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Meat, The Future: The Role Of Regulators In The Lab-Grown Revolution
No full textThe United States is one of the largest consumers of meat globally. The production of meat contributes substantially to climate change due to the levels of greenhouse gasses emitted and the amount of land, water, feed, and other natural resources required to raise animals used for meat. Traditional meat production is another major source for the emergence of zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. Nevertheless, Americans consume more meat now than at any time in the nation’s history.
Advocates for policy change aimed at addressing the risks associated with meat production have typically focused on reducing meat consumption, alternatives to meat, or improving the standards of traditional meat production. These are laudable goals, but an emerging technology now promises meat production that may avoid these risks entirely. Enter “lab-grown meat”; meat cultivated in an efficient and controlled laboratory environment without the need for fields, feed, or even animals.
The technology has been in development for over 100 years but has seen exponential growth in the past 5 years. What was previously considered a science fiction fantasy became a reality in the US in 2023 when UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat receivedSuggeste
Crown Prosecutors and Government Lawyers: A Legal Ethics Analysis of Under-Funding
No full textCrown prosecutors and government lawyers are reliant on governments for their funding but exert no meaningful influence or control over such funding decisions. Nonetheless, this article demonstrates that as a question of law, under-funded Crown prosecutors and government lawyers risk violating their professional duties. If so, they must promptly inform the government, refuse new matters and, if necessary, withdraw from existing matters. If the government purports to block such refusal or withdrawal and does not provide adequate funding, resignation will become necessary. While law societies will likely not prioritize disciplinary action against such lawyers, the policy reasons to forego such proceedings do not mean that the legal answer is wrong and should or will change. This discordance with practical reality demonstrates that legal ethics generally – and the rules of professional conduct more specifically – do not adequately appreciate the practice settings of government lawyers and Crown prosecutors. Nonetheless, any changes to the legal framework governing all lawyers should be considered carefully as they would have major implications for the regulation of the legal profession
Legal Ethics for Government Lawyers: Lessons from Nunavut
No full textWhile government lawyers face legal ethics issues unique to that practice context, those issues are overlooked in the rules of professional conduct in all but one Canadian jurisdiction: Nunavut. In this comment, I canvass several provisions that are unique to the Code of Professional Conduct of the Law Society of Nunavut. These provisions are inexplicably overlooked in the Canadian legal ethics literature to date. I then assess how these provisions address the legal ethics issues unique to government lawyering. Finally, I argue that the Nunavut provisions should be considered a starting point and I consider additional changes that could be made to further recognize the realities of government lawyering
Defining the Field of Wellness Law
No full textSome lawyers practice “wellness law” without knowing what it is and how it differs from more recognized fields of practice such as health law, public health law, and medical malpractice. This article defines the field of wellness law using in a prescriptive manner the organizational framework that identifies the common and distinctive patterns in wellness and the law that surrounds it. This examination entails reviewing statutes and cases that differentiate between conventional health care and products or services outside of it to identify the core problems that are common and unique to wellness law. Those core problems are twofold. First, whether an imminent disease or illness is at issue when the consumer seeks to improve their wellbeing. If so, then it is not wellness the consumer seeks but health care. Second, whether the individual’s choice to engage in wellness activities is undermined by an intervening authority or situational circumstance. If so, then it is not wellness. Wellness is premised on an empowered individual seeking self-actualization, not a vulnerable patient under threat by illness or injury. The policy trade-offs, values, and interests present in these core wellness law problems involve balancing autonomous striving to self-actualization with paternalistic responses to protect or advance individual health and safety. Defining wellness law gives the field coherence and offers a guide for courts and legislatures when confronted with a wellness law problem. It also encourages legal scholars to further demarcate the area of wellness law as a field with distinct practical and regulatory issues
Gen Y More Black Corporate Directors
No full textCorporate diversity has been in the spotlight for decades. Recent efforts have followed years of legal scholarship, arguments on the business rationale for greater diversity, and more recently, the racial unrest during the summer of 2020. Called by some, a “racial reckoning,” the summer of 2020 catalyzed many corporate declarations on the importance of diversity, and more to the point of this article, the necessity of righting the economic disadvantages of Black Americans. This article looks specifically at one intervention by a corporate player following summer 2020, Nasdaq’s volley to increase corporate diversity through required disclosure. This article reviews the state of Black representation on corporate boards: its history, proffered challenges and barriers, and calls to increase Black representation. Following a description of Nasdaq’s efforts, this article argues that disclosure of board demographics will be a powerful tool for increasing the ranks of Black corporate directors because of an important constituency, Millennials. Millennials exert influence as retail investors, clients of some of the largest institutional investors, and as consumers. The diversity, capital, social views, and ideas on corporate purpose shared by Millennials and their younger peers mean diversity disclosures can have material impact. This is important because diversifying the nation’s corporations can play a role in alleviating the centuries of economic exclusion meted out against Black Americans. This article is the first to connect the effectiveness of diversity disclosures on Black corporate representation with Millennials’ expanding investment activity. This confluence of factors makes Nasdaq’s disclosure rule an important model for others invested in diversity in the wake of recent U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence