blog 7

Natural Law

Throughout one's law career Natural Law, just as Modern Law, is a very important part of the learning process. 



Natural law is a philosophy that certain rights or values are inherent by virtue of human nature and universally cognizable through human reason. Historically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze both social and personal human nature to deduce binding rules of moral behavior.
The term "natural law" is ambiguous. It refers to a type of moral theory, as well as to a type of legal theory, but the core claims of the two kinds of theory are logically independent. It does not refer to the laws of nature, the laws that science aims to describe. According to natural law moral theory, the moral standards that govern human behavior are, in some sense, objectively derived from the nature of human beings and the nature of the world. While being logically independent of natural law legal theory, the two theories intersect. (Kernermen)



(Divine Natural Law

Proponents of divine natural law contend that law must be made to conform to the commands they believe were laid down or inspired by God, or some other deity, who governs according to principles of compassion, truth, and justice. These naturalists assert that the legitimacy of any enacted human law must be measured by its consonance with divine principles of right and wrong. Such principles can be found in various Scriptures, church doctrine, papal decrees, and the decisions of ecclesiastical courts and councils. Human laws that are inconsistent with divine principles of morality, naturalists maintain,are invalid and should neither be enforced nor obeyed. St. Thomas Aquinas, a theologian and philosopher from the thirteenth century, was a leading exponent of divine natural law.) (Harper Collins)

 Two Kinds of Natural Law Theory

At the outset, it is important to distinguish two kinds of theory that go by the name of natural law. The first is a theory of morality that is roughly characterized by the following theses. First, moral propositions have what is sometimes called objective standing in the sense that such propositions are the bearers of objective truth-value; that is, moral propositions can be objectively true or false. (Kernemen)


The second thesis constituting the core of natural law moral theory is the claim that standards of morality are in some sense derived from, or entailed by, the nature of the world and the nature of human beings. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, identifies the rational nature of human beings as that which defines moral law: "the rule and measure of human acts is the reason, which is the first principle of human acts". On this common view, since human beings are by nature rational beings, it is morally appropriate that they should behave in a way that conforms to their rational nature. (Kernermen)

Morality 
principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior (ethnicity) 
But there is another kind of natural law theory having to do with the relationship of morality to law. According to natural law theory of law, there is no clean division between the notion of law and the notion of morality. Though there are different versions of natural law theory, all subscribe to the thesis that there are at least some laws that depend for their "authority" not on some pre-existing human convention, but on the logical relationship in which they stand to moral standards. Otherwise put, some norms are authoritative in virtue of their moral content, even when there is no convention that makes moral merit a criterion of legal validity. The idea that the concepts of law and morality intersect in some way is called the Overlap Thesis. (American Heritage)

Overlap Thesis 

The overlap thesis is all of the natural laws such as original natural law, historical natural law, biblical natural law, divine natural, etc combined together into one statement when figuring if someone did or did not break the law. The main thing in law student rookies is the core or the origin of where everything came from. In most of my readings I have studied the court cases and positions and everything you would think to come out of law school but there are many things such as natural law that I never nor would I have given any thought to. It is all about going back to where everything came from and getting facts- once you have solid facts, you cannot go wrong!
So study study study the origin of law and everything the law went through and how it developed over time before trying to solve any modern-day cases. 

sources:

Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

blog 6

THE DAY HAS COME THAT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR... IT IS INTERVIEW TIME!!!!!!!!!

This week I had the opportunity to interview an actual lawyer. His name is  and he just moved in right next to me. Below I will have a video/recording of the interview or if you are unable to occupy that I will have a list of the questions and answers that I asked him. 

Q/A

• How long have you been a lawyer?

• How long did it take you to become a lawyer?

• Where did you attend school?

• How many years of school did it take you to receive a law degree?

• Were all of the years in school worth it?

• What classes were mandatory?

• What classes are not mandatory but you would advise to take?

• Describe a lesson plan in the daily life of a law student.

