Law Commons^™

The Shockwave Heard Around The World: Uspto No Longer Allows Petitioners To Use General Knowledge To Fill Gaps In Prior Art During Inter Partes Review, Hannah Lesser

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

The Perils Of Trademark Co-Ownership And The Need For Co-Ownership Agreements, Cameron Quilling

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Alberta’S Creation: A Historical And Legal Analysis, Kent Mcneil

Articles & Book Chapters

The provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created out of the Northwest Territories, a part of Canada owned and governed by the federal government.  In order to understand the context and implications of Alberta’s potential secession from Canada, it is necessary to examine the history of the region and discuss the law that may be relevant to this question.

A Right With No Standard: The Crisis Of Adequate Counsel In Capital Cases, Luz M. Payán

Criminal Law Society Blog

“A Right With No Standard: The Crisis of Adequate Counsel in Capital Cases,” criticizes the persistent lack of uniform standards governing legal representation in capital cases and argues that these disparities undermine the criminal legal system as a whole. It highlights the various differences in state qualification standard which allow attorneys to represent a defendant in a capital case. Even further, this Article points to the lack of mitigation specialist requirements in a majority of states. To effectively safeguard a defendant’s constitutional rights, this Article urges that the American Bar Association revise its Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of …

Surrogacy-Friendly State Law: Criteria For Categorizing State Law By Strength Of Legal Pathways To Gestational Surrogacy, Emma J. Noble

Honors Theses

This paper proposes new criteria for defining U.S. states as surrogacy-friendly. It exclusively considers gestational surrogacy and domestic intended parents. It provides an overview of the surrogacy laws in each state and Washington D.C., and classifies them by the newly proposed criteria. Existing definitions of surrogacy-friendly do not often provide detailed legal distinctions between the states. The proposed criteria consider whether or not a state has express surrogacy laws and if the intended parents’ sexual orientation, marital status, or genetic relationship to the child are limiting factors in their ability to obtain parentage orders. The criteria depend on the legal …

Evaluating Drug Use Through Examination Of Local Water Sources: Drug Concentrations Within Biota Systems, Madeleine Freyhof

Honors Projects

Understanding drug usage based on drug concentrations found within biota samples grown in different concentrations of cocaine and benzoylecgonine. Drug policy then can be potentially based on how drug concentrations display drug usage for a specific community.

Front Matter And Table Of Contents

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

No abstract provided.

You Can Be Innocent—Or You Can Be Free: Prosecutorial Power And Dark Pleas In Innocence Litigation, Tori Simkovic, Craig Trocino

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

This Article examines the phenomenon Justice Michael P. Donnelly has termed the “dark plea.” A dark plea is a post-conviction guilty plea extracted from defendants who maintain their innocence but accept freedom over exoneration. Through the lens of State of Florida v. Lawrence K. Johnson, this Article exposes how dark pleas operate at the precise moment when newly discovered evidence threatens to unravel a conviction and expose actual innocence in a nearly two decades old wrongful conviction. Johnson’s case illustrates the coercive dynamics of this type postconviction “bargaining.” After eighteen years of incarceration, compelling DNA recantation evidence, and an appellate …

Qualified Immunity: Emerging Fault Lines In The Eleventh Circuit, Ricky J. Marc

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

Qualified immunity operates as a central doctrine in federal civil rights litigation, defining the threshold between government accountability and official protection from suit. Within the Eleventh Circuit, this doctrine has developed into a highly structured yet fact-dependent framework that shapes litigation strategy and judicial outcomes. This article offers a comprehensive analysis of qualified immunity in the Eleventh Circuit from 2022 to 2025, drawing on recent precedents involving law enforcement officers and correctional officials. It examines the Circuit’s treatment of clearly established rights, the role of objective reasonableness in determining constitutional violations, and the evidentiary dynamics that influence summary judgment and …

Unsettling Settled Science: The Perils Of And Rationale Behind Blind Faith In Forensic Evidence, Jaclyn Marra

