Digital Commons Network^™

Staying Alive: Public Interest Law In Contemporary Latin America, Stephen Meili

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This paper explores the current state of public interest lawyering in three Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Based on a series of open-ended interviews with lawyers, judges and social movement activists, it compares public interest lawyering in these countries now with how it was practiced when the author interviewed some of the same individuals in the early to mid 1990s. Its analysis is set within the context of important geopolitical and socio-legal phenomena: the current global economic crisis and the judicialization of politics and constitutionalization of rights that has swept across the region over the past two decades. …

The Two Faces Of Lawyers: Professional Ethics And Business Compliance With Regulation, Christine E. Parker, Robert E. Rosen, Vibeke Lehmann Nielsen

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No abstract provided.

Against Practice, Anthony V. Alfieri

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No abstract provided.

Starting Out: Changing Patterns Of First Jobs For Michigan Law School Graduates, Terry K. Adams, David L. Chambers

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In the early 1950s, the typical graduate of Michigan Law began his career working as an associate in a law firm with four other lawyers and earned about $5,000 in his first year. Surprising to us today, in his new job he would have earned slightly less than other classmates whose first jobs were in government. Fifty years later, in the early 2000s, the typical graduate still started out as an associate in a law firm, but the firm she worked for had more than 400 lawyers. She earned about $114,000 in her first year, about three times as much …

Who We Were And Who We Are: How Michigan Law Students Have Changed Since The 1950s: Findings From 40 Years Of Alumni Surveys, David L. Chambers, Terry K. Adams

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For 40 consecutive years, from 1967 to 2006, the Law School surveyed its alumni regarding their lives and careers. The project began in 1967 with the mailing of a questionnaire to the class of 1952 shortly before their 15th reunion. The results proved interesting enough that surveys were sent each year thereafter to the class 15 years out. In 1973, the classes 5 years out were added to the survey.

Ensuring Defense Counsel Competence At International Criminal Tribunals, Sonja B. Starr

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This article addresses the problem of incompetent representation by defense counsel in international criminal tribunals. According to the author, the ineffectiveness of a particular attorney may be attributable to a number offactors, including a lack of experience with international criminal law, unfamiliarity with the procedures of international criminal tribunals, and the simple failure to be fluent in the languages used by the court. Starr explains that the problem of incompetence persists because of obstacles to the recruitment, retention, and appointment of proficient defense lawyers, as well as the lack of administrative or judicial oversight concerning competence. The author points out …

Letting Good Deeds Go Unpunished: Volunteer Immunity Laws And Tort Deterrence, Jill R. Horwitz, Joseph Mead

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Does tort law deter risky behavior in individuals? We explore this question by examining the relationship between tort immunity and volunteering. During the 1980s and 1990s, nearly every state provided some degree of volunteer immunity. Congress followed with the 1997 Volunteer Protection Act. This article analyzes these acts, identifying three motivations for them: the chilling effects of tort liability, limits on liability insurance, and moral concerns. Using data from the Independent Survey’s Giving and Volunteering surveys, we then identify a large and positive correlation between immunity and volunteering. We next consider the implications of the findings for tort theory and …

Advocacy In The Court Of Public Opinion, Installment One: Broadening The Role Of Corporate Attorneys, Michele Destefano Beardslee

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No abstract provided.

Entrepreneurship And Law: Accessing The Power Of The Creative Impulse Foreword, Steven H. Hobbs

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No abstract provided.

A Shift Toward Gender Equality In Prosecutions: Realizing Legitimate Enforcement Of Crimes Committed Against Women In Municipal And International Criminal Law, Tamara F. Lawson

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A new era of law enforcement has emerged recognizing the importance of punishing gender-specific violence. This first wave of "gender-sensitive prosecutors" has changed the way crimes against women are handled in the criminal justice system. The enactment of gender neutralizing laws and policies has dramatically improved the enforcement of crimes against women and attempts to end the era of impunity. This Article addresses the changes in prosecutions and further considers international human rights treaties that require gender equality in law enforcement.

In criminal law, it is the willingness of a prosecutor to exercise his or her discretionary authority to file …

10 Tips For Getting Jurors To Talk, Maureen A. Howard

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“Jury selection” is a misnomer because lawyers don’t actually get to “select” ideal jurors; they get a limited opportunity to “deselect” the worst prospective jurors. The goal of voir dire is to identify these jurors by uncovering their attitudes, beliefs, opinions, preconceptions, biases, and prejudices. To accomplish this, a lawyer has a difficult task: she must foster an honest, intimate conversation among strangers in a very public, formal environment.

Even honest jurors may give misleading answers during voir dire due to nervousness, inattention, faulty memory, or misunderstanding. The formal courtroom atmosphere can have a chilling effect at odds with the …

Success Or Failure?: Japan's National Strategy On Intellectual Property And Evaluation Of Its Impact From The Comparative Law Perspective, Toshiko Takenaka

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This short Article will discuss Japan's national IP strategy and changes brought to the IP system, focusing on features that follow the U.S. IP system. Additionally, it will review these changes from the comparative law perspective and evaluate whether the new system has accomplished its national strategy mission.

Demographics, Trends, And A Call To Action, Toby Golick

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Every discussion of aging in America seems to begin with demographic statistics showing that our population is increasingly old and getting older. But the figures are truly stunning: In 2006 (the latest year for which data are available), 37.3 million persons were 65 years old or older in America; this represents 12.6 percent of the U.S. population-more than one in every eight Americans. By 2030 the number of older people is expected to increase to 71.5 million older persons, over 20 percent of the total population.

