Law Commons^™

Beyond Norms: Using International Economic Tools To Deter Malicious State-Sponsored Cyber Activities, Kathleen Claussen

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In thinking about strategy and doctrine for cyberspace, one cannot ignore either the cyber domain's interaction with other domains or the applicability of existing legal tools to address cyberspace issues. This Comment focuses on the latter and argues that any discussion regarding deterrence and a playbook for consequences for cyber incidents by state actors ought necessarily to include a careful examination of existing plays, particularly where those incidents have an economic component as many do. Focusing on multilateral institutions, regional and bilateral trade and investment agreements, and unilateral tariff and non-tariff trade and investment tools, this Comment maintains that current …

The Law Firm Chief Innovation Officer: Goals, Roles, And Holes, Michele M. Destefano

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No abstract provided.

Adminization: Gatekeeping Consumer Contracts, Yonathan A. Arbel

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Large companies and debt collectors frequently file unmeritorious claims against consumers. Recent high-profile actions brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau against J.P. Morgan, Citibank, and other large debt collectors illustrate the breadth and importance of this phenomenon. Due to the limited financial power of individuals, consumers often do not defend against such baseless claims, which results in the entry of millions of default judgments every year. To combat this problem, policymakers and scholars have explored a variety of court-based solutions that would make it easier for consumers to defend in court, but these prove ineffectual.

To solve the problem …

Big Data: Destroyer Of Informed Consent, A. Michael Froomkin

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The 'Revised Common Rule' took effect on January 21, 2019, marking the first change since 2005 to the federal regulation that governs human subjects research conducted with federal support or in federally supported institutions. The Common Rule had required informed consent before researchers could collect and use identifiable personal health information. While informed consent is far from perfect, it is and was the gold standard for data collection and use policies; the standard in the old Common Rule served an important function as the exemplar for data collection in other contexts. Unfortunately, true informed consent seems incompatible with modern analytics …

Mindfulness Training For Judges: Mind Wandering And The Development Of Cognitive Resilience, Scott L. Rogers, Chris Mcaliley, Amishi P. Jha

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No abstract provided.

Old Wine In New Bottles? The Trade Rule Of Law, Kathleen Claussen

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No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Yale Symposium On Trade Law Under The Trump Administration, Kathleen Claussen, David Singh Grewal

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No abstract provided.

Franchise Regulation For The Fissured Economy, Andrew Elmore

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No abstract provided.

Collaborative Enforcement, Andrew Elmore

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Labor standards enforcement in the low-wage workplace has long suffered from a lack of capacity, expertise and remedies that blunt the impact of public and private enforcers alike. The question of how to address these pathologies in state and local workplace regulation has gained new urgency with the virtual explosion of regional labor lawmaking and the deregulatory impulses of the new federal administration.

This Article identifies collaboration between state and local agencies and private, public interest organizations ("PIOs") as one pathway to address these enforcement gaps, by amplifying the deterrent effect of public and private enforcement and by improving legal …

When Impunity And Corruption Embrace: How The Past Becomes The Future In The Struggle Against Torture And Genocide, Elizabeth M. Iglesias

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In this article, Professor Elizabeth Iglesias takes up the challenge of overcoming impunity for atrocity crimes as a problem of structural corruption. Beginning with the 2013 trial and conviction of Guatemalan leader Efrain Rios Montt for crimes against humanity and genocide in the courts of his own country, the article turns to the scandal surrounding United States' President Donald Trump's repeated threats to fire the special counsel investigating allegations that he and his campaign colluded with foreign nationals to steal the 2016 presidential election and the scandal surrounding the nomination and confirmation of Gina Haspel as the first woman to …

The Myth Of Free, John M. Newman

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Myths matter. This Article is the first to confront a powerful myth that pervades modern economic, technological, and legal discourse: the Myth of Free. The prevailing view is that consumers capture massive welfare surplus from a flood of innovative new products that are offered free of charge. Economists, legal scholars, and industry stakeholders created an origin story-a myth-to explain how these products became "Free."

