SelectedWorks @ Widener University Commonwealth Law School
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Harper, James and Gray on Torts, 2016-1 Cumulative Supplement to Volumes 1-5
No full textThis supplement brings you up to date with the latest developments in the torts practice area. This supplement has updated Chapters 1-2, 4-7, 9-10, 16-18, 21-22, 25, and 27-29, providing commentary and notes in a number of areas
Sustainable Development in Law Practice: A Lens for Addressing All Legal Problems
No full textWhile it is widely recognized that lawyers have an important role to play in fostering sustainable development, and while a growing number of lawyers describe themselves as doing sustainability work, it is less clear what they actually do. This article, which is based on interviews with 26 lawyers who practice or have practiced law related to sustainability, provides a first assessment of what this work actually entails. It describes what these lawyers understand sustainability or sustainable development to mean — both as defined and as applied. It explains who their clients are and what they do for them, and provides insight into the dynamics of attorney-client conversations related to sustainability. It describes key personal and professional qualities of these lawyers — how they became interested, and what they like and do not like about doing work related to sustainability. Finally, by exploring what these lawyers see as obstacles to sustainability and where the jobs are in sustainability-related law, it sheds light on the future of sustainability in law practice
Understanding Election Law and Voting Rights
No full textVoting Rights and Election Law, Second Edition is a law school text book covering the law surrounding the electoral system. Coverage begins with voting qualifications, defining the community and excluding outsiders. The book covers the authority of the courts to remedy violations of the right to vote. Other topics include the One-Person/One-Vote Doctrine under the Federal Constitution and the effects of the Voting Rights Act. The book also covers the role of political parties and term limits for federal and state office. Campaign finance and political speech each receive treatment. The book concludes with a chapter on methods for remedying errors in elections
The Executive Power of Process in Immigration Law
No full textThe role of the executive branch in enforcing immigration law is the subject of renewed focus. In the academic realm, the spotlight rests on the executive branch itself, as opposed to lumping together both Congress and the executive as the political branches. This new focus on the executive branch alone creates space for scholars to approach thorny separation of powers and federalism questions surround the president\u27s exercise of discretion in enforcing immigration law. In the political realm, the contours of the executive\u27s discretionary authority in immigration law have become a point of contention between the president and Congress and have seeped into the public discourse. This article adds to the renewed scholarly focus by examining across executive branch agencies the role of procedure in the president\u27s exercise of authority over immigration law. This article extracts themes from some prominent procedural mechanisms that accompany executive power over immigration law
The Prosser Letters: 1917-1948
No full textWilliam Prosser was one of the most accomplished and influential scholars of the twentieth century. He molded the development of tort doctrine, especially in the areas of products liability, privacy, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. In spite of his numerous achievements, there is no full-length biography of Prosser. A major reason no one has written such a volume is the lack of Prosser’s papers. Based on information from a Berkeley Law librarian, it appears Prosser destroyed most of his papers in 1963. Recently, however, prominent academics have both written shorter biographical pieces on Prosser and called for further research on his life.Progress is possible thanks to the serendipitous discovery of a pile of Prosser’s old letters at a garage sale in the Berkeley area. The letters begin when the twenty-one-year-old Prosser is in Europe after fighting in World War I and continue through Prosser’s role as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School in 1948. They provide a first-hand account from Prosser during crucial periods of his life.This essay is based on a review of those letters. It accomplishes three main things. First, it fills in considerable details of Prosser’s life, including the resolution of several contested issues, such as where Prosser spent his childhood and when he matriculated as a 1L at Harvard Law School. Second, the essay provides a first-hand account of Prosser’s pedagogical experience in law school and how that affected his teaching, his struggle with the decision to become an academic, and his candid appraisal of the academy. Third, the essay reveals Prosser’s assessment of his own honesty, which is especially provocative in light of the controversy surrounding his methods for influencing the law
Electronic Issues in Secured Financing
No full textThe proliferation of electronic communications technologies has affected business transactions in myriad ways. Transacting parties enter into agreements electronically, transfer payments electronically, and create, acquire, and sell electronic assets that did not exist decades ago. Modern communications technologies also enable parties to gain control over tangible assets remotely. Many of these transactions are governed by the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”), a statute first written in an era in which assets were tangible and contracts were written on paper and signed in ink. Recognizing the migration of electronic transactions to the electronic environment, the two sponsors of the UCC – the American Law Institute and the Uniform Law Commission – have modernized several UCC articles, including Article 9, which governs secured transactions. The two sets of amendments promulgated in 1999 and 2010 recognize both the electronic creation of a security interest and the development of electronic assets. Despite the modernization of Article 9, traps for the unwary remain.Electronic transactions raise potential issues under Article 9 of the UCC at each critical point in a secured transaction. In order for a secured party to foreclose on an asset and realize its value, the secured party must correctly describe the asset in its security agreement with the debtor. In order to have priority in the asset, and to be protected as a secured creditor in the debtor’s bankruptcy, the secured party must have perfected its security interest, usually by filing a financing statement that provides public notice of the security interest. The comprehensive revisions to Article 9 that were promulgated in 1999 incorporate and facilitate the use of electronic communications in secured transactions by enabling the use of such communications in both creating and perfecting security interests. Open questions remain, however, when the collateral itself is electronic and when creditors use electronic means to enforce their security interests. This chapter, part of the Research Handbook on Electronic Commerce Law, explains some of these potential issues
Bankruptcy Overview: Issues, Law and Policy
No full textThis latest edition provides an overview of the fundamental features of chapters 7, 11, 12 and 13 of the Bankruptcy Code, explaining - with reference to current case law and practical examples - the nature and rights of both secured and unsecured claimants, as well as avoiding powers, executory contracts, discharges, jurisdiction and venue, bankruptcy taxation and family law. This book provides a foundation in the basics of and issues surrounding bankruptcy for practitioners, their clients, and those seeking an introduction to bankruptcy fundamentals
Shale Gas and the Future of Energy: Law and Policy for Sustainability
No full textThe rapid growth of shale gas development has led to an intense and polarizing debate about its merit. At the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, countries around the world concluded that the transition to sustainability must be accelerated. This book asks and suggests answers to the question that has not yet been systematically analysed: what laws and policies are needed to ensure that shale gas development helps to accelerate the transition to sustainability
Best Practices in Legal Education: How Live Critiquing and Cooperative Work Lead to Happy Students and Happy Professors
No full textAt Widener Law Commonwealth, the legal writing program organizes itself around best practices for the students and, also, best practices for the professors. Rather than catalog the innovative approaches that set our program and pedagogy apart from others, this article focuses on two central ideas and guiding principles for producing happy students and happy professors: 1) using live critiquing to provide feedback on assignments and 2) encouraging cooperative work among legal writing faculty
Making the Paris Agreement Work
No full textThis article briefly outlines the key features of the Paris Agreement as well as the daunting challenge of meeting its goals. It suggests six elements of an approach that could encourage or incentivize parties to greater ambition, creating a race to the top. It will also describe ways in which all parts of civil society, including lawyers and policy makers, can help make the Agreement work