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Showing posts from April, 2019

We the People: A Progressive Reading of the Constitution for the Twenty-First Century

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” We the People: A Progressive Reading of the Constitution for the Twenty-First Century opens with this popular quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Chemerinsky’s plea to “develop and defend and fight for a progressive vision” of the Constitution. Chemerinsky describes the conservative vision of the Constitution as: ·       strongly pro-law enforcement, favoring the government and police over the constitutional rights of criminal defendants ·       powerfully pro-business, favoring the interests of corporations over those of employees and consumers ·       a vision regarding race discrimination as a thing of the past and opposing race-conscious actions to remedy the legacy of discrimination and achieve diversity ·       a vision rejecting the notion of separation of church and state ·       a vision strongly opposing constitutional protection of reproductive freedom for women an

Law School Exams: A Guide to Better Grades

It’s that time of year again. Law students across the country are poring over their class notes and supplements, putting the finishing touches on their outlines, and fueling their all-night study sessions with a combination of high-carb snacks and Java Monsters. This can mean only one thing: exam time is approaching. If you’re looking for a brief but effective guide to improving your exam performance, the O’Quinn Law Library has the book for you. Alex Schimel’s Law School Exams: A Guide to Better Grades , now in its second edition, provides a clear and concise strategy for mastering the issue-spotting exams that determine the majority of your grade in most law school classes. Schimel finished second in his class at the University Of Miami School Of Law, where he taught a wildly popular exam workshop in his 2L and 3L years, and later returned to become Associate Director of the Academic Achievement Program. The first edition of his book was written shortly after he finished law scho

Death of a Law Firm

The O'Quinn Law Library collection now includes Death of a Law Firm: Staying Strong in the Global Legal Market by Jaap Bosman with Lisa Hakanson. Death of a Law Firm , despite its title, is not a pessimistic look at the future of the legal profession.  The book seems to have an optimistic view of the future growth of the legal sector and the attendant legal market; its skepticism is focused on certain developments in law firm management.  The authors review a number of recent trends in the law firm model and examine how they have been applied, both by successful law firms and by firms that have failed.  This book may be of interest to current law firm partners preparing for the future, or to anyone curious about law firms and law firm management. Death of a Law Firm is is currently available on the New Books shelf at the far end of the law library reference desk.  This book's call number is KF 318.B67 2017 .

Understanding Estate and Gift Taxation, 2nd ed.

Carolina Academic Press has recently published Understanding Estate and Gift Taxation , 2d. ( KF6572.H455 2019 ) as a part of its Understanding Series. Authored by Brant J. Hellwig & Robert T. Danforth, this twenty-six chapter book is ideal for both the practitioner interested in an overview of this specialized area of tax law or the student taking a taxation of estate and gift tax or estate planning class. Each chapter highlights specific language from the Internal Revenue Code and provide analysis tying in the regulations, cases, and administrative decisions. This book begins with an overview of the federal tax regime and covers basic application of the estate tax, transfer tax valuation, determination of net transfer, transfers excluded from the gift tax base, transfers with retained enjoyment, and joint interests in property. International considerations, generation-skipping transfer tax base, marital unit, life insurance, business entity estate freeze, and annuities and surviv