Law Commons^™

Suing The Firm, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

Lawyers who once would rather take grievances against their firms to the grave are now taking them to court. Is it the death of professionalism or the dawning of accountability?

One Crime, Two Punishments - Asset Forfeiture Cases Offer Chance To Sort Out Double Jeopardy Issues, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

At a time when anti-government sentiment is running high in some quarters, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering several cases on the hot-button issue of government seizure of private property linked to crimes, known as asset forfeitures.

Quantifying Liability Under The Architect's Standard Of Care, Murray H. Wright, David E. Boelzner

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Empirical Test Of The Rational Actor Theory Of Litigation, Donald R. Songer, Charles M. Cameron, Jeffrey A. Segal

Faculty Publications

This article examines the decisions of litigants in criminal cases to appeal decisions from the U.S. Courts of Appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. Using a random sample of search and seizure cases from 1962 through 1990 and a measure of the likelihood that the appeals court decision will be reversed if cert is granted, we demonstrate that litigants behave as if they rationally consider costs and benefits in their decisions to appeal. Given the extraordinary number of cases decided by lower federal courts vis-g-vis the number of cases the Supreme Court can decide, we argue that such behavior is …

If The Punishment Fits - Doctored Bmw Paint Job Returns Punitive Damages Issue To The Court, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

A lot more is at stake in BMW of North America v. Gore, 94-896, than the legal cost of repainting luxury automobiles, The case returns the issue of punitive damages to the Supreme Court amid complaints by business interests to a receptive Congress that high punitive awards are helping to stifle U.S. economic growth. At the same time, the case carries overtones of federalism, an issue that seems to lurk throughout the Supreme Court's docket these days.

Dean John Wade And The Law Of Torts, Gary Myers

Faculty Publications

Dean John Wade's death last year ends the career of a great scholar, teacher, and administrator. His many accomplishments and his impressive personal traits have been duly praised and chronicled. His legacy includes an impressive body of scholarly work, many former students trained in the ways of the law, and institutions that are better for his walking their hallways. This article focuses on one particular aspect of Dean Wade's contribution--his impact on the law of torts.

Remark: Brown V. Board: Revisited, Michael A. Middleton

Faculty Publications

[T]he Negro needs neither segregated schools nor mixed schools. What he needs is Education. What he must remember is that there is no magic, either in mixed schools or in segregated schools. A mixed school with poor and unsympathetic teachers, with hostile public opinion, and no teaching of truth concerning black folk, is bad. A segregated school with ignorant placeholders, inadequate equipment, poor salaries, and wretched housing, is equally bad. Other things being equal, the mixed school is the broader, more natural basis for the education of all youth. It gives wider contacts; it inspires greater self-confidence; and suppresses the …

The Criminal Defense Lawyer As Effective Negotiator: A Systemic Approach, Rodney J. Uphoff

Faculty Publications

In the first issue of the Clinical Law Review, Peter Hoffman challenged clinical legal educators to produce clinical scholarship that is “practical in its orientation and design” and written so as to enhance the ability of lawyers to represent their clients and to help law students prepare for law practice. This article takes up Hoffman's challenge in the context of examining the skill of negotiating or plea bargaining from the perspective of the criminal defense lawyer. Before discussing the methods, approach or techniques that lawyers can use to enhance their ability to bargain effectively, it is critical to understand what …

The Limits Of Quantitative Legal Analyses: Chaos In Legal Scholarship And Fdic V. W.R. Grace & Co., Royce De R. Barondes

Faculty Publications

This Article identifies a few of those techniques by examining a number of quasi-quantitative legal analyses that have addressed a range of legal relationships. The methodology of this Article consists of reviewing the relationship between those legal analyses and their associated non-legal disciplines. The unifying theme of the discussed examples is that a useful, well constructed quantitative analysis or approach has been improperly extended into a legal context.

