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Deep In The Heart Of Texas: How Carbon Sequestration Will Affect Valuation Of The Subsurface., Sarah Anne Lishman 2014 St. Mary's University

Deep In The Heart Of Texas: How Carbon Sequestration Will Affect Valuation Of The Subsurface., Sarah Anne Lishman

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.


The Decline Of Civil Jury Trials: A Positive Development, Myth, Or The End Of Justice As We Now Know It?, Xavier Rodriguez 2014 St. Mary's University

The Decline Of Civil Jury Trials: A Positive Development, Myth, Or The End Of Justice As We Now Know It?, Xavier Rodriguez

St. Mary's Law Journal

Jury participation is helpful in many respects. It fosters an understanding of the third branch of government and the workings of the judicial system. It offers the opportunity for individuals to serve in a unique role: neutral factfinder. Moreover, in an age of declining voter participation, jury service provides individuals with the opportunity to directly participate in our governmental structure. Despite these positive attributes, jury trials as we knew them are on the decline. That may or may not be problematic, depending on what types of cases are being impacted. Where parties have reached a voluntary and informed settlement on …


Mindful Ethics-A Pedagogical And Practical Approach To Teaching Legal Ethics, Developing Professional Identity, And Encouraging Civility, Jan L. Jacobowitz, Scott Rogers 2014 St. Mary's University

Mindful Ethics-A Pedagogical And Practical Approach To Teaching Legal Ethics, Developing Professional Identity, And Encouraging Civility, Jan L. Jacobowitz, Scott Rogers

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Aristotle spoke of virtue and ethics as a combination of practical wisdom and habituation—an individual must learn from the application of critical reasoning skills to experience. Perhaps one of the earliest proclamations of the value of experiential learning, the Aristotelian view, reappears throughout history and is captured once again by the Carnegie Foundation’s Report on Legal Education, which includes a call for instruction that provides practical skills and ethical grounding to complement the teaching of legal analysis. The Carnegie Report continues to play a role in the ongoing discussion of the need to reform legal education; a debate that is …


How Do You Rate Your Lawyer? Lawyers’ Responses To Online Reviews Of Their Services, Laurel A. Rigertas 2014 St. Mary's University

How Do You Rate Your Lawyer? Lawyers’ Responses To Online Reviews Of Their Services, Laurel A. Rigertas

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

With the proliferation of opportunities for consumers to review a variety of services on the Internet, it is only a matter of time until more clients review their attorneys’ services on the Internet. This raises a variety of potential ethical and public policy issues. First, what can attorneys do to try to control their online reputations? Second, if a client posts negative comments about an attorney’s services on a public Internet forum, can the attorney respond on that forum without breaching the duty of confidentiality and, if so, how? Finally, when settling a dispute with a client, may an attorney …


“Nudging” Better Lawyer Behavior: Using Default Rules And Incentives To Change Behavior In Law Firms, Nancy B. Rapoport 2014 St. Mary's University

“Nudging” Better Lawyer Behavior: Using Default Rules And Incentives To Change Behavior In Law Firms, Nancy B. Rapoport

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

In the changing landscape of law practice—where law firm profits are threatened by such changes as increased pressure from clients to economize and the concomitant opportunities for clients to shop around for the most efficient lawyers—are there ways to change how things are done in law firms so that firms can provide more efficient and ethical service? This article suggests that an understanding of cognitive biases and basic behavioral economics will help law firms tweak their incentives and default rules to promote the improved delivery of legal services.


The Qualified Privilege Of Texas Lawyers To Defend Their Reputations., Clement J. Hayes 2014 St. Mary's University

The Qualified Privilege Of Texas Lawyers To Defend Their Reputations., Clement J. Hayes

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

The technology-based society of the twenty-first century offers vast Internet resources that afford individuals easy access to information and means of communication. As a result, people spend substantial time online. Some Internet sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Angie's List and Google, provide consumers an online forum for sharing experiences and opinions. This development, while in many respects beneficial, is not without its drawbacks.


