Law Commons^™

Financing The Next Silicon Valley, Darian M. Ibrahim

Darian M. Ibrahim

Silicon Valley’s success has led other regions to attempt their own high-tech transformations, yet most imitators have failed. Entrepreneurs may be in short supply in these “non-tech” regions, but some non-tech regions are home to high-quality entrepreneurs who relocate to Silicon Valley due to a lack of local financing for their start-ups. Non-tech regions must provide local finance to prevent entrepreneurial relocation and reap spillover benefits for their communities. This Article compares three possible sources of entrepreneurial finance—private venture capital, state-sponsored venture capital, and angel investor groups—and finds that angel groups have distinct advantages when it comes to funding innovation …

The Legal Roles Of Shareholders And Management In Modern Corporate Decisionmaking, Melvin Aron Eisenberg

Melvin A. Eisenberg

Discusses the legal roles of shareholders and management in modern corporate decisionmaking in California. Managerial conflicts of interest; Statutory models of decisionmaking; Voting and appraisal rights in corporate combinations and divisions.

Legal Deserts: A Multi-State Perspective On Rural Access To Justice, Lisa R. Pruitt , Amanda L. Kool, Lauren Sudeall Lucas, Michele Statz, Danielle M. Conway, Hannah Haksgaard

Lisa R Pruitt

Scaling "Local": The Implications Of Greenhouse Gas Regulation In San Bernardino County, Hari M. Osofsky

Hari Osofsky

This Essay analyzes local climate regulation in San Bernardino County as a window into the complexities of defining a local scale in an interconnected world. In so doing, it aims to contribute to the Symposium's broader dialogue about "Territory Without Boundaries" and the Panel's more specific discussion of "Urban Territory in a Global World." As a purely territorial matter, U.S. cities and counties differ substantially in their sizes, the quantity and physical characteristics of their land, the size and density of their populations, and the needs of their citizens. Structurally, these localities remain administrative subunits of states, but they also …

Duties Of Capital Trial Counsel Under The California “Death Penalty Reform And Savings Act Of 2016”, Robert M. Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

Evicted: The Socio-Legal Case For The Right To Housing, Lisa T. Alexander

Lisa T. Alexander

Matthew Desmond's Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City is a triumphant work that provides the missing socio-legal data needed to prove why America should recognize housing as a human right. Desmond's masterful study of the effect of evictions on Milwaukee's urban poor in the wake of the 2008 U.S. housing crisis humanizes the evicted, and their landlords, through rich and detailed ethnographies. His intimate portrayals teach Evicted's readers about the agonizingly difficult choices that low-income, unsubsidized tenants must make in the private rental market. Evicted also reveals the contradictions between "law on the books" and "law-in-action." Its most …

The Power Of A Presumption: California As A Laboratory For Unauthorized Immigrant Workers’ Rights, Kati L. Griffith

Kati Griffith

In recent years, California has served as the primary laboratory for policy experimentation related to unauthorized immigrant workers’ rights. No other state, to date, has advanced comparable policy initiatives that preserve state-provided workers’ rights regardless of immigration status. Through close examination of two open Supremacy Clause questions under California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the article illustrates that states can, as a constitutional matter, and should, as a policy matter, serve as laboratories for unauthorized immigrant worker rights. Exploring the outer boundaries of state action in this area is particularly compelling given the significant labor force participation of unauthorized immigrants in …

Conflict Of Laws: Foreign Law As Datum, Herma Hill Kay

Herma Hill Kay

Examines the contributions of California Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Traynor to the field of conflict of laws. Review of the case of the 'Estate of Perkins'; Case of 'Bernkrant v. Fowler'; View that Traynor's approach to a conflicts problem cannot be equalled by other judges.

Legal Planning For The Mentally Retarded: The California Experience, Herma Hill Kay, Louise J. Farnham, Beth Davis Karren, Jeanne Knakal

Herma Hill Kay

Focuses on the development of legal planning for the mentally retarded in California from 1960 to 1971. Role of two pioneering organizations on the study of mental health services and retardation; Theoretical basis for requiring court commitment as part of hospital admission process; Effect of legal implications of commitment on the retarded; Impact of legal aspects on parents' motivation for the retarded's care facilities; Creation of legal tool for coordinating services on a personal basis.

