Law Commons^™

Final Status For Kosovo (Symposium Editor), Henry H. Perritt Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Nonprofit Interjurisdictionality, Norman I. Silber

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The federal system of "dual sovereignties" guarantees that most American legal regimes tolerate jurisdictional overlap between the enforcement authority of federal and state agencies. This Article explores interjurisdictional overlap in the context of nonprofit legal supervision. Notwithstanding the common assumption that "states police mission while the IRS polices money," it is suggested here that the overlap has become much broader than generally has been supposed; that over a wide range of common misconduct among the preponderance of organizations in the nonprofit sector, either the Internal Revenue Service or state authorities could, if they wanted to and in no particular order, …

Charitable Accountability And Reform In Nineteenth-Century England: The Case Of The Charity Commission, James J. Fishman

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Fraudulent behavior by charitable fiduciaries brings universal condemnation. However, disapprobation by itself never has translated into an efficient system for the accountability of charitable assets. This Article examines the nineteenth-century struggle to form a charity commission to oversee English charitable endowments and the ultimately disappointing result. Administrative reform can have an interminable germination as the creation of the Charity Commission demonstrates. Even though the need for reform of charitable trust administration was long recognized and a consensus reached on the structure of the oversight body though not its scope, the resulting agency came under almost immediate criticism and was disliked, …

Erisa Section 404(C) And Investment Advice: What Is An Employer Or Plan Sponsor To Do?, Stefanie Kastrinsky

Chicago-Kent Law Review

When Enron collapsed, many of its employees were not only out of a job, but those who had invested a portion of their retirement savings in Enron stock watched those funds dissipate. This unfortunate event engendered a renewed interest in ERISA section 404(c). Under ERISA section 404(c), as long as employee-participants are in control of their 401(k) investment decisions, and the plan sponsor is prudent in selecting fund options, the plan sponsor bears no responsibility for investment losses incurred in participants' accounts. Although studies show that many people cannot make truly educated investment choices, plan sponsors currently cannot offer investment …

The Most Important 21st Century Intellectual Property Issue, Scott A. Turk

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

The Wto's Dispute Resolution Mechanism: Does The United States Take It Seriously? A Trips Analysis, Alain J. Lapter

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Inherent Anticipation In Biotechnology Patents In Light Of In Re Cruciferous Sprout Litigation And Elan Pharmaceuticals, Brian Orr

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Still A Ball Of Confusion: Kp Permanent Make-Up, Inc. V. Lasting Impression I, Inc., Nikki Pope

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Sharing In The Groove: Ninth Circuit Allows Peer-To-Peer Networks To Continue File-Sharing Mgm Studios, Inc. V. Grokster, Ltd., 380 F.3d 1154 (9th Cir. 2004), Todd C. Chapman

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Allocation Of Jurisdiction On Patent Disputes In The Models Developed By The Hague Conference In Private International Law: Asymmetric Countries And The Relationship Of Private Parties, Mariano Municoy

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents - Issue 2, Chicago-Kent Law Review

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

There Ought To Be A Law: The Disclosure Focus Of Recent Legislative Proposals For Nonprofit Reform, Dana Brakman Reiser

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This Article explores and evaluates the disclosure focus of recent legislative proposals for nonprofit reform. It begins by describing legislative proposals under consideration in various states and the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. This summary demonstrates the emphasis these proposals place on disclosure as a technique for enhancing nonprofit accountability. The Article then evaluates the ability of such disclosure mechanisms to achieve nonprofit accountability gains by improving the behavior of nonprofit actors, facilitating nonprofit enforcement by regulators or others, or both. Unfortunately, due to the structure and characteristics of nonprofit organizations and the resources available for nonprofit enforcement, this analysis reveals …

Vol. 22, No. 2, Robin Potter

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Contents:

Overtime Wages and the Suffer or Permit to Work Standard under the Fair Labor Standards Act, by Robin Potter

Recent Developments

Further References, compiled by Yoo-Seong Song

Introduction, Dana Brakman Reiser, Evelyn Brody

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Charity Governance: What's Trust Law Got To Do With It?, Evelyn Brody

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The traditionally distinct regimes for governing charitable trusts and nonprofit corporations have been conforming. At the same time, by continuing to make distinctions based on organizational form rather than structure and operations, we might be asking the wrong questions. To what extent do trusts and corporations have irreducible legal differences? Key issues that initially appear unique to trust law on closer inspection turn out to apply to some or all corporate charities—and corporate doctrine might be more appropriate for charitable trusts having a broad governing board, In the end, the distinction between "trust law" and "corporate law" might make less …

Let Charitable Directors Direct: Why Trust Law Should Not Curb Board Discretion Over A Charitable Corporation's Mission And Unrestricted Assets, Robert A. Katz

Chicago-Kent Law Review

What are the legal limits on a charity's ability to change its mission and redirect donations to new purposes? The answer often turns on the charity's legal form, whose essential elements are encapsulated in a few nonmandatory default rules. Absent extraordinary circumstances, a charitable trust's controllers (a.k.a. "trustees") may not deviate from the specific charitable purposes selected by the trust's creator (a.k.a. the "settlor"), unless the settlor expressly expanded the trustees' discretion. By contrast, a nonprofit corporation's controllers (a.k.a. its "board of directors") are typically free to change the charitable purpose and redeploy donations, unless the corporate charter or a …

The Guardians Guarding Themselves: A Comparative Perspective On Nonprofit Self-Regulation, Mark Sidel

