson

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

In the United States, there has been an increase of deportations, since 2024, of undocumented immigrants. This has disproportionally affected Mexicans and others from Latin American countries (Dreby 2012) due to them being the largest group of undocumented people in the United States. One effect of these deportations is an increase in children that are left in the United States while their parent(s) are in detention or have been deported. Some of these children are in mixed-status families, which means that the child has a different citizenship status than their parents or other members in their family, which allows for …

Museums In Public Libraries: An Ethnographic Case Study Of The Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library, Yadira Y. Quintero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Access to information is a human right, and this thesis explores the benefits and challenges of integrating museums into public libraries by conducting an ethnographic case study of the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library. The study's findings highlight the complexities of integration. The biggest benefit is the increased access to museum collections, information, and resources. However, challenges arise from the lack of cohesion within the museum and library disciplines, as well as strained community relations. Engaging the community is crucial for successful collaboration, emphasizing the importance of a bottom-up approach that allows for active participation. Integrating museums into public libraries …

Synthesis Theorization, Gauri Pillai

Denver Journal of International Law & Policy

Finding a space for reproductive rights within constitutions that are silent on them has been a perennial challenge. Most common responses fall into one of three categories. First, reading them into the right to privacy (or liberty). Second, and more recently, eschewing privacy and turning to the right to equality. And third, and most comprehensively, adding or combining privacy and equality. I argue that while rights addition avoids the need to choose between privacy and equality in framing reproductive rights, it falls short of capturing the intertwined lived reality of rights infringement. I source from within Indian constitutional law a …

Dammed, Diverted, & Dry: The Colorado River Delta Deserves A Chance, Davin Roark

Water Law Review

Over the last century, dams and diversions on the Colorado River have devastated the Colorado River Delta and the Sea of Cortez-a crisis exacerbated by climate change. While Minutes 319 and 323 of the 1944 Treaty between the United States and Mexico have achieved some success, they have failed to adequately protect or restore the ecosystem in the face of our changing climate. The research is clear: the Delta continues to be in serious trouble. As Minute 323's expiration rapidly approaches, negotiations regarding its successor are ongoing. The International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) has the power to ensure this …

Symposium Introduction: Interrogating The Hidden Curriculum: Implications For Formation Of Professional Identity, David I. C. Thomson

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This article provides an introduction to the Symposium, which was held at the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law on September 22 - 23, 2023. The Symposium brought together law professors who have taken up the call in the Carnegie Report and the ABA Accreditation requirement that we make broad and integrated effort to provide opportunities for law students to form their professional identities as future attorneys while they are in law school. The law professors invited to participate in the Symposium have worked and written in the area of professional identity for lawyers for many years, and are …

Survival Guide For Queer Families In Heteronormative Healthcare: Liberatory Consciousness And The Paradox Of Dependent Healthcare, A Critical Policy Discourse Analysis, Dwenna A. Holden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study I explored and analyzed how the queer experiences of an anonymous higher education institution in the western United States’ self-identified queer faculty and staff intersected with the discursive framing of the college’s dependent healthcare structure and documents. Within a critical paradigm I designed research around a high-density theoretical approach to weaving various branches of queer theory together with critical theory around policy and law in relation to queer bodies and hostile heteronormative policy environments. I arrived at solutions based in complaint, survival, and transformation. I used critical policy discourse analyses to interrogate the college’s dependent healthcare documents …

Context, Not Content: Medium-Based Press Clause Restrictions On Government Speech In The Internet Age, Nathan Murphy

Denver Sports & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Music Lawyers Taking The Rap: The Musicalization Of Legal Ethics, Ashley Hollan

Denver Sports & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Teaching Law In The Age Of Generative Ai, John Bliss

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

With the rise of large language models capable of passing law school exams and the Uniform Bar Exam, how should legal educators prepare their students for an age of transformative technological change? As text-generating AI is being integrated in legal research platforms and word processing software, which automate the drafting of legal documents based on human prompts, lawyers are increasingly adopting this technology as a standard tool of legal research and writing. This Article explores the implications of these developments for legal education, focusing on pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment.

