Law Commons^™

Summary Of Reno Newspapers V. Gibbons, 125 Nev. Adv. Op. 23, Daniel M. Ryan

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considers whether after a public records lawsuit commences, when a party requests records from a state entity, and that state entity withholds the requested records, is the requesting party entitled to a log containing a factual description of each withheld record and a legal basis for nondisclosure. Also, the Court considers what the state entity withholding records is required to provide to the requesting party in prelitigation situations.

Pleading And Proving Foreign Law In The Age Of Plausibility Pleading, Roger M. Michalski

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Revisiting The Similar Fact Rule In Singapore: Public Prosecutor V. Mas Swan Bin Adnan And Another, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The similar fact rule in Singapore—as with the law on any evidence law doctrine that can be found in both our Evidence Act and the common law—has required clarification for some time. This note, which discusses the latest local decision on the similar fact rule, considers if that decision is compatible with the Evidence Act and the various conceptualisations underlying the doctrine.

Evidence, John E. Hall Jr., W. Scott Henwood

Mercer Law Review

The biggest story in Georgia Evidence law this year is undoubtedly the Georgia General Assembly's decision to align Georgia's evidence code with the Federal Rules of Evidence. Proponents of House Bill 24 describe the former rules, many of which have been on the books for more than 150 years, as archaic and inconsistent. Paul S. Milich, professor of law at Georgia State University College of Law and the reporter for the State Bar of Georgia committee that proposed the new rules of evidence for Georgia, described the way the outdated rules impeded the modern practice of law in Georgia: "Our …

Dancing With The Big Boys: Georgia Adopts (Most Of) The Federal Rules Of Evidence, David N. Dreyer, F. Beau Howard, Amy M. Leitch

Mercer Law Review

Georgia has become the forty-fourth state to model its new evidence rules on the Federal Rules of Evidence. The new code will go into effect on January 1, 2013, 150 years from when Georgia's first legal code was published. Passage of the 2013 Georgia Evidence Code did not come easy, but was a product of years of debate, compromise, and vetting from legislators, the judiciary, academia, and members and groups of the practicing bar. The new code is largely derived from the Federal Rules of Evidence, but Georgia has retained a significant amount of evidence rules from its prior code …

Where Did My Privilege Go? Congress And Its Discretion To Ignore The Attorney-Client Privilege, Don Berthiaume, Jeffrey Ansley

Don R Berthiaume

“The right to counsel is too important to be passed over for prosecutorial convenience or executive branch whimsy. It has been engrained in American jurisprudence since the 18th century when the Bill of Rights was adopted... However, the right to counsel is largely ineffective unless the confidential communications made by a client to his or her lawyer are protected by law.”[1] So said Senator Arlen Specter on February 13, 2009, just seven months before Congress chose to ignore the very privilege he lauded. Why then, if the right to counsel is as important as Senator Specter articulated, does Congress maintain …

Social Media And Legal Ethics, Jonathan I. Ezor

Jonathan I. Ezor

A presentation on the legal issues arising out of attorney use of social media services, including for electronic discovery

Finding Evidence On Facebook, Jeffrey Bellin

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

The Corroborative Effect Of Lies, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

PP v Kamrul Hasan Abdul Quddus [2010] SGHC 7; Kamrul Hasan Abdul Quddus v PP [2011] SGCA 52. Overview of the case: In PP v Kamrul Hasan Abdul Quddus, the accused was charged with murder. He and the deceased had been in a tumultuous relationship, and the main evidence that connected the deceased’s death to the accused, apart from the fact that her body was found in the construction site that the accused worked at, was that DNA taken from her rectum tested positive for semen that matched his DNA.

Jailhouse Informants, Robert M. Bloom

Robert M. Bloom

No abstract provided.

Inevitable Discovery: An Exception Beyond The Fruits, Robert M. Bloom

Robert M. Bloom

No abstract provided.

Accounting For Federalism In State Courts - Exclusion Of Evidence Obtained Lawfully By Federal Agents, Robert M. Bloom, Hillary J. Massey

Robert M. Bloom

After the terrorist attacks on September 11th, Congress greatly enhanced federal law enforcement powers through enactment of the U.S.A. Patriot Act. The Supreme Court also has provided more leeway to federal officers in the past few decades, for example by limiting the scope of the exclusionary rule. At the same time, many states have interpreted their constitutions to provide greater individual protections to their citizens than provided by the federal constitution. This phenomenon has sometimes created a wide disparity between the investigatory techniques available to federal versus state law enforcement officers. As a result, state courts sometimes must decide whether …

Reconsidering Spousal Privileges After Crawford, R. Michael Cassidy

R. Michael Cassidy

In this article the author explores how domestic violence prevention efforts have been adversely impacted by the Supreme Court’s new “testimonial” approach to the confrontation clause. Examining the Court’s trilogy of cases from Crawford to Davis and Hammon, the author argues that the introduction of certain forms of hearsay in criminal cases has been drastically limited by the court’s new originalist approach to the Sixth Amendment. The author explains how state spousal privilege statutes often present a significant barrier to obtaining live testimony from victims of domestic violence. The author then argues that state legislatures should reconsider their spousal privilege …

