Still on the Hook: Forward-Looking Releases Reel-in Potential Risks in Mergers and Acquisitions
By Mark T. Wilhelm & Madison Fitzgerald. Full Text. A recent study that analyzed more than 2,100 private-target acquisitions found that 65% of those transactions were structured with a separate signing and closing. While the number of days between signing and closing inevitably varies on a deal-by-deal basis, a prolonged executory period only intensifies concerns…
Continue ReadingProperty as a Legitimating Right
By Duncan Hosie. Full Text. Recent decisions from the Roberts Court have strengthened property rights, and progressive commentators and jurists have reacted with alarm. In light of these constitutional developments, this Essay revisits the landmark 2003 case of Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, which made Massachusetts the first state to recognize a right to…
Continue ReadingAI Tools for Lawyers: A Practical Guide
By Daniel Schwarcz & Jonathan H. Choi. Full Text. This Article provides practical and specific guidance on how to effectively use AI large language models (LLMs), like GPT-4, Bing Chat, and Bard, in legal research and writing. Focusing on GPT-4—the most advanced LLM that is widely available at the time of this writing—it emphasizes that…
Continue ReadingCivil Rights Liability for Bad Hiring
By Nancy Leong. Full Text. Appendix. Suppose that a municipality hires a police officer, teacher, jail guard, or other official with an extensive record of past misconduct—someone the municipality should have known better than to hire. When such an employee causes a violation of constitutional rights, the injured party often brings a civil rights suit…
Continue ReadingModern Diploma Privilege: A Path Rather Than a Gate
By Catherine Martin Christopher. Full Text. This Article proposes a modern diploma privilege—a licensure framework that allows state licensure authorities to identify what competencies are expected of first-year attorneys, then partner with law schools to assess those competencies. Freed from the format and timing of a bar exam, schools can assess a broader range of…
Continue ReadingClient-Centered Legal Education and Licensing
By Deborah Jones Merritt. Full Text. Clients are central to law practice, yet they play a limited role in both legal education and licensing. This article challenges legal educators and bar examiners to become more client-centered. The article draws upon empirical data demonstrating the importance of client-related, hands-on skills in law practice, and then outlines…
Continue ReadingDethroning Langdell
By Beth Hirschfelder Wilensky. Full Text. What if we are teaching law entirely wrong? We fill our syllabi with appellate court opinions—even though very little of what most attorneys do involves reading these opinions to learn foundational legal doctrine. We cold call on students—even though most circumstances in which attorneys talk about the law bear…
Continue ReadingSecondary Courses Taught by Secondary Faculty: A (Personal) Call to Fully Integrate Skills Faculty and Skills Courses into the Law School Curriculum Ahead of the NextGen Bar Exam
By O.J. Salinas. Full Text. This Essay focuses on the disconnect between what law schools say they value and who they value. The Essay highlights how law faculty and administrators often carry a survivorship bias that may prevent them from fully acknowledging or accepting that the law school experience may be challenging and unwelcoming for…
Continue ReadingTeaching Dissents
By Sherri Lee Keene. Full Text. Judges’ perspectives and attitudes—and even their biases and assumptions—naturally find their way into legal analysis and decision-making. Yet this reality is something that the language of opinions tends to deny. Court opinions are often written to sound authoritative and sure, making legal decisions seem purely logical and channeling a…
Continue ReadingLaw Students Left Behind: Law Schools’ Role in Remedying the Devastating Effects of Federal Education Policy
By Sandra L. Simpson. Full Text. Due to the unintended consequences of misdirected federal education policy, students come to law school with underdeveloped critical thinking and cognitive adaptability skills. As the products of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and its progeny, students educated in the United States after 2002 excel at memorization and…
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