Law Commons^™

Academic Support Programs At Hbcu Law Schools, Marla L. Dickerson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative descriptive case study delves into the effectiveness of academic support programs (ASPs) for students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) law schools, focusing on enhancing academic performance and passing the bar exam. The underrepresentation of minority lawyers in the United States, which is attributed partly to standardized test disparities, underscores the need for tailored support mechanisms. Drawing from social cognitive theory (SCT), the study investigates how ASPs impact academic success, informed by participant interviews and thematic analysis.

Key findings reveal four prominent themes. Firstly, effective features of ASPs for promoting academic performance include personalized guidance from academic …

Parity In Higher Education In Prison Programs: Does It Exist?, Michael Lee Griggs, Vianey Luna

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The expansion of college-in-prison (CIP) programs, especially in California, where incarcerated college enrollment increased from 11,472 students to over 15,000 in two years, has spotlighted higher education for incarcerated individuals. This increase, supported by legislation that expands funding for CIP programs and allows time off sentences for successful course/degree completion, is further bolstered by the restoration of Federal Pell funding for incarcerated students after a 28-year ban. Despite the acknowledged benefits of CIP programs in reducing recidivism and enhancing post-release outcomes, existing research highlights the need for additional exploration into the quality of CIP programs. Senate Bill 416 further emphasizes …

Risk Management Perceptions And Preventive Practices Of Athletic Directors From Naia Schools, Yan Gioseffi

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

The increase in the number of incidents associated with sports has led to the rise of litigation, and physical, emotional, and financial damage to stakeholders. Collegiate athletic directors (ADs) have the duty to keep their programs safe.

This study aimed to explore and understand the practices, perceptions, and experiences of ADs from National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) institutions regarding preventive risk management. As risk management is significantly new in the sporting industry, an exploratory study using a qualitative design, grounded in narrative inquiry was conducted using the D.I.M. Process as a guide to collect data from 10 NAIA ADs …

Diving Into Correctional Education Program Research: A Systematic Review, Evelyn Roehn

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the last three decades, there has been a growing interest in correctional education programming and its effects on the recidivism rates of offenders. Research has concluded that programs such as general education equivalency (GED), college credit, and trade/vocational skill-building work to reduce recidivism rates among offenders. Although current research is widely accepted among scholars, several questions remain. 1) How is recidivism defined, and how does the definition change the rates? 2) How are researchers addressing selection bias in their study, and what impact does this have on their findings? 3) How are inmates with learning disabilities and language barriers …

Appointing And Training Judges In Egypt And Comparative Systems, Moataz Muhammad Al-Saghir Aidaros

Theses and Dissertations

The topic of the paper is very important, as it comes up at a time when the Egyptians have come to a point that reforming Egypt’s justice system is a hopeless case. This is due to the outdated and inefficient way of thinking and performing in the judiciary. Thus the goal of this paper is to make an intellectual contribution to a sustainable reform program of the Egyptian judiciary and namely the systems of judicial appointment and judicial training using their roles as agents of progress and development. This aspiring research argues that the Higher Council of Judicial Entities and …

Lawyers That (Say They) Listen: An Exploratory Study Into Law Firms With Listening Specific Branding, Kacey Henriques

Honors Theses

The following investigation attempts to explore the communication dynamics between law firms and their clients. As shown in this research, clients tend to make note of poor communication skills, specifically listening skills, when they interact with attorneys. In an attempt to appeal to clients who have had negative interactions in respect to listening, several law firms across the country are utilizing branding that stresses their strengths in listening (what I term listening specific branding). In the investigation to come, three law firms are analyzed that utilize this type of branding. Additionally, three law firms that specialize in similar areas of …

Poetic Justice: Connecting The Modern American Prosecutor To Her Rhetorical Roots, Michael Caves

All Dissertations

Poetic Justice: Connecting the Modern American Prosecutor to her Rhetorical Roots explores the gap between rhetoric and the American prosecutor, to eventually advocate for a more creative, inventive trial practice for prosecutors that embraces the spirit and methods of narrative, poetics, and Ulmeric mystories, with the prosecutor’s unique ethical obligations forming the basis of a new prosecutor’s rhetoric. This research opens with an autoethnographic account of the author’s own path to criminal prosecution, to give the reader a sense of the author’s ethos, to identify the shortcomings of rhetorical training in law school pedagogy, and to outline the rhetorical …

The Restitution Of Nazi-Looted Art In The United States: A Legal And Policy Analysis, Katharine J. Namon

