Conflict of laws is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad topics: jurisdiction, rules regarding when it is appropriate for a court to hear such a case; foreign judgments, dealing with the rules by which a court in one jurisdiction mandates compliance with a ruling of a court in another jurisdiction; and choice of law, which addresses the question of which substantive laws will be applied in such a case. These issues can arise in any private-law context, but they are especially prevalent in contract law and tort law.
A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable by the state. While criminal law aims to punish individuals who commit crimes, tort law aims to compensate individuals who suffer harm as a result of the actions of others. Some wrongful acts, such as assault and battery, can result in both a civil lawsuit and a criminal prosecution in countries where the civil and criminal legal systems are separate. Tort law may also be contrasted with contract law, which provides civil remedies after breach of a duty that arises from a contract. Obligations in both tort and criminal law are more fundamental and are imposed regardless of whether the parties have a contract.
Kenneth Roy Feinberg is an American attorney specializing in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. He served as the Chief of Staff to Senator Ted Kennedy, Special Master of the U.S. government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation. Additionally, Feinberg served as the government-appointed administrator of the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Victim Compensation Fund. Feinberg was also appointed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to administer the One Fund—the victim assistance fund established in the wake of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. Feinberg was also retained by General Motors to assist in their recall response and by Volkswagen to oversee their U.S. compensation of VW diesel owners affected by the Volkswagen emissions scandal. Feinberg was hired by The Boeing Company in July 2019, to oversee distribution of $50 million to support 737 MAX crash victim families. Feinberg is also an adjunct professor at the Columbia University School of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, New York University School of Law, the University of Virginia School of Law and at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
The Erie doctrine is a fundamental legal doctrine of civil procedure in the United States which mandates that a federal court called upon to resolve a dispute not directly implicating a federal question must apply state substantive law.
The Michigan Law Review is an American law review and the flagship law journal of the University of Michigan Law School.
Lester Brickman is an emeritus professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of the Yeshiva University and a legal scholar. He is one of the founding faculty members of the Cardozo, recruited by Yeshiva University in 1976 from the University of Toledo College of Law. On May 31, 2016, Professor Brickman received the Monrad Paulsen Award of the Cardozo School, upon his retirement from teaching. He taught contracts, legal ethics and Land Use and Zoning at the Cardozo School of Law. He is the author of a book, Lawyer Barons: What Their Contingency Fees Really Cost America, a detailed critique of perceived abuses and excessive costs of the American tort system, with proposals for reform. Brickman is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. He holds a juris doctor degree from the University of Florida and an LLM degree from Yale Law School.
Tort reform consists of changes in the civil justice system in common law countries that aim to reduce the ability of plaintiffs to bring tort litigation or to reduce damages they can receive. Such changes are generally justified under the grounds that litigation is an inefficient means to compensate plaintiffs; that tort law permits frivolous or otherwise undesirable litigation to crowd the court system; or that the fear of litigation can serve to curtail innovation, raise the cost of consumer goods or insurance premiums for suppliers of services, and increase legal costs for businesses. Tort reform has primarily been prominent in common law jurisdictions, where criticism of judge-made rules regarding tort actions manifests in calls for statutory reform by the legislature.
The Texas Law Review is a student-edited and -produced law review affiliated with the University of Texas School of Law (Austin). The Review publishes seven issues per year, six of which include articles, book reviews, essays, commentaries, and notes. The seventh issue is traditionally its symposium issue, which is dedicated to articles on a particular topic. The Review also publishes the Texas Law Review Manual on Usage & Style and the Texas Rules of Form: The Greenbook, both currently in their fourteenth editions. The Texas Law Review is wholly owned by a parent corporation, the Texas Law Review Association, rather than by the school.
The University of Oregon School of Law is a public law school in the U.S. state of Oregon. Housed in the Knight Law Center, it is Oregon's only state funded law school. The school, founded in 1884, is located on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, on the corner of 15th and Agate streets, overlooking Hayward Field.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), or external dispute resolution (EDR), typically denotes a wide range of dispute resolution processes and techniques that parties can use to settle disputes with the help of a third party. They are used for disagreeing parties who cannot come to an agreement short of litigation. However, ADR is also increasingly being adopted as a tool to help settle disputes within the court system.
Bragg v. Linden Research, Inc., 487 F. Supp. 2d 593, was a ruling at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The case resulted in an important early ruling on the enforceability of an online End User License Agreement (EULA) under American contract law, though it did not ultimately gain influence as a precedent. The ruling also clarified the matter of personal jurisdiction for a dispute involving a user of a website that originates in a different region.
The Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) is a 30,000-member section of the American Bar Association. It is a forum that unites plaintiff, defense, insurance, and corporate counsel. It aims to advance the civil justice system. The section is broken down into general committees, standing committees and task forces.
Hastings International and Comparative Law Review (HICLR) is one of the oldest international law journals in the United States, and was established in 1976. It is published by law students through the O'Brien Center for Scholarly Publication, the publishing foundation for UC Hastings. HICLR publishes articles on the topics of international, comparative, and foreign law. It also publishes student-written work on recent developments in international law. The current Editor-in-Chief is Jacklin Lee.
The Urban Lawyer is a quarterly peer-reviewed law journal and the official publication of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of State and Local Government Law. Published in cooperation with the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law, The Urban Lawyer has the largest circulation of any government law journal in the world.
The Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation is a student-run law review published at University of Oregon School of Law. The journal publishes articles and essays about environmental law, natural resources law, and litigation relating to these fields.
The Columbia Journal of Environmental Law is a student-run law review published at Columbia University's School of Law. The journal primarily publishes articles, notes, and book reviews discussing environmental law and policy and related subjects.
The New York University Environmental Law Journal is a student-run law review published at the New York University School of Law. The journal primarily publishes articles and notes that discuss topics involving environmental law, land-use law, and other related disciplines.
The Notre Dame Law Review is a law review published by an organization of students at the University of Notre Dame Law School in Indiana.
Strategic litigation, also known as impact litigation, is the practice of bringing lawsuits intended to effect societal change. Impact litigation cases may be class action lawsuits or individual claims with broader significance, and may rely on statutory law arguments or on constitutional claims. Such litigation has been widely and successfully used to influence public policy, especially by left-leaning groups, and often attracts significant media attention. One prominent instance of this practice is Brown v. Board of Education.
The University of Chicago Legal Forum is a student-edited journal published by the University of Chicago Law School. It focuses on a single, highly relevant, legal issue every year, presenting an authoritative and timely approach to a particular topic. To facilitate discussion, the Legal Forum hosts a symposium each fall and the participants contribute articles for the volume.
