Legal Profession Commons^™

Training Law Students To Maintain Civility In Their Law Practices As A Way To Improve Public Discourse, Nancy B. Rapoport

Scholarly Works

Our current social discourse is broken. Not only have we resorted to name-calling instead of reasoned discussion, but we have also resorted to the fundamental attribution error: we attribute bad motives to people with whose positions we disagree rather than starting with the presumption that, perhaps, buried deep within their positions could be a grain of truth. As Yoni Appelbaum observed in a recent article in The Atlantic, "Recent research by political scientists at Vanderbilt University and other institutions has found both Republicans and Democrats distressingly willing to dehumanize members of the opposite party."' We need to find a …

The Professional Responsibility Case For Valid And Nondiscriminatory Bar Exams, Joan W. Howarth

Scholarly Works

Title VII protects against workplace discrimination in part through the scrutiny of employment tests whose results differ based on race, gender, or ethnicity. Such tests are said to have a disparate impact, and their use is illegal unless their validity can be established. Validity means that the test is job-related and measures what it purports to measure. Further, under Title VII, even a valid employment test with a disparate impact could be struck down if less discriminatory alternatives exist.

Licensing tests, including bar exams, have been found to be outside these Title VII protections. But the nondiscrimination values that animate …

Navigating Technology Competence In Transactional Practice, Lori D. Johnson

Scholarly Works

In 2012, the American Bar Association House of Delegates, based on the work of the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20, amended the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (Model Rules) to include a new requirement concerning lawyer competence. The obligation, enacted as Comment 8 to existing Model Rule 1.1 (outlining a lawyer's requisite competence) (Rule 1.1), requires lawyers "keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology." To date, Comment 8 to Rule 1.1 (Comment 8 or the Comment) has been adopted in thirty-eight states, and has begun generating scholarship and …

Diploma Privilege And The Constitution, Claudia Angelos, Sara Berman, Mary Lu Bilek, Carol M. Chomsky, Andrea Anne Curcio, Marsha Griggs, Joan W. Howarth, Eileen R. Kaufman, Deborah Jones Merritt, Patricia Salkin, Judith W. Wegner

Scholarly Works

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shutdowns are affecting every aspect of society. The legal profession and the justice system have been profoundly disrupted at precisely the time when there is an unprecedented need for legal services to deal with a host of legal issues generated by the pandemic, including disaster relief, health law, insurance, labor law, criminal justice, domestic violence, and civil rights. The need for lawyers to address these issues is great but the prospect of licensing new lawyers is challenging due to the serious health consequences of administering the bar examination during the pandemic.

State Supreme Courts are …

#Metoo Backlash Or Simply Common Sense?: It's Complicated, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

This Essay focuses on the skittishness that men express about being accused of sexual harassment. Part II explains the prevalence of sexual harassment and the response to this problem, giving both empirical and anecdotal evidence of male professionals' refusals to spend time with female subordinates. Part III discusses the already-present inequalities in the legal profession, particularly in law firms and raises concerns about how lack of mentoring and sponsorship of women by male supervisors could create an even greater disparity. Part IV analyzes the disparate legal, business, and cultural definitions of sexual harassment, and given the disparities in understandings, raises …

Using Data Analytics To Predict An Individual Lawyer's Legal Malpractice Risk Profile: Becoming An Lpl "Precog", Nancy B. Rapoport, Joseph R. Tiano Jr.

Scholarly Works

The power of data analytics is revolutionizing the way that business is conducted in nearly every industry. The medical industry, the consumer/retail space, and the banking and financial industries are taking their business operations to the next level by leveraging the power of big data. Despite radical transformations in nearly every other aspect of the legal industry, though, the approach to preventing, predicting, assessing, and resolving malpractice claims hasn't really changed. Malpractice insurers and their law firm clients continue to take an old-fashioned approach when it comes to legal professional liability. Unlike the insurers pricing automobile policies, the vast opportunity …

Legal Ethics And Law Reform Advocacy, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Social activism, particularly law reform, has long been an accepted, even revered part of the lawyer's identity. However, modern developments such as nation-wide firms, the economic importance of client development, and aggressive attempts by clients to deploy attorneys as de facto, undisclosed lobbyists have put substantial pressure on the traditional vision of the attorney as a "lawyer-statesman" or someone who "checks clients at the door" when participating in law reform activities. Furthermore, law reform activism on behalf of one client (or prospective client when attorneys use their law reform lobbying as part of their marketing strategy) poses a real danger …

“Toughen Up, Buttercup” Versus #Timesup: Initial Findings Of The Aba Women In Criminal Justice Task Force, Maryam Ahranjani

Scholarly Works

"Practicing criminal law as a woman is like playing tackle football in a dress." Andrea George, Executive Director of the Federal Public Defender for Eastern Washington and Idaho, began her testimony to the American Bar Association's Women in Criminal Justice Task Force with that powerful observation. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the ABA has focused on ways to enhance gender equity in the profession and in the justice system. The Criminal Justice Section of the ABA has invested significant resources in the creation of the Women in Criminal Justice Task Force (WCJ TF), which launched its work in …

Revolutionary Dreamers: A Public Interest Call To Action At Uc Irvine School Of Law's Decennial, Ariela Rutbeck-Goldman, Citlalli Ochoa, Jamila Benkato

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Life And Legal Legacy Of Justice Steven L. Zinter, Neil Fulton

