Mr. Justice Brandeis and the Creation of the Federal Register

The creation of the Federal Register in 1935 was crucial in enhancing transparency in American national government and its accountability under law. This historic action during the troubled New Deal era established a core institutional framework that endures as the nation begins a new century and as public administration struggles with an era of new institutionalism. Drawing on archival records and interviews, this article examines the political, administrative, and legal factors that led to the Register's creation. In particular, it sheds light on the little known but pivotal role played by Justice Brandeis in an extrajudicial capacity in this process. Brandeis's actions derive, in part, from his lifelong concern for fostering government openness and ensuring accountability under law from government bureaucracy. Without his intervention, it is unlikely the Federal Register Act would have been enacted at the time and in its important institutional form.     

THE INTRACTABLE CLIENT

Every lawyer either has heard of or has been involved in a divorce case that initially seemed manageable and resolvable only to find that it develops into a nightmarish drama. The parties involved in such cases are often those who have a personality disorder. A personality disorder is a clinical term used to describe people who are "locked in" for many years, with certain exaggerated personality traits that interfere with many aspects of their daily functioning. It is exceptionally difficult to achieve client control when working with a client with a personality disorder. This article will describe nine personality disorders, how to identify them, and how to work with them.     

A Developmental Perspective on Young Adult Romantic Relationships: Examining Family and Individual Factors in Adolescence

The ability to develop and maintain healthy romantic relationships is a key developmental task in young adulthood. The present study investigated how adolescent interpersonal skills (assertiveness, positive engagement) and family processes (family climate, parenting practices) influence the development of young adult romantic relationship functioning. We evaluated cross-lag structural equation models with a sample of 974 early adolescents living in rural and semi-rural communities in Pennsylvania and Iowa, starting in sixth grade (mean age?=?12.4, 62.1% female) and followed into young adulthood (mean age?=?19.5). Findings revealed that adolescents who had experienced a more positive family climate and more competent parenting reported more effective problem-solving skills and less violent behavior in their young adult romantic relationships. Adolescent assertiveness was consistently positively associated with relationship problem-solving skills, and adolescents’ positive engagement with their family was associated with feeling more love in young adult romantic relationships. In addition, family functioning and adolescent interpersonal skills exhibited some reciprocal relations over the adolescent years. In summary, family processes and interpersonal skills are mutually influenced by each other across adolescence, and both have unique predictive implications to specific facets of young adult romantic relationship functioning.     

The Professional Model of Law vs. The Business Model of Law: A Critical View of Opposing Trends in the United States of America and the People��s Republic of China

This study begins by reflecting on the literature characterizing the nature and function of a profession qua profession. It continues by arguing that based upon commonly used indicia of a profession that the practice of law in the US is de-professionalizing in significant ways and morphing towards a functioning business model. The related advantages of such a development for American society, its lawyers and their clients, including especially criminal defendants are critically discussed. It then traces the emergence and ascendancy of the rule of law in China and corresponding quest to institutionalize the practice of law in China as a profession. The study concludes by exploring the alternative advantages of applying the business model to Chinese legal practice. It recommends that embracing a paradigm shift away from the professional model towards a business model, comparable to what is happening in the US, would be to the greater advantage of Chinese lawyers in terms of enhanced authority, increased self-regulation, as well as providing greater leverage in advocating client interests.     

Overlooking the merits of the individual case: an unpromising approach to the right to die

Abstract .
One of the strongest arguments against the legalization of voluntary euthanasia is that even though a given suffering or comatose patient may have a moral right to die, legal recognition of the right would lead inevitably to mistakes and abuses in other cases. The flaw in this argument is the assumption that it is always and necessarily a greater evil to let someone die by mistake than to keep a person alive by mistake. In fact, we cannot plausibly say that one of these two kinds of mistake is in itself, isolated from other factors, always more serious than the other. This point is illustrated by an examination both of a terminal patient whose prospect is a full year of intolerable pain (Matthew Donnelly) and of a patient in a "persistent vegetative state" (Nancy Cruzan). Moreover, it is untrue that legalization would necessarily lead to greater numbers of mistakenly approved discontinuances of treatment than of mistakenly approved refusals of termination, and numbers, it is argued, do matter.