Law Commons^™

The Online Criminal Trial As A Public Trial, Stephen Smith

Faculty Publications

There are two ways of favorably conceiving online trials in Sixth Amendment terms. One is that an online trial is a public trial, by its terms. The other is that an online trial may not be public, for Sixth Amendment purposes, but may nonetheless satisfy applicable constitutional demands for trials considered “closed.” This Essay proposes both: that an online trial is fundamentally “public” for Sixth Amendment purposes and, if it is not, it may still be a constitutional accommodation of the Sixth Amendment’s public trial guarantee, in appropriate circumstances.

The constitutionality of an online trial may be largely an idle …

Moby-Dick As Corporate Catastrophe: Law, Ethics, And Redemption, David Yosifon

Faculty Publications

Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick serves here as a vehicle through which to interrogate core features of American corporate law and excavate some of the deeper lessons about the human soul that lurk behind the pasteboard mask of the law’s black letter. The inquiry yields an illuminating vantage on the ethical consequences of corporate capital structure, the law of corporate purpose, the meaning of voluntarism, the ethical stakes of corporate fiduciary obligations, and the role of lawyers in preventing or facilitating corporate catastrophe. No prior familiarity with the novel or corporate law is required.

Diversity In Innovation Best Practices Guide, Laura Norris, Mary Fuller, Joy Peacock, Sydney Yazzolino

Faculty Publications

In 2020, the USPTO collaborated with the HTLI to propose a study designed to increase diversity in the patenting process, specifically targeted to in-house legal / IP department and their practices. The goal of the study was simple - harvesting the collective knowledge of nationwide IP professionals and producing an “insanely practical” guide to expand inventorship to a more diverse inventor population. By “diverse” we mean underrepresented or historically marginalized groups in the United States patent system. The term "diversity" can be interpreted differently in different countries. The HTLI research team collected this extensive list of over 90 best practice …

The Connecticut Second Chance​ ​Pardon​ ​Gap, Colleen Chien, Hithesh Bathala, Prajakta Pingale, Evan Hastings, Adam Osmond

Faculty Publications

Connecticut Law Chapter 961a Section 54-142a, Chapter 960a Sections 54-76o and 54-130a allows individuals whose criminal records meet certain conditions to apply for pardons of their past criminal convictions. Proposed Bill SB 403,2 Connecticut’s “Clean Slate” Act, likewise would provide for automatic erasure of the records of a subset of individuals who can apply for pardons. Ascertaining, then applying existing pardons law and proposed “Clean Slate” law to a sample of 309,827 criminal histories of individuals with Connecticut convictions records, and then extrapolating to the estimated population of 450K individuals in the state with convictions,3 we estimate the share and …

Comments To The National Strategy For Expanding American Innovation, Colleen Chien, Ernest Fok

Faculty Publications

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) sought input for its National Strategy for Expanding American Innovation to build a more demographically, geographically, and economically inclusive innovation ecosystem. Students in Professor Colleen Chien’s Patent Law course submitted 13 comments on how to make innovation more representative of the United States. This document contains 13 comments that draw heavily from personal and professional experience, and highlights the diversity in Santa Clara Law’s patent course. Here are excerpts:

• Erik Perez and Grant Wanderscheid, drawing from their own undergraduate and graduate experiences in science and engineering, recommend a “shift towards achievement …

The Aia At Ten - How Much Do The Pre-Aia Prior Art Rules Still Matter?, Colleen Chien, Janelle Barbier, Obie Reynolds

Faculty Publications

As the America Invents Act (AIA) turns 10, patent students across the
country may ask: if the law is already a decade old, why am I spending so much
time studying pre-AIA law? Though patents filed before the transition date will
remain in force up through March 2033, a good 10+ years away, teachers may also
be wondering which regime to emphasize and for how long the pre-AIA rules will
be considered fundamental rather than footnote material.

What’S In A Name? Strict Scrutiny And The Right To A Public Trial, Stephen Smith

Faculty Publications

The right to a public trial has only rarely been addressed by the Supreme Court, but in Waller v. Georgia, the Court set forth a test for determining when it is appropriate to close a courtroom to the public, despite the general public trial command. The language of the Waller test suggests great rigor. This essay proposes a reconsideration of the test for courtroom closures, rethinking whether traditional strict scrutiny thinking is appropriate in this constitutional and practical context. That said, this essay does not argue with Waller’s broad outlines. Courts making closure decisions should consider reasons and …