Law Commons^™

Harry Potter, Ruby Slippers And Merlin: Telling The Client's Story Using The Characters And Paradigm Of The Archetypal Hero's Journey, Ruth Anne Robbins

Ruth Anne Robbins

This article hypothesizes that lawyers should consider heroic archetype when strategizing the client's story. The article speaks more to storytelling for a judge as factfinder rather than a jury.

"Zoning Bias Ii: A Study Of Oregon's Zoning Commission Composition Restrictions", Jerry L. Anderson

Jerry L. Anderson

This article summarizes an empirical survey of Oregon planning commissions, to determine whether Oregon's occupational restrictions on commission appointments are working. An earlier survey found that zoning boards in Iowa were heavily populated with white-collar occupations, with many having a direct or indirect connection to land development work. Oregon's occupational restrictions appear to have reduced the number of appointees who are tied to development, but the commissions are still skewed toward white-collar representation. The article concludes that legal restrictions should be tightened to achieve the goal of broader occupational distribution.

China's Cities, Globalization, And Sustainable Development: Comparative Thoughts On Urban Planning, Energy, And Environmental Policy, Edward H. Ziegler

Edward H Ziegler

This article discusses the development of China’s modern cities and China’s emerging urban planning and growth management programs related to implementing its newly established sustainable development policies. Global sustainable development issues are discussed in the comparative context of future growth and urban development in the United States and China. Issues such as urban sprawl, density of the built environment, energy policy, automobile use, and transportation planning are examined in relation to future urban development and to their potential impact on future resource and energy consumption, and the critical issues of peak oil, global warming, and climate change.

The article notes …

Can't Touch This! Private Property, Takings, And The Merit Goods Argument, Goutam U. Jois

Goutam U Jois

Over the past several decades, economic theory has gained increasing influence in legal thinking, political theory, and public policy. This article argues that the popular characterization of economics as “value-neutral” obscures the fact that there are fundamental value judgments in any framework influenced by economics. Acknowledging this fact will shift the terms of the debate: instead of a “neutral” policy and one that “imposes values,” we see that both policies in fact entail value imposition to some extent. The public discourse is thus rendered more intellectually honest. The article progresses in three parts. First, I describe the concept of “merit …

Soldiers And Wayward Women: Gendered Citizenship, And Migration Policy In Argentina, Italy, And Spain Since 1850, David Cook-Martín

David Cook-Martín

Policies that regulate peoples international movement and their state membership have historically made distinctions based on perceived sexual differences, but little is known about the process by which this has happened. This paper explores how and with what consequences migration and nationality policies have been gendered in two quintessential countries of emigration (Italy and Spain), and in a country of immigrants (Argentina) over a 150-year period. I argue that these migration and nationality policies have reflected the dynamics of the political fields in which they have been crafted. Especially before the Great War, laws and official practices that showed a …

Judicial Selection, Appointments Gridlock, And The Nuclear Option, David S. Law, Lawrence B. Solum

David S. Law

In this paper, we employ simple formal models drawn from political science to explain the occurrence of gridlock in the federal judicial selection process, and to explore the implications of the nuclear option, by which a bare majority of senators employs parliamentary tactics to abolish the filibuster with respect to judicial nominations. Our application of a pivotal politics model leads us to reject the notion that appointments gridlock is a straightforward consequence of divided government. Instead, meaningful changes to the ideological balance of the federal bench require a more demanding ideological alignment of multiple veto players relative to the status …

Better That Ten Guilty Men..., Alexander Volokh

Alexander Volokh

Abridgment of the law review article "n guilty men," 146 U. Pa. L. Rev. 173 (1997).

Protecting Consumers: Attorney Ethics And The Law Governing Lawyers, Christopher M. Fairman

Christopher M Fairman

No abstract provided.

The Research Exemption To Patent Infringement: The Delicate Balance Between Current And Future Technical Progress, Katherine J. Strandburg

Katherine J. Strandburg

No abstract provided.

Technology Transfer And An Information View Of Universities: A Conceptual Framework For Academic Freedom, Intellectual Property, Technology Transfer And The University Mission, Patrick L. Jones, Katherine J. Strandburg

Katherine J. Strandburg

In this Article, we provide a conceptual framework for technology transfer grounded in the fundamental purposes of a university -- the creation and dissemination of knowledge in the form of information. We describe how technology transfer activities shift the target audience for knowledge dissemination from traditional university target audiences to organizations with a predominantly economic purpose and different social norms. These shifts trigger a need to bridge differing behavioral expectations. Legal contracts and intellectual property rights can play a significant role in structuring relationships in such a non-traditional knowledge dissemination context. We analyze the role of formal technology transfer involving …

Undue Deference, Richard H. Frankel

Richard H. Frankel

No abstract provided.

The How And Why Of The New Public Corporation Tax Shelter Compliance Norm, Susan Cleary Morse

Susan Cleary Morse

This paper examines the recent shift toward an anti-tax shelter federal income tax compliance norm at public corporations, as evidenced by practitioner and government comments and survey results. The paper focuses on the organizational behavior of tax decisionmakers within public corporations as they respond to Sarbanes-Oxley, enforcement and publicity initiatives, and tax shelter regulation.

