Digital Commons Network^™

Much Ado About Something: The First Amendment And Mandatory Labeling Of Genetically Engineered Foods, Stephen Tan, Brian Epley

Washington Law Review

This Article evaluates the free speech implications of laws requiring that GE foods be labeled and concludes that such regulations would meet all First Amendment requirements for compelled commercial speech. Part I traces the history of food labeling in the United States, the advent of genetic engineering, and the application of that technology in agriculture and the food industry. Part II evaluates the scope of commercial free speech and the appropriate test to be applied in determining whether a GE food labeling law would violate the First Amendment. Part III examines the impacts of an agricultural and food system increasingly …

Foreigners In Burma: A Framework For Responsible Investment, Rachel E. Ryon

Washington International Law Journal

Burma is hailed as a great democratic success story: a once-rogue nation holding elections, releasing political prisoners, and promising human rights reforms. The people elected to Parliament Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the democratic movement who was under house arrest for more than twenty years. The world responded with applause and open pocketbooks. In April of 2012, Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, asked members to lift their sanctions on the formerly “rogue” nation and begin investing. But for a resource-rich country with a long track record of corruption, this flood of foreign investment will likely …

Uwlaw, Spring 2014, Vol. 67

Alumni Magazines

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Fakultas'S Four Walls: Linking Education, Practice, And The Legal Profession, Stephen A. Rosenbaum

Washington International Law Journal

More than fifty years after the first post-colonial Southeast Asian regional conference on legal education, commentators and educators do not necessarily agree on the appropriate curricular balance between theory, doctrine, and practice, or what role the government should play in directing the orientation of legal studies and careers in Indonesia’s law schools. The author argues in favor of legal education that is rich in experiential learning and integrates the involvement of practitioners and doctrinal faculty. This objective may be a relatively new reality in Indonesia, but also one that needs revitalization in other Southeast Asian nations and beyond. This article …

Criminal Liability Of Arbitrators In China: Analysis And Proposals For Reform, Duan Xiaosong

Washington International Law Journal

This article is prompted by a Chinese criminal provision governing the impartiality of arbitration. The goals of the article are to critically examine the criminal statute created by the provision and to put forward some proposals for reform, which can be employed to resolve the tension that exists between arbitrator impartiality and deference to arbitration. Although the provision appears to eliminate the abuse of arbitral power, it may raise more questions than it resolves. This article explores the problems and undertakes a comparative analysis of the corresponding United States provision as well as an analysis of some cultural and traditional …

Machine Learning And Law, Harry Surden

Washington Law Review

Part I of this Article explains the basic concepts underlying machine learning. Part II will convey a more general principle: non-intelligent computer algorithms can sometimes produce intelligent results in complex tasks through the use of suitable proxies detected in data. Part III will explore how certain legal tasks might be amenable to partial automation under this principle by employing machine learning techniques. This Part will also emphasize the significant limitations of these automated methods as compared to the capabilities of similarly situated attorneys.

Cause Lawyering In Japan: Reflections On The Case Studies And Justice Reform, Daniel H. Foote

Chapters in Books

Each of the case studies presented in this volume is an important and fascinating story in its own right. Taken together, the case studies enrich our understanding of cause lawyering and the relationship between law and social change in Japan. Despite their rather disparate subjects, the studies dovetail exceptionally well. They show numerous commonalities in the use of law to further social causes, as well as some important differences. They reveal a truly impressive level of creativity in the use of law, and they disclose several common barriers to successful litigation to promote social causes in Japan. As discussed below, …

In-House Digital Libraries For Law Firms, Tanya Livshits

Borgeson Paper Archive

In the current legal research and knowledge management environment, digital libraries and in-house knowledge management systems are not only a growing field but also are a necessity for a law firm’s continued survival. For a law firm to compete in the present world, a knowledge management system, which maintains a usable and searchable database of the firms work product and shared knowledge, is an absolute must to a collaborative work environment and client relations.

This paper will focus on creating and maintaining such knowledge management databases, i.e. digital libraries, in law firms. First, this paper will define digital libraries. Second, …

Legal Research Deficiencies In The Law School Curriculum, Proposed Aba Rule 302, And Solutions, Kristen Rowlett

Borgeson Paper Archive

No abstract provided.

Reap What You Sow: Soil Pollution Remediation Reform In China, Dustin D. Drenguis

Washington International Law Journal

As China undergoes the fastest economic development in the history of the world, so too has its environmental problems shattered all precedents. While China’s leaders recognize they must change course, environmental concerns have long taken a back seat to economic development. Soil pollution is destroying China’s environment, affecting public health, and reducing the country’s food supply. Soil pollution slows China’s economic development, preventing land development in urban centers. Soil pollution also threatens China’s social stability because it has inspired marginalized groups to organize in protest of environmental conditions. Environmental remediation, or the obligations of a facility or the government to …

The 4-1-1 On Lawyer Directories, Mary Whisner

Librarians' Articles

Directories listing biographical and contact information for attorneys have been a publishing mainstay for more than one hundred years. They are used for marketing, as well as historical and genealogical research. However, technology is changing the way attorneys advertise, and Ms. Whisner looks at the current state of lawyer directories and their usage.

