Law Commons^™

Absolute Immunity: A License To Rape Justice At Will, Prentice L. White

Prentice L White

ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY: A LICENSE TO RAPE JUSTICE AT WILL BY PRENTICE L. WHITE We are all acquainted with the phrase the sanctity of marriage. We understand that the vows made by a couple at the wedding ceremony is sacrosanct, and if those vows are not taken seriously, or abused in any way, then the offending spouse will be penalized and evicted from the marital relationship. Likewise, justice should be handled in the same manner and with the same intensity. America prides itself on having the best legal system in the world. It broadcasts to all the surrounding nations that its …

I Limiti Alla Pubblicità Dell'avvocato Nell'ordinamento Tedesco, Valerio Sangiovanni

Valerio Sangiovanni

No abstract provided.

If You Think Law Schools Teach Students To "Think Like A Lawyer"...Think Again!, Douglas Rush

Douglas Rush

Law school faculty and deans purport to teach law students to “think like a lawyer.” Indeed, this phrase has been repeated so often that it has become legal pedagogical dogma. Professor Wegner, co-author of the Carnegie Report Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law, has stated that “thinking like a lawyer” has been embraced as a ”trope of the core identity” of the legal academy. Unfortunately, whether law schools truly teach their students to “think like a lawyer” has not been previously subjected to empirical analysis.

This article is an empirical examination using logistic regression analysis of two different …

If You Think Law Schools Teach Students To "Think Like A Lawyer"...Think Again!, Douglas Rush

Douglas Rush

Law school faculty and deans purport to teach law students to “think like a lawyer.” Indeed, this phrase has been repeated so often that it has become legal pedagogical dogma. Professor Wegner, co-author of the Carnegie Report Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law, has stated that “thinking like a lawyer” has been embraced as a ”trope of the core identity” of the legal academy. Unfortunately, whether law schools truly teach their students to “think like a lawyer” has not been previously subjected to empirical analysis.

This article is an empirical examination using logistic regression analysis of two different …

Anti-Trust Me: The Justification For The Prohibition On Charging Unreasonably Low Attorneys’ Fees, Tim E. Hogan

Tim E Hogan

The Wisconsin Rules of Professional Conduct prohibit lawyers from charging unreasonably high attorneys fees. The rules do not prohibit lawyers from charging unreasonably low attorneys fees. There is a good reason for this: low attorneys’ fees provide clients with access to justice that they may be otherwise unable to afford. However, what happens when attorneys’ fees become so low that their sole purpose is to drive out the competition? Prior to 1979, the Wisconsin state bar, like many other state bars, published a minimum fee schedule that set forth specific fees below which lawyers were prohibited from charging. The justification …

Judge Harold Baer's Quixotic Crusade For Class Counsel Diversity, Michael H. Hurwitz

Michael H Hurwitz

In this comment, the author discusses the recent rulings of U.S. District Court Judge Harold Baer, Jr. directing that proposed class counsel provide evidence of its racial and gender diversity. After summarizing the provisions of Rule 23(g) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that govern the appointment of class counsel, the author analyzes Judge Baer’s rulings in light of Rule 23(g)’s requirements. The author concludes that Judge Baer’s rulings are inconsistent with the Rule’s requirements and, instead, represent the judge’s effort to impose his own policy views over the interests of the class members served by the Rule’s narrow …

Does The Readability Of Your Brief Affect Your Chance Of Winning An Appeal?--An Analysis Of Readability In Appellate Briefs And Its Correlation With Success On Appeal, Lance N. Long, William F. Christensen

Lance N. Long

The study described in this article suggests that the length of sentences and words, which is “readability” for our purposes, probably does not make much difference in appellate brief writing. First, we found that most briefs are written at about the same level of readability; there simply is not much difference in how lawyers write appellate briefs when it comes to the length of sentences and words. Furthermore, the readability of most appellate briefs is well within the reading ability of the highly educated audience of appellate judges and justices. Second, the relatively small differences in readability are not related …

Elegant Expressions: Reflections On The Nature Of Great Legal Writing, Mark K. Osbeck

Mark K. Osbeck

The scholarly literature on legal writing is replete with various tips on how legal writers can improve their writing. Yet no scholar has yet provided, or even attempted to provide, a comprehensive account as to what it is that characterizes the best legal writing. This article fills that void. It analyzes the nature of excellence in legal writing and argues that great legal writing has four essential qualities: it is clear, it is concise, it is engaging, and it is elegant. The scholarly literature has ignored this last quality, focusing only on clarity, conciseness, and engagement. Yet it is the …

