Law Commons^™

Feedback Loops: Half-Life Your Message, Patrick Barry

Articles

I sometimes get asked to design training workshops to help organizations ensure their employees receive the consistent, high-quality feedback needed to develop and improve. A pretty common request is for workshops that give people feedback on their communication styles and push them to become more concise and compelling writers and speakers. Nobody, for example, has ever asked me, “Is there any way you can teach our lawyers to write longer, more rambling emails?” Or “Can you show us how to drone on and on while giving a presentation or running a meeting?”

Academic Freedom And Collective Bargaining: A Joint Report By The National Center For The Study Of Collective Bargaining In Higher Education And The Professions And The Aaup’S Center For The Defense Of Academic Freedom, William A. Herbert, Isaac A. Kamola, Timothy R. Cain, Erin Ward, Anita Levy, Kathryn Ritchie, Ariana Gonzalez

Publications and Research

This is a joint report by the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions at Hunter College (National Center) and the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom (CDAF) at the American Association of University Professors. It presents excerpts from forty-five collective bargaining agreements in higher education to demonstrate the wide range of ways academic freedom is defined in contracts, or not, and how the negotiated definitions incorporate, quote, follow, mirror, or deviate from the principles set forth in the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure (hereinafter 1940 Statement).

Law Library Blog (March 2026): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

2026 Ruth Bader Ginsburg Essay/Art Contest, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Wellness Connection Newsletter March 2026, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Liberal Trade And President Trump: Never The Twain Shall Meet, Joel Adu-Quaye, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

This paper seeks to distinguish between two consequences of the tariff policies enacted by both Trump administrations: (1) their adverse effects on free trade and (2) the existential damage inflicted upon the transnational institutions responsible for enforcing its rules and obligations. Although difficult to quantify the latter, there is an intuitive sense that this is what matters most. The global order appears to be shifting from a rule-based framework to one characterized by increasing disorder and unpredictability. Within this new world order, actions are permissible so long as they align with the, often ill-defined, national interests of powerful nations.

Evidence And Assessing Verbatim Transcription Quality Of Black English And Standard American English, L. Alexander Walker Iii

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter explores the accuracy of private transcription services when transcribing Black English and Standard American English. Courts and lawyers in the US regularly rely on transcripts from such services, but third-party verification of their accuracy, especially with respect to their quality when faced with nonstandard language varieties, is lacking. This study draws on experimental methods to contrast the quality of transcription services offered by transcribers and AI route. The quantitative results show that transcription by humans and AI resulted in more mistakes when transcribing Black English than when transcribing Standard American English. Furthermore, a qualitative analysis reveals that these …

The Supreme Court's Policy Favoring Arbitration And Its Limits, George A. Bermann

Faculty Scholarship

While the federal policy favoring arbitration is codified in the 1925 Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), the strength of that policy depends on the treatment that arbitration receives in federal courts and in the United States Supreme Court in particular.

Courts in all jurisdictions play an important role in fashioning the treatment of arbitration agreements, arbitral proceedings and arbitral awards. However, the judicial role in this regard is especially pronounced in the United States, in view of the problematic state of legislation on the subject. The federal legislation on arbitration is 100 years old and has never been meaningfully amended. The …

Performing Legality: When And Why Chinese Government Leaders Show Up In Court, Rachel E. Stern, Jieun Kim, Benjamin L. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

Since 2015, Chinese government leaders have been required by law to appear in court when citizens sue their unit or to designate an employee to take their place. We frame this policy as a demand on leaders to “perform legality,” sacrificing their time to demonstrate how seriously the government takes legal proceedings. Drawing on an original dataset of 127,529 administrative lawsuits decided between 2015 and 2018, we investigate how often government leaders appear in Chinese courtrooms, and for which kinds of cases. Overall, leaders attended 24.72% of hearings. Contrary to the State Council’s instructions to prioritize attendance in lawsuits that …

