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Arizona State Law Journal is previewing its upcoming articles in the spring publication.  This article is written by third-year student, Rob Gordon. This article proposes a series of amendments to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) (9 U.S.C. §§ 1-16) to increase consumer protection. The article is drafted, in part, to address abuses designed to exploit loopholes in the FAA.  These abuses were spotlighted by the Minnesota Attorney General in a lawsuit against the National Arbitration Forum (NAF), formerly, the nation’s largest consumer arbitration firm. The Minnesota lawsuit alleged that the NAF partnered with consumer debt firms to perpetuate a “rigged-game” against the American consumer. Allegedly, the NAF colluded with the debt-collection industry by accepting a massive capital infusion, paying commissions to business leaders to include mandatory arbitration agreements in consumer contracts,…

Arizona State Law Journal is previewing its upcoming articles in the spring publication.  This article is written by third-year student, Sara Cummings. In the summer of 2009, a crime of sexual violence took place in Phoenix that sent shock waves into the local community. Tragically enough, the victim was an eight year old girl, but the assailants who raped her were also alarmingly young: four boys ranging in age from nine to fourteen. The crime raised implications far beyond Phoenix. Both the victim and her attackers were refugees from Liberia, a country with a troubled history marked by violent atrocities, including fourteen years of recent civil war in which rape and sexual violence were used by factions on all sides as tools for terror and control. Whatever may have motivated the…

Friday, February 18, Judge Hawkins and a panel of his former and current clerks will discuss the clerkship experience. The event will begin at 12:15pm in room 105. Career Services will provide clerkship application information. The Judge and panelists will take questions from students. Thursday, March 10, the MCBA Diversity Committee is hosting a panel on the importance of Journal experience. The event will begin at 12:15pm in room 105. The MCBA panelists will take questions from students. Lunch provided by Quarles and Brady. Thursday, March 24, the Arizona State Law Journal is hosting an open house. Interested in learning more about Law Journal? Come visit the Law Journal office and meet with current members. The open house will begin at 12:15pm. Lunch provided. Thursday, April 7, the Arizona State…

Arizona State Law Journal is previewing its upcoming articles in the spring publication.  This article is written by third-year student, Melissa Bogden. Fixing Fixation: The Ram Copy Doctrine explores what it means for a copy to be sufficiently “fixed” to a constitute a “copy” within the meaning of the Copyright Act in the Digital Age.  Particularly, are temporary copies created in RAMalways sufficiently fixed to constitute infringing copies under the Copyright Act?  This Comment questions how courts, administrative agencies, and scholars have interpreted the Ram Copy Doctrine over the last two decades to reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of early Supreme Court precedent.  Drawing on recent court decisions from the Fourth Circuit and Second Circuit Courts of Appeals, this Comment reinterprets the Ram Copy Doctrine and crafts a standard that balances the need for protection…

The Annual Shoen Lecture Series, published in the current Journal Winter Issue, features articles written by our first two Shoen Lecture Speakers. Our third annual Shoen Speaker, New York University's Professor Jeremy Waldron  will publish his article along with commentary from scholars around the country in our Winter 2011-2012 Issue. Scholarly discourse, at its best, is always about dialogue. If we think of any great discovery, from scientific breakthroughs to voyages to new lands, to emerging ideas of law and governance, those innovations have always arisen through sustained efforts of multiple people over multiple years and sometimes even generations. Indeed, I believe it is safe to say that no great idea is ever the product of one mind alone. We all stand on the shoulders of giants. As Victor Hugo so eloquently wrote in describing…

Arizona State Law Journal is previewing its upcoming articles in the winter publication.  This article is written by third-year student, Natalya Ter-Grigoryan. Since 2007, Arizona has been among four states experiencing the highest foreclosure rates in the nation.  This proliferation in residential foreclosures is reflected in the increased volume of litigation involving homeowners who contest foreclosure actions in an effort to retain their homes. Relying on section 3309 of Arizona’s Uniform Commercial Code, homeowners assert that the party attempting to enforce a secured mortgage loan agreement must produce the original promissory note in order to initiate a foreclosure.  Such cases highlight a problematic provision in section 3309, which governs enforcement of lost, destroyed or stolen negotiable instruments.  The statute can be interpreted to require a holder pursuant to section 3301…

Arizona State Law Journal is previewing its upcoming articles in the winter publication.  This article is written by third-year student, Dan Orenstein. For decades, the theory of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) has been an accepted scientific reality – one many Americans first became aware of in the late 1990s during the highly publicized trial of British au pair Louise Woodward. SBS is the diagnosed etiology for perhaps thousands of injuries or deaths each year in the United States, and it remains the basis for hundreds of criminal convictions annually.  According to the theory, shaking an infant produces a unique and readily identifiable pattern of symptoms from which the cause, time, and non-accidental nature of injury can all be extracted. This theory has been the sole basis for many criminal trials…

  January 13th & 14th Air quality, climate change, and sustainability present major challenges to the future of Arizona.  This conference will feature leading experts proposing practical solutions to the evolving legal, scientific and policy dimensions of the air quality, climate change and sustainability problems facing Arizona. Register by clicking here. ASU faculty and students, $10; public and non-profit attorneys, $50; non-governmental attorneys, $100.

By: Patrick S. Cunningham (Mr. Cunningham's full article is available in the Journal's Summer 2010 issue.) In less than one week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the ever-present issue in American political and legal circles, federalism.  In Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting the Court will decide whether the Legal Arizona Worker’ Act (“LAWA”), a law that allows Arizona to revoke the business licenses of companies that hire undocumented workers, is preempted by federal immigration law.  With the surge of support for State’s rights as demonstrated by the mid-term election success of the Tea Party, combined with Arizona’s newest controversial immigration bill, SB 1070, and the flurry of spin-off legislation, this decision is bound to create a huge impact.  It will likely establish a discernible cairn for legislatures to…