Law Commons^™

Paradigm Lost: Recapturing Classical Rhetoric To Validate Legal Reasoning, Kristen Konrad Robbins-Tiscione

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

At the inception of their careers, most lawyers have little or no background in classical rhetoric. Many law students enter law school thinking that they will receive formal training in either logic or rhetoric, but very few law schools even teach classes in these subjects. In the absence of any formal training, most lawyers learn to write persuasively by imitating “good” legal writing. The consequence for the legal profession is an abundance of legal writing that is not grounded conceptually in the rhetorical tradition from which it is derived. The principal problem with legal writing is not that lawyers cannot …

Law As Social Work, Jane H. Aiken, Stephen Wizner

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In our work as lawyers for low income clients and as clinical teachers, we are sometimes told by our professional counterparts in private practice - especially those who work in large corporate firms - that what we do "isn't law, it's social work." Similarly, our students sometimes complain that the work they do on behalf of low income clients "isn't law, it's social work." In the past we have tended to respond to this "social worker" charge defensively. We insisted that what we and our students do is "law," that it is really no different from what private practitioners do …

Lessons From Nepal: Partnership, Privilege And Potential, Jane H. Aiken

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Dramatic differences in culture present students with the opportunity to gain considerable perspective on their own perceptions and a chance to operate in a legal environment that, like most endeavors in the world today, has become increasingly globalized. This kind of experience has generally been missing in the training of our university law students. The students in Washington University's Civil Justice Clinic have provided legal services to women and children who have been victims of violence in a wide array of socio-economic settings. They have also worked on policy initiatives that shape government on city, state and federal levels. But …

Leveling The Playing Field: Federal Rules Of Evidence 412 & 415: Evidence Class As A Platform For Larger (More Important) Lessons, Jane H. Aiken

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Teachers often approach Federal Rules of Evidence 412 and 415 with trepidation. After all, it means that a law teacher will have to talk about sex, with a group (often a large group) of law students - many of whom are in their early twenties and have never had a non-peer conversation about sex. It looks like a recipe for disaster. Let me suggest just the opposite - it offers the law teacher an opportunity to address perhaps one of the most important lessons of law school: the law only works if there is a level playing field.

Introduction: Global Intellectual Property Rights: Boundaries Of Access And Enforcement, William Michael Treanor

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Introduction to the Global Intellectual Property Rights: Boundaries of Access and Enforcement Symposium.

The Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal put together a symposium that focused on three issues in intellectual property: patents, The End of Equivalents? Examining the Fallout from Festo; Eldred, a case argued before the Supreme Court; and the relationship between the First Amendment and Internet filters.

Learning From Conflict: Reflections On Teaching About Race And Gender, Susan Sturm, Lani Guinier

Faculty Scholarship

In 1992 had been teaching for four years at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. I taught voting rights and criminal procedure, subjects related to what I had done as a litigator. Preparing for class meant reading many of the same cases I had read preparing for trial. Some were even cases I had tried. Teaching offered me a fresh chance to read those cases with new interest. I could see the subtle linkages between cases that I had not previously noticed. From the distance of the academy, I observed the evolution of the doctrine without feeling overcome by the …

Part-Time Legal Education: It‘S Not Your Parents’ Old Oldsmobile, Edwin J. Butterfoss

Faculty Scholarship

When I am asked to name my accomplishments as dean,' the one that often piques the listener's interest is "starting a weekend law program." Their reaction usually is along the lines of, "A weekend law program? That's different." But depending on to whom I am talking, that "uniform" response needs to be interpreted based on the tone of voice, facial expression, and other body language of the listener If I happen to be talking to a faculty member from another school, the translation is, "I hope my dean doesn't get a crazy idea like that and make me work on …

Cultural Projects And Structural Transformation In The Legal Profession, W. Wesley Pue

All Faculty Publications

This paper explores the history of professional formation amongst lawyers, pointing to the surprising conclusions that contemporary legal professionalism bears little continuity with supposed roots in British professionalism and that one of the major motors driving professionalism was related to a project of cultural transformation in state and society at large. Whilst legal professions appear exclusionary and xenophobic from an outside perspective, the desire to control difference has deeper, more fully cultural roots, than arguments from self-interest per se might suggest.

The Federal Law Of Attorney Conduct, Judith Mcmorrow

Judith A. McMorrow

No abstract provided.

Ethics Of The Lawyer's Work, James Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Twu Law Day Panelist, Charlotte Hughart

Charlotte Hughart

No abstract provided.

Ethical Developments, Judith Mcmorrow

Judith A. McMorrow

No abstract provided.

What Federal Gun Control Can Teach Us About The Dmca's Anti-Trafficking Provisions, Alfred C. Yen

Alfred C. Yen

This article studies the so-called "anti-trafficking provisions" of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") by drawing insight from federal gun control. Among other things, the anti-trafficking provisions criminalize the distribution of technology that circumvents the encryption schemes sometimes used to protect digital files. This prohibition even applies to the sale of circumvention technology for lawful purposes. Not surprisingly, this result has generated controversy. Consumer advocates and civil libertarians have argued that it is wrong to criminalize the sale of technology that has lawful use, particularly when that criminalization makes it difficult - if not impossible - for the public to …

Evidence And The One Liner: A Beginning Evidence Professor’S Exploration Of The Use Of Humor In The Law School Classroom, John J. Capowski

John J. Capowski

No abstract provided.

The Little Act That Could: The Volunteer Protection Act Of 1997, Adam Epstein, Rebecca Mowrey

Adam Epstein

A study and analysis of the federal Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 (VPA). The article discusses significant cases under state and federal law and decisions. It discusses the importance of the VPA yet also offers problems and issues related to its interpretation.