Volume 47, Issue 2

As COVID-19 dominates the news, the opioid crisis rages on unabated. The governmental response has been largely incoherent, as a wide-ranging host of criminal and civil initiatives pepper the national landscape. This Article discusses the current state of play in addressing the opioid epidemic, identifying the pros and cons of each approach, and concluding with…

“‘If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.’ Unless you’re losing your children, or your home, or your healthcare . . . .”– National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel In dealing with issues of parental representation, states must contend with the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Lassiter v.…

“‘If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.’ Unless you’re losing your children, or your home, or your healthcare . . . .”– National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel Let the case of the slaves be considered, as it is in truth, a peculiar one. Let the compromising expedient…

Social media has opened a whole new world of opportunity for government officials to communicate with citizens and receive feedback in a timely and cost-effective manner. Gone are the days where local officials personally connected with constituents only through pounding the pavement, running county fair booths, and hosting town hall meetings. When and how they…

“The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins” is an axiom not always, but often attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes. Whichever learned individual penned it, the quotation exemplifies the omnipresent and judicially confounding tension between “freedom of” and “freedom from” speech and expression. In reviewing In re Welfare of A.J.B.,…

The involvement of the law in the family is generally considered inevitable and desirable. The family is often depicted as the locus of important and delicate problems, which demand legal intervention through designated tools commonly referred to as “family law.” This Paper questions the veracity of this depiction with regards to the paradigmatic family dispute—divorce.…

Americans have dueling and irreconcilable expectations of the healthcare industry. On the one hand, they believe that access to healthcare should be an affordable and accessible entitlement—their privilege as American citizens. On the other hand, when Americans seek treatment, they expect it to be flawless—they demand the best physicians and the best care centers. However,…

In North America, Indigenous peoples have lived, governed, stewarded, and spiritually connected to places, territories, and homelands since time immemorial. With European invasion in the Western Hemisphere, genocide was perpetrated along the east coast of the continent and spread to other areas. Turtle Island, as it is lovingly called by Indigenous peoples, was given to…

The COVID-19 pandemic requires lawyers to address a myriad of unique problems—and highlights the need for lawyers to engage as creative problem solvers. Lawyers must determine how best to deliver legal services while contending with travel restrictions, social distancing, stay-in-place measures, and business and court closures. Furthermore, questions arise as to how to tackle the access to…

For decades, advocates, scholars, and practitioners have called on states to ensure quality legal representation for children in dependency, abuse and neglect, and termination of parental rights proceedings. In 1996, the American Bar Association declared, “All children subject to court proceedings involving allegations of child abuse and neglect should have legal representation as long as…

In January 2019, pop culture icon Jay-Z brought attention to a critical issue that has existed for decades but has rarely been addressed—that is, the lack of diverse arbitrators and the effect this has on fundamental fairness. While Jay-Z was not the first to speak up about this issue, his powerful voice was perhaps heard…

The Minnesota Supreme Court recently held in State v. Lopez-Ramos that an interpreter’s translation of a defendant’s foreign language statements during a police interrogation did not implicate the Confrontation Clause. The Lopez-Ramos court applied the language conduit theory to determine an interpreter’s translated statements were attributable to the defendant. Finally, the court concluded that because…

In Capistrant v. Lifetouch National School Studios, Inc., the Minnesota Supreme Court adopted section 229 of the Restatement (Second) of Contracts (“Restatement Section 229”) to resolve an employment contract conflict that was contrary to Minnesota’s reluctance to enforce forfeitures. In its niche opinion, the majority credits Minnesota’s disfavor of forfeitures but refuses to resolve the…