Law Commons^™

Clients As Teachers, Barbara Glesner Fines

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Introduction – 21st Century Law, Technology And Ethics: The Lawyer’S Role As A Public Citizen Serving The Public Good, Irma S. Russell

Faculty Works

The lawyer's role as a "public citizen" also involves a duty to "seek improvement of the law." Changing technology has changed the way lawyers practice law. As public citizens lawyers have an affirmative commitment to the social goal of a just society. Ethical issues arise in the use of technology in society, and lawyers play a central role in social ordering. The idea that advocates in an adversary system have special responsibilities is not new.

A Common Tragedy: Promises To Benefit The Public Interest And The Enforceability Problem, Irma S. Russell

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Taking History Seriously: Municipal Liability Under 42 U.S.C. §1983 And The Debate Over Respondeat Superior, David J. Achtenberg

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The Monell doctrine - the most important obstacle to municipal § 1983 liability for constitutional wrongs - hangs by a thread. Four Justices of the United States Supreme Court have called for reexamination of Monell's conclusion that cities are exempt from respondeat superior liability for their employees' unconstitutional conduct. Plaintiffs' civil rights lawyers wait only for the right case and a single change in the Court's personnel before urging the Court to overturn Monell.

This Article is intended to provide those lawyers - and those who will oppose them - with a comprehensive, accurate examination of the relevant historical background, …

The Indemnity Principle: From A Financial To A Function Paradigm, Brad Wilson, Jeffrey E. Thomas

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Although the indemnity principle is well-accepted, its customary meaning has not kept up with insurance practice. This paper explores the evolution of the indemnity principle in the context of property insurance in the United States. When property insurance was standardized in the 19th century, "indemnity" had a strict, financial meaning. An insured was only entitled to receive actual cash value for a loss, less depreciation. This ensured that insureds received a financial recovery equal to the value of their property prior to the loss. This approach to indemnity was developed in the context of concerns about the morality of insurance, …

Shooting Stories: The Creation Of Narrative And Melodrama In Real And Fictional Litigation Against The Gun Industry, Allen K. Rostron

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In recent years, gun manufacturers and dealers have faced a wave of tort litigation in courts across the country. Shooting victims and their families have sued, claiming that they suffered injuries attributable to gun companies designing and distributing firearms in unreasonably dangerous ways. Dozens of major cities and counties have sued as well, seeking to recover costs for law enforcement, medical, and other public services allegedly incurred as a result of gun industry practices that foster criminal possession and misuse of guns. Patterned after the lawsuits by state attorneys general that shattered the tobacco industry's aura of legal invulnerability several …

The Chiricahua Apaches And The Assimilation Movement, 1865-1886: Historical Examination, John W. Ragsdale Jr

Faculty Works

Prior to the assimilation movement, the Chiricahua Apache Indians had built no stone temples, no multi-story apartments, no irrigation systems and no ceremonial highways. They traveled light and migrated with the game and the seasons. They lived in wickiups, quickly built and easily left behind. As Geronimo stated, "once [we] moved about like the wind."

This lightness of touch on the land spoke of ability, grace, and imagination. Their traditional way of life emphasized the people's intelligence, knowledge in the arts of fighting and survival, resourcefulness and striking fitness. Contemporary white observers described the Chiricahua with awe and admiration, transcendent …

Control Frauds As Financial Super-Predators: How 'Pathogens' Make Financial Markets Inefficient, William K. Black

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White-collar criminology scholarship shows that “accounting control frauds” (frauds led by the CEO) use accounting fraud to deceive (or suborn) sophisticated financial market participants. Large control frauds cause greater financial losses than all other forms of property crimes combined. Weak regulation, supervision and ethics produce epidemics of control fraud that cause systemic economic damage. As with the natural world, these financial super predators act like pathogens that take over a firm and act as a “vector” to cause even greater damage. Control fraud theory poses a major challenge to the efficient markets hypothesis and the resulting praxis that devalues financial …