Teaching Ip From An Entrepreneurial Counseling And Transactional Perspective, Sean M. O'Connor

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The traditional law school appellate case method is not well-suited to teaching students either the substance and process of counseling entrepreneurial clients or helping such clients create IP strategies that effectively advance their business vision. This Article describes the author’s creation of new courses and clinics to advance teaching IP in the emerging field of entrepreneurship and innovation law

Much Has Changed: Diversity And Opportunity At The University Of Idaho College Of Law, Donald L. Burnett Jr.

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No abstract provided.

(Un)Covering Identity In Civil Rights And Poverty Law, Anthony V. Alfieri

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No abstract provided.

The Bedrock Of Individual Rights In Times Of Natural Disaster, Diane P. Wood

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No abstract provided.

The Inter-American Human Rights System: A Primer, Caroline Bettinger-López

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No abstract provided.

Kenneth Karst's Equality As A Central Principle In The First Amendment, Geoffrey R. Stone

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No abstract provided.

The Comparative Law And Economics Of Judicial Councils, Tom Ginsburg, Nuno Garoupa

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No abstract provided.

Jessica Gonzales V. United States: An Emerging Model For Domestic Violence & Human Rights Advocacy In The United States, Caroline Bettinger-López

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No abstract provided.

Mixed Speech: When Speech Is Both Private And Governmental, Caroline Mala Corbin

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Speech is generally considered to be either private or governmental, and this dichotomy is embedded in First Amendment jurisprudence. However, speech is often neither purely private nor purely governmental but rather a combination of the two. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court has not yet recognized mixed speech as a distinct category of speech. This Article suggests considerations for identifying mixed speech and exposes the shortcomings of the current approach of classifying all speech as either private or governmental when determining whether viewpoint restrictions pass First Amendment muster. Treating mixed speech as government speech gives short shrift to the free speech interests …

A Comment In Rosenberg's New Edition Of The Hollow Hope, Richard Delgado

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No abstract provided.

Operationalizing Deterrence Claims Management (In Hopsitals, A Large Retailer, And Jails And Prisons), Margo Schlanger

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The theory that the prospect of liability for damages deters risky behavior has been developed in countless articles and books. The literature is far sparser, however, on how deterrence is operationalized. And prior work slights an equally important effect of damage actions, to incentivize claims management in addition to harm-reduction responses that are cost- rather than liabilityminimizing. This article works in the intersection of these two understudied areas, focusing on claims management steps taken by frequently sued organizations, and opening a window into the black box of deterrence to see how those steps may end up serving harm-reduction purposes as …

Did Bankruptcy Reform Fail? An Empirical Study Of Consumer Debtors, Robert M. Lawless, Angela K. Littwin, Katherine M. Porter, John A. E. Pottow, Deborah K. Thorne, Elizabeth Warren

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Before 2005, many people went broke and many filed for bankruptcy. After 2005, many people still go broke, but not so many file for bankruptcy. Why has the number of bankruptcies declined? Surely it is not the economy. All throughout the 2000s, families have been under increasing economic pressure. Median family incomes have declined, basic expenses have risen, and families are shouldering unprecedented debt loads. Defaults remain high for credit cards and car loans, while mortgage foreclosures have soared. By 2008, over half of all Americans reported that their incomes were falling behind their cost of living. These data all …

Employment Discrimination Remedies: The Shape Of Lawsuits, The Shape Of The Law: Proceedings Of The 2008 Annual Meeting Association Of American Law Schools Section On Employment Discrimination Law And Section On Remedies, Michael P. Allen, Paul M. Secunda, Julie C. Suk, Tristin K. Green, Brad Seligman, Elaine W. Shoben

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The article examines the effectiveness of legal frameworks and corporate practices in addressing employment discrimination, contrasting the French criminal approach with the U.S. reliance on civil remedies and diversity initiatives. It argues that while criminal investigations in France have successfully uncovered and punished discriminatory hiring practices, U.S. corporations often evade meaningful change through ineffective diversity training and lack robust accountability mechanisms. The analysis underscores the need for structural reforms in the U.S., emphasizing the importance of accountability and flexibility in consent decrees to drive lasting progress in diversity and inclusion.

The Upc Authorizes Notarized Wills, Lawrence W. Waggoner

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This article reports on a 2008 amendment to the Uniform Probate Code that permits notarization as a method of will execution.

Requiem For Section 1983, Paul D. Reingold

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Section 1983 no longer serves as a remedial statute for the people most in need of its protection. Those who have suffered a violation of their civil rights at the hands of state authorities, but who cannot afford a lawyer because they have only modest damages or seek only equitable remedies, are foreclosed from relief because lawyers shun their cases. Today civil rights plaintiffs are treated the same as ordinary tort plaintiffs by the private bar: without high damages, civil rights plaintiffs are denied access to the courts because no one will represent them. Congress understood that civil rights laws …

Preserving The Rule Of Law In America's Jails And Prisons: The Case For Amending The Prison Litigation Reform Act, Margo Schlanger, Giovanna Shay

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Prisons and jails pose a significant challenge to the rule of law within American boundaries. As a nation, we are committed to constitutional regulation of governmental treatment of even those who have broken society’s rules. And accordingly, most of our prisons and jails are run by committed professionals who care about prisoner welfare and constitutional compliance. At the same time, for prisons—closed institutions holding an ever-growing disempowered population—most of the methods by which we, as a polity, foster government accountability and equality among citizens are unavailable or at least not currently practiced. In the absence of other levers by which …

Advocacy Strategies To Fight Eviction In Cases Of Compulsive Hoarding And Cluttering, Tom Cobb, Eric Dunn, Vanessa Torres Hernandez, Jake Moroni Okleberry, Riana Pfefferkorn, Chelsea Spector

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No abstract provided.