Law Commons^™

Smart Grid Technology: The Future Of The Electric Utility Industry, Michael W. Yackira

University of Richmond Law Review

Energy is leading many agendas these days, and, indeed, the energy landscape is changing-taking it a step further, it is actually transforming. This could be as big a transformation for the electric utility industry as the automated teller machine was for the banking industry and the cell phone was for telecommunications.

Energy Independence And Climate Change: The Economic And National Security Consequences Of Failing To Act, Mark E. Rosen

University of Richmond Law Review

This article draws heavily from the works of the CNA MAB, namely the twin and interrelated challenges arising from imprudent reliance on fossil fuels by developed and developing countries, as well as the serious environmental and national security"externalities" that directly result from current consumptive trends.

The Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Global Security, And Climate Change: Weighing The Costs And Benefits Of Nuclear Power Expansion, Christopher E. Paine

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Offshore Windfall: What Approval Of The United States' First Offshore Wind Project Means For The Offshore Wind Energy Industry, Michael P. Giordano

Law Student Publications

This comment explores the Cape Wind project with an emphasis on its role as the first United States offshore wind energy project. Part II of this comment explains the potential energy resource that offshore wind provides and examines some of the economic, technological, and regulatory challenges facing the development of offshore wind projects in United States waters. Part III of this comment introduces the Cape Wind project as a case study by briefly describing the particular political struggles and permitting challenges faced by its developers. Part IV of this comment analyzes how DOI approval and the eventual construction of Cape …

Issue 3: Table Of Contents

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Finding The Proper Forum For Regulation Of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Legal And Economic Implications Of Massachusetts V. Epa, George F. Allen, Marlo Lewis

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pining For Sustainability, Timothy M. Mulvaney

University of Richmond Law Review

In the legal academic community, there are significant positive signs demonstrating attention to sustainable practices, from course offerings to many day-to-day operations. Scholarly research also reflects this positive trend. Much of this recent scholarship assesses sustainability-focused regulatory and normative efforts to address the impacts associated with a warming planet in marked detail, and there is an additional plethora of writing on the many topics beyond the changing climate that raise sustainability questions.

Offshore Windfall: What Approval Of The United States' First Offshore Wind Project Means For The Offshore Wind Energy Industry, Michael P. Giordano

University of Richmond Law Review

This comment explores the Cape Wind project with an emphasis on its role as the first United States offshore wind energy project. Part II of this comment explains the potential energy resource that offshore wind provides and examines some of the economic, technological, and regulatory challenges facing the development of offshore wind projects in United States waters. Part III of this comment introduces the Cape Wind project as a case study by briefly describing the particular political struggles and permitting challenges faced by its developers. Part IV of this comment analyzes how DOI approval and the eventual construction of Cape …

When It Reins It Pours, Noah M. Sachs

Law Faculty Publications

Imagine if the board of a Fortune 500 company required the company’s vice presidents to obtain board approval before implementing any decision. Now imagine that the board is highly polarized and its members are at each other’s throats. A recipe for corporate gridlock, right?

Amazingly, House Speaker John Boehner, Senator Jim DeMint, and other prominent Republicans are embracing this dubious chain-of-command for the federal government. They are promoting a bill called the REINS Act (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny), which would stop any major regulation issued by any federal agency from taking effect until it receives approval …

Legal Education Prepares Students To Weather Tough Times, Tara L. Casey

Law Faculty Publications

The author discusses how law students are facing a daunting problem—a competitive job market in the midst of an economic recession. But because of the training they receive both inside and outside of the classroom, law students are uniquely poised to weather this storm.

Stretching The Dispute Settlement Understanding: U.S.—Cotton’S Relaxed Interpretation Of Cross-Retaliation In The World Trade Organization, David J. Townsend

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

In August 2009, the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) au-thorized Brazil to impose sanctions against the United States for its continued subsidization of cotton producers in violation of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (“SCM Agreement”) and the Agreement on Agriculture. The WTO approved Brazil’s use of sanctions outside the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (“GATT”), authorizing cross-retaliation against rights owed to the United States under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS”). This is the third case of cross- retaliation authorized by a WTO arbitrator under the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the …

Access Denied: Sexual Victimization Of Juveniles In Correctional Facilities - How Senate Bill 585 Could Have Helped, Jillian Malizio

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

The right to counsel is a fundamental right, one the framers of our Constitution intended to apply to all American citizens. Virginia statutes and case law have protected the rights of incarcerated adults and it is now time to grant those same protections to the juveniles in their custody. Part II of this comment will review the requirement of a prisoner's right to "meaningful access" to the courts from both an adult and juvenile's perspective. An examination of jurisprudence from the Supreme Court of the United States, and Circuit Courts, reveals the history and importance of "meaningful access" and shows …

The Business Of Punishing: Impediments To Accountability In The Private Corrections Industry, Stephen Raher