A Response To Professor Vernellia R. Randall's The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, First Year Law Students And Performance, Cynthia V. Ward

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Towards A Payments System Law For Developing And Transition Economies, Raj Bhala

Faculty Publications

This paper examines the legal foundations of large-value credit transfer systems and the importance of certainty, efficiency, and fairness in funds transfer law. A case study is presented to highlight key terminology and concepts. Thereafter, five particularly noteworthy legal rules are discussed in the context of the case study: (1) a rule defining the scope of the law; (2) a rule establishing when the rights and obligations of parties to a funds transfer are triggered; (3) a receiver finality rule; (4) a rule assigning liability for interloper fraud; and (5) a money-back guarantee rule, coupled with provisions on discharge. Finally, …

All We Really Need To Know About Teaching We Learned In Kindergarten, R. Lawrence Dessem

Faculty Publications

Being asked to talk recently about teaching to non-law school professors caused me to think about some of the successful techniques I have used or seen used in law school teaching. I was concerned, though, that these techniques might not be transferrable to other teachers in other settings. However, the more I thought about it the more I realized that the techniques we use in teaching law students are comparable to, if not identical with, techniques used by any successful teacher. These are the same techniques we all have seen utilized by our best teachers over our many years of …

Critique Of Current Congressional Capital Gains Contentions, John W. Lee

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Improving America's Health Care: Authorizing Independent Prescriptive Privileges For Advanced Practice Nurses, Mary M. Beck

Faculty Publications

Nursing and organized medicine are engaged in a heated and emotional debate over independent prescriptive privileges for advanced practice nurses. Uncontroverted data demonstrates that nurse practitioners provide high quality health care at a reduced cost, while increasing access to health care for under-served populations. It is apparent that advanced practice nurses could improve the delivery of American health care. However, organized medicine is opposed to autonomous advanced nursing practice and lobbies powerfully against it. Currently, the majority of state laws and regulations pertaining to advanced practice nursing do not promote a sound public health policy, do not contemplate liability issues …

Professional Preparedness: A Comparative Study Of Law Graduates' Perceived Readiness For Professional Ethics Issues, James E. Moliterno

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Order Flow Cases: Jurisdiction, Preemption And Securities Laws, Richard L. Stone, Francis J. Facciolo

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Primary jurisdiction and preemption issues arise in securities class action litigation when alleged violations of state law arise from conduct that is either explicitly or implicitly regulated by the federal securities laws.

These are two distinct theories: one is a matter of administrative law and judicial economy (primary jurisdiction); the other is a matter of constitutional law involving the Supremacy Clause (preemption). To date, there has not been extensive case law involving preemption and the federal securities laws (other than in the blue sky and tender offer areas) and there has been almost no case law on primary jurisdiction …

Federal Minimums: Insufficient To Save The Bay, Roy A. Hoagland, Jean G. Watts

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Capital Gains Myths, John W. Lee

Faculty Publications

This article is a summary of parts of Lee's forthcoming article "Critique of Current Congressional Capital Gains Contentions," 15 Va. Tax. L. Rev. 1 (1995). Professor Lee believes that the reasons given by the House Ways and Means Committee Report and capital gains cuts proponents in the recent hearings and the House floor debate in support of the CWATRA 50-percent individual generic capital gains cut are untrue in whole or in part. These stated reasons, reports Lee, are that a capital gains cut will (1) increase the personal savings rate, (2) encourage risk taking by entrepreneurs seeking new technologies and …

Dangerous Misperceptions: Protecting Police Officers, Society, And The Fourth Amendment Right To Personal Security, Kathryn R. Urbonya

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The North American Agreement On Labor Cooperation: A New Frontier In North American Labor Relations, Rafael Gely, Leonard Bierman

Faculty Publications

During the debate leading to the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”), a great deal of concern focused on the effect that a trade agreement such as the NAFTA might have on workers' rights. As a condition for the ratification of the NAFTA, Congress provided that the treaty would not “enter into force until the three countries enact their own national agreement on labor cooperation.” In response to this concern, the three signatory countries negotiated the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (“NAALC” or “Labor Agreement”). The NAALC establishes a formal and elaborate procedure to settle complaints …