The Article draws from four key perspectives relevant to the use …

Child Migrant Workers: The Invisible Children?, Ewa Rejman

Denver Journal of International Law & Policy

From February to December 2023, The New York Times published a series of investigative articles on child migrant workers who take jobs that are off-limits to American children and simply “disappear from the system” while companies and government officials continued to shift blame to avoid responsibility. This case study serves as a starting point for analyzing violations of child migrant workers’ rights in light of child-specific risks and child-specific forms of persecution.

This Article focuses on international human rights law obligations that the United States has failed to adequately fulfill and addresses potential objections to these obligations’ binding character. It …

Judicial Diversity In Colorado: Increasing Representation Through Innovation, Monica M. Marquez Honorable, Sumi Lee

Denver Law Review

Research documents that diversity on the bench improves judicial decision-making, improves access to justice, and strengthens the rule of law. However, until 2019, no formal programs to increase judicial diversity existed within the Colorado Judicial Branch. In 2019, Colorado enacted legislation establishing an innovative, full-time judicial diversity outreach program that utilizes data and research to develop pipeline programs and amplify its impact through increased community engagement. Now, five years later, Colorado’s state court bench is more diverse than ever before. This Article discusses the development of the Judicial Diversity Program in Colorado and best practices for other states interested in …

Vol. 26, No. 2: Masthead, Water Law Review

Water Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vol. 26, No. 2: Full Issue, Water Law Review

Water Law Review

No abstract provided.

Chilling Climate Change Disclosure: The Enabling Role Of Corporate Counsel In Management Misstatements Of Esg Matters, J. Robert Brown Jr., Eli Wald

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Regulation of Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) disclosure is necessary to ensure investors receive the information they want to have. Fortunately, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering adopting ESG rules. Unfortunately, such rules, if adopted, are likely to be ineffective. New ESG disclosure rules are going to fail for the same reason periodic disclosure rules have been ineffective: managers of publicly-traded companies systematically escape liability for failure to disclose material information to investors. Management escapes liability by pressuring securities lawyers to erroneously advise the companies that material information need not be disclosed, only to then turn around and …

Vol. 26, No. 1: Full Issue, Water Law Review

Water Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vol. 26, No. 1: Masthead, Water Law Review

Water Law Review

No abstract provided.

0774 Colorado Legislative Rules, Colorado Legislative Council

All Publications (Colorado Legislative Council)

No abstract provided.

Multiservice Business And Social Mobility: Reform To Lift Community Leaders, Jared C. Nicholson

Denver Law Review

In 2020, Senator Elizabeth Warren launched her presidential campaign in Lawrence, Massachusetts—an economically struggling former mill city. F&M Multiservices was across the street from her press conference. Multiservice businesses pervade urban communities with large immigrant populations, providing a mix of multilingual services like tax preparation, travel, and translation. Multiservice businesses have long been viewed skeptically in legal literature as they are typically analyzed through the lens of immigration law and scrutinized due to legitimate concerns about fraud. This Article analyzes the value of multiservice businesses from the perspective of urban law and poverty law and argues that multiservice businesses like …

Addressing Labor Trafficking: The Next Step In The Anti-Trafficking Movement, Cassie Gardner-Wong

Denver Law Review

Modern human trafficking law is a new and emerging legal field in our country and across the world, and , and in Colorado, human trafficking law is less than ten years old. While the Colorado legislature takes its role in the anti-trafficking movement seriously and has reformed the law when it sees a need, the law is not perfect. The purpose of Colorado’s human trafficking statute—to protect victims and survivors of human trafficking—is not yet fully effectuated. Key reforms will elevate the ability of the anti-trafficking community to end this terrible crime. This Comment endeavors to define and contextualize human …