• What was the most challenging thing about school?

• What has been your favorite part through this process?

• What has been your least favorite part through this process?

• What helped you choose with type of law to study/go into?

• What kind of law are you involved in?

• Where do you work?

• Did you ever intern anywhere?

• What was your first job (lawyer wise) 

• Explain the process from your 4 yr college to law school to getting a job to now?

• What made you want to be a lawyer?

• What has been the craziest thing you have had to deal with?

• What does it mean/take to be a good lawyer?

• Do grades or class rank matter in school? Should you worry? 

Here are some other interviews and just videos of advice about law school of other law students and lawyers... Enjoy! I will get back with you guys next week.

This video is a very broad video of a 

simple layer of advice about law school.

This video may or may not bore you or put you to sleep but if you listen closely you can really hear some of the best advice on making it through the first year of law school. The first year of law school is the most important! 

Sources-

Daily, Barbra S. "Cowgirl in the City: OCI -- Interview Questions Every Law Student Should Be Able to Answer." Cowgirl in the City: OCI -- Interview Questions Every Law Student Should Be Able to Answer. Cowgirl City, 29 Aug. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.








Veronad, Gregory. "Law Students." 15 Interview Questions for. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, 31 May 2001. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.

blog 5

On my last blog I talked a little about the core history of law. This week I felt as if I need to cover a few other things. I will also talk about today's law and what has changed and what has stayed the same. 

Putting the word "law" into words...

.

the system of rules that a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and may enforce by the imposition of penalties. (Google's definition of law)

The reason I am spitting out all of the facts to you is that throughout my research I have come to the realization that the one thing that makes studying law difficult it the amount of information. There is SO much to the law. Legal history is very important. Throughout the multiple interviews that I have watched from current law students, they always go back to the term legal history. Legal history is the first lesson that is taught in law school becuase you have to study the origin of all laws, lawyers , and why/ how they came about before you learn about today's law. The definition is scratching the surface. 

Legal History 
Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why it changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilizations and is set in the wider context of social history. (Kimper)

• Social history, often called the new social history, is a broad branch of history that studies the experiences of ordinary people in the past. (Kimper)

Modern Law 

With all of that being said and all the facts about history you can read the next step down the "important things to know ladder" is modern law. For example, what is the most recent and popular trial going on. Who is running it? If the case has been closed how did the defendant or executive win? 

Here is what a lesson would look like in a classroom when studying legal history...

COURT CASE

Fisher vs. University of Texas:

Facts of the case
Abigail Fisher, a white female, applied for admission to the University of Texas but was denied. She did not qualify for Texas' Top Ten Percent Plan, which guarantees admission to the top ten percent of every in-state graduating high school class. For the remaining spots, the university considers many factors, including race. Fisher sued the University and argued that the use of race as a consideration in the admissions process violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court held that the University’s admissions process was constitutional, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed. The case went to the Supreme Court, which held that the appellate court erred by not applying the strict scrutiny standard to the University’s admission policies. The case was remanded, and the appellate court reaffirmed the lower court’s decision by holding that the University of Texas’ use of race as a consideration in the admissions process was sufficiently narrowly tailored to the legitimate interest of promoting educational diversity and therefore satisfied strict scrutiny.

Question
Does the University of Texas’ use of race as a consideration in the admissions process violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?

This is what would be given before/after the case is closed and not only would a law student have to dig up every single law that relates to any terms of this case situation, but also related it to legal history; which in this case question it gives you a head start by telling you it is somewhere in the lines of the Fourteenth Amendment.

If you would like some practice here are some already solved cases that you can research and pick out the laws and legal history of or visit the last link I have given you down below under sources.

Enjoy!!!!!!
Americold Realty Trust v. Conagra Foods, Inc. 

