Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Reading, Riting, And Rithmetic, Shannon M. Roddy

Newsletters & Other Publications

Law Library Lights, vol. 60, issue 1

A New Model Of Sovereignty In The Contemporary Era Of Integrated Global Commerce, Kevin Sobel-Read

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Existing legal scholarship does not offer an effective or comprehensive definition of sovereignty. Sovereignty, however, matters. Indeed, many have lived and died for it; the term likewise appears with remarkable frequency in both academic and popular discourse. But, sovereignty is not what it used to be. The evolution of globalization generally, and transformations in global commerce specifically, have sutured together the peoples of the world-conventional nation-states and Indigenous groups alike--permanently altering the sovereignty of each. These developments make it that much more imperative to incorporate a functional definition of sovereignty into legal scholarship. But, given the complexities of sovereignty, the …

Student-Edited Law Reviews Should Continue To Flourish, Sudha Setty

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, the Author opines that the institution of the student-edited law review could no doubt be improved upon in a number of ways, but the existence of the student-edited journal should be sustained, nurtured, and grown by law school administration and faculty. Helping student-edited law reviews improve and flourish should be part of the mission of teachers, scholars, and lawyers committed to providing a skills-based education, for an intellectual discourse, and a service to the legal community.

Introduction To Thinking About A Post-Aca World: Litigation, Cost Shifting And Enforcement Of Statutory Rights, Maria O'Brien

Faculty Scholarship

At its annual gathering in 2016, members of the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation and Law, Medicine and Healthcare Sections of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) jointly sponsored a discussion of the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) following the Supreme Court's decision in King v. Burwell.' What follows are the papers generated for the panel discussion. The panelists² were asked to evaluate the future of the ACA from a distinct perspective.

Assignments With Intrinsic Lessons On Professionalism (Or, Teaching Students To Act Like Adults Without Sounding Like A Parent), Beth H. Wilensky

Articles

There is little question that law schools ought to teach their students professionalism – indeed, they are required to do so to maintain accreditation. And there is little question that the required legal writing and research course is one of the places it ought to be taught. But teaching students to adopt the norms of professional behavior — both in law school and after graduation — is a challenge to law faculties, and particularly to the experiential learning faculty who frequently are on the front lines of teaching professionalism. While there are many ways to teach students what professional and …

When Should We Teach Our Students To Pay Attention To The Costs Of Legal Research?, Beth H. Wilensky

Articles

It is axiomatic in legal research pedagogy that law schools should teach students how to conduct cost-effective legal research. To do that, we need to teach students to consider the amount of time and money their research requires, how paid legal research platforms like Westlaw and Lexis charge for their services, and how to research in an efficient and cost-sensitive way. But we shouldn’t do those things. Or at least, we shouldn’t do them at first. Instead, we should tell students not to worry about the costs of legal research during their first year of law school—with the possible exception …

Justice Scalia's Bottom-Up Approach To Shaping The Law, Meghan J. Ryan

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Justice Antonin Scalia is among the most famous Supreme Court Justices in history. He is known for his originalism and conservative positions, as well as his witty and acerbic legal opinions. One of the reasons Justice Scalia's opinions are so memorable is his effective use of rhetorical devices, which convey colorful images and understandable ideas. One might expect that such powerful opinions would be effective in shaping the law, but Justice Scalia's judicial philosophy was often too conservative to persuade a majority of his fellow Justices on the Supreme Court. Further, his regular criticisms of his Supreme Court colleagues were …

Crowdsourcing Legal Research: The Opportunities And Challenges, Pat Newcombe

Faculty Scholarship

Crowdsourcing legal research has the potential to change how legal information is accessed and shared by providing free and value-added resources to the legal community. This Article explores legal crowdsourcing attempts, focusing on Casetext and Mootus. Although the ideal crowdsourcing legal research site has yet to be realized, crowdsourcing has a future because it embodies the concept of social justice and the next generations of attorneys will likely be open to collaboration.

A Tribute To Judge Kaye, Nicholas W. Allard

Brooklyn Law Review

This collection of remarks from scholars, practitioners, and judges serves as a tribute to the life of the beloved and esteemed Judge Kaye and her commitment to the New York State Constitution. The collection culminates with Judge Kaye’s final essay, written for the Brooklyn Law Review, with her reflections on opportunity in life and law and New York’s State Constitution.

From The Editor, Susan Nevelow Mart

Publications

No abstract provided.

An Introduction To Foreign And International Legal Research Tools, Nick Harrell

Publications

No abstract provided.

