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A shattered circle / Kevin Egan
No full textAfter an accident leaves New York City judge William Lonergan mentally impaired, his wife, Barbara, who doubles as the judge’s confidential secretary, is determined to protect his health, his career, and his reputation. Barbara and Larry Seagle, the judge’s law clerk, support Judge Lonergan enough for him to fulfill his judicial duties, keeping his true condition secret. Months pass under this exhausting routine, until suddenly Barbara finds her new way of life under siege. A private investigator needs Judge Lonergan\u27s help in investigating the murder of a well-known lawyer in upstate New York. A bitter litigant files a grievance against the judge with the Judicial Conduct Commission. Driven by loyalty and guilt, court officer Foxx is looking into a decades-old courthouse murder to exonerate a childhood friend who is dying in prison. He hits many dead ends, until he learns that Barbara Lonergan, who worked as a stenographer long before she married the judge, likely has information about the murder victim. After the judge is attacked, Barbara decides they should leave New York City. Arriving at their summer house, Barbara believes that she and the judge are safe. She could not be more wrong. A Shattered Circle by Kevin Egan is a tensely plotted legal thriller set in New York City\u27s iconic 60 Centre Streethttps://scholarship.law.ua.edu/harper_lee_prize_books_2018/1008/thumbnail.jp
A criminal defense: a legal thriller
No full textLosing the trial of his life could mean losing everything. When a young reporter is found dead and a prominent Philadelphia businessman is accused of her murder, Mick McFarland finds himself involved in the case of his life. The defendant, David Hanson, is Mick\u27s best friend, and the victim, a TV news reporter, had reached out to Mick for legal help only hours before her death. Mick\u27s played both sides of Philadelphia\u27s courtrooms. As a top-shelf defense attorney and former prosecutor, he knows all the tricks of the trade. And he\u27ll need every one of them to win. But as the trial progresses, he\u27s disturbed by developments that confirm his deepest fears. This trial, one that already hits too close to home, may jeopardize his firm, his family-- everything. Now Mick\u27s only way out is to mastermind the most brilliant defense he\u27s ever spun, one that may cross every legal and moral boundary -- Provided by publisherhttps://scholarship.law.ua.edu/harper_lee_prize_books_2018/1017/thumbnail.jp
The extraditionist
No full textWhen the world’s most notorious cartel bosses get arrested, they call Benn Bluestone. A drug lawyer sharp enough to exploit loopholes in the system, Bluestone loves the money, the women, the action that come with his career…but working between the lines of justice and crime has taken its toll, and he desperately wants out. He’s convinced himself that only an insanely rich client can guarantee him a lavish retirement. When the New Year begins with three promising cases, Bluestone thinks he’s hit pay dirt. But then the cases link dangerously together―and to his own past. Does the mysterious drug kingpin Sombra hold the key to Bluestone’s ambitions? Or does the key open a door that could bring the entire federal justice system to a screeching halt and net Bluestone a life in jail without parole?https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/harper_lee_prize_books_2018/1014/thumbnail.jp
The Extraregulatory Effect of Nurse Practitioner Scope-of-Practice Laws on Physician Malpractice Rates
No full textPatients can hold physicians directly or vicariously liable for the malpractice of nurse practitioners under their supervision. Restrictive scope-of-practice laws governing nurse practitioners can ease patients’ legal burdens in establishing physician liability. We analyze the effect of restrictive scope-of-practice laws on the number of malpractice payments made on behalf of physicians between 1999 and 2012. Enacting less restrictive scope-of-practice laws decreases the number of payments made by physicians by as much as 31%, suggesting that restrictive scope-of-practice laws have a salient extraregulatory effect on physician malpractice rates. The effect of enacting less restrictive laws varies depending on the medical malpractice reforms that are in place, with the largest decrease in physician malpractice rates occurring in states that have enacted fewer malpractice reforms. Relaxing scope-of-practice laws could mitigate the adverse extraregulatory effect on physicians identified in this study and could also lead to improvements in access to care
Europe\u27s Moral Margin: Parental Aspirations and the European Court of Human Rights
Get PDFThe European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) balances along two axes: individual right vs. government interest and national vs. supranational judgment. The Court calibrates the level of deference it affords States through the margin of appreciation, a doctrine designed to vary how strictly the supranational court will scrutinize national decisions. This Article challenges the way in which the Court deploys margin of appreciation in order to defer to sensitive moral and ethical decisions taken by domestic institutions. I call this deference the moral margin. Although the European Convention on Human Rights explicitly authorizes the Court to take protection of morals into account when weighing rights claims, I argue that the Court has used this authorization in a manner that fails to honor its role within Europe. I critique the moral margin on two grounds. First, in practice, the Court has narrowed its definition of sensitive moral and ethical issues to cover almost exclusively cases that implicate reproductive choices and family formation. Second, I argue that when the Court chooses to defer to Member States, it should instead employ approaches – namely consensus analysis and proceduralization – that foster dialogue among Europe\u27s rights-protecting institutions. Using the recent gestational surrogacy judgments as a case study, I demonstrate how the ECtHR can engage with domes- tic institutions to allocate rights-protecting responsibility and encourage Europe-wide change