Senior Theses and Projects

Restitution of Nazi-looted art in the United States is a complicated legal and policy issue. Victims and their heirs seeking restitution of their stolen art frequently encounter inconsistent legal standards at the state, federal, and international levels. Moreover, there are many different parties involved in these cases, including countries, museums, private collections, auction houses, heirs, and individuals who may have an interest in the particular work of art. Ethics must also be considered, and in the past, international principles for nations have been established to guide the process of delivering victims of wartime looting justice. Unfortunately, the current legal framework …

Hbo’S "The Wire" And Its Portrayal Of Baltimore Politics, Schools, And The Judicial System In Season 4: Was It Accurate Then And Does It Stand The Test Of Time?, Josephine Klingeman

Honors Theses

This thesis is a content analysis of HBO’s fourth season of The Wire. After conducting an in-depth analysis of the content in the thirteen episodes of season four, I then assessed the level of accuracy in the show’s portrayal of two major topics discussed throughout the season: Witness protection and police informant harassment. I did so by conducting several interviews with professionals who have several decades of experience working in the criminal justice system. I compared their personal experience with witness protection programs, witness harassment, and police informant harassment with the content presented in The Wire on these topics. …

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind: Analyzing Inhumane Practices In Mississippi’S Correctional Institutions Due To Overcrowding, Understaffing, And Diminished Funding, Ariel A. Williams

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to examine the political, social, and economic factors which have led to inhumane conditions in Mississippi’s correctional facilities. Several methods were employed, including a comparison of the historical and current methods of funding, staffing, and rehabilitating prisoners based on literature reviews. State-sponsored reports from various departments and the legislature were analyzed to provide insight into budgetary restrictions and political will to allocate funds. Statistical surveys and data were reviewed to determine how overcrowding and understaffing negatively affect administrative capacity and prisoners’ mental and physical well-being. Ultimately, it may be concluded that Mississippi has high …

Policy Implications Of Refugee Education In Urban Settings: A Case Study Of The Experience Of Refugee Community-Based Schools In Cairo, Dawood Mayom

Theses and Dissertations

Egypt hosts asylum-seekers and refugees originating from a large number of countries. Many refugees find themselves living in urban settings, and education and access to schools across various levels have increasingly become challenging for children. This study focuses on refugees’ education between the years 2011-2020 in Cairo. During these years, the number of students increased by five times, making the provision of education a challenging endeavor. The research aims to explore and understand the multiple barriers to Community-Based Refugee Education in Urban Egypt. This study used a qualitative case study because of its relevancy to this topic and context. The …

Censorship Concerns In College Media: A Multiple Case Study Analysis On The Silencing Of Student Journalists, Haley Nicole Matlock

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this qualitative study was to conduct a multiple case study that provides an analysis of censorship concerns at campus newspapers affiliated with public, four-year universities. Eighteen individuals from seven institutions participated in interviews. Interviewees consisted of former and current student journalists and advisers who worked at university publications where allegations of censorship have occurred within the last decade. The Student Press Law Center routinely investigates claims of censorship and provides pro bono legal counsel to student journalists (Zagier, 2011). While courts commonly sided with students in disagreements regarding free speech, Hazelwood v Kuhlmeier (1988) scaled back freedoms …

Lessons And Opportunities For Negotiation Teachers Following The Covid-19 Pandemic, Ana Lenard

LL.M. Essays & Theses

In 2020-2021, and resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, I taught and studied university negotiation courses online. In this essay I reflect on my experiences of teaching and learning online, ground them in pedagogical research, and distil key lessons and opportunities for negotiation teachers across three topics (creating inclusive classrooms, the role of technology, and equipping our students to meet the demands of the modern world). Teaching online has led to a collective upskilling in our understanding of our students, of what matters in life, and of how technology can enhance our teaching. We have agency in our classrooms to help …

College Students’ Perceptions Of Law Enforcement And Legal Careers, Courtney Alley

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Recent events have given attention to the public perception of criminal justice field in the United States. Although there has been much political debate about problems in the criminal justice field, attention should be turned to the prospective employees who will soon be seeking out these debates: college students seeking to enter the criminal justice field. The current study did that through survey data obtained from 112 students enrolled in criminal justice courses at East Tennessee State University during the Fall 2020 semester. Analysis revealed much about student interest in various criminal justice occupations, their perceived ability to perform the …

The Role Of Eyewitness Confidence And Prosecution/Defense Presentation In How Facial Composites Shape Juror Decision-Making, Rebecca E. Singh

Student Theses

Eyewitness testimony has been found to be an unreliable form of evidence (Loftus, Miller & Burns, 1978; Oswald & Coleman, 2007; Wells & Hasel, 2007; Loftus & Greenspan, 2017; Jaross, 2018; Wade, Nash, & Lindsay, 2018; Wixted, Mickes, & Fisher, 2018). Yet, this evidence is still used in the courts today, and, in fact, is perceived by jurors as important and compelling in comparison to other case factors (e.g., character evidence, physical evidence; Topp-Manriquez, McQuiston, & Malpass, 2014; Kabzińska, 2015). Additionally, eyewitnesses are sometimes requested to help create a facial composite of the suspect and, critically, these composites are then …

