Legal Profession Commons^™

When The “Attorney Work Product” Is A New Baby: The Case For Parental-Leave Continuance Rules, Michelle Browning Coughlin

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Parental-Leave Continuance Rules (PLCRs) are gender-neutral procedural rules that provide specific frameworks to courts for granting requests for a continuance of a scheduled legal proceeding or deadline if a necessary counsel is unavailable because they or their parenting partner will be experiencing a birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child. Existing laws protecting parental leave in the United States are tied to employment; and since courts are not generally the employers of attorneys appearing before them, they are not obligated to honor an attorney’s parental leave when scheduling a trial or other legal proceeding. While continuances are granted in …

The Jury Does Not Always Need Help From Lay Opinion Witnesses, Taurus Myhand

Scholarly Works

Who is the “reasonable person”? There is little doubt that every competent legal professional, both in law practice and in the academic setting, has spent a great deal of time attempting to define the reasonable person. “Reasonableness is largely a matter of common sense.” In police encounters, the definition is certainly important to the outcome of questionable police conduct. How the reasonable person is defined often determines whether a police officer has infringed on an individual’s Fourth Amendment guarantee to be secure in their person against unreasonable searches and seizures. As the narratives of the news media shape how some …

Survivors Behind Bars: The Criminalization Of Abuse, Assault, And Human Trafficking Victims And The Need For A Trauma-Informed Approach, Jamie Beck, Chelsea Estes

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Technology Competency Road Map In Rhode Island: Reforming Professional Rules And Continuing Legal Education With Modern Educational Frameworks And Instructional Design Principles To Protect Clients, Myrta L. Ventura

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Elected Judge, Matthew Dale Kim

UF Law Faculty Publications

Many legal scholars and jurists oppose electing judges. Their core criticism against judicial elections is that elected judges are incentivized to avoid issuing unpopular, countermajoritarian decisions in constitutional law cases and thus fail to safeguard minority rights against abuses of the majority. Scholars have described this problem as the elected judges’ “majoritarian difficulty.” Numerous empirical studies suggest that elected judges do, in fact, fear electoral backlash and allow majoritarian demands to affect their decision-making.

This Article asks whether such fears are warranted. Elected judges should not allow majoritarian pressures to affect their decision-making unless the American public is aware of …

The Ironically Important Role Of Incidental Take Authorizations In Whale Conservation, Alexander Carbaugh-Rutland, Jessica Owley, Kenneth Broad

Articles

The late 1970s and early '80s saw a regime shift in wildlife protection under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). That shift may be impeding the recovery of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoise species) in ways that are yet underexplored. As enacted, the MMPA and ESA established a conservation framework designed to reduce, to the fullest extent possible, "takes" of protected species. Between 1978 and 1982, a series of amendments to both statutes introduced a complex web of incidental take authorizations designed to ensure Congress' initial push for wildlife conservation would not impede economic …

Crip The Law: Representation As A Key Component Of Liberation Lawyering, Marissa Ditkowsky

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Do Federal Circuit Courts Of Appeal Provide Adequate Assistance To Self-Represented Litigants? A Review Of The Circuits’ Websites Resources, Jona Goldschmidt

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

United States Senior District Judge William E. Smith – A Judge For All Seasons, Patricia A. Sullivan

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bar Examination: A Verb, Not A Noun, Marsha Griggs

All Faculty Scholarship

The legal profession, long steeped in tradition, is witnessing a transformative shift in the protocols for licensing new attorneys. Multiple jurisdictions are moving away from reliance on standardized testing as the sole gateway to law practice and are developing individualized (and potentially reciprocal) systems of state licensure. Ironically, the planned launch of a new standardized exam—the NextGen bar exam—appears to be a major catalyst in the transformation of state licensure pathways. This shift has the potential to realign the regulatory hierarchy in attorney admission. Such a realignment is vital to the preservation of lawyer self-governance, and it offers great promise …

Empowering Women In The Richmond Legal Community, Lily Goodman

Law Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Remarks On The 20th Anniversary Of The Founding Of The District Of Columbia Access To Justice Commission, Anna Blackburne-Rigsby

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

I'm very excited to be here and honored that you invited me to be one of the speakers for this very timely and amazing symposium. I'm especially excited because you're also recognizing the 20th anniversary of the District of Columbia's Access to Justice Commission. The topic of the symposium is the evolution of the legal profession, A Different World. Looking at the phoenix on the UDC Law school logo, the flames are really appropriate now when we talk about the evolution of the legal world with all the technological developments and other interesting issues that we confront.