Faculty Publications

Justice Steven L. Zinter was a vital part of South Dakota's legal landscape for decades. As a private practitioner, circuit court judge, supreme court justice, and in other official capacities, he forged a powerful legacy in South Dakota. Over the course of his time he worked on cases large and small in many areas of law. He was recognized as a brilliant legal mind, precise writer, and careful thinker. It is a challenge to capture the breadth and depth of such a career. This article takes a look at his personal formation, his legal work in several settings, and how …

Twenty-Five Propositions For The Practice Of Law, Jonathan Van Patten

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Boldly Marching Through Closed Doors: The Experiences Of The Earliest Female Attorneys In Their Own Words, Nicole P. Dyszlewski

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Focus On The Future : An Interview With Zachary Lyons, Esq., Nicole P. Dyszlewski

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

7 Podcasts For Lawyers Who Love True Crime, Nicole P. Dyszlewski

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

History Of The First Women Project, Nicole P. Dyszlewski

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Celebrating The First Women Lawyers In Rhode Island, Michael M. Bowden

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

2019-2020 Annual Report: Roger Williams University School Of Law, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Law Library Blog (January 2020): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

To Outgrow A Mockingbird: Confronting Our History—As Well As Our Fictions—About Indigent Defense In The Deep South, Sarah Gerwig-Moore

Georgia Law Review

To Kill a Mockingbird occupies a beloved space in law school classrooms and curricula, especially in its portrayal of Atticus Finch. Frequently held up as the model or “hero-lawyer,” Atticus’s character is powerful in fiction, but problematic in practice. His work is lauded, rather than scrutinized, despite his questionable ability to represent his client in life-or-death circumstances—specifically, a racially charged sexual assault case in the Deep South. Through considering examples of historical lawyers and texts which explore similar themes without the lens of fiction, those engaged in legal education and legal practice can and should look to others to study …

Arthur C. Y. Yao (1906–2004): A Pioneer Chinese Professor At St. Mary’S University School Of Law, Robert H. Hu

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Susan Nevelow Mart, Leadership Profile, Paul D. Callister

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Through The Lens Of Restorative Justice: A Re-Humanizing, Susan Abraham

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Restorative Prosecution? Rethinking Responses To Violence, Olivia Dana, Sherene Crawford

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Learning To Heal: Integrating Restorative Justice Into Legal Education, Natasha S. Vedananda

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Incivility As Identity, Melissa Mortazavi

Faculty Articles

Incivility can undermine the legal profession’s work and effectiveness. However, existing scholarship, focused on explaining lawyer incivility as an overextension of zealous advocacy, poor training, or a business-driven model of lawyering, has misconceived a key facet of incivility. Prevailing wisdom largely neglects that lawyers use incivility to react and position themselves within the sociopolitical norms of society in which they live. Civility (or the lack thereof) in the legal profession, may be less about clients and economic pressures than about lawyers affirming their political, class, and gender identities. Once the legal profession recognizes that civility is significantly about lawyers affirming …

Avoiding Judicial Discipline, Veronica Root Martinez

Journal Articles

Over the past several years, several high-profile complaints have been levied against Article III judges alleging improper conduct. Many of these complaints, however, were dismissed without investigation after the judge in question removed themselves from the jurisdiction of the circuit’s judicial council—oftentimes through retirement and once through elevation to the Supreme Court. When judges—the literal arbiters of justice within American society—are able to elude oversight of their own potential misconduct, it puts the legitimacy of the judiciary and rule of law in jeopardy.

This Essay argues that it is imperative that mechanisms are adopted that will ensure investigations into judicial …

The Professor As Institutional Entrepreneur, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

Law professors are all about ideas, and the creation of an institute, clinic, or center within a law school is the instantiation of an idea. Ideas embodied in law school institutions become crystallized in the fabric of a school, changing its culture, internalizing its values, and reflecting its priorities. Robert Cochran has helped to establish multiple institutes, centers, and clinics at Pepperdine Caruso Law School, and in so doing he has become the law school's great serial entrepreneur. The institutes Cochran helped to establish have become laboratories to give expression to his ideas about the relationship between faith, ethics, and …

Jost Delbrück: A Reflection, Alfred C. Aman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

A profile and tribute to the international legal scholar Jost Delbrück (1935-2020), written by his good friend and colleague Alfred Aman. Delbrück was not only a graduate of the Indiana University School of Law, but was also a Maurer faculty member.

The Politics Of Lawyer Regulation: The Case Of Malpractice Insurance, Leslie C. Levin

Faculty Articles and Papers

This Article examines the politics of lawyer regulation and considers why some states will adopt lawyer regulation that protects the public, when others will not. It uses the debates over how to regulate uninsured lawyers as a lens through which to examine the question. Clients often cannot recover damages from uninsured lawyers who commit malpractice, even when those lawyers cause serious harm. Yet only two states require that lawyers carry malpractice insurance. This Article uses case studies to examine the ways in which six states recently have addressed the issue of uninsured lawyers to understand this regulatory failure. It uses …

Thailand: The Evolution Of Law, The Legal Profession And Political Authority, Frank W. Munger

Articles & Chapters

This article describes the origin and development of the modern Thai legal profession. Intimately linked in origin to the development of the modern Thai state, the legal profession increasingly resembles the profession in economically developed democracies. Paralleling other regional developments, Thailand’s rapid economic development, constitutional reforms, and expanding judicialization drives many of the most important changes in the education and function of lawyers. Significant differences continue to exist between the profession in Thailand and legal professions in developed democracies, reflecting the profession’s origins and the continuing influence of consciousness and class structure as well as Thailand’s peculiarly semi-democratic and monarchical …