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Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Why Corporate Boards Should Include Lgbtq+ People, Jeremy Mcclane, Darren Rosenblum

Seattle University Law Review

Corporate boardrooms sit at the heart of most of society’s most consequential decisions but fall far short of the diversity of our society. The current movement toward board diversification aims to remedy the underrepresentation of marginalized groups on corporate boards. More recently, some efforts have included LGBTQ+ people, even though the basis for their inclusion on corporate boards remains largely unstated. This Article examines both the normative and instrumental bases for LGBTQ+ inclusion in board diversity initiatives, articulating unspoken assumptions and linking LGBTQ+ people to the broader inclusion effort. In so doing, it begins to surface the unique issues LGBTQ+ …

Remediating Injustices For Black Land Loss: Taking The Next Step To Protect Heirs' Property, Phyllis C. Taite

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

A Game Theory View Of Family Law: Planning For A 500% Family Tax, Steven J. Willis

FIU Law Review

Divorces involve money, which can prompt fierce legal battles. These include family obligations for child support, alimony, and property division. Small income changes can have huge consequences. For example, a $1,000 income increase can result in $5,000 of increased family obligations. A $10,000 increase can produce $50,000 of obligations. Or a $10,000 decrease can result in $50,000 of reduced obligations.

Freeports: An Introduction To The Next Battleground Of International Tax Avoidance, Charles F. Whitten

SLU Law Journal Online

Freeports, special zones that offer favorable tax policies to goods being housed therein, are quietly and quickly becoming a favored investment tactic used by the ultra-wealthy. In this article, Charles F. Whitten discusses how freeport expansion threatens to unravel international efforts to combat tax avoidance and money laundering.

Cross-Border Real Estate, Timur Bondaryev, Olga Ivanova, Felipe Isa Castillo, Avikshit Moral, Apurva Kanvinde

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

Federally Mandated Online Sales Tax: A Logistical Solution For The Future Of E-Commerce, Daniel O'Connor

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Economic Structural Transformation And Litigation: Evidence From Chinese Provinces, To Economic Change And Restructuring, Doug Bujakowski, Joan Schmit

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The "Business Interruption" Insurance Coverage Conundrum: Covid-19 Presents A Challenge, Paul E. Traynor

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Misalighned Incentives In Markets: Envisioning Finance That Benefits All Of Society, Dr. Ryan Clements

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Monsanto: Creator Of Cancer Liability

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Corporate Response To Controversial Presidential Statements Or Policies

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Restricting Funeral Expense Deductions, William A. Drennan

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

During the Middle Ages, the wealthy often requested burial in mass graves with their fellow mortals, as a sign of humility. But since the rise of the cult of the individual during the Renaissance, individual burial plots have been an expression of prestige, wealth, and social status for some. For example, Leona Helmsley, real estate baroness and “Queen of Mean,” dedicated $3 million upon her death for the care and maintenance of her 1300 square foot, $1.4 million mausoleum. Respectful disposition of the body is a hallmark of civilization and a common law requirement of estate administration, but an extravagant …

Firpta Repeal: The United States’ Post-Pandemic Economic Solution To Infrastructure Reform, Adam Mazin

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mutual Fund Stewardship And The Empty Voting Problem, Jill E. Fisch

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

When Roberta Karmel wrote the articles that are the subject of this symposium, she was skeptical of the potential value of shareholder voting and the emerging involvement of institutional investors in corporate governance. In the ensuring years, both the increased role and engagement of institutional investors and the heightened importance of shareholder voting offer new reasons to take Professor Karmel’s concerns seriously. Institutional investors have taken on a broader range of issues from diversity and political spending to climate change and human capital management, and their ability to influence corporate policy on these issues has become more significant. The broadened …

Preview—Lac Courte Orielles Band Of Lake Superior Chippewa V. Evers: Just How Special Is Indian Law?, Zachary M. Krumm

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments on Monday, November 8, 2021, at 9:30 a.m. at Everett McKinley Dirksen Courthouse in Chicago, Illinois. This case asks whether states may assess property taxes on Indian-owned reservation fee lands that were allotted under treaty, not the General Allotment Act. The lower court held that reservation allotments which had at any time been owned by non-tribal-members could be subject to state property tax. Allotments always held by members remained exempt. While this issue is somewhat narrow, it raises broad questions about applying the well-established Indian canons of construction.

Trust Planning And The Washington State Capital Gains Tax, Jadrian M. Coppieters

Seattle University Law Review Online

On April 25, 2021, the Washington state legislature enacted a new state capital gains tax. Prior to the enactment of the new state capital gains tax, Washington had been one of the few states that did not impose a tax on either income or capital gains. The limitations imposed by the Washington state constitution have forced the legislature to characterize the tax as an excise tax, rather than treat it as an income tax as would the federal government and every other state. Based on the statute’s structure and its presentation as an excise tax, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the …

Qualified Opportunity Funds: Private Equity Exemptions From Public Responsibility, Audrey E. Abate

