Law Commons^™

Bridging The Paradigmatic Crevasse Between Lawyers And Scientists: The Need For New Institutional Models, Stanley P. Kowalski

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

The professions of science and law have traditionally been siloed paradigms, operating often in tandem with each other but rarely intersecting in the interdisciplinary pasture which separates them, a pasture from which an abundance of synergistic collaboration and ensuing creative concepts might sprout. However, the erstwhile never the twain shall meet situation is neither realistic nor even tenable in the current century, a century increasingly dominated by science, technology, invention, innovation, and intellectual property. Simply put, whereas lawyers are risk averse and build constructed realities to argue points and serve clients, scientists seek an objective assessment of truth and accept …

Criminal Legal Reform In New Hampshire: One Law Professor's Activism, Albert E. Scherr

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

Criminal legal reform is a perpetual work in progress. The system itself is, at best, maddeningly imperfect. It too often fails to produce anything close to justice. Structural problems afflict the system in a way that incarcerates too many people, particularly people of color. For example, over the last thirty years, the Innocence Project has demonstrated imperfections in the system caused by faulty eyewitness identification procedures by ineffective assistance of counsel, by prosecutorial misconduct, by shoddy forensic practices and by police behavior that produced false confessions.

That the United States has well over fifty-one independent criminal legal systems frustrates efforts …

New And Useful Improvements: The Role Of Institutional Culture, Leadership, Incentives, And Regulation In 30 Years Of Legal Education Since The Maccrate Report, Greg Brandes

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

New and useful improvements – in the words of the patent statute – have emerged from legal education’s pursuit of seamlessly developing contributing members of the legal profession, as the 1992 MacCrate Report advocated. These include the widespread adoption of distance learning techniques for better teaching and assessment, course pedagogy that is more inclusive for students with diverse learning needs, and a new subset of the academy schooled and interested in the science of teaching and learning. But it has not been easy.

Efforts to improve legal education have sometimes foundered and other times flourished because of varying faculty and …

Risk Taking And Reform In Legal Education, Mariah E. Thomas Thurston

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

No abstract provided.

Major Reform With Minor Risk: Implementation Of Change Initiatives As A Learning Challenge, Sara J. Berman, Chance Meyer

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

The call for change in legal education has been loud and clear for more than a century. Despite some resistance among powerholders who benefit from status quo, faculty and administrators across the country work earnestly to solve problems, improve learning, and promote equity. Yet time and again, initiatives are logjammed, shot down as unworkable, misimplemented, or abandoned prematurely when they do not meet unrealistically high expectations for immediate, dramatic results. This article builds on the premises that (1) change is needed, (2) a wide range of sound change ideas for reform and progress are available, and (3) effective implementation of …

Boycotts, Race, Rankings, And Howard Law School's Peculiar Position, Michael Conklin

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

This Article seeks to explain the drastic, seventy-six spot ranking disparity that exists between Howard Law School’s overall ranking (based primarily on objective factors) and the purely subjective peer ranking. Potential explanations considered include location, law review quality, political ideological preference, use of promotional materials, notable alumni, professor quality, unwillingness to game the system, and random statistical noise. When all of these potential explanations come up short, Howard’s unique standing as the top HBCU law school is found to be the most likely explanation. This explanation is also consistent with the corresponding increase in racial salience and the increase in …

Language Models, Plagiarism, And Legal Writing, Michael L. Smith

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

Language models like ChatGPT are the talk of the town in legal circles. Despite some high-profile stories of fake ChatGPT-generated citations, many practitioners argue that language models are the way of the future. These models, they argue, promise an efficient source of first drafts and stock language. Others make similar claims about legal writing education, with a number of professors urging the acknowledgment of language models. Others go further and argue that students ought to learn to use these models to improve their writing and prepare for practice. I argue that those urging the incorporation of language models into legal …

Reimagining Legal Education: Insights From Unh Franklin Pierce's First 50 Years, Christopher S. Reed

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

Noted patent lawyer and MIT professor Dr. Robert Rines founded the Franklin Pierce Law Center in 1973 with the aim of training working professionals to practice patent law. The founding faculty comprised working patent lawyers from various fields, it offered the only patent practice course available at the time, and the curriculum overall emphasized practical skills over theory.

Today, half a century later, Dr. Rines’s vision not only endures, but flourishes.

In addition to becoming one of the world’s most celebrated intellectual property institutions, University of New Hampshire (UNH) Franklin Pierce School of Law∗ is the home of two pioneering …

Risk-Taking And Reform: Innovation For A Better Education, Megan M. Carpenter

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

No abstract provided.

Symposium Presenters, Editorial Board

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

Listing of symposium presenters and their institutional affiliation.

Is Pro Bono Practice In Legal “Backwaters” Beyond The Scope Of The Model Rules?, Barbara Graves-Poller

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "While many private sector attorneys offer pro bono legal services that reflect the same level of diligence and skill characteristic of the work done on behalf of their paying clients, the egregious failures described in the MC v. GC case and those that occur in many unreported matters highlight the dangers of pro bono initiatives designed to bridge the “access to justice gap.” As used here, the term “justice gap” refers to the chasm between the need for legal representation in civil disputes and public interest attorneys available to serve poor and working class clients. Justice gap pro bono …

Law Clerks Out Of Context, Parker B. Potter Jr.

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “In a previous article, I examined judicial opinions in cases in which law clerks have gone wild, principally by doing things that law clerks just aren‘t supposed to do, such as convening court, conducting independent factual investigations into matters before their judges, or leaking drafts of opinions to the press. Here, I focus on opinions in federal cases that discuss two other categories of unusual law-clerk activity, serving as a source of evidence, and going to court, as a litigant.

The article is informed by my ten years of experience as a trial court law clerk in the state …

Class Actions And The Poor, Henry Rose

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Imagine that you are a legal aid lawyer in America whose services are funded by the Federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC). You interview a prospective client and learn that she was recently laid off from her job; she applied for and was denied Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits by the state; and she is in a desperate financial situation. You accept the client’s case to determine whether she has a legal basis to challenge the denial of her UI claim. You research your client’s problem and form the opinion that the denial of her UI claim was based on a …

Franklin Pierce Law Center: Leading The Way In Legal Education For New Hampshire, John D. Hutson

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "This issue of the Pierce Law Review is the first devoted entirely to the practice of law in New Hampshire. This venture is appropriate because the Franklin Pierce Law Center is the only law school in the State. We are truly New Hampshire’s law school. Our Trustees, faculty, staff, and students feel this responsibility profoundly. Pierce Law serves as both a state law school and a national and international school. While we send a greater percentage of our graduates out of state than any other law school in the country except one, our alumni comprise fully one-third of the …

The Difference Between Filing Lawsuits And Selling Widgets: The Lost Understanding That Some Attorneys’ Exercise Of State Power Is Subject To Appropriate Regulation, Paul Taylor

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "It is often argued that all attorneys practicing in the United States – regardless of the function they perform in the American justice system – are purely private actors working in a free market system. This article examines whether it is true that all attorneys in every instance should be equated, as a matter of public policy, with other private actors.

This article explores why not all attorneys function in a free market, and consequently their remuneration should not always remain unregulated. Attorneys who file lawsuits can, by simply filing a complaint at their unfettered discretion, immediately subject defendants …