Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Land Without Legacy: The Case For Market-Based Appraisals On Hawaiian Home Lands, Alexis C. Owens

Seattle University Law Review

The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 (HHCA) was enacted to restore Native Hawaiians to ancestral lands and promote long term economic self-sufficiency. More than a century later, that promise remains unfulfilled. This Note argues that a central but overlooked barrier lies in the HHCA’s mandated use of the replacement cost appraisal method, which systematically undervalues homestead properties by excluding market forces. In one of the most expensive housing markets in the United States, this approach suppresses home equity, the primary means of intergenerational wealth building, and restricts beneficiaries’ access to credit and financial stability. By severing the connection between …

Reimagining Legal Education: The Transformative Power Of Small-Group Instruction, Michael I. Meyerson

Seattle University Law Review

Legal education is failing its students. Those entering their first year of law school have greater anxiety and less developed reading and writing skills than ever before. The traditional large Socratic class, which was never the most effective teaching method, has become increasingly counterproductive.

This Article contends that small-group instruction provides the opportunity for superior teaching, especially for first-year law students. Recent scholarship in active learning, educational psychology, and students’ mental health demonstrates the limitations of the traditional large Socratic class experience. Building on that theoretical foundation and informed by sustained classroom experience, this Article argues that small-group pedagogy more …

The Martha Wright-Reed Act: How The Fcc Took One Step Forward For Communication Equality For Deaf Individuals In Correctional Facilities And How It Could Be Expanded, Ashley Seebold

Seattle University Law Review

For decades, phone companies preyed on incarcerated individuals and their loved ones due to the lack of regulation of jail phone calls.2 In 2021, the average cost of a fifteen-minute jail phone call was about $3.3 In 2022, the average cost rose to $5.74, while some individuals faced an extreme charge of $24.82 for the same amount of time.4 In the early 2000s, consumer advocate and concerned grandmother Martha Wright-Reed called upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fix the imbalance so she could speak to her incarcerated grandson.5 Eventually, in 2023, the FCC answered her call to action and …

Algorithmic Tax Ownership, Young Ran (Christine) Kim, Dmitry Erokhin

Articles

Tax ownership is a crucial concept for determining tax liabilities, compliance, and enforcement. However, neither the courts nor the IRS has provided clear guidance on how to analyze it. Since the Supreme Court first outlined a twenty-six-factor test for determining tax ownership in Frank Lyon Co. v. United States in 1978, this multifactor test has remained largely unchanged, and there has been no further guidance from the courts or the IRS to this day. Even tests with shorter lists of factors only add to the confusion regarding compliance and enforcement, as there is no clarity on which factors are most …

Closing Symposium Remarks: Reflections On A Legacy That Endures, Jelani Jefferson Exum

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

I am back again, but this time, to give my closing remarks and to reflect on this extraordinary day. I think that is a fitting word for it. I want to take a moment to reflect on our experience together and to celebrate the enduring power and purpose of scholarship at St. John’s Law. This has been a wonderful opportunity to hear from our faculty, to engage with one another, and to witness the profound ways in which scholarship shapes the law, the academy, and society.

It is a privilege to be here, not only marking the centennial of …

The ‘Why’, The ‘What’, And The ‘How’ Of A Scholarly Life, Rosemary Salomone

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

In this essay I explore the “why,” “what,” and “how” of legal scholarship, focusing on the arc of my own research and writing while also recognizing both commonalities and differences among legal scholars.

First, the “why.” For those of us who teach the law, legal scholarship involves the production and dissemination of knowledge in ways that both benefit our students and inform the law as it impacts public policy. Ideally, there is a synergy between what we write and what we teach. We incorporate into our teaching what we have learned from our research and from practice. At the …

Lessons Learned, Philip Lee

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

Good morning students, faculty, and staff—and greetings to the equity warriors, optimists, and Dreamers. I see you.

I have been a law professor for thirteen years. In celebration of faculty scholarship, I share with you three lessons that I have learned on my academic journey.

My first article was titled “The Griswold 9 and Student Activism for Faculty Diversity at Harvard Law School in the Early 1990s,” and it was published in the Harvard Journal for Racial and Ethnic Justice. It was about how students could make a substantive difference at the institutions in which they sit.

Policy Work In Securities Arbitration, Christine Lazaro

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

I have been a securities lawyer my entire professional career. I began my career representing financial services firms being sued by investors and investigated by the regulators. We handled their defense in a variety of forums, including Court, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). FINRA is the primary self-regulatory organization tasked with regulating brokerage firms under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

From private practice, I joined St. John’s Law School, initially as a supervising attorney with the Securities Arbitration Clinic, and later as a Professor of Clinical Legal Education. Joining the …

From Prosecutor To Scholar: Voice, Power And The Pursuit Of Change, Elaine Chiu

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

It is a privilege to gather today with colleagues and students in our home, to spend time exchanging thoughts about the role of legal scholars and scholarship at this critical juncture in our school’s history and in our country’s history. I decided to focus my remarks today on the future of our country and our profession—and that is our students.

