Law Commons^™

Electronic Case Filing: Is Failure To Check Email Related To An Electronically Filed Case Malpractice?, Jessica Bekskis

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

This article explores electronic case filing and the duties of lawyers with regard to electronic filing. A recent federal district court case held that an attorney’s failure affirmatively to check the status of his case via email or the court’s PACER system, which resulted in dismissal of the case, did not constitute excusable neglect under Rule 60(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This holding imputes a professional duty on lawyers who use the electronic filing system to check email and the status of their case, suggesting that breaching of such duty may constitute malpractice.

American And French Perspectives On Trademark Keying: The Courts Leave Businesses Searching For Answers, Terrance J. Keenan

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Trademark owners in America and Europe are attacking the lucrative practice of selling search results and advertising linked to searches based on product names and trademarks, which is known as trademark keying. From makers of luxury products to travel companies, and insurance companies to home décor vendors, companies have sued Internet search providers to stop this practice that they believe amounts to trademark infringement. Recent cases against search engine companies in American and French courts reflect divergent views on the legality of the practice at this early stage of the debate. This Article evaluates recent rulings in both jurisdictions which …

Help Wanted: The Constitutional Case Against Gerrymandering To Protect Congressional Incumbents, Walter M. Frank

ExpressO

This article argues that the Supreme Court has been incorrect in treating incumbent protection gerrymanders as a traditional and acceptable redistricting principle. Part I of the article sets out 3 separate lines of attack on excessive incumbent protection gerrymanders. Part II makes the case for judicial regulation of such gerrymanders and proposes a standard that would create a presumption of unconstitutionality that could be rebutted. A process oriented remedy is proposed and potential obstacles to a suit are also addressed.

Cityland – Vol. 2, No. 11, Center For New York City Law

CityLand - 2005

The December 2005 issue of CityLand highlights significant land use and preservation actions across New York City. The City Council approved rezonings in South Park Slope, Olinville (Bronx), and two Staten Island neighborhoods (Bay Terrace and Oakwood), aimed at curbing overdevelopment and preserving neighborhood character. The Council also overrode Mayor Bloomberg’s veto to reject the landmark designation of the Austin Nichols warehouse in Williamsburg. The Planning Commission approved a 718-space garage adjacent to the High Line and a new Business Improvement District in Flatbush. BSA decisions included variances for a NoHo mixed-use building, a West Village nursing home, and a …

Wto Dispute Settlement And Competition Law: Views From The Perspective Of The Appellate Body's Experience, Claus-Dieter Ehlermann

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

The current discussions on a future framework for competition policy within the World Trade Organization ("WTO")have revealed reservations against the full application of the WTO dispute settlement system to such a framework. The current dispute settlement system of the WTO is one of the results of the Uruguay Round negotiations. For an international agreement of nearly universal scope, this system is unique in its obligatory and quasi-automatic character. In general, complaints can be brought to the WTO against national laws which fail to comply with WTO obligations and also against a WTO-inconsistent application of national laws in individual cases. The …

Worst Us Antitrust Decisions...Ever - Part Two, William Kolasky

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

Last month we invited a panel of three US lawyers to discuss some of the worst antitrust decisions of all time. We now conclude that series, with the second set of candidates for the 'Hall of Shame'. Read the opinions carefully--we'll be picking the worst of the worst in a website survey next month.

Summary Of City Of Las Vegas V. Walsh, 121 Nev. Adv. Op. 85, 124 P.3d 203, Laura Deeter

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

This case analyzes the scope of NRS 50.315(4), which allows the submission of an affidavit to prove specific facts about blood testing by experts. The scope of the affidavit was challenged as well as the Defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him.

Summary Of Bolden V. State, 121 Nev. Adv. Op. 86, Kelly Dove

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

No abstract provided.

In Pittsburgh, Freedom Abridged, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.”

It’S Personal But Is It Mine? Toward Property Rights In Personal Information., Vera Bergelson

Rutgers Law School (Newark) Faculty Papers

“It’s Personal But Is It Mine? Toward Property Rights in Personal Information” discusses the disturbing erosion of privacy suffered by the American society in recent years due to citizens’ loss of control over their personal information. This information, collected and traded by commercial enterprises, receives almost no protection under current law. I argue that, in order to protect privacy, individuals need to secure control over their information by becoming its legal owners.

In this article, I confront two fundamental questions that have not been specifically addressed in the privacy literature before: why property is the most appropriate regime for regulating …

Great Lakes—St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact

Water Law Documents

The states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby solemnly covenant and agree with each other, upon enactment of concurrent legislation by the respective state legislatures and consent by the Congress of the United States as follows:

ARTICLE 1: SHORT TITLE, DEFINITIONS, PURPOSES AND DURATION

ARTICLE 2: ORGANIZATION

ARTICLE 3: GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES

ARTICLE 4: WATER MANAGEMENT AND REGULATION

ARTICLE 5: TRIBAL CONSULTATION

ARTICLE 6: PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

ARTICLE 7: DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND ENFORCEMENT

ARTICLE 8: ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 9: EFFECTUATION

Great Lakes—St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement, The State Of Illinois, The State Of Indiana, The State Of Michigan, The State Of Minnesota, The State Of New York, The State Of Ohio, The Province Of Ontario, The Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania, The Government Of Québec, The State Of Wisconsin

