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Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Law

Reconstructing Langdell, W. Burlette Carter Jan 1997

Reconstructing Langdell, W. Burlette Carter

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This article traces the development of the modern American law school curriculum including the case method, as designed by Christopher Columbus Langdell and the Socratic method as implemented by James Barr Ames; discusses early tensions between law schools and the American Bar Association and the ultimate triumph of law schools as the primary method of law study and frames the Langdell legacy for a modern time.


Domestic Violence, Character, And Social Change In The Welfare Reform Debate, Joan S. Meier Jan 1997

Domestic Violence, Character, And Social Change In The Welfare Reform Debate, Joan S. Meier

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This article addresses the recently discovered connection between domestic violence and welfare “dependency.” Empirical research among welfare populations shows that over 50% of women receiving welfare are or have recently been battered, and that partner abuse is a major reason for the continuing poverty of many women.

The question the author asks and begins to answer is why this connection has not previously been identified or publicized by either the battered women’s movement or the anti-poverty movement, and what the challenge may be to both movements as they attempt to address it in the context of welfare reform. The author …


Mandatory Worker Participation Is Required In A Declining Union Environment To Provide Employees With Meaningful Industrial Democracy, Charles B. Craver Jan 1997

Mandatory Worker Participation Is Required In A Declining Union Environment To Provide Employees With Meaningful Industrial Democracy, Charles B. Craver

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

For many years, American workers directly or indirectly benefited from union representation. The 30-35 percent of employees actually represented by labor organizations in the late 1950s and early 1960s had their wages and benefits negotiated by those unions. Nonunion workers obtained similar benefits from employers seeking to remain nonunion. Over the past 50 years, private sector union membership has declined significantly to under 8 percent today. The individual employee has no bargaining power and must accept whatever he or she is offered. Workers have no say in firm decisions that directly affect their employment security and working conditions. The U.S. …


Reconciling Chevron And Stare Decisis, Richard J. Pierce Jr Jan 1997

Reconciling Chevron And Stare Decisis, Richard J. Pierce Jr

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Conflicts between Chevron and stare decisis can arise in several contexts. Pierce first identifies the values that are furthered by Chevron and stare decisis and then analyzes the judicial decisions that resolve conflicts between the two doctrines. The Supreme Court has announced and applied a series of mechanical rules to resolve such conflicts, e.g., Supreme Court precedents always trump Chevron deference, while even longstanding agency and circuit court precedents apparently count for nothing when the Court attempts to determine the meaning of statutory language. Circuit courts have announced and applied a dramatically different set of rules for resolving conflicts between …


Introduction To The Essays Of Warren Buffett: Lessons For Corporate America, Lawrence A. Cunningham Jan 1997

Introduction To The Essays Of Warren Buffett: Lessons For Corporate America, Lawrence A. Cunningham

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This Professor Cunningham's Introduction to his edited collection of Warren Buffett's noted letters to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The collection was prepared for a symposium held at Cardozo Law School in New York City in 1997 and originally published in the Cardozo Law Review. The Introduction serves as an encapsulation of the main themes of the resulting collection and locates them in contemporary discourse on matters of corporate governance; corporate finance and investing; mergers and acquisitions; and accounting and taxation. Professor Cunningham subsequently published the edited collection as a book under the title The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons …


Negotiation Ethics: How To Be Deceptive Without Being Dishonest/How To Be Assertive Without Being Offensive, Charles B. Craver Jan 1997

Negotiation Ethics: How To Be Deceptive Without Being Dishonest/How To Be Assertive Without Being Offensive, Charles B. Craver

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This article explores various ethical issues pertaining to negotiation interactions. Model Rule 4.1 proscribes material misrepresentations, but permits puffing and embellishment during bargaining encounters. This is based upon the fact that statements pertaining to one's settlement intentions and subjective values are considered to involve non-material information. It is thus imperative for negotiators to distinguish carefully between such accepted deceptive practices and clearly improper misrepresentations involving material information. The article also discusses the use of assertive tactics that might offend some persons. It points out how negotiators can be assertive without resorting to truly offensive behavior that would be unlikely to …


A New 'Sliding Scale Of Difference' Approach To Abuse Of Discretion: Appellate Review Of District Court Departures Under The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Cynthia Lee Jan 1997

A New 'Sliding Scale Of Difference' Approach To Abuse Of Discretion: Appellate Review Of District Court Departures Under The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Cynthia Lee

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Prior to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, criminal sentences were rarely appealed. For the first two years after implementation of the Guidelines, most appellate courts applied a tripartite standard of review when reviewing Guideline departures. Under this framework, courts reviewed the existence of an aggravating or mitigating factor de novo, the district court's actual findings for 'clear error,' and the reasonableness of the extent of the departure for 'clear error.' In Koon v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court purportedly rejected this tripartite standard of review, and instead proclaimed a unitary 'abuse of discretion' standard.

On the tenth anniversary of the …


Postures Of Judging: An Exploration Of Judicial Decisionmaking, Daniel J. Solove Jan 1997

Postures Of Judging: An Exploration Of Judicial Decisionmaking, Daniel J. Solove

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This article pits Ronald Dworkin against Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The article critiques Ronald Dworkin's answer to the question of fit: how judges reconcile general legal rules with particular situations. Dworkin's heavy focus on legal principles under-emphasizes the importance of facts in judicial decisionmaking. Exploring how judges approach the question of fit from a more literary perspective, the article examines the posture of a judge - a judge's physical and temporal position in relation to the cases she adjudicates, a position which affects the level of generality with which a judge perceives the facts of a case and directly influences a judge's …