Law Commons^™

A Corporation Has No Soul — The Business Entity Law Response To Challenges To The Ppaca Contraceptive Mandate, Thomas E. Rutledge

William & Mary Business Law Review

The most contentious matter in the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is not one of health care, but rather one of the law of business organizations. Numerous for-profit business organizations have challenged the portion of the PPACA and its related regulations requiring that group health insurance plans provide, on a no-cost sharing basis, coverage for a variety of procedures and prescription medicines involving contraception and what some describe as “abortificants.” In these suits, the various business ventures and their owners assert that they should be exempt from the requirement of the mandate on the basis that, …

Contracting In The Dark: Casting Light On The Shadows Of Second Level Agreements, Abigail R. Simon

William & Mary Business Law Review

In the early days of the Internet, copyright owners concentrated on eliminating infringement threats posed by the new technology. Today, many copyright owners are partnering with major user-generated content platforms in order to participate in and receive compensation for some third-party infringement occurring on the Internet. YouTube pioneered such partnership arrangements in 2006 with a new kind of copyright license now referred to as a “second level agreement.” In 2008, YouTube unveiled Content ID, which streamlined the process for entering into second level agreements with the site. This Note analyzes Content ID and the second level agreements underlying it to …

The Impossible, Highly Desired Islamic Bank, Haider Ala Hamoudi

William & Mary Business Law Review

The purpose of this Article is to explore, and explain the stubborn persistence of, a central paradox that is endemic to the retail Islamic bank as it operates in the United States. The paradox is that retail Islamic banking in the United States is impossible, and yet it remains highly desired. It is impossible because central features of modern banking regulation conflict with fundamental aspects of shari’a as it is understood in modernity in the context of finance. It is unimaginable that regulators will create exceptions to, or somehow significantly amend, the modern financial regulatory system in the radical fashion …

Broker-Dealers, Institutional Investors, And Fiduciary Duty: Much Ado About Nothing?, Lynn Bai

William & Mary Business Law Review

Under the mandate of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the SEC is soliciting public opinions on whether broker-dealers should be subject to a fiduciary duty when advising retail and institutional investors. This Article focuses on the advisability of such a proposal for institutional investors. It shows that, first, a fiduciary duty could potentially enhance broker-dealers’ standard of conduct for only a subset of institutional investors who are well capitalized, capable of assessing risks independently, and acknowledge in writing their nonreliance on broker-dealers’ advice. Thus, the benefit of fiduciary duty is much narrower than what …

Marketing Of Investment Advisers To Public Pension Plans: Achieving Transparency Through Lobbying Regulations?, Christina M. Sumpio

William & Mary Business Law Review

In the past decade, public pension plans and their outside investment advisers have been at the center of scandals involving bribery, blatant asset mismanagement, and widespread corruption. In response to this corruption, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and many state legislatures have adopted laws addressing “pay-to-play,” the custom of making political contributions or other payments to state or local officials in return for an opportunity to “play”—invest the public pension fund money. This Note examines certain pay-to-play legislation enacted by state and local governments seeking to regulate investment advisers and public pension plans through the promulgation of lobbying regulations. …

Taking Stock: Insider And Outsider Trading By Congress, Jeanne L. Schroeder

William & Mary Business Law Review

Spring 2012 saw the enactment of the “Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012” or “STOCK Act.” It supposedly repealed an exemption from the federal securities laws that made insider trading by members of Congress “totally legal.” As every securities lawyer knows, however, there never was such an exemption. Representatives and Senators have always been subject to the same rules as the rest of us. It is just that insider-trading law is so incoherent that legal scholars sharply disagreed as to when, or even if, trading by government officials on the basis of material nonpublic information gleaned from their …

Financial Freedom: Women, Money, And Domestic Abuse, Dana Harrington Conner

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Making Regional And Local Tmdls Work: The Chesapeake Bay Tmdl And Lessons From The Lynnhaven River, Shana Campbell Jones