The Law Of For Cause Removal, Jane Manners, Lev Menand

Faculty Scholarship

For the first time in American history, the Supreme Court is poised to decide what it means for the president to remove a principal officer “for cause.” The case — which arises from the attempted removal of Lisa Cook, a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System — has major implications for central bank independence in the United States and, more broadly, for the U.S. administrative state. But given how long it has been since such offices were formally contested, courts and commentators have forgotten many aspects of the legal tradition governing “for cause” removal. In …

Ia Et Maintien De L'Ordre : Rapport De Synthèse Des Connaissances Sur La Gouvernance Et L'Utilisation De L'Intelligence Artificielle Par La Police Au Canada, Benjamin Perrin, Geoffrey Liew, Isabelle Sweeney

All Faculty Publications

Les services de police de partout au Canada utilisent, ou explorent, un large éventail de technologies d'intelligence artificielle (IA), y compris la reconnaissance faciale, le maintien de l'ordre prédictif basé sur la localisation, les lecteurs de plaques d'immatriculation automatisés, les rapports de police assistés par IA, la reconnaissance d'objets et l'analyse vidéo, la surveillance des médias sociaux, la détection de coups de feu, le génotypage probabiliste et l'exploration de données.

Bien que promettant des avantages en matière de productivité et de sécurité publique, ces outils soulèvent également diverses préoccupations et risques. Le Canada manque actuellement de mesures législatives et de …

Ai & Policing: Knowledge Synthesis Report On The Governance & Use Of Artificial Intelligence By Police In Canada, Benjamin Perrin, Geoffrey Liew, Isabelle Sweeney

All Faculty Publications

Police services across Canada are using, or exploring, a broad range of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, including facial recognition, location-based predictive policing, automated licence plate readers, AI-assisted police reports, object recognition and video analytics, social media monitoring, gunshot detection, probabilistic genotyping, and data mining.

While promising productivity and public safety benefits, these tools also raise various concerns and risks. Canada currently lacks AI-specific legislation and regulations governing these new technologies, or even a statement of principles on the governance and use of AI by police.

« À La Fois Une Fierté Et Un Vertige » : Dire Le Droit Des Personnes Et De La Filiation En Contexte De Réforme (2022-2025), Régine Tremblay

All Faculty Publications

Quelle chance d’écrire sur une réforme du Code civil du Québec pour célébrer les 50 ans du Centre Paul-André Crépeau ! Depuis l’arrivée au pouvoir de la Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) en 2018, le fond et la forme du droit des personnes et des familles ont été transformés. Entre 2021 et 2025, le gouvernement majoritaire de la CAQ a déposé quatre projets de loi, un chantier par étapes que le ministre de la Justice et Procureur général du Québec, M. Simon Jolin-Barette, qualifia pour sa part de « première réforme majeure »  en droit de la famille depuis 1980. Pour …

Recommendations For Developing A Regulatory Sandbox And A Comprehensive Legal Framework For Fintech In Vietnam - Part Ii, Sue M. Altmeyer, Phan Dang Hai

Akron Law Faculty Publications

Fintech, a product of the 4.0 revolution, has experienced rapid growth in Vietnam, attracting significant attention from investors and government agencies. In encouraging innovation, the authors write, the need for a practical legal framework to regulate fintech activities has become a critical issue. The authors believe that this new legal framework should include a regulatory sandbox, which would allow fintech startups to test their products in a controlled environment, helping to mitigate risks, foster creativity, and enhance regulatory oversight. This two-part article discusses challenges in creating and implementing a regulatory sandbox and provides recommendations for overcoming these hurdles. The first …

Sidewalk Living, Michael C. Pollack

Articles

In City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, the Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment does not prohibit a city from enforcing a criminal ban on encampments on public property such as parks and sidewalks. But even if municipalities are now permitted to use tactics such as policing, encampment clearing, arrests, and imprisonment, these are not the right ways to address the problems of public homelessness.