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

Science—a seemingly compelling and infallible adjudicative element—plays a pivotal role in criminal trials, serving as a cornerstone for evidence interpretation and decision-making. However, the perceived infallibility of scientific evidence often masks its inherent limitations and vulnerabilities. Forensic methods, widely regarded as objective and precise, can suffer from a plethora of inconspicuous constraints—including flawed methodologies, human error, and biases—which undermine their reliability. The American public and legal system frequently place undue trust in forensic evidence and experts, influenced by portrayals of their certainty in media and popular culture. This phenomenon has been referred to as the “Reverse CSI Effect.” This note …

Presumed Guilty By Proximity: How Geofence Warrants Undermine The Fourteenth Amendment, Radha Patel

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

Geofence warrants are utilized as a surveillance tool to gather location data on every user within a specific area and are being integrated into policing without a stable legal framework. This integration threatens individual rights and disproportionately impacts people and communities of color. While these warrants are often scrutinized under the Fourth Amendment, this note argues that they significantly undermine the Fourteenth Amendment by granting law enforcement excessive discretion. This unchecked discretion allows systemic bias and racial profiling to influence criminal investigations, creating the potential for wrongful convictions. The analysis in this note details the three-step execution process of geofence …

On The “Storied” History And Sustained Impact Of A Thriving Social Justice Journal, Mario L. Barnes

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

No abstract provided.

Separate But Equal In The Bold New City Of The South: A Shadow Of What Remains, Charity Dera

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

This project undertakes the task of analyzing the historical and contemporary landscape of Jacksonville, Florida, the “Bold New City of the South,”1 from a multidisciplinary vantage point. It argues that the spirit of the overturned “separate but equal” holding of Plessy v. Ferguson2 and its bold segregationist ideologies reverberate today in both subtle and overt ways. Yet, that reality has not come without the resilience and perseverance of pioneering natives who have resisted such ideals in bold ways. While segregation is deeply rooted in U.S. history and scholars have readily addressed the contemporary effects of landmark cases such as Plessy …

Applications Of Suas Thermal Imaging And Lidar At Letort Spring Garden Preserve: An Independent Study, Kelsey Wardell

Harrisburg University Other Works

No abstract provided.

“Tolling For The Outcast”: A Therapeutic Jurisprudence Consideration Of The Relationship Between The Americans With Disabilities Act, Death Row Conditions, And Capital Punishment, Michael L. Perlin, Esq., Talia Roitberg Harmon, Maren Geiger, Chelsea Henning

San Diego Law Review

The press has regularly reported on the level of abysmal conditions on death rows in those states that have retained capital punishment. Death-row prisoners are often incarcerated in solitary confinement, and are subject to much more deprivation and harsher conditions than other prisoners. As a result, many experience declining mental health, and it has become clear that persons with mental illness are disproportionately put to death. Some litigants have turned to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as a potential source of relief; the Supreme Court’s decision in Pennsylvania Department of Corrections v. Yeskey underscored that the act’s language “unmistakably …

V.63-1, 2026 Masthead

San Diego Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regulating Retirement Savings Roulette: A Framework For Evaluating Prudence Of Cryptocurrency Investments In 401(K)S, Lauren K. Valastro

San Diego Law Review

Foolhardy or farsighted, Americans are investing their retirement savings in volatile cryptocurrencies.  These investments, conducted largely through brokerage windows enabling plan participants to invest in options not on their employer-sponsored retirement plan menu, are increasing.  Clarity on whether and to what extent fiduciary duties apply to self-directed brokerage windows in 401(k)s is needed to protect Americans’ retirement outlooks and to equip fiduciaries with enough information to fulfil their obligations.  No agency or court has confirmed the existence of fiduciary duties relating to brokerage windows, let alone defined the contours of any such duty.  The Department of Labor (DOL) recently withdrew …