Ethics Issues In Representing Intergovernmental Entities, Hugh D. Spitzer

Articles

The creation and operation of intergovernmental entities raise special professional responsibility issues for the lawyers involved in the formation and the long-term activities of multi-governmental bodies. It is particularly important for attorneys to pay attention to conflicts of interest that arise from giving simultaneous assistance to several governments, or from representing one entity in negotiations with other governments the attorney or firm represents. This paper briefly reviews various categories of interlocal entities in Washington State, as an example. It points out the distinctly different dynamics during the formation period and the operations period of an intergovernmental body. It then analyzes …

Downstream Securities Regulation, Anita K. Krug

Articles

Securities regulation wears two hats. Its “upstream” side governs firms in connection with their obtaining financing in the securities markets. That is, it *1590 regulates firms' and issuers' offers and sales of securities, whether in public offerings to retail investors or in private offerings to institutional investors. Its “downstream” side, by contrast, governs financial services providers, who assist with investors' activities in those markets. Their services include providing advice regarding securities investments, as investment advisers do; aggregating investors' assets for purposes of enabling those investors to invest their assets collectively, as mutual funds do; and acting as “middlemen” between buyers …

Cases And Controversies: Some Things To Do With Contracts Cases, Charles L. Knapp

Washington Law Review

As a co-author of one of the two dozen or more currently-in-print Contracts casebooks, I obviously have both a point of view about, and a personal stake in, the survival of this particular method of instruction. Whether the legal casebook—or any other book, in the form of bound sheets of paper—will remain a part of our academic culture much longer is clearly up for grabs, however. Electronic records have so many advantages over the printed page that, at least for many purposes, they will surely become the dominant form of preserving, retrieving, and transmitting information, if indeed they are not …

Contract Stories: Importance Of The Contextual Approach To Law, Larry A. Dimatteo

Washington Law Review

How law is taught is at the center of the debate over the need to change legal education to better prepare students for a difficult and changing marketplace for legal services. This Article analyzes the benefits of using “stories” to teach law. The stories to be discussed relate to contract law: this Article asks whether they can be used to improve the method and content of teaching law. The ruminations offered on teaching contract law, however, are also relevant to teaching other core, first-year law courses.

Recognizing The Feminization Of Displacement: A Proposal For A Gender-Focused Approach To Local Integration In Ecuador, Johanna L. Gusman

Washington International Law Journal

The feminization of displacement refers to the phenomenon in which women represent an increasingly disproportionate percentage of displaced populations worldwide. The objective of this comment is to raise awareness of this growing problem and recommend that policymakers craft legal responses to better address this reality, using Ecuador as an example. Specifically, this comment outlines how a gender-focused approach to local integration in Ecuador can rectify a refugee policy that never once mentions gender and is silent on the most pressing issues facing refugee women and girls in the area: sexual and gender-based violence. Through the proposal put forth in this …

The Landmark That Wasn't: A First Amendment Play In Five Acts, Lee Levine, Stephen Wermiel

Washington Law Review

What follows is an original case study of our First Amendment law of free expression and how it is created by the Supreme Court. Drawing heavily on heretofore unpublished internal papers from the chambers of Justice William Brennan and other Justices, this Article reveals how the 1964 landmark decision in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan was once in serious jeopardy of being overruled. In the course of this discussion, and in their examination of the evolution of the Court’s decision in Dun & Bradstreet v. Greenmoss Builders (1985), the authors describe and analyze: (1) how and to what extent …

Law School Firms And Incubators And The Role Of The Academic Law Library, Sonal Desai

Borgeson Paper Archive

This paper examines the recently developed post-graduate, law school supported programs intended to provide recent graduates with a continued experiential learning environment in order to bridge the gap between law school and law practice. Both law school firms and practice incubators are discussed. Specifically, this paper looks at what, if any, role academic law libraries have within these programs. Lastly, ways in which these libraries might possibly add or improve services to the programs are explored.

The Unbundling Of Legal Services And Its Implications For Law Librarianship, Kara Noel

Borgeson Paper Archive

This paper addresses the role of law libraries with respect to online sites that give free or low-cost legal advice. In this paper, I will argue that the gap in access to legal services for the lower and middle class needs addressing, and that the public law librarian’s role in facilitating access to justice can be improved by helping pro se patrons access the growing number of free or nominal cost online legal advice resources. The rise in online legal advice sites comes with concerns from the legal profession regarding the possible ethical duties and responsibilities of giving legal advice …

Some Guidance About Federal Agencies And Guidance, Mary Whisner

Librarians' Articles

The federal administrative system is complex and contains ambiguities about what counts as an “agency,” and there is an amorphous border between regulations and guidance. The body of guidance documents (or nonlegislative rules) is growing, both in volume and in importance, and legal researchers should be aware of this important source of authority, as well as its unclear status.