Beach Lawyer
No full textAfter five grueling years, Robert Worth is just days away from making partner at a powerful Santa Monica law firm. When a client confides in him that senior partner Jack Pierce sexually assaulted her, Robert breaks two of his mentor’s cardinal rules: Never let yourself get emotional about clients. And never make an enemy of Jack Pierce. Robert crosses Pierce and is fired on the spot, losing not only his job but also his reputation. Advised to go quietly, Robert vows revenge against the ruthless man who betrayed him. But his investigation uncovers a twisted shadow world of sex, infidelity, and deception, where nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted. Only one thing is clear: Pierce will go the limit to keep his secrets. This straight shooter will need to use every angle if he hopes to win. But could victory come at too high a price?https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/harper_lee_prize_books_2018/1005/thumbnail.jp
Invisible Bosses for Invisible Workers, or Why the Sharing Economy Is Actually Minimally Disruptive Law and the Disruptive Workplace
Get PDFThe Cost of Inexperience
Get PDFFree market entry is vital in preventing concentration of market power and eliminating large deadweight losses Yet in recent years studies show that newcomers are less successful than existing firms that have diversifies their products in the market What might explain this phenomenonThis Article unveils a regulatory catch 22 It reveals that although a regulation may be efficient in correcting a certain market failure its distributional effects may create another It exposes the degree to which economies of experience in regulation create significant disadvantages to newcomers and provide substantial advantages to oldtimers Being wellversed in their marketplace oldtimers possess knowledge familiarity and influence over the rulemaking process New or green entities entering regulated market or dealing with a new rule face proportionally larger costs to obtain regulatory insight Consequently an anomaly exists when government choice may de facto hamper innovation and survival of newcomers the same goals it seeks to promoteTo remedy this inconsistency the Article suggests ways to offset these distributional asymmetries through the use of information cooperatives regulatory sandboxes and compensatory mechanisms These solutions offer policymakers greater regulatory efficiency without resorting to deregulatio
Saving Lives
Get PDFWhen Alan Kurdi a Syrian toddler drowned in the Mediterranean while fleeing civil war in his home country the world\u27s attention turned to the Syrian refugee crisis Offers to transport and house refugees surged Private boats set out on the Mediterranean Sea to rescue refugees dying in the water A billionaire offered to purchase an island on which the refugees could live out their lives This Article analyzes private humanitarian aid to asylum seekers a subset of migrants whose claims for refugee protection have not yet been adjudicated and who typically travel without authorization This Article determines that much of this aid is currently illegal or operates under a cloud of legal uncertainty principally due to criminal laws prohibiting the smuggling and harboring of unauthorized migrants In light of the compelling humanitarian interests at stake as well as asylum states\u27 concern for national security this Article argues for law reform to decriminalize private humanitarian aid to asylum seeker
Lost Art and the Public Domain
Get PDFBecause a patentable invention must be novel, and it must embody an advancement that would not have been obvious to persons of ordinary skill, the invention must be compared to the “prior art.” Prior art, in the language of the current Patent Act, includes anything that was already “patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public.” With certain qualifications, patent law has always required that prior art have been available to the public. A manuscript describing the claimed invention that had never left its author\u27s desk drawer would not qualify as a printed publication. But what of prior art that was accessible, but ignored; or that was available at one time, but snatched away or forgotten? Can “lost art” be used to challenge the novelty of a claimed invention? It is an important question because of the light it sheds on what it means for prior art to be “available to the public,” a matter that has been the subject of much attention since the recent adoption of the America Invents Act. It also forces us to consider the character of the public domain as applied in the context of patent law; specifically, whether every addition to the prior art is also a contribution to the public domain and, in consequence, irrevocable. I conclude that courts should be guided by the policy of preserving in the public domain advancements that have already made an enduring contribution to public welfare. Lost art that demonstrably failed to provide any lasting benefit to the public should not count against a later inventor who, in a practical sense, has advanced what the Constitution calls “the Progress of ... [the] useful Arts.