Law Commons^™

Interview With David L. Cohen, Miranda Solomon, David L. Cohen, Legal Oral History Project, University Of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Legal Oral History Project

For a transcript of this interview, click on the Download button above.

David L. Cohen (L '81) is the senior executive vice president of Comcast Corporation and chair of the University of Pennsylvania board of trustees. From 1992 to 1997 he served as chief of staff to Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, and from 1997 to 2002 he was chair of Ballard Spahr.

Megafirms, Randall S. Thomas, Stewart J. Schwab, Robert G. Hansen

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This Article documents and explains the amazing growth of the largest firms in law, accounting, and investment banking. Scholars to date have used various supply-side theories to explain this growth, and have generally examined only one industry at a time. This Article emphasizes a demand-side explanation of firm growth and shows how the explanation is similar for firms in all "project" industries. Legal regulation also plays an important role in determining industry structure. Among the areas covered in this Article are the growth of Multidisciplinary Practice firms (MDPs). MDP growth can best be understood by looking more broadly at the …

A Critique Of Burrow V. Arce, Charles Silver

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Volume 24, Issue 1 (Winter 2001)

Transcript

No abstract provided.

An Empirical Study Of Associate Satisfaction, Law Firm Culture, And The Effects Of Billable Hour Requirements - Part One, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

This article considers billing practices, the effects of hourly billing pressure, and firm culture as reflected in a survey of associates in Texas law firms. Part I of this article reports the empirical information from the survey. This information includes insight into the toll an increase in billable hour requirements has taken on legal practitioners and the consequent affect on the legal field. Part II discusses what the data means and how it might be used to improve the outlook for attracting and retaining good associates.

The President's Column, Jane Kent Gionfriddo

Jane Kent Gionfriddo

No abstract provided.

Interview With Morris M. Shuster, Todd J. Griset, Morris M. Shuster, Legal Oral History Project, University Of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Legal Oral History Project

For transcript, click the Download button above. For video index, click the link below.

After 35 years in private practice, Morris M. Shuster (L'56) began teaching clinical practice and dispute resolution at Penn Law School in 1991. He endowed a faculty chair in clinical practice at Penn Law (currently held by Douglas Frenkel) and a public interest fellowship program through the Philadelphia Bar Foundation. He died in 2012.

Interview With Kenneth W. Hansen, Megan Becher, Kenneth W. Hansen, Legal Oral History Project, University Of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Legal Oral History Project

For transcript, click the Download button above. For video index, click the link below.

Kenneth W. Hansen (L '83) practices in the areas of international transactions and US Department of Energy project financings. Before going into private practice he served as counsel to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and as general counsel to the Export-Import Bank of the United States. he has also taught economics and finance at a number of institutions.

Interview With Fernando Chang-Muy, Crystal Fu, Fernando Chang-Muy, Legal Oral History Project, University Of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Legal Oral History Project

For transcript, click the Download button above. For video index, click the link below.

Fernando Chang-Muy teaches and practices in the area of immigration and refugee law. He has been an adjunct professor at Penn Law since 1994. He has served as a legal officer for the UN High Commissioner on Refugees and the World Health Organization.

Interview With Douglas Frenkel, Megan Becher, Todd Griset, Rasheena Harris, Crystal Fu, Kathleen Craven, Miranda Salomon, Maryanne Small, Jay Rittberg, Douglas N. Frenkel, Legal Oral History Project, University Of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Legal Oral History Project

For transcript, click the Download button above.

Douglas Frenkel (L'72), Morris Shuster Practice Professor of Law at Penn, is the architect of Penn Law’s nationally renowned clinical program, having served as Director of the Gittis Center for Clinical Legal Studies from 1980 to 2008. He specializes in alternative dispute resolution generally and mediation in particular. He is the author of innovative teaching materials and videotapes in this field and frequently serves as a mediator in employment, commercial, educational and family matters. Frenkel’s other major area of expertise is legal ethics, having been a founding faculty member of the Law School’s …

Toward A Community Of Professionalism, Elliot L. Bien

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

Professionalism amongst American litigators has declined. Many jurisdictions have adopted codes of conduct in order to restore professionalism. These attempts have done little to restore professionalism. Similar adversarial systems, like England's, are admired for their professionalism. What creates this value amongst barristers is a sense of community. A similar practice should be adopted in the United States in order to restore a sense of professionalism in litigation.

Preface, Rodney K. Smith

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

The Solicitor General of the United States is "the Appellate Lawyer's Lawyer." The Solicitor General is the leading appellate advocate before the Supreme Court. The Solicitor General participates in 75% of oral arguments in the Court and represents no one but the United States. This special section is a tribute to this valued position.

In The Shadow Of Daniel Webster: Arguing Appeals In The Twenty-First Century, Seth P. Waxman

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

The Solicitor General is often asked to give advice on oral advocacy. Seth P. Waxman has been reluctant to give such advice. Asking an advocate for advice about oral advocacy instead of a judge is like asking a fisherman for advice about catching fish if fish could speak. Waxman begins with a look at the life of acclaimed advocate, Daniel Webster, before giving his long reserved advice.