Let me start by sharing my own journey as a legal scholar. If you had told me when I was a law student or a young prosecutor that, one day, I would become a legal scholar, I would have …

The Evolution Of Legal Scholarship, Edward D. Cavanagh

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

Historically, law schools have evaluated their faculty on performance in three areas: (1) classroom teaching; (2) service to their schools and the profession; and (3) scholarship. The criteria for classroom teaching and service have remained relatively constant over the years. However, the definition of scholarship has broadened significantly in recent decades. At the same time, courts—once reluctant to embrace academic research—are increasingly relying on academic scholarship to shape their legal opinions. This Essay analyses the evolution of academic scholarship and how that scholarship has impacted judicial decision making.

Thirty-Year Evolution Of Legal Writing Scholarship, Pedagogy, And Beyond!, Robin Boyle-Laisure

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

You may be under the impression that all professors must publish—referring to the old adage, “publish or perish.” But that is not entirely true. I started teaching at St. John’s University School of Law thirty years ago when the legal writing program was launched. At that time, to attain the highest level, the highest rank—Professor of Legal Writing—the expectation was to produce only a few articles.

However, I continued to write, after reaching that threshold, because I enjoyed it. I find writing fun. And, as my colleague Professor Salomone says, it creates synergy with your students and with the …

Opening Symposium Remarks: Celebrating 100 Years Of Scholarly Impact At St. John’S Law, Jelani Jefferson Exum

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

In times of uncertainty, legal scholarship provides essential guidance. It offers a perspective grounded not in the politics of the moment, but in research, doctrine, and theory—helping us navigate complexity and pointing us toward outcomes that are just.

So, as we celebrate 100 years of St. John’s Law, let us commit to work that is courageous in its thinking, inclusive in its reach, and faithful to our mission of service. And let us imagine the next century with confidence that the scholarship born here will continue to shape the law in ways that matter—ways that endure.

Thank you, and …

Table Of Contents & Masthead, Mitchell Brost

Pepperdine Law Review

Pepperdine Law Review, editorial board, masthead

Bluebook Bites: Practicing Citation One Day At A Time, Heather Kolinsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

Seeking student feedback in a tangible manner during the semester has inherent value. Ongoing student feedback can help a professor gauge what is (and what is not) working in the classroom. The professor can take the temperature of the class and get a decent read on how things are going.

This article discusses how student feedback in my Fall 2024 class birthed a practice of delivering a daily question (sometimes with subparts) to students about creating or editing Bluebook citations. I call it “Bluebook Bites.” In Part I of this article, I explain how I gather student feedback and how …

Making Students Practice Ready: Standalone Email And Summary Email Simulations, Betsy Byra, Seth Reiner

Faculty Scholarship

Legal research and writing (“LRW”) curricula emphasize the importance of efficient and effective communication, traditionally providing students with the opportunity to hone this skill through two lengthy and formulaic assignments: a predictive memo and a persuasive brief. These prompts miss key opportunities to engage students in the practice of thinking and writing like lawyers outside the confines of this formal structure. This is a problem because email research memoranda have become the primary mode of communication at firms among junior-level lawyers.This shift has largely been driven by client and supervisor demands for greater efficiency and concision, and will likely only …

Policy Analysis Of Utah's Family Vlogging Bill: Examining The Influence Of The Mormon Church On Utah State Legislation And Its Effects On Child Performer Protections, Jayna J. Moskovitz

Honors College Theses

Following the criminal sentencing of Mormon family vlogger, Ruby Franke, of the 8Passengers YouTube channel, the state of Utah passed House Bill (H.B.) 322 in 2025 with the aim of protecting minors involved in social media content. This thesis investigates the connection between Mormonism and family vlogging to determine whether the Mormon influence in Utah’s state government impacted the effectiveness of H.B. 322’s provisions. My research asked: How does H.B. 322 protect children featured in social media content? (How) did the involvement of the Mormon Church in Utah politics and/or the high profile of the Ruby Franke case lead to …

Table Of Contents, Maria Simeone

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

No abstract provided.

Should Judicial Opinions Be Read Like Statutes?, Margaret H. Lemos

Northwestern University Law Review

Should judicial opinions be interpreted with an eye to their purpose, context, or the intent of their authors, or should interpreters focus on the ordinary meaning of the text? Opinions present the same sorts of interpretive puzzles as other legal texts, and yet they have been omitted from the debates over interpretive methodology that dominate the fields of constitutional and statutory interpretation. The omission is no accident: the Supreme Court has stated repeatedly—and with increasing frequency in recent years—that judicial opinions are not to be read like statutes. Yet neither courts nor commentators have explained why the principles that ground …

Binding The Visual Experience Of Law, Nicholas Mignanelli

Northwestern Law Journal des Refusés

No abstract provided.

Advice For Incorporating Ai Tools Into Your Legal Practice, Celia Bigoness, Robert A. Mackenzie, David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

We have been speaking with many lawyers and law students about using generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in their legal practice. We are struck by the fact that many of them have not been experimenting much, if at all, with the tools that are available to them - although many acknowledge that their clients are increasingly integrating generative AI into their businesses. We have been integrating a lot of these tools into our own professional lives, and here are some tips to help lawyers and law students get comfortable with AI tools that can help them, in big ways and …