Facts of the case
The plaintiffs, food distributors including Conagra Foods Inc. and Kraft Foodservice, sued Americold Logistics LLC and Americold Realty Trust (Americold) in state court for a breach of contract stemming from a dispute regarding liability for a warehouse fire. Americold sought to remove the case to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction because of the diversity of the trust’s board. No party challenged the propriety of the removal, and the district court addressed the case solely on its merits. Both parties moved for summary judgment, and the district court found in favor of the defendant.

On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Tenth Circuit raised the issue of potentially improper removal and asked the parties to submit briefs addressing the issue. The appellate court held that Americold did not meet its burden to demonstrate that diversity jurisdiction was appropriate because the inquiry must extend to the trust’s beneficiaries, not just the trustees.


Question
Is the citizenship of a trust for the purposes of diversity jurisdiction based on the diversity of the trust’s beneficiaries as well as the trustees?

Amgen, Inc. v. Harris

Facts of the case
Current and former employees of Amgen, Inc. (Amgen) and Amgen Manufacturing, Limited (AML) participated in two employer-sponsored pension plans (the Plans). The Plans included holdings in the Amgen Common Stock Fund which held only Amgen common stock. The plaintiffs were a group of employees who filed a class action suit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) against Amgen, AML, Amgen’s board of directors, and the Fiduciary Committees of the Plans when the value of the Amgen common stock fell. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties under ERISA by allowing the participants to purchase and hold Amgen stock while knowing its price was artificially inflated. The district court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss, and the plaintiffs appealed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded on the grounds that the district court did not properly apply the “presumption of prudence” as illustrated in Quan v. Computer Science Corp. The presumption of prudence explains that the fiduciary who invests assets in the employer’s stock is entitled to a presumption that they acted consistently with ERISA. The court found that even if the presumption of prudence did apply, the plaintiffs had sufficiently argued a violation of the defendant’s fiduciary duty. On remand, the district court again dismissed the action and the Court of Appeals again reversed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and vacated and remanded the case in light of its decision in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, which held that ERISA fiduciaries who administer employee stock ownership plans are not entitled to a presumption of prudence but are “subject to the same duty of prudence that applies to ERISA fiduciaries in general, except that they need not diversify the fund’s assets.” The appellate court again reversed the dismissal of the complaint on the same grounds.

Question

Did the plaintiffs in this case “plausibly allege” a breach of the duty of prudence?

DIRECTTV, Inc. v. Imburgia

Facts of the case
On September 7, 2008, Amy Imburgia filed a class action lawsuit against DIRECTV, Inc. (DIRECTV), and argued that DIRECTV had improperly charged early termination fees to its customers. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court decided AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, in which the Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act preempted California precedent that had previously held that, in certain circumstances, arbitration clauses in customer agreements were unenforceable. Less than one month after that decision, DIRECTV moved to stay or dismiss the plaintiffs’ case and compel arbitration, which DIRECTV argued it had not done previously because it thought the arbitration clause in its customer agreement was void under California precedent. The trial court denied the motion and the California Court of Appeal for the Second District affirmed by holding that the language of the customer agreement subjected the arbitration clause to state law.

Question

Did the California Court of Appeal err in holding that a reference to state law in an arbitration clause required the application of that state law despite its preemption by the Federal Arbitration Act?

Be sure to write your own conclusions on each case, lawyers can have opinion too. 

S O U R C E S 

https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015

Field, Wrigely. "{{meta.pageTitle}}." {{meta.siteName}}. IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, 4 Jan. 1980. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.

"Fisher v. University of Texas." Oyez. Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Tech, n.d. Apr 14, 2016. <https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-981>

"Americold Realty Trust v. Conagra Foods, Inc., et al.." Oyez. Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Tech, n.d. Apr 14, 2016. <https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-1382>

"Amgen, Inc. v. Harris." Oyez. Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Tech, n.d. Apr 14, 2016. <https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/15-278>

"DIRECTV, Inc. v. Imburgia." Oyez. Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Tech, n.d. Apr 14, 2016. <https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-462>

Kimper, Gina. "Lawyer." Lawyer. History of Attorney Inc., 6 July 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.