Instead, homelessness must be understood as one of many conflicts over limited public space. At its best, vibrant sidewalk life enhances communities and local economies. But at its worst, every use of these finite …

Rewired: Reconceptualizing Legal Services For The Ai Age, Lev E. Breydo

Faculty Publications

The legal profession is at a crossroads, caught between intensifying fears of AI-driven displacement and a generational opportunity for transformation. This Article provides a practical framework for navigating the shifting terrain.

Situating legal innovation within a multi-century arc of technological change, the Article draws on management and strategy scholarship to develop two core organizing models: the Legal Services Value Chain and the Innovation Frontier. The value chain disaggregates the lifecycle of a legal matter into five distinct nodes of activity, providing a map for subsequent analyses

Building on that foundation, the Innovation Frontier traces LegalTech’s evolution from 2000s-vintage e-discovery to …

Levers Of Default: Can The President Unilaterally Alter The Terms Of The National Debt?, Lev E. Breydo, Nathan B. Oman

Faculty Publications

The inviolability of America’s $30 trillion debt is a cornerstone of global markets and the U.S. economy. This Essay identifies a critical loophole: the President’s underappreciated power to dramatically change its legal structure—and argues that Congress should act to prevent a potential catastrophe.

The Essay details, for the first time in the literature, the arcane legal architecture underpinning America’s sovereign borrowings. Our analysis finds that although the President lacks authority to change the terms of outstanding debt retroactively, the President can accomplish similar goals by issuing new debt instruments that embed unprecedented powers. In surprisingly short order, a determined Executive …

Contested Citizenship And The Body In The Body Politic: Reflections On Michele Goodwin’S Presidential Address In The Shadow Of Skrmetti, Maya Manian

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This commentary is part of a series of responses to Michele Goodwin's 2025 LSA presidential address.

7th Annual Women In Law Leadership Lecture March 4, 2026, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

22nd Annual Diversity Law Symposium Dinner March 23, 2026, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Your Face As Property: Ip Strategies Beyond Right Of Publicity, Nick Cipriani

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (AELJ) Blog

During the Second Industrial Revolution, the source of goods became more important than ever as railroads expediated travel and access to goods across the United States. Today, the United States is in the midst of its third industrial revolution, a digital revolution fueled by silicon and microchips. This digital revolution is unlike the previous two industrial revolutions because biometrics have become commodities. The technologies and goods coming out of the digital revolution are multifaceted. First, they provide a physical good through appliances that allow for communication and shopping, among other things, across geographic borders. Second, they function as a service …

Law And The Self-Coordinating Market Idea, Sanjukta Paul

Articles

Much of the focus of the live Symposium was on comparing existing scholarship associated with two intellectual communities. I have no objection to that enterprise in the abstract, though I think it is a bit premature where law and political economy (LPE) is concerned and sets up an apples-to-oranges comparison to the decades-old streams of work and thinking in law and economics (L&E). But I would rather use the privilege of the space in this written Symposium to sketch what I believe is the ultimate substantive nub of contestation in this conversation about the core subject matter of “the economy” …

Sanctioning Negligent Bankers, Kyle D. Logue, Robert Will Thomas, Jeffery Y. Zhang

Articles

Over just one week in 2023, depositor runs at a few U.S. banks threatened to trigger a worldwide banking crisis. Afterwards, the United States suffered three of the biggest bank failures in the nation’s history; in Europe, Credit Suisse became the largest financial institution to fail since the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis. Stunned by this lightning-fast panic, lawmakers, regulators, and academics have called for significant changes to the U.S. financial regulatory framework. Leading among these proposals are calls to improve supervisory oversight of banks, to tighten existing regulations on banks, and to increase deposit insurance limits. But these proposals alone …

China And International Economic Dispute Settlement: Disaggregating The State, Gregory Shaffer, Ji Li, Henry S. Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Most studies take a unitary state-centric approach to assessing China’s relationship with international economic law. In contrast, we provide a more nuanced approach that assesses variation in China’s engagement. We examine the role of different Chinese state and non-state actors, considering their interests, ideological frames, institutional contexts, and relation to state power. We illustrate our analytic framework by examining China’s response to and engagement with international dispute settlement systems in three areas: international commercial arbitration, international trade dispute settlement, and investor–state arbitration. Our approach is important for global cooperation in discrete policy areas so that the West does not ‘other’ …

Disciplining Mechanisms: Governing Data Markets With Competition And Regulation, Peter Ormerod

Faculty Publications

The past decade has witnessed conceptual renewals in both competition law and information privacy law. These regulatory movements—Neo-Brandeis antitrust and structural data governance—share the objective of recalibrating the balance of power between individuals and the massive data-processing firms that now dominate modern life.