Introducing Marijuana Law Into The Legal Writing Curriculum, Howard Bromberg, Mark K. Osbeck

Articles

Interest in marijuana law continues to grow, due in large part to the complicated and rapidly evolving landscape of marijuana laws in the United States. Nearly every day, newspapers report on new or proposed legislation and the legal controversies that have arisen with regard to this evolving landscape. There are now several marijuana-law blogs on the Internet, Congress is considering sweeping legislation that would essentially grant significant deference to the individual states, and public opinion continues to move in favor of increased legalization. For the last two years, Newsweek magazine has published special editions devoted exclusively to marijuana law and …

Yellow Flag Fever: Describing Negative Legal Precedent In Citators, Aaron S. Kirschenfeld

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

Front Matter includes Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for the Intercultural Human Rights Law Review Volume 11 (2016).

The Digital Revolution And The Future Of Law Reviews, Thomas W. Merrill

Faculty Scholarship

Let me begin by congratulating the Marquette Law Review on reaching the threshold of its 100th anniversary. As you may know, Harvard established the first student-edited law review in 1887. Once the Harvard experiment was seen to be a success, other schools followed suit. Marquette was an early adopter, establishing its law review in 1916. By comparison, the school I attended, the University of Chicago, did not start a law review until 1933.

The title of my remarks could be “Will the Marquette Law Review Survive Another Hundred Years?” Or, perhaps, “Will the Marquette Law Review Survive Another Hundred Years, …

Law Library Blog (January 2016): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Nationwide Permit 13, Shoreline Armoring, And The Important Role Of The U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers In Coastal Climate Change Adaptation, Travis Brandon

Law Faculty Scholarship

The ongoing armoring of the nation’s coastlines with seawalls and bulkheads causes the inevitable destruction of miles of coastal wetlands. Armoring increases the rate of shoreline erosion and blocks the long term migration of wetlands inland, a process that will be necessary for coastal wetlands to survive sea level rise. Coastal armoring also reduces the habitat available to coastal species, and blocks access to the upper reaches of the beach for sea turtles and other species that depend on the beach for nesting. And yet, despite these well established and significant environmental harms, the United States Army Corps of Engineers …

Local, State, And Federal Responses To Stalking: Are Anti-Stalking Laws Effective?, Tracey Carter

Law Faculty Scholarship

Statistics show that there are currently 7.5 million victims of stalking in the United States each year. The year 2014 commemorated the 20th Anniversary since passage of the federal Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (“VAWA”) that was signed by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. Passage of this Act marked a key transformation in our nation’s response to the crimes of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The VAWA was established to promote “collaboration among law enforcement, health care providers, nonprofit service groups, community leaders, and the private sector” to combat these crimes. In fact, the VAWA was …

Buckle Up: State Child Safety Restraint Laws Need To Be Strengthened To Better Protect Children, Ellen A. Black

Law Faculty Scholarship

This article reviews the history of child safety restraints and analyzes the relevant health agency recommendations to consider their accretive value in determining whether stronger child safety restraint laws should be enacted. Next, the article reviews the current state of law in the area of child safety restraints and addresses arguments against strengthening the current laws. Lastly, the article concludes that states should enact the proposed model act to ensure that this nation's children ride safely restrained.

State 'Right To Try' Acts: A Good Start, But A Federal Act Is Necessary, Ellen A. Black

Law Faculty Scholarship

In an effort to help terminally ill patients bypass the FDA's arduous, time-consuming approval process and have quicker access to potentially life-saving drugs, states across the country have passed "right to try" acts. These state acts allow a terminally ill patient the right to access an investigational drug that has completed initial safety testing, known as Phase I, but that has not been approved by the FDA. The reasoning behind these acts is that terminally ill patients, with the guidance and counsel of their physicians, should have the choice whether to pursue an unapproved drug, rather than placing their fate …

A Special Delivery: Litigating Pregnancy Accommodation Claims After The Supreme Court’S Decision In Young V. United Parcel Service, Inc., Lynn Ridgeway Zehrt

Law Faculty Scholarship

For over twenty years, the federal courts of appeals have been divided over the extent to which the Pregnancy Discrimination Act requires employers to offer light-duty or other work accommodations to pregnant employees. The division between circuits centers on the interpretation of the language in the second clause of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act mandating that employers “shall” treat pregnant employees “the same... as other persons... similar in their ability or inability to work.” Four circuits interpreted this clause to merely explain the first clause, thereby refusing to enforce any significant obligation on employers to accommodate pregnancy-related physical limitations, even when …

Internal Investigations And The Evolving Fate Of Privilege, Lucian E. Dervan

Law Faculty Scholarship

In 1981, the United States Supreme Court delivered a landmark ruling in Upjohn Co. v. United States. The decision made clear that the protections afforded by the attorney-client privilege apply to internal corporate investigations. This piece examines the fundamental tenets of Upjohn, discusses some recent challenges to the applicability of privilege to materials gathered during internal investigations, and considers the manner in which the international nature of modern internal investigations adds complexity and uncertainty to the field.

