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Pattern Recognition: Teaching the Hierarchy of Sources of International Law by Comparison with the Hierarchy of Sources of American Law
No full textThis session will demonstrate how to scaffold a discussion of the hierarchy of sources in international law by beginning with a review of the hierarchy of sources in American law. We will also experience the efficacy of combining physical manipulation of magnets along with a think-pair-share exercise to cement our newfound insights about hierarchy into long-term memory. The addition of magnets will make the exercise more fun, and the magnet as a souvenir might even inspire some future spaced retrieval
An Updated Practical Guide to Taking and Defending Depositions
No full textThe deposition offers a singular opportunity to handcuff the deponent to an irreversible script. Consequently, both the attorney taking the deposition and defending counsel must prepare for and conduct the deposition with equal if not greater care than the trial.
Traditionally, lawyers have used the deposition to discover facts relating to the legal elements and the credibility, perception, and recollection of the witness. However, recent breakthroughs in neuroscience as to how the brain makes decisions have revealed a different genre of evidence that will drive how the trier of fact will decide the case. Today an attorney taking a deposition also must probe the elements of story—character traits, motives and the stakes.
Proper handling of stipulations and thorough execution of an introductory litany at the outset of the deposition are prerequisites to ensuring that the witness cannot credibly offer different or additional facts at trial without being impeached. To continue to shackle the witness to the transcript, over the course of the deposition the examiner constantly must be mindful which of three objectives they are pursuing—constructing nablas, admissions testing, or surfing for nablas—and adopt the questioning technique necessary to achieve that end. When examining about a document, the attorney taking the deposition must employ additional techniques to ensure the answers will bind the witness at trial. Finally, deposing counsel must understand how to respond to and manage objections—both legitimate and spurious—as well as deal with any attempts to coach the deponent or otherwise obstruct the deposition. Both during and after the deposition, the defending attorney must take permissible steps to ensure the accuracy of the testimony, minimize its damage, and preserve evidentiary privileges. However, defending counsel’s most critical role–while at all times acting within the bounds of rules of professional conduct–is to fully prepare the witness for the deposition. The goal must be to make the deponent sufficiently comfortable with what will transpire so they can accurately convey what they do know, comfortably concede what they do not know, and avoid being led into admitting facts that are not true
Reshaping Government’s Fiduciary Role Under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana
No full textIn Ghana and across many African States, the people—through the instrumentality of law or their respective Constitutions— have constituted their presidents trustees of the natural resources to be held in trust for the benefit of the people. With a few exceptions, mineral resource governance in Africa has been horrendous: Many African States have failed to leverage their natural resource endowments as a catalyst for much-needed socioeconomic development.
This Article analyzes the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana which provides that all public lands and natural resources in Ghana shall be vested in the President on behalf of, and in trust for, the people of Ghana. The question of whether the vesting of the ownership of all natural resources in the President designates the President as a fiduciary in the utilization and management of these resources was addressed in the 1994 case Adjaye v. Attorney General. The Adjaye Court held that the trust created by the Constitution concerning natural resources was not an enforceable trust and that citizens of Ghana lacked locus standi to sue the government on the basis of that trust.
This Article argues that contrary to the decision in Adjaye, the 1992 Constitution does require the President of Ghana to act as trustee having a heightened and enforceable fiduciary duty to manage the people’s trust. This Article will further explore institutional innovations for streamlining mineral resource governance, specifically how and to what extent the Public Trust Doctrine (“PTD”) developed by U.S. courts could be used to promote and enhance mineral resource governance in Ghana
