Law Commons^™

Designing Non-National Systems: The Case Of The Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, Laurence R. Helfer, Graeme B. Dinwoodie

Faculty Scholarship

The article critically assesses the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) as a potential model for solving the immense legal challenges presented by transborder activity. Inaugurated in late 1999 by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the UDRP creates a fast, inexpensive online mechanism for trademark owners to recapture domain names held by persons who, in bad faith, register and use domain names that are confusingly similar to those marks. At present, the UDRP applies only to a narrow segment of disputes between trademark owners and domain name registrants. But the UDRP has been heralded by …

Lessons From North Carolina’S Redistricting Litigation, Robinson O. Everett

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

When Does An Unsafe Act Become A Crime?, Charles J. Dunlap Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Expression And Appearance: A Comment On Hellman, Matthew D. Adler

Faculty Scholarship

Response to, Deborah Hellman, Judging by Appearances: Professional Ethics, Expressive Government, and the Moral Significance of How Things Seem, 60 Maryland Law Review 653 (2001).

Comparing Judicial Selection Systems, Lee Epstein, Jack Knight, Olga Shvetsova

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Risk, Death And Time: A Comment On Judge Williams’ Defense Of Cost-Benefit Analysis, Matthew D. Adler

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Ending Illegitimate Advocacy: Reinvigorating Rule 11 Through Enhancement Of The Ethical Duty To Report, Lonnie T. Brown, Jr.

Scholarly Works

This article seeks to draw attention to certain ethical misconduct of litigators that is routinely accepted, tolerated, or ignored by the legal profession. Though there are other examples, the author focuses on conduct prohibited by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11. In particular, the author concentrates on that rule's so-called “safe harbor” provision, which he argues serves to insulate, and possibly encourage, illegitimate advocacy in the form of the assertion and maintenance of frivolous claims, defenses, or other contentions ironically, the very conduct that the rule was ostensibly intended to deter. Regardless of the frequency of this sort of misbehavior, …

Calling Children To Account: The Proposal For A Juvenile Chamber In The Special Court For Sierra Leone, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

In a unique proposal to the United Nations Security Council, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended that a Juvenile Chamber of the Special Court have authority to try defendants as young as fifteen. The plan sparked immediate controversy. Sierra Leoneans wanted the worst perpetrators punished regardless of age, while human rights organizations argued that juvenile prosecutions would weaken rehabilitative efforts. The Security Council subsequently diluted the proposal; nevertheless, it merits examination, given the increasing use, in Africa and around the world, of children in combat.

Back To Basics? University Legal Education And 21st Century Professionalism, Annie Rochette, W. Wesley Pue

All Faculty Publications

This article probes the complexities surrounding trying to match law school curriculum with the needs of students intent on careers in the practice of law. It pursues the issue in three stages: 1) an assessment of a contemporary back to basics critique of legal education; 2)an empirical evaluation of actual student experiences and course selections at a major North American law school over the course of a decade; 3) an assessment of the 'fit' between existing legal education and the likely needs of future practitioners.

Globalization And Legal Education: Views From The Outside-In, W. Wesley Pue

All Faculty Publications

During the past two decades a new, global, legal professionalism has manifested itself in the field of legal education through a variety of programmes seeking to produce globally-aware or globally-connected lawyers. This paper explores the diverse meanings of globalization and legal education with particular attention to the differential effects of globalization and the varied experiences of it in different parts of the world. Taking its starting point from a Nigerian graduate student's insight that globalization means 'The White Man is Coming again'. What does he want this time?, he explores both American and international perspectives.

Legal Rights In The Supreme Court Of Canada In 2000: Seeing The Big Picture, Janine Benedet

All Faculty Publications

In 2000, the Supreme Court of Canada decided four cases which raised claims concerning some of the legal rights provisions of the Charter. Two of the cases were criminal: R. v. Darrach, [2000] 2 S.C.R. 443; R. v. Morrisey, [2000] 2 S.C.R. 90. The other two cases involved a human rights investigation (Blencoe v. British Columbia (Human Rights Commission), [2000] 2 S.C.R. 307), and a child protection proceeding (Winnipeg Child and Family Services v. K.L.W., [2000] 2 S.C.R. 519). This comment focuses on two of these decisions (Blencoe and Darrach) where the SCC considered claims under section 7 of the …

