The National Law Journal

July 28, 2008 | National Law Journal

As almost all, if not all, law school deans now take for granted, the U.S. News & World Report law school ranking methodology is susceptible to manipulation and remarkably poor as a measure of a school's quality of education and contribution to the healthy development of the law. Gary Simson, dean of Case Western Reserve University School of Law, proposes that law school faculties and administrations everywhere finally say "enough" and stop participating in a ranking system that has done substantial harm and little, if any, good to legal education in the United States.

By Gary J. Simson / Special to The National Law Journal

5 minute read

May 24, 2004 | National Law Journal

Deciding whether to do restated financials is only the first step in a very delicate road that should include a good deal of strategizing about the entire process before anyone puts pen to paper.

By James Barratt Special to The National Law Journal

11 minute read

February 14, 2005 | National Law Journal

Thou shall not . . . commit a social science, the poet W.H. Auden once advised, and many lawyers and judges seem to share that view. Particularly in fields that are not technically complex or removed from common experience, the legal system often ambles along, oblivious to what researchers show about its misguided assumptions and prescriptions.

By Deborah L. Rhode Special to The National Law Journal

5 minute read

August 18, 2003 | National Law Journal

As the Supreme Court cuts back on the rights of criminal defendants, some state courts have stepped in to pick up the slack. In two key areas-Miranda rights and Eighth Amendment challenges to sentences-state courts have come forward to afford defendants relief, even though not required to do so by recent Supreme Court precedent.

By Laurie L. LevensonSpecial to The National Law Journal

9 minute read

May 12, 2008 | National Law Journal

The Visual Artists Rights Act was created to give artists "moral rights" to the art they produce, but its applications remain contested and unclear. One of the greatest uncertainties is whether the statute offers protection for works-in-progress. Protection was denied in a case last year involving a Swiss artist's exhibit at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, an outcome that remains controversial.

By Kelly Lynn Anders / Special to The National Law Journal

8 minute read

August 02, 2004 | National Law Journal

Out-going ABA president Dennis Archer looks back over a year in which the ABA celebrated the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, and he assesses the progress in the arena of civil rights, as well as criminal justice issues and other areas of interest during his tenure this year.

By Dennis W. Archer Special to The National Law Journal

6 minute read

December 10, 2007 | National Law Journal

Although bullet lead analysis, now discontinued as scientifically invalid, was a fairly rare technique, its story reveals important lessons about forensic science. Forensic scientists and reformers alike have spent more time thinking about whether "the science" is valid than about whether the testimony is valid. But, as the bullet lead saga demonstrates, even valid science is useless if it can't produce valid testimony. It's time to start thinking more about what forensic experts actually say to jurors.

By Simon A. Cole / Special to The National Law Journal

5 minute read

August 02, 2006 | National Law Journal

With the recent turnover in its personnel, it is increasingly clear that Justice Anthony M. Kennedy now occupies the enviable position of being the one swing vote on the U.S. Supreme Court.

By Richard A. Epstein/Special to The National Law Journal

5 minute read

June 18, 2007 | National Law Journal

Unless measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are centralized and carefully conceived, the result could have disastrous economic consequences. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA takes us a step closer to achieving the kind of positive federal initiative that is required to confront this global threat.

By Brit T. Brown and Benjamin A. Escobar Jr./Special to The National Law Journal

5 minute read

December 04, 2006 | National Law Journal

But even while some patent owners like NTP struggle to shake off their "patent troll" label, automakers, their suppliers and others in the clean-energy business are amassing their patent arsenals.

By Robert W. Fieseler/Special to The National Law Journal

10 minute read