The Aaml Model For A Parenting Plan, Mary Kay Kisthardt

Faculty Works

The American Law Institute's Principles on the Law of Family Dissolution were published in 2002. These principles, which were developed over nearly a decade, reflect the thinking of prominent family law scholars, practitioners and judges concerning the legal consequences of marital dissolution: child custody, child support, distribution of marital property and compensatory payments to former spouses. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers undertook the process of reviewing the ALI Principles concerning the Allocation of Custodial Decision-Making Responsibilities for Children and drafting a model parenting plan that would reflect the spirit of the ALI Principles relating to parenting plans without reference …

The Supreme Court Report 2004-05: The End Of The Rehnquist Era, Julie M. Cheslik

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Law's Box: Law, Jurisprudence And The Information Ecosphere, Paul D. Callister

Faculty Works

For so long as it has been important to know what the law is, the practice of law has been an information profession. Nonetheless, just how the information ecosphere affects legal discourse and thinking has never been systematically studied. Legal scholars study how law attempts to regulate information flow, but they say little about how information limits, shapes, and provides a medium for law to operate.

Part I of the paper introduces a holistic approach to medium theory - the idea that methods of communication influence social development and ideology - and applies the theory to the development of legal …

Making Place At The Table: Reconceptualizing The Role Of The Custody Evaluator In Child Custody Disputes, Mary Kay Kisthardt, Barbara Glesner Fines

Faculty Works

This article is based on the premise that custody evaluations cannot and should not be a substitute for the socio-legal judgment of the best interests of the child. Recognizing that clinical humility and judicial vigilance may not be sufficient to restrain the misuse of psychological evaluation, the authors offer three structural changes that would provide a more appropriate use of the skills and talents custody evaluators bring to legal decisions: using custody evaluators in the less adversarial setting of preparing parenting plans; revising the procedures by which custody evaluations are elicited in litigation; and, adopting the approximation standard for child …

High-Powered Controversy: Gun Control, Terrorism And The Fight Over .50 Caliber Rifles, Allen K. Rostron

Faculty Works

Near the end of the First World War, the German army introduced powerful new anti-tank rifles, and the U.S. military realized that it needed a similar weapon. Legendary American firearm designer John Browning answered the call by developing a heavy-duty machine gun and a new type of .50 caliber ammunition for it. Although rapid improvement in armor plating soon made it obsolete as an anti-tank weapon, Browning's machine gun proved to be enormously successful when deployed against personnel and less heavily armored vehicles. Military forces throughout the world continue to use it today. The ammunition for this gun became known …

Embracing Segregation: The Jurisprudence Of Choice And Diversity In Race And Sex Separatism In Schools, Nancy Levit

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Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, segregation based on race and sex is sweeping the nation's educational systems. Courts are rapidly dismantling desegregation orders, and when those desegregation orders end, school districts racially resegregate. At precisely the same time this end to racial desegregation is occurring, the government is beginning to sponsor sex segregation in schools as well. The No Child Left Behind Act provides over $400 million in federal funds for experiments in education, such as single-sex schools and classes. Embracing Segregation draws connections between the end of racial desegregation and the beginning of government-sponsored sex segregation …

Harry Potter And The Law, Timothy S. Hall, Jeffrey E. Thomas, Danaya C. Wright, James Charles Smith, Aaron Schwabach, Joel Fishman, Daniel Austin Green, Andrew P. Morriss, Benjamin H. Barton

Faculty Works

The magnitude of the Harry Potter phenomenon alone would make it worthy of consideration; the fact that it is children's literature, and thus may play a significant part in forming a future generation's attitudes toward law and legal institutions, makes it even more so. The various contributions to this article explore various aspects of law and culture as presented in or viewed through the Harry Potter stories. The contributions of James Charles Smith and Danaya Wright address the depiction of families in the narratives and the limited role and development of family law. Benjamin H. Barton's contribution considers the failings …