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Article will first provide an overview of how restoration developed in the Bay in order to provide a regional context for the Lynnhaven River “total maximum daily load[s]” or TMDL. The Article will then explain the 2011 Chesapeake Bay TMDL and how it potentially foreshadows “next generation” cooperative federalism and watershed restoration because it is generating increased engagement from local government, private citizens, and non-profit restoration efforts. This Article will then tighten its focus to the Lynnhaven River, a local tributary within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and will examine the local government’s success in implementing measures to meet a …

How To Save The Chesapeake Bay Tmdl: The Critical Role Of Nutrient Offsets, Robert H. Nelson

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Establishing A Floor: Minimum Remediation Requirements For Meth Labs, Chelsea Bobo

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Caged Cats: Private Ownership Of Lions And Tigers, Adele Young

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Disagreement And Design: Searching For Consensus In The Climate Policy And Intergenerational Discounting Debate, Michael A. Kane

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Current approaches to discounting in climate policy present a seemingly intractable problem. While it is widely recognized that choice of discount rate in climate models can easily dwarf the effect of other parameter inputs, there is at present a very wide disagreement, both in law and in economics, about the appropriate discount rate to use. This Paper provides a framework for achieving a workable consensus range for acceptable discount rates in climate models. It does so by emphasizing three factors previously ignored in the literature. First, it demonstrates that the choice of discount rate should be tailored to the type …

A Statute Stripped Of Its Sting: Colony Collapse Disorder And The Epa's "Imminent Hazard", Tobias Eisenlohr

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

A Woman Soldier's Right To Combat: Equal Protection In The Military, Tim Bakken

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Challenging Hospital Vbac Bans Through Tort Liability, L. Indra Lusero

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Prostitutes, Orphans, And Entrepreneurs: The Effect Of Public Perceptions Of Ghana's Girl Child Kayayei On Public Policy, Sheryl Buske

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

For a variety of reasons, including the growing disparity in resources and opportunities between Ghana’s mostly rural North and its urban South, the numbers and patterns of internal migration have changed dramatically over the last twenty years. Historically the province of men, and later women on a temporary basis that was tied to the rainy seasons, young girls between ten and sixteen years of age now make up the majority of the North-South migrants.

The lives of these girl migrants, who live and work in Ghana’s markets as porters, known locally as kayayoo, are complex and multifaceted. They endure …

We'll Always Have Shady Pines: Surrogate Decision-Making Tools For Preserving Sexual Autonomy In Elderly Nursing Home Residents, Elizabeth Hill

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Living Victims: Evaluating The Impact Of India's Farmer Suicide Crisis On Its Rural Women, Gowri Janakiramanan

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

In Defense Of Surrogacy Agreements: A Modern Contract Law Perceptive, Yehezkel Margalit

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

The American public’s attention was first exposed to the practice of surrogacy in 1988 with the drama and verdict of the Baby M case. Over the last twenty-five years, the practice of surrogacy has slowly become increasingly socially accepted, and even welcomed. This evolution serves to emphasize the bizarre judicial and legislative silence regarding surrogacy that exists today in the vast majority of U.S. jurisdictions. In this Article, I describe and trace the dramatic revolution that took place during the recent decades, as the surrogacy practice has drastically changed from one viewed as problematic and rejected to a socially widespread …

Rio + 20: What Difference Has Two Decades Made To State Practice In The Regulation Of Invasive Alien Species?, Sophie Riley

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Article collects and analyzes information available from the Convention on Biological Diversity National Reports to consider what members themselves have identified as their regulatory strengths and weaknesses. Against this backdrop, the Article evaluates the effectiveness of international environmental law in guiding domestic regimes, highlighting that where international law is imprecise or inconsistent, it can hinder the development of successful State practice.

Farming The Slums: Using Eminent Domain And Urban Agriculture To Rebuild Baltimore's Blighted Neighborhoods, Keith Buzby

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.