Courts Commons^™

Digital Judgment: Towards A Bloackchain-Based Recognition System, Avaskhan Z. Asanaliyev

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Blockchain technology offers judicial systems a transformative opportunity to enhance the efficiency, security, and transparency of court judgments. This article explores how blockchain-based judgment records could streamline recognition and enforcement procedures. Current methods for authenticating and recognizing judgments depend on slow, manual certification processes and state-specific rules. These approaches create administrative delays, expose systems to fraud, and struggle to keep pace with a digital, global legal landscape. In contrast, a decentralized ledger secured by cryptographic verification would deliver near-instant, tamper- proof records. This could significantly expedite cross-jurisdictional enforcement while upholding due process and reliability. The article reviews recent advancements in …

Rethinking Federal Rule Of Evidence 707: Reliability And Transparency In Ai-Generated Evidence, Sara Williams

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

As artificial intelligence continues to become an increasingly common tool in the modern legal profession, it is important for the United States to not fall behind in regulating it. Artificial intelligence is being relied upon more and more to support modern trials, but the current Federal Rules of Evidence do not address AI specific concerns, such as a lack of traceability, non-reproducibility, or algorithmic reliability. This regulatory gap leaves attorneys and fact finders uncertain about how such evidence should be evaluated. This Article analyzes the current status of evidentiary rules regarding human and machine-generated expert witnesses and argues that the …

Rethinking Strategies For Abolition: What Juries Are Revealing About The Future Of The Death Penalty, William W. Berry Iii

University of Richmond Law Review

In 2025, the death penalty experienced a renaissance of sorts. There were forty-seven executions, the highest in over a decade. Capital punishment has expanded from one method of execution to four, adding firing squads, electrocution, and nitrogen hypoxia to lethal injection. And the political rhetoric calling for expansions of the death penalty, both in executive orders and public comments, is notable in both its intensity and frequency. What is equally notable, however, is the scant number of new death sentences in 2025—twenty-three. Amidst all the executions and the bluster surrounding the death penalty, juries imposed only twenty-three death sentences in …

Diamonds Are Forever, As Are Trademarks: Articulating The Twists Of Section 43(A) Trade Dress Protection For Jewelry Designs Through The Facts Of David Yurman V. Mejuri, Daphne Singer

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Jewelry is adornment—adornment that has “spawned cultural movements, launched political dynasties, and even started wars.”1This Article will analyze the application of Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, which covers trade dress, to jewelry design. Trade dress law is a powerful tool for designers because it regulates the protection of designs rather than words. Despite this strength, trade dress has not been analyzed in the context of the jewelry industry because legal academics have dismissed jewelry as an accessory to fashion law. Luxury jewelry and watches are often used to convey status via “recognizable, distinguished designs that consumers associate with the …

Debiasing Juror Decisions Using Intersectionality, Kaitlin Mccormick-Huhn Ph.D.

University of Richmond Law Review

A criminal defendant’s right to trial by an impartial jury is enshrined in the Constitution. However, this right cannot be realized if juror implicit bias remains unchecked. Indeed, jurors’ implicit bias has been shown to affect decisions as fundamental as who is guilty. Recognizing the problem of implicit bias affecting jurors, the American Bar Association created a taskforce aimed at addressing the issue. One of the solutions the taskforce proposed was a model implicit bias jury instruction. In recent years, seventeen jurisdictions have crafted criminal jury instructions that address implicit bias. This Article contains the first thematic analysis of all …

Under Pressure: Delaware, Corporate America, And Certified Questions, Derek S. Hubbard

Law Student Publications

With an advanced corporate code and a highly respected Court of Chancery, Delaware has long been America’s home for big business. But its status may be in jeopardy. Within the past year, the Court of Chancery has shattered two market practices and reminded stakeholders of the uncertain nature of fiduciary duties. Corporations have responded. Termed “DExit,” corporations are leaving Delaware for competing jurisdictions, namely Texas and Nevada. As corporations leave Delaware, so do their tax dollars. Delaware’s fiscal stability is directly tied to the continued presence of corporate charters in Delaware. Delaware residents enjoy a low tax burden, with the …

"Creating An Institution": Celebrating The Fortieth Anniversary Of Virginia's Intermediate Appellate Court That Nearly Wasn't, Trevor S. Cox