The paper identifies three elements that have contributed to the development of a stronger tax compliance norm. First, Sarbanes-Oxley has resulted in the expansion and increased transparency of public corporation tax decisionmaking groups. Organizational behavior insights suggest that this may produce more considered decisions. Second, civil …

Inadeguatezza Della Operazione Finanziaria, Risoluzione Del Contratto Per Inadempimento E Risarcimento Del Danno, Valerio Sangiovanni

Valerio Sangiovanni

No abstract provided.

Circolazione Dei Prodotti Finanziari E Responsabilità Degli Investitori Professionali: Il Nuovo Art. 100 Bis Tuf, Valerio Sangiovanni

Valerio Sangiovanni

No abstract provided.

Federalism: Onshore And Offshore Public Lands In The United States, Owen Anderson

Owen L. Anderson

No abstract provided.

Thesis Paragraphs, Susan Duncan

Susan Duncan

This short bar magazine article helps readers see the importance of including thesis paragraphs in their writing. The article suggests helpful tips for writing powerful thesis paragraphs.

Virtual Power Politics, James Grimmelmann

James Grimmelmann

Software-based rules are not automatically normative in virtual worlds. The feature-bug ambiguity always means that the social meaning of the "rules" is subject to negotiation and to political dispute. I illustrate this claim with an analysis of exploits.

Natural Gas Opec, Monika Ehrman

Monika U. Ehrman

No abstract provided.

Rural Rhetoric, Lisa Pruitt

Lisa R Pruitt

This Article investigates law’s constitutive rhetoric about rural people, places, and livelihoods. Specifically, it considers five categories of judicial opinions that discuss the legal relevance of rurality: judicial self-identification as rural; definitions of rural; line-drawing between rural and urban; taking judicial notice of rural characteristics; and idealized portrayals of the rural. Viewed together, these clusters of opinions reveal a comprehensive – if not entirely coherent – judicial portrait of rurality. They also provide an overview of the many instances when a rural setting is relevant to a legal outcome. Implicated are issues of tort, property, criminal, and constitutional law, among …

Having One's Property And Eating It Too: When The Article 9 Security Interest Becomes A Nuisance, F. Knippenberg, Lawrence Ponoroff

F. Stephen Knippenberg

No abstract provided.

Never Get Out'a The Boat: Stenberg V. Carhart And The Future Of American Law, Michael Scaperlanda, John M. Breen

Michael A. Scaperlanda

No abstract provided.

An Escape From Poverty: Developing Productive Organization, Robert D. Cooter

Robert Cooter

Keynote address on "Innovation, Information, and the Poverty of Nations." My premise is that in the modern world, defective legal institutions cause national poverty and that all nations now have the opportunity to escape poverty by developing productive organizations.

Open Access In A Closed Universe: Lexis, Westlaw, Law Schools And The Legal Information Market, Olufunmilayo Arewa

Olufunmilayo B. Arewa

This Article considers issues of open access from the context of the broader legal information industry as a whole. The structure and contours of the legal information industry have shaped the availability of legal scholarship and other legal information. The competitive duopoly of Lexis and Westlaw is a particularly important factor in considerations of open access. Also significant is the relationship between Lexis and Westlaw and law schools, which form an important market segment for both Lexis and Westlaw. This Article begins by considering the important role information plays in the law. It then notes the increasing industry concentration that …

Being Informed Does Matter: Fine Tuning Gross Negligence Twenty Plus Years After Van Gorkom, Bernard S. Sharfman

Bernard S Sharfman

This article first establishes that there are still a number of reasons why being informed does matter, despite the ability to incorporate an exculpation clause into a Delaware corporation’s certificate of incorporation. This is followed by an explanation of how Delaware’s business judgment rule became transformed from a doctrine of abstention to a standard of review in the context of procedural due care. Throughout this article, it is understood that the business judgment rule exits within a framework of corporate authority and accountability and that it serves as a significant tool for the protection of corporate board authority. The article …

The Real (Sentencing) World: State Sentencing In The Post-Blakely Era, Douglas A. Berman, Steven L. Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

James Joyce Inspires Literary And Legal Career: Literature Lover Left Ivory Tower To Apply Expertise In Ip Arena, Robert E. Spoo

Robert E. Spoo

No abstract provided.

Szerzõdési Szabadság És Paternalizmus: Adalékok A Szerzõdési Jog Közgazdasági Elemzéséhez [Freedom Of Contract And Paternalism: A Contribution To The Economics Of Contract Law] , Peter Cserne

Péter Cserne

No abstract provided.

Ethical Judicial Writing—Part I, Gerald Lebovits

Hon. Gerald Lebovits

No abstract provided.

Never Get Out'a The Boat: Stenberg V. Carhart And The Future Of American Law, Michael Scaperlanda, John M. Breen

John M. Breen

No abstract provided.

Immigration Reform Fuels Employment Discrimination, Natalie Prescott

Natalie Prescott

This Article addresses the tension between two conflicting IRCA provisions: 8 U.S.C. § 1324a, which authorizes sanctions for hiring illegal immigrants, and 8 U.S.C. § 1324b, which provides that employers cannot ask foreign job applicants for proof of work authorization beyond what is specified on the I-9 form.