Law Commons^™

Using Science To Build Better Learners: One School’S Successful Efforts To Raise Its Bar Passage Rates In An Era Of Decline, Louis Schulze

Distinguished Speaker Series

What measures can law schools take to improve student performance and bar passage? The answer is not what you think. Recent developments in the science of learning show that most law students learn wrong. In fact, ineffective methods of learning pervade all levels of education. We now know that widely accepted learning and study strategies that were once considered gospel are actually deeply flawed. Yet we still embrace and propagate those myths.

Meanwhile, bar passage rates and law student performance are plummeting. Everyone in legal education is asking, “What can we do?” But, “What can we do?” is the wrong …

When Mass Murder, Theft, And Violation Of Civil Liberties Were "Legal": The Nazi Legal System, 1933-1945, Richard Fybel

Distinguished Speaker Series

The white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the violence that resulted in the death of a counter-protester, sparked increased concerns for the protection of vulnerable minority groups. The public display of Nazi symbols and rhetoric prompted many to consider whether the United States is experiencing a resurgence of white supremacy and nationalism, and whether this movement is becoming normalized among a larger segment of the population. This program will provide lessons for lawyers and all citizens from the controversial history of the Nazi legal regime, tracing the developments that enabled Nazis to take and maintain power in Germany. The …

Who Has Standing To Sue Under The Emoluments Clauses?, Matthew I. Hall

Distinguished Speaker Series

Three pending lawsuits challenge President Trump’s practice of accepting payments and other benefits from foreign governments through his businesses as violative of the Foreign Emoluments Clause. They also allege that the President’s practice of accepting payments and benefits from state or federal governmental units violates the Domestic Emoluments Clause. These actions raise interesting questions about the meaning of two little-discussed provisions of the Constitution. But before reaching the merits the courts where these cases are pending will first have to grapple with issues of justiciability - in particular, with the question whether plaintiffs have “standing” to bring their claims in …

The Legacy Of The Immigrant Workplace: Lessons For The 21st Century Economy, Leticia Saucedo

Distinguished Speaker Series

Leticia Saucedo is a Professor of Law at U.C. Davis School of Law. She is an expert in employment, labor, and immigration law and she teaches immigration law and employment law at U.C. Davis. She has developed experiential courses in international and domestic service learning that explore the immigration consequences of crime and domestic violence in a post-conflict society. She has been a visiting professor at Duke Law School and a research scholar with the Chief Justice Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity at U.C. Berkeley. Professor Saucedo’s research interests lie at the intersections of employment, labor, and immigration …

Transitional Justice, The Role Of The Judiciary And Rupture Of Democracy In Brazil In 2016, Jose Carlos Moreira Da Silva Filho

Distinguished Speaker Series

In comparison to the other countries in Latin America that suffered under civilian-military national security dictatorships in the second half of the 20th century, Brazil presented two peculiarities that had an enormous influence on the characteristics of the democratic regime that began in 1988: its amnesty law was enacted while the authoritarian regime was still in power, and throughout the period of the dictatorship, it promoted a broad and intensive process of judicialization of the political repression. I believe these aspects will influence and interact in a notable way with the new coup d’état process that began in Brazil in …

Ag-Gag Laws, Lies, And The First Amendment, Justin Marceau

Distinguished Speaker Series

In this talk, Professor Marceau will discuss the intersection of free speech and lies in constitutional doctrine. “Ag-gag” laws criminalize actions that include secret filming by whistleblowers of animal abuses on factory farms. Using the proliferation of ag-gag laws as an example, Professor Marceau will identify and discuss investigative deceptions as a category of high-value lies that ought to receive rigorous free speech protection because of their instrumental value to securing and disseminating information essential to a well-functioning democracy. He will also identify, more generally, the types of limits that may be imposed on lying consistent with the First Amendment