Clinical Law Prof Blog

May 2009 CLEA Newsletter

The May 2009 Clinical Legal Education Association Newsletter is available online. -jl 

Introduction to U.S. Tax Court Video Now Available Online

A training video produced by the United States Tax Court is now available for viewing online. The video is an excellent resource for pro se petitioners, as well as tax clinic students. Copies of the DVD may also be ordered directly from the Tax Court.  Chief Special Trial Judge Peter J. Panuthos has stated "the video production was intended to explain to petitioners, through discussion and vignettes, how to file a petition, calendar calls, and the trial of an S case." (242 DTR K-1, 12/17/08) The video chapter list follows:

Welcome & Overview

Part One: Understanding the Process

Part Two: Introduction to the United States Tax Court

Part Three: Filing the Petition

Part Four: Pretrial Matters

Part Five: Calendar Call and Trial

Part Six: Post Trial Proceedings

Part Seven: Conclusion and Review

-jl

BENEFIT CONCERT FOR JUVENILE LAW CENTER

A benefit concert will be held on Monday, June 15, 2009, 7:30 p.m. at Carnegie Hall. Tickets are on sale now at the Carnegie Hall Box Office. Performers (to date) include: Alan Alda; David Amram; Beyond the Pale; Artie Butler; Patricia Conolly; Arlo Guthrie; Judy Kaye; David Krakauer; Serendipity 4:Theodore Bikel, Tamara Brooks, Merina Kljuco, Shura Lipovsky; Hankus Netsky, Tom Paxton; Noel Paul Stookey & Peter Yarrow; Susan Werner; Michael Wex 

Honorary Committee Co Chairs: Barbara Cook; Frank Langella; Pete Seeger; John C. Whitehead; Elie Wiesel.   

All proceeds will support the Juvenile Law Center, a national 501(c)(3) charitable public interest law firm that advocates for youth in the child welfare (foster care) and juvenile justice systems. Juvenile Law Center has recently been featured by ABC News 20/20, The New York Times, and People Magazine for representing youth in the Luzerne County, PA “kids for cash” judges scandal, a juvenile court corruption case being addressed as one of the most egregious violations of children’s rights in U.S. legal history.

-jl

Washington-St. Louis: Peter Joy Named New Vice Dean

Dean Kent Syverud has announced several law school administrative changes for 2009-10:

On January 1, 2010, Peter Joy, professor of law and former director of the Trial and Advocacy Program, will become the new Vice Dean. Joy has been a leader nationally in addressing curriculum development in legal education, including serving as a member of the Accreditation Committee of the ABA’s Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, former Chair of the Clinical Section of the Association of American Law Schools, and past President of the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA). Joy also has served as director of the law school’s Criminal Justice Clinic and is well known for his teaching and scholarship in clinical legal education, legal ethics, and trial practice.

“Peter is extraordinarily well positioned by accomplishments, training, talent, and temperament to help lead our school through the challenges ahead,” Syverud said. “In light of dramatic current changes in the practice of law, his background in curriculum development will be a major asset as we focus on this area in the coming year.” 

-jl

Cunningham-Parmeter: Redefining the Rights of Undocumented Workers

Keith Cunningham-Parmeter (Willamette) has just posted Redefining the Rights of Undocumented Workers, American University Law Review, Forthcoming. Here is the abstract: 

Should a nation extend legal rights to those who enter the country illegally? The Supreme Court recently addressed this question when it held that unauthorized immigrants who are fired illegally for unionizing cannot recover monetary remedies. This has led to a significant decline in employment protections for unauthorized immigrants beyond the unionized sector. For example, some courts now question whether unauthorized immigrants can receive full remedies for sexual harassment, workplace discrimination, or on-the-job injuries. 

Scholars have criticized these losses but have yet to formulate a coherent framework for evaluating the employment rights of unauthorized immigrants. This article does so by distilling and applying several core principles at issue when employment laws conflict with immigration laws. I begin by explaining how the text and purpose of selected immigration and employment statutes show that Congress never intended to restrict unauthorized immigrants’ employment rights. Remedial restrictions not only harm the workplace protections at issue, they fail to discourage illegal immigration. Thus, neither legislative intent nor national immigration goals justify limiting the workplace remedies available to unauthorized immigrants. 

Although the future rights of unauthorized workers will turn partly on the issues of statutory purpose and immigration policy discussed in the early sections of the article, equally important are the consequences of diminished rights. Accordingly, I conclude the article by explaining why restricting workplace protections based on status harms citizens as well as immigrants. I contend that employment protections are “rights of partial inclusion” that reflect a distinctive sphere - the workplace - where unauthorized immigrants should be placed on par with citizens in pursuing collective interests. In contrast to arguments that favor limiting resources to lawful residents, partial inclusion explains how employment protections can effectively preserve national identity while simultaneously enhancing unauthorized immigrants’ incentives for social investment. In doing so, partial inclusion furthers the community’s self-definition, while providing unauthorized immigrants with a sense of belonging in a world increasingly focused on their exclusion. -jl

Northwestern Law - Empirical Legal Scholarship Workshop

The upcoming Conducting Empirical Legal Scholarship Workshop presented by Northwestern University School of Law and Washington University School of Law, will take place May 20-22, 2009, at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago. The workshop is for law school faculty interested in learning about empirical research.  Leading empirical scholars, Lee Epstein, and Andrew D. Martin will teach the workshop, which provides the formal training necessary to design, conduct, and assess empirical studies, and to use statistical software (Stata) to analyze and manage data. Participants need no background or knowledge of statistics to enroll in the workshop.  Click here for more detailed information including the schedule.  Payment is available via check or credit card.  Note: The registration deadline has been extended to May 13, 2009.  -jl