A Tribute To Harry Pratter, George P. Smith Ii

Harry Pratter (1976-1977 Acting)

No abstract provided.

Nonlegal Regulation Of The Legal Profession: Social Norms In Professional Communities, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

What should be done about lawyers who persist in violating ethical norms that are not embodied in positive disciplinary rules? That question has been a recurrent theme in recent legal ethics scholarship. One response has been to propose, experiment, amend, tinker, draft, comment, and redraft, in an attempt to codify the standard of conduct observed to be flouted widely by the practicing bar. Bar associations and courts are seemingly engaged in a never-ending process of promulgating new codes of professional conduct or rules of procedure under which lawyers may be sanctioned for such conduct as bringing frivolous lawsuits, abusing the …

Lawyer Crimes: Beyond The Law?, Charles W. Wolfram

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Fall 2001

Transcript

No abstract provided.

Introduction: The Impact Of Science On Legal Decisions—What Can Social Science Tell The Courts And Lawyers?, Theresa M. Beiner

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Gatekeeping Stress: The Science And Admissibility Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Edgar Garcia-Rill, Erica Beecher-Monas

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

How Prospect Theory Can Improve Legal Counseling, John M.A. Dipippa

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Billable Hours And Ordinary Time: A Theological Critique Of The Instrumentalization Of Time In Professional Life, M. Cathleen Kaveny

Boston College Law School Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Why You Should Use A Course Web Page, E. Joan Blum

Boston College Law School Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Volume 25, Issue 2 (Fall 2001)

Transcript

No abstract provided.

Attorney Fact-Finding, Ethical Decision-Making And The Methodology Of Law, Robert Rubinson

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores the significance, challenges, and complexities of attorney fact-finding in ethical decision-making. Almost all discourse about legal ethics, from the pedagogical to the scholarly to the practical, takes facts for granted in order to focus on issues about ethical rules. The factual dimension of ethical decision-making, however, is critical to the decision-making process and can be subjected to rigorous and systematic study. Indeed, it is lawyers in a situation who engage in ethical decision-making, and such a situation entails the assimilation and interpretation of many sources of information. Such a process necessarily includes the motivations and ambivalence of …

Courtroom Bias: Gender Discrimination Against Pregnant Litigators, Sandy Mastro

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Clark Memorandum: Fall 2001, J. Reuben Clark Law Society, J. Reuben Clark Law School

The Clark Memorandum

• The Doctrine of Religious Freedom (W. Cole Durham)
• Practicing Law with the Attributes of Jesus Christ (Elder Earl C. Tingey)
• Civic Virtue (Seth P. Waxman)
• Filling Scott Cameron's Shoes

Multi-Disciplinary Professional Practices: A Consumer Welfare Perspective, Michael Trebilcock, Lila Csorgo

Dalhousie Law Journal

Multi-disciplinary professional practices (MDPs) involving lawyers, accountants and otherprofessionals, have been the subject of considerable industrystudyand controversy in Canada and abroad. In this article, the authors evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of MDPs strictly from a consumer welfare perspective. They argue that, although MDP critics' concerns surrounding such issues as solicitor-client privilege, independence, conflicts of interest, and unauthorized practice are valid, they are often overstated and are, in many cases, encountered even today by professionals outside the MDP context. The advantages to consumers of permitting the evolution of such practices would, in any event, significantly outweigh such disadvantages. The authors'analysis …

Rethinking The Discharge Of Pre-Petition Attorney Fees In Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: A Debtor Oriented Perspective, James L. Neher

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

The courts are split over a provision of the Bankruptcy Code,' in which the majority courts hold that upon the filing of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, 2 unpaid attorney fees, for pre-petition work in connection with preparing and filing bankruptcy, are discharged. In contrast, the minority view holds that attorney fees in connection with preparing and filing a bankruptcy are not dischargeable whether prepaid or not, as long as they are not excessive.4 The problem with the majority view is that indigent debtors may be deprived of access to legal counsel unless they can pay all or most of their …

When Lawyers Break The Law: How The District Of Columbia Court Of Appeals Disciplines Members Of The Bar Who Commit Crimes, Larry Cunningham

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Multidisciplinary Practices: Must A Change To Model Rule 5.4 Apply To All Law Firms Uniformly?, Marc N. Biamonte

Boston College Law Review

At the American Bar Association 2000 annual meeting, delegates voted to reinforce Model Rule 5.4, prohibiting fee sharing and partnership between lawyers and non-lawyers in arrangements known as multidisciplinary practices. Nevertheless, the topic continues to be controversial, primarily because the Big Five accounting firms are hiring an increasing number of lawyers and expanding into services that many argue constitute the practice of law. This Note asserts that applying Rule 5.4 uniformly to law firms of all sizes is not in the best interest of the small firms and solo practitioners that comprise the majority of the legal profession; such firms …