Law Commons^™

Centennial Dedication: A Brief History Of The Fordham Law Review, The Editors

Fordham Law Review

    Just five years after returning from its long hiatus, the Law Review was producing material that was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court. A student comment published in 1978 formed the basis for enterprise liability in tort law and remains a well-known example of courts citing to student works. The Fordham Law Review is currently the fourteenth most cited law journal overall as well as the ninth most cited by state and federal courts and the fifth most cited by other legal journals.

Legal Professional De(Re)Regulation, Equality, And Inclusion, And The Contested Space Of Professionalism Within The Legal Market In England And Wales, Lisa Webley

Fordham Law Review

    This Article aims to examine equality and inclusion in legal services from the perspectives of would-be lawyers and would-be clients. It begins by examining the state and solicitors’ changing relationship regarding access to justice, professional independence, and the rule of law. It then considers the changes that the LSA 2007 wrought, and whether this neoliberal turn can deliver equality and inclusion within the profession and by the profession for those seeking redress with legal help. It also explores whether de(re)regulation may be altering the legal profession(s)’s ability to act as gatekeeper to the profession(s) and whether this too may have …

Difference Blindness Vs. Bias Awareness: Why Law Firms With The Best Of Intentions Have Failed To Create Diverse Partnerships, Russell G. Pearce, Eli Wald, Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen

Fordham Law Review

    This Article uses the example of BigLaw firms to explore the challenges that many elite organizations face in providing equal opportunity to their workers. Despite good intentions and the investment of significant resources, large law firms have been consistently unable to deliver diverse partnership structures—especially in more senior positions of power. Building on implicit and institutional bias scholarship and on successful approaches described in the organizational behavior literature, we argue that a significant barrier to systemic diversity at the law firm partnership level has been, paradoxically, the insistence on difference blindness standards that seek to evaluate each person on their …

How Diversity Can Redeem The Mcdonnell Douglas Standard: Mounting An Effective Title Vii Defense Of The Commitment To Diversity In The Legal Profession, Stacy Hawkins

Fordham Law Review

    This Article undertakes an analysis, both quantitative and qualitative, of the developing body of Title VII diversity law. The jurisprudence of diversity was first developed by the U.S. Supreme Court in equal protection cases, but it has not been confined to that context. In particular, lower federal courts have been adjudicating cases asserting an interest in diversity as a means of challenging or justifying race/ethnicity- or gender-conscious policies and/or practices under Title VII. These cases have given rise to a body of Title VII diversity law that has remained largely unexplored in the scholarly literature. Because these cases have gone …

Biglaw Identity Capital: Pink And Blue, Black And White, Eli Wald

Fordham Law Review

    This Article advances a new capital analysis, depicting BigLaw relationships not as basic labor-salary exchanges but rather as complex transactions in which BigLaw and its lawyers exchange labor and various forms of capital—social, cultural, and identity. Unlike the traditional Tournament Theory model, in which BigLaw and its lawyers come across as near hopeless pawns powerless to combat vicious exogenous societal forces outside of their control, the proposed capital model conceives of BigLaw and its lawyers as active players who are very much responsible for the outcomes of their exchanges. Moreover, exactly because the capital model describes the underrepresentation of diverse …

Statutory Restrictions On Concealed Carry: A Five-Circuit Shoot Out, Justine E. Johnson-Makuch

Fordham Law Review

    In District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified a citizen’s core Second Amendment right to keep a firearm at home; however, the Court left open the question of how the Second Amendment applies beyond the home. Since Heller, lower courts have struggled to determine the constitutionality of concealed carry laws in light of this new understanding of the Second Amendment.

    Many states have enacted laws that restrict a citizen’s ability to obtain a concealed carry permit, and some of the restrictions are not controversial, such as the requirements to be above a certain age and have a …

Ban The Box: A Call To The Federal Government To Recognize A New Form Of Employment Discrimination, Christina O'Connell

Fordham Law Review

    As the number of Americans with criminal histories grows significantly, states and cities across the nation have reacted by adopting ban-the-box laws. Ban-the-box laws received their name because they ban the criminal history box on initial hiring documents. The goal of the ban-the-box movement is to promote job opportunities for persons with criminal records by limiting when an employer can conduct a background check during the hiring process and encouraging employers to take a holistic approach when assessing an applicant's fit for a position.

