Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 13 of 13
Full-Text Articles in Law
Finding A Suitable Lawyer: Why Consumers Can't Always Get What They Want And What The Legal Profession Should Do About It, Linda Morton
Finding A Suitable Lawyer: Why Consumers Can't Always Get What They Want And What The Legal Profession Should Do About It, Linda Morton
Linda H Morton
This article criticizes the inadequacy of information available to consumers seeking an attorney compatible with their needs. The article describes why such inadequacy exists – in part because the legal profession distribute information to consumers through the narrow lens of attorney self-regulation rather than through the broader lens of consumer need. Yet, in striving to maintain their autonomy, lawyers have only perpetuated the enormous gap between information the public would like to have and that which they actually receive. The article explores sources of information consumers have access to, why such sources are so limited, and finally, how the problem …
Commercial Arbitration And Settlement: Empirical Insights Into The Roles Arbitrators Play, Thomas Stipanowich, Zachary Ulrich
Commercial Arbitration And Settlement: Empirical Insights Into The Roles Arbitrators Play, Thomas Stipanowich, Zachary Ulrich
Thomas J. Stipanowich
A wide-ranging new Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution Survey of experienced arbitrators, conducted with the cooperation of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, reflects the growing professionalization of commercial arbitration, increasing competition for cases, and many other trends in arbitration practice. It also shows that a grower percentage of arbitrated cases are being settled prior to award or to the start of hearings, and offers a strong rationale for greater emphasis on the role of arbitrators in setting the stage for or facilitating settlement. Early settlement of a dispute can be a uniquely effective way of minimizing cost and cycle time …
Lawyering In The Lion's Mouth: The Story Of S.D. Redmond And Pruitt V. State, Mary Ellen Maatman
Lawyering In The Lion's Mouth: The Story Of S.D. Redmond And Pruitt V. State, Mary Ellen Maatman
Mary Ellen Maatman
Lawyering in the Lion’s Mouth: The Story of S.D. Redmond and Pruitt v. State unearths a forgotten case with facts worthy of a William Faulkner novel. Set in rural Mississippi, the case involved alleged interracial adultery and infanticide. Luella Williamson, a white woman who killed her baby, told authorities that an African American man named Ervin Pruitt was the child’s father, and claimed he told her to kill the child for fear he would be lynched. She pled guilty to murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Her alleged lover, who denied both the relationship and any involvement in the …
The Preclusion Of Nonlawyer Ownership Of Law Firms: Protecting The Interest Of Clients Or Protecting The Interest Of Lawyers?, Louise Hill
Louise L Hill
For the third time in as many decades, lawyers in the United States have sullied the notion of nonlawyer ownership of law firms. The most recent examination of alternative law practice structures was undertaken by Ethics 20/20, a Commission created by the American Bar Association [ABA] to conduct a plenary assessment of the ABA Rules of Professional Conduct and related ABA policies. A Working Group was formed which considered whether clients could be better served if law practice entities were restructured. To this end, issues were formulated and different law practice configurations were proposed, about which the public and members …
In Defense Of The Business Of Law, Judith Mcmorrow
In Defense Of The Business Of Law, Judith Mcmorrow
Judith A. McMorrow
This article focuses on three current professionalism challenges in the U.S. legal profession: (i) the problem of neglect, poor client communication, and poor management of client funds; (ii) the need to improve the ethical infrastructures in practice settings to enhance both routine practice and ethical decision-making when lawyers confront ethical challenges; and (iii) the challenge of providing legal services to the poor and working class. For each, it turns out that improving adherence to core values requires not just training lawyers to internalize a model of professionalism, and a continuing commitment to self-regulation in some form, but also implementing improved …
Developing Professional Skills: Business Associations, Michelle Harner
Developing Professional Skills: Business Associations, Michelle Harner
Michelle M. Harner
Incorporating skills training into a traditional Business Associations course is challenging. This creative and original book provides ten independent exercises designed to develop student skills in legal drafting, client interviewing and counseling, negotiation, and advocacy. Each exercise is based on fundamental legal rules and doctrines so that the book can be used on its own or as a supplemental text with any doctrinal casebook. Students are required to spend a manageable one to two hours on such tasks as outlining discussion points for major meetings and negotiations, drafting advisory letters to clients, crafting a demand letter to a board of …
The Benefits Of Mindfulness For Litigators, Jan Jacobowitz
The Benefits Of Mindfulness For Litigators, Jan Jacobowitz
Jan L Jacobowitz
“I am calling for an all-out revolution.” These words reverberated through the federal district courthouse in Miami in the spring of 2012, but there was no one calling for security. In fact, it was eerily quiet in the conference room in which the call for revolution was sounded. How can that be? Well, the audience was a group of well-regarded litigation counsel and judges and the revolutionary leader a prominent federal district court judge. The revolution: Mindfulness in law as a vehicle for restoring civility, decreasing stress, and enhancing the fundamental fabric of the legal community.
