Law Commons^™

Brief To The National Labor Relations Board By Amicus Curiae Professor Jeffrey M. Hirsch, Jeffrey M. Hirsch

Faculty Publications

In Purple Communications, Inc., 361 N.L.R.B. 1050 (2014), the NLRB set forth a new analysis covering employees’ use of employer-provided email. Under this analysis, which is based on the Supreme Court’s seminal decision in Republic Aviation Corp. v. NLRB, 324 U.S. 793 (1945), the Board presumes that employees who have access to their employer’s email as part of their work duties can use that email for Section 7 purposes during nonwork time. Purple Communications, 361 N.L.R.B. at 1063. The employer can rebut this presumption by showing that special business circumstances justify additional restrictions on employees’ email use. …

Let's Teach Our Students Legal Technology... But What Should We Include?, Randy J. Diamond, Darin Fox, Kenneth J. Hirsh, Heidi Frostestad Kuehl, Michael Robak

Faculty Publications

A "renaissance” is often described as a cultural rebirth, a movement ushering in a modern age and leaving behind the old ways of doing things. There is every indication that we are entering a technology-driven renaissance in the legal profession. Artificial intelligence (AI), “big data,” document automation, e-discovery tools, cloud-based case management systems, and communication and collaboration tools are just a few of the ways that technology is transforming the practice of law in the twenty-first century.

One Judge's Ten Tips For Effective Brief Writing (Part I), Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

In his years on the federal bankruptcy court bench, Judge Michael had read his share of briefs and other filings. Experience led him to write "Ten Tips for Effective Brief Writing," and to share them on the Court's website to guide counsel who appear before him. He directed the Gordon parties to Tip# 9, "Leave the Venom at Home." "Whether you like (or get along well with) your opposition," the Tip advises, "has little to do with the merits of a particular case. The most effective attack you can make is to persuade ... me that the other side is …

Preferencing Educational Choice: The Constitutional Limits, Derek Black

Faculty Publications

Rapidly expanding charter and voucher programs threaten a new education paradigm in which access to traditional public schools is no longer guaranteed in some communities. In some instances, choice programs are phasing out traditional public schools altogether. The most harmful effects of choice, however, occur at the local level, not the state level. Thus, this Article does not challenge the general constitutionality of choice programs. Instead, the Article identifies limitations that state constitutional rights to adequate and equal education place on choice policy.

First, states cannot preference private choice programs over public education. This conclusion flows from the fact that …

Managing Dissent, Timothy Zick

Faculty Publications

In his insightful new book, Managed Speech: The Roberts Court's First Amendment (2017), Professor Greg Magarian criticizes the Roberts Court for adopting a "managed speech" approach in its First Amendment cases. According to Professor Magarian, that approach gives too much power to private and governmental actors to manage public discourse, constrain dissident speakers, and instill social and political stability. This Article argues that at least insofar as it relates to many forms of public dissent, the managed speech approach is both deeply rooted in First Amendment jurisprudence and culturally prevalent. Historically, First Amendment jurisprudence has expressed support for narrowly managed …

Motherhood, Abortion, And The Medicalization Of Women’S Poverty, Michelle Oberman

Faculty Publications

This article considers the impact of laws and policies that determine who experiences unplanned pregnancy, who has abortions, and how economic status shapes one’s response to unplanned pregnancy. There is a well-documented correlation between abortion and poverty: poor women have more abortions than do their richer sisters. Equally well-documented is the correlation between unplanned pregnancy and poverty. Finally, the high cost of motherhood for poor women and their offspring manifests in disproportionately high lifelong rates of poverty, ill-health and mortality for offspring and mothers, alike. Read together, these factors offer a vivid illustration of the medicalization of poverty.