Despite their common ends, policy interventions drawn from these schools of thought can work at cross purposes: competitive pressure can induce data exploitation, and privacy rules tend to benefit the largest firms.

This Essay exposes the friction in their relationship and offers guidance on how to mediate their tension. Competition policy alone will prove ineffective at indirectly …

Online Age Gating: An Interdisciplinary Evaluation, Noah Apthorpe, Brett Frischmann, Yan Shvartzshnaider

Faculty Publications

The recent surge in regulation seeking to establish age-based governance online is part of a decades-long attempt to establish online zoning. It is driven by active development of technologies to estimate or verify user age based on various characteristics of users, their credentials, or their activities. However, these developments have heightened prevailing concerns that online age gating technology will inevitably be abused and misused to cause a variety of privacy harms and rights infringements. This paper examines this ongoing debate by bridging technical and legal scholarship to explore the current state of online age-based governance. We discuss the current legal …

Selective Service And The Separation Of Powers, Jeremy K. Kessler

Faculty Scholarship

The legal history of the U.S. military draft is a case study in creative statutory interpretation. Throughout the twentieth century, this interpretive creativity tended both to expand draft registrants’ substantive and procedural rights, and to recalibrate the roles played by Congress, the courts, and various executive branch factions in the governance of tens of millions of young men. Today’s Military Selective Service Act (“MSSA”) reads much like the law that governed the land when the country last went to war with conscripts during the 1950s and 1960s. But between U.S. entry into the Korean War and its withdrawal from Vietnam, …

Discriminatory Effect(S), W. Kerrel Murray

Faculty Scholarship

In constitutional law, “discriminatory effect” often matters. So it’s surprising how often we don’t quite know what it means. That opacity is trans-substantive; it has been a recent pitfall in contexts as diverse as admissions-policy challenges under the Equal Protection Clause, personal-jurisdiction disputes under the “dormant” Commerce Clause, and, under the Free Exercise Clause, requests for exemptions from facially neutral laws.

This Article’s first corrective is a novel typology. Constitutional discriminatory effect is murky, in part, because it has many types; we perceive it in myriad ways across constitutional domains. Comprehending this complexity enhances our understanding of what discriminatory-effect rules …

The Mysterious Federal Policy In Favor Of Arbitration: Festschrifts Squared, Robert H. Smit

Faculty Scholarship

As far as I can tell, John Fellas and I think alike on most things, both as practicing international arbitrators and as professors of international arbitration law. As arbitrators in practice, all of the awards we have rendered together — whether John chaired, I chaired or we both served as party-appointed arbitrators — were unanimous awards. As professors in academics, we both independently submitted essays — on the occasion of a festschrift in honor of Professor George Bermann — addressing related issues concerning the federal policy in favor of arbitration in the United States. John’s festschrift essay is entitled “ …

Can Legal Knowledge Save Lives? A Randomized Experiment In Preventive Health Screenings, Christopher Robertson, Wendy Netter Epstein

Faculty Scholarship

While the U.S. healthcare system typically imposes significant out-of-pocket costs, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires full insurance coverage for certain preventive health services (PHS), including cancer screenings, without cost-sharing. Despite this policy, one in four eligible Americans remains unscreened for breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer, which increases their risk of premature death. We hypothesize that a lack of awareness about the ACA’s free care requirement contributes to this gap and that explicitly informing patients could increase screening uptake. Additionally, we investigate whether prior experiences with medical debt deter individuals from seeking even cost-free care, reflecting a spillover effect of …