Law Commons^™

In Re Shamus Holdings, Llc And The Automatic Stay, Matthew Silverman

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

The automatic stay is recognized as one of the fundamental protections provided by bankruptcy law. The automatic stay prevents creditors from taking almost any type of formal or informal action against the debtor, including commencing or continuing foreclosure actions. There are, however, certain exceptions to the automatic stay, exceptions that permit the creditor to take action against the debtor despite the pendency of the bankruptcy proceeding. This memorandum focuses on one such exception, contained in section 362(b)(3) of the Code, and the effect courts have held it to have on the automatic tolling provision of the Bankruptcy Code. The …

Priority Treatment Of Employee Severance Compensation Claims, Eric Small

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

When a bankrupt company terminates employees, those former employees often have claims against the estate for severance compensation. Sections 507(a) and 503(b)(1)(A) of the Bankruptcy Code provide for the priority treatment of such claims. Those sections apply to claims arising both pre-petition and post-petition. In the pre-petition context, courts must determine if a claim was earned within the pre-petition period prescribed by section 507(a)(4). For post-petition claims, whether such claims are given administrative expense priority for the full amount claimed turns on courts’ analysis of when the claims were earned, when services were rendered, and if and when the …

Attorney Retention And Disqualification In Bankruptcy, Jessica Stukonis

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Two essential issues to bankruptcy practitioners are attorney retention and the threat of disqualification. These issues are closely related and are governed by several ethical rules and bankruptcy statutes. Generally, all legal professionals must abide by the standards imposed by their states’ ethical code, which are largely adapted from the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct (the “Model Rules”). Bankruptcy practitioners, however, must also abide by section 327 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (the “Code”), which only permits the retention of “disinterested” professionals in a proceeding. If the attorney does not meet these standards, the presiding …

Does Section 329 Grant Exclusive Jurisdiction To Bankruptcy Courts?, Samantha M. Tusa

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Fee agreements between bankruptcy debtors and their counsel must often be settled in court. In which court those fee disputes can be heard is a question that is not yet settled. One court has looked to section 329 of the Bankruptcy Code for the answer. Section 329 states that if the compensation agreed upon by the debtor and attorney exceeds a reasonable value for the services rendered, “the court” may cancel the agreement or return some of the payment. In re Piccinini is the first case to hold that the phrase “the court” in section 329 confers exclusive jurisdiction …

Intentional Conduct May Be Required To Prove Defalcation Under Section 523(A)(4) In Certain Circuits, Elizabeth Vanderlinde

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

In the average bankruptcy case, individual debtors seek to discharge some, all, or most of their debts. The Bankruptcy Code (the “Code”) sets certain limits on the dischargeability of obligations. For example, section 523 of the Code provides circumstances in which certain debts are not dischargeable. Specifically, section 523(a)(4) provides that an individual debtor will not be discharged from any debt “for fraud or defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity.” In the bankruptcy context, defalcation means “the failure to meet an obligation.” However, the Code is silent as to the level of culpability required to prove defalcation. The …

Class Proofs Of Claim And Class Certification In Bankruptcy, Ravi Vohra

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

The Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure (the “Rules”) make class action procedures available to litigants in bankruptcy litigation. However, the Bankruptcy Code (the “Code”) and Rules leave open the question of whether a class representative may file a class proof of claim on behalf of a putative class. Because the Code and Rules are silent, bankruptcy courts have to look to case law to “fill the gaps.” Different courts have adopted different interpretations, and a circuit split has emerged regarding the permissibility of class proofs of claim.

Initially, most bankruptcy courts and the first court of appeal that addressed …

Granting Foreign Representatives Automatic Section 108 Relief In Chapter 15 Cases, Andrew J. Zapata

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

In a matter of first impression, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Court”) in In re Fairfield Sentry Ltd. was confronted with the issue of whether the tolling provisions of section 108 of the Bankruptcy Code (the “Code”) are automatically available to Foreign Representatives in chapter 15 cases. As written, section 108(a) of the Code gives trustees, rather than Foreign Representatives, a minimum two-year extension from when the order for relief is entered to commence claims in the interest of the debtor’s estate. However, in In re Fairfield Sentry Ltd., the Court looked …

Promising Criminal Justice Practices In Human Trafficking Cases: A County-Level Comparitive Overview (2005-2010) With An Emphasis On Cases Involving Children, Angela Inzano

Center for the Human Rights of Children

The aim of the project is to review and analyze other similarly sized counties as Cook County, with large, metropolitan centers across the country, in order to identify best practice, challenges and efforts that have led to successful case outcomes. This research project identifies and synthesizes cases from 2005-2010 that involved human trafficking and developed at county-level law enforcement agencies and task forces across the United States. Where possible, cases involving minors will be high-lighted, in order to address distinct issues facing children who have been victimized by human trafficking. Best practices in victim identification, case investigation, perpetrator prosecution, and …

Curbing Consumer Complicity For Counterfeits In A Digital Environment, Peggy E. Chaudhry

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Better Mousetraps: Licensing, Access, And Innovation In The New Music Marketplace, Casey Rae-Hunter

