Other Law Commons^™

Litigating Consumer Protection Acts In The Hamp Context, Amanda Martin

Seattle University Law Review

The foreclosure crisis has lingered despite the improving economy. To alleviate this crisis, the U.S. government implemented the Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP), a Treasury-sponsored initiative that aims to prevent foreclosure by encouraging mortgage loan servicers to modify the mortgages of qualified homeowners. The Treasury Department has extended HAMP multiple times—from its original ending date in 2013 to its present ending date in 2016. While HAMP has indeed helped homeowners avoid foreclosure, the program has spawned an array of litigation as servicer misconduct runs rampant. As the Ninth Circuit recently noted, “the [HAMP] program seems to have created more litigation …

Copyright, Consumerism, And The Cloud: Proposing Standards-Essential Technology To Support First Sale In Digital Copyright, Marco Puccia

Seattle University Law Review

America’s entertainment industry, and the creative talent that drives it, is a national treasure. Equally valuable, however, is America’s drive and commitment toward technological innovation. These two sectors have been in tension since at least 1908, when the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to determine whether the makers of piano rolls for automatically playing pianos had to pay royalties to the composers. Since that time, the entertainment industry has continued to use copyright law to resist advances in technological innovation that it views as a threat to its existing business models. This Note seeks to provide the necessary context and …

Shareholder Wealth Maximization As Means To An End, Robert P. Bartlett, Iii

Seattle University Law Review

In several recent cases, the Delaware Chancery Court has emphasized that where a conflict of interest exists between holders of a company’s common stock and holders of its preferred stock, the standard of conduct for directors requires that they strive to maximize the value of the corporation for the benefit of its common stockholders rather than for its preferred stockholders. This article interrogates this view of directors’ fiduciary duties from the perspective of incomplete contracting theory. Building on the seminal work of Sanford Grossman and Oliver Hart, incomplete contracting theory examines the critical role of corporate control rights for addressing …

Lobbying, Pandering, And Information In The Firm, Adam B. Badawi

Seattle University Law Review

In their classic and insightful article on team production in corporate law, Margaret Blair and Lynn Stout identify the minimization of rent-seeking as one of the chief benefits of vesting ultimate authority over a firm with the board of directors. In their analysis, this problematic rent-seeking arises when parties need to divide the gains from production after the fact. The squabbling that is likely to ensue may threaten to eat away most, or all, of the gains that come from productive activity. If parties know that this sort of rent-seeking will occur, they may not engage in productive activity in …

The History Of Team Production Theory, Ron Harris

Seattle University Law Review

In this short Essay, the author consider the team production theory developed by Margaret Blair and Lynn Stout1 from a historical perspective, in three senses. First, does the theory fit the historical use of the corporate form? Second, can it explain the development of corporation law doctrines? And third, can we place the development of the theory as such into the intellectual history of corporation theories at large? The author will state my bottom line up front: while the Article finds the team production theory insightful and useful for my historical research, for teaching corporation law, and for thinking about …

Choosing The Partnership: English Business Organization Law During The Industrial Revolution, Ryan Bubb

Seattle University Law Review

For most of the period associated with the Industrial Revolution in Britain, English law restricted access to incorporation and the Bubble Act explicitly outlawed the formation of unincorporated joint stock companies with transferable shares. Furthermore, firms in the manufacturing industries most closely associated with the Industrial Revolution were overwhelmingly partnerships. These two facts have led some scholars to posit that the antiquated business organization law was a constraint on the structural transformation and growth that characterized the British economy during the period. Importantly, however, the vast majority of manufacturing firms in the modern sector were partnerships. An easy explanation for …

The Executioners‘ Dilemmas, Eric Berger

Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications

When people learn that I study lethal injection, they are usual-ly curious to know more (or at least they are polite enough to ask questions). Interestingly, the question that arises most often—from lawyers, law students, and laypeople—is why states behave as they do. In the wake of botched executions and ample evidence of lethal injection‘s dangers, why do states fail to address their execution procedures‘ systemic risks? Similarly, why do states so vigorously resist requests to disclose their execution procedures‘ details? This symposium essay takes a stab at answering these ques-tions. In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit …

Salt Equalizer, Vol. 2015, Issue 1, Society Of American Law Teachers

SALT Equalizer

Contents of This Issue:

Survey Information and Methodology, at 1.

2014-15 SALT Salary Survey, at 1.

