Faculty Books

Follow

• 

  Some Bore Gifts - Stories

  A.G. Harmon

  A.G. Harmon’s Some Bore Gifts is an eclectic collection of stories spanning the traditional to the satirical, with a kaleidoscope of viewpoints and characters that includes tree cutters, department store pianists, museum guides, physicians, florists, actresses, bank managers, junk salesmen, personal trainers, and English professors. Harmon is spellbinding in his depiction of the disenfranchised as of the socially poised, with vivid scenes of the quotidian as of the aberrant, the startling. This captivating book challenges and entertains from start to finish.

• 

  The War on Kids: How American Juvenile Justice Lost Its Way

  Cara H. Drinan

  In 2003, when Terrence Graham was sixteen, he and three other teens attempted to rob a barbeque restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida. Though they left with no money, and no one was seriously injured, Terrence was sentenced to die in prison for his involvement in that crime.

  As shocking as Terrence's sentence sounds, it is merely a symptom of contemporary American juvenile justice practices. In the United States, adolescents are routinely transferred out of juvenile court and into adult criminal court without any judicial oversight. Once in adult court, children can be sentenced without regard for their youth. Juveniles are housed in adult correctional facilities, they may be held in solitary confinement, and they experience the highest rates of sexual and physical assault among inmates. Until 2005, children convicted in America's courts were subject to the death penalty; today, they still may be sentenced to die in prison-no matter what efforts they make to rehabilitate themselves. America has waged a war on kids.

  In The War on Kids, Cara Drinan reveals how the United States went from being a pioneer to an international pariah in its juvenile sentencing practices. Academics and journalists have long recognized the failings of juvenile justice practices in this country and have called for change. Despite the uncertain political climate, there is hope that recent Supreme Court decisions may finally make those calls a reality. The War on Kids seizes upon this moment of judicial and political recognition that children are different in the eyes of the law. Drinan chronicles the shortcomings of juvenile justice by drawing upon social science, legal decisions, and first-hand correspondence with Terrence and others like him-individuals whose adolescent errors have cost them their lives. At the same time, The War on Kids maps out concrete steps that states can take to correct the course of American juvenile justice.

• 

  War: International Law, International Relations and Just War Theory - An Interdisciplinary Approach

  Antonio F. Perez and Robert J. Delahunty

  This book presents a distinctive approach to the study of war and its law. It provides a vehicle for students from various disciplines -- historical analysis, international relations theory, law and economics, behavioral economics and psychology, science and technology (including the study of the environment), sociology, political philosophy, moral and ethical theory, and comparative religion -- to work together in addressing the cutting edge issues presented in the modern law of war.

  Practical activity in the law of war – in governments, international governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and elsewhere -- now requires an ability to understand the language of practitioners in other disciplines who participate in the formation of new norms and their application in the law of war; and practitioners in those other disciplines who participate in the formation and application of the law of war now also need to have an understanding of the distinctive features of international law as a separate discipline. Thus, much as war itself is too important to be left to generals, the law of war is too important to be left to international lawyers alone.

  The book can be used in research seminars in international law at law schools, graduate programs in these various disciplines, and even in advanced courses at the undergraduate level, with the goal of enabling students to develop interdisciplinary fluency in discussion of the case studies ranging from the Melian Dialogue to the Nuclear Weapons Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice.

• 

  Decedents' Estates: Cases and Materials (3d ed.)

  Raymond C. O'Brien

  The third edition continues the use of fact-driven judicial decisions to illustrate transfer of wealth via non-probate transfers, Last Will and Testaments, and intestate succession. This casebook includes status developments, such as same-sex marriage and assisted reproductive technology. Unique to this edition is the discussion of self-settled asset protection trusts, trust protectors, and socially responsible investing. Recognizing the fact of the aging generations, the casebook is unique in its coverage of long-term housing payment options, federal and state entitlement programs designed for seniors, and options necessary for planning for incapacity.

• 

  Direito Comparado: Perspectivas Luso-Americanas v.III

  Marshall J. Breger and Dario Moura Vicente

  This is the fourth volume of papers drawn from three joint conferences between The Catholic University of America School of Law and the University of Lisbon Law School, held between 2009-2011. This particular volume includes papers from the following three conferences: Immigration (2009), The Financial Crisis (2010), Developments in Energy Law (2011).

