Digital Commons Network^™

Law Schools And Family Court Reform, Andrew Schepard

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

Family courts are underfunded and overwhelmed, and the quality of representation provided by counsel in family court cases is problematic. This article discusses what role law schools can play in promoting family court reform. It argues that law school involvement in family court is consistent with the law school’s core missions of education, research, and public service. The article illustrates how law schools can he involved in family court reform by discussing interdisciplinary projects of the Center for Children, Families and the Law of Hofstra University and North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health Systems. Finally, the article identifies some lessons to …

The Independence And Democratic Accountability Of The Supreme Court Of Ohio: Recalling The Work Of Frederick Grimke, Paul D. Carrington, Adam R. Long

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

In The Interest Of The Client: Why Reform Of Texas's Rules Regarding Referral Fees Is Necessary., Samuel V. Houston Iii

St. Mary's Law Journal

Texas needs to reform its policy concerning referral fees. In Texas, an attorney is permitted to receive a fee for providing a referral to another attorney. In Brewer & Pritchard, P.C. v. Johnson, for example, the forwarding attorney received a referral fee for $3 million dollars. Proponents of referral fees argue that clients are better represented because referring attorneys have a greater economic incentive to seek out more capable attorneys. On the other hand, referring attorneys may also have the incentive to seek out attorneys who pay higher referral fees rather than those most qualified. In the end, the referred …

A Correct Analysis Of The Tax Treatment Of Contingent Attorney's Fee Arrangements: Enough With The Fruits And The Trees, Gregg D. Polsky

Scholarly Works

The tax treatment of contingent attorney's fee arrangements has been the subject of much recent debate and litigation. Some courts and commentators conclude that a plaintiff must include the entire settlement amount, including attorney's fees, in her gross income, while other courts and commentators conclude that a plaintiff must include only her recovery net of attorney's fees. Because of the alternative minimum tax, the resolution of this issue may have a significant effect on the plaintiff's tax liability. In analyzing the issue, courts and commentators have focused on the assignment of income doctrine by inquiring whether, upon execution of a …

When Litigation Is Not The Only Way: Consensus Building And Mediation As Public Interest Lawyering, Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

British social philosopher Stuart Hampshire recently articulated the fundamental and foundational principles of the modem conflict resolution movement (and I do call it a movement). He asserted that, "there will always be a plurality of different and incompatible conceptions of the good and there cannot be a single comprehensive and consistent theory of human virtue. Correspondingly, "our political enmities in the city or state will never come to an end while we have diverse life stories and diverse imaginations.'' Hampshire, a socially progressive, socialist philosopher hoped to articulate universal conceptions of the good. In his lifetime of reflection on this …

Book Review: The Personal Information Protection And Electronic Documents Act: An Annotated Guide By Stephanie Perrin, Heather H. Black, David H. Flaherty And T. Murray Rankin, Q.C. (Concord, Ont.: Irwin Law, 2001), Teresa Scassa

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In April 2000, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act was passed by the House of Commons. The legislation dealt with both personal information privacy and the use and validity of electronic documents in areas governed by federal law. On January 1, 2001, the portion of the Act dealing with electronic documents took effect, as did the privacy provisions, to the extent that they related to the collection use or disclosure of personal information inter-provincially, or in connection with a federal work, undertaking or business. The Act applied to personal health information as of January 1, 2002, and will …

The Customer Is Always Right . . . Not!: Employer Liability For Third Party Sexual Harassment, Lea B. Vaughn

Articles

This article will ask a series of questions. What is third party sexual harassment? Under what conditions does it occur? Does it differ in any significant respects from traditional notions of sexual harassment? Should those differences, if any, make a difference in the way that the legal system addresses third party harassment? And indeed, should the problem be addressed solely through the legal system? What might an employer do to alleviate sexual harassment of this type?

The thesis of this article is that third party sexual harassment is a prevalent form of harassment that the legal system does not currently …

Preface (Symposium Teaching Values In Law School), Richard Zitrin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Parent's Guide, 2002-2006, Illinois State University, Dean Of Students Office, Parent Services

Parent and Family Guide

Campus guide prepared by the Illinois State University Dean of Students Office's Parent Services Department

Federalizing Privilege, Timothy P. Glynn

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Motions 2002 Volume 37 Number 5, University Of San Diego School Of Law Student Bar Association

Newspaper, Motions (1987-2019)

No abstract provided.

Constructing The Practices Of Accountability And Professionalism: A Comment On In The Interests Of Justice, Susan Sturm

Faculty Scholarship

In the Interests of Justice: Reforming the Legal Profession lives up to its ambitious title. Deborah Rhode comprehensively surveys the structural problems confronting the legal profession, from its subscription to the "sporting theory of justice" to its preoccupation with profit. The book also lays bare the failure of legal education and the professional regulatory system to confront the roots of these structural problems.

