Law Commons^™

Conflict Of Laws In Massachusetts, Part Ii: Related Problems In Selecting The Applicable Law, Joseph W. Glannon, Gabriel H. Teninbaum

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

This article is a survey of conflict of laws principles in Massachusetts. It explains the historical and current Massachusetts approach to conflict of laws issues, and then applies that methodology to a variety of substantive and procedural topic areas. It concludes with recommendations for ways that Massachusetts courts can improve their analysis of these problems to promote fair and consistent outcomes.

"Just Trying To Be Human In This Place": Storytelling And Film In The First-Year Law School Classroom, Kate Nace Day, Russell G. Murphy

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

In 2007, the latest in a long line of studies and research projects that critically examined American legal education were published. The Carnegie Foundation Report, “Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law”, and the empirical research findings of linguistic anthropologist Elizabeth Mertz, “The Language of Law School: Learning to 'Think Like A Lawyer'”, identified many shortcomings and negative consequences that result from the traditional pedagogy of the American law school classroom. In this Article, Professors Kate Nace Day and Russell G. Murphy explore some of the findings of these studies in the context of their experimentation with the use …

Punishment For Ecological Disasters: Punitive Damages And/Or Criminal Sanctions, Leo M. Romero

Faculty Scholarship

This article addresses the means of punishing conduct that causes serious environmental harm like the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In particular, it considers the appropriateness and effectiveness of both punitive damages and criminal sanctions as remedies in such cases in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's approaches to reviewing both punitive damages awards and criminal sentences for excessiveness. This article recommends, first, that state legislatures should authorize and regulate punitive damages so that appellate courts will not interfere with punitive damages awards, as happened in the Exxon case. Second, states should enforce criminal provisions in environmental statutes against both corporate …

Privacy By Deletion: The Need For A Global Data Deletion Principle, Benjamin J. Keele

Library Staff Publications

With global personal information flows increasing, efforts have been made to develop principles to standardize data protection regulations. However, no set ofprinciples has yet achieved universal adoption. This note proposes a principle mandating that personal data be securely destroyed when it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. Including a data deletion principle in future data protection standards will increase respect for individual autonomy and decrease the risk of abuse of personal data. Though data deletion is already practiced by many data controllers, including it in legal data protection mandates wil further the goal of …

Agata Jurkowska, Tadeusz Skoczny (Eds.), Wyłączenia Grupowe Spod Zakazu Porozumień Ograniczających Konkurencję We Wspólnocie Europejskiej I W Polsce [Block Exemptions From The Prohibition Of Competition Restricting Agreements In The Ec And Poland] Wydawnictwo Naukowe Wydziału Zarządzania Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego [University Of Warsaw, Faculty Of Management Press], Warszawa 2008, 576 P., Monika Bychowska

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

No abstract provided.

Dawid Miąsik, Tadeusz Skoczny, Małgorzata Surdek (Eds.), Sprawa Microsoft – Studium Przypadku. Prawo Konkurencji Na Rynkach Nowych Technologii [Microsoft – Case Study. Competition Law On New Technology Markets] Wydawnictwo Naukowe Wydziału Zarządzania Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego [University Of Warsaw, Faculty Of Management Press], Warszawa 2008, 377 P., Cezary Banasiński

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

No abstract provided.

Rajmund Molski, Prawo Antymonopolowe W Obliczu Globalizacji. Kierunki Rozwoju [Antitrust Law In The Face Of Globalization. Directions Of Development], Oficyna Wydawnicza Branta, Bydgoszcz-Szczecin 2008, 336 P., Agata Jurkowska

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

No abstract provided.

Filip Elżanowski, Polityka Energetyczna. Prawne Instrumenty Realizacji [The Energy Policy. Legal Instruments Of Its Implementation] Lexisnexis, Warszawa 2008, 240 P., Bartłomiej Nowak

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

No abstract provided.

Waldemar Hoff, Prawny Model Regulacji Sektorowej [The Legal Model Of Sector-Specific Regulation], Difin, Warszawa 2008, 302 P., Jerzy Supernat

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

No abstract provided.

Stanisław Piątek (Ed.) Regulacja Rynków Telekomunikacyjnych [Regulation Of Telecommunications Markets] Wydawnictwo Naukowe Wydziału Zarządzania Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego [University Of Warsaw, Faculty Of Management Press], Warszawa 2007, 395 P., Arwid Mednis

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

No abstract provided.