More On The Impeachment Of Criminal Defendants, Jeffrey Bellin

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Behavioral Science Evidence In The Age Of Daubert: Reflections Of A Skeptic, Mark S. Brodin

Mark S. Brodin

The piece briefly traces the history of the use of social science in the courtroom, and proceeds to critically measure this form of proof (particularly “syndrome” evidence) against both the reliability standards imposed by Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the traditional requirements for admission of expert testimony. Drawing upon empirical research concerning juries and decision-making as well as transcripts of the use of behavioral evidence at trial, I conclude that much of this testimony should be rejected. Rather than providing meaningful assistance to the jury, social science experts can distort the accuracy of the fact-finding process and imperil …

Justicia Militar Y Derechos Humanos, Claudio Fuentes Maureira

Claudio Fuentes Maureira

En diciembre de 2010 se publicó una reforma a la justicia militar que excluyó a los civiles de su jurisdicción, lo que fue celebrado por el Gobierno como un significativo paso hacia la democratización de esta jurisdicción, la misma que le valió a Chile una condena internacional en 2005. No obstante, mantuvo la competencia de tribunales militares para conocer delitos cometidos por miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas y de Orden, lo cual sigue estando por debajo de los estándares que obligan a Chile. A ello se suma que aún está pendiente la reforma orgánica y procedimental de la justicia militar, …

More On The Future Of Present Sense Impressions, Jeffrey Bellin

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law—It Wasn’T Me! Zinger V. State And Arkansas’S Unconstitutional Approach To Third-Party Exculpatory Evidence. Zinger V. State, 313 Ark. 70, 852 S.W.2d 320 (1993)., Bourgon B. Reynolds

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unanswered Questions Of A Minority People In International Law: A Comparative Study Between Southern Cameroons & South Sudan, Bernard Sama Mr

Bernard Sama

The month July of 2011 marked the birth of another nation in the World. The distressful journey of a minority people under the watchful eyes of the international community finally paid off with a new nation called the South Sudan . As I watched the South Sudanese celebrate independence on 9 July 2011, I was filled with joy as though they have finally landed. On a promising note, I read the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon saying “[t]ogether, we welcome the Republic of South Sudan to the community of nations. Together, we affirm our commitment to helping it meet its …

Hiring Teams, Firms, And Lawyers: Evidence Of The Evolving Relationship In The Corporate Legal Market, Michele M. Destefano, John C. Coates, Ashish Nanda, David B. Wilkins

Articles

How are relationships between corporate clients and law firms evolving? Drawing on interview and survey data from 166 chief legal officers of S&P 500 companies from 2006-2007, we find that-contrary to standard depictions of corporate client-provider relationships-(1) large companies have relationships with ten to twenty preferred providers; (2) these relationships continue to be enduring, and (3) clients focus not only on law firm platforms and lead partners, but also on teams and departments within preferred providers, allocating work to these subunits at rival firms over time and following "star" lawyers, especially if they move as part of a team. The …

Plea Bargaining, Discovery, And The Intractable Problem Of Impeachment Disclosures, R. Michael Cassidy

Vanderbilt Law Review

Several recent high-profile cases have illustrated flaws with the government's discovery practices in criminal cases and have put prosecutors across the country on the defensive about their compliance with disclosure obligations. The conviction of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens on ethics charges was set aside after it was revealed that federal prosecutors withheld notes of an interview with a key government witness; one member of the Stevens prosecution team who was under investigation for contempt subsequently committed suicide. The Supreme Court remanded a double murder case from Tennessee for potential resentencing after it was revealed that state prosecutors had withheld …

25. Maltreated Children’S Ability To Estimate Temporal Location And Numerosity Of Placement Changes And Court Visits., Lindsay Wandrey, Thomas D. Lyon, Jodi A. Quas, William J. Friedman

Thomas D. Lyon

The Usefulness Of . . . Evidence, Jeffrey Bellin

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

The Evidentiary Significance Of “Tweets,” Texts And Status Updates (Starring Justin Bieber), Jeffrey Bellin

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Gone But Not Forgotten: When Privacy, Policy And Privilege Collide, Louise L. Hill

Louise L Hill

No abstract provided.

Rule 609 And The Frustratingly Unkillable Five-Factor Mahone Framework, Jeffrey Bellin

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

J.D.B. V. North Carolina And The Reasonable Person, Christopher Jackson

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

This Term, the Supreme Court was presented with a prime opportunity to provide some much-needed clarification on a "backdrop" issue of law-one of many topics that arises in a variety of legal contexts, but is rarely analyzed on its own terms. In J.D.B. v. North Carolina, the Court considered whether age was a relevant factor in determining if a suspect is "in custody" for Miranda purposes, and thus must have her rights read to her before being questioned by the police. Miranda, like dozens of other areas of law, employs a reasonable person test on the custodial question: it asks …

Injecting Law Student Drama Into The Classroom: Transforming An E-Discovery Class (Or Any Law School Class) With A Complex, Student-Generated Simulation, Paula Schaefer

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Unpredictable And Inconsistent: Nevada's Expert Witness Standard After Higgs V. State, Ryan A. Henry

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Tangible "Intangibles" And Other Mysteries: A Critique Of The D.C. Circuit's Expansion Of Work Product Doctrine In United States V. Deloitte Llp, Brian L. Blaylock

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.