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Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Arbitrators Under the Federal Arbitration Act?
Get PDFCan parties appoint an Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) platform to serve as an arbitrator under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”)? Can a United States court invalidate an arbitration provision in a contract that specifies the resolution of a dispute through an AI platform? Can a U.S. court refuse to recognize an arbitral award that was rendered by an AI platform? Intense lobbying efforts by business organizations led to the enactment of the FAA in 1925. While the business community lobbied for lower-cost litigation, the lawyer organizations, including the American Bar Association, were bystanders in the drafting of the legislative proposals. Nearly a century later, lawyers remain bystanders to innovation. Changes must be made to the current model of legal education and the practice of law to make it more interdisciplinary. Lawyers fail to innovate because our educational and practice models are based on the study of the past (“precedent”). Lawyers are not trained to look to the future and have different goals than scientists and venture capitalists who drive the innovational targets. We must adopt emerging technologies that will lower the cost of legal services as we risk being forced out of the marketplace by AI platforms that will act as arbitrators. History will repeat itself as was the case in 1925 with the enactment of the FAA
Geese Management at the University of Richmond
Get PDFGeese are a nuisance in all fifty states and particularly at the University of Richmond. For the most part, Canada Geese, Branta canadensis, have effectively stopped migrating which has led them to be a problem for the surrounding ecosystem (Handwerk, 2021). The university has taken some preliminary steps to discourage geese from inhabiting our campus, but none have proven to be effective in the long run. To answer the question of how to deter geese from hanging out on campus, I assessed various geese management practices with the intention that the university could potentially adopt one of the practices. Our results show that the four most likely to be pursued and most effective methods are a Border Collie Program, a Remote-control Speedboat Program, pesticide sprayed on the grass, and additional signage around the lake. This study aids in the general goal of the university to promote beauty on campus and provides concrete options of ways in which the university can continue to develop the campus.
Paper prepared for the Environmental Studies Senior Seminar/Geography Capstone.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Peter Smallwood
Air quality and vehicular emissions: Evaluating vehicular emission contributions to and distribution of ambient particulate matter pollution with low-cost sensors in Richmond, Virginia
Get PDFHazardous air quality prematurely kills millions of people a year and exacerbates underlying health issues for millions more. Unsafe levels of particulate matter are typically associated with newly industrialized and developing countries, however, this is a misconception, especially when considering ambient air pollutants in densely packed urban areas. According to the Airbeam and Purple Air data collected on 07/15/2021, Richmond, Virginia has good air quality with the vast majority of values falling below the United States Environmental Protection Agency annual PM2.5 standard of 12 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3). Vehicular emissions may not account for a large percentage of PM2.5 levels in Richmond but considering other emission types and their effects on human health, preventive investment and action is necessary. The Virginian government, through the Richmond 300 project, is planning on expanding and improving on-street networks and amenities serving bicycles through further development of bike-sharing programs
Copyright Takes to the Streets: Protecting Graffiti Under the Visual Artists Rights Act
Get PDFArtists who choose the streets as their canvas—whether to beautify neighborhoods, spark political protest, or merely mark their territory—are faced with uncertainties when it comes to questions of copyright protection for their work. Prior to Castillo v. G&M Realty L.P., the rights granted to street artists had generally been uncharted territory. However, a verdict that pitted the rights of street artists against the rights of property owners finally gave street art the credibility many felt it long deserved. In Castillo, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recognized graffiti as a work of visual art, thus providing it copyright protection under the Visual Artists Rights Act (“VARA”) of 1990. This decision reflected a broad change in the perception of unconventional art like graffiti, and it demonstrated the federal courts’ intent on catching up with that change
Expanding Medicaid in the Postpartum Period
Get PDFThis Comment will discuss how the current Medicaid law is insufficient to address the issue of disappointing maternal health outcomes in the United States and how the federal government should begin to remedy the problem. First, I will shed light on the maternal health crisis in the United States, before discussing the history of pregnancy and postpartum Medicaid coverage. Then, I will outline the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, the subsequent court battle over its constitutionality, and the effects of that decision on the current landscape of pregnancy and postpartum Medicaid coverage. Finally, I will detail my proposal for Congress to mandate one year of postpartum coverage and discuss the relevant reasons supporting the necessity of such coverage before demonstrating the legality of the proposal under current law
Humanize, Don\u27t Paternalize: Victim-Offender Mediation After Intimate Partner Violence
Get PDFRetributive legal systems fail survivors of intimate partner violence. In criminal cases, when the government and the offender are the parties to the matter, the legal status of a survivor is reduced to that of a mere witness. Survivors then must surrender their agency in the fight against their own trauma. Survivors of intimate partner violence (“IPV”) who turn to civil litigation to recover after their experiences may experience further trauma as a result of time-consuming, extensive, and often invasive contact with the legal system. Even restitution, a largely restorative remedy, lacks the agency, finality, and emotive opportunities that IPV survivors in particular often desire. The retributive legal system displays a critical gap in addressing the needs of survivors. Restorative justice methods showcasing victim-offender mediation (“VOM”) can fill that gap for a substantial number of survivors.
A truly just—a truly fair—society benefits everyone. In order to benefit everyone, the corresponding just legal system should include emphatic consideration for the needs of the survivors and offenders of those crimes in order to encourage healing on all sides, including that of the community at large. Restorative justice principles and methods, commonly including victim-offender conferencing, have been successfully implemented in numerous settings, including in juvenile cases, drug crimes, and sexual assault and rape cases. Courts should consider balancing various positive and negative factors in each case of IPV to determine whether survivors, offenders, and the community at large would benefit better from restorative victim-offender conferencing than from traditional retributive justice practices
How President Biden Can Fill the Central District of California Bench
Get PDFPresident Joseph Biden confronts an enormous opportunity to seat highly qualified, mainstream federal judges in plenty of appeals court and district court openings which former President Donald Trump neglected to fill in his four-year term. The remarkable California trial level vacant emergency slots, particularly in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, are the United States’ worst-case scenario and consummate promise. The Central District of California tribunal had experienced as many as ten lengthy open court slots among twenty-eight posts during the Trump administration, but it encounters six vacancies today
“Efficient” Infringement and Other Lies
Get PDFImagine you own a house and some land adjacent to where a new supermarket is being built. You and your neighbors are excited about the proximity and convenience the new market will provide. The supermarket, on the other hand, is less excited about the existence of your house because it interferes with its ability to create additional parking spaces. The supermarket may negotiate with you to buy your property; but if you decline to sell, the supermarket will need to work around your property and have fewer parking spaces. It may need to sweeten its offer to make it more attractive to you.
Scenarios like this happen every day, and for the most part, rarely give us pause. After all, the supermarket knew your house was there before it moved into the neighborhood. The need for the supermarket to negotiate with you (or settle for a smaller parking lot) would not have caught it off-guard. Even if you were driving a hard bargain for the land, the supermarket should not have been surprised—after all, it is your home. [..
Expanding Medicaid in the Postpartum Period
Get PDFThis Comment will discuss how the current Medicaid law is insufficient to address the issue of disappointing maternal health outcomes in the United States and how the federal government should begin to remedy the problem. First, I will shed light on the maternal health crisis in the United States, before discussing the history of pregnancy and postpartum Medicaid coverage. Then, I will outline the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, the subsequent court battle over its constitutionality, and the effects of that decision on the current landscape of pregnancy and postpartum Medicaid coverage. Finally, I will detail my proposal for Congress to mandate one year of postpartum coverage and discuss the relevant reasons supporting the necessity of such coverage before demonstrating the legality of the proposal under current law