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

To understand the contemporary use of contractor-operated prisons, one must appreciate the political and economic developments which allowed privatization to enter the corrections industry. Accordingly, this article starts with a brief history of privatized corrections in the United States. The following section explores how the modem marketplace for private prisons has been shaped by two prominent dynamics-the emergence of a national market for prison beds and the massive expansion of the nation's immigrant detention system. The paper then considers the general implications of non-governmental prison operation, with a focus on how contractors have exploited their private status to the detriment …

Reforming 501(C)(3): Putting The Charity Back In The Charitable Deduction, Jennifer Mccrabb Black

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

This paper seeks to lay out a proposal to redefine what it takes to receive tax-deductible donations. Part H of this paper will summarize the current state of the law as it applies to the charitable contribution deduction and the qualification for tax exemption under the Internal Revenue Code. Part III discusses the Charities Act 2006, a recent British act aimed at attempting to redefine charity for England and Wales by requiring organizations to prove that they provide a public benefit before receiving the benefits of being a charity. Part IV proposes additions and changes to the Internal Revenue Code …

Plausible Screening: A Defense Of Twombly And Iqbal's Plausibility Pleading, Michelle Kallen

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

Part I of the article describes the vision of the 1938 reformers and the changes to the litigation landscape since. Part II describes the Twombly and Iqbal cases in relation to prior pleading standards. Part III builds on Twombly and Iqbal's language to set forth an account of plausibility pleadings that addresses the problems with today's system of litigation. Part IV describes some of the major critiques to plausibility pleading and explains why these critiques do not pose a threat to the account of plausibility pleading set forth in Part III.

Towards A New Lens Of Analysis: The History And Future Of Religious Exemptions To Child Neglect Statutes, Gregory Engle

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

In order to analyze the religious exemptions, this paper will begin with their history. Part II looks at the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974 (CAPTA) the statute that precipitated their spread, as well as the justifications that it was bolstered upon: Free Exercise of religion and parental rights. The Equal Protection critique follows as Part III, followed by Part IV that discusses the traditional critique, grounded in the Establishment Clause. In Part V, the article will finish with an explanation of why the Equal Protection critique is a much stronger criticism.

Enhancing The Wto Tool Kit: The Case For Financial Compensation, Rebecca Ullman

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Understanding 160 represents an intersection of domestic law and international law. The subject of Dispute Settlement Understanding 160 (“DSU 160”) is the Fairness in Music Licensing Act, an American legislative act that extended copyright protection terms and carved out significant exemptions for commercial establishments. The exemptions set forth in the Fairness in Music Licensing Act (“FMLA”) conflict with U.S. international intellectual property obligations such that one must question whether there should be new and different remedies available to assist parties in meeting their international obligation.

The Rule Of Law: Its History And Meaning In Common Law, Civil Law, And Latin American Judicial Systems, Nadia E. Nedzel

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

“Rule of law” is an expression both praised and ridiculed by adherents of opposite political philosophies, and it is a principle claimed as the lodestar for widely differing legal theories. As much as an ideality as an ideal, the words “rule of law” have served a wide range of purposes, stretching from political sloganeering to the protection of individual rights from the power of government.

Stakeholder Theory In Corporate Law: Has It Got What It Takes?, Andrew Keay

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

There has been much debate for many years regarding what should be the objective of the large public corporation. This issue is important for a number of reasons, not least of which is that the theory nominated will underpin corporate governance and dictate, to a large extent, the kind of corporate governance system that will exist. As far as the corporation’s objective is concerned, two theories have been dominant: the shareholder primacy theory and the stakeholder theory. The former is operative in what I will call “Anglo-American jurisdictions,” namely jurisdictions that model their law and practice on one or both …

Two Understandings Of Supremacy: An Essay, Vincent J. Samar

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

Does the supremacy provision of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution undermine the legal force of international law in the United States? Recently, there has been some debate on this issue arising out of the claim that if the U.S. Constitution is “the supreme law of the land,” and that only constitutional officers of the United States, in keeping with their responsibilities to uphold the Constitution, can decide what is international law for the U.S. Such debates are not new to the history of the world. For much of world history, national rulers have claimed that their legal authority derives …

It Takes Two To Tango, And To Mediate: Legal Cultural And Other Factors Influencing United States And Latin American Lawyers’ Resistance To Mediating Commercial Disputes, Don Peters

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

This article examines legal cultural and other factors influencing the resistance to mediating commercial disputes displayed by U.S. and Latin American lawyers. After surveying current contexts in which commercial mediation occurs in the United States and in Latin American countries and summarizing data regarding commercial ac- tors’ knowledge of the benefits of mediating, it analyzes the relatively infrequent use of mediation despite its potential advantages over adju- dicating. Focusing on lawyers, the article next explores factors that influence U.S. and Latin American lawyers when they converse with commercial clients about selecting dispute resolution methods. Analyzing similarities arising from universal decision-making …