University of Richmond Law Review

This year marks forty years that the Court of Appeals of Virginia has been in service to the Commonwealth. It is a fitting milestone for celebrating the contributions of the dedicated public servants who have ensured its success. It also is an occasion for recounting how narrowly the court came to be at all. Professor John Douglass touched on that theme in his remarks on the thirtieth anniversary of the court, reminding attendees at a ceremony hosted by the Supreme Court of Virginia, “Today, it is easy to see the necessity for giving birth to the Court of Appeals[,]” but …

Unto The (Data) Breach, Charlotte A. Tschider

University of Richmond Law Review

Since the early 2000s, U.S. courts have begun hearing “data breach” liability cases, the inevitable result of a growing internet- connected technology infrastructure. The relatively recent develop- ment of case law signals a body of law in development, stunted by significant limiting factors that prevent the coalescence of legal principles. To date, no holistic empirical exploration of data breach cases has offered sufficient detail to explore these factors. This descriptive empirical study analyzes, in detail, 225 data breach cases from 2005–2022, reviewing these cases over an extended period to descriptively identify key trends and changes within a bona fide data …

Congressional Outsiders And Textualist Non Sequitur, Chun Hin Jeffrey Tsoi

University of Richmond Law Review

In Congressional Insiders and Outsiders, Amy Coney Barrett distinguished between “congressional insider” approaches like process-based theories (i.e., drawing interpretive resources from Congress’s procedures and practices) and “congressional outsider” approaches like textualism (i.e., drawing interpretive resources exclusively from ordinary meaning of the statutory text). According to Barrett, textualists would find an “outsider” approach normatively superior because courts should be faithful agents of the people, who do not usually have inside knowledge of Congress. This embodies a distinctive type of defense for textualism, which I call “outsider textualism,” based not on statutory text as the compromise drawn in Congress, but instead on …

The Impact Of Diversity On The Bench For Employment Discrimination Cases, Therea M. Beiner

University of Richmond Law Review

Political scientists, law professors, and legal practitioners have long been interested in what diversity on the United States federal court bench might mean for justice as well as the appearance of justice. For much of the history of the federal courts, there were so few female, racial, and ethnic minority judges that little could be said about any differences in approaches these “nontraditional” judges might take in their decision-making processes. The number of nontraditional judges increased slowly during the Carter Ad- ministration, which was the first to make diversifying the federal bench a priority. Each succeeding Democratic president increased this …

Noticing Injunctions, Mae C. Quinn

University of Richmond Law Review

Injunctions abound. And yet, they are largely invisible. Beyond the parties to a case in which an injunction is ordered, few outsiders may be aware they exist. And even when an order for injunctive re- lief makes the news, its exact terms may not be widely known. But like legislative enactments and publicly reported appellate decisions, injunctions can carry significant legal implications. Indeed, depending on the nature of the relief declared, such equitable orders can last in perpetuity. And as a practical matter, third parties outside of the litigation may be directly or indirectly impacted by their terms, which prohibit …

Foreword, Carl Tobias

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Case For Specialty Dockets: The Intersection Of Judicial Intervention, Psychiatric Hospitalization And Involuntary Commitments, Community-Based Services, And Public Safety, The Honorable Jacqueline S. Mcclenney

University of Richmond Law Review

Defendant Doe was diagnosed with a significant mental illness in 2015. His adult diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia came after having been an adjudicated delinquent following multiple status offenses as a juvenile. Defendant Doe was placed into foster care as a result of his biological father’s incarceration and his mother’s unwillingness to seek treatment for her substance use disorder. Mother, father, and now adult Defendant Doe were all eligible for services and attempted to receive them through the local community services board (“CSB”).

Defendant Doe received psychiatric and supportive services through the CSB. Defendant Doe again entered the criminal justice system …

Supplemental Jurisdiction And § 1367: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

Among the outstanding accomplishments of Judge Joseph F. Weis, Jr. was his work chairing the Federal Court Study Committee. Appointed by Chief Justice Rehnquist at the direction of Congress, the committee undertook a fifteen month study of the problems in the federal court system. The final report was issued in 1990 and made a series of recommendations addressing a broad range of topics including tax jurisdiction, narcotics prosecutions, habeas cases, sentencing reform, disability adjudications, and diversity jurisdiction, which the committee recommended eliminating entirely...