In Search Of The Qualitative Clear Majority: Democratic Experimentalism And The Quebec Secession Reference, Cristie Ford

All Faculty Publications

This article attempts to marry direct democratic deliberation with the enforcement of important constitutional norms in the context of a real-life policy question. The question is the secession of Quebec from Canada. The article argues that a referendum is neither the most legitimate nor the most effective way to address the issue. The debate over Quebec's future must be reoriented by reference to the broad normative framework set out by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Reference Re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217, combined with a new democratic process. This article introduces an innovative constitutional model called …

A Well-Founded Fear Of Prosecution: Mediation And The Unauthorized Practice Of Law, David A. Hoffman, Natasha Affolder

All Faculty Publications

To many mediators, "UPL" is an acronym with an increasingly ominous ring. This growing concern about the unauthorized practice of law (UPL) arises from reports around the country of charges filed against mediators who are not lawyers. These prosecutions - or in some cases warnings - are primarily directed at divorce mediators as a result of their drafting of detailed marital settlement agreements. However, all mediators have a reason to be concerned, because of uncertainties about what constitutes UPL in the context of mediation. This article surveys the legal terrain of UPL, and argues that it's time for new, clear …

Everything I Need To Know About Presidents I Learned From Dr. Seuss, Gary S. Lawson

Faculty Scholarship

Oaths are out of fashion these days. This is an era in which it is widely considered unreasonable to expect the President of the United States to obey basic principles of law and justice, much less to honor something as abstract as an oath. Perjury the violation of a legally binding oath-is publicly defended as proof of the offender's humanity rather than his criminality. And one should not even mention in polite company something as gauche as honoring an oath of marriage. Those pesky vows of marital fidelity were, after all, just words.

Hunting The Dragon: Reforming The Massachusetts Murder Statute, Sean J. Kealy

Faculty Scholarship

Murder is the most serious of all crimes. Given the grave consequences of murder, both in act and in punishment, one would expect careful, clearly defined elements of the crime. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Some states, including Massachusetts, have statutes that retain outdated or archaic common law terms that are subject to constant redefinition by judges.

Non-Compete Obligations Of Departing Star Partners And The Right Of Clients To Their Continued Services, Tamar Frankel

Faculty Scholarship

The interests of advisers and their clients may conflict in unexpected ways. One such situation arises when the adviser’s partners or managers (portfolio managers) sign a non-compete agreement with the adviser and later, when they leave, are sought after by clients who wish to continue the relationship. The case is clear if the departing portfolio manager solicits the clients of the adviser in violation of its non-compete undertaking. The case is less clear when the clients wish to follow the departing portfolio manager and press to engage her in violation of the non-compete undertaking. The conflict here is between the …

Is Napster A Vcr? The Implications Of Sony For Napster And Other Internet Technologies, Stacey Dogan

Faculty Scholarship

The staple article of commerce doctrine must strike a balance between a copyright holder's legitimate demand for effective-not merely symbolic-protection of the statutory monopoly, and the rights of others freely to engage in substantially unrelated areas of commerce.

In Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, the Supreme Court created the copyright version of the so-called "staple article of commerce doctrine."'2 Its stated objective was to strike a balance between the incentive objectives of copyright3 and the interests of the public in access to new technology.4 As defined by the Court, the doctrine prevents copyright holders from interfering with …

Why Courts Review Arbitral Awards, William W. Park

Faculty Scholarship

Judicial review of arbitral awards constitutes a form of risk management. In most countries courts may vacate decisions of perverse arbitrators who have ignored basic procedural fairness, as well as those of alleged arbitrators who have attempted to resolve matters never properly submitted to their jurisdiction. In some countries judges may also correct legal error or monitor an award's consistency with public policy.