• 

  Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law (4th ed.)

  Lisa G. Lerman and Philip Schrag

  Covering all of the essential issues and topics, Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law, Fourth Edition, offers straightforward exposition and a combination of principal cases and real-case problems that generate lively class discussion and encourage strategic analysis.

• 

  Inside Torts: What Matters and Why

  J.P. "Sandy" Ogilvy

  Inside Torts: What Matters and Why is a concise, clearly-written, and student-friendly guide to the principal topics covered in most first-year torts courses. It is designed to provide the fundamentals while, at the same time, identifying some of complexities of modern tort law. The goal of the book is to demystify the doctrine without oversimplifying it.

  Overviews briefly introduce the topics of each chapter. The detailed tables of contents provide a starting point for the student to begin his or her own course outline. FAQs identify common misconceptions and sort them out, and numerous Sidebars offer additional insights, study tips, and practice pointers. Chapter summaries and bolded key terms facilitate study and review by reminding students of the key concepts that are needed to perform well on examinations. “Connections” at the end of each chapter illustrate the interconnections between the topics, encouraging students to integrate their knowledge of torts.

• 

  Learning From Practice: A Text for Experiential Legal Education (3d ed.)

  Leah Wortham, Susan Brooks, Alexander Scherr, and Nancy Maurer

  The third edition of Learning From Practice covers topics relevant to law students working in real practice settings, including externships, in-house clinics, and other experiential courses. Intended for use in course seminars and tutorials, each chapter helps students succeed in their work, reflect on their development, and plan for their lives as lawyers. The book starts with topics common to all real world experience: planning to meet goals, working under supervision, observing carefully, communicating effectively, understanding bias and cultural difference, and reflection. The book offers detailed coverage of ethical issues in experiential coursework including a new chapter on professionalism. A group of chapters address key lawyering abilities such as good judgment, client relationships, collaboration, writing for practice, and making presentations. This edition expands coverage of important practice areas including judicial, criminal justice, public interest, public service, and transactional practices. The closing chapters turn to the future and focus on developing professional identity, maintaining well-being, finding a job and career, and the future of the profession. Throughout, the book encourages students toward self-direction, reflection, dialogue and collaboration, critical assessment of law practice, and well-being and career satisfaction.

• 

  Religion and the Constitution (4th ed.)

  John H. Garvey, Michael W. McConnell, and Thomas C. Berg

  Religion and the Constitution, Fourth Edition, written by a team of well-known Constitutional Law scholars, thoughtfully examines the relationship between government and religion within the framework of the U.S. Constitution. This classroom-tested casebook is suitable for courses in Religious Liberty, Religion and the Constitution, or Religious Institutions and the Law.

• 

  The History of Courts and Procedure in Medieval Canon Law

  Kenneth Pennington and Wilfried Hartmann

  Understanding the rules of procedure and the practices of medieval and early modern courts is of great importance for historians of every stripe. The authors and editors of this volume present readers with a description of court procedure, the sources for investigating the work of the courts, the jurisprudence and the norms that regulated the courts, as well as a survey of the variety of courts that populated the European landscape. Not least, the authors wish to show the relationship between the jurisprudence that governed judicial procedure and what happened in the court room.
  
  By the end of the thirteenth century, court procedure in continental Europe in secular and ecclesiastical courts shared many characteristics. As the academic jurists of the Ius commune began to excavate the norms of procedure from Justinian's great codification of law and then to expound them in the classroom and in their writings, they shaped the structure of ecclesiastical courts and secular courts as well. These essays also illuminate striking differences in the sources that we find in different parts of Europe. In northern Europe the archives are rich but do not always provide the details we need to understand a particular case. In Italy and Southern France the documentation is more detailed than in other parts of Europe but here too the historical records do not answer every question we might pose to them. In Spain, detailed documentation is strangely lacking, if not altogether absent. Iberian conciliar canons and tracts on procedure tell us much about practice in Spanish courts. As these essays demonstrate, scholars who want to peer into the medieval courtroom, must also read letters, papal decretals, chronicles, conciliar canons, and consilia to provide a nuanced and complete picture of what happened in medieval trials. This volume will give sophisticated guidance to all readers with an interest in European law and courts