Law Commons^™

To Err Is Human, To Apologize Is Hard: The Role Of Apologies In Lawyer Discipline, Leslie Levin, Jennifer K. Robbennolt

Faculty Articles and Papers

The lawyer discipline system is often the only recourse for complainants when lawyers misbehave. Yet it is also deeply unsatisfying. Most grievances are dismissed and even when a sanction is imposed, the complainant receives no monetary compensation. Lawyers rarely even apologize for the harm they caused. Yet apologies can repair relationships and trust, decrease distress, restore the victim’s standing, and affirm important values. In this article, we explore whether and how apologies might be more systematically incorporated into the lawyer discipline system to address lawyer mistakes and misconduct. We detail how apologies are currently sporadically used and evaluated by disciplinary …

Connecticut 1818: From Theocracy To Toleration, Mark Weston Janis

Faculty Articles and Papers

What accounts for the "new" 1818 Connecticut Constitution that repudiated the theocracy of the state and disestablished the Congregationalist Church? The answer is proof positive of Professor Richard Kay's proposition that a constitution, representing the foundation of legal system, is not based on law, but rather on politics, economics, and morality.

Connecticut was one of the last American states to separate church and state, and to provide for religious toleration. The 1818 religiously-tolerant Constitution resulted from three causes. First was the collapse of the political mainstay of the Congregational Church, the Federalist Party, which never recovered public support after sponsoring …

Obscured By 'Willful Blindness': States' Preventive Obligations And The Meaning Of Acquiescence Under The Convention Against Torture, Jon Bauer

Faculty Articles and Papers

As U.S. asylum law becomes more restrictive, relief under the U.N. Convention Against Torture (CAT) has become the last hope for safety for many asylum seekers. But for those who face torture at the hands of non-State actors, CAT relief has proven extraordinarily hard to win. The CAT’s torture definition encompasses privately-inflicted harm only when it occurs with the consent or acquiescence of a public official. Agency decisions initially took this to mean that officials must willfully accept or tacitly approve the private party’s actions. Courts have rejected that approach as overly restrictive. But what they have adopted in its …

New Hampshire V. Massachusetts: Taxation Without Representation?, Richard Pomp

Faculty Articles and Papers

In this article, Professor Pomp details the dispute behind New Hampshire’s pending motion in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The issue is whether Massachusetts may constitutionally subject remote-working nonresidents to its income tax when, prior to the pandemic, those workers commuted in-state.

It is beyond dispute that nonresidents who earn their income within a state can be taxed by the state. The constitutional rule that a state tax may not discriminate against interstate commerce, which ensures nonresident taxpayers are treated the same as residents, acts as a safeguard against taxation without representation. Resident taxpayers indirectly serve the tax interests of nonresidents …

Hate Speech On Social Media: Content Moderation In Context, Richard A. Wilson, Molly Land

Faculty Articles and Papers

For all practical purposes, the policy of social media companies to suppress hate speech on their platforms means that the longstanding debate in the United States about whether to limit hate speech in the public square has been resolved in favor of vigorous regulation. Nonetheless, revisiting these debates provides insights essential for developing more empirically-based and narrowly tailored policies regarding online hate.

First, a central issue in the hate speech debate is the extent to which hate speech contributes to violence. Those in favor of more robust regulation claim a connection to violence, while others dismiss these arguments as tenuous. …

Why America's Response To The Covid-19 Pandemic Failed: Lessons From New Zealand's Success, Richard Parker

Faculty Articles and Papers

Polls show that 48 percent of Americans think the United States has fared no worse in dealing with COVID-19 than most other countries and that COVID-19 posed an essentially impossible test. This article refutes that remarkable misperception. It shows that the U.S. COVID-19 mortality rate for 2020, adjusted for population, was more than twice as high as Canada’s and Germany’s; ten times higher than India’s; 29 times higher than Australia’s; 40 times higher than Japan’s; 59 times higher than South Korea’s, and 207 times higher than New Zealand’s mortality rate. In fact, U.S. performance at the level of South Korea, …

Beware Of Giant Tech Companies Bearing Jurisprudential Gifts, Kiel Brennan-Marquez

Faculty Articles and Papers

Responding to Rebecca Wexler, Privacy as Privilege: The Stored Communications Act and Internet Evidence, 134 HARV. L. REV. 2721 (2021).

A Trend You Can't Ignore: Social Media As Government Records And Its Impact On The Interpretation Of The Law, Jessica De Perio Wittman

Faculty Articles and Papers

There has been a sharp increase in official communications from government agencies and elected officials that occur initially, primarily, and even solely, on social media. The Federal Records Act (FRA), Presidential Records Act (PRA) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) govern the retention, access, preservation and disclosure of records produced by the federal government. Recent litigation has highlighted why courts, attorneys, and other legal researchers must consider social media as a primary source of government information, particularly when records may become inaccessible once a social media post is modified or deleted, or when technology becomes obsolete. Additionally, as social …

Responding To The Pandemic: A Case Study, Richard Pomp

Faculty Articles and Papers

This article describes how Connecticut, despite catching a fiscal break from the pandemic, has failed to seize the opportunity to enact meaningful reform targeted at its $90 billion debt.

The article begins by explaining why Connecticut fared well during the pandemic. Many wealthy taxpayers moved into Connecticut from New York City. The increase in their stock-market driven income taxes, as well the sales tax boost from secondary and tertiary purchases by homebuyers, has eliminated Connecticut’s short-term budget deficit. The State is sitting on a $3 billion rainy-day fund.

Next, the article examines several tensions between the democratic governor, Ned Lamont, …

Ordinary Clients, Overreaching Lawyers, And The Failure To Implement Adequate Client Protection Measures, Leslie C. Levin

Faculty Articles and Papers

Every year, thousands of individual clients are victimized by overreaching lawyers who overcharge clients, refuse to return unearned fees, or steal their money. For more than forty years, the American Bar Association (ABA) has considered, and often proposed, client protection measures aimed at protecting clients from overreaching lawyers. These measures include requirements that lawyers use written fee agreements in their dealings with clients and rules relating to fee arbitration, client protection funds, insurance payee notification, and random audits of trust accounts. This Article examines what happened to these ABA recommendations when the states considered them and assesses the current state …

The Politics Of Bar Admission: Lessons From The Pandemic, Leslie C. Levin

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.