Alabama Law Scholarly Commons - The University of Alabama
Not a member yet
1539 research outputs found
Sort by
Her kind of case: a Lee Isaacs, Esq. novel
No full textLee Isaacs is a top-notch criminal defense attorney still coming to terms with the death of her husband five years earlier. She has recently lost a high-profile murder case and worries she might be losing her winning touch. Then she\u27s hired to defend a teenage boy accused of helping a group of skinheads murder a gay man. The boy has confessed to the crime and has no desire to defend himself. But the more Lee looks into this seemingly impossible case, the more convinced she is that the boy actually had nothing to do with the murder at all. The novel follows the twists and turns of Lee\u27s attempts to earn her client\u27s trust, track down promising leads, and deploy her decades of legal expertise to see that an innocent boy isn\u27t doomed to life in prisonhttps://scholarship.law.ua.edu/harper_lee_prize_books_2019/1024/thumbnail.jp
The wife: a novel of psychological suspense
No full textWhen Angela met Jason Powell while catering a dinner party in East Hampton, she assumed their romance would be a short-lived fling, like so many relationships between locals and summer visitors. To her surprise, Jason, a brilliant economics professor at NYU, had other plans, and they married the following summer. For Angela, the marriage turned out to be a chance to reboot her life. She and her son were finally able to move out of her mother\u27s home to Manhattan, where no one knew about her tragic past. Six years later, thanks to a bestselling book and a growing media career, Jason has become a cultural lightning rod, placing Angela near the spotlight she worked so carefully to avoid. When a college intern makes an accusation against Jason, and another woman, Kerry Lynch, comes forward with an even more troubling allegation, their perfect life begins to unravel. Jason insists he is innocent, and Angela believes him. But when Kerry disappears, Angela is forced to take a closer look--at both the man she married and the women she chose not to believe. -- Provided by publisherhttps://scholarship.law.ua.edu/harper_lee_prize_books_2019/1002/thumbnail.jp
Wrongful Living
Get PDFExecuting an advance directive that specifies a patient\u27s wishes regarding end-of-life medical care is an exercise of self-determination--a conscious choice about the degree and type of medical intervention one wishes to receive under end-of-life circumstances. Empirical studies, however, consistently report that healthcare professionals fail to comply with advance directives; violations of a patient\u27s interest in self-determination are alarmingly common. From a practical perspective, the conduct of either patients or healthcare professionals may make an advance directive unavailable, which results in noncompliance. Legally, courts have historically rejected claims for “wrongful living” associated with the prolongation of life that results from unwanted medical intervention. As a result, healthcare professionals fear the liability threatened by a wrongful death claim more than the legal exposure risked by keeping an individual alive despite a contrary mandate in an advance directive. In response to practical concerns regarding availability, this Article proposes the creation of a nationwide registry of advance directives and argues that sanctions for violations of professional responsibility as well as the risk of liability for legal malpractice encourage utilization of the proposed registry. To realign the skewed legal incentives, this Article argues that the compensable harms associated with battery and negligence claims filed in lieu of “wrongful living” claims should include the loss of enjoyment of life. Because damages for loss of enjoyment of life are rarely mentioned by courts or scholars in the context of violating advance directives, this Article describes loss of enjoyment of life damages and argues that such damages should be compensable in the same manner that tort law compensates for similar injuries that lack an objective market value. In combination, the practical and legal proposals incentivize compliance with an advance directive and thereby expand the protection afforded a patient\u27s interest in self-determination
Community Economic Development and the Concept of Justice Symposium: Community Economic Development Is Access to Justice
Get PDFGovernment Standing and the Fallacy of Institutional Injury
Get PDFThere is a new plaintiff in town In cases involving the Affordable Care Act the Defense of Marriage Act and partisan gerrymandering government institutions have gone to federal court to redress institutional injuries ” that is claims of harm to their official powers or duties Jurists and scholars are increasingly enthusiastic about these lawsuits arguing for example that the Senate should have standing to protect its power to ratify treaties that the House of Representatives may sue to preserve its role in the appropriations process and that the President may go to court to vindicate his Article II prerogatives This Article contends however that government standing to assert institutional injuries rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of our constitutional scheme The provisions of our structural Constitution are not designed for the benefit of institutions Instead the Constitution divides power between the federal government and the States and among the branches of the federal government for the benefit of the entire public Government institutions have no greater interest in their official powers than any other member of society Moreover as this Article demonstrates denying government standing to assert institutional injuries is not only consistent with constitutional structure history and precedent but also reminds us of a basic principle Individuals not institutions are the rightsholders in our constitutional syste
Good intentions
No full textJudge Jim Thompson\u27s world is unraveling. He\u27s facing public backlash on a decision-gone-wrong for a young boy in foster care and, even worse, he\u27s just discovered that his mentor, Judge Meyer, has been murdered. Despite his self-doubt in the face of media scrutiny, Jim is determined to continue his friend\u27s legacy -- and find his killer. As he digs into the mysterious death, Jim comes across a case that had haunted the judge for decades -- a case he couldn\u27t let go of. Judge Meyer had worked hard to find the right solutions for foster children, but rulings in such cases are never simple, and his decisions may have cost him his life. As Jim searches for answers, he begins to see similarities between his mentor\u27s past and his own present. Now it\u27s up to him to learn from his late friend\u27s mistakes ad track down a killer -- before he loses everything that matters to him. --Page 4 of coverhttps://scholarship.law.ua.edu/harper_lee_prize_books_2019/1021/thumbnail.jp
The third victim
No full textIn rural Oregon, two women are found dead after being tortured, battered, and burned. A third woman escapes with evidence that points overwhelmingly to a local man. When a young lawyer joins the team defending him, she uncovers corruption, lies, and secrets that threaten to shake up not only her firm but the entire town -- Provided by publisher; Rural Oregon. A woman stumbles onto a road she tells a horrific tale of being tortured, battered, and bound. She\u27s the lucky one-- two other women, with similar burns and bruises, were found dead. Evidence found at the scene, Alex Mason\u27s summer home, is damning. The prominent local attorney insists upon his innocence but his wife gives evidence about his sexual sadism. Criminal defense attorney Regina Barrister agrees to take on the case. But she\u27s got a secret, one that threatens her skill, her reputation, and, most of all, her clientshttps://scholarship.law.ua.edu/harper_lee_prize_books_2019/1009/thumbnail.jp
Critical race theory: an introduction
No full textSince the publication of the first edition of Critical Race Theory in 2001, the United States has lived through two economic downturns, an outbreak of terrorism, and the onset of an epidemic of hate directed against immigrants, especially undocumented Latinos and Middle Eastern people. On a more hopeful note, the country elected and re-elected its first black president and has witnessed the impressive advance of gay rights. As a field, critical race theory has taken note of all these developments, and this primer does so as well. It not only covers a range of emerging new topics and events, it also addresses the rise of a fierce wave of criticism from right-wing websites, think tanks, and foundations, some of which insist that America is now colorblind and has little use for racial analysis and study. Critical Race Theory is essential for understanding developments in this burgeoning field, which has spread to other disciplines and countries. The new edition also covers the ways in which other societies and disciplines adapt its teachings and, for readers wanting to advance a progressive race agenda, includes new questions for discussion, aimed at outlining practical steps to achieve this objective.https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/fac_books/1003/thumbnail.jp
An Indigent Criminal Defendant Is Entitled to an Expert of His Own
Get PDFThe Supreme Court recently heard the case of an Alabama death row inmate, James McWilliams. A thus far overlooked argument could save his life and help level the playing field in other capital cases. The Court in 1985 promised independent expertise. Now is its chance to make good on that promise