Tax Lawyers, Tax Defiance, And The Ethics Of Casual Conversation, Michael Hatfield

Michael Hatfield

Tax Lawyers, Tax Defiance, and the Ethics of Casual Conversation Tax lawyers routinely navigate politically-charged waters when a tax topic is dropped into conversation. Increasingly, however, tax lawyers are confronted with comments that undermine the authority of the federal tax system itself. These comments may take several forms, including arguments that the income tax is unconstitutional. Regardless of form, this rhetoric differs from legitimate criticisms of the tax system because it encourages non-compliance as either a moral right or a political good . In the current environment, the tax bar should take up the call to be public educators with …

Tax Lawyers, Tax Defiance, And The Ethics Of Casual Conversation, Michael Hatfield

Michael Hatfield

Tax Lawyers, Tax Defiance, and the Ethics of Casual Conversation ABSTRACT Tax lawyers routinely navigate politically-charged waters when a tax topic is dropped into conversation. Increasingly, however, tax lawyers are confronted with comments that undermine the authority of the federal tax system itself. These comments may take several forms, including arguments that the income tax is unconstitutional. Regardless of form, this rhetoric differs from legitimate criticisms of the tax system because it encourages non-compliance as either a moral right or a political good. In the current environment, the tax bar should take up the call to be public educators with …

Big But Brittle: Economic Perspectives On The Future Of The Law Firm In The New Economy, Bernard A. Burk, David Mcgowan

Bernard A Burk

This Article addresses the deceptively simple questions why, up to the onset of the recent recession, law firms continued to grow at the rapid rate and in the unusual configuration that they have exhibited for over 40 years; and whether lawyers, clients, law students and law schools should expect familiar trends to reassert themselves as the economy improves. We show that the copious academic theorizing addressing these questions (focusing on such notions as diversification, asset specificity, “tournament” theory, and reputational and agency-cost concerns at the level of the firm as a whole) has proved ineffective at explaining or predicting actual …

The Image Of The Attorney: The Character Of Attorney Randolph Mason In Three Books By Melville Davisson Post, Patricia J. Brown

Patricia J Brown

Summary In 1896 a young attorney practicing in West Virginia, Melville Davisson Post, wrote a book entitled The Strange Schemes of Randolph Mason. His stated mission in this book was to invent a new type of story to compete with the currently popular genre of the detective story. His stories would show how a criminal, even if detected, could escape punishment by using loopholes and schemes available in the law. The criminal, not always able to find these loopholes himself, would be guided by a legal misanthrope, an attorney named Randolph Mason. Post wrote two books using this motif and …

A First Amendment Theory For Protecting Attorney Speech, Margaret C. Tarkington

Margaret C Tarkington

In June 2010, the United States Supreme Court held that Congress could constitutionally prohibit attorneys from providing legal assistance and advice regarding lawful nonviolent conduct to groups that the Secretary of State has designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). The plaintiffs wished to assist two FTOs invoke international human rights law, petition the United Nations and United States Congress, and peacefully resolve their disputes. The Supreme Court held that the statute clearly prohibited plaintiffs’ proposed activities, but did not violate the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment because the attorneys could still engage in “independent advocacy” of any message …

The Path Of Posner's Pragmatism, Edward Cantu

Edward Cantu

It is no secret that formalist methodologies like originalism are not nearly as scientific as they pretend to be. Banking on this fact, pragmatism offers a prescriptive alternative: instead of expending intellectual energy attempting “fidelity” to antecedent “authority” (precedent, Framers’ intent, etc.) judges should embrace their inevitable roles as de facto policy makers, and focus on producing the best social results they can through the cases they decide. The article discusses the current state of legal pragmatism in the form espoused by its chief proponent Judge Richard Posner, and asks whether it has proven itself capable of contributing anything useful …

Large Law Firm Lateral Hire Conflicts Checking, James M. Fischer

James M. Fischer

Lateral lawyer movement between private law firms has become an accepted practice. More than one-half of the lawyers who became partners at AM LAW 100 firms began their professional careers at another firm. Yet, lateral lawyers carry potential risks to their new firms in the form of conflicts of interests that may prevent the firm from representing one of its existing clients. To identify and quantify this risk, firms require that laterals disclose information that enables the firm to conflicts check the lateral.

