The Law of Evidence and the Idea of Progress

To ask the question, "Does Evidence Law Matter?," is to assume that some sets or groups of people believe it is important while others are challenging that view. In other words, the thesis is that evidence matters, the antithesis is that it doesn't, and this symposium is one effort to craft a synthesis. My assumption is slightly different. I assume that the question is asked because legal academics believe that evidence both does and does not matter, at either or both a narrow or broad level of generality and that those academics also believe that these are irreconcilable beliefs. What interests me is how we reached this point and why legal academics believe that evidence law both does and does not matter

A Thrice-Told Tale, or Felix the Cat

The manual I intend to present focuses on the importance of Felix Frankfurter. In discussing the historical understanding of the Justices of the Supreme Court, Professor John Henry Schlegel wrote, "there is the problem of Felix Frankfurter." Justice Frankfurter remains a problem if one wants to understand twentieth-century legal history. His influence as a law professor and intellectual activist, his influence as a member of the Court, and his influence directing the work of other constitutional scholars must be taken into account when assessing constitutional histories. In this Article, I suggest that Justice Felix Frankfurter tried to coordinate history to protect the integrity of the Court as he saw it, and that he succeeded

A Uniform Rule Governing the Admission and Practice of Attorneys Before United States District Courts

This Article proposes a Rule concerning the admission to practice law in federal district courts and is designed to account for the recent changes in the practice of law. The Rule is based on the theory that lawyers will act ethically by handling only those legal matters within their competence and that clients (consumers) will act intelligently when hiring a lawyer. The proposed Rule will not result in a system of perfect client representation by lawyers in federal district courts, but will provide the federal district courts with some assurance of lawyer competence. This Article first sets forth the various and chaotic rules concerning admission of lawyers to practice law before federal district courts. Second, an examination and criticism of previous federal bar admission proposals is given. Finally, this Article explains the basis for the proposed Rule

Modern Legal Times: Making a Professional Legal Culture

This essay is a truncated history of the making of the American legal profession. In contrast to other efforts, the focus of this paper is on the creation and development of legal institutions which fostered the belief, by lawyers, in their professionalism. Legal institutions include not only law schools, bar associations and organizations like the American Law Institute but also the system of legal directories, the regional case reporter system developed by the West Publishing Company and continuing legal education groups. These institutions, which contributed greatly to the making of a distinctly professional culture in law in America, are closely related to the formation of the system of legal education first developed at Harvard Law School in 1870. While a number of institutions were created for instrumental reasons having nothing to do with legal education (like Hubbell’s Legal Directory and the regional reporter system), these institutions prospered in part because of their ideological fit with the professionalizing ethos embodied Langdell’s statement that "law is a science.

What Hath Faith Wrought?: Faith and Law: How Religious Traditions From Calvinism to Islam View American Law by Robert F. Cochran (Book Review)

Faith and Law is a compilation of sixteen essays from legal academics intended to offer, to a greater and lesser extent, a meditation on “How Religious Traditions from Calvinism to Islam View American Law.” After an Introduction by editor Robert F. Cochran, Jr., Faith and Law is divided into six parts. The first essay is a deeply learned discussion of Augustine by Elizabeth Mensch. Part II consists of four essays from Reformation Protestants, and Part III includes four essays from “Home-Grown American Faiths.” Parts IV and V consist of paired essays from Roman Catholics and from an Orthodox and Reform Jew. Part VI consists of three essays, one each by a Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim. All but one of the contributors (Kisor K. Chakrabarti) is a current or former American or Canadian legal academic, and Chakrabarti taught at universities in the United States and elsewhere and practiced law in India. Each contributor offers a readable, enlightening essay, although several needed the benefit of tighter editing. And the editor offers brief and insightful introductions to many of the contributions

BβArg448Lys polymorphism is associated with altered fibrin clot structure and fibrinolysis in type 2 diabetes

Both type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and Bβ448Lys variant of fibrinogen are associated with dense fibrin clots, impaired fibrinolysis and increased cardiovascular risk. It was our objective to investigate whether BβArg448Lys adds to vascular risk by modulating fibrin network structure and/or fibrinolysis in diabetes. The primary aim was to study effects of BβArg448Lys on fibrin network characteristics in T2DM. Secondary aims investigated interactions between gender and BβArg448Lys substitution in relation to fibrin clot properties and vascular disease. Genotyping for BβArg448Lys and dynamic clot studies were carried out on 822 T2DM patients enrolled in the Edinburgh Type 2 Diabetes Study. Turbidimetric assays of individual plasma samples analysed fibrin clot characteristics with additional experiments conducted on clots made from purified fibrinogen, further examined by confocal and electron microscopy. Plasma clot lysis time in Bβ448Lys was longer than Bβ448Arg variant (mean ± SD; 763 ± 322 and 719 ± 351 seconds [s], respectively; p<0.05). Clots made from plasma-purified fibrinogen of individuals with Arg/Arg, Arg/Lys and Lys/Lys genotypes showed differences in fibre thickness (46.75 ± 8.07, 38.40 ± 6.04 and 25 ± 4.99 nm, respectively; p<0.001) and clot lysis time (419 ± 64, 442 ± 87 and 517 ± 65 s, respectively; p=0.02), directly implicating the polymorphism in the observed changes. Women with Bβ448Lys genotype had increased risk of cerebrovascular events and were younger compared with Bβ448Arg variant (67.2 ± 4.0 and 68.2 ± 4.4 years, respectively; p=0.035). In conclusion, fibrinogen Bβ448Lys variant is associated with thrombotic fibrin clots in diabetes independently of traditional risk factors. Prospective studies are warranted to fully understand the role of BβArg448Lys in predisposition to vascular ischaemia in T2DM with the potential to develop individualised antithrombotic management strategies

The ₉₅RGD₉₇ sequence on the A alpha chain of fibrinogen is essential for binding to its erythrocyte receptor

Background: Erythrocyte aggregation, a cardiovascular risk factor, is increased by high plasma fibrinogen levels. Here, the effect of different fibrinogen mutations on binding to its human erythrocyte receptor was assessed in order to identify the interaction sites. Methods: Three fibrinogen variants were tested, specifically mutated in their putative integrin recognition sites on the Aα chain (mutants D97E, D574E and D97E/D574E) and compared with wild-type fibrinogen. Results: Atomic force microscopy-based force spectroscopy measurements showed a significant decrease both on the fibrinogen–erythrocyte binding force and on its frequency for fibrinogen with the D97E mutation, indicating that the corresponding arginine–glycine–aspartate sequence (residues 95–97) is involved in this interaction, and supporting that the fibrinogen receptor on erythrocytes has a β3 subunit. Changes in the fibrin clot network structure obtained with the D97E mutant were observed by scanning electron microscopy. Conclusion: These findings may lead to innovative perspectives on the development of new therapeutic approaches to overcome the risks of fibrinogen-driven erythrocyte hyperaggregation