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‘Nothing About Us Without Us’: Toward a Liberatory Heterodox Halakha
Get PDFThe role and function of “halakha” (Jewish law) in Jewish communal life is a divisive issue: while Orthodox Jews tend to embrace Jewish law, non-Orthodox Jews (here deemed “Heterodox”) generally reject Jewish law and halakhic discourse. We will explore the way in which Robert Cover’s work offers an antidote to categorical Heterodox distaste for halakha specifically, and law more broadly, providing a pathway into an articulation of halakha that may speak to Heterodox Jews specifically: one that is driven by creative “jurisgenerative” potential, that is informed by a paideic pluralism, and that is fundamentally democratic in its commitment to being shaped not by its authors or enforcers but by the people who imbue it with meaning.
We explore four examples of Heterodox halakhists whose work is grounded in such a vision for law articulated by Cover: Rachel Adler, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Mark Washofsky, and Gordon Tucker. These four scholars, responding to distinct cultural moments and emerging socio-political realities, develop attempts to transform halakhic life and discourse. Inspired by Cover, they each offer reflections of an approach to halakha as it could be, imagining alternative approaches to Jewish law-making.
Our analysis builds on these frameworks, which are shaped by Robert Cover’s work. Through the incorporation of two core principles for Jewish law-making—”a judge has only what his eyes see,”and “the heart alone knows its bitterness”—we attempt to expand the analysis of these thinkers to articulate and illustrate a path to progressive psak among Heterodox Jews that dis-locates notions of authority and expertise in law-making, and embodies the well-known dictum created and popularized by disability justice activists: nothing about us without us, suggesting a framework for pluralist approaches to Jewish law that are liberatory and community-driven
Moving Toward a Competency Based Model for Fostering Law Students’ Relational Skills
Get PDFLegal education has long been criticized for failing to provide adequate professional training to prepare graduates for legal practice realities. Many sources have lamented the lack of sufficient attention to the range of competencies necessary for law graduates to be effective practitioners and develop a positive professional identity, including those that are intra-personal, such as self-awareness, critical self-reflection, and self-directedness; those that are interpersonal, such as deep and reflective listening, empathy, compassion, cross-cultural communication, and dialogue; and those that engage with the social/systemic dimension of lawyering, such as appreciating the role of multiple identities, implicit bias, privilege and power, and structural racism. For this article, we refer to this entire set of competencies as relational competencies. One notable exception to this sustained critique of legal education has been the field of clinical legal education, including law school clinics and externships. Nevertheless, what is still lacking is a more systematic approach to clinical law students\u27 supervision around the knowledge, skills, and values connected to relational competencies. In this article, we aim to begin a conversation about how we can move to a competency-based approach to supervision of law students\u27 in clinics and externships. We draw significant guidance from the field of psychology, where there is a well-established track record in using a competency-based approach to supervise trainees. By emphasizing the importance of relational competencies in legal education, we can more effectively promote well-being among students, their current and future clients, and the legal profession\u27s culture. Ultimately, we hope to invite a broader conversation about a more holistic approach to legal professionals\u27 licensing and ongoing supervision
The Long Shadow of United States v. Rosenberg: A Biographical Perspective on the Hon. Irving Robert Kaufman
Get PDFFertility Care: Essential or Non-Essential? Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textAt the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, in an effort to allocate medical resources towards the anticipated influx of patients infected with the novel virus, many non-essential healthcare services were temporarily paused. The American Society of Reproductive Medicine led the move to halt infertility care in all but the most extreme cases. This cessation of infertility care, compounded by the unknown duration of this recommendation, added to the already high level of stress and anxiety that fertility patients experience and in cases of advanced maternal age or diminished ovarian reserve potentially resulted in suboptimal clinical outcomes. There was vocal disagreement amongst infertility care providers regarding the urgency and essential nature of fertility care and how this balanced with the pandemic. Ultimately there has been a full resumption of fertility care with a new emphasis on fertility preservation. It should be the goal of all professionals in the field of infertility medicine to establish fertility care as essential within the greater field of medicine to assure the protection of their patients in times of future healthcare crisis
The Future of Cryptocurrency and Real Estate Transactions
Get PDFBitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are all the rage right now and are beginning to make their ways into everyday transactions— including real estate transactions. This article discusses whether using cryptocurrencies to complete real estate transactions will become the norm in the near future. Cryptocurrency laws in general are few and far between, but laws surrounding cryptocurrency and real property are even more sparse. Recent case law involving cryptocurrency is a major focus of this article, along with background knowledge about cryptocurrency and the meaning of “money” as we know it today. The article concludes with a discussion about the unlikelihood of real estate transactions being conducted through the use of cryptocurrencies when few are willing to put full trust in their long-term acceptance
The Experiential Guide to Law Practice Management: Opening and Operating Your Own Firm
No full textWhat separates this manual and textbook from others in the field of law practice management is the experiential component. The textbook incorporates breakout boxes with experiences from the authors\u27 own law practices to illustrate points in the text. The teacher\u27s manual features simulations, class discussions, and written reflections to give students the experience of handling the kinds of dilemmas, struggles, and emotionally charged situations that are common when starting and running solo and small-firm practice
Recent Case Law, Disparate Impact, and Restrictive Zoning
Get PDFThe Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) prohibits housing discrimination, including the refusal to sell or rent housing based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status or national origin,and any policy or conduct that “otherwise make[s] unavailable or den[ies], a dwelling [based on these impermissible factors].”In 2015, the Supreme Court interpreted the “otherwise make unavailable” language of the Act to mean that the FHA includes not only claims for intentional discrimination, but also claims for disparate impact. Under the disparate impact doctrine, a defendant may be liable for facially neutral rules or policies that disproportionately favor one racial group over another.
Zoning law often disfavors Blacks and Hispanics by limiting housing supply and increasing housing costs. Zoning codes generally limit the number of houses or apartments that can be built on a parcel of land. By restraining the overall supply of residences, these “minimum lot size” regulations make housing more costly. Zoning codes also make housing expensive in a variety of other ways; for example, zoning codes typically separate houses from apartments, thus limiting the supply of apartments. Because studies show that Blacks and Hispanics, on average, have lower incomes than Whites, minimum lot size requirements also tend to exclude Blacks and Hispanics from the municipalities and neighborhoods with the strictest limits. Because zoning raises housing costs, one might think that the disparate impact doctrine can easily be used to limit zoning. The purpose of this article is to examine recent case law to determine whether this is accurate. Part I of the Article describes the background of disparate impact law under the FHA, and Part II focuses on the most recent disparate impact case law in cases involving the types of zoning restrictions discussed above