But that orthodox origin story is fatally flawed. This Article formalizes, then debunks, the Myth of Free and its underlying assumptions. The Myth is riddled with internal inconsistencies, logical errors, and factual. inaccuracies. In their place, …

Severe Brain Injury, Disability, And The Law: Achieving Justice For A Marginalized Population, Megan S. Wright, Nina Varsava, Joel Ramirez, Kyle Edwards, Nathan Gueveremont, Tamar Ezer, Joseph J. Fins

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Thousands of persons with severe brain injury who are minimally conscious or "locked in" are wrongly treated as if they are unconscious. Such individuals are unable to advocate for themselves and are typically segregated from society in hospitals or nursing homes. As a result, they constitute a class of persons who often lack access to adequate medical care, rehabilitation, and assistive devices that could aid them in communication and recovery. While this problem is often approached from a medical or scientific point of view, here we frame it as a legal issue amenable to legal remedies. This Article comprehensively explores …

Strategic Litigation To Advance Public Health, Tamar Ezer, Priti Patil

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The HIV movement has relied on strategic litigation as an important tool to develop and enforce legal protections critical to health. This experience contains lessons on the potential of strategic litigation to advance public health more generally. Beyond impacting laws and policies, strategic litigation can change practice, breathing life into existing legal rules never implemented. While cases may target a particular law, policy, or practice, indirect impacts beyond a particular court decision on future cases, other branches of government, and the public record may be just as important. Each case is only one step towards change, and a judgment can …

Climate Change Challenges For Land Conservation: Rethinking Conservation Easements, Strategies, And Tools, Jessica Owley, Federico Cheever, Adena R. Rissman, M. Rebecca Shaw, Barton H. Thompson Jr., W. William Weeks

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No abstract provided.

Taking The Public Out Of Public Lands: Shifts In Coal-Extraction Policies In The Trump Administration, Jessica Owley

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No abstract provided.

Unforeseen Land Uses: The Effect Of Marijuana Legalization On Land Conservation Programs, Jessica Owley

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This Article explores the tension between land conservation and marijuana cultivation in the context of legalization. The legalization of marijuana has the potential to shift the locations of marijuana cultivation. Where cultivation need no longer be surreptitious and clandestine, growers may begin to explore sanctioned growing sites and methods. Thus, the shift to legalization may be accompanied by environmental and landuse implications. Investigating commercial-scale marijuana cultivation, this Article details how, in some ways, legalization can reduce environmental impacts of marijuana cultivation while also examining tricky issues regarding tensions between protected lands and marijuana cultivation. If we treat cultivation of marijuana …

The New Bond Workouts, William Wilson Bratton, Adam J. Levitin

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Bond workouts are a famously dysfunctional method of debt restructuring. The process is so ridden with opportunistic and coercive behavior by both bondholders and bond issuers as to make success intrinsically unlikely. Yet since 2008 bond workouts have quietly started to work. A segment of the restructuring market has shifted from bankruptcy court to out-of-court workouts by way of exchange offers made only to large institutional investors. The new workouts feature a battery of strong-arm tactics by bond issuers, and aggrieved bondholders have complained in court. There resulted a new, broad reading of the primary law governing workouts, section 3 …

Public Employee Speech And Magarian’S Dynamic Diversity, Heidi Kitrosser

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No abstract provided.

Mitochondrial Dna Replacement: Moral And Halakhic Concerns, J. David Bleich

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Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), transmitted from mother to child, have their own genetic code that may cause debilitating genetic diseases. To prevent such unfortunate occurrences, researchers have developed a process enabling them to completely replace an ovum’s mitochondria with mitochondria contributed by a donor. Children born by use of this method have genetic material from both the mitochondrial donor and the birth mother; they are “three-parent babies.” Resultant medical, ethical, legal and theological problems are obvious.

Moreover, this technology may pose significant risks to neonates born of such procedures. Certainly no person has the right to cause harm to a fellow …

Cardozo's "Law And Literature": A Guide To His Judicial Writing Style, Richard H. Weisberg

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The article discusses Benjamin N. Cardozo's essay "Law and Literature," which emphasizes the essential unity of style and substance in legal writing. Cardozo argues against the notion that law and literature are separate domains, asserting that effective legal communication requires a harmonious integration of form and function. He advocates for a judicial writing style that prioritizes clarity, precision, and the "magisterial" approach, which eschews ornamentation in favor of substance.