Thou Shall Not Compel Speech: Public Educators’ Free Speech Rights In The Face Of Louisiana’S “Ten Commandments” Law And Other Rules Compelling Private Expression From Public School Teachers, Kailey A. Olsson

San Diego Law Review

First Amendment jurisprudence has significantly evolved within the past decade as the Supreme Court has expanded religious protections, further developed the Compelled-Speech Doctrine, and narrowed what public school activities are considered violations of the Establishment Clause.  There is no other U.S. Supreme Court case that illustrates these monumental shifts in First Amendment interpretation quite like Kennedy v. Bremerton School District.  Writing for the majority, Justice Gorsuch found that a public school district could not suppress the personal religious expression of a football coach, even when that coach led a prayer activity with other football players and within view of other …

Long Overdue: Modernizing Virtual Currency Taxation, Matthew Tarasen

San Diego Law Review

In March of 2014, the IRS issued guidance classifying cryptocurrency as property for most tax purposes, at a time when the total cryptocurrency market capitalization was roughly 6.5 billion dollars.  Over ten years later, that figure has grown to four trillion dollars.  While taxpayers can now purchase coffee at Starbucks with certain cryptocurrencies, such purchases trigger capital gains reporting, treating the transaction effectively as a taxable disposition of property, despite its economic function as a medium of exchange.  Although cryptocurrencies have gained prevalence in commerce and have even been briefly recognized as legal tender in some foreign jurisdictions, the IRS’s …

Artificial Meaning?, Thomas R. Lee, Jesse Egbert

Florida Law Review

The textualist turn is increasingly an empirical one—an inquiry into ordinary meaning in the sense of what is commonly or typically ascribed to a given word or phrase. Such an inquiry is inherently empirical. And empirical questions call for replicable evidence produced by transparent methods—not bare human intuition or an arbitrary preference for one dictionary definition over another. Both scholars and judges have begun to make this turn. They have started to adopt the tools used in the field of corpus linguistics—a field that studies language usage by examining large databases (corpora) of naturally occurring language.

This turn is now …

Indigenous Māori Defend Digital Sovereignty Over Big Tech’S Free Trade Rules, Jane Kelsey

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

In 2016, Indigenous Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand challenged the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (‘TPPA’) for breaching the colonial government (Crown) obligations to them under the 1840 Tiriti o Waitangi. This was lodged before a Tribunal particularly established to inquire into such breaches. In 2021, the Tribunal upheld that claim, finding that the TPPA e-commerce provisions failed to protect Māori identity and Indigenous knowledge. Since then, the Crown and Māori have sought means to reconcile these competing paradigms within the unequal power relations of a colonial government and Indigenous Peoples – denied the sovereignty affirmed to them in 1840. This case …

The Role Of Ai In Judicial Translation: Ensuring Access To Justice In Vernacular Languages, With Special Reference To Marathi, Bhushan Raut

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper examines the role of artificial intelligence in judicial translation to enhance access to justice in India’s multilingual legal system, with a specific focus on Marathi. It situates judicial translation within the constitutional framework and Rule of Law theory, arguing that linguistic accessibility is essential to legal agency and fairness. Through doctrinal, empirical, and comparative analysis, the paper evaluates initiatives such as SUVAS, highlights gaps in vernacular availability of landmark judgements, and identifies challenges relating to accuracy, accountability, and legal semantics. It proposes a hybrid AI–human model and policy reforms to ensure reliable, scalable, and inclusive translation practices in …

The Illusory Normativity Of Rights-Based Ai Regulation, Yiyang Mei, Matthew Sag

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

Whether and how to regulate AI is now a central question of governance. Across academic, policy, and international legal circles, the European Union is widely treated as the normative leader in this space. Its regulatory framework, anchored in the General Data Protection Regulation, the Digital Services and Markets Acts, and the AI Act, is often portrayed as a principled model grounded in fundamental rights. This Article challenges that assumption. We argue that the rights-based narrative surrounding EU AI regulation mischaracterises the logic of its institutional design. While rights language pervades EU legal instruments, its function is managerial, not foundational. These …

