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Pre-Competencies as Precursors: Enhanced Admissions Criteria in the Age of Seat-Deposit Anxiety
No full textLaw schools have begun only recently to admit that law student preparedness is a problem. The reluctance to see the problem is exacerbated by its uneven distribution; it does not affect all law schools, and it does not affect all afflicted law schools to the same measure. However, common factors, such as falling bar pass rates and continuing negative press coverage of law schools have galvanized law school administrations, as well as the American Bar Association (“ABA”) to admit that law student underpreparedness is a problem that is not going away. Now that the legal academy sees the problem, it is time to propose solutions
Why Write?
Full text linkIntroduction to the Winter 2016 issue of the UMass Law Review, written by Alexander O. Rovzar, Editor-in-Chief
The Troubling Problem of Income Inequality: A Few Thoughts
Full text linkIncome inequality has become an important public policy issue in the United States. This Essay examines the issue in a political, economic, and legal context. It argues that the only policy responses that will work to address the underlying trends are ones that put a priority upon hiring people at a living wage and encouraging entrepreneurship and growth at all levels of the economy
Big Brother Versus Little Sisters Hits Home
No full textLast week I had the honor of filing, on behalf of those residents and their families, a friend of the court or amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Little Sisters of the Poor. It was just one of 43 such briefs supporting the Little Sisters, from groups as disparate as the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the National Association of Evangelicals, Orthodox Jewish Rabbis, 20 states, 207 Members of Congress, and the American Islamic Congress. The case will be argued in March, with a decision expected by the end of June
Table of Law School Mission Statements
Full text linkThis chart represents research for “ Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It . . . : Taking Law School Mission Statements Seriously by Irene Scharf and Vanessa Merton. To identify whether a school had a mission statement and, if so, what it encompassed, we largely followed the process described by Professor Organ in Missing Missions: Further Reflections on Institutional Pluralism (or its Absence), 60 J. LEGAL EDUC. 157, 160-161 (2010): The search process involved several steps. We checked the law school webpage to see if it had a link to “Mission.” We checked the “About” link to see if the description of the law school referenced the school’s mission. We checked the “Dean’s Message” or the “Dean’s Welcome” to try to identify all law schools that clearly highlighted a mission statement. We checked the “Academics” page and the “Admissions” page. We also used the search link on the school’s webpage entering the words “mission” and “strategic plan.” While many law schools have a “mission” that is clearly defined as a “mission” or “vision,” others were less explicit, but nonetheless described the school’s “aims” or “purpose” or “commitment,” which we deemed sufficient to qualify as a mission statement. A mere description of the law school or what the law school does or is or what the law school provides students was deemed insufficient to constitute a mission
The FIFA World Cup, Human Rights Goals and the Gulf Between
Full text linkWith Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 on the horizon, the process for selecting hosts for the World Cup of men’s football has been plagued by charges of corruption and human rights abuses. FIFA celebrated key developing economies with South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014. But amid the aftermath of the global financial crisis, those sittings surfaced grave and persistent criticism of the social and economic efficacy of sporting mega-events. Meanwhile new norms emerged in global governance, embodied in instruments such as the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) and the Sustainable Development Goals. These norms posit that commercial aims can be harmonized with socioeconomic good. FIFA seized on the chance to restore public confidence and recommit itself to human exultation in sport, adopting sustainability strategies and engaging the architect of the UNGP to develop a human rights policy. But a vast gulf stands between FIFA today and its stated intentions for a new model of World Cup 2026. Idle stadiums and civil unrest in Brazil prolong scepticism of mega-event hosting, even as that country readies for the Rio Olympics. The Russian World Cup recalls that country’s anti-LGBT law, not to mention the Crimea invasion on the heels of the Sochi Olympics. The vast construction projects upending Qatari cityscapes have spotlighted an alarming human toll in that country’s immigration and labour practices, not to mention escalating angst over rampant spending in a depressed oil market. Can FIFA leave behind its money-soaked track record and embrace a new agenda that puts people before profit? This chapter examines a growing incompatibility between World Cup hosting and FIFA sustainability and human rights strategies. This incompatibility illustrates the difficult course that FIFA will have to navigate to make good on its promise to reform
PrEP and Our Youth: Implications in Law and Policy