A Rhetorical Analysis Of Opening Statements In Trial: Reconsidering The Classical Canon Of Invention, Andrew Chandler

Undergraduate Theses

This analysis of 21 opening statements probes at current persuasive practices employed by trial attorneys through the lens of mainstream legal advice and an expanded definition of rhetorical invention – one which includes both discovery and creation. An evaluation of such practice reveals the utility, and furthermore the duty of the advocate, to draw upon an expanded realm of available arguments.

Mentoring: Attitudes And Perceptions Of New Lawyers, Mindy Thomas Fulks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tennessee does not have a formal state-wide required mentoring program for Tennessee lawyers. Mentoring programs are available to Tennessee lawyers but no uniform standards exist. It has been suggested that providers of mentoring programs should develop strategies for improving and expanding mentoring experiences for new lawyers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate attitudes towards mentoring by Tennessee lawyers who are within their first 5 years of practice. The researcher sought to identify the perceptions of new lawyers regarding mentoring to better understand mentoring’s role within the legal profession.

The methodology for this study was nonexperimental quantitative survey research. …

Licensing Paralegals To Practice Law: A Path Toward Bridging The Justice Gap In Minnesota, Conner Suddick

Departmental Honors Projects

There are few legal avenues for low-income and other marginalized groups in the United States to seek civil justice. A lack of legal assistance in civil issues can be detrimental to a person’s health and wellbeing. Given this reality, the legal profession must broaden its capacity to serve these needs, and one path is to embrace the aid of paralegals. In 2016, the legal community of Minnesota had conversations about whether the state should provide limited licenses to paralegals. To study models from across the country, the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) formed the Alternative Legal Models Task Force. In …

Caracterización Y Análisis De La Implementación De La Ley 1732 De 2014 - Cátedra De La Paz, Ana María González Sánchez

Licenciatura en Español y Lenguas Extranjeras

La investigación realizada consistió en un abordaje al proceso de implementación de la asignatura “Cátedra de la Paz”, sancionada mediante la Ley 1732 de 2014, en el colegio San Martin de Porres, ubicado en la periferia de Bogotá, Colombia. Se presenta una descripción detallada de los procesos que las distintas áreas de gestión institucional deben desarrollar para el cumplimiento de las exigencias de la mencionada Ley. Así mismo, se buscó determinar los avances y dificultades que tuvo el área directiva, académica, administrativa y financiera y, de la comunidad en dicho proceso. Este artículo fue elaborado como informe final de una …

A Characterization Of The Medical-Legal Partnership (Mlp) Of Nebraska Medicine, Jordan Pieper

Capstone Experience

This research study was completed at Legal Aid of Nebraska’s Health, Education, and Law Project through the partnership it has formed working with Nebraska Medicine and Iowa Legal Aid. Traditionally, health and disease have always been viewed exclusively as "healthcare" issues. But with healthcare consistently growing towards holistic approaches to help patients, we now know there are deeper, structural conditions of society that can act as strong driving forces of a person's poor daily living conditions that can negatively impact health. The importance of a Medical-Legal Partnership is that it considers a patient's social determinants of health (SDHs). The goal …

The Predictors Of Juvenile Recidivism: Testimonies Of Adult Students 18 Years And Older Exiting From Alternative Education, La Toshia Palmer

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive, qualitative study was to identify and describe the importance of the predictors of juvenile recidivism and the effectiveness of efforts to prevent/avoid juvenile recidivism as perceived by previously detained, arrested, convicted, and/or incarcerated adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education in Northern California. A second purpose was to explore the types of support provided by alternative schools and the perceived importance of the support to avoid recidivism according to adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education.

Methodology: This qualitative, descriptive research design identified …

Effectiveness Of The Socratic Method: A Comparative Analysis Of The Historical And Modern Invocations Of An Educational Method, Amanda J. Grondin

Senior Theses

This senior thesis evaluates the Socratic method by comparing its original form, used by Socrates with students such as Meno, to its modern invocations in institutions such as law or medical school. In order to gauge the actual efficacy of the Socratic method in teaching logicality, which is the primary goal of Socratic dialogues, a pilot study was run. The results and implications of this study are embedded in the central portion of the thesis. The study found a statistically significant correlation between the amount of Socratic instruction a student had and that student's performance on a syllogistic reasoning task. …

Awareness Of Clery Act Reporting Requirements Across Institutional Strata In West Virginia Community And Technical Colleges, Christina C. Johnson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