The Culture Of Misdemeanor Courts, Jessica A. Roth

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The misdemeanor courts that preside over the majority of criminal cases in the United States represent the “front porch” of our criminal justice system. These courts vary in myriad ways, including size, structure, and method of judicial appointment. Each also has its own culture – i.e., a settled way of doing things that reflects deeper assumptions about the court’s mission and its role in the community – which can assist or impede desired policy reforms. This Article, written for a Symposium issue of the Hofstra Law Review, draws upon the insights of organizational culture theory to explore how leaders can …

The Necessity Of The Good Person Prosecutor, Jessica A. Roth

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In a 2001 essay, Professor Abbe Smith asked the question whether a good person—i.e., a person who is committed to social justice—can be a good prosecutor. Although she acknowledged some hope that the answer to her question could be “yes,” Professor Smith concluded that the answer then was “no”—in part because she saw individual prosecutors generally as having very little discretion to “temper the harsh reality of the criminal justice system.” In this Online Symposium revisiting Professor Smith’s question seventeen years later, my answer to her question is “yes”—a good person can be a good prosecutor.

The “New” District Court Activism In Criminal Justice Reform, Jessica A. Roth

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Historically, the debate over the judicial role has centered on the constitutional and administrative law decisions of the United States Supreme Court, with an occasional glance at the Federal Courts of Appeals. It has, moreover, been concerned solely with the “in-court” behavior of Article III appellate judges as they carry out their power and duty “to say what the law is” in the context of resolving “cases and controversies.” This Article seeks to deepen the discussion of the appropriate role of Article III judges by broadening it to trial, as well as appellate, judges; and by distinguishing between an Article …

Heretical Archives: Heterotopic Institutions And Fictive Records, Peter Goodrich

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No abstract provided.

Combating Russian Disinformation In Ukraine: Case Studies In A Market For Loyalties, Monroe E. Price, Adam P. Barry

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The article examines how Ukraine has responded to Russian disinformation through two distinct projects: the Guidelines Project and the Words and Wars Project. These initiatives represent different approaches to combating disinformation, with the Guidelines Project emphasizing international norms and consensus-building, while the Words and Wars Project focuses on directly countering Russian tactics. The analysis highlights how the structure, stakeholders, and funding of these projects shape their recommendations and outcomes, underscoring the tension between national security and freedom of expression.

A Conversation About Facts, Stories, And Truth In Mediation, James Coben, Kenneth Fox, Lela P. Love

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The article explores the role of facts, truth, and storytelling in mediation, highlighting a debate among scholars about whether mediators should focus on objective truth or prioritize parties' subjective experiences and narratives. The discussion emphasizes the tension between the legal system's pursuit of objective facts and mediation's goal of fostering understanding and collaboration. The authors argue that while brute facts (objective realities) matter, institutional facts (socially constructed meanings) are equally important in resolving conflicts. They suggest that mediators should act as active listeners, helping parties understand each other's perspectives rather than imposing their own truths.

Solitary Troubles, Alexander A. Reinert

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Solitary confinement is one of the most severe forms of punishment that can be inflicted on human beings. In recent years, the use of extreme isolation in our prisons and jails has been questioned by correctional officials, medical experts, and reform advocates alike. Yet for nearly the entirety of American history, judicial regulation of the practice has been extremely limited. This Article explains why judges hesitate to question the use of solitary confinement, while also providing a path forward for greater scrutiny of the practice.

Selling Attorney's Fees, Anthony J. Sebok

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Attorneys in the United States are under increasing pressure to change and adopt practices commonly found in the world of finance and business. Over the past thirty years, the bar and legal academics have debated what to do; the focus of this debate has been whether to change Model Rule of Professional Conduct 5.4 to allow partnerships between attorneys and nonlawyers or partnerships owned by nonlawyer shareholders.

One of the reasons attorneys are debating changes to Rule 5.4 is that the practice of law depends on capital, and the old methods for raising capital are no longer sufficient. Rather than …

Finding Lost & Found: Designer’S Notes From The Process Of Creating A Jewish Game For Learning, Owen Gottlieb

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This article provides context for and examines aspects of the design process of a game for learning. Lost & Found (2017a, 2017b) is a tabletop-to-mobile game series designed to teach medieval religious legal systems, beginning with Moses Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah (1180), a cornerstone work of Jewish legal rabbinic literature. Through design narratives, the article demonstrates the complex design decisions faced by the team as they balance the needs of player engagement with learning goals. In the process the designers confront challenges in developing winstates and in working with complex resource management. The article provides insight into the pathways the team …

The Right To Work And The Right To Strike, Laura Weinrib

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No abstract provided.