Public scrutiny of arbitration is inevitable at the time of award recognition. Judges can hardly ignore the basic fairness of an arbitral proceeding when asked to give an award res judicata effect by seizing assets or staying …

Patterns Of Courtroom Justice, Jessica Silbey

Faculty Scholarship

Any one film can sustain a myriad of compelling interpretations. A collection of films, however, sharing formal and substantive qualities, reveals a common effect more than a diversity of meanings. This essay traces the shared formal and substantive qualities of a group of films, as I name them 'trial films'. It documents this genre of film by identifying the genre's norms of viewing and identification. It also investigates the peculiar hybrid discourse of the trial film genre that combines both filmic and legal discursive practices to show how trial films cultivate support for the American system of law through its …

Researching International Environmental Law, Ronald E. Wheeler

Faculty Scholarship

Question: I would like to use the Internet to research issues involving international law, specifically international environmental law. How can I access relevant information quickly if I have very little information to begin with?

Commentary On Economic And Ethical Reasons For Protecting Data, Wendy J. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

Like Jane Ginsburg, I would like to drop back a bit, to talk about more general principles. Essentially, both of our primary speakers focused on a distinction between property and non-property modes of protecting data. I would like to highlight the economic and ethical reasons for maintaining that distinction.

Federal Habeas Corpus In A Nutshell, Larry Yackle

Faculty Scholarship

Newcomers to the capital punishment controversy may be puzzled by ubiquitous references to the common law writ of habeas corpus. What, you may ask, does the Great Writ have to do with the death penalty? The answer is: virtually everything. The lower federal courts have no ordinary appellate jurisdiction to review state criminal judgments for error. They adjudicate federal constitutional claims in death penalty cases primarily by entertaining habeas corpus petitions from death row prisoners. But for federal habeas corpus, capital sentences imposed for state criminal offenses would be examined only in state court and, occasionally, in the Supreme Court …

Pen Or Printer: Can Students Afford To Handwrite Their Exams?, Kif Augustine-Adams, Suzanne B. Hendrix, James R. Rasband

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Fear Of Oversight: The Fundamental Failure Of Businesslike Government, Steven L. Schooner

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Fingerprinting: Indicting Dna Threatens Criminal Defendants' Constitutional And Statutory Rights, Andrew C. Bernasconi

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Vision Of Health And Human Rights For The 21st Century: A Continuing Discussion With Stephen P. Marks, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Professor Marks offers an eloquent vision of health and human rights in the 21st Century. As the Director of the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Professor Marks ably carries the torch that Jonathan Mann lit in the field until his tragic death on September 2, 1998. Professor Marks stands along with the leading figures in health and human rights - e.g., Audrey Chapman, Sofia Gruskin, Michael Kirby, Daniel Tarantola, Brigit Toebes, Katarina Tomasevski, and Virginia Leary.

Surrogacy From The Perspectives Of Economic And Civil Liberties, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The field of law and economics, of which Judge Posner is the leading theorist, has offered a rich and sophisticated framework for thinking about a wide variety of problems at the interface of law and society. The theory, based on economic principles for understanding behavioral incentives and disincentives, is widely taught in law schools and is influential in scholarship. I have not always agreed with the application of the theory to complex problems of individual and group behavior, yet I constantly have been impressed with the elegance of the writing and analysis.

Judge Posner thinks about surrogacy arrangements in terms …

Public Health, Ethics, And Human Rights: A Tribute To The Late Jonathan Mann, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The late Jonathan Mann famously theorized that public health, ethics, and human rights are complementary fields motivated by the paramount value of human well-being. He felt that people could not be healthy if governments did not respect their rights and dignity as well as engage in health policies guided by sound ethical values. Nor could people have their rights and dignity if they were not healthy. Mann and his colleagues argued that public health and human rights are integrally connected: Human rights violations adversely affect the community's health, coercive public health policies violate human rights, and advancement of human rights …

Free Exercise Rights Of Capital Jurors, Brian Galle

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Supreme Court has said that the Constitution permits trial judges to exclude from the pool of potential capital trial jurors any persons whose views on the death penalty would likely substantially impair their ability to reach an impartial verdict. This Note argues that the Court's analysis to date is incomplete, in that it omits close evaluation of potential conflicts between such exclusions and the Free Exercise Clause. The Note argues further that a court should apply strict scrutiny to any state action, such as exclusion for cause, that burdens the use of religious beliefs in the mental processes of …

Secret Trials, David Cole

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Today, U.S. immigration authorities use secret evidence to lock up immigrants in deportation proceedings, to exclude aliens at the border, and to oppose applications for "relief from deportation," including asylum.