Proof Of Exoneration In Legal Malpractice Cases: The Peeler Doctrine And Its Limits In Texas And Beyond., John G. Browning, Lindsey Rames 2014 St. Mary's University

Proof Of Exoneration In Legal Malpractice Cases: The Peeler Doctrine And Its Limits In Texas And Beyond., John G. Browning, Lindsey Rames

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

This article examines the requirements of "actual innocence" or exoneration as a prerequisite for bringing a claim of legal malpractice against a criminal defense attorney. It analyzes the public policy underpinnings and differing approaches taken in those jurisdictions that have adopted an "actual innocence" requirement. To illustrate the way in which this comparatively recent phenomenon has developed, the Article views the exoneration doctrine through the prism of Texas law, analyzing the doctrine's emergence in Peeler v. Hughes & Luce and discussing how it has expanded over the years. Yet even as this "actual innocence" doctrine has expanded in Texas, recent …


Government Internet Resources: Federal, State And Local, David E. Matchen Jr. 2014 University of Baltimore School of Law

Government Internet Resources: Federal, State And Local, David E. Matchen Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

This presentation discusses the basic outlines of federal legal research as well as state and local legal research. Discussion of state and local legal research is limited to Maryland, but many states have comparable systems.


Beyond A Reasonable Doubt: The Constitutionality Of Georgia's Burden Of Proof In Executing The Mentally Retarded, Veronica M. O'Grady 2014 University of Georgia School of Law

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt: The Constitutionality Of Georgia's Burden Of Proof In Executing The Mentally Retarded, Veronica M. O'Grady

Georgia Law Review

In 2002, the Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia announced that executing mentally retarded defendants violates the Constitution. Georgia's standard for determining whether a criminal defendant is mentally retarded-and therefore ineligible for the death penalty- is the highest in the nation, requiring defendants to prove mental retardation to a jury, during the guilt and innocence phase, beyond a reasonable doubt. As in the case of Warren Lee Hill, Jr., this high burden necessarily results in Georgia executing defendants who are almost certainly mentally retarded,arguably violating the Atkins directive. Though once the first state to create a ban on executing the …


Dusty Order: Law Enforcement And Participant Cooperation At Burning Man, Manuel A. Gomez 2014 Florida International University College of Law

Dusty Order: Law Enforcement And Participant Cooperation At Burning Man, Manuel A. Gomez

Faculty Books

Media depictions of Burning Man focus on the picturesque and eccentric appearance of the weeklong affair. The event is sometimes misportrayed as a lawless environment where participants are encouraged to engage in rowdy behavior. Most carnivalesque events offer an escape from reality and are generally thought to enable unruly conduct. Despite stereotypes, Burning Man is a different beast. Not only is the crime rate in Black Rock City lower than any other city of comparable size, but Burners show a high level of cooperative and law abiding behavior that helps maintain the social order without depending on official means of …


The United Nations Watercourses Convention On The Dawn Of Entry Into Force, Ryan Stoa 2014 Florida International University College of Law

The United Nations Watercourses Convention On The Dawn Of Entry Into Force, Ryan Stoa

Faculty Publications

The United Nations Watercourses Convention entered into force in August 2014. Despite overwhelming support when signed in 1997, the ratification process has been slow. As a binding treaty, the Watercourses Convention provides hope that its provisions will articulate legal principles of transboundary water management capable of promoting cooperation and regional agreements. Despite entry into force, however, global support for the Watercourses Convention is weak, concurrent efforts to develop treaty regimes governing water resources create competition for resources and may obscure understandings of international water law, and the foundational principles of the Watercourses Convention remain ambiguous. These limitations are illustrated in …


Florida Water Management Districts And The Florida Water Resources Act: The Challenges Of Basin-Level Management, Ryan Stoa 2014 Florida International University College of Law

Florida Water Management Districts And The Florida Water Resources Act: The Challenges Of Basin-Level Management, Ryan Stoa

Faculty Publications

Florida’s plentiful freshwater resources are indispensable to the state’s municipal, agricultural, and environmental interests. As such, decision-makers presiding over complex water management decisions wield extraordinary powers. The Water Resources Act of Florida vests these powers in five water management districts drawn according to hydrological (not political) boundaries. The water management districts have robust technical, financial, and regulatory powers, and hold the key to Florida’s sustainable development. But with the stakes so high, Florida’s water management districts are at the center of a broader fight for control of water resources. In particular, transboundary water conflicts, political pressure, and ecological needs show …


Federalism, Treaty Implementation, And Political Process: Bond V. United States, Curtis A. Bradley 2014 Duke Law School

Federalism, Treaty Implementation, And Political Process: Bond V. United States, Curtis A. Bradley

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Climate Change Adaptation And Mitigation: A Local Solution To A Global Problem, sarah J. adams-schoen 2014 Touro Law Center

