Law Commons^™

Why The Criminal Justice System Can't Control Crime, Gerald S. Reamey

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Time Changes: Growing Complexity In Texas Sentencing Law, John M. Schmolesky

Faculty Articles

The Seventieth Legislature made criminal sentencing guidelines more onerous, but a number of factors combined to undercut its impact. These changes made the relationships between the legislative, judicial, and administrative components of the criminal justice system become increasingly complex, often resulting in one agency undercutting the decisions of another. Because of the complex web of agencies that have a role in determining the disposition of a convicted defendant, changes in the rules of sentencing must be analyzed at several different levels to determine their true impact.

Despite the apparently more punitive thrust of the new legislation, no clear policy direction …

Attorney As Interpreter: A Return To Babble, Bill Piatt

Faculty Articles

Attorneys should not represent their clients and simultaneously act as interpreters. The harm far outweighs the benefit when an attorney acts as an interpreter for a client in litigation. In 1970, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Negron v. New York determined that the Sixth Amendment's confrontation clause requires that non-English speaking defendants be informed of their right to simultaneous interpretation of proceedings at the government's expense, however the use of an interpreter is still at the trial court's discretion.

Courts will ordinarily not appoint an interpreter in the absence of a request to do so, but the failure …

Inadvisable Advice: Limits On Employers' Counseling Of Employees With Regard To Unfair Labor Practice Proceedings, John W. Teeter Jr

Faculty Articles

The National Labor Relations Board frequently interviews or subpoenas employees to help determine whether an employer has committed an unfair labor practice. Many employers, however, have advised their employees that they may refuse to cooperate with the Board's efforts. Professor Teeter argues that such advice has an inherent tendency to coerce employees and to frustrate the Board's vindication of their statutory rights. After reviewing the inconsistent approaches tribunals have taken to this problem, the author recommends that employers be prohibited from counseling employees regarding their participation in the Board's proceedings. Professor Teeter concludes that the Board itself should be the …

Keeping The Faith: The Problem Of Apparent Bias In Labor Representation Elections, John W. Teeter Jr

Faculty Articles

Any procedure requiring a “fair” election must honor the rights of both those who oppose and those who favor a union. The National Labor Relations Act (“Act”) is wholly neutral when it comes to that choice. Under the terms of the Act, employees have the right to form unions but also have the right to refrain from such activities. The National Labor Relations Board’s (“Board”) role in representation elections is to ascertain the employee's’ wishes concerning unionization, and not to influence that fundamental choice. The Board’s appearance of neutrality may be undermined through fraternization, the delegation of duties, and allegedly …

Trial And Appellate Criminal Procedure, John M. Schmolesky

Faculty Articles

Recent state and federal decisions significantly influenced Texas criminal procedure at both the trial and appellate levels. These decisions generally affected three main areas of the punishment stage of Texas criminal trials. First, they defined the scope of evidence admissible at the punishment stage. Second, they addressed procedural and substantive questions concerning the special punishment issue of use or exhibition of a deadly weapon. Third, they raised substantial questions about the constitutionality of the death penalty as applied by Texas courts.

Texas courts also faced numerous challenges in the aftermath of several important state and federal constitutional decisions. These decisions …

On The Transformation Of The Legal Profession: The Advent Of Temporary Lawyering, Vincent R. Johnson, Virginia Coyle

Faculty Articles

The structure of the legal profession and the nature of law practice have changed dramatically during the past quarter of a century. Indeed, the transformation has been so thorough that it is difficult to say with confidence which of the many developments has had the greatest impact on the culture of law practice. The growth in the number of attorneys and law firms has been exponential; women and minorities comprise increasingly larger percentages of law school graduates, practitioners, and the academic bar; law firms are taking on greater and greater numbers of associates; starting salaries in major firms now approach …

The United States Of America, Champion Of The Rule Of Law Or The New World Order?, Jeffrey F. Addicott

Faculty Articles

The New World Order was to herald in a new era in international affairs. It was to be an era of collective security sponsored and reinforced by the United Nations. In reality, however, the natural desire to enlarge the New World Order has quickly met with failure.

As the failures of the New World Order mount, the phrase loses its power. No peace movement has ever been premised on maintaining a strong and viable military, and no proponent of the New World Order can ever hope to be immune from the wishful thinking of those who demand the dismantling of …

Proceedings Of The First Center For Law And Military Operations Symposium, 18-20 April 1990, Jeffrey F. Addicott

Faculty Articles

The First Center for Law and Military Operations Symposium was held from 18 to 20 April 1990. It was conducted by the Center for Law and Military Operations of The Judge Advocate General’s School of the United States Army. Sixty participants, representing the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, Department of Defense (DOD), and Department of State attended the symposium.