Cognition, Law, Stories, Stephen M. Mcjohn, Lorie Graham

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

This essay reviews Steven Pinker, The Stuff of Thought (Penguin 2007), which offers insights from cognitive science just where it overlaps the most with law - how we use basic cognitive categories like intent, space, time, events and causation. The Stuff of Thought might offer insights into a broad range of issues in legal theory. Legal theory could make more use of such cognitive science concepts as chunking, recursion, and the primary qualities of an object. Other topics likewise resonate in thinking about the law: The book suggests that metaphor is an important cognitive tool, but less constraining than might …

Sorry, No Remedy: Intersectionality And The Grand Irony Of Erisa, Paul M. Secunda

Faculty Publications

Congress enacted the Employee Retiree Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to protect employees' retirement and welfare benefits. Nevertheless, the Act has been interpreted by the U.S Supreme Court over the years to be in essence an Employers' Security Act, with employers using ERISA to shield themselves against employee benefit-related claims. The flaw in the current ERISA scheme lies at the intersection of ERISA's preemption and remedial provisions. Courts broadly interpret the preemption provisions of ERISA to invalidate employee benefits-related state laws and then force employees to depend on an inadequate, "comprehensive and reticulated" remedial scheme. This “intersectionality” problem leads …

Social Factoring The Numbers With Assisted Reproduction, Bridget J. Crawford, Lolita Buckner Inniss

Publications

In early 2009 the airwaves came alive with sensational stories about Nadya Suleman, the California mother who gave birth to octuplets conceived via assisted reproductive technology. Nadya Suleman and her octuplets are vehicles through which Americans express their anxiety about race, class and gender. Expressions of concern for the health of children, the mother's well-being, the future of reproductive medicine or the financial drain on taxpayers barely conceal deep impulses towards racism, sexism and classism. It is true that the public has had a longstanding fascination with multiple births and with large families. This is evidenced by a long history …

Litigation Discovery Cannot Be Optimal But Could Be Better: The Economics Of Improving Discovery Timing In A Digital Age, Scott A. Moss

Publications

Cases are won and lost in discovery, yet discovery draws little academic attention. Most scholarship focuses on how much discovery to allow, not on how courts decide discovery disputes--which, unlike trials, occur in most cases. The growth of computer data--e-mails, lingering deleted files, and so forth--increased discovery cost, but the new e-discovery rules just reiterate existing cost-benefit proportionality limits that draw broad consensus among litigation scholars and economists. But proportionality rules are impossible to apply effectively; they fail to curb discovery excess yet disallow discovery that meritorious cases need. This Article notes proportionality's flaws but rejects the consensus blaming bad …

The Diverging Meaning Of Good Faith, Mark J. Loewenstein

Publications

This article explores the meaning of "good faith" in the context of corporations and unincorporated entities. The courts, particularly in Delaware, have developed two different approaches. In the corporate arena, the courts are fashioning a notion of good faith that seems to require an examination of director motivations. In the unincorporated arena, good faith has a meaning grounded in contract law. These are two different concepts and reflect the fundamental differences between corporations and unincorporated entities, with the former based on fiduciary duties and the latter on contract. There are, however, indications that this "divergence" is starting to disappear, and …

Researching Colorado Local Government Law, Robert M. Linz

Publications

No abstract provided.

"We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To Anyone.", Jennifer S. Hendricks

Publications

This essay is based on remarks at the 2008 teaching conference of the Society of American Law Teachers, on the theme Teaching for Social Change When You're Not Preaching to the Choir. It reflects on my experience as a liberal/progressive teaching constitutional law in a conservative southern state. It also explores the importance of not just training students in the skills of a junior lawyer but also preparing them for their long-term obligations as citizens and members of the bar.

The Subprime Crisis And The Link Between Consumer Financial Protection And Systemic Risk, Erik F. Gerding

Publications

This Article will appear in a May 2009 symposium issue of the Florida International University Law Review on the global financial crisis. This Article argues that the current global financial crisis, which was first called the “subprime crisis,” demonstrates the need to revisit the division between financial regulations designed to protect consumers from excessively risky loans and safety-and-soundness regulations intended to protect financial markets from the collapse of financial institutions. Consumer financial protection can, and must, serve a role not only in protecting individuals from excessive risk, but also in protecting markets from systemic risk. Economic studies indicate it is …

Telluride's Tale Of Eminent Domain, Home Rule, And Retroactivity, Richard B. Collins

Publications

Telluride, Colorado, won an eminent domain battle with San Diego billionaire Neal Blue, but only after paying his price and his attorney's fees. The town passed a condemnation ordinance by popular initiative to take 572 acres adjacent to the town. The landowner obtained a state statute intended to forbid the town's action. The trial judge held the statute invalid under Colorado's constitutional home rule amendment. Town officials negotiated a compromise with the landowner, but its voters rejected it. The valuation trial was moved to a neighboring county much more favorable to the landowner, and the jury gave him his full …

The Future Of Internet Regulation, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

Policymakers are at a precipice with regard to Internet regulation. The Federal Communications Commission's ("FCC") self-styled adjudication of a complaint that Comcast violated the agency's Internet policy principles (requiring reasonable network management, among other things) clarified that the era of the non-regulation of the Internet is over. Equally clear is that the agency has yet to develop a model of regulation for a new era. As explained in this Article, the old models of regulation - reliance on command-and-control regulation or market forces subject only to antitrust law - are doomed to fail in a dynamic environment where cooperation is …