Introduction: Practical Reason And The Scholarship Of Philip P. Frickey, Daniel A. Farber

Daniel A Farber

The article profiles Philip P. Frickey, a former law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. It says that Frickey graduated from the University of Kansas in 1975 and from the University of Michigan Law School in 1978. It states that he practiced law in Washington, D.C. for a few years before joining the faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School, where he taught for seventeen years. It reveals that professor Frickey joined the Berkeley Law staff in 2000.

California Climate Law---Model Or Object Lesson?, Daniel A. Farber

Daniel A Farber

In the invitation to this Symposium on Reconceptualizing the Future of Environmental Law, the organizers explained that the Symposium “focuses on the continued expansion of environmental law into distinct areas of the law, requiring an increasingly multidisciplinary approach beyond that of traditional federal regulation.” In short, the question posed is about the future proliferation of environmental measures outside the previous domains of federal environmental statutes. At the risk of being guilty of local parochialism, I would like to discuss how the future described by the organizers has already arrived in California--both in the sense that a great deal is happening …

Color At Century's End: Race In Law, Policy, And Politics, Christopher Edley, Jr.

Christopher Edley

No abstract provided.

Water, Growth And The Endangered Species Act, Holly Doremus

Holly Doremus

24 pages.

Water, Growth And The Endangered Species Act, Holly Doremus

Holly Doremus

24 pages.

Water, Growth And The Endangered Species Act, Holly Doremus

Holly Doremus

24 pages.

California Egg Toss - The High Costs Of Avoiding Unenforceable Surrogacy Contracts, Jennifer Jackson

Jennifer Jackson

In an emotionally charged decision regarding surrogacy contracts, it is important to recognize the ramifications, costs, and policy. There are advantages to both “gestational carrier surrogacy” contracts and “traditional surrogacy” contracts. However, this paper focuses on the differences between these contracts using case law. Specifically, this paper will focus on the implications of California case law regarding surrogacy contracts. Cases such as Johnson v. Calvert and In Re Marriage of Moschetta provide a clear distinction between these contracts. This distinction will show that while gestational carrier surrogacy contracts are more expensive, public policy and court opinions will provide certainty and …

See The Mojave!, John C. Nagle

John Copeland Nagle

This article examines how the law is being asked to adjudicate disputed sights in the context of the Mojave Desert. The Mojave is the best known and most explored desert in the United States. For many people, though, the Mojave is missing from any list of America’s scenic wonders. The evolution in thinking about the Mojave’s aesthetics takes places in two acts. In the first act, covering the period from the nineteenth century to 1994, what began as a curious voice praising the desert’s scenery developed into a powerful movement that prompted Congress to enact the CDPA. The second act …

Cultivating A Green Political Landscape: Lessons For Climate Change Policy From The Defeat Of California's Proposition 23, Eric Biber

Eric Biber

The article discusses climate change policy and the political aspects of green technology in America in the wake of the defeat of the global warming-related ballot initiative California Proposition 23 in 2010. The political dynamics of climate change policy are addressed, along with American environmental law, federal climate change legislation, and the California Air Resources Board. The political campaign contributions from the Valero and Tesoro oil companies in Texas are examined.

Section 51 Actions Against Private Racial Profiling, Peter Zablotsky, Sa'id Vakili

Peter Zablotsky

No abstract provided.

Fish, Farms, And The Clash Of Cultures In The Klamath Basin, Holly Doremus, A. Dan Tarlock

Holly Doremus

No abstract provided.

Measure 37 And A Spoonful Of Kelo: A Recipe For Property Rights Activists At The Ballot Box, Patricia E. Salkin, Amy Lavine

Patricia E. Salkin

No abstract provided.