About SALT and SALT Membership, at 3.

Survey Instrument, at 5.

SALT Salary Survey 2013-2014, at 5.

Bridgefunding Crowdfunding And The Market For Entrepreneurial Finance, Seth C. Oranburg

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores the business environment of entrepreneurial finance through the lens of securities regulations. It finds that regulators should be more concerned with protecting investors from startup failure than from crowdfunding fraud. It recommends an amendment to Regula- tion Crowdfunding that may enable startup success: the limit on fun- draising should be raised from $1 to $5 million.

Work Made For Hire – Analyzing The Multifactor Balancing Test, Ryan G. Vacca

Law Faculty Scholarship

Authorship, and hence, initial ownership of copyrighted works is oftentimes controlled by the 1976 Copyright Act’s work made for hire doctrine. This doctrine states that works created by employees within the scope of their employment result in the employer owning the copyright. One key determination in this analysis is whether the hired party is an employee or independent contractor. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court, in CCNV v. Reid, answered the question of how employees are distinguished from independent contractors by setting forth a list of factors courts should consider. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not give further guidance on …

People Of The Book: Judaism’S Influence On American Legal Scholarship, My Journey From Judaism To Jewish Law, Donna Litman

Faculty Scholarship

My personal study of the Torah and the Talmud as an adult has enhanced my legal scholarship and helped shape my current thinking on legal theory. At the same time, my professional legal training and experience as a law professor has shaped my understanding of Judaism and provided a legal terminology and a lens by which to view the array of Jewish laws. A confluence of events helped shape my personal and professional journey.

The Potential Impact Of Rape Culture On Juror Decision Making: Implications For Wrongful Acquittals In Sexual Assault Trials., Meagen M. Hildebrand, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Feminist writers contend that Americans live in a culture that supports sexualized aggression and violence against women. This “rape culture” is reflected in our society by the pervasive endorsement of rape myths and sexual objectification of women, both of which are legitimized by everyday media. One potential consequence of living in a rape culture is that individuals may themselves come to endorse rape myths and sexually objectify women, and, in turn, perceive certain forms of sexual violence against women as defensible. This is concerning considering the significant role that laypeople play in administering justice in sexual assault cases, but research …

Restating Environmental Law, Joel A. Mintz

Faculty Scholarship

Although environmental law springs from deep roots in centuries of common law, during the last forty years in particular it has grown into a well-established and important legal field in the United States with enormous practical consequences. Maturity, however, has also made it notoriously complex, and environmental law’s overlapping statutory schemes and inconsistent federal and state programs have sparked recurring conflict, controversy, and criticism.

Rethinking The Tax-Revenue Effect Of Reit Taxation, Bradley T. Borden

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reimagining Access To Justice In The Poor People’S Courts, Elizabeth L. Macdowell

Scholarly Works

Access to justice efforts have been focused more on access than justice, due in part to the framing of access to justice issues around the presence or absence of lawyers. This article argues that access to justice scholars and activists should also think about social justice and provides a roadmap for running a legal services program geared toward making court systems more just. The article also further develops the concept of “poor people’s courts,” a term that has been used to describe courts serving large numbers of low-income people without representation. The article argues that access to justice efforts can …

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing: Students, Scholars, And Sources In The Law Library, Jeanne Price

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

For The Love Of Drugs: Using Pharmaceutical Clinical Trials Abroad To Profit Off The Poor, Breanne M. Schuster

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Open Skies, Timothy M. Ravich

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Salt Equalizer, Vol. 2015, Issue 2, Society Of American Law Teachers

SALT Equalizer

Contents of This Issue:

2016 SALT Annual Dinner, at 1.

2016 SALT Annual Dinner Sponsors, at 2.

Olympia Duhart & Ruben Garcia, Co-Presidents’ Column, at 2.

SALT Membership: Reduced Rates, Online Renewal, at 3.

SALT Files Amicus Brief Supporting University Diversity Efforts, at 4.

B.A. to J.D. Pipeline Event, at 5.

Junior Faculty Development Workshop, at 5.

Professor Justin Hansford Receives SALT Junior Faculty Award, at 6.

SALT Announces Co-Presidents Elect, Incoming Board of Governors, at 6.

SALT Comments on Revised Pay As You Earn Regulation, at 6.

Upcoming Events, at 7.

SALT Mourns the Loss of Former Board Members, …