I must confess that reading the book felt like a whirlwind tour of the legal profession's inevitable problems. In part, this perception grew out of the sheer range of economic, institutional, and structural factors contributing to the …

The Belated Decline Of Literalism In Professional Responsibility Doctrine: Soft Deception And The Rule Of Law, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

Literalism is the doctrine that a facially accurate but knowingly deceptive statement does not violate prohibitions of falsehood and misrepresentation. This essay argues that Literalism has had greater legitimacy in professional responsibility than in other areas of law, but that it seems to be in terminal decline. It surveys the arguments for and against Literalism and concludes that its impending demise should be welcomed.

Croatan Indians In Bulloch County, Malinda Maynor

Bulloch County Historical Society Publications

A Master’s thesis written by Malinda Maynor on Croatan, or Lumbee, Indians in Bulloch County and the ways in which they maintained their identity after leaving Robeson County, North Carolina.

Abstract:

In 1890, Croatan Indian men and women, now called Lumbees, began leaving Robeson County, North Carolina to work in turpentine camps in Bulloch County, Georgia. There a Croatan settlement emerged that re-created many features of their North Carolina home. In this period, Georgia, and the South as a whole, legally encoded racial segregation and threatened to force Bulloch County Croatans into a black or white identity. But rather than …

Conceptualizing Constitutional Litigation As Anti-Government Expression: A Speech-Centered Theory Of Court Access, Robert L. Tsai

Faculty Scholarship

This Article proposes a speech-based right of court access. First, it finds the traditional due process approach to be analytically incoherent and of limited practical value. Second, it contends that history, constitutional structure, and theory all support conceiving of the right of access as the modern analogue to the right to petition government for redress. Third, the Article explores the ways in which the civil rights plaintiff's lawsuit tracks the behavior of the traditional dissident. Fourth, by way of a case study, the essay argues that recent restrictions - notably, a congressional limitation on the amount of fees counsel for …

Substituting Mediation For Arbitration: The Growing Market For Evaluative Mediation, And What It Means For The Adr Field, Robert A. Baruch Bush

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

The past decade has seen significant expansion in the acceptance and use of mediation as a process for handling disputes. That expansion has been particularly marked in the legal and business sectors. Indeed, old hands in the ADR field observe that mediation has begun to replace arbitration as the "process of choice" in the ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) "market," including institutional users like courts and major private consumers of ADR like businesses. All this is seen by some as part of the "mainstreaming" of mediation discussed by Joseph Folger's lead article in this Symposium. The primary question examined in this …

Problems In Defining And Controlling The Unauthorized Practice Of Law, Linda Galler

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

A lively debate is taking place within the states on the question whether lawyers should be permitted to practice law in professional services organizations that provide both legal and nonlegal services and that are owned, in whole or in part, by nonlawyers. At this time, the states are divided; some endorse the notion of multidisciplinary practice (MDP) while others do not. At its August 2000 meeting, the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates rejected a proposal to permit lawyers practicing in MDPs to render legal services. In so doing, the House urged the states to enforce their laws prohibiting …

The Unchanging Face Of Legal Malpractice: How The "Captured" Regulators Of The Bar Protect Attorneys, Lawrence W. Kessler

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

Over the last century the. legal malpractice tort has remained constant while the rest of the legal world of negligence has been modified to increase duties and influence conduct to conform to our modern sense of fairness. In a century in which consumers of products have been catapulted out of the legal dungeon of "no privity" to the shining sea of strict product liability, in which consumers of medical services have been protected by the creation of an entirely new tort of informed consent, and in which trespassers have been given protections against dangerous conditions, only the consumers of legal …

California's Duty Of Confidentiality: Is It Time For A Life-Threatening Criminal Act Exception?, Kevin E. Mohr

San Diego Law Review

In August 2001, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association (ABA) voted in favor of a revision to the duty of confidentiality contained in the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, a set of ethics rules that has been adopted in some form by over forty states. Specifically, the House voted to broaden the exception in Model Rule 1.6 that permits a lawyer to reveal confidential information of the client to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes

necessary to prevent likely death or substantial bodily harrn.

It is

uncertain whether that vote will have any effect on the …

Public Defender's Conundrum: Signaling Professionalism And Quality In The Absence Of Price, Robert J. Aalberts, Thomas Boyt, Lorne H. Seidman

San Diego Law Review

This Essay, the result of an

extensive empirical study in the state of Nevada, attempts to ascertain factors among criminal defendants that may predict how they perceive a level of quality and satisfaction with their lawyers as service providers, as well as policy proposals for improving the perceptions of public defenders.