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The historic Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), passed and signed into law in 2017, included a pilot program of a new kind of tax advantage: the Qualified Opportunity Zone. The obscure provision has since spawned novel investment vehicles, called Qualified Opportunity Funds, through which qualified individuals and entities participate in what are often significant tax advantages, including deferral of capital gains for up to ten years. Because Qualified Opportunity Funds have come into existence so recently, regulation has been slow to catch up to the ways in which this tax program is rapidly attracting capital from private equity, investment …

Looking For A Silver Lining: How The Covid-19 Pandemic Forced New York To Reckon With Its Affordable Housing Crisis, Daniel Finnegan

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Since the Great Depression, the United States government has failed to find an adequate remedy to a nationwide housing shortage amongst low- and moderate-income individuals and families. The COVID-19 public health crisis has exacerbated this ongoing, nation-wide housing crisis, and has highlighted the racial inequities present in our housing market. Furthermore, it has pushed New York State’s residential housing market into a uniquely precarious position. Dramatic legislation is required at the state level to address the housing crisis caused by the massive growth in income-insecure and housing-insecure individuals that resulted from the pandemic, as well as the widespread departure of …

Conservation Easements As A Tool For Nature Protection, William Snape

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Balancing The Carrot And The Stick: Achieving Social Goals Through Real Property Tax Programs, Ryan F. Bender

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

The sharp and growing wealth divide in the United States has elicited significant media and public attention over the past decade, with loud calls for achieving social goals through tax system change. While wealth preservation loopholes in the Internal Revenue Code can contribute to wealth inequalities, tax policies that incentivize socially responsible, tax efficient investment offer an attractive tool for estate planning professionals while also promoting social impact programs. Additionally, while direct government investments into low-income community development, land preservation, and food security are important drivers of change, tax policies that push private capital into these causes are equally important …

Dynamic Property Taxes And Racial Gentrification, Andrew T. Hayashi

Notre Dame Law Review

Many jurisdictions determine real property taxes based on a combination of current market values and the recent history of market values, introducing a dynamic aspect to property taxes. By design, homes in rapidly appreciating neighborhoods enjoy lower tax rates than homes in other areas. Since growth in home prices is correlated with—and may be caused by—changing neighborhood demographics, dynamic property taxes will generally have racially disparate impacts. These impacts may explain why minority-owned homes tend to be taxed at higher rates. Moreover, the dynamic features of local property taxes may subsidize gentrification and racially discriminatory preferences.

Opportunity Zones Providing Opportunity For Whom?: How The Current Regulations Are Failing And A Solution To Uplift Communities, Ruta R. Trivedi

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

In 2017, the newly enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created an incentive for taxpayers to invest in Qualified Opportunity Zones— census tracts that consist of low-income communities. These investments, which are incentivized via lucrative tax deferral benefits, are intended to uplift communities and leave them in a better position than they were pre-investment. However, the initiative lacks regulation requiring investments to actually benefit low-income areas, resulting in money going to places that do not need help, while communities that are in need may face displacement. This is a result of many wealthy investors finding that luxury projects are the …

The Impact And Desirability Of Taxing Unmined Coal Interests In The Same Manner As Other Real Property, Stephen James Vasek Jr.

Journal of Natural Resources & Environmental Law

No abstract provided.

Taxation Of Unmined Minerals: Is It Inevitable, Or Is It Unconstitutional?, J. E. Clark

Journal of Natural Resources & Environmental Law

No abstract provided.

God Is My Roommate? Tax Exemptions For Parsonages Yesterday, Today, And (If Constitutional) Tomorrow, Samuel D. Brunson

Indiana Law Journal

In 2019, the Seventh Circuit decided an Establishment Clause question that had been percolating through the courts for two decades. It held that the parsonage allowance, which permits “ministers of the gospel” to receive an untaxed housing allowance, does not violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. It grounded its conclusion in part on the “historical significance” test the Supreme Court established in its Town of Greece v. Galloway decision.

In coming to that conclusion, the Seventh Circuit cited a 200-year unbroken history of property tax exemptions for religious property. According to the Seventh Circuit, that history demonstrated that both …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Dispute Settlement Under The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: A Preliminary Assessment, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) will add a new dispute settlement system to the plethora of judicial mechanisms designed to resolve trade disputes in Africa. Against the discontent of Member States and limited impact the existing highly legalized trade dispute settlement mechanisms have had on regional economic integration in Africa, this paper undertakes a preliminary assessment of the AfCFTA Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM). In particular, the paper situates the AfCFTA-DSM in the overall discontent and unsupportive practices of African States with highly legalized dispute settlement systems and similar WTO-Styled DSMs among other shortcomings. Notwithstanding the transplantation of …

Enough Is As Good As A Feast, Noah C. Chauvin

Seattle University Law Review

Ipse Dixit, the podcast on legal scholarship, provides a valuable service to the legal community and particularly to the legal academy. The podcast’s hosts skillfully interview guests about their legal and law-related scholarship, helping those guests communicate their ideas clearly and concisely. In this review essay, I argue that Ipse Dixit has made a major contribution to legal scholarship by demonstrating in its interview episodes that law review articles are neither the only nor the best way of communicating scholarly ideas. This contribution should be considered “scholarship,” because one of the primary goals of scholarship is to communicate new ideas.