Arbitrariness: Why The Most Important Idea In Administrative Law Can't Be Defined, And What This Means For The Law In General, R. George Wright

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Origin Of Citizen Genet’S Projected Attack On Spanish Louisiana: A Case Study In Girondin Politics, Jud Campbell

Law Faculty Publications

In 1792 the Girondin ministry decided to send Edmond Genet to the United States with plans to recruit western frontiersmen and invade Spanish Louisiana. The episode is well known in American history, but the literature on its French origin is sparse and overemphasizes the contribution of revolutionary leader Jacques- Pierre Brissot. This essay contextualizes the French decision within the debate between Brissot, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierre Lebrun, and General Charles-François Dumouriez over whether France should send troops against Spanish colonies in South America. The essay argues that Lebrun promoted the western scheme in order to attack Spanish interests without …

The Doctrinal Side Of Majority Will, Corinna Barrett Lain

Law Faculty Publications

What is the Supreme Court's relationship with public opinion? Barry Friedman's answer in The Will of the People scours some 200 years of history to provide a distinctly political view of the Court, and the story he tells is compelling. Yet it is also incomplete. The Will of the People presents a largely external account of the law; it sees the influence of majority will as a force that moves outside the jurisprudence we lawyers spend so much of our time researching, writing, and talking about. By this account, there is what the Justices say is driving their decisionmaking-legal …

Can Urban Solar Become A "Disruptive" Technology?: The Case For Solar Utilities, Joel B. Eisen

Law Faculty Publications

After examining the theory of disruptiveness and the inadequacy of current initiatives for renewables, I argue for a disruptive solution to solar. Achieving the kind of deployment that would be required to make a serious down payment on our climate obligations will take something far different than we have seen to date: companies devoted to national (or at least regional), large-scale installations of solar technology, and which are deeply capitalized and willing to take risks to bring solar to many homeowners. I will term these "solar utilities,'' and I propose that one or more of them should take over the …

Wills, Trusts And Estates (Annual Survey Of Virginia Law, 2009-2010), J. Rodney Johnson

Law Faculty Publications

The 2010 Session of the General Assembly enacted wills, trusts, and estates legislation (i) adopting the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, (ii) passing emergency legislation for the construction of tax-oriented wills and trusts of persons who die during 2010 with documents drafted prior thereto, (iii) revising the small-estate statutes, and (iv) clarifying the burial power of attorney. In addition, there were six other enactments, and seven opinions from the Supreme Court of Virginia during the one-year period ending June 1, 2010 that present issues of interest in this area. This article reports on all of these legislative and judicial developments, …

The Rebirth Of Copyright As An Opt-In System?, James Gibson

Law Faculty Publications

For most of the history of Anglo-American copyright law, copyright was an opt-in system: Authors had to jump through certain regulatory hoops if they wanted to prevent others from copying their works without consent. These threshold formalities included registering their works with a government agency, affixing a notice to published copies, depositing exemplars with a centralized library, and more. A failure to comply with the requirements usually meant a diminution in the authors’ copyright entitlement – and in some cases a wholesale forfeiture, under which the works would pass immediately into the public domain.

After some 200 years, however, U.S. …

Viacom V. Youtube: A Different View On The District Court Ruling, James Gibson

Law Faculty Publications

In an earlier essay in this series, Randy Picker discussed the recent copyright decision in Viacom v. YouTube, and in particular the court’s ruling that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s “safe harbor” for remote storage applies to YouTube’s online video service. I agree with Randy that the court’s interpretation of the DMCA is problematic, but I see a good argument that the outcome is correct and that the ruling should be affirmed on appeal.

Viacom v. YouTube is a hugely important case. It pits the world’s fourth-biggest media company against Internet behemoth Google, which purchased YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 …

Top 10 Law School Home Pages Of 2009, Roger V. Skalbeck

Law Faculty Publications

This brief ranking report attempts to identify the best law school home pages based entirely on objective criteria. The goal was to include elements that make websites easier to use for sighted as well as visually impaired users. Most elements require no special design skills, sophisticated technology or significant expenses

The Wild West Of Supreme Court Employment Discrimination Jurisprudence, Henry L. Chambers Jr.

Law Faculty Publications

This Essay considers three cases decided in the Supreme Court's 2008-2009 term and notes some of the major issues that are left open for discussion after these cases; its purpose is not to catalog every issue that these cases raise. Taken together, these cases challenge employment discrimination doctrine in a fundamental way. This provides the Fourth Circuit in particular the opportunity to continue doing what it has often done-think creatively about employment discrimination doctrine. This is an observation, not a criticism of the Fourth Circuit. It suggests that the Fourth Circuit can make a difference. Of course, the Fourth Circuit's …