The symposium covered number of topics including operational law (OPLAW), legal considerations regarding psychological operations (PSYOP), Operation Just Cause, military changes taking place in Europe, the DOD Counternarcotics Mission, and the negotiation and conclusion of international agreements. The …

The Declaration Of The Rights Of Man And Of Citizens Of 1789, The Reign Of Terror, And The Revolutionary Tribunal Of Paris, Vincent R. Johnson

Faculty Articles

Recently, Americans have been engaged in an effort to properly commemorate the bicentennial of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. If one is serious about that endeavor, it may be profitable to focus on the other bicentennial being celebrated this year in France. The early days of the French and American republics were intertwined, and it would be erroneous to think that the developments which then took place in the two countries can now fully be understood in isolation.

A number of legal aspects of the French Revolution are especially relevant to the American experience, therefore worth consideration. …

Ante-Mortem Probate: A Viable Alternative, Aloysius A. Leopold, Gerry W. Beyer

Faculty Articles

Most jurisdictions within the United States currently utilize the post-mortem model of probate. Under this theory, an individual of legal age and of sufficient mental health plans for the distribution of his bounty at death. These distribution plans are then formalized by being scribed into his last will and testament, which then awaits the death of its writer so that at the time of probate, it can be read once again to proclaim donative intent and assure that the estate is distributed in accordance with the testator’s desires.

While this theory of probate sounds proper, experience has revealed that in …

St. Mary's University School Of Law Annual Report 1990-1991, St. Mary's University School Of Law

Dean’s Report

No abstract provided.

Raborn V. Davis—Paycheck In Employee’S Possession: A Limitation Of The Current Wage Exemption In Texas, Richard E. Flint

Faculty Articles

Extensions of credit generally help both the debtor and creditor. However, a result of our credit-based economy is that individuals are free to make poor economic decisions, and that they should suffer the consequences of these poor decisions. Although legal rules have had a role in ensuring that debtors are protected from overzealous creditors, commercial transactions can only exist if obligations of debtors are legally enforceable. The role of government, therefore, is to set parameters for procedures to enforce these obligations, while also setting a floor of protected or exempt assets so that debtors will not become wards of the …

The Crime Of Barratry: Criminal Responsibility For A Branch Of Professional Responsibility, Gerald S. Reamey

Faculty Articles

When lawyers thought of spurious litigation or solicitation of clients, they thought only of disciplinary rules and possible sanctions by a grievance committee. Such misconduct is not, however, merely a breach of professional etiquette or a violation of disciplinary rules. It is also a crime. Barratry, unlike most forms of professional misconduct, is criminal. The sanctions are more serious and the procedures are often less familiar than for other ethical lapses. Personal solicitation of prospective clients is the evil targeted by the barratry statute.

In Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, the Supreme Court first recognized lawyer advertising as commercial …

Just A Bigger Fish (Book Review), Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

Shark Tank: Greed, Politics, and the Collapse of Finley, Kumble, One of America’s Largest Law Firms is a non-fiction potboiler written by Kim Isaac Eisler. The story is generally about the decline and fall of an institution instrumental to capitalism that prospered during much of the 1980s. In particular, it is about the decline and fall of men whose hubris and greed make the decline and fall so satisfying to read.

While it would be easy to dismiss the demise of Finley, Kumble, because it was not an old, established “white shoe” law firm, or to analogize it to the …

The Status Of The Diplomatic Bag: A Proposed United States Position, Jeffrey F. Addicott

Faculty Articles

The protections afforded diplomats, diplomatic missions, and diplomatic bags have been misused to sponsor or commit various criminal acts. This strikes at the heart of traditional concepts of international diplomatic relations. Use of the diplomatic bag to import and export prohibited or illegal items is particularly concerning, and the most disconcerting abuses are those that use the diplomatic bag to facilitate acts of terrorism.

All malum in se acts that abuse this diplomatic shield are objectionable. As such, it is necessary to examine the current legal status of the diplomatic bag and recent international efforts to re-examine that status. Conflicts …

Developing A Security Strategy For Indochina, Jeffrey F. Addicott

Faculty Articles

Serious thought must be given to the complex problem of U.S. military retrenchments in the Pacific Rim. One of the most troubling issues is the impact of significant military reductions on those developing nations in the Asian Basin that currently have no garrison of U.S. troops, but are nonetheless friendly to and necessary for American interests. Almost all of friendly Indochina is affected, with Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia being of particular significance.

Accordingly, the time has come for policymakers to begin to formulate a post-reduction security strategy for Indochina. Without such a strategy, the cumulative effect of an erosion of …