    There is no federal ban-the-box law, but states have taken varying approaches to adopting ban-the-box statutes. …

Fair Trade: The President’S Power To Recover Captured U.S. Servicemembers And The Recent Prisoner Exchange With The Taliban, Celidon Pitt

Fordham Law Review

    The Obama Administration’s controversial exchange of five Taliban detainees for a captured U.S. soldier in May 2014 reignited a heated debate over the proper scope of wartime executive authority. From a legal perspective, the primary issue centers on the constitutional balance of power between congressional appropriations and the President’s power as Commander in Chief. A complete analysis incorporates both judicial and historical precedent to evaluate the conflict within the broader context of prisoner recovery efforts.

    This Note argues that, regardless of the validity of legislative restrictions on the transfer of Guantánamo detainees, the President possessed sufficient authority to conduct the …

Our Administrative System Of Criminal Justice, Gerard E. Lynch

Fordham Law Review

    To commemorate our founding in 1914, the Board of Editors has selected six influential pieces published by the Law Review over the past 100 years and will republish one piece in each issue.

    The fourth piece selected by the Board is Our Administrative System of Criminal Justice, an article written by Gerard E. Lynch that is among the most cited works in the Law Review’s history.  This article illustrates how the practice of plea bargaining blurs the boundaries between adversarial and inquisitorial criminal justice systems.

   Judge Lynch now sits on the Second Circuit having eventually succeeded the late …

The Philip D. Reed Lecture Series: Judicial Records Forum, Panel Discussion

Fordham Law Review

    This Panel Discussion of the Judicial Records Forum was held on June 4, 2014, at Fordham University School of Law. The Judicial Records Forum focuses on issues involving the creation and management of judicial records and access to judicial records in the digital age.
    The transcript of the Panel Discussion has been lightly edited and represents the panelists’ individual views only, and in no way reflects those of their affiliated firms, organizations, law schools, or the judiciary.

The Internationalization Of Agency Actions, Jason Marisam

Fordham Law Review

    U.S. agencies routinely base their domestic regulations on international considerations, such as the benefits of coordinating American and foreign standards or the foreign policy advantages of a particular policy. I refer to this phenomenon as the internationalization of agency actions. This Article examines what the internationalization of agency actions means for agency decision-making processes, institutional design, and legal doctrine. It creates a stylized model of how agencies determine whether to coordinate their standards with foreign regulations. Among other institutional design findings, it shows that court opinions that reduce the stringency of judicial review when agencies implement internationally coordinated standards make …

A Battle Of The Amendments: Why Ending Discrimination In The Courtroom May Inhibit A Criminal Defendant’S Right To An Impartial Jury, Gina M. Chiappetta

Fordham Law Review

    Since the U.S. Supreme Court began limiting the exercise of peremptory challenges to safeguard potential jurors from discrimination, it has faced a nearly impossible task. The Court has attempted to safeguard a juror’s equal protection rights without eradicating the peremptory challenge’s ability to preserve a criminal defendant’s right to an impartial jury. Under the current legal framework, it is not certain whether either constitutional right is adequately protected. This Note examines the history of the Supreme Court’s limitation on peremptory challenges. It then discusses the current federal circuit split over whether peremptory challenges should be further limited. Finally, this Note …

Restructuring A Sovereign Bond Pari Passu Work-Around: Can Holdout Creditors Ever Have Equal Treatment?, Natalie A. Turchi

Fordham Law Review

    The rise of vulture fund investing in sovereign bonds has created additional hurdles to successful restructuring in an already fragile ad hoc process. Recent litigation in NML Capital, Ltd. v. Argentina has proven courts’ willingness to utilize powers of equity to enforce a ratable payment interpretation of the pari passu clause—the equal treatment provision commonly found in sovereign bond contracts—creating much uncertainty on how the ruling will affect future restructuring efforts. By looking to the tension in interpretations of the pari passu clause, discrepancies in remedial relief awarded, and international institutions’ proposed solutions, this Note analyzes the role of the …

