JUDICIAL ROTATION AS CENTRIPETAL FORCE: SENTENCING IN THE COURT COMMUNITIES OF SOUTH CAROLINA*

Courts as communities theory emphasizes the sentencing differences that can arise between localities within a single state. The results of published studies have highlighted how local differences emerge based on informal sociological and political processes defined by the communities perspective. The findings from recent quantitative studies from South Carolina have revealed notably less county variation in sentencing than has been observed elsewhere. I use qualitative interviews with 13 South Carolina trial judges to investigate sentencing processes and to shed light on these findings. The interviews explore the state's legal structure and culture, including the practice of circuit rotation in which judges travel among counties holding court. The results suggest rotation serves as a centripetal force of sentencing culture, homogenizing what might otherwise be a more varied collection of county‐specific norms. Rotation leads to increased uniformity through judge shopping and the cross‐pollination of ideas and norms. Defendants can strategically judge shop and plead in front of a lenient judge—a process that gives rise to the term “plea judge,” which is a label for the most lenient judges who sentence a large number of defendants. Rotation also increases the interactions among judges and prosecutors, expanding networks and grapevines, and leading to cross‐pollination and the sharing of ideas.     

Medicolegal Implications of Nosocomial Infections: A Case Report of Aspergillus Contamination during Cardiac Surgery

Nosocomial infections have become a major issue of public health and lead to an increasing number of suits for damages. We present a rare case of Aspergillus contamination during cardiac surgery, describe the medicolegal investigation, and present the new system for compensation of bodily injury after nosocomial infection in France, based on the law of March 4, 2002 on patient rights and quality in the health system. This case demonstrates the limits of compensation for nosocomial infections on the grounds of national solidarity. The expert report requested by the regional commission for conciliation and compensation is of fundamental importance in enabling the commission to decide between fault and inherent risk of treatment.     

Wrong about Rights: Public Knowledge of Key Areas of Consumer,Housing and Employment Law in England and Wales

Over many decades, processes of juridification have brought about huge growth in legal rights, responsibilities and protections, yet citizens appear to poorly understand this ‘law thick’ world. This impacts citizens’ capacity to ‘name, blame and claim’ in the legal domain at a time of retreat from public funding of civil legal services. This article examines public knowledge of rights in key areas relating to consumer, housing and employment law. Drawing on data from the 2010–2012 English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey, the article uses responses to a series of hypothetical scenarios to explore public knowledge of rights and characteristics associated with knowledge. Our findings highlight a substantial deficit in individuals’ understanding of legal rights and responsibilities – even among those for whom particular rights and responsibilities have specific bearing. We also consider what these findings mean for public legal education and the efficiency, efficacy and legitimacy of the law.     

Getting the fish to see the water: an investigation into students’ perceptions of learning writing skills in academic modules and in a final year real client legal clinic module

In 2010 Tonya Kowalski described the problems faced by students entering clinic for the first time as a one step backward, two step forward phenomenon. Students appeared initially unable to transfer skills and knowledge learned in earlier academic and other settings to clinic but once they were immersed in clinic their skills development improved rapidly. Clinic is often presented as a “bridge to practice” and delivered as the capstone to more traditional elements of an undergraduate degree. However, even with an integrated approach like that at Northumbria Law School, a seamless transition to the skills required for clinic is challenging and gives rise to a constant review of how best to prepare students. Our research focused on legal writing and used focus groups to find out how students participating in the year four clinic at Northumbria University perceived and adapted their previous experiences of writing for use in the clinical context. It identifies strategies which should be considered for integration into non-clinical modules and in the clinical module itself to facilitate this transition from academic orientated writing to practice orientated writing.     

The impact of student-generated digital flashcards on student learning of constitutional law

This article describes, evaluates and reflects upon student creation of cloud-based digital flashcards as an authentic formative and summative assessment task designed for the deep learning of constitutional law. The usefulness of digital flashcards in online legal education is explored. The undergraduate law student participants in the study responded differently to the assessment task depending upon the constitutional law topic they were assigned, the perceived relevance of constructing digital flashcards to professional practice and how they reacted to this creative task. Building digital flashcards provides a potentially powerful authentic assessment task for the study of constitutional law provided it is designed to support semester long creation, validation and sharing of digital flashcards that students perceive as professionally relevant and educationally useful. Student recommendations for designing an assessment task involving the creation of digital flashcards are evaluated.     

Law’s not hard; it’s just hard to get into: a study of alternative entry students to law school

Widening access to higher education is a challenge currently under discussion in Australia and the United Kingdom. The increasing number of alternative entry programs offered by universities has made tertiary study, including law study, more accessible. One concern with widening access to legal education is the ability of students entering law school through means other than very high academic scores to undertake a law degree successfully. Students who enter law school are generally referred to as “high achievers”, having qualified through an admission policy based on competitive rankings. The implementation of equitable access programs in some Australian universities has resulted in a number of places being made available to final year high school students who meet the eligibility criteria. Lowering the entry requirements to some courses provides opportunities for students whose circumstances have affected their ability to attain competitive ranking scores. The Principals’ Recommendation Scheme (PRS) is one of these programs. The University of Technology Sydney in New South Wales, Australia commenced the PRS in 2012. UTS:Law was one of the first Faculties to develop a strategy to support these students. The Faculty is committed to resourcing all students in their study and, as a result, is engaged in the ongoing evaluation of the academic and co-curricular programs provided to students. This paper explains the implementation of the PRS and the relevant support infrastructure available to students. It also considers the research into student retention and academic success and makes a preliminary assessment that, to date, the PRS students are succeeding in the transition from secondary education to law school, and that the existing infrastructure is accommodating the needs of these students. The PRS is an alternative entry scheme that provides a model for consideration by other law schools, committed to widening access to legal education.     

A common law fly on the transsystemic wall: observing the integrated method at McGill Faculty of Law

Law schools attempting to prepare students for a more global practice are generally advised to tailor a law curriculum to their individual resources. When offering comparative perspectives, some law school programmes have pedagogical advantages arising out of a mixed legal heritage, such as McGill Faculty of Law’s transsystemic approach. What does the transsystemic approach entail, and can aspects of the transsystemic approach, which is grounded in Québec’s bijural and bilingual context, be practised at national-focus law schools? In order to consider this question, the author observed classroom dynamics in first year transsystemic courses. The McGill experience cannot be imported, but its pedagogy offers key lessons for common law national-focus law schools, including the need to make alternative visions of law necessary for understanding.     

The legal and administrative processes in adoption: views and experiences of newly formed adoptive families

The early stages of adoptive placements are important in achieving successful long-term outcomes for adopted children and their families. This paper reports on findings from the Wales Adoption Study, in which adoptive parents shared their views and experiences of the legal and administrative processes in obtaining an adoption order. Parents described a range of difficulties that added to anxieties and delays. These arose mainly through poor communication about the steps in the legal process and avoidable administrative errors or oversights. Some parents also experienced lack of information and support regarding agreed contact arrangements and work with their child to help them make sense of their adoptive status.     

论循环经济的法制障碍与制度创新

循环经济已成为我国实现社会经济可持续发展的最佳模式选择,法律应该保障和促进循环经济的形成和发展。但是,目前我国现行法律中还存在与循环经济理念不相适应的制度,这些制度对循环经济的发展形成了障碍。在分析循环经济的内涵、本质以及阻碍循环经济发展的法制因素的基础上,提出了完善和创新循环经济法律制度的建议。