The Trials And Tribulations Of Japan’S Legal Education Reforms, Daniel H. Foote

Articles

A sense of momentum accompanied the start of Japan's new legal education system in the spring of 2004. Less than three years had passed since the Justice System Reform Council (the Reform Council) issued its final report in June 2001, proposing a major restructuring of Japan's legal training system centered on a new tier of graduate level law schools. And less than a year and a half had elapsed since the details of the law school system were decided and enabling legislation passed. Despite the tight timetable, sixty-eight law schools were ready to commence operations in 2004, having arranged facilities, …

Gender-Specific Prison Reform: Addressing Human Rights Violations Against Women In Russia's Prisons, Courtney M. Skiles

Washington International Law Journal

Russia currently incarcerates women in conditions that amount to human rights violations. Women incarcerated in Russia’s prisons experience not only oppression and abuse common to all those incarcerated in Russia, but also gender-specific harms. While Russia has signed on to many pivotal human rights treaties, it also has a long history of mass incarceration of its people. Today, the prison conditions for women in Russia reveal a need for reform. Reformers are challenged by a powerful State that has not prioritized the type of reform necessary to eliminate further harms done to incarcerated women. To ensure the rights of women …

Uwlaw, Spring 2012, Vol. 65

Alumni Magazines

No abstract provided.

A Battle Between Law And Society In Micronesia: An Example Of Originalism Gone Awry, Brian Z. Tamanaha

Washington International Law Journal

Two conceptions of the relationship between law and society appear to compete: the idea that law mirrors society and the notion that a gap exists between law and society. Both ideas have some truth—law is an imperfect mirror of society. For various reasons, law and society can fall out of sync or even come into conflict. The 1975 Constitutional Convention, which led to the formation of the Federated States of Micronesia (“FSM”), marked the beginning of a battle between that society and its legal institutions. The Constitution’s framers strove to preserve traditional Micronesian culture by ensuring it a respected place …

The Brave New World Of Lawyers In Japan Revisited: Proceedings Of A Panel Discussion On The Japanese Legal Profession After The 2008 Financial Crisis And The 2011 Tōhuku Earthquake, Bruce E. Aronson

Washington International Law Journal

In the United States, the 2008 financial crisis had a serious impact on a legal profession that had been growing strongly for three decades, highlighting fundamental issues concerning the business and educational models of both law firms and law schools. This raises the interesting question of how Japan, with its much shorter history of large law firms and professional law schools, has been affected by the 2008 financial crisis and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor crisis. At a recent conference sponsored by the University of Washington School of Law and the law firm of Perkins Coie, a …

The African Buffalo And The Oxpecker: An Acknowledgement Of The Mutualism Between Academic Law Libraries And Their Institutions, With A Prescription For Future Coevolution, Michelle M. Botek

Borgeson Paper Archive

No abstract provided.

In An Effort To Respond To Robert Berring’S Lament On The Death Of The Bibliography: A Study Of Online Legal Research Guides, Ingrid Mattson

Borgeson Paper Archive

No abstract provided.

The Training, Appointment, And Supervision Of Islamic Lawyers In The Federal Territories Of Malaysia, Amanda Whiting

Washington International Law Journal

Although much has been written about the place of Islam, as law and as religion, in Malaysia, considerably less attention has been paid to Islamic lawyers (“peguam syarie”). This article undertakes a preliminary examination of a topic that demands closer scrutiny, relying chiefly upon parliamentary acts, state enactments and the rules made pursuant to them, as well as in-depth oral history interviews with Islamic and secular lawyers that were recorded from May through August 2010. It describes the training and practice of Islamic lawyers in one jurisdiction of the federation of Malaysia—the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya …

The Training, Appointment, And Supervision Of Islamic Judges In Singapore, Muhammad Haniff Hassan, Sharifah Thuraiya Su'ad Ahmad Alhadshi

Washington International Law Journal

Syariah court judges and the decisions they make clearly have an effect on the interpretation and application of Islamic law in contemporary Muslim societies, and the educational background of those who staff these courts obviously informs the way they understand, interpret, and apply the law. To date, however, little research has been done on the educational processes by which Islamic court judges are trained to think about Islamic law. Likewise, the means by which Islamic court judges are appointed and regulated has received little scholarly attention. This article offers a descriptive overview of the training, work, and professional regulation of …

The Training, Appointment, And Supervision Of Islamic Lawyers In Indonesia, Ratno Lukito

Washington International Law Journal

Lawyers who practice before Islamic courts play a crucial role in framing and presenting the issues for decision and in mediating between the courts that apply Islamic law and the public who have recourse to the state’s official Islamic legal institutions, but research on the professional training and governance of these lawyers is almost entirely lacking at present. This article offers a descriptive overview of the training, work, and professional regulation of Islamic lawyers in contemporary Indonesia. This material is presented in a clear format, structured to highlight key aspects of how these lawyers are trained, accredited, and organized. In …