St. John's University Law Faculty Blog

Professor Robin Boyle published her first book:  Becoming a Legal Writer: A Workbook with Explanations to Develop Objective Legal Analysis  and Writing Skills (Carolina Academic Press 2019).  She co-authored the workbook with Professors Christine Coughlin (Wake Forest) and Sandy Patrick (Lewis & Clark).

The workbook is designed to help students develop two essential lawyering skills: objective analysis and writing.  Providing ample foundation in every chapter followed by exercises, the workbook aims to complement any legal writing book or to serve as a stand-alone text in settings of academic support or pre-law instruction.  Specifically, it helps students master lawyerly skills such as:  formulating questions to ask clients upon intake, exploring research strategies into systems of law, developing critical reading skills, organizing and applying the law into objective written analysis, and polishing their writing.

Professor Mark Movsesian’s published an essay on Christianity and religious freedom, Tertullian and the Rise of Religious Freedom, in the August 2019 edition of The University Bookman.

Mark Movsesian

The essay is a review of Robert Louis Wilken’s new book, Liberty in the Things of God. Movsesian argues that religious freedom, as it has developed in the West, is consistent with some Christian ideas about church-and-state, but not all.

Last week, Professor Eva Subotnik presented her paper, The Fine Art of Rummaging: Successors and the Life Cycle of Copyright, at the annual IP Scholars Conference (IPSC), hosted this year by DePaul College of Law.

The paper will be published as a chapter in The Research Handbook on Art and Law (Jani McCutcheon & Fiona McGaughey eds., Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, forthcoming 2019). Here is the abstract:

This chapter argues that a possible justification for the extension of copyright beyond the death of the author is the key role that copyright successors may serve in the life cycle of artistic works. In particular, with respect to an artist’s unpublished work, a time-sensitive decision must be made about whether or not to keep the physical artifacts associated with copyrights—an obligation that often falls to these successors. Bulky canvases, sketches, negatives, and myriad other items must be sifted through in order to separate the wheat from the chaff. In this way, the post-death cleanup period offers a once-in-a-lifetime event in which copyright successors can serve a socially valuable function.

Professor Lazaro authored an op-ed which discussed the shortcomings in the SEC’s recently adopted Regulation Best Interest, as well as the states’ interests in adopting regulations governing broker-dealer standards of conduct.  The op-ed, “Reg BI isn’t the cure we needed,” was published in Financial Planning.

The following is an excerpt from the op-ed:

The SEC rule continues to ignore the reality that exists in the marketplace — brokers are seen by their clients as trusted advisors. Reg BI contains the brokers’ duties only to the time of the recommendation; ignoring the ongoing reliance a client has on a broker to monitor the account and investments. Reg BI disclaims any ongoing duty on the part of brokers, which means it moves further away from client expectations rather than aligning the duty with expectations.

At the annual Southeastern Association of Law Schools (“SEALS”) conference in Boca Raton, Anna Roberts participated in a discussion group entitled “Effective Teaching Strategies for Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Faculty.”

She also served as a volunteer during the SEALS Prospective Law Teachers’ Workshop, providing feedback on mock job talks by two market candidates.