Agencies, Courts, First Principles, And The Rule Of Law, Todd S. Aagaard

Faculty Publications

An inherent tension exists between the roles of agencies and courts in administrative enforcement cases. Those cases are initiated by agencies to enforce the statutes and regulations they administer but are then subject to judicial review by courts. Agencies tend to focus on creating and then implementing administrative enforcement systems that produce consistent results pursuant to the agency’s bureaucratic processes and informed by the agency’s expertise. In reviewing such decisions, by contrast, courts tend to focus on ensuring that the agency’s administrative system comports with fundamental legal principles. The two roles embody different goals: for agencies, rendering predictable and consistent …

Crowdfunding Signals, Darian M. Ibrahim

Faculty Publications

Entrepreneurs can now “crowdfund,” or sell securities to unaccredited investors over the Internet, to raise capital. But will these companies be able to attract the follow-on investors (angels and venture capitalists) that are necessary for long-term success? Angels and VCs face extreme levels of information asymmetry when deciding whether to fund a company. Signals can reduce this asymmetry. Early commentary argues a company only crowdfunds as a last resort for fear of sending a negative signal about the company’s quality to follow-on investors. This Article argues the inverse. This Article argues a successful crowdfunding campaign can send a positive signal …

'Neurophobia,' A Reply To Patterson, Peter A. Alces

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Emperor’S New Clothes: The Variety Of Stakeholders In Climate Change Regulation Assuming The Mantle Of Federal And International Authority, Linda A. Malone

Faculty Publications

In June 2017, President Donald Trump announced the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord. President Trump believes the United States should be more focused on its economic wellbeing than on environmental concerns. Since being elected, President Trump has, with the help of the Environmental Protection Agency, been rolling back, or attempting to roll back, major climate change regulations. However, this Article points out that due to factors such as international law, the United States Constitution, and the Administrative Procedure Act, one cannotjust simply withdraw from an international agreement, such as the Paris Accord, or take back …

Ip Preparedness For Outbreak Diseases, Ana Santos Rutschman

Faculty Publications

Outbreaks of infectious diseases will worsen in the coming decades, as illustrated by the recent back-to-back Ebola and Zika epidemics. The development of innovative drugs, especially in the form of vaccines, is key to minimizing the scale and impact of future outbreaks, yet current intellectual property (IP) regimes are ineffective in supporting this goal.

Scholarship has not adequately addressed the role of IP in the development of vaccines for outbreak diseases. This Article fills that void. Through case studies on the recent Ebola and Zika outbreaks, it provides the first descriptive analysis of the role of IP from the pre- …

The New Family Freedom, Emily J. Stolzenberg

Faculty Publications

In family law, “autonomy” has traditionally meant freedom from state interference in one’s intimate life. This Article describes an emergent, libertarian vision of autonomy as property rights that also demands freedom from other family members. This conception, “choice about obligations,” holds redistribution of resources between intimates to be illegitimate unless the richer party “chose” to take on financial obligations ex ante by ceremonially marrying or formally contracting. But as more people conduct their intimate lives outside these legal institutions, choice about obligations increasingly collides with another, more fundamental, family law principle: the imperative to “privatize dependency,” i.e., to redistribute resources …

The European Succession Regulation And The Arbitration Of Trust Disputes, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Over the last few decades, U.S. citizens have become increasingly mobile, with significant numbers of individuals living, working, and investing abroad. Estate planning has become equally international, generating ever-larger numbers of cross-border succession cases. While these sorts of developments are welcome, they require lawyers to appreciate and anticipate the various ways that the laws of different jurisdictions can interact. One of the most important recent developments in international succession law comes out of the European Union. While the European Succession Regulation may initially appear applicable only to nationals of E. U. Member States, U.S. citizens can also be affected by …

Crashworthiness: The Collision Of Sellers' Responsibility For Product Safety With Comparative Fault, F. Patrick Hubbard, Evan Sobocinski

Faculty Publications

Crashworthiness cases often involve the following issue: Should any wrongdoing by the plaintiff in causing the initial collision reduce or bar the plaintiff’s recovery for defective crashworthiness? Jurisdictions disagree on the answer to this issue. This disagreement results in large part from differing positions on two questions. First, should products liability law use duty rules to impose liability in a way that ensures efficient accident cost reduction or should it seek fairness through relatively unstructured jury allocations of liability based on fault? Second, in addressing the first issue, should for-profit corporations be viewed as: (1) “tools” to achieve human goals …

Judges And Their Editors, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sexual Harassment Of Low-Income Women In Housing: Pilot Study Results, Rigel C. Oliveri

Faculty Publications

In recent months, high-profile and influential figures in media, government, and entertainment have been brought down by credible allegations that they have engaged in sexual misconduct. These revelations have sparked an important national discussion about the prevalence of sexual harassment in American society and the ways in which powerful people can use their positions both to exploit their vulnerable targets and to escape the consequences of their actions.

