Law and Society Commons^™

Why Your Secretary Is Really Worth A Million Dollars: Exploring The Harsh Penalty For Not Proofreading Your Fee Agreements In Anglo-Dutch Petroleum V. Greenberg Peden., James M. Parker Jr., J.K. Leonard

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

This Article examines the Texas Supreme Court's decision in Anglo-Dutch Petroleum International, Inc. v. Greenberg Peden, P.C. Next, this Article discusses the decision in light of other cases dealing with attorney-client contract issues. Then, an explanation of why the court's decision is inconsistent with other opinions is provided. This Article next analyzes the long-term effects of the Anglo-Dutch decision and the lessons to be learned from the case about drafting contracts and lawyers' obligations to inform clients of material terms. Finally, this Article suggests that the court's decision decreases the legal protection extended to lawyers and holds them closer to …

Taking Limited Representation To The Limits: The Efficacy Of Using Unbundled Legal Services In Domestic-Relations Matters Involving Litigation., Michele N. Struffolino

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

The use of unbundled legal services is nothing new in this country, and it is often preferable to no representation at all. The Model Rules of Professional Conduct expressly permit attorneys to provide limited representation to their clients. Domestic-relations attorneys, in particular, have tried to ease the burden on litigants by offering unbundled legal services. However, the use of unbundled services in domestic[1]relations matters has caused difficulties for litigants, attorneys, and the courts. For these domestic-relations cases in particular, full service representation is crucial. To provide full satisfaction for their clients and to fulfill their ethical duty, domestic-relations attorneys must …

Malpractice Liability Related To Foreign Outsourcing Of Legal Services., Vincent R. Johnson, Stephen C. Loomis

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

The outsourcing of client-related tasks to service providers in other countries is likely to generate malpractice claims against American law firms. This Article discusses the wide range of theories under which an outsourcing American law firm may be liable for its own negligence or for the actions of outsourcing providers. These theories include negligence by the outsourcing law firm, vicarious liability for the conduct of firm principals and employees, vicarious liability for the conduct of independent contractors, and vicarious liability for the conduct of business partners.

Civility And Collegiality—Unreasonable Judicial Expectations For Lawyers As Officers Of The Court?, Lonnie T. Brown Jr.

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

It is a well-settled and often-recited fact that lawyers are "officers of the court." That title, however, is notoriously hortatory and devoid of meaning. Nevertheless, the Eleventh Circuit recently took the somewhat unprecedented step of utilizing the officer-of-the-court label to, in effect, sanction an attorney for the purportedly uncivil act of failing to provide defendant attorneys with pre-suit notice. While the author applauds the court's desire to place greater emphasis on lawyer-to-lawyer collegiality as a component of officer-of-the-court status, the uncertainty the decision creates in terms of a lawyer's role will potentially force litigators to compromise important client-centered duties. This …

A Custom Fit: Tailoring Texas Civil Jury Selection Procedures To Case Tiers., Jarod S. Gonzalez

St. Mary's Law Journal

Citizens serving on a civil jury are entrusted with making factual decisions about disputes that impact legal rights and remedies of litigants and set standards for the behavior of the public. Unfortunately, civil jury trials take place less frequently in twenty-first century Texas than in prior eras. Part of the justice system’s rejuvenation should involve a re-evaluation and improvement of the current process for selecting civil juries. Currently, the primary flaw in Texas jury selection procedures is the one-size-fits-all approach. Because some cases need twelve impartial jurors who are lay persons, and others require twelve people who are knowledgeable of …

Expanding Protective Order Coverage., Kellie K. Player

St. Mary's Law Journal

The Texas legislature should eliminate the relationship requirement for a protective order. Although the Texas legislature passed the Kristy Appleby Act, which expanded the definition of dating violence, some victims of domestic violence may still be unable to qualify for a protective order. Specifically, some third-party individuals in a love triangle may not be eligible to receive a protective order. In Texas, a potential or current victim of domestic abuse needs to demonstrate a relationship with the perpetrator. Despite the broadened definition of relationship, some potential victims may still be unable to meet this burden. If the person cannot, they …