Fidelity Diluted: Client Confidentiality Gives Way To The First Amendment & Social Media In Virginia State Bar, Ex Rel. Third District Committee V. Horace Frazier Hunter, Jan Jacobowitz, Kelly Jesson
Fidelity Diluted: Client Confidentiality Gives Way To The First Amendment & Social Media In Virginia State Bar, Ex Rel. Third District Committee V. Horace Frazier Hunter, Jan Jacobowitz, Kelly Jesson
Jan L Jacobowitz
Fidelity and confidentiality are hallmarks of the attorney-client relationship. However, as social media use permeates the legal profession, new challenges have arisen to the traditional interpretation of client confidentiality. The Virginia Supreme Court’s recent holding, which concludes that to deny attorney Horace Hunter the ability to blog about his clients’ cases without client consent, after the case concludes and based upon what is found in the public record, is to deny Hunter his First Amendment right of free speech has spurned controversy. The Hunter opinion arguably undermines the long standing legal ethics rule of confidentiality and strikes at the heart …
In Quest Of The Arbitration Trifecta, Or Closed Door Litigation?: The Delaware Arbitration Program, Thomas Stipanowich
In Quest Of The Arbitration Trifecta, Or Closed Door Litigation?: The Delaware Arbitration Program, Thomas Stipanowich
Thomas J. Stipanowich
The Delaware Arbitration Program established a procedure by which businesses can agree to have their disputes heard in an arbitration proceeding before a sitting judge of the state’s highly regarded Chancery Court. The Program arguably offers a veritable trifecta of procedural advantages for commercial parties, including expert adjudication, efficient case management and short cycle time and, above all, a proceeding cloaked in secrecy. It also may enhance the reputation of Delaware as the forum of choice for businesses. But the Program’s ambitious intermingling of public and private forums brings into play the longstanding tug-of-war between the traditional view of court …
Women Of Color In Law Teaching: Shared Identities, Different Experiences, Katherine Vaughns
Women Of Color In Law Teaching: Shared Identities, Different Experiences, Katherine Vaughns
Katherine L. Vaughns
No abstract provided.
A Methodology For Mentoring Writing In Law Practice: Using Textual Clues To Provide Effective And Efficient Feedback, Jane Gionfriddo, Daniel Barnett, E. Joan Blum
A Methodology For Mentoring Writing In Law Practice: Using Textual Clues To Provide Effective And Efficient Feedback, Jane Gionfriddo, Daniel Barnett, E. Joan Blum
Jane Kent Gionfriddo
Becoming a successful legal writer is a process that begins in law school and continues intensively during the beginning years of a lawyer's career. Throughout this process, in both contexts, a writer benefits enormously from feedback on his analysis, and how that analysis is conveyed, from those more experienced. Much has been written about how legal educators should respond to student written work, yet little addresses the role that supervising attorneys can play in mentoring the writing of less experienced colleagues. This article therefore proposes a methodology to help supervisor-mentors provide, in an efficient manner, effective feedback on junior lawyers' …
Thinking Like A Lawyer: The Heuristics Of Case Synthesis, Jane Gionfriddo
Thinking Like A Lawyer: The Heuristics Of Case Synthesis, Jane Gionfriddo
Jane Kent Gionfriddo
In a common law system where cases play such an important role in legal problem-solving, lawyers must be able to synthesize ideas from groups of cases to figure out a jurisdiction's law at a particular point in time; in reality, however, many lawyers aren't able to do so well enough for sophisticated law practice. Some lawyers understand and use this skill intuitively, but do not consciously think about the steps they actually take. Those in this group often do not sufficiently value case synthesis because it seems so obvious, with the result that they don't necessarily use this skill to …
Clarifying The Law On Post-Employment Covenants, E. Joan Blum
Clarifying The Law On Post-Employment Covenants, E. Joan Blum
E. Joan Blum
No abstract provided.