Law Commons^™

Nothing But A Northern Lynching: The Death Of Fred Hampton Revisited, Susan Rutberg

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No abstract provided.

Brokers’ Commissions Under Conditional Contracts, Roger Bernhardt

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This article discusses the California decision in RC Royal Dev. & Realty Corp. v. Standard Pac. Corp. finding it a cautionary warning to clients who try too hard to avoid honoring their obligation to pay a commission owed to their broker.

Repeating, Yet Evading Review: Admitting Reliable Expert Testimony In Criminal Cases Still Depends Upon Who Is Asking, Wes R. Porter

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A trial court must find that the proponent of expert witness testimony has set forth adequate evidence that the testimony is based upon reliable methods and will be helpful to the trier of fact. Much has been written regarding the reliability prong since the Supreme Court’s decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., yet a severe prejudice to the criminally accused persists today in some trial courts’ analyses of the often overlooked helpfulness prong. Despite the straight-forward articulation of helpfulness, described as “fit” or mere relevance, some trial courts apply the helpfulness prong differently depending upon whether the expert testimony …

Bad Timing For Deeds In Lieu, Roger Bernhardt

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This article discusses the right of redemption and the rule against clogging and why a deed in lieu that is given after the mortgage has already been executed may be enforceable notwithstanding that one given at the same time as the mortgage is not.

The Endangered Future Of Mfordable Housing Exactions, Roger Bernhardt

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This article is a discussion between Professor Roger Bernhardt of Golden Gate University School of Law and Professor David Callies of University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson School of Law as to whether a city’s affordable housing impact fees, set-asides, and/or exactions pass constitutional muster.

Rain Follows The Plow: An Introduction To The Issue, Paul Stanton Kibel, Philip D. Batchelder

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No abstract provided.

Hiding A Mortgage Too Well, Roger Bernhardt

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This article considers the California case Garcia v. Roberts, showing that a sale and leaseback can actually be a mortgage, with the twist that if title to the property goes directly to the lender from a third party seller, rather than from the borrower, the mortgage is one of purchase money rather than refinance.

The Slip And Fall Of The California Legislature In The Classification Of Personal Injury Damages At Divorce And Death, Helen Y. Chang

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Part I of this Article provides an overview of California's no-fault divorce reform, its haphazard development of community property laws, and the problems with the current statute classifying personal injury damages as community property during marriage and assigning those damages to the injured spouse at divorce, unless the interests of justice require an alternate disposition. Part II discusses the treatment and classification of personal injury damages in the eight other community property states and also offers a brief historical explanation of each state's community property origins. Part III concludes that the California legislature should amend the statute to classify personal …

Field Work, Myron Moskovitz

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No abstract provided.

Review Of Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats, And Lawyers Put Innovators At Risk, By James Bessen And Michael J. Meurer, William T. Gallagher

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No abstract provided.

A Case Study Of Environmental Justice Work In West Oakland, Helen H. Kang

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No abstract provided.

Exactions Or Extortions? Building Industry Ass’N V City Of Patterson, Roger Bernhardt, David Callies

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This article is a dialogue between Roger Bernhardt of Golden Gate University School of Law and David Callies of University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson School of Law as to whether a city’s affordable housing impact fees, set-asides, and exactions pass constitutional muster.

Simultaneous Priority, Roger Bernhardt

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This article discusses simultaneous priority found in a Nebraska case where a notice of commencement and a trust of deed were recorded within five minutes of each other. It also considers why UCC article 9 defines filing so differently than state real estate recording laws do.

Assessing Student Learning Through Powerpoint 'Games', Johanna K.P. Dennis

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It is undisputed that technology has the potential to change the law school classroom and to impact the educational experience. In the legal writing classroom, the use of PowerPoint-based "games" can create a dynamic learning environment enabling a professor to better assess student progress.

Saving Face: The Benefits Of Not Saying I'M Sorry, Brent T. White

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No abstract provided.

Rotten To The Core: Project Capture And The Failure Of Judicial Reform In Mongolia, Brent T. White

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Despite claims by international donor agencies that judicial reform efforts in Mongolia have been great success, this Article argue that Mongolian courts continue to grossly lack integrity, transparency, and accountability-and are perceived by the Mongolian public as more corrupt today than when donor-funded judicial reform efforts began almost a decade ago. This Article further argues that the failure of judicial reform in Mongolia stems in significant part from the "capture" of donor-funded judicial reform efforts by elites within the Mongolian judicial sector. It concludes that the inherent tendency for project capture in the "institution-building" approach to judicial reform that international …

Marriage, Money, Notice, And Presumptions, Roger Bernhardt

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This article functions as an intellectual checklist for navigating community property issues in divorce cases where title to the family home has been taken in only one spouse’s name. The discussion includes potential claims, constructive and inquiry notice, and the evidence code presumption.