Can You Hear Me Up There? Giving Voice To Local Communities Imperative For Achieving Sustainability, Patricia E. Salkin

Patricia E. Salkin

Sustainable development is an international challenge that demands attention at all levels of government. The calls to action to achieve sustainability have varied over the last few decades. For example, in the 1970s and 1980s attention was focused on the need for environmental review and growth management strategies. In the 1990s the rhetoric shifted to smart growth and livable communities, and today, the issue has been reframed as advocates view sustainability through the lens of global warming and climate change. Regardless of the nomenclature, however, the end game is the same. While the United States as a whole speaks through …

Creating A Carbon Sequestration Right: A Legal Tool To Enhance The Use Of Forest-Based Carbon Offsets, Abigail Stecker

Abigail Stecker

A carbon sequestration right would support the use of forest-based offsets to facilitate the satisfaction of AB 32's emission reduction standards. Under AB 32, California will enter into a cap-and-trade market with other states and Canadian provinces through the Western Climate Initiative. The WCI market will include only forest-based offsets that are verifiable, real, additional, and permanent. Firms participating in the market will be more willing to purchase these offsets when they are assured that a secure legal tool supports the underlying carbon sequestration and storage.

A conscientiously drafted and implemented carbon sequestration right will provide adequate legal support for …

Fair Housing At 30: Where We Are, Where We Are Going, Tim Iglesias, Susan Saylor

Tim Iglesias

California has long been a leader in anti-discrimination law including in housing. Thirty years after the founding of the California Real Property Journal, this article asks: How effective have the fair housing laws been in achieving their twin goals of ending housing discrimination and promoting community integration? Much progress has been made during this time, but stubborn patterns of bias and segregation persist. At the same time, our laws have expanded to encompass more people and more situations, making the goalpost more distant and elusive. This article (1) describes at how fair housing laws have changed since the first issue …

A Health Care Autopsy, Marc Gans

Marc Gans

This paper analyzes each of the factors responsible for the rapid rise in health care spending in this country. This includes an in-depth analysis of prescription drug expenditures, which has been the fastest growing component of health care costs. Lastly, this paper will address whether there is anything particularly unique about health care spending in California.

First Amendment Protects Crude Protest Of Police Action, Martin A. Schwartz

Martin A. Schwartz

No abstract provided.

The Case Against The California Tribal Casino Compact Amendments, Peter Dreier

Peter Dreier

No abstract provided.

Rodney King And The Decriminalization Of Police Brutality In America: Direct And Judicial Access To The Grand Jury As Remedies For Victims Of Police Brutality When The Prosecutor Declines To Prosecute, Peter L. Davis

Peter L. Davis

This Article begins with the premise that, despite political rhetoric and occasional prosecutions to the contrary, police brutality has been effectively decriminalized in this country. The Article adopts the Rodney King case as the paradigm for examining this phenomenon. Scrutinizing the culture and semantics of police brutality, the author concludes that a double standard of criminality exists in the United States, under which different rules apply to a police than to everyone else. This double standard is socially dysfunctional. Particularly among minorities, it leads to a sense of cynicism about our legal system that can result in civil disorder when …

A New Public Interest Appellate Model: Public Counsel’S Court-Based Self-Help Clinic And Pro Bono “Triage” For Indigent Pro Se Civil Litigants On Appeal, Meehan Rasch

Meehan Rasch

A variety of new “pro se” or “pro bono” appellate programs have been sprouting up around the country in recent years. Courts, bar associations, and legal services and advocacy organizations are implementing these projects to grapple with the challenges raised by increasing numbers of pro se (self-represented) and indigent civil litigants in appellate courts. Judicial operational systems designed on the premise of adequately counseled parties are ill-prepared to handle an influx of self-represented litigants, posing frustrations for both pro se litigants and court personnel. The expansion of pro se litigation strains appellate court resources and staff, but because of the …

Starbucks Ruling Tips The Scales: Changing California Law To Allow Supervisory Employees Their Fair Share Of The Tips, Andrew Lee Younkins

Andrew L Younkins

In 2008, a San Diego trial court slapped Starbucks Corporation with a $100 million judgment for violation of California's tip-sharing laws. Shift supervisors, classified as “agents” of the employer by statute, could not share in tip jar proceeds, despite spending 95% of their time performing the same duties as ordinary Starbucks baristas. More recently, the Court of Appeal reversed the judgment, reasoning that tips placed in a tip jar are not personally given to or intended for baristas, and so are outside of the statute's reach. While strong evidence suggests Starbucks supervisors should be allowed a share of the tips, …