New Issues Arising Under Section 1983, Martin A. Schwartz

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Civil Litigation From Litigants' Perspectives: What We Know And What We Don't Know About The Litigation Experience Of Individual Litigants, Tamara Relis

Scholarly Works

This study of the entire phenomenon of civil litigation commenced with the sole aim of ascertaining the extant gaps in the available knowledge about litigation from the perspectives of those who are by far affected most by it: the litigants. What does litigation mean for those who are directly embroiled and whose lives may consequently be radically transformed? Serious lacunas exist. However, extensive readings worldwide throughout the research process result in a stark elucidation of an overlooked, yet crucially important and somewhat egregious state of affairs, making surprisingly clear just how pernicious litigation is for the average 'nonrepeat player'.

Mediation As One Step In Adversarial Litigation: One Country Lawyer's Experience, John R. Phillips

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This experience stands in stark contrast to the thesis of Professor Deborah Hensler in her article, Suppose It's Not True: Challenging Mediation Ideology. Therein, Professor Hensler attempts to link social psychological research that she interprets as showing dissatisfaction with the use of mediation compared to adjudication, which, in turn, leads her to conclude that clients should prefer counsel who ordinarily can resolve cases successfully without the help of mediation.7 The fallacy of Professor Hensler's argument is evident in several respects. For one, she relies far too heavily on her own intuition and previous empirical research of marginal relevance, and on …

Lawyer Ethics Code Drafting In The Twenty-First Century, Nancy J. Moore

Faculty Scholarship

In 1997, the American Bar Association ("ABA") created the Commission on the Evaluation of the Rules of Professional Conduct otherwise known as the Ethics 2000 Commission ("Commission"). The Commission was charged with conducting a comprehensive review of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct ("Model Rules") to determine what changes were necessary to update the Model Rules and make them relevant to the practice of law in the twenty-first century? In August 2001, the Commission issued a 300-page report recommending numerous changes to the Rules. These recommendations have been considered by the ABA House of Delegates and were largely approved. As …

Thinking Outside The Civil Case Box: Reformulating Pretrial Conference Laws, Jeffrey A. Parness, Matthew Walker

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

The civil case box generally described in written civil procedure laws references only presented claims and their named parties, including representative attorneys and agents tied to recovery or liability. Yet in many civil cases there must also be determined unpresented claims (i.e., insurance coverage) and nonparty interests (i.e., contingent or expert witness fee recovery). Unrepresented claims and nonparty interests should be processed, like presented claims, with a view toward "just, speedy, and inexpensive" resolutions. Such resolutions can be facilitated through pretrial conferencing. Written pretrial conference laws should be amended to encompass all that may be settled or tried in civil …

Law School Externships: Building Another Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Martin A. Geer

Scholarly Works

A commitment to an excellent externship program in which students are intensely engaged in learning lawyering skills, values, responsibilities, and how the law and legal systems affect communities, families, and individuals, further advances William S. Boyd School of Law’s goals. It is another bridge over gaps between legal education, the profession, and the community. This article discusses the externship program at William S. Boyd School of Law.

Uncharted Terrain: The Intersection Of Privatization And Welfare, Rebecca L. Scharf, Henry Freedman, Mary R. Mannix, Marc Cohan

Scholarly Works

Welfare, a mainstay of legal services practice, is cutting edge again. Clients need help negotiating a system that devolution, discretion, and privatization have changed radically. Public officials need help in this new environment to "get it right," so that programs achieve the laudable goals ascribed to them.

Privatization creates special challenges for welfare advocates. New players, ranging from neighborhood nonprofit organizations to churches to multinational corporations, are making decisions that affect clients' vital interests. New legal issues, ranging from state action to public contracting compliance, can arise. Accountability and transparency, difficult to achieve in the governance of traditional welfare programs, …

The Mdp Challenge In The Context Of Globalization, Carole Silver, Bryant G. Garth

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Case Of The Foreign Lawyer: Internationalizing The U.S. Legal Profession, Carole Silver

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article contributes a new perspective to existing scholarship on internationalization of the legal profession by focusing on the increasing presence of foreign lawyers in U.S. law schools and law firms. It analyzes the interaction between foreign-educated lawyers and the legal profession in the U.S. based upon two sources of information: first, a series of interviews with foreign-educated lawyers and U.S. law firm hiring partners regarding experiences in law school and in firms, and second, a database comprised of biographical information for more than 300 foreign-educated lawyers who were working in New York during 1999 and 2000.

The various roles …

Law As Largess: Shifting Paradigms Of Law For The Poor, Deborah M. Weissman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.