Pursuing Environmental Justice: Obstacles And Opportunities - Lessons From The Field, Helen H. Kang

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This article argues that the clinic‘s clients and similarly situated grassroots groups pursue litigation because the laws do not adequately protect them from pollution at the neighborhood level. Environmental lawsuits filed by such groups result from the conclusion that there is "too much" pollution in the neighborhood—there is elevated background pollution, violations of environmental laws contribute to excess pollution, and litigation is one of the few ways to redress the distributive injustice resulting from pollution created by multiple sources.

Why Ceqa Exemption Decisions Need Additional Notice Requirements, Deborah N. Behles

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This article will initially describe CEQA, its exemptions, and the lack of notice requirements for exemption decisions. Next, this article will set forth the reasons why additional notice provisions are necessary to protect communities from agencies erroneously exempting projects that adversely impact the environment from environmental review. Lastly, this article will propose guidelines for projects that should require additional notice, explain how to implement them, and outline the information the notice should contain.

Resolutions Of Necessity In Eminent Domain: City Of Stockton V Marina Towers. 2009, Roger Bernhardt

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This article discusses a California eminent domain case warning local government agencies that the courts will give serious judicial review to the claim of “public use” asserted as justification for the taking.

Selective Ban Of Street Signs Metro Lights, Llc V City Of Los Angeles (9th Cir 2009), Roger Bernhardt

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This article discusses a Ninth Circuit case involving commercial speech and asks whether selective protection can be challenged under the Fifth Amendment.

The Last Bar Examination (2009), Roger Bernhardt

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This article criticizes the 2009 California Bar Exam Property question for its irrelevance to modern practice.

Title Insurance And Fraudulent Loans: First Am. Title Ins. Co. V Xwarehouse Lending, 2009, Roger Bernhardt

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Victim of fraudulently made loans not protected by title insurance issued to purported originating lender.

Unavoidable Difficulties In Drafting Easements, Roger Bernhardt

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This article discusses the use of the words “exclusive” in easements through, with advice to transactionalists as to prudent drafting and to litigators as to arguments to make for dominant and servient estate holders.

What Have Women Got To Do With Peace?: A Gender Analysis Of The Laws Of War And Peacemaking, Benedetta Faedi Duramy

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This article proposes an engaged analysis of the impact that armed conflicts have on women and the diverse roles that women might conceivably play in peacemaking. Recalling the original theories of international law, the article recounts how historical chronicles and modern Western authors have depicted women in wartime. Primarily portrayed as victims of brutalization and sexual violence, women have been confined to the private realm and, thus, excluded from the decision-making processes of war and peace. This research argues that the same exclusion has been reflected in the international law instruments that have reinforced the paradigm of women as mainstays …

Learning From Bogota: An Introduction To The Study Space Articles, Colin Crawford

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STUDY SPACE SYMPOSIUM ARTICLES: Learning from Bogota: An Introduction to the Study Space Articles.

The Study Space project of which this volume is the second iteration strives to create a forum to focus on the positive and negative effects of human activity as it changes physical and built environments-in the broadest sense of the term "environment," or what the Study. Space subtitle characterizes as the "human habits and habitats in, the 21st century." This volume endeavors to provide some such explorations and reflections for Bogota.

Our Bandit Future - Cities, Shantytowns, And Climate Change Governance, Colin Crawford

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This Article seeks, to begin to define a role for cities and their inhabitants in climate change governance. Part I argues that if we fail to take into account global urbanization and its defining characteristics, namely extreme squalor and associated social ills, as a central feature of climate change policy, we face, as a Rio de Janeiro taxi driver said to me during the hot, dry, violent winter of 2006 in that city, 13 "urn futuro bandido," literally "a bandit future." That is, we face a future where cities, the places where most of the world's population lives, will experience …

Response To Professor Mcallister's Reply To My Review Of Making Law Matter, Colin Crawford

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No abstract provided.

Defending Public Prosecutors And Defining Brazil's Environmental Public Interest: A Review Of Lesley Mcallister's Making Law Matter: Environmental Protection And Legal Institutions In Brazil, Colin Crawford

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No abstract provided.

Ritual, Emotion, And Political Belief: The Search For The Constitutional Limit To Patriotic Education In Public Schools, Brent T. White

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No abstract provided.