Longstanding Agency Interpretations, Anita S. Krishnakumar

Fordham Law Review

    How much deference—or what kind—should courts give to longstanding agency interpretations of statutes? Surprisingly, courts and scholars lack a coherent answer to this question. Legal scholars long have assumed that longstanding agency statutory interpretations are treated with heightened deference on judicial review, and federal courts sometimes have made statements suggesting that this is the case. But in practice, federal court review of longstanding agency interpretations—at both the U.S. Supreme Court and courts of appeals—turns out to be surprisingly erratic. Reviewing courts sometimes note the longevity of an agency’s statutory interpretation as a plus factor in their deference analysis but at …

In Memoriam Of Hon. Joseph M. Mclaughlin, Editors

Fordham Law Review

    It is with great respect and appreciation that we dedicate this issue of the Fordham Law Review to the Honorable Joseph M. McLaughlin:  judge, dean, professor, author, and mentor.

Centennial Dedication: A Brief History Of The Fordham Law Review, Editors

Fordham Law Review

    The Board of Editors for Volume 83 thanks the former editors and staff of the Fordham Law Review, first published in the fall of 1914, for the century-long tradition of excellence achieved through their service.

In Memoriam Of Hon. Joseph M. Mclaughlin, John D. Feerick

Fordham Law Review

    John D. Feerick is a Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law, where he served as Dean from 1982 to 2002. In addition, he is the founder and senior counsel of the Feerick Center for Social Justice at the Law School. He delivered these remarks as part of a tribute to the Honorable Joseph M. McLaughlin on February 4, 2014, at Fordham Law School.

In Memoriam Of Hon. Joseph M. Mclaughlin, Constantine Katsoris

Fordham Law Review

    Constantine Katsoris is the Wilkinson Professor of Law at the Fordham University School of Law. He delivered these remarks as part of a tribute to the Honorable Joseph M. McLaughlin on February 4, 2014, at Fordham Law School.

In Memoriam Of Hon. Joseph M. Mclaughlin, Cathy Seibel

Fordham Law Review

    Judge Cathy Seibel is a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York.  She delivered these remarks as part of a tribute to the Honorable Joseph M. McLaughlin on February 4, 2014 at Fordham Law School.

In Memoriam Of Hon. Joseph M. Mclaughlin, Matthew T. Mclaughlin

Fordham Law Review

    Matthew T. McLaughlin is a partner at Venable LLP and a graduate of Fordham University School of Law.   He delivered these remarks as part of a tribute to his father, the Hon. Joseph M. McLaughlin, on February 4, 2014 at Fordham Law School.

The Future Of The Foreign Commerce Clause, Scott Sullivan

Fordham Law Review

    The Foreign Commerce Clause has been lost, subsumed by its interstate cousin, and overshadowed in foreign relations by the treaty power. Consistent with its original purpose and the implied, but unrefined view asserted by the judiciary, this Article articulates a broader and deeper Foreign Commerce power than is popularly understood. It reframes doctrinal considerations for a reinvigorated Foreign Commerce Clause—both as an independent power and in alliance with other coordinate foreign affairs powers—and demonstrates that increasing global complexity and interdependence makes broad and deep federal authority under this power crucial to effective and efficient action in matters of national concern.

What’S Hud Got To Do With It?: How Hud’S Disparate Impact Rule May Save The Fair Housing Act’S Disparate Impact Standard, William F. Fuller

Fordham Law Review

    Since 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari three times on the question of whether disparate impact liability is cognizable under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The first two times, the parties settled. The question is before the Court once again in Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., and this time the parties seem unlikely to settle.

    Disparate impact liability in the civil rights context entails liability for actions that have a discriminatory effect, regardless of an actor’s motive. Under the FHA, this can translate into liability for actions that make housing …

Involuntary Return And The “Found In” Clause Of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(A): An Immigration Conundrum, Matthew J. Geyer

Fordham Law Review

    Illegal reentry into the United States by previously removed aliens is a major problem that has risen steadily in recent years. 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) punishes such aliens. Specifically, § 1326(a) provides for criminal fines or imprisonment (or both) of any previously removed alien who enters, attempts to enter, or is “found in” the United States at any time after his or her initial removal.

