Law Commons^™

Common Ground In The Sky: Extending The 1967 Outer Space Treaty To Reconcile U.S. And Chinese Security Interests, Alex B. Englehart

Washington International Law Journal

A storm is brewing 100 kilometers above the Pacific Rim. The early 21st century finds the People’s Republic of China in the throes of astronomical economic growth, national development, and military expansion. The United States, meanwhile, is staunchly determined to develop an effective missile defense system and to extend its military capabilities in space as it pursues its global war on terrorism. China sees U.S. military space activities as a threat and, along with Russia, has pushed hard in recent years for a ban on all space weapons. So far, the United States has been unwilling to negotiate on the …

The Human Rights Costs Of China's Arms Sales To Sudan—A Violation Of International Law On Two Fronts, Stephanie L. Kotecki

Washington International Law Journal

As an emerging world power, China has a crucial need for oil to meet its growing fuel consumption. It has invested heavily in Sudan, a country with extensive and productive oil reserves. However, this partnership has an ugly side. Sudanese militia groups, as well as government troops, have been committing gross human rights violations against residents of the Darfur region. Meanwhile, Chinese arms manufacturers have continued to export weapons and military equipment to Sudan, with the full knowledge of the Chinese government. Many of the weapons used to raid villages in Darfur were manufactured in China. International norms have evolved …

Thre Dreaded Bluebook, Mary Whisner

Librarians' Articles

The Bluebook is reviled by many as confusing, arcane, and nitpicky. And some of those who are stumped and intimidated by the Bluebook come to reference librarians asking for help. Thus we are presented with a wonderful opportunity to serve (while building our credibility and earning our patrons' thanks). But of course we must first get past our own Bluebook anxiety.

Litigating Labor Rights Across A Demilitarized Zone: The South Korean Constitutional Court As A Forum To Address Labor Violations In North Korea's Kaesong Special Economic Zone, Lavanga V. Wijekoon

Washington International Law Journal

South Korea heralds North Korea’s Kaesong Special Economic Zone as a shining example of inter-Korean cooperation. South Korean corporations at Kaesong combine South Korean expertise with North Korean labor. However, Kaesong operations violate the North Korean workers’ labor rights. This Comment explores the legal mechanisms available in South Korea to hold violative South Korean Kaesong corporations accountable. The South Korean Constitutional Court should entertain a constitutional petition from the North Korean workers. Such petition will compel the South Korean government to recognize the North Korean workers’ rights under the South Korean Constitution and hold violative South Korean corporations at Kaesong …

Disability, Equipment Barriers And Women’S Health: Using The Ada To Provide Meaningful Access, Elizabeth Pendo

Articles

It is well-known that people with disabilities face multiple barriers to adequate health care, including lower average incomes, disproportionate poverty, and issues with insurance coverage. This article focuses on a more fundamental barrier-one that has not been discussed in the legal literature-inaccessible medical equipment and its effect on the delivery of women's health care to millions of women with disabilities .

Acquiring Innovation, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine

Articles

In recent years, the innovation market has witnessed a new business model involving companies that are mere patent holding shells and not operating entities. They have no customers or products to offer, but they do have an aggressive tactic of using patent portfolios to threaten other operating companies with potential infringement litigation. The strategy is executed with the end goal of extracting handsome settlements. Acquisitions of patents for offensive use have become a major concern to operating companies because such acquisitions pose the threats of patent injunction, interrupting the business and crippling further innovation.

While many operating companies today know …

Ask, Don’T Tell: Ethical Issues Surrounding Undocumented Workers’ Status In Employment Litigation, Christine N. Cimini

Articles

The presence of an estimated 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, of which an estimated 7.2 million are working, has become a flashpoint in the emerging national debate about immigration. Given these statistics, it is not surprising that many undocumented workers suffer injuries in the workplace that are typically legally cognizable. Even though undocumented workers are entitled to a number of legal remedies related to their employment, seeking legal relief often raises heightened concerns about the disclosure of their status. This article explores lawyers' increasingly complex ethical obligations with regard to a client's immigration status in the context …

Macniven V. Westmoreland And Tax Advice Using “Purposive Textualism” To Deal With Tax Shelters And Promote Legitimate Tax Advice, Scott A. Schumacher

Articles

The last few years have seen a flurry of activity aimed at the tax shelter industry. Beginning with the “covered opinion” rules of Treasury Circular 230 in 2005, the government has adopted several changes to the standards applicable to tax advice, all in an effort stop abusive tax shelters. Most recently, both Congress (in 2007) and Treasury (in 2008) have revised the standards applicable to tax advice to require that a position have a “more likely than not” chance of succeeding on the merits, or the position must be disclosed to the IRS. While the government’s desire for reform is …

When Deterrence And Death Mitigation Fall Short: Fantasy And Fetishes As Gap-Fillers In Border Regulation, Mary D. Fan

Articles

Drawing on fieldwork and political theory with Lacanian psychoanalytic influences, this article analyzes how fantasy and fetishes help sustain strategies shown to be no solution to U.S. border control problems. More than a decade after the official launch of the border control paradigm of "prevention through deterrence," predicated on the assumption that ramping up walls, barriers, policing, and the human costs of border crossing would deter, there has been scant evidence of deterrence and much evidence of diversion of migrants to more dangerous crossing points where death rates have soared. Attempts to mitigate the cost to life have also proved …