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

The Emperor's New Clothes: Intellectual Property Protections In China, Patricia E. Campbell, Michael Pecht

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

The Case For Value Billing In Chapter 11, Nancy B. Rapoport

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Educational Media Company At Virginia Tech, Inc. V. Swecker: First Amendment Lite Waters Down Commercial Speech Protection, Justin A. Redd

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

"No Inventions, No Innovations": Reassessing The Government's Antitrust Case Against United States Steel Corporation, Guy B. Maseritz

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Back To The Future: Applying The Collateral Bars Of Section 925 Of The Dodd-Frank Act To Previous Bad Acts, Chad Howell

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

They Take Classes, Don't They?: Structuring A College Football Post Season, Josephine (Jo) R. Potuto

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

An Argument For Uniform E-Discovery Practice In Cross-Border Civil Litigation, Daniel B. Garrie, Daniel K. Gelb

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Net Neutrality Besieged By Comcast Corp. V. Fcc: The Past, Present And Future Plight Of An Open Internet, Adam Holofcener

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Aligning Public Health, Health Care, Law And Policy: Medical-Legal Partnership As A Multilevel Response To The Social Determinants Of Health, Elizabeth Tobin Tyler

Pro Bono Collaborative Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

State And Local Responses To Climate Change Through Hazard Adaptation Measures: White Paper Synthesizing Innovative State And Local Climate Change Adaptation Strategies, Marine Affairs Institute, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Unols Vessels And U.S. Exports Regulations: Seeking A Coherent Solution, Sea Grant Law Fellows

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Legal Beagle Blog (January 2012), Roger Williams University School Of Law Library

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

The Implications Of Rolling Easements And Transferred Development Rights In Maine, Connecticut, And Massachusetts, Katie Zilgme

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Column: Factors Affecting Data Decay, Kevin Fairbanks, Simson Garfinkel

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

In nuclear physics, the phrase decay rate is used to denote the rate that atoms and other particles spontaneously decompose. Uranium-235 famously decays into a variety of daughter isotopes including Thorium and Neptunium, which themselves decay to others. Decay rates are widely observed and wildly different depending on many factors, both internal and external. U-235 has a half-life of 703,800,000 years, for example, while free neutrons have a half-life of 611 seconds and neutrons in an atomic nucleus are stable.

Technology Corner Automated Data Extraction Using Facebook, Nick V. Flor

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Because of Facebook’s popularity, law enforcement agents often use it as a key source of evidence. But like many user digital trails, there can be a large amount of data to extract for analysis. In this paper, we explore the basics of extracting data programmatically from a user’s Facebook via a Web app. A data extraction app requests data using the Facebook Graph API, and Facebook returns a JSON object containing the data. Before an app can access a user’s Facebook data, the user must log into Facebook and give permission. Thus, this approach is limited to situations where users …

Book Review: Mastering Windows Network Forensics And Investigation, 2/E, John C. Ebert

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The book is available as a paperback and e-book. The e-book versions allow you to preview several chapters at any of a number of online vendors. The e-book prices vary from the same as the soft cover version ($59.99) to about $38.99. Some of the vendor's e-books retain the color illustrations found in the print version, but others produce them in grey scale, so you might want to look out for that. The book is divided into four parts (17 chapters) plus two appendices.

I am compelled to give the book illustrations a highly unfavorable assessment regarding their readability qualities. …

Column: Analysis Of Digital Traces, Fred Cohen

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

In part 1 of this series (Cohen, 2011a), Analysis of digital traces is a foundational process by which the examiner, typically using computer software tools, comes to understand and answer basic questions regarding digital traces.

An Australian Perspective On The Challenges For Computer And Network Security For Novice Endusers, Patryk Szewczyk

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

It is common for end-users to have difficulty in using computer or network security appropriately and thus have often been ridiculed when misinterpreting instructions or procedures. This discussion paper details the outcomes of research undertaken over the past six years on why security is overly complex for endusers. The results indicate that multiple issues may render end-users vulnerable to security threats and that there is no single solution to address these problems. Studies on a small group of senior citizens has shown that educational seminars can be beneficial in ensuring that simple security aspects are understood and used appropriately.

Automated Identification And Reconstruction Of Youtube Video Access, Jonathan Patterson, Christopher Hargreaves

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

YouTube is one of the most popular video-sharing websites on the Internet, allowing users to upload, view and share videos with other users all over the world. YouTube contains many different types of videos, from homemade sketches to instructional and educational tutorials, and therefore attracts a wide variety of users with different interests. The majority of YouTube visits are perfectly innocent, but there may be circumstances where YouTube video access is related to a digital investigation, e.g. viewing instructional videos on how to perform potentially unlawful actions or how to make unlawful articles. When a user accesses a YouTube video …

Book Review: System Forensics, Investigation, And Response, Nate Keith

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

I recently expressed an interest to a respected colleague in finding a way to “give back” to the forensic community. He suggested writing a review for a text he recently received and provide feedback to the community. It is my intent to present an objective analysis of System Forensics, Investigation, and Response.