An Analysis Of Military Service Academies Sexual Harassment And Sexual Assault Through Reports, Research, And Media Coverage, Lisa “Tana” Youn Kyung Sharp

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Military Sexual Trauma (MST) at the United States Military Services Academies (MSA) remains at a concerning rate despite the MSAs’ proactive educational steps towards addressing this issue. One of the most influential factors is the very culture of the MSAs. This paper analyzes publicly-accessible governmental research and reports, peer reviewed articles, a legal publication, and media coverage. The analysis shows that there remain significant barriers to change which continue to play a role in the high frequency of MST. These barriers are low rates of accountability, difficulty in access to cadets/midshipmen by outside researchers, and the overall MSA cultural trends …

How Racialization Shapes Work Conditions For H2a Migrant Farmworkers: Literature Review, Zoi Johns

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Scholars have argued that an existing gap between the idealization of American prosperity and actualization of American exploitation occurs on account of racialization. Racialization refers to the process in which subsets of people are reduced to a set of occupational practices, beliefs, or narratives that work to define their low position within societal hierarchy (Garcia 2014). This concept distinguishes itself from racism as it focuses on the conditions that exist in order for the reproduction of racism and oppression to occur (Gonzalez-Sobrino and Goss 2019). Thus, it will be argued that the reproduction of these tenants occurs capitalistically and perpetually. …

Yes, You Can Learn Movement Lawyering In Law School: Highlights From The Movement Lawyering Lab At Denver Law, Alexi Freeman, Lindsey Webb

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This Article describes the Movement Lawyering Lab at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. The Movement Lawyering Lab is an experiential course that exposes students to the philosophy of movement lawyering and provides an opportunity for students to partner directly with national and grassroots organizations. The Movement Lawyering Lab draws from some of the key tenets of clinical legal education and adapts that framework for movement work. Through this model, law students learn how they can meaningfully contribute to national, state and local campaigns dedicated to social, racial, and economic justice. This Article is intended to serve as …

Risking A Contact High: The Tenth Circuit's Failure To Defer To Colorado's Marijuana Laws, Jeffrey Boxer, Bobby Dishell

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Directly Adverse" Means Directly Adverse: How Courts Have Misread Rule 1.7(A)(1) And Why It Matters, Stephen Gillers

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

0751 Colorado Legislative Rules, Colorado Legislative Council

All Publications (Colorado Legislative Council)

No abstract provided.

Becoming Global Lawyers? A Comparative Study Of Civic Professionalism, John Bliss

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Through their professional education and training, new lawyers are generally encouraged to adopt a civic vision of professional identity. This article explores convergences and diverges in how new lawyers entering an increasingly globalized legal profession conceive of their civic roles in different national contexts. In particular, I examine corporate lawyers-in-training in the U.S. and China, drawing on interviews and a cross-cultural identity mapping method to compare their accounts of the lived experiences of civic professionalism. I find that professional identity formation in the U.S. sample is largely marked by role distancing and a sense of constrained public-interest expression. In contrast, …

Frivolous Defenses, Thomas D. Russell

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This article is about civil procedure, torts, insurance, litigation, and professional ethics. This is an empirical piece with data drawn from a sample of 356 answers to 298 complaints in car crash lawsuits to identify various ways that, I argue, insurance defense lawyers evade the rules of civil procedure and, frankly, act unprofessionally.

The empirical center of this piece examines 356 answers in car crash personal injury cases in Colorado’s district courts. First, I situate these cases within dispute pyramid elements including the total number of miles-traveled within Colorado and also with respect to the volume of civil litigation.

The …

0751 Colorado Legislative Rules, Colorado Legislative Council

All Publications (Colorado Legislative Council)

No abstract provided.

Protecting Native Human Rights During Natural Disasters Through Free, Prior, And Informed Consent: A Case Study On Arguing Fpic As A Tool For Human Rights, Christopher Barbera

Denver Journal of International Law & Policy

No abstract provided.