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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Uncertain Foundation Of Work Product, Michael A. Blasie
The Uncertain Foundation Of Work Product, Michael A. Blasie
Faculty Scholarly Works
Work product is heavily litigated, extensively studied, and sorely misunderstood. Most blissfully accept it as a combination of codified rules and the seminal case of Hickman v. Taylor. This view settles for a superficial understanding that neither recognizes nor questions underlining assumptions. The codified rules are legislative mandates, Hickman is Supreme Court common law, and they define the doctrine differently. To understand its proper scope of work product, we must know the basis of Hickman v. Taylor, whether it can coexist with codified rules, and what happens when they conflict. This Article takes the novel view that work product is …
Reshaping Third-Party Funding, Victoria Sahani
Reshaping Third-Party Funding, Victoria Sahani
Faculty Scholarship
Third-party funding is a controversial business arrangement whereby an outside entity—called a third-party funder—finances the legal representation of a party involved in litigation or arbitration or finances a law firm’s portfolio of cases in return for a profit. Attorney ethics regulations and other laws permit nonlawyers to become partial owners of law firms in the District of Columbia, England and Wales, Scotland, Australia, two provinces in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and other jurisdictions around the world. Recently, a U.S.-based third-party funder that is publicly traded in England started its own law firm in England. In addition, some U.S. …
Just And Speedy: On Civil Discovery Sanctions For Luddite Lawyers, Michael Thomas Murphy
Just And Speedy: On Civil Discovery Sanctions For Luddite Lawyers, Michael Thomas Murphy
All Faculty Scholarship
This article presents a theoretical model by which a judge could impose civil sanctions on an attorney - relying in part on Rule 1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure - for that attorney’s failure to utilize time- and expense-saving technology.
Rule 1 now charges all participants in the legal system to ensure the “just, speedy and inexpensive” resolution of disputes. In today’s litigation environment, a lawyer managing a case in discovery needs robust technological competence to meet that charge. However, the legal industry is slow to adopt technology, favoring “tried and true” methods over efficiency. This conflict is …