Law Commons^™

The Cost Of Humanitarian Assistance: Ethical Rules And The First Amendment, John P. Sahl

John Sahl

For many Americans, the choice between affording legal assistance--a luxury item--and covering basic living expenses appears to represent a choice in name only. Most states prohibit lawyers from providing clients with financial assistance to cover these living expenses. In a few states, lawyers may help clients with living expenses by advancing or guaranteeing financial assistance. Given accurate information about the availability of legal services, poor people may find themselves able to protect important legal rights.

In Part I, this Article reviews the origins of and reasons for the ban on lawyer advancement of living expenses to clients when litigation is …

Financial Abuse Of The Elderly: Is The Solution A Problem?, Carolyn L. Dessin

Carolyn L. Dessin

As a population, we are aging rapidly. With this phenomenon has come an increasing interest in the problems of older Americans. Early studies of elder abuse in the 1970s began a dialogue that continues with increasing vitality. This dialogue has prompted states to attempt to prevent, remedy, and punish elder abuse in a variety of ways.

Although all of the early studies and most of the current studies focus on physical and psychological abuse of the elderly, there is a growing appreciation that financial abuse is a serious problem. Accordingly, many states have attempted to remedy financial abuse, often called …

The Continuing Importance Of Congressman John A. Bingham And The Fourteenth Amendment, Richard L. Aynes

Richard L. Aynes

Lead article in a symposium issue. In the now-famous 1830s chronicle of a visit to America, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that in America every political issue is ultimately a legal issue in the courts. For Americans who lived through the antislavery and abolitionist era as well as the crisis of the war of 1861-1865, the military victory of the Union forces on the field of battle still left open large political issues. These issues were attempted to be resolved through the political process that produced a legal solution: a constitutional amendment that we currently identify as the Fourteenth Amendment. The …

Justice Scalia Reinvents Restitution, Tracy A. Thomas

Tracy A. Thomas

This essay criticizes the U.S. Supreme Court’s re-conceptualization of equitable restitution in the case of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Co. v. Knudson, 534 U.S. 204 (2002). In Great-West, a divided Court in an opinion by Justice Scalia held that “equitable relief” authorized by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) does not include claims for specific performance or restitution seeking money for breach of contract. Instead, the Court held that with respect to restitution, the term “equitable relief” includes only those restitutionary remedies which were historically available in courts of equity. This Article levels two criticisms at …

A Seldom Considered Aspect Of Tax Fairness And Simplifications: The Need For A Coherent Policy Perspective On The Many And Varied Dollar Limitations Contained In The Internal Revenue Code, Richard Kovach

Richard Kovach

No abstract provided.