Water Law Documents

1. The objectives of this Agreement are:
a. To act together to protect, conserve and restore the Waters of the Great Lakes—St. Lawrence River Basin because current lack of scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to protect the Basin Ecosystem;
b. To facilitate collaborative approaches to Water management across the Basin to protect, conserve, restore, improve and efficiently and effectively manage the Waters and Water Dependent Natural Resources of the Basin;
c. To promote co-operation among the Parties by providing common and regional mechanisms to evaluate Proposals to Withdraw Water;
d. To create a …

Capital Requirements In United States Corporation Law, Richard A. Booth Marbury Research Professor Of Law

Faculty Scholarship

This paper focuses on corporation law in the United States as it relates to capital contributions and capital maintenance. In other words, the paper addresses the provisions of corporation law relating to (1) the obligation of investors to contribute to the corporation a specified amount of capital and (2) the obligation of the corporation to maintain a specified amount of capital (and not to pay it back to the stockholders in the form of dividends or payments to repurchase or redeem shares). Traditionally, the amount of capital that must be contributed to and maintained by a corporation is called the …

Commitment To Peace And Social Justice Society V. Minister Of Finance, Aharon Barak, Eliezer Rivlin, Ayala Procaccia, Dorit Beinisch, Asher Grunis, Edmond E. Levy, Mishael Cheshin

Translated Opinions

Facts: The government decided to reduce the amount of income supplement benefit paid to individuals and families, and to cancel several subsidies given to persons receiving income supplement benefit. The reduction in the amount of income supplement benefit and the cancellation of the subsidies were incorporated into the Income Supplement Law by means of the State Economy Arrangements (Legislative Amendments for Achieving the Budget Goals and the Economic Policy for the 2003 Fiscal Year) Law, 5763-2002.

The petitioners attacked the reduction in the benefit and the cancellation of the subsidies, on the ground that they violated the human right to …

Vol. 29, No. 15 (December 12, 2005)

Indiana Law Annotated

No abstract provided.

Compelling Interest, Forbidden Aim: The Antinomy Of Grutter And Gratz, Patrick S. Shin

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

This article explores the tension between the Grutter Court's capacious account of the value of racial diversity, on the one hand, and the Gratz Court's insistence on the constraining mechanism of individualized consideration, on the other. The article examines whether the promotion of diversity as a compelling interest can be reconciled with the requirement of individualized consideration under any coherent principle of equal treatment. The article concludes that the only way this can be done is to interpret the cases as rejecting the proposition that 'racial' diversity represents a compelling governmental interest and as implicitly adopting, instead, the idea that …

Some Preliminary Statistical, Qualitative, And Anecdotal Findings Of An Empirical Study Of Collegiality Among Law Professors, Michael L. Seigel

ExpressO

This article is an empirically-based follow-up to a piece I published last year in the Journal of Legal Education entitled, On Collegiality, 54 J. Legal Educ. 406 (2004). It provides insight into the process of conducting empirical research and sets forth some preliminary – yet very intriguing – data and qualitative information gleaned from a survey responded to by more than 1200 law professors nationwide. The survey addressed a wide range of topics related to collegiality and job satisfaction in the legal-academic profession.

Reforming The Appellate Process For Pennsylvania Capital Punishment, Paul R. Teichert

ExpressO

The death penalty has long been a staple of governmental punishment. It has been incorporated in the Hammurabi Code of ancient Babylon on down to the current laws of many American States. In early America, capital punishment, exercised at the local level, was ubiquitous and widely accepted. Pennsylvania lists itself among the states currently employing the death penalty. The death penalty in Pennsylvania began in the late 1600’s when the first colonists carried out public hangings as a punishment for various crimes. The public nature of the punishment, initially, was intended to deter community members from committing the same crimes. …

Quantifying Reasonable Doubt: A Proposed Solution To An Equal Protection Problem, Harry D. Saunders

ExpressO

In this article we present the case that the Reasonable Doubt standard is in urgent need of repair. Our research reveals that a previously-recognized phenomenon arising from vagueness of the standard is more consequential than thus far realized and creates a serious equal protection problem. We show that the only legally feasible solution to this problem is to quantify the definition of the standard. While others have examined quantified standards, we make a direct case for it and overcome previous objections to it by offering a way to make it practical and workable.

The solution we envision will require new …

An Analysis For The Valuation Of Venture Capital-Funded Startup Firm Patents, John Dubiansky

ExpressO

In an era where forces such as the Bayh Dole act and the rise of the venture capital industry are reshaping the manner in which innovations are brought to market, the role of intellectual property in the financing of new ventures is becoming increasingly important. The investment community requires a better understanding of the risks of patent-based transactions as such deals become more prevalent. This paper addresses that need by explaining an analysis for the valuation of startup firm-held patents. The paper considers the commonly employed methods of patent valuation, and offers an analysis which considers Legal, Technical, and Technology-Market …

Brief For The United States In Opposition - Lummi Nation V. Samish Indian Tribe, Docket No. 05-445 (546 U.S. 1090 (2006))

Lummi Nation v. Samish Indian Tribe, Docket No. 05-445 (546 U.S. 1090 (2006))

No abstract provided.