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This Article explores regulation of the nonprofit sector by the sector itself—what we generally call "self-regulation." This is an increasingly important topic as federal and state legislators and executive branch officials, as well as the press and investigative organizations, call for stricter scrutiny and oversight of the American nonprofit sector in the wake of a host of scandals and glaring failures—and as the nonprofit sector and reasonable regulators seek to balance the role of government regulation with appropriate efforts by the sector to police itself. The Article discusses several detailed models for nonprofit self-regulation in Asia, as well as issues …

Knowledge Work: New Metaphors For The New Economy, Catherine L. Fisk

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Metaphor and narrative have played a crucial role in shaping perceptions of the nature of employment relations. Lawyers, judges, and firms have long been "narrative entrepreneurs," deploying metaphor and story strategically to shape the legal culture of work. When AT&T cut 40,000 jobs in one year, its Vice President of Human Resources said from then on all workers should regard themselves as "self-employed . . . vendors who come to this company to sell their skills." The metaphor suggested that all formerly career employees were now "contingent" in the sense that they suddenly had the same employment contract as day …

The Quest For A Lactating Male: Biology, Gender, And Discrimination, Maureen E. Eldredge

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This paper analyzes employment discrimination faced by women due to unique biological characteristics, such as breastfeeding, contraception, and infertility. The paper discusses protection from discrimination provided by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, gaps in that protection, and provides suggestions for ways to improve equal opportunity in the workplace.

The Bench Trial: A More Beneficial Alternative To Arbitration Of Title Vii Claims, Dianne Larocca

Chicago-Kent Law Review

An increasing percentage of the workforce in the United States is covered by pre-dispute mandatory arbitration agreements through which employees waive their right to bring suit under Title VII. Although these agreements are an important avenue for the resolution of disputes between employers and employees, these agreements have proved unsatisfactory. In this Article, I describe the advantages and disadvantages of arbitration agreements for employers and employees. I then explore whether pre-dispute mandatory arbitration agreements through which employees waive their right to a jury trial and agree to a bench trial of their Title VII claims are a more beneficial alternative. …

An End To Empty Distinctions: Fee Shifting, The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, And Doe V. Boston Public Schools, Michael Giuseppe Congiu

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The long-standing "American Rule" precludes courts from awarding attorneys' fees absent statutory authorization. Courts are also restrained by the Supreme Court's determination that in order to "prevail" under a statute permitting a fee award, a party must obtain some measure of judicially sanctioned relief. This Comment examines the various distinctions that courts have made between judicial and non-judicial relief, and argues that in the context of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"), the distinction between privately settling plaintiffs and those obtaining court-ordered relief lacks legitimacy. The IDEA was drafted with the purpose of ensuring appropriate educational placement for special-needs …

Context Is In The Eye Of The Beholder: Establishment Clause Violations And The More-Than-Reasonable Person, Kirsten K. Wendela

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Establishment Clause prohibits any law "respecting an establishment of religion." One example of a potential Establishment Clause violation is a display of the Ten Commandments on governmental property. The Supreme Court is on the brink of deciding whether such a display violates the Establishment Clause, and one important question to ask when making this determination is whether a reasonable observer would view a Ten Commandments display as a governmental endorsement of religion. The answer to this question will change based on the definition of the reasonable observer.

In Freethought Society v. Chester County, the Third Circuit Court of …

New Charity Regulation Proposals For England And Wales: Overdue Or Overdone?, Debra Morris

Chicago-Kent Law Review

One of the most important aspects of modern governance of any organisation, whether a charity, a commercial entity or a governmental department is the emphasis on greater openness and accountability. This is partly a response to a breakdown of trust in government processes, which is evident, for example, in the intense media scrutiny of the decision to go to war with Iraq. It is also a response to the breakdown in trust in commercial governance and professional self-regulation, as demonstrated, for example, by the collapses of Enron in the USA and what might yet be regarded as its European counterpart, …

What's That Mean? A Proposed Claim Construction Methodology For Phillips V. Awh Corp., Jessica C. Kaiser

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Federal Circuit has granted en banc review in Phillips v. AWH Corp. to decide the appropriate methodology for patent claim construction. This Note examines the different approaches taken by Federal Circuit panels for claim construction: the intrinsic/extrinsic dichotomy, holistic approach, and the "dictionary first" approach. This Note tests these approaches against the policies underlying patent law and concludes that both the holistic approach and the "dictionary first" approach fail to adequately further these policies.

Instead, this Note proposes a modified intrinsic/extrinsic dichotomy. The proposed approach for claim construction looks first to the intrinsic evidence. If the meaning of the …

Trips: Protecting The Rights Of Patent Holders And Addressing Public Health Issues In Developing Countries, Anthony P. Valach Jr.

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Comment On "Patent Grant Rates At The United States Patent And Trademark Office", Lawrence B. Ebert

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Mod, Man, And Law: A Reexamination Of The Law Of Computer Game Modifications, Zvi Rosen

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Implied Professional Obligation Of Confidentiality Sufficient To Overcome Public Use Defense To A Claim Of Patent Infringement? Bernhardt V. Collezione--The Federal Circuit Court Of Appeals' Surprising Recent Announcement On The Public Use Bar, Nancy S. Paik

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Charity Governance: What’S Trust Law Got To Do With It? (Symposium), Evelyn Brody

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Symposium, Who Guards The Guardians?: Monitoring And Enforcement Of Charity Governance (With D. Reiser), Evelyn Brody

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.