While conflicts checking of laterals is accepted practice by firms, it raises a question whether laterals in …

Resurrecting The Argument For Judicial Empathy: Can A Dead Duck Be Successfully Repackaged For Sale To A Skeptical Public?, Tobin Sparling

Tobin Sparling

President Obama's campaign to promote judicial empathy has proved a failure, rejected by his own judicial nominees and the public at large. Based on an examination of current popular conceptions of justice and a survey of scientific understanding of what empathy is and how it works, this article examines whether judicial empathy is a cause worth saving and, if so, whether it can, indeed, be saved. It argues that the advocacy of judicial empathy can and should be revived and suggests a strategy for politicians, judges, and others who desire to promote it. This strategy operates from two basic presumptions. …

Democracy At The Corner Of First And Fourteenth: Judicial Campaign Spending And Equality, James Sample

James Sample

This Article posits that the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., Inc., which recognized that substantial independent expenditures in support of a judicial candidate present threats to judicial impartiality similar to those posed by direct contributions, suggests that guaranteeing due process of law in state courts presents a compelling state interest justifying the regulation of spending in judicial elections.

The Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Buckley v. Valeo is understood to hold that only an “anti-corruption” rationale can justify campaign finance regulations, and to draw a rigid distinction between political campaign “expenditures” and “contributions,” holding …

The Knowledge Guild: The Legal Profession In An Age Of Technological Change. Review Of Richard Susskind, "The End Of Lawyers? Rethinking The Nature Of Legal Services", Paul F. Kirgis

Paul F. Kirgis

In "The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services," Richard Susskind predicts that lawyers will suffer the fate of other guild-members—the artisans and craftsman of an earlier age—who saw their livelihoods wiped out by the potent mix of technological advancement and market forces that is modernity. He argues that the commoditization of legal services will make much traditional legal work unnecessary, dramatically reducing the demand for the one-on-one client service that has sustained the growth of the legal profession. This review challenges Susskind’s assumption that the work of lawyers is analogous to the work of the mechanical craftsmen …

Teaching Negotiation To A Globally Diverse Audience: Ethics, Morality And Cultural Differences, David Allen Larson, Vanessa Seyman

David Allen Larson

"Teaching Negotiation to a Globally Diverse Audience: Ethics, Morality, and Cultural Differences" (by David Allen Larson and Vanessa Seyman) This is a short article discussing the challenges of teaching negotiation, and also the challenge of actually negotiating, in a globally diverse environment. Issues of ethics, morality and culture can surface quite quickly when teaching and negotiating in a multicultural environment. The article builds upon our recent experiences as participants in the Second Generation Global Negotiation conference held Istanbul, Turkey. The article provides examples of how cultural and language differences can impact both actual negotiations and negotiation teaching and provides suggestions …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law's Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’S Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’S Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law's Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law's Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’S Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law's Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

A Few Inconvenient Truths About Michael Crichton's State Of Fear: Lawyers, Causes And Science, Lea B. Vaughn

Lea B Vaughn

Abstract: Although Crichton has lost the battle regarding global warming, his characterization of lawyers and law practice remains unchallenged. This article challenges his damning portrait of lawyers as know-nothing, self aggrandizing manipulators of various social and environmental causes. A more nuanced examination of “cause lawyering” reveals that lawyers are not part of a vast conspiracy to grab power through the causes for which many work; in fact, the rules of professional responsibility as well as the structure of “cause lawyering” limit their power and influence. Regardless, lawyers are nonetheless vital, and generally principled, participants in the debates and causes that …

How The Global Crime Syndicates Fuel Planet Destruction, Global Alliance

Global Alliance

since 1945 more environmental planet destruction has been fuelled and financed with ever more leveraged debt than in the previous 60 million years - it's applied terrorism against the global life support system under the protection racket of a corrupt law profession

Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege In The Digital Age: War On Two Fronts?, Tom Spahn

Tom Spahn

Is the corporate attorney-client privilege under attack? Many attorneys and commentators contend not only that yes, it is, but also that this battle rages on two fronts. First, they argue that courts are engaging in a misguided erosion of the privilege when faced with expansive electronic discovery. And second, they insist that policies exercised by executive agencies are chilling compliance conversations within corporations by creating a coercive “culture of privilege waiver.”

2006 and 2007 represented landmark years for the corporate attorney-client privilege. In those years, the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana used methodology in In re Vioxx …

Searching For The State’S Guilty Mind: Mens Rea Evidence Against The Authors Of The Torture Memos Under Federal Law And The Model Rules, Daniel Hornal

Daniel Hornal

This article analyzes the mens rea required for a criminal conviction of lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel (hereinafter OLC) under a theory that they aided and abetted torture when they wrote the so-called torture memos. It then speculates as to what form the evidence to prove that mens rea would take, if it exists. It then looks at the D.C. Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct to see which rules the OLC lawyers may have violated, based on information in the public record. Finally, it analyzes each rule to determine the minimum mens rea necessary to violate that rule …