Law Commons^™

Crafting An Advocate For A Child: In Support Of Legislation Redefining The Role Of The Guardian Ad Litem In Michigan Child Abuse And Neglect Cases, Albert E. Hartmann

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Michigan's current statutory system leaves the role of the child's attorney unclear. In this Note, Hartmann advocates the adoption of a legislative proposal that will redefine the role of the child's attorney. The proposal specifies that the child's primary legal representative should be a guardian ad litem who will represent the best interests of the child. Hartmann begins by describing the current system and then analyzes how the proposal will modify the role of the child's attorney. Hartmann argues that the proposed changes would be highly beneficial and identifies specific points of improvement. Hartmann concludes by suggesting several reforms to …

Beyond "Sellouts" And "Race Cards": Black Attorneys And The Straitjacket Of Legal Practice, Margaret M. Russell

Michigan Law Review

For attorneys of color, the concept of "representing race" within the context of everyday legal practice is neither new nor voluntarily learned; at a basic level, it is what we do whenever we enter a courtroom or conference room in the predominantly white legal system of this country.

Straightjacketing Professionalism: A Comment On Russell, David B. Wilkins

Michigan Law Review

Professor Russell's essay sounds a much needed cautionary note about the public's characterization of Christopher Darden and Johnnie Cochran both during and after the spectacle of O.J. Simpson's criminal trial. Russell cogently argues that Darden and Cochran's choices, as well as those of other black lawyers confronting similar problems, must be evaluated against the backdrop of racism that devalues and constrains the lives of African Americans in general and African-American lawyers in particular. Black lawyers, Russell insists, not only face "glass ceilings" inhibiting their advancement, but must also live inside "glass bubble[s] ... that severely circumscribe[ ] the flexibility and …

Representing Race Outside Of Explicitly Racialized Contexts, Naomi R. Cahn

Michigan Law Review

Welfare "as we know it" ended in 1996, a victim of a conservatism that views welfare recipients as lazy and immoral. One aspect of welfare that is, however, unlikely to experience radical change is child support. More vigorous child support enforcement has become an increasingly important component of federal welfare reform bills over the past two decades because of the twin hopes of fiscal and parental responsibility: first, that child support will reimburse welfare costs, and second, that fathers will take more responsibility for their children. Child support programs within the welfare system perpetuate a negative perception of poor people. …

The Underrepresentation Of Minorities In The Legal Profession: A Critical Race Theorist's Perspective, Alex M. Johnson Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Over the last four years, I have taught a course in Critical Race Theory at the University of Virginia School of Law three times. Although each course is different, given the interplay between the teacher and the students and the integration of new developments into the course, there has been one constant subject that the students and I address: Of what import is the development of Critical Race Theory for the legal profession and larger society? Can Critical Race Theory have a positive or any effect for those outside legal academia? This article represents an attempt to explore that question …

Rodrigo's Thirteenth Chronicle: Legal Formalism And Law's Discontents, Richard Delgado

Michigan Law Review

Professor! You're back! Rodrigo leaped to his feet and shook my hand fervently. "I heard a rumor you might be coming. What good news! Sit down. Did the authorities give you any trouble?"

Going To Trial: A Rare Throw Of The Die, Samuel R. Gross, Kent D. Syverud

Law Quadrangle (formerly Law Quad Notes)

Few of the suits that are filed continue to trial, but some plaintiffs and defendants find their interests served best by going to trial.

This essay is adapted from "Don’t Try: Civil Jury Verdicts in a System Geared to Settlement," appearing in 44 UCLA Law Review 1 (1996). Publication is by permission. A complete, fully cited version is available from the editor of Law Quadrangle Notes.

If it is true, as we often hear, that we are one of the most litigious societies on earth, it is because of our propensity to sue, not our affinity for trials. …

Eye On The World, Jose E. Alvarez, Virginia A. Gordon

Law Quadrangle (formerly Law Quad Notes)

In a special section coinciding with the International Reunion of Law School graduates, Law School graduates who are deeply involved in the globalization of legal practice respond to the question, "If you could leap ahead 10 years, how do you think what you are doing now will change?" And in a thought-provoking prologue, Professor of Law Jose Alvarez and Assistant Dean for International Programs Virginia A. Gordan consider the historical - and historic - impact of Law School graduates from overseas on the legal profession.

A New Nuremberg?, Jose E. Alvarez

Law Quadrangle (formerly Law Quad Notes)

The following essay is based on presentations given recently at the University of Michigan, Harvard Law School and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. While most citations have been removed for publication here, the author gratefully acknowledges the work of Mark Osiel, whose article, "Ever Again: Legal Remembrance of Administrative Massacre," 144 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 463 (1995), inspired much of the analysis here

On May 25, 1993, acting under the same powers it had used to authorize the Gulf War, the United Nations Security Council established the first international war crimes tribunal since post World War II …

25 Divorce Attorneys And 40 Clients In Two Not So Big But Not So Small Cities In Massachusetts And California: An Appreciation, David L. Chambers

Reviews

Jane is meeting with her lawyer Peter. She has been complaining bitterly about a restraining order obtained ex parte by the lawyer for her husband Norb. The order bars her from entering the home that she still owns jointly with Norb and that Norb has continued to live in. She moved out voluntarily, as a gesture of good will, a short while before only to have her husband's lawyer run to court and secure the order she abhors. Readers first met Jane back in 1986 when Austin Sarat and William Felstiner published the first article growing out of their massive …

An Interdisciplinary Seminar In Child Abuse And Neglect With A Focus On Child Protection Practice, Suellyn Scarnecchia

Articles

Given the myriad of professionals involved in protecting children from abuse and neglect, legal practice in the field of child protection requires an understanding of the various disciplines these professionals represent. Professor Scarnecchia argues that such an understanding is necessary in order for the attorney to serve as a zealous advocate for her client. In hopes of creating this understanding in students at the University of Michigan, an interdisciplinary seminar in child abuse and neglect has been created. Professor Scarnecchia details the substantive content of the seminar, discussing specific issues that arise in protecting children. She explains that by using …

Does Time Make Ancient Good Uncouth?, John W. Reed

Other Publications

The somewhat arch title of my remarks, which I'll explain later, came to me at the end of December, when all forms of the media were filled with references to the fast approaching turn of the calendar when we shall greet a twenty-first century and a third millennium. Whether it comes in with the year 2000, as popularly believed, or, more properly, the year 2001, it will be a time for reflection, for taking stock of ourselves and our world. Predictably, we already are inundated with pronouncements from pundits and politicians, from scientists and seers, from philosophers and fools. I …

Moving Ground, Breaking Traditions: Tasha's Chronicle, Angela I. Onwuachi-Willig

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Note uses a fictional dialogue to analyze and engage issues concerning stereotypes, stigmas, and affirmative action. It also highlights the importance of role models for students of color and the disparate hiring practices of law firms and legal employers through the conversations and thoughts of its main character, Tasha Crenshaw.