    What does it mean to be “found in” the United States in violation of § 1326(a)? The easy case is when a previously removed alien surreptitiously reenters the United States illegally, remains in the United …

Should The Medium Affect The Message? Legal And Ethical Implications Of Prosecutors Reading Inmate-Attorney Email, Brandon P. Ruben

Fordham Law Review

    The attorney-client privilege protects confidential legal communications between a party and her attorney from being used against her, thus encouraging full and frank attorney-client communication. It is a venerable evidentiary principle of American jurisprudence. Unsurprisingly, prosecutors may not eavesdrop on inmate-attorney visits or phone calls or read inmate-attorney postal mail. Courts are currently divided, however, as to whether or not they can forbid prosecutors from reading inmate- attorney email.

    This Note explores the cases that address whether federal prosecutors may read inmates’ legal email. As courts have unanimously held, because inmates know that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) monitors all …

The “Social Magic” Of Merit: Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In The English And Welsh Legal Profession, Hilary Sommerlad

Fordham Law Review

The discourse of merit is central to the “boundary” practices deployed by the white male elite of the English legal profession to exclude outsiders. The official discourse of government and regulatory body reports presents merit as an objectively verifiable and quantifiable property, synonymous with “excellence,” the salience of which in the recruitment process is indicative of the modernization of the profession. In this form it is mobilized to deflect criticism of the slow progress toward diversity. Critical interrogation of the discourse of merit reveals that it operates rather differently as a key structuring principle of the profession. The alternative meaning …

Naming Men As Men In Corporate Legal Practice: Gender And The Idea Of “Virtually 24/7 Commitment” In Law, Richard Collier

Fordham Law Review

This Article seeks to reframe and turn the conversation about gender equity in the legal profession on its head, taking up Hannah Brenner’s recent call to reconceptualize problems and rethink solutions around gender equity in the profession. It does so by moving beyond the frame of the retention of women and exploring selected aspects of the gendered practices of men in relation to this notion of the ideal legal professional in large transnational “city” law firms. The Article traces how particular ideas about men and gender are, on closer examination, implicated in a broader recasting of lawyer professionalism within the …

Obergefell'S Conservatism: Reifying Familial Fronts, Clare Huntington

Fordham Law Review

I am delighted with the result in Obergefell v. Hodges, but I am unhappy with the Court’s reasoning. In lieu of a straightforward, and far more defensible, decision based purely on the Equal Protection Clause, Justice Kennedy’s reliance on the Due Process Clause is deeply problematic.

Measuring Transnational Human Rights, Cortelyou C. Kenney

Fordham Law Review

Over the past three and a half decades, hundreds of transnational human rights civil suits—i.e., suits seeking monetary compensation for atrocities committed abroad ranging from torture and extrajudicial killing to forced labor and human trafficking—have been filed in the United States. Exhaustive qualitative research chronicles plaintiff “successes” and “failures” as defined by how frequently plaintiffs win, the magnitude of judgments and settlements they obtain, and the extent to which judgments and settlements are enforced. The prevailing wisdom is that while some cases have proven runaway successes along these axes, in general, transnational human rights suits constitute “a modest enterprise akin …

Race, Dignity, And The Right To Marry, Robin A. Lenhardt

Fordham Law Review

Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges asserts legal marriage’s capacity to afford same-sex couples a measure of “equal dignity” and belonging too long denied. In this Essay, I ask whether there is any reason to believe that marriage could do the same for African Americans. Could broader entrance into marriage, as some conservatives suggest, provide Blacks—gay and straight—a measure of belonging that has been frustratingly elusive, even as the nation prepares to celebrate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Thirteenth Amendment’s ratification?

The Proper Standard Of Review For Required Party Determinations Under Federal Rule Of Civil Procedure 19, Brandon R. Coyle

Fordham Law Review

Rule 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, concerning the required joinder of parties, ensures that all parties with an interest in an action are joined in the litigation. At any time during the suit, a court may determine that an absent party has a specific interest that requires its presence in the dispute. When the court cannot join the absent party, however, the court must use Rule 19(b) to determine whether to continue the litigation without the absentee or dismiss the suit entirely. Despite the potentially drastic consequence of dismissal, federal courts of appeals cannot agree on the …