Toward a Writing-Centered Legal Education

The future of legal education—and experiential learning—should be grounded in a curriculum that requires students to take writing courses throughout law school. Additionally, the curriculum should be one that collapses the distinction between doctrinal, legal writing, and clinical faculty, as well as merges analytical, practical, and clinical instruction into a real world curriculum. The justification for a writing-intensive program of legal education is driven by the reality that persuasive writing ability is among the most important skills a lawyer must possess and a skill that many lawyers and judges claim graduates lack. Part of the problem is that law schools dedicate fewer than six credits to required legal writing courses and treat legal writing faculty as if they were second-class citizens. That should stop now. In making legal education more writing-centered, law schools can help struggling students to become competent writers, cultivate an educational environment in which good writers can become great writers, and bridge the divide between legal education and law practice

Suicide: A Legal, Constitutional, and Human Right

Ultimately, this Article strives to advance discussion of values and rights and thereby give greater freedom to the individual in decisions relating to life and liberty. This Article argues that the value of life is best expressed when the concept of value is given a subjective rather than objective meaning. In other words, the individual himself should determine the value of his life. A third party should not force upon that individual a determination with no understanding of an individual\u27s private end-of-life choices. Life has value not because of how others define it, but rather because of how each individual defines it. Thus, an individual\u27s actions in response to that assessment will vary, and those actions may include making the decision to end his life. The individual has the right to make that choice. The individual has the right to decide how to live his life, on his own terms, and in accordance with his own judgments and discretion. The Constitution protects this interest, but more importantly, the nature of human existence protects this interest. Part II discusses the Supreme Court\u27s substantive due process jurisprudence and why it provides the legal basis for an unconditional right to suicide. Part III provides the theoretical basis for the right to suicide. Part IV endorses the right to commit suicide and argues there should be an organization that helps individuals safely and peacefully end their lives. However, this right, based upon notions of privacy and liberty, is not absolute. There must be procedures in place to ensure the individual is of sound mind and body. In other words, it is imperative to confirm that those individuals truly desire to commit suicide and are not merely acting irrationally, as one might in the case of a temporary emotional or physical trauma

Establishing Guidelines for Attorney Representation of Criminal Defendants at the Sentencing Phase of Capital Trials

In Strickland v. Washington, the United States Supreme Court issued a seminal holding that single-handedly rendered it nearly impossible for a capital defendant to demonstrate that he was the victim of ineffective assistance of counsel at the underlying trial or at sentencing. Indeed, due in substantial part to the fact that Strickland was not intended to impose rigorous standards on criminal defense attorneys, the Court found ineffective assistance of counsel in only one case over the next sixteen years. Critically, however, during this time, both state and federal courts bore witness to some of the most horrific examples of death penalty representation in the history of criminal jurisprudence. Consequently, this Article will attempt to remedy the problem of ineffective assistance of counsel by proposing sweeping changes to: (1) the manner in which capital defendants are represented; and (2) the method by which their cases are reviewed on appeal