بعد سنتين من إقرار قانون "تعديل بعض أحكام قانون الضمان الاجتماعي وإنشاء نظام التقاعد والحماية الاجتماعية": دروس في فنّ إجهاض الإصلاح قبل نشوئه, يمنى مخلوف

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

On December 22, 2023, the Law “Amending Some Provisions of the Social Security Law and Establishing the Retirement and Social Protection System” was enacted. This law introduces the pension system to replace the end-of-service indemnity. Despite the advantages of adopting indexed periodic payments over lump sum compensation, it is clear that the transition to the new system is threatened by the on-going end-of-service compensation crisis. What stands out is the contradiction between the approach adopted to address the end-of-service compensation crisis and the mechanisms stipulated in the 2023 Law. While the pension system relies on periodic indexation in order to …

تقييم قانون التنظيم القضائي في ضوء المعايير الدوليّة, رينا قسطنطين

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

This study examines Lebanon’s Law on the Organization of the Judicial Court System, adopted by the Chamber of Deputies on July 31, 2025, and returned to the Chamber by the President of the Republic for further discussion, on September 5, 2025. It represents one of the most significant judicial reform initiatives since the Taif Agreement of 1989. The study traces the evolution of the Law’s provisions in successive drafts in light of the recommendations of the Venice Commission – the advisory body to the Council of Europe – and international standards regarding both institutional and individual judicial independence. The article …

La Qualification Du Génocide À Gaza : Portée Juridique Et Enjeux Internationaux, Farah Safi

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

Genocide embodies the ultimate transgression of international law and exposes the limits of its effectiveness. Based on the 1948 Convention, its legal framework rests on two constitutive elements, – material and mental – whose interaction determines the recognition of the crime. Recent jurisprudence and contemporary cases in Gaza highlight the tension between legal clarity and political failure. Beyond punishment, prevention and the duty to ensure respect for international humanitarian law emerge as the core challenges of a system in crisis, where the survival of law now depends on its capacity to restrain power. This confrontation raises a fundamental question about …

في معنى استقلالية السلطة القضائية وتجلياتها, رزق زغيب

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

The independence of the judiciary in Lebanon, as constitutionally guaranteed, carries a particular meaning that is embodied exclusively in the judicial function performed by any sitting judge issuing rulings in the name of the Lebanese people. The Constitution that elevates the judiciary to the level of a power does not provide itself for guarantees akin to the legislative and executive branches. Rather, it entrusts the determination of judicial safeguards to the legislature, under the oversight of the Constitutional Council. The Council has consistently interpreted these safeguards as measures that protect judges in the exercise of their functions by removing any …

Les Outils Numériques : Instruments D’Inclusion Ou D’Exclusion Fiscale ?, Karim Daher

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

Over the past few decades, with the rapid technological advancements, multinational enterprises (MNEs) and notably the internet giants have acquired a global dimension and such power which allowed them free and dominant penetration in developing countries’ markets such as Lebanon. This unrestricted penetration was facilitated by the absence of any specific local or international legal framework as well as smart tailored tax optimization enabling them to compete with local businesses and deprive national economies of significant resources. This situation has contributed at the same time to the development of the parallel or informal economy and led to a proliferation of …

La Réforme De La Justice Administrative Au Liban, Nadi Abi Rached

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

The Lebanese administrative judiciary is undergoing a profound crisis, exacerbated by the broader institutional disintegration affecting the country. This crisis appears rooted in deeper and more specific causes: an alleged original illegitimacy of the institution and the recurrent instabilities that have marked its development. Today, this branch of justice operates at a minimal level, remains dependent of the executive, and struggles to fully guarantee the right to a fair trial. Two reform proposals aim to address this situation. This article first seeks to reaffirm the historical legitimacy and institutional continuity of the administrative judiciary, thereby providing a sound basis for …