The conversation is a necessary starting point, but the focus on high-status workplaces overlooks other contexts in which sexual harassment occurs. This Article focuses on one overlooked, significant national problem: the sexual …

Sustainable Affordable Housing, Andrea Boyack

Faculty Publications

Sustainable real estate development is an essential component of intergenerational justice, in part because the real estate sector creates more than 20% of the world’s carbon emissions. Governments, recognizing that environmentally sustainable real estate development involves higher upfront costs, have encouraged green building by offering publicly funded incentives such as tax credits, grants, reduced approval fees, and streamlined permitting. Using market measurement innovations such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, investors can promote environmentally sustainable development by prioritizing real estate developers that embrace environmentally conscious practices. Even though real estate in general still underperforms in many other sectors in terms …

Restoring Fairness To Campus Sex Tribunals, Cynthia Ward

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Best And Worst Of Contracts Decisions: An Anthology, Nathan B. Oman, Daniel Barnhizer, Scott J. Burnham, Charles R. Calleros, Larry T. Garvin, Nadelle Grossman, F. E. Guerra-Pujol, Jeffrey L. Harrison, Hila Keren, Michael P. Malloy, Daniel P. O'Gorman, Deborah Post, Val Ricks, Rachel Arnow-Richman, Richard R. Carlson, Mark P. Gergen, Kenney Hegland, Nancy S. Kim, Jean Fleming Powers, Cheryl B. Preston

Faculty Publications

Five hundred years ago, the common law of contract was without substance. It was form-procedure. Plaintiffs picked a form of action, and common law judges made sure someone besides themselves answered all the hard questions; the parties, a jury, or a ritual determined the winner and the remedy. Judges ran a switch on a conflicts-resolution railway. Thomas More, when Chancellor of England (1529-33), urged judges to lay tracks and control the trains. The problem, he said, was that the judges, "by the verdict of the jury[,] cast off all quarrels from themselves." The judges soon assumed greater authority, taking responsibility …

Copyright And Underwater Cultural Heritage, Tyler T. Ochoa

Faculty Publications

This article will focus on three aspects of copyright law as it applies to the photography of underwater cultural heritage. First, to what extent can a salvor claim exclusive rights to photograph a particular site? Second, who is the author (or who are the authors) of such underwater photography, which increasingly involves the use of remote-controlled robotic drones? Third, to what extent can a State control the use of underwater photography that falls within its territorial waters?8 All three of these aspects have been the subject of lawsuits and judicial opinions in the United States; and those opinions shed light …

Dirty Experts: Ethical Challenges Concerning, And A Comparative Perspective On, The Use Of Consulting Experts, David S. Caudill

Faculty Publications

U.S. attorneys often hire consulting experts who potentially never get named as testifying experts. The same practice is evident in Australia, where the colloquial distinction is between a “clean” and a “dirty” expert, the latter being in the role of a consultant who is considered a member of the client’s “legal team.” A “clean” expert named as a witness is then called “independent,” signaling that he or she is not an advocate. In contrast to the U.S. discourse concerning consulting and testifying experts, focused on discovery issues, the conversation in Australia betrays immediate ethical concerns that both (i) explain why …

Tweets To A Young 1l, Rachel I. Gurvich

Faculty Publications

A series of eleven tweets ruminating about the author's law school experience received a positive and enthusiastic response from many lawyers, law professors, and law students, and ultimately caught the eye of one of the Green Bag’s editors. This short piece unpacks and contextualizes those tweets. The original tweets appear below, numbered as they first appeared on Twitter.

Towards A Series Of Academic Norms For #Lawprof Twitter, Carissa Byrne Hessick

Faculty Publications

Tentative thoughts on what professional norms ought to apply to law professors who engage in a now popular form of public discourse: Twitter. Specifically, it is suggested that law professors should assume that, each time they tweet about a legal issue, they are making an implicit claim to expertise about that issue. It is also suggested that when law professors participate on Twitter, they should do so in a fashion that models the sort of reasoned debate taught to law students.