The New Federalism, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

the 10th Amendment was something they noted for the bar exam and then promptly forgot about. But for many conservative lawyers and politicians, the 10th Amendment- which reserves to the states all powers not given to the federal government-has been anything but academic. For them, it embodies the founders' promise for a nation in which the states and federal government are near-equal partners. And they have fought long and hard to give the amendment its proper due. As the rise of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and his Contract with America attest, their day may have finally come. Today, federalism, …

Rethinking Proceeds: The History, Misinterpretation And Revision Of U.C.C. Section 9-306, R. Wilson Freyermuth

Faculty Publications

This article provides a careful analysis of the proper scope of the term “proceeds” under Section 9-306. Parts II and III develop a coherent conception of the term “proceeds” by focusing upon the proper interpretation of Section 9-306 in its current form. Part II evaluates the passage of title conception of proceeds in light of the 1972 and 1987 amendments to Article 9 and demonstrates that this conception is fundamentally inconsistent with the economic, value-based conception of proceeds that emerges from those amendments. Using this emerging conception of proceeds, which focuses upon the occurrence of an event that exhausts or …

Health Care Rationing And Disability Rights, Philip G. Peters Jr.

Faculty Publications

This article explores the extent to which federal disability rights law limits the use of effectiveness criteria to allocate health care, either alone or as a part of cost-effectiveness analyses. To be more precise, it considers the circumstances in which disability-based classifications by health plans which would otherwise violate the anti-discrimination laws can be legally and ethically defended by proof that the excluded treatments are less effective than those which are provided. Part I introduces the expanding use of effectiveness analysis in health care, explains its discriminatory potential, and reviews the Oregon experience. Part II outlines the current federal law …

Children's Rights In Intercountry Adoption: Towards A New Goal, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Each year, hundreds of thousands of children languish in foster or institutional care worldwide, while at the same time, thousands of adults, married and unmarried alike, are denied children because of “shortages.” How did this tragedy occur, and why does it continue to be repeated daily in countries around the world? The unfortunate truth is that many of the legal and societal norms now in place effectively prohibit needy children from finding suitable homes. While potential parents in Western countries cry out for babies of their own, millions of children live in physical and psychological poverty in underfunded orphanages around …

Striker Replacements: A Law, Economics, And Negotiations Approach, Rafael Gely, Leonard Bierman

Faculty Publications

In this article, we directly attack Professors Wachter and Cohen's assertion regarding the economic efficiency of the Mackay doctrine. Applying internal and external labor market analysis, we argue that the Mackay doctrine is economically inefficient because it allows employers to behave “opportunistically” with respect to employees that have made “firm-specific” investments in their employing firms. To remedy this problem we propose a new “negotiations approach,” the components of which are: (1) the statutory overruling of Mackay, and (2) the concomitant amendment of the NLRA to make the striker replacement issue a “mandatory” subject of collective bargaining.

Outpatient Civil Commitment In North Carolina: Constitutional And Policy Concerns, Erika Lietzan

Faculty Publications

This article examines preventive outpatient commitment, which targets those not ill or dangerous enough to be committed to inpatient facilities under state commitment laws. After discussing the history and design of the NC scheme, it explores constitutional and practical difficulties. Ultimately, it argues that individualized case management through local mental health clinics is the more effective and humane way of serving the interests of both the individual and the state.

The Cat That Catches Mice: China's Challenge To The Dominant Privatization Model, Lan Cao

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The "Contract" And "Block Grants": The End Of Federal Food Programs?, Edward Steinman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Breathe Deeply: The Tort Of Smokers' Battery, Irene Scharf

Faculty Publications

This Article explores the long and faltering history of attempts to impose liability on tobacco product manufactures. Part II traces the manufacturers' historical and current actions of targeting youth through both promotions and deceptive advertising. Part III argues in favor of an expanded cause of action against the manufacturers for the intentional tort of battery. Part IV discusses the prospect of awards of punitive damages in these cases, and the Epilogue summarizes other advantages of the battery cause of action.

University Price Competition For Elite Students And Athletes: Illusions And Realities, Matthew J. Mitten

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.