Insights From Clinical Teaching: Learning About Teaching Legal Writing From Working On Real Cases, Helen A. Anderson

Articles

I began teaching legal writing in 1994, but I've since had the occasional foray into practice through supervising students who represented clients in our state's appellate courts. I directed an appellate clinic for two years, and most recently supervised two students who briefed and argued a case in the Washington State Supreme Court. These experiences have taught me some important lessons that I have brought back to my legal writing classes. The clinical cases have not only reminded me what writing for practice really entails, and how hard it is to follow our sage writing advice, but they have given …

Transitioning The Family Business, Dwight Drake

Articles

By any measure, family-dominated businesses are the backbone of the American economy. Although a large majority of family businesses are managed by senior family members who are older than age 55 and more than 80 percent of such senior family members claim that they want the business to remain in the family, less than 30 percent of such businesses have tackled the challenge of developing a plan for transitioning the business to the next generation.

For over 90 percent of such families, this planning challenge is aggravated by the fact that they have no diversified wealth: the family’s wealth is …

Encouraging Diversity In Law School Deanships, Kellye Y. Testy

Articles

Introduction to a symposium.

Vietnam's Decree On Microfinance: A Flawed Attempt To Create An Enabling Legal Environment For Microfinance, Elin M. King

Washington International Law Journal

Despite its increasing as a development tool microfinance still faces significant barriers in reaching the poorest of the poor. Microfinance programs often respond well to short-term needs but are not designed to handle the long-term struggles faced by lending institutions. To resolve these problems, many in the microfinance field have begun to tout the concept of creating “enabling” legal and regulatory frameworks. Such an enabling environment would ideally eliminate unreasonable barriers to entry into the field, encourage innovation, and reinforce industry best practices. An enabling regulatory scheme could also increase legal certainty, encourage more investors to enter the field and …

Women's Land Rights In Rural China: Transforming Existing Laws Into A Source Of Property Rights, H. Ray Liaw

Washington International Law Journal

In the aftermath of legal reforms designed to secure land tenure for farmers, women in rural China lost rights to land at marriage, divorce, and widowhood. Despite a central legal framework that facially protects women’s property interests, ambiguity in the property and marriage laws have allowed village leaders to reassert traditional social norms and deny constitutional equal rights guarantees for women. Recent attempts to ameliorate landlessness for women, specifically in the Rural Contract Law and the Property Law, offer little promise of providing a significant solution for rural women. New proposals to mitigate rural women’s loss of land rights must …

Advocacy Strategies To Fight Eviction In Cases Of Compulsive Hoarding And Cluttering, Tom Cobb, Eric Dunn, Vanessa Torres Hernandez, Jake Moroni Okleberry, Riana Pfefferkorn, Chelsea Spector

Articles

No abstract provided.

An Administrative "Death Sentence" For Asylum Seekers: Deprivation Of Due Process Under 8 U.S.C. § 1158(D)(6)'S Frivolousness Standard, E. Lea Johnston

Washington Law Review

In 1996, Congress amended the Immigration and Nationality Act by providing a new sanction for asylum seekers: if an immigration judge makes a finding that a noncitizen has knowingly filed a fraudulent asylum application, then that person is permanently ineligible for immigration benefits. For eleven years, immigration judges, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and federal courts have imposed and reviewed this sanction without specifying a burden of proof. When it did act to fill the statutory gap in April 2007, the Board held that the government must prove the elements of the statute by a preponderance of the evidence. This …

An Equal Protection Standard For National Origin Classifications: The Context That Matters, Jenny Rivera

Washington Law Review

The Supreme Court has stated, "[c]ontext matters when reviewing race-based governmental action under the Equal Protection Clause."' Judicial review of legislative race-based classifications has been dominated by the context of the United States' history of race-based oppression and consideration of the effects of institutional racism. Racial context has also dominated judicial review of legislative classifications based on national origin. This pattern is seen, for example, in challenges to government affirmative action programs that define Latinos according to national origin subclasses. As a matter of law, these national origin-based classifications, like race-based classifications, are subject to strict scrutiny and can only …

Defusing The Bomb: The Scope Of The Federal Explosives Statute, Peter Moreno

Washington Law Review

A federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 844(h)(2) (2000), imposes a mandatory ten-year term of imprisonment on anyone who "carries an explosive during the commission of any felony which may be prosecuted in a court of the United States." The United States Courts of Appeals are split over whether the statute must be read to include a relational element such that the crime is carrying explosives in relation to another felony. The Third, Fifth, and Sixth Circuits have rejected the notion that the statute contains such an implicit limitation. In contrast, the Ninth Circuit recently held that the application of § …

Slayers And Soldiers: The Validity And Scope Of The Slayer's Rule Under The Family Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance Act, Rebecca Blasco

Washington Law Review

The "slayer's rule"—a common law doctrine—precludes a murderer from financially benefiting from the victim's death by denying him or her the right to proceeds from the victim's life insurance policy. Some jurisdictions have extended this rule to disqualify the slayer's exclusive family members from receiving the victim's insurance proceeds as beneficiaries. Exclusive family members are those either not related to the victim or related to the victim only by marriage. The slayer's rule applies to federal group life insurance policies, such as the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance Act (SGLI), which provides life insurance to servicemembers. Spouses and dependent children of …

Uwlaw, Fall 2007, Vol. 56

Alumni Magazines

No abstract provided.