Risk-Taking,Recklessness and HIV Transmission: Accommodating the Reality of Sexual Transmission of HIV Within a Justifiable Approach to Criminal Liability

This paper examines the issue of justifiability of risk-taking with regard to the transmission of HIV. It considers a number of factors, such as seriousness of risk, likelihood of risk occurring, social utility of conduct involved, ability to use precautions and victim awareness of the risk and willingness to accept it, which combined help to determine whether the taking of a risk is reasonable or not. It argues that by considering the issue of justifiability in this way, it is possible to accommodate the wider social, psychological and public health realities of HIV. It further argues that a criminal law which fails to take account of such considerations is not only overly broad in its application but ultimately risks punishing those who are not in fact deserving of punishment. I would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier draft.     

Separating Sense from Nonsense in the US Debate on the Financial Meltdown

The US debate on the causes of the financial meltdown and the policies appropriate for its resolution have a different center of gravity to that prevalent in Western Europe. Free-market solutions continue to be canvassed by conservative and libertarian politicians and political commentators with an intensity that is rarely found elsewhere, reflecting the extent to which a significant minority of American voters and policy makers remain wedded to a principled anti-statism. This article surveys those views, and the rebuttals to them now coming from more center-left elements of the US political class. It argues for the superiority of the latter, while noting that one serious adverse consequence of this positioning of the US debate is its capacity to distract attention from important underlying structural causes of the housing crisis and associated credit crunch.     

Spanish Language Training for Law Enforcement Officers: Study Aid Use,Motivation, and Need to Use Correlate with Vocabulary Retention

Job-related Spanish courses are available across the country for a variety of professions. Blandino and Rivardo (Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology 21(2):68–82, 2006) assessed the effectiveness of the Officer Safety and Communication Spanish Level I (OSCSLI) (Alentado 1995) course for law enforcement officers, but did not have data beyond 6-months post course and were unable to fully assess potential benefits of study aid use. In a follow-up study, 200 law enforcement officers completed a questionnaire and quiz up to 10 years following course completion. Those who used study aids had higher quiz scores than those who did not. Multiple regression analyses indicated that past need to use Spanish and motivation to learn Spanish were significant predictors of quiz performance, further supporting long term course effectiveness.     

Hiring Teams,Firms, and Lawyers: Evidence of the Evolving Relationships in the Corporate Legal Market

How are relationships between corporate clients and law firms evolving? Drawing on interview and survey data from 166 chief legal officers of S&P 500 companies from 2006–2007, we find that—contrary to standard depictions of corporate client‐provider relationships—(1) large companies have relationships with ten to twenty preferred providers; (2) these relationships continue to be enduring; and (3) clients focus not only on law firm platforms and lead partners, but also on teams and departments within preferred providers, allocating work to these subunits at rival firms over time and following “star” lawyers, especially if they move as part of a team. The combination of long‐term relationships and subunit rivalry provides law firms with steady work flows and allows companies to keep cost pressure on firms while preserving relationship‐specific capital, quality assurance, and soft forms of legal capacity insurance. Our findings have implications for law firms, corporate departments, and law schools.