Digital Commons Network^™

The Politics Of Judicial Reform In Japan: The Rule Of Law At Last?, Setsuo Miyazawa

Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the most recent changes in Japan's political environment that could radically alter its judicial system and legal profession in the near future. Reform of the judicial system and legal profession has now been placed on the national agenda, and the cast of players involved has spread from the traditional groups of legal professionals (judges, prosecutors, and attorneys) to the major actors of the larger political process, namely the Liberal Democratic Party (Jiya Minshu T6) ("LDP"), the ruling conservative party, and the Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), one of the most influential organizations …

Fear And Loathing Of Politics In The Legal Academy, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

In a recent lament about Bush v. Gore, Bruce Ackerman feared that the patent groundlessness of the opinion would convince many of a proposition he attributed to critical legal studies: that law is simply a form of politics.

This remark reflects two tendencies prominent at the Yale Law School in recent years: first, a preoccupation with a now extinct and never very successful movement of left legal academics, and second, a tendency to conflate this movement with the legal conservatism of Jusice Scalia and his collaborators at the University of Chicago and the Rehnquist Court.

These tendencies ride high …

Comparing Judicial Selection Systems, Lee Epstein, Jack Knight, Olga Shvetsova

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Confronting The Future: Coping With Discovery Of Electronic Material, Richard L. Marcus

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Soul For Sale: An Empirical Study Of Associate Satisfaction, Law Firm Culture, And The Effects Of Billable Hour Requirements, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

This article analyzes the results of an empirical study to illustrate the effect of billable hour requirements on associate satisfaction and law firm culture. Part I briefly describes the survey design and the general profile of the survey respondents. Part II discusses current billing practices and pressures analyzing the study results related to billing expectations and guidance as well as firm culture and work alternatives. Using findings from the study, Part III considers the detrimental micro and macro effects of increasing billable hour expectations. Part IV proposes various steps and measures that can be taken to address the negative consequences …

The Attorney-Client Privilege: Practical Military Applications Of A Professional Core Value, Joshua E. Kastenberg, Norman K. Thompson

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the historical development of the attorney-client privilege and then explores the privilege generally before tackling some specific areas where the privilege commonly arises in military practice. We explore important aspects of the privilege from three different perspectives: (1) a prosecution perspective-saving court-martial cases involving alleged compromise of attorney-client privileged material by trial counsel and/or investigators, (2) a defense perspective-using the privilege to protect information about the whereabouts of a client and the contents of a defense counsel's appointment schedule, and, (3) a general military practice perspective-the potential conflicts of interest which may arise when the privilege is …

Children In Poverty: In Search Of State And Federal Constitutional Protections In The Wake Of Welfare Reforms, April Land

Faculty Scholarship

The elimination of the federal entitlement to welfare and the shifting of essential policy making to states raises serious questions about the procedural due process rights of people in poverty. It also changes the focus of the legal battleground for welfare families, bringing important state constitutional issues into focus across the nation. Overall, the Article emphasizes that in exploring the potential constitutional protections for families in poverty, it will be important to focus on the detrimental effects that welfare reforms have on children. By emphasizing the impact that welfare cuts have on children, it may be possible to provide a …

Alternative Dispute Resolution And The Potential For Gender Bias, Leigh S. Goodmark

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Are Religiously Affiliated Law Schools Obsolete In America? The View Of An Outsider Looking In, Randy Lee

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Introduction, Randy Lee

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Is Meaningful Regulation Of Lawyers In Multidisciplinary Firms Possible?, Denise D. J. Roy

Faculty Scholarship

If the legal profession embraces multidisciplinary practice (MDP) and allows fee-sharing with nonlawyers, there is a risk that its values, independence, and professionalism will fall prey to market pressures and control by outsiders. On the other hand, rejecting MDP means risking losing business to the multidisciplinary firms already established. The question is whether there is a compromise that provides meaningful regulation of lawyers practicing in multidisciplinary firms.

Weapons To Fight Insider Trading In The 21st Century: A Call For The Repeal Of Section 16(B), Michael H. Dessent

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Time And Money: One State's Regulation Of Check-Based Loans, Deborah A. Schmedemann

Faculty Scholarship

This article, which is part narrative and part essay, describes one professor's experience working on “check cashing” (or “check-based loans”) cases at the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund in eastern Kentucky. Parts I and II describe the typical check-based loan transaction and its effects on low-income consumers. Part III recounts how the law of check-based loans has developed in Kentucky, during the professor’s time there and since. Part IV sets forth some observations about language and legal process, suggested by the preceding narrative.

Public Declarations Of Professionalism Professionalism Symposium, Bruce A. Green

Faculty Scholarship

When it comes to the subject of "professionalism," there is a gap between the leaders of the organized bar and its members. Bar leaders are eager to discuss the subject. For example, this year's annual meeting of the American Bar Association ("ABA") afforded bar leaders, as well as legal academics, a host of opportunities to share strategies to promote "professionalism" and "professional values." The Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar sponsored a program on "Professionalism in Law Schools and the Profession." Organizations representing bar executives, bar presidents, and bar foundations jointly presented a program called "Tough Talk, …

Insurance Issues Related To Lateral Hire Musical Chairs, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

This article addresses the various insurance issues relating to lawyer mobility. Part I of this article introduces the topic by noting the heightened rate of lawyers making lateral moves and how insurance coverage has responded to an increasingly mobile legal labor force. Part II provides a brief historical perspective on insurer reaction to lateral hire claims. Part III analyzes specific policy provisions related to lateral hires for both the prior firm and the new firm. Part IV discusses how a firm and a lateral lawyer should study and address risks before consummating the move. Part V examines the problems related …

Aren't You Latino: Building Bridges Upon Common Misperceptions, Victor C. Romero

Faculty Scholarship

This article addresses minority on minority oppression and itragroup animosity. The author discusses ways in which communities of color can use common misperceptions to their advantage as a bridge to building a larger community.