First, I want …

Even If You’Ve Adopted The Nextgen Ube, Your Work Isn’T Done Yet, Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus

Touro Law Review

The National Conference of Bar Examiners (“NCBE”) is set to administer the NextGen Uniform Bar Examination’s (“UBE”) first release in July 2026. The exam questions are well-structured, well written, and require examinees to understand how the law operates and think like an attorney when faced with a particular problem. This was a primary objective for the NextGen UBE, and it has been met. However, jurisdictions that have adopted the NextGen UBE or are contemplating its adoption still have work to do to ensure that their objectives for a fair test modality and assessment of a lawyer’s basic skill of writing …

The Systematic Devaluation Of Legal Scholarship In Criminology And Criminal Justice, Henry F. Fradella

Touro Law Review

Certain bibliometrics have become important indicators of scholarly impact despite their many weaknesses. This Article presents data demonstrating the shortcomings of using citation counts and journal impact factors for law-based scholarship. Moreover, the Article argues that reliance on these flawed metrics is just one example of how scholars in criminology and criminal justice (“CCJ”) systematically devalue legal scholarship.

The Article begins by offering quotations from social scientists that provide insights into the negative ways they view legal scholars and their work. It also quotes from interviews conducted with CCJ scholars who hold a law degree and either earned or are …

Pro Bono Publico Versus Pro Bono Presidential, S. I. Strong

Faculty Articles

In March and April 2025, the Trump Administration issued a series of executive orders directed at various law firms that had represented clients or undertaken actions with which the President disagreed. Those executive orders imposed various sanctions capable of destroying the firms financially. The Administration also threatened numerous other law firms with similar types of executive orders.

Although a few law firms challenged the executive orders in court, the majority of firms targeted by the President entered into informal settlement agreements whereby the firms promised to provide between $40 million and $125 million worth of free “pro bono legal services” …

Self-Compassion And Law Student Professional Identity Formation, Janice Craft

Law Faculty Publications

The American Bar Association’s Standards for Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar require law schools to provide students with “substantial opportunities” for “[t]he development of a professional identity.” The Standards do not require a particular curriculum or mode of instruction but offer two guideposts for legal educators: one, that “professional identity focuses on what it means to be a lawyer and the special obligations lawyers have to their clients and society,” and two, that professional formation “should involve an intentional exploration of the values, guiding principles, and well-being practices considered foundational to successful legal practice.” The guidance and concomitant …

Networking Among The Human Capitalists: The Organizational Dynamics Of Change And Power In The Large Corporate Law Firm, Alan James Klugel

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Law firms are unique creatures. They are subject to market pressures as well as ethical obligations and professional norms. They are in direct competition with other organizations for both clients and the lawyers necessary to perform work for those clients. They are comprised of lawyers who are simultaneously cooperative and competitive with one another. They are neither hierarchy nor anarchy, neither a collection of independent actors nor an entity under which its employees are subsumed. Instead, they are organizations shaped and reshaped by their members; organized around shared goals, internal contestations and external constraints; and defined by the ties between …

Dobbs V. Brown, Benjamin H. Barton

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization1is the most important and impactful Supreme Court decision since at least Roe v. Wade, and potentially since Brown v. Board of Education. Past survey data show that most Americans can only name two Supreme Court opinions: Roe and Brown. Dobbs will surely join that list. This Article compares the history, drafting, and opinions of Dobbs and Brown to show what a missed opportunity Dobbs represents. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the opinion, it should be clear that Dobbs was one of those unique times (like that of Brown) where the Court …

Fighting The Hypothetical: Why Law Firms Should Rethink The Billable Hour In The Generative Ai Era, Nancy B. Rapoport, Joseph R. Tiano Jr.

Scholarly Works

“Fighting the Hypothetical: Why Law Firms Should Rethink the Billable Hour in the Generative AI Era” analyzes how the emergence and adoption of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) will fundamentally disrupt the traditional billable hour model that has dominated the industry since the 1960s. Professor Rapoport and Mr. Tiano contend that GenAI’s ability to perform routine legal tasks quickly and accurately will force law firms to shift away from billing structures based primarily on time spent (or inputs) and toward models that better reflect client value (or outputs).