Did Reform Of Prudent Trust Investment Laws Change Trust Portfolio Allocation?, Max M. Schanzenbach, Robert H. Sitkoff

Law and Economics Papers

This paper investigates the effect of changes in state prudent trust investment laws on asset allocation in noncommercial trusts. The old prudent man rule favored “safe” investments

such as government bonds and disfavored “speculation” in stock. The new prudent investor rule, now widely adopted, relies on modern portfolio theory, freeing the trustee to invest based on risk and return objectives reasonably suited to the trust and in light of the composition of the trust portfolio as a whole. Using state- and institution-level panel data from 1986-1997, we find that after a state’s adoption of the new prudent investor rule, trust …

Attack Of The Clones: Legislative Approaches To Human Cloning In The United States, Adrienne N. Cash

Duke Law & Technology Review

The legal concerns involving the application of cloning technology to humans should be of utmost concern, as the area is extremely complex. Cloning could potentially have great benefits or disastrous effects. Lawmakers have been careful to make certain that the legislation passed is comprehensive and useful for regulation of the ever-changing field of cloning. From debates on whether reproductive or therapeutic cloning should be permitted or banned, to concerns as to who has jurisdiction over cloning, the battle to develop cloning legislation has been difficult. However, this iBrief argues that the currently-proposed federal legislation is constitutional.

A Comparison Analysis Between The Standards Used In The Dneiper River Basin Clean-Up And European Union Legislation, Hannah H. Naumoff-Dulski

ExpressO

A recent case study involved the clean-up efforts of the Dnieper River Basin by three countries, Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. The objective of the study was to provide a method for the identification, assessment, and prioritization of the most significant sources of pollution based on their impacts and characteristics. Herein, the standards employed in the Dnieper case study are comparatively analyzed against the relevant EU directives. The purpose in doing so was to determine if the standards employed in this project could serve as a benchmark for the necessary environmental regulations that would be required if these three countries were …

Azbarga V. State Of Israel, Elyakim Rubinstein

Translated Opinions

This is an appeal to a single Justice of a decision of the Tel-Aviv-Jaffa District Court, in which the appellant’s application to be allowed out of house arrest, on a daily basis at fixed times, in order to participate in daily prayers at the mosque of the town of Qalansuwa, was denied. Justice Rubenstein allowed the appeal in part, allowing the appellant to go to the nearest mosque to pray once a week and, after three months without incident, to go to the mosque once a day.

“The (Cisg) Road Less Travelled”: Case Comment On Grecon Dimter Inc. V. J.R. Normand Inc., Antonin I. Pribetic

ExpressO

At first glance, the Supreme Court of Canada's recent decision in GreCon Dimter Inc. v. J.R. Normand Inc. appears to be a case upholding the primacy of international commercial arbitration, choice of forum and choice of law clauses. Upon closer scrutiny, however, the Supreme Court of Canada failed to consider the application of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) to the overall dispute. Interestingly, the same choice of forum and choice of law clauses were considered by the United States Court of Appeals a year earlier in GreCon Dimter, Incorporated v. Horner Flooring Company, …

Vol. 29, No. 14 (December 5, 2005)

Indiana Law Annotated

No abstract provided.

The Shari'a Factor In International Commercial Arbitration, Faisal M. Kutty

ExpressO

The world has witnessed a phenomenal growth in commercial disputes transcending national borders due to our increasingly interrelated and globalized world economy. In addition to issues in interpretation of commercial agreements and practices, differences in custom, language, culture and religion will continue to fuel conflicts and disagreements between commercial players. Over the last few decades there have been growing commercial interaction between Western companies and their Middle Eastern counterparts. Given this interaction and the great geo-political and economic importance of this region, it is imperative that Western lawyers and dispute resolution professionals have a reasonable grasp of the general principles …

Redesigning Practice To Improve Care Delivery (Boston), Laura A. Dummit, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

This site visit focused on how the practice of medicine is changing or can be changed to improve care delivery across the spectrum of patient populations. Regarded as a “medical Mecca,” Boston is home to the academic health centers and teaching hospitals where many of the nation’s physicians are trained. As a center of innovation, Boston prides itself on its high bar with respect to standards of care. Panels addressed the used of clinical information technology (IT) in the physician’s office, in the hospital, and community-wide. Participants observed how IT is being used to further the mission of community health …

Human Rights Claims Vs. The State: Is Sovereignty Really Eroding?, Chandra L. Sriram

ExpressO

It is often argued that the increase in agreements, specialized courts, and litigation protecting human rights or responding to past abuses of human rights has begun to erode sovereignty. Contrary to traditional principles of non-interference in internal affairs, it is argued, genuine protection of human rights involves an invasion of the sovereign preserve of the state. While many examples might be adduced in support of this claim, ranging from the ad hoc criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda to the European Court of Human Rights, this article examines two types of transnational procedures: civil accountability through the use …