The Role Of Strategic Management Planning In Improving The Representation Of Clients: A Child Advocacy Example, Jane M. Spinak

Faculty Scholarship

This article will discuss my experience managing a legal organization representing children – the Juvenile Rights Division (JRD) that Schinitsky began thirty-eight years ago – by exploring the interactive role that organizational management plays in enhancing the quality of child client representation. Part I briefly examines two issues: the historic and systemic context of court-based practice within JRD and the way in which changes in child welfare law and policies since 1979 have affected the ability of lawyers to represent child clients through this court-based practice. Part II presents a model for restructuring organizational conventions and patterns in order to …

Litigators’ Ethics, Michael E. Tigar

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Civil Challenges To The Use Of Low-Bid Contracts For Indigent Defense, Margaret H. Lemos

Faculty Scholarship

In recent years, increasing attention has been directed to the problem of adequate representation for indigent criminal defendants. While overwhelming caseloads and inadequate funding plague indigent defense systems of all types, there is a growing consensus in the legal community that low-bid contract systems-under which the state or locality's indigent defense work is assigned to the attorney willing to accept the lowest fee-pose particularly serious obstacles to effective representation. In this Note, Margaret Lemos argues that the problems typical of indigent defense programs in general-and low-bid contract systems in particular-can and should be addressed through § 1983 civil actions alleging …

When Those Who Do Teach: The Consequences Of Law Firm Education For Business Law Education, James A. Fanto

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Instream Flows In New Mexico, Denise D. Fort

Faculty Scholarship

Instream flows for fisheries, recreation and aesthetic purposes held to be a legitimate use under New Mexico's statutory regime.

Legal Practice Rights Of Domestic And Foreign Lawyers In The United States , Roger J. Goebel

Faculty Scholarship

In the post-World War II international economy, with its enormous growth in transnational trade and investment, multinational legal practice has become a functional reality. Within the last two decades, the volume of trans-border legal practice has grown enormously in fields such as trade law, international banking and finance, international arbitration and litigation, international contractual and joint venture arrangements, transborder acquisitions and mergers, international antitrust, inter- national tax planning, and foreign investment counselling. Domestic law firms within the leading commercial nations have not only grown substantially in size, often by merger, they have also increasingly created networks of foreign branch offices, …

Introduction: Fifteenth Anniversary Of The Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellowship Program, Elizabeth M. Schneider

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Informal Aggregation: Procedural And Ethical Implications Of Coordination Among Counsel In Related Lawsuits, Howard M. Erichson

Faculty Scholarship

Even when related claims are not aggregated by any formal procedural mechanism, the lawyers involved in the separate lawsuits often coordinate their efforts. Such "informal aggregation" raises important questions about the boundaries of a dispute and the boundaries of the lawyer-client relationship. As an ethical matter, the central question is whether a lawyer owes ethical duties to a coordinating lawyer's client. Looking at confidentiality, loyalty, conflicts of interest, and malpractice, Professor Erichson suggests that ethical safeguards for clients of coordinating lawyers are neither strong enough nor explicit enough to provide adequate protection, and the problem inheres in the nature of …

In Memoriam: Gary Bellow, Beatrice A. Moulton, Gerald E. Frug, John D. Hamilton Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Recent Tax Developments In The Taxation Of Corporations And Shareholders, Daniel J. Lathrope

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Caught Between Two Systems: How Exceptional Children In Out-Of-Home Care And Denied Equality In Education, Cynthia Godsoe

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

William H. Simon: Thinking Like A Lawyer – About Ethics, William H. Simon, Robert D. Taylor, Bruce S. Ledewitz, Margaret K. Krasik, Sean P. Kealy

Faculty Scholarship

This is the edited text of a panel discussion held as part of the legal ethics curriculum at Duquesne University Law School on October 24, 1999. The speakers have had the opportunity to update and correct this text; therefore, this printed version may deviate slightly from what was presented.

The Landscape Of Constitutional Property, Thomas W. Merrill

Faculty Scholarship

The Constitution contains two clauses that protect persons against governmental interference with their property. The Due Process Clause provides that "No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." The Takings Clause adds, "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." Both provisions appear to impose a threshold condition that a claimant have some "property" at stake before the protections associated with the Clause apply. Thus, under the Due Process Clause, it would seem that a claimant must have an interest in "property" (or in "life" or "liberty") before …

Class Action Accountability: Reconciling Exit, Voice, And Loyalty In Representative Litigation, John C. Coffee Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

In two recent and highly technical decisions – Amchem Products v. Windsor and Ortiz v. Fibreboard Corp. – the Supreme Court has recognized that a serious potential for collusion exists in class actions and has outlined a concept of "class cohesion" as the rationale that legitimizes representative litigation. Although agreeing that a legitimacy principle is needed, Professor Coffee doubts that "class cohesion" can bear that weight, either as a normative theory of representation or as an economic solution for the agency cost and collective action problems that arise in representative litigation. He warns that an expansive interpretation of "class cohesion" …