The authors interviewed law firm leaders to gain an “in the trenches” view …

Forging Ahead Or Proceeding With Caution; Developing Policy For Generative Artificial Intelligence In Legal Education, Nachman Gutowski, Jeremy W. Hurley

Scholarly Works

Generative Artificial Intelligence is rapidly being integrated into every facet of society, including a growing impact on law schools. It has become abundantly clear that there is a need to develop well-defined governing policies for its use and adoption in legal education. This article offers an introductory analysis of related approaches currently taken in various law schools, exploring the factors influencing these policies and their ethical implication. A comparative review of institutional policies reveals both similarities and unique approaches. Common themes include the need for balance between limited use and outright reliance, as well as the need for transparency and …

Interoperable Legal Ai For Access To Justice, Drew Simshaw

Scholarly Works

The access-to-justice gap is growing, affecting individuals with both civil and criminal needs in the United States. Though these challenges are multifaceted, procedural barriers in the U.S. legal system can often inhibit access-to-justice efforts. The resulting inequities undermine fairness for those interacting with courts and jeopardize the legitimacy of the broader legal system. Legal technology driven by artificial intelligence (Al) has been heralded for its potential to combat these challenges on three access-to-justice fronts that are often conceptualized in isolation: a consumer (i.e., self-help) front, a legal-service-provider front, and a court front. Progress on each of these fronts is apparent, …

Integrating Academic Success, Krishnee Coley, Laura A. Webb

Law Faculty Publications

Over the past few years, Richmond Law has taken several intentional steps to address one of ASP’s perennial challenges: the students who most need help may not be the ones who find their way to optional ASP sessions. By integrating academic success into orientation programs and collaborating with doctrinal professors, we’ve succeeded in reaching all our 1L students despite the lack of a mandatory 1L ASP course.

What Lawyers Could Learn From The Corporate Practice Of Medicine, Melissa Mortazavi

Faculty Articles

Proponents of the United States’ domestic experiments in non-lawyer ownership (NLO) of legal practice justify them in terms of increasing “access to justice.” But what if opening ownership of legal practice to investment capital only exacerbates market failures (leading to further consolidation and increased costs to clients), while also compromising professional autonomy and fiduciary duty? The legal profession must be clear-eyed about who are the real winners and losers of such a shift and avoid being blinded by wishful thinking. Prominent legal scholars have repeatedly touted NLO as a solution to the access to justice crisis. However, there is scant …

Human-Centered Advocacy: Requiring Trauma-Informed Lawyering Through Mandatory Continuing Legal Education, Meghan Sheldon

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Paradoxical Pedagogy: Teaching Trauma-Informed Principles Within A System Built On Emotional Detachment, Sarah Mcconnell, Leah Lunetta

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Civic Virtue: Judge William E. Smith's Gifts To Rwu Law, Michael J. Yelnosky

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Law, Conflict, And Hybrid Warfare: A Teaching Imperative For A Changing World, Cynthia Alkon, Andrea K. Schneider

Articles

Lawyers increasingly find themselves at the frontlines of the battlefield, just not in the traditional sense. Hybrid warfare is a conflict form that combines traditional military offensive measures with nontraditional methods, including the harnessing of legal systems to achieve strategic goals. Lawyers have always been at the frontline of typical legal risk assessment, thinking about a client's risk of liability or regulation costs generally. Now, lawyers must stand at the ready for a lot more: lawyers must be prepared for cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns using artificial intelligence, the use of court systems to suppress reporting or shield bad actors, and so …

For The Reasons Elucidated Above: Lessons From Judge Selya On Law, Writing, And Life, Stefanie D. Fischer, Colten H. Erickson

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Wellness Connection January 2025, Roger Williams University School Law Office Of Student Life

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Lex Ex Machina: Forging A New Ethical Framework For Ai And Technology In The Law, Joseph Regalia

Scholarly Works

The rise of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) offers the legal profession a chance to reevaluate and reshape its ethical standards. This article argues that GAI's potential demands a more detailed approach to legal ethics, especially concerning technology use. While current ethics rules provide a general foundation, they do not fully address the unique challenges and opportunities of GAI and similar advanced technologies.

By reviewing historical contexts of legal technology ethics and recent GAI regulations, this article suggests a new model for technology ethics in law. It calls for the inclusion of detailed, flexible standards in ethical guidelines, moving beyond the …