More than 25 years after its enactment, colleges are still finding themselves failing to comply with Clery Act reporting mandates. With each amendment to the Clery Act and its associated policies, the trend has been to add to the list of reportable items, which only increases the difficulty of institutional compliance. The purpose of this non-experimental, descriptive study was to evaluate employee awareness of the Clery Act and its current Clery Act reporting requirements at varying employment strata within West Virginia’s nine community and technical colleges. Using a web-based survey, data showed that approximately one-fourth of survey participants had never …

Judicial Externships: Sharing Current Practices, Dinah Lennon Archambeault

Duke Law Master of Judicial Studies Theses

The need for externships has risen over the years as the importance of providing experiential education to supplement traditional doctrinal law school education has become generally acknowledged. Despite the many articles on externships, few, if any, have addressed how judicial externs are selected and how judicial externships are structured in the courts.

It was necessary to conduct qualitative research to determine how various courts address their extern programs, if at all. Based on the research I have undertaken, practices vary among courts and judges. Not only is there no uniform practice with respect to which courts and even judges place …

The Missouri Student Transfer Program, Howard E. Fields Iii

Dissertations

In 1993, the state of Missouri passed the Outstanding Schools Act. This law was created as a means to ensure that “all children will have quality educational opportunities, regardless of where in Missouri they live.” Section 167.131 of this law states that an unaccredited district must pay the tuition and transportation cost for students who attend an accredited school in the same or adjoining district. This portion of the law became known as the Student Transfer Program.

The Riverview Gardens School District (RGSD) was one of three unaccredited school districts in the state of Missouri in 2013. With close to …

Lived Legal Expertise: Mobilizing The Political Agency Of Incarcerated Youth, Ian S. Schiffer

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes how caring relationships and an emancipatory approach to law related education (LRE) within juvenile justice facilities can cultivate political agency. I focused specifically on Camp Afflerbaugh-Paige, an LA County juvenile probation facility, in La Verne, CA, as a case study. During three months of teaching a law related education class and embedding myself at the facility with an asset-based framework, I encountered a wealth of knowledge that incarcerated juveniles possess, not from formal education or research, but based in their own lived experiences. Los Angeles County Probation spends $233,000 per student per year; assuming best intentions of …

Would United States Judges Benefit From More Graduate Training?, Nancy Joseph

Duke Law Master of Judicial Studies Theses

In the United States, there is no degree or training required to become a judge. On-the-job education primarily consists of orientation programs and updates on substantive and procedural law. Although these programs serve an important need, they are generally of limited duration and scope, taught by fellow judges, and are not degree programs. Two notable exceptions are the now-defunct University of Virginia Graduate Program for Judges, which offered an LL.M. in judicial process for sitting appellate judges and the Duke University School of Law’s LL.M. in judicial studies—also for sitting judges. Do judges benefit from such degree programs? There has …

International Trade V. International Property Lawyers: Globalization And The Brazilian Legal Profession, Vitor Martins Dias

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

This work analyzes a distinctive characteristic of the globalizing Brazilian legal profession. Namely, intellectual property (IP) lawyers who once were leaders in opening the Brazilian economy and were key players in cross-border transactions are now losing ground to their peers with an expertise in international trade. The thesis of this article is that the manner in which Brazilian lawyers are being educated is in shambles. Generally speaking, Brazilian legal education has, overall, become degraded and provincial. Yet, Brazilian international trade lawyers, unlike Brazilian IP-lawyers, have overcome their deficient legal training by seeking legal education abroad. By traveling overseas, especially to …

Legal Education Reform In Saudi Arabia: A Case Study Of Taibah University, Rayan Alkhalawi

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

Legal education reform is a hot topic today. However, legal educators generally avoid discussing this important topic. Although legal education in Saudi Arabia is unique and complex, it is very hard to find academic literature about it. While this paper provides a brief explanation of legal education in Saudi Arabia, the main purpose of this paper is to discuss whether or not the current program at the College of Law prepares graduates for the best opportunities available in the legal market. And if not, how it could do a better job of making the program reach its full potential to …

Changing Our Tune: A Music-Based Approach To Teaching, Learning, And Resolving Conflict, Linda Marie Ippolito

PhD Dissertations

The need for change within the legal profession and legal education is critical. To remain relevant and responsive to twenty-first century challenges and complexities the next generation of professionals must be creative, imaginative, and innovative thinkers. Emotional and social intelligence, the ability to collaboratively problem-solve, negotiate, and mediate complex conflict are essential skills needed for success particularly in increasingly settlement-oriented environments. Studies and reports have noted, however, that practitioners are lacking these key skills. How can these new perspectives and essential skills be taught and developed? This mixed methods research study involved five professional musicians and thirty-eight first year law …