Reports Of Cases In The Court Of Chancery From 1683 To 1688, William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

This collection of law reports brings together in one place the reports of cases in the Court of Chancery from the short tenure of Sir Francis North, lord Guilford, and that of Sir George Jeffreys, Lord Jeffreys, who was the Lord Chancellor during the reign of King James II. These reports have been scattered heretofore, but it is hoped that, by reprinting them in one place, they can be more easily comprehended individually and the jurisprudence of this court can be better understood. They come from the reigns of King Charles II and King James II, and date from 1683 …

John Coxe's Exchequer Reports, William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

John Coxe was born circa 1695. He was the eldest son of Charles Coxe (c. 1661-1728), a bencher and treasurer of Lincoln's Inn and member of Parliament. John Coxe matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford, on 23 January 1712, and he was admitted as a student at Lincoln's Inn on 27 January 1712; he was called to the bar in 1718, and made a bencher in 1743. On the death of his father in 1728, he inherited Nether Lypiatt, in Gloucestershire, an imposing manor house that his father had built in 1717. He was the Clerk of the Letters Patent from …

Appoint Judge Ana De Alba To The Ninth Circuit, Carl Tobias

University of Richmond Law Review

The United States Senate must rapidly appoint Eastern District of California Judge Ana de Alba to the Ninth Circuit. This appellate tribunal is a preeminent regional circuit, which faces substantial appeals, has the largest complement of jurists, and clearly includes a massive geographic expanse. The nominee, whom President Joe Biden designated in spring 2023, would offer remarkable gender, experiential, ideological, and ethnic diversity realized primarily from serving productively with the California federal district, and state trial, courts after rigorously litigating for one decade in a highly regarded private law firm. For over fifteen years, she deftly excelled in law’s upper …

Michigan Senators' Crucial Role In Keeping Federal Courts Full, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

One critical responsibility that the American Constitution assigns senators is the provision of comprehensive advice and consent respecting accomplished federal judicial candidates suggested by the President to serve, particularly in their home states. Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow, who is completing her fourth term representing Michigan, has always joined with her colleague Democratic Senator Gary Peters in the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to astutely discharge this crucial responsibility. Stabenow and Peters exercised sound judgment, intelligence, hard work, and keen appreciation for the distinct roles that the Constitution accords the President and senators in the confirmation …

Judges And The Regulatory State: Trends Of Resistance And Restraint, Luke P. Norris

Law Faculty Publications

The last great confrontation between courts and the regulatory state occurred at the turn of the previous century. As courts in the first decades of the twentieth century resisted regulatory laws designed to protect workers and curb market excesses, they sustained broad legal and public critique, including claims that they were guardians of corporate power and monied and propertied interests. The showdown, as is familiar fare, was seemingly resolved in the New Deal, with the Supreme Court and judiciary largely accepting the constitutionality of federal and state regulatory laws. The compromise that emerged, dubbed the “New Deal settlement,” ostensibly called …

Problem-Solving Courts And The Outcome Oversight Gap, Erin R. Collins

Law Faculty Publications

Drug courts-and the litany of other problem-solving courts that soon followed in their wake-began as a series of small-scale judicial experiments in criminal punishment reform. They were earnest efforts by criminal court judges to redress an issue that they were well-equipped to see: many people were returning to their courtrooms time and again, often for low-level drug charges, and at a time when court dockets were ballooning because of tough-on-crime arrest and prosecution policies. Early drug court judges combined their power to punish with their authority to control their dockets to create specialized court calendars aimed at providing substance abuse …

Nationality, Chiara Giorgetti

Law Faculty Publications

Nationality provides the foundation for the protection of a person, be it natural or corporate, under international law. As such, it is an essential and also a complex concept. It is essential because it provides the crucial link between the State and physical or juridical persons that ties the substantive principles of international investment law (IIL) to those individuals who can benefit from them, and thus also grants them access to their rights and remedies. It is also a complex concept because it is both a domestic and an international concept and not neatly regulated. International law recognizes the right …

Preface, Alexandra M. Voehringer

University of Richmond Law Review

The University of Richmond Law Review proudly presents the thirty-eighth issue of the Annual Survey of Virginia Law. Since 1985, the Annual Survey has served as a guiding tool for practitioners and students to stay abreast of recent legislative, judicial, and administrative developments in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, the Annual Survey is the most widely read publication of the Law Review, reaching lawyers, judges, legislators, and students in every corner of the Commonwealth.