The Double Irish Sandwich: Reforming Overseas Tax Havens., Stephen C. Loomis

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Social Networking And Judicial Ethics., Craig Estlinbaum

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Social network sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Linkedln, and Twitter have become an increasingly ever-present feature in American life since first appearing in the late 1990s. SNSs now impact virtually all parts of daily life, and the judiciary is not immune to this effect. Recent statistics show that approximately 40% of judges nationwide utilize SNSs for personal, professional, and electoral purposes. Social media, like any public communication form, presents special ethical challenges for judges. In recent years, judicial ethics committees in various states have weighed in on these questions and have not shown any clear consensus. However, it is generally …

Understanding The United States' Incarceration Rate, William T. Pizzi

Publications

What has caused prison sentences to climb so sharply and consistently in the last four decades?

The Law And Economics Of Fluctuating Criminal Tendencies And Incapacitation, Murat C. Mungan

Faculty Scholarship

Economic analyses of criminal law are frequently and heavily criticized for being unable to explain many criminal law rules and doctrines that people find intuitively just. Existing economic models cannot properly explain, for instance, why criminal law distinguishes between (i) repeat offenders and first-time offenders, (ii) murder and voluntary manslaughter, and (iii) remorseful and non-remorseful offenders.

In this Article, I propose a new and richer economic theory of crime that captures the rationales behind these practices, and potentially behind many other important criminal law principles and doctrines. Unlike an overwhelming majority of previous economic analyses, my theory accounts not only …

Changing Workforce Demographics And The Future Of The Protected Class Approach, Nancy Levit

Faculty Works

The composition and identity characteristics of the American workforce are changing. The population in this country is rising, aging, and becoming much more racially and ethnically diverse. Appearance norms are shifting too. These changes have enormous implications for constitutional and employment discrimination law. In both equal protection and employment discrimination cases, recovery usually depends on membership in a constitutionally or statutorily protected category. Yet the statutory approach to anti-discrimination law has stagnated. Part of the difficulty of the protected class approach is that it is based on something of a paradox — the paradox of exceptionalism. Class-based protection requires individuals …

The Department Of Justice Chases Mice While Lions Roam The Campsite: Why The Department Has Failed To Prosecute The Elite Frauds That Drove The Financial Crisis, William K. Black

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Notes Toward A Critical Contemplation Of Law, Sonia K. Katyal

Faculty Scholarship

In this tribute to Professor Derrick Bell’s legacy, Professor Katyal reflects on one of Bell’s greatest gifts: the necessary, and perhaps unfinished gift of critical contemplation of law, along with its possibilities and its concomitant limitations. In her paper, Katyal reflects on two seemingly disparate areas of civil rights that might benefit from Bell’s critical vision: the area of LGBT rights and equality, and federal Indian law. Relying on some of Bell’s most valuable insights, Katyal calls for the creation of a “critical sexuality studies” and a “critical indigenous studies” that employs some of Bell’s groundbreaking lessons in reimagining broader …

"Other Spaces" In Legal Pedagogy, Lolita Buckner Inniss

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

There is an increasing focus upon the material and metaphoric spatial dimensions of various academic disciplines, including law. This essay considers the spatial dimensions of legal pedagogy, focusing on Critical Race Theory (CRT). The essay first explains the "critical program" in law and how CRT grows out of it. The essay then suggests that the critical program, and especially CRT, is as much a human geographic or spatial construct as it is a social, political or historic one, and briefly describes the nature of human geography and legal geography. It next considers how metaphors for understanding CRT's position in legal …

The War On Terror: Where We Are And How We Got There, Michael B. Mukasey

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Obama Administration And The Prospects For A Democratic Presidency In A Post-9/11 World, Peter M. Shane

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Secrecy And Self-Governance, Geoffrey R. Stone

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ten Years On: Military Justice And Civil Liberties In The Post-9/11 Era, Eugene R. Fidell

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judicial Foreign Relations Authority After 9/11, Martin S. Flaherty

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Epistemology And Ethics In Relationship-Centered Legal Education And Practice, Susan L. Brooks, Robert G. Madden

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.