Unusual: The Death Penalty For Inadvertent Killing, Brenner M. Fissell, Guyora Binder, Robert Weisberg

Faculty Publications

Can a burglar who frightens the occupant of a house, causing a fatal heart attack, be executed? More generally, does the Eighth Amendment permit capital punishment of one who causes death inadvertently? This scenario is possible in the significant minority of American jurisdictions that permit capital punishment for felony murder without requiring a mental state of intent to kill or reckless indifference to human life. Thus far, Eighth Amendment death penalty jurisprudence has required a culpable mental state of recklessness for execution of accomplices in a fatal felony, but has not yet addressed the culpability required for execution of the …

Cyber War And Deterrence: Applying A General Theoretical Framework, Isaac Nacita, Mark Reith

Faculty Publications

There is a saying that politicians and generals are always fighting the last war, which is emphasized when the weapons and characteristics of warfare are changing rapidly. However, if this is true, it is often not due to an inability to learn lessons from previous conflicts, but to “overlearn” or overcompensate for the failures and experiences of the past. In reality, this is not a learning problem but one of forming poor implications from historical events, which leads to poor applications of doctrine the next time around. The DOD now acknowledges that warfare has extended into cyberspace, and it is …

Are The Stock Markets "Rigged"? An Empirical Analysis Of Regulatory Change, Stephen Diamond

Faculty Publications

Are the stock markets "rigged"? An empirical analysis of regulatory change: Volatile events in the stock market such as the 2010 Flash Crash have sparked concern that financial markets are “rigged” in favor of trading firms that use high frequency trading (“HFT”) systems. We analyze a regulatory change implemented by the SEC in 2007 by examining its effect on a key market metric, the bid-ask spread, an investor cost, and find that the regulatory shift, indeed, disadvantages investors. We link the implementation of this change to a shift in the volume of trades from a low-cost venue to a high-cost …

Anti-Suit Injunctions In Judicial And Arbitral Procedures In The United States, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

One of the prevailing myths of transnational litigation is that U.S. courts are not only ready but extremely willing to use anti­suit injunctions to preclude parties from filing or pursuing pro­ceedings elsewhere in the world. In fact, anti-suit injunctions (sometimes referred to as "stays" of litigation) are considered an extraordinary remedy in the United States, and the general rule is that "parallel proceedings on the same in personam claim should ordinarily be allowed to proceed simultaneously, at least until judgment is reached in one which can be pled as res judicata in the other." While this approach, often referred to …

Bulk Biometric Metadata Collection, Margaret Hu

Faculty Publications

Smart police body cameras and smart glasses worn by law enforcement increasingly reflect state-of-the-art surveillance technology, such as the integration of live-streaming video with facial recognition and artificial intelligence tools, including automated analytics. This Article explores how these emerging cybersurveillance technologies risk the potential for bulk biometric metadata collection. Such collection is likely to fall outside the scope of the types of bulk metadata collection protections regulated by the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015. The USA FREEDOM Act was intended to bring the practice of bulk telephony metadata collection conducted by the National Security Agency (“NSA”) under tighter regulation. In …

Benefit Corporations And The Separation Of Benefit And Control, Emily R. Winston

Faculty Publications

Scholars, activists, and other observers have expressed concern about the social effects of corporate activity in the United States since as early as the nineteenth century. A recurring theme in this debate has been whether corporations’ focus on shareholder interests causes them to neglect and harm the interests of other constituencies affected by corporate activity. A recent and prominent effort to address this concern is the social enterprise movement, which is unique because it has resulted in the creation of entirely new business entities designed specifically for for-profit businesses devoted to pursuing social missions. One of the most widely adopted …

Beyond Gift And Bargain: Some Suggestions For Increasing Kidney Exchanges, Nathan B. Oman

Faculty Publications

Each year, thousands of people in the United States die from end stage renal disease (ESRD), despite the fact that we have the medical knowledge necessary to save them. The reason is simple: these people need a kidney transplant and we have too few kidneys. Given our current technology, the only way to meet the massive annual shortfall between the number of kidneys that are donated and the number of kidneys that are necessary to save the lives of those with ESRD is to increase the number of living donations. The debate on how to do so has often pitted …