Wills, Trusts, And Estates, Allison A. Tait, Hunter M. Glenn

University of Richmond Law Review

This year’s legislative and judicial activity surrounding wills, trusts, and estates did not bring any radical shifts in the law, but rather expansions and clarifications. In the legislative realm, the bulk of the activity centered on expanding protections for parties under guardianship, with a sensitivity to safeguarding vulnerable parties from neglect or even predation. The new rules aim to increase transparency in process, preserve confidential financial information, and ensure minimums of care and contact. The rules affect these goals by providing for more transparency through notice requirements as well as required written filings. Moreover, they protect parties under guardianship by …

Table Of Contents

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Foreword, The Honorable L. A. Harris Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

“Your writing is so bad you will not be considered for Law Review and there is some question about your admittance to Law School.”

Life is strange and ironic. In 1974 as a second year law student at the T. C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond, I was invited to submit an article to determine if I would be permitted to serve on the Law Review. A member of the Law Review evaluated my article and met with me. In summation he said my writing was so bad that I would not be considered for Law …

Civil Practice And Procedure, Christopher S. Dadak

University of Richmond Law Review

This Article discusses Supreme Court of Virginia and, for the first time, Court of Appeals of Virginia analysis of procedural issues. The Article further discusses revisions to civil procedure provisions of the Code of Virginia and Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia in the last year.

The Article first addresses opinions of the supreme court and court of appeals, then new legislation enacted during the 2023 General Assembly Session, and finally revisions to the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Taxation, Craig D. Bell

University of Richmond Law Review

This Article reviews significant recent developments in the laws affecting Virginia state and local taxation. Its Parts cover legislative activity, judicial decisions, and selected opinions from the past year. Part I of this Article addresses taxes administered by the Virginia Department of Taxation (the “Tax Department” or “Department”). Part II covers local taxes, including real and tangible personal property machinery and tools, license taxes, and other discrete local taxes.

The overall purpose of this Article is to provide Virginia tax and general practitioners with a concise overview of the recent developments in Virginia taxation that are most likely to impact …

The Current State Of Abortion Law In Virginia Leaves Victims Of Domestic And Sexual Violence Vulnerable To Abuse: Why Virginia Should Codify The Right To Abortion In The State Constitution†, Courtenay Schwartz

University of Richmond Law Review

All people must have access to safe and legal reproductive health care—especially victims of sexual and domestic violence who can and do become pregnant because of the violence they experience. This year, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In doing so, the Supreme Court held that the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion. Though abortion access is currently protected in Virginia, this could change with each new General Assembly session. To guard against the danger that this poses to …

Legal Representation Of Parents In Child Dependency Cases In Virginia, Eric J. Reynolds

University of Richmond Law Review

Virginia’s current system of providing court-appointed legal counsel for parents involved in child dependency cases is unsustainable and inadequate, requiring swift and dramatic action from the state government. Inadequate legal representation for parents often leads to poor outcomes for children and a lack of protections for the parents’ due process rights. While attempts to improve the system have been made in recent years, they are often quickly dismissed. The largest hindrances in the current system, this Article suggests, is that court-appointed attorneys for parents are typically underpaid, undertrained, and consequently unable to meaningfully advocate for their client. Due to the …

Taxing The New With The Old: Capturing The Value Of Data With The Corporate Income Tax In Virginia, Coleman H. Cheeley

University of Richmond Law Review

The Commonwealth of Virginia markets itself as “The Largest Data Center Market in the World.”In 2019, the Northern Virginia market alone was the largest in the United States by inventory, with room to grow. In 2021, data centers in Northern Virginia required an estimated 1,686 megawatts of power; that number is expected to increase by 200 megawatts in the near future, reflecting data centers currently under development. For reference, in 2022, it was estimated that more than 100 homes could be powered by one megawatt of solar power in Virginia. Historically, data centers have been located in the Commonwealth due …