Using International Dispute Resolution To Address The Compliance Question In International Law, Anna Spain

Publications

A fundamental critique of international law is that it fails to ensure compliance and, thus, has limited influence on state behavior. Existing compliance theories consider how interests, norms and legal process impact states. Within the legal process school, theories either narrowly define process as methods that achieve a legal aim or broadly consider diplomatic activities without connecting them to the structural elements of process. Thus, despite the prolific scholarship in this area, understanding of how an international dispute resolution process, such as the Six-Party Talks, influences state behavior, such as North Korea’s actions toward nuclear disarmament, remains limited.

To address …

In The Sweat Box: A Historical Perspective On The Detention Of Material Witnesses, Carolyn B. Ramsey

Publications

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Justice Department detained scores of allegedly suspicious persons under a federal material witness statute--a tactic that provoked a great deal of controversy. Most critics assume that the abuse of material witness laws is a new development. Yet, rather than being transformed by the War on Terror, the detention of material witnesses is a coercive strategy that police officers across the nation have used since the nineteenth century to build cases against suspects. Fears of extraordinary violence or social breakdown played at most an indirect role in its advent and growth. Rather, it has …

Constraining Public Employee Speech: Government's Control Of Its Workers' Speech To Protect Its Own Expression, Helen Norton

Publications

This Article identifies a key doctrinal shift in courts' treatment of public employees' First Amendment claims--a shift that imperils the public's interest in transparent government as well as the free speech rights of more than twenty million government workers. In the past, courts interpreted the First Amendment to permit governmental discipline of public employee speech on matters of public interest only when such speech undermined the government employer's interest in efficiently providing public services. In contrast, courts now increasingly focus on--and defer to--government's claim to control its workers' expression to protect its own speech.

More specifically, courts increasingly permit government …

Formalism And Realism In Ruins (Mapping The Logics Of Collapse), Pierre Schlag

Publications

After laying out a conventional account of the formalism vs. realism debates, this Article argues that formalism and realism are at once impossible and entrenched. To say they are impossible is to say that they are not as represented--that they cannot deliver their promised goods. To say that they are entrenched is to say that these forms of thought are sedimented as thought and practice throughout law's empire. We live thus amidst the ruins of formalism and realism. The disputes between these two great determinations of American law continue today, but usually in more localized or circumscribed forms. We see …

Created In Its Image: The Race Analogy, Gay Identity, And Gay Litigation In The 1950s-1970s, Craig J. Konnoth

Publications

Existing accounts of early gay rights litigation largely focus on how the suppression and liberation of gay identity affected early activism. This Note helps complicate these dynamics, arguing that gay identity was not just suppressed and then liberated, but substantially transformed by activist efforts during this period, and that this transformation fundamentally affected the nature of gay activism. Gay organizers in the 1950s and 1960s moved from avoiding identity-based claims to analogizing gays to African-Americans. By transforming themselves in the image of a successful black civil rights minority, activists attempted to win over skeptical courts in a period when equal …

The Internet's Public Domain: Access To Government Information On The Internet, Susan Nevelow Mart

Publications

This article surveys the types and amounts of information that have been removed from the Internet since September 11th. Information has been removed in the name of national security as well as for reasons of seeming political expediency. After discussing the bases of some of the rationales for removing the information, and the legal underpinnings of continued access, the article suggests several forms of advocacy that could be used to return the information to the public's domain.

"The Living Oracles": Legal Interpretation And Mormon Thought, Nathan B. Oman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Universal De Novo Review, Chad M. Oldfather

Faculty Publications

This article takes up the question of why appellate courts always review questions of law pursuant to the de novo standard of review. Put another way, it examines the familiar idea that appellate courts owe no deference to the legal rulings of trial judges. They must instead engage in what I refer to as universal de novo review - a practice pursuant to which appellate courts faced with legal questions always enjoy the authority to engage in plenary review, and never have the responsibility (or even the option) to defer to their trial-level counterparts. Despite - or perhaps because of …

Family Law For The Underclass: Underscoring Law's Ideological Function, David Ray Papke

Faculty Publications

This article underscores the manner in which family law for the contemporary underclass assumes a distinctly ideological function. Marriage promotion programs not only urge members of the underclass to marry but also deplore their declining commitment to marriage as an institution. "Deadbeat dad" legislation suggests the failure of underclass fathers to pay child support regularly and on time is a major cause of poverty in American life. Adoption law facilitates the placement of underclass children in middle and upper-class families, insisting in the process that this must surely be best for the children. Overall, family law for the underclass suggests …

Did Congress Strip The Federal Circuit Courts Of The Power To Review Denials Of Motions To Reopen Immigration Proceedings?, Jessica E. Slavin

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.