Lifestyle Balancing: Queerness and the Practice of Law

Posted on by Kirkman Ridd

By Slater Stanley* on January 6, 2023

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Introduction

To find your place within a system you need to understand it, and yourself in relation to it. The purpose of such an evaluation might be productivity, survival, comfort, power, or a combination thereof. Growing up in a conservative environment as a queer[1] child without queer role models, I am not unfamiliar with suppressing characteristics and desires that feel natural to me to fit more neatly within hegemonic heteronormative[2] expectations. I applied to undergraduate universities—and later law schools—with this in mind: I want to be somewhere socially liberal.

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Addressing Secondary Trauma in the Legal Profession

Posted on by Kirkman Ridd

By Annie T. Le* on November 8, 2022

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Introduction

“The raging river is the client’s life . . . . The boulder falling is the trauma occurring. The image of secondary trauma is a lawyer standing in the river. They don’t get hit by the boulder, but they feel the ripple effect.” – Jean Koh Peters[1]

California Rule 1.1 of Professional Conduct requires a lawyer’s competency, not just education and skills, but also “mental, emotional, and physical ability.”[2] Stress can negatively affect mental and emotional ability, and a high level of stress is known to be associated with the legal profession.[3] While being invested in the clients’ cases and showing empathy, lawyers sometimes absorb clients’ suffering. Over time, repeated exposure to the first-hand traumatic experiences of others may lead to secondary traumatic stress, also called secondary trauma.[4]

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Turn Asylum on its Head and Presume Eligibility

Posted on by Kirkman Ridd

By Bill Ong Hing on September 25, 2022

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Introduction

 
Thirty-five years ago, I was fortunate to be part of the litigation team that won big before the U.S. Supreme Court in Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Cardoza-Fonseca,[1] the case that established that asylum applicants “need not prove that it is more likely than not” that they will be persecuted in their home countries in order to prevail.[2]

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Leveling the Playing Field: Legal Technology Requires Retooling Legal Skill Sets to Stay in the Game

Posted on by Amy Metzgar

By Gonzalo (Sal) Torres on May 6, 2022

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Introduction

 

In the 2011 film, Moneyball,[1] new Oakland Athletics’ (“A’s”) baseball manager, Billy Beane (played with brillo by Brad Pitt) shakes up the centuries old business of baseball by proposing and implementing a new technology known as statistical analytics to draft its next group of players. Beane is immediately met with truculent resistance from the curmudgeons around the table who have no faith in this new approach. Eventually, Beane wins out and the A’s go on to have a stellar winning season.

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Free Speech and Technology

Posted on by Amy Metzgar

By Joshua P. Davis on January 26, 2022

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Technological advancements have thrown free speech doctrine into disarray. The speed, frequency, distance, and types of our communications have grown extraordinarily. We can send and receive photos and videos around the world more quickly and easily than we can walk down the street and chat with a neighbor. Such transformations put great pressure on aging legal rules designed for a different era.

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Who Lacks Voter ID?: Evidence from Expert Reports

Posted on by Amy Metzgar

By Joshua Hochberg on January 26, 2022

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Introduction

 

Over the past two decades, voter identification (“ID”) laws have become one of the most hot-button issues in American politics.[1] Recent legislative activity suggests this intensity will not cool soon, as new voter ID laws have been enacted in Arkansas,[2] Florida,[3] Georgia,[4] Montana,[5] and Wyoming.[6] Similar legislation is pending in more than a dozen states,[7] including efforts to enact voter ID laws via statewide ballot measures in Nebraska[8] and Pennsylvania.[9]

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Housing Injustice as a Barrier to Reproductive Justice

Posted on by Amy Metzgar

By Norah Cunningham on November 22, 2021

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To me it is pretty clear that whatever serves as an obstacle to the whole of a woman’s freedom and self-determination, like economic injustice, racial and sex discrimination, affects her reproductive freedom. Injustice in housing is a reproductive justice issue . . . . Not only should homelessness be regarded as a reproductive justice issue because of its direct impact on women’s health, but because of its impact on the overall physical, mental, spiritual, political, economic, and social well-being of women.[1]

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Revisiting Manson v. Brathwaite and Eyewitness Identification

Posted on by almontoya2

By Stephanie Tai on March 22, 2021.

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Introduction

Eyewitness identification is fraught with uncertainties. In United States v. Wade, Justice Brennan, writing for the majority of the United States Supreme Court, wrote that “the vagaries of eyewitness identification are well-known; the annals of criminal law are rife with instances of mistaken identification.”[1] This essay will analyze the approach to eyewitness identification in Manson v. Brathwaite, discuss the criticisms associated with the test, and propose suggestions to combat the pitfalls of eyewitness identification evidence.

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Towards Intelligent Regulation of AI

Posted on by almontoya2

By Prajakta Pradhan on March 8, 2021.

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Introduction

The term Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) was first coined by John McCarthy,[1] who defined AI as the science and art of making intelligent machines, particularly computer programs.[2] In layman’s terms, AI is the science and engineering of making machines more intelligent and capable of performing more complex tasks. It is about obtaining patterns to make sense of big data.

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Inconsistent With Youth: Equal Protection, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, and the Issue of the Incorrigibility Standard

Posted on by almontoya2

By Matan Kotler-Berkowitz and Elijah Wiesman on November 12, 2020.

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Introduction

A. Brett Jones

On August 9th, 2004, fifteen-year-old Brett Jones was attacked by his grandfather.[1] Backed into a corner, Jones stabbed his grandfather eight times with the object he had in his hands at the time, a steak knife.[2] He then unsuccessfully tried to perform CPR to save him.[3] Jones was subsequently convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.[4] The Mississippi Circuit Appeals Court upheld his sentence on appeal.[5]

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