Full text linkTruvada®, an antiretroviral medication originally approved to treat HIV, is the first drug to receive FDA approval for use by HIV-negative individuals to actually prevent infection. The prophylactic use of an antiretroviral such as Truvada is a pharmacological prevention method called “HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis” (or “PrEP”). With an efficacy of over ninety percent when used as prescribed, Truvada as PrEP has been embraced by the public health community, and implementation is under way across the United States. Truvada as PrEP is currently indicated for adult use only, but it may also be prescribed off-label to at-risk youth. In this Article, I draw upon public health, neurodevelopmental, and psychosocial research to argue that PrEP is a necessary tool in the fight against HIV among youth. Thus, exploring the challenges of delivering PrEP to at-risk youth is essential. As a general rule, states mandate the involvement of parental figures in the healthcare of minors. However, recognizing that parental involvement in sensitive matters such as STI treatment is a barrier to reaching youth, legislators have crafted limited exceptions to this rule. With the goal of locating inroads to confidential PrEP access in these exceptions, I survey STI, emancipation, and emergency consent laws, develop frameworks for navigating them, and suggest that STI laws offer the most promise of offering confidential PrEP access. Further, I posit that providing PrEP at clinics receiving Title X family planning funds, which must offer confidential services to youth, may be a national means of achieving that end. Yet guaranteeing accessibility is only one piece of the delivery puzzle; guaranteeing acceptability is a second. As such, I propose the addition of PrEP to sex ed programming funded by grants from the ACA’s Personal Responsibility Education Program, which would ensure that curricula includes PrEP alongside more established prevention methods such as condoms. Overcoming these barriers will pave the way for rapid uptake of future HIV prevention innovations for and among the most vulnerable: our youth
Table of Accrediting Organizations
Full text linkThis chart represents research for “ Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It . . . : Taking Law School Mission Statements Seriously by Irene Scharf and Vanessa Merton. We gathered information about accrediting bodies to determine the role of mission statements in accreditation standards. For each agency we answered the following questions: Must accreditation seekers have mission statements? Must these statements must be in writing? Is it required for the mission statement to include goals? For some accreditors this information was clearly stated, while the answers were more ambiguous for others. The website for each accreditor is included in this chart as a permanent link
Soft Misogyny: The Subtle Perversion of Domestic Violence “Reform”
No full textThe past two decades have seen many statutory and non-legislative policy changes that were adopted with the purpose of reducing or eliminating intimate terrorism. The author argues that some of these changes were hastily and reactively made, with the result of making the lives of those who live with intimate terrorism more complicated. In worst case scenarios, the state perpetuates and sometimes enhances the abuse perpetrated on survivors and their children.
The author explores a variety of practices such as mandatory arrest, mandatory prosecution, child abuse policies, and child custody statutes that have the potential to inflict new harm on survivors and children. Likewise, the expanding scope of protection order statutes to include non-intimate partner relationships serves to devalue the harm and skew the remedies for intimate terrorism survivors. Ultimately, survivors of intimate terrorism discover that the legal institutions from which they seek help, or which are inserted by others into their lives, undermine the ostensible purpose of safety. The state actions can, in fact, escalate the terrorism and leave the survivor diminished, both legally and personally.
The author questions why, in addition to hasty law-making, so many “well-intended” reforms have gone wrong. She concludes that often “soft misogyny” is to blame and connects this form of misogyny to implicit bias. It is misogyny that occurs unbeknownst to the holder; its hidden nature makes it even more difficult to combat. The author posits that, by naming the soft misogyny, it can be placed out in the open and addressed
Collaboration and Intention: Making the Collaborative Family Law Process Safe(r)
Full text linkSince the beginning of the collaborative family law movement, commentators from various professions have discouraged collaborative lawyers from accepting cases involving intimate partner abuse. The collaborative process, with its face to face meetings and emphasis on transparency and good faith, carries with it many risks for the partner who has been abused and who is attempting to end the relationship with the abusive partner. There may be occasions, however, when the at-risk partner believes that the collaborative process will enhance her safety or at least provide her with less exposure to future harm than other resolution processes. This article will explore whether there is any circumstance under which the collaborative lawyer should consider accepting a domestic abuse case into the collaborative system of resolution.
Historically, domestic violence lawyers have favored the dual track of litigation and negotiation. While no system assures safety, serious questions remain whether the collaborative process can be safe under any circumstances for those who experienced abuse. Before making that determination, the collaborative lawyer must do what most family law lawyers have failed to do. The lawyer must make a commitment to study and understand the dynamics of intimate partner abuse. Without proficiency in understanding intimate partner abuse (domestic violence), and intentionally prioritizing safety of the client who has experienced abuse, the collaborative lawyer cannot validly assess a client’s future risk, particularly with an alternative dispute process. This article addresses ethical and practical issues that confront the collaborative lawyer when a case involves abuse and suggests remedies that can make the process safer