Climate Change Adaptation And Mitigation: A Local Solution To A Global Problem, Sarah J. Adams-Schoen

Scholarly Works

Local land use laws offer powerful tools for climate change adaptation and mitigation. However, notwithstanding New York municipalities’ many impressive efforts, local laws are not yet being utilized sufficiently to create disaster-resilient or disaster-adaptive communities. New York City has done substantially more than many other cities, including, critically, setting specific CO2 emissions reduction targets and amending zoning and building codes. But, in light of the evidence of climate change and its impacts, local decision makers, resource managers, and planners throughout the state must ask whether we are doing enough. Failure to do so will continue to be costly in terms …


The Executive And The Environment: A Look At The Last Five Governors In New York, Patricia E. Salkin 2014 Touro Law Center

The Executive And The Environment: A Look At The Last Five Governors In New York, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

Gubernatorial leadership is the single most important indicator of how sustainable New York will be when it comes to issues of environmental protection and conservation. In preparing for the Kerlin Lecture, one of the things that struck (the author) is that New York governors for at least the last thirty years have consistently identified the critical economic, social, and environmental challenges facing this state. Is it simply political rhetoric to decry that the state is in terrible fiscal shape, that programs need to be funded to help those is need, and that we must pay attention to stewarding the environment …


Recent Developments In Land Use Ethics, Patricia E. Salkin 2014 Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center

Recent Developments In Land Use Ethics, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

Current events across the country reveal no shortage of allegations of unethical conduct in the land use review process. Sadly, there are countless other media accounts of alleged and proven conflicts of interest and other ethical misconduct. In this annual review of reported decisions involving ethics in land use, recent decisions are discussed in the hopes that municipal attorneys will use this information as the basis of ongoing training for members of planning boards, zoning boards, and local legislative bodies who must be routinely reminded of not only their legal but ethical responsibilities in upholding the public trust.


Mini-Domas As Political Process Failures: The Case For Heightened Scrutiny Of State Anti-Gay Marriage Amendments, Steve Sanders 2014 Indiana University Maurer School of Law

Mini-Domas As Political Process Failures: The Case For Heightened Scrutiny Of State Anti-Gay Marriage Amendments, Steve Sanders

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.


Municipal Attorneys Can Find Answers In The Newly Released Third Edition Of Commercial Litigation In New York State Courts, Patricia E. Salkin 2014 Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center

Municipal Attorneys Can Find Answers In The Newly Released Third Edition Of Commercial Litigation In New York State Courts, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

This article contains a book review of the newest edition of Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts (West), edited by former New York County Lawyers President Robert Haig of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. The author of this book review details why this treatise is an invaluable addition, not for the library shelf, but for prime desk space on the busy working lawyer’s desk. The author further notes that while the most recent edition of the treatise has been widely reviewed statewide, prior to this book review there has been little, if any, attention to the value of the …


Liberty Without Capacity: Why States Should Ban Adolescent Driving, Vivian E. Hamilton 2014 William & Mary School of Law

Liberty Without Capacity: Why States Should Ban Adolescent Driving, Vivian E. Hamilton

Georgia Law Review

Car crashes kill more teens each year than any other cause, and of the crashes in which they are involved, teens are overwhelmingly at fault. Teens crash at rates far higher than those of older drivers, and the younger the teen driver, the higher the risk-sixteen-year-old drivers have crash rates 250% higher than those of eighteen-year- olds. Driving experience does not explain the difference; younger beginners crash at rates higher than those of older beginners. Instead, younger teens' increased crash risk results primarily from immature regulatory competence. In other words, the capacities required for driving competence are still immature in …


The Plaintiffs Keep Getting Richer, The Manufacturers Just Stay Poor: Design Defect Litigation In Georgia Post-Banks, Davis S. Popper 2014 University of Georgia School of Law

The Plaintiffs Keep Getting Richer, The Manufacturers Just Stay Poor: Design Defect Litigation In Georgia Post-Banks, Davis S. Popper

Georgia Law Review

How much proof of a reasonable alternative design is necessary to survive a claim for defective design and when should proof of a reasonable alternative design be denied as irrelevant to claims pertaining to products that exhibit open and obvious dangers? Design defect litigation is particularly important because it involves claims that take entire product lines out of the market and cost manufacturers exorbitant losses and expose them to steep damages. In these cases, plaintiffs often suffer life- changing injuries or death. In this Note, I provide a history of design defect litigation in the United States. In particular,I focus …


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