'White Collar Crime': Still Hazy After All These Years, Lucian E. Dervan, Ellen S. Podgor

Law Faculty Scholarship

With a seventy-five year history of sociological and later legal roots, the term “white collar crime” remains an ambiguous concept that academics, policy makers, law enforcement personnel and defense counsel are unable to adequately define. Yet the use of the term “white collar crime” skews statistical reporting and sentencing for this conduct. This Article provides a historical overview of its linear progression and then a methodology for a new architecture in examining this conduct. It separates statutes into clear-cut white collar offenses and hybrid statutory offenses, and then applies this approach with an empirical study that dissects cases prosecuted under …

Corporate Criminal Liability, Moral Culpability, And The Yates Memo, Lucian E. Dervan

Law Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the Department of Justice's Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations (contained in the USAM) and considers the concept of "moral culpability" within them. The article goes on to propose revising the Principles of Prosecution to better focus on questions of "corporate moral culpability" as a means of more accurately assessing corporate criminal liability. In doing so, the article proposes not only changes to the Principles of Prosecution, but changes to the common law respondeat superior test for corporate liability. Finally, the article considering the impact of the Yates Memo (2015) on corporate charging decisions and the …

Fair Play Fair Pay: The Need For A Terrestrial Public Performance Right And General Copyright Reform, Loren E. Mulraine

Law Faculty Scholarship

Copyright is a unique species of the law, tethered in a very tangible way to what is largely an intangible: intellectual property. It should be no surprise then that any collection of laws governing property that can be literally created in a moment out of nothing but the mind of the creator, will ultimately have an eternal struggle keeping pace with that very thing it purports to govern. Historically, copyright law has been relegated to being the horse that is second to cross the finish line at the Kentucky Derby. The horse is indeed world class; however, it is simply …

Symposium Panel: Bringing Blurred Lines Into Focus, Loren E. Mulraine

Law Faculty Scholarship

Belmont Law Review Symposium: Bringing Blurred Lines into Focus, October 2015

Fair Play Fair Pay: The Need For A Terrestrial Public Performance Right And General Copyright Reform, Loren E. Mulraine

Belmont Law Review

Copyright is a unique species of the law, tethered in a very tangible way to what is largely an intangible: intellectual property. It should be no surprise then that any collection of laws governing property that can be literally created in a moment out of nothing but the mind of the creator, will ultimately have an eternal struggle keeping pace with that very thing it purports to govern. Historically, copyright law has been relegated to being the horse that is second to cross the finish line at the Kentucky Derby. The horse is indeed world class; however, it is simply …

Dissecting The Hybrid Rights Exception: Should It Be Expanded Or Rejected?, David L. Hudson Jr., Emily H. Harvey

Law Faculty Scholarship

In the early 1960s, the Supreme Court of the United States adopted a high level of protection for religious liberty claims. The Court applied a version of strict scrutiny when evaluating governmental laws or regulations that burdened an individual's free exercise of religion. In 1990, the Supreme Court reversed decades of precedent and fundamentally changed the meaning and application of the Free Exercise Clause. In Employment Division v. Smith, the Court, in an opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, determined that the Free Exercise Clause does not protect individuals from laws that donot target specific religious beliefs or practices. However, Justice …

First Amendment Right To Receive Information And Ideas Justifies Citizens' Videotaping Of The Police, David L. Hudson Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

Several courts have declared that members of the public have a First Amendment-protected right to film or videotape the police. At least one legal commentator has posited that this right falls within three of the five textually-based freedoms of the First Amendment - the Speech, Press, and Petition Clauses. This right to receive information and ideas is a "corollary" of the right to speak that triggers the First Amendment interests of not only speakers, but also audiences. This right to receive information and ideas applies in the context of citizens recording the police. The public has a right to know …

Voices On Innocence, Lucian E. Dervan, Richard A. Leo, Meghan J. Ryan, Valena Elizabeth Beety, Gregory M. Gilchrist, William W. Berry

Law Faculty Scholarship

In the summer of 2015, experts gathered from around the country to sit together and discuss one of the most pressing and important issues facing the American criminal justice system – innocence. Innocence is an issue that pervades various areas of research and influences numerous topics of discussion. What does innocence mean, particularly in a system that differentiates between innocence and acquittal at sentencing? What is the impact of innocence during plea bargaining? How should we respond to growing numbers of exonerations? What forces lead to the incarceration of innocents? Has an innocent person been put to death and, if …