UnCommon Law

It’s been almost 20 years since Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, intentionally or not, set an affirmative action countdown in motion. On Oct. 31, the Supreme Court heard arguments that Harvard and the University of North Carolina go too far in their use of race in admissions. Will the diversity rationale — the heart of affirmative action defenses since 1978 — convince this staunchly conservative court...

For decades, over multiple decisions, the Supreme Court has been clear: The U.S. Constitution allows colleges to take race into account when they craft their incoming classes. And yet race-conscious admissions policies continue to face attacks. Today, on part three of our four-part series on affirmative action, we’ll meet the man who has perhaps done more than any other in recent memory fighting t...

In 1978, the Supreme Court allowed colleges to take race into account when crafting their incoming classes. Throughout the '80s and '90s, that’s what many schools did: To get a diverse incoming class, universities used race as one factor among many. But some schools get a lot of applicants — tens of thousands of students applying for just a few thousand spots. How do you complete an individualized...

For more than 50 years, colleges and universities around the country have taken race into account as they craft their incoming classes. But now a pair of lawsuits could change the face of higher education in this country. It’s the biggest challenge to affirmative action in a generation. And, given the makeup of this Supreme Court, it is very likely affirmative action in college admissions could be...

A pair of lawsuits has made its way to the Supreme Court — and just who gets into which college could change dramatically. This season on UnCommon Law, we’ll explore the arguments — and the people — driving this latest battle over affirmative action. Does the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause prohibit all discrimination based on race? Can the Constitution be used to remedy society’s i...

Law firms have a gender equity problem. Data has shown that women struggle to reach the upper levels of the profession, and that those who do had to work harder than their male counterparts. For example, two thirds of female attorneys say they've been perceived as less committed to their careers, compared with just two percent of male attorneys, according to a 2019 ABA survey. The reasons why aren...

In a landmark 2nd Amendment decision on Thursday, the Supreme Court struck down New York's gun licensing law. It's a decision that transforms where and when a gun can be carried. And, for the first time, the Court recognized a constitutional right to carry a gun outside of the home, in public. If you know this is a big deal, but you're not sure why, or you just want a refresher on how we go here,...

The new era of name, image, and likeness in college sports has seen rapid change. For instance, initially athletes were signing deals directly with brands and companies. Now, so-called “NIL collectives” are amassing multi-million-dollar funds to attract star recruits. Critics say these funds are being used as back-door recruiting inducements which violate the NCAA’s interim NIL policy. Many colleg...

College sports is closing out the first year of the name, image and likeness era for athletes. Since July 1 2021, athletes have been free to earn money from marketing deals on their NIL rights, including through endorsements, appearances, modeling, and hosting camps. One UCLA basketball player even launched his own cryptocurrency. The right of publicity now belongs to collegiate athletes. This com...

On January 1, Ben Wilson will officially conclude his tenure as chairman of Beveridge & Diamond and retire from the firm. As first reported by Bloomberg Law, Wilson, affectionately regarded as the dean of Black partners at major law firms, announced his retirement this fall after 45 years in legal practice, 35 of those years with the firm. Wilson became chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Bever...

Some frustration with the bar exam comes not just because it’s a hard test. Differences in state licensing requirements can mean attorneys may have to take the bar exam multiple times. In the final episode of [Un]Common Law’s three-part look at the bar exam, we ask why can't there be one bar exam for all U.S. jurisdictions? A national bar exam that eliminates the need for a patchwork of state test...

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, five U.S. jurisdictions opted to suspend their July 2020 bar exams. Instead, these jurisdictions granted licensure to new attorneys through "diploma privilege.” That's the practice of admitting new attorneys to the state bar, and allowing them to practice law, contingent on their graduation from an ABA-accredited law school only. It does not require taking and...

In all U.S. jurisdictions except Wisconsin, passing a bar exam is a requirement to obtain a license to practice law. However, the Covid-19 pandemic forced some state authorities to adopt alternative paths to licensure for recent law school graduates. In the wake of those changes, criticism of the bar exam has blossomed into a movement to reform or eliminate the test altogether. These critics argue...

Frances Haugen, the whistleblower whose revelations have prompted a congressional investigation into Facebook revealed herself publicly in an interview that aired on CBS on Sunday night. Haugen is the source of thousands of internal company documents that were leaked to U.S. lawmakers and the Wall Street Journal. A data scientist, Haugen was hired by Facebook in June of 2019 to lead the company’s...

Concerns over the harmful impact of social media are rising to a fever pitch. In the past decade, everyone from conspiracy theorists to foreign governments have used social media to spread election disinformation, sow discord, and peddle viral conspiracies. This month, the Biden administration and the U.S. Surgeon General accused social media platforms of being the primary source of misinformation...

Cracking down on large tech companies may be one of the few remaining areas of political consensus in Washington D.C. However, many legal experts caution that antitrust cases could take years to complete and the outcomes are far from certain. Still others claim that the recent focus on antitrust is more about punishing tech platforms for being successful. They argue that it would have little impac...

Permanently revoking users’ access to social media platforms— a practice known as “deplatforming “— isn’t a new concept, but the high-profile ban of President Donald Trump has raised new questions about censorship and free speech in the internet age. For years Twitter famously clung to its identity as “the free speech wing of the free-speech party.” Meanwhile, Facebook employed a policy that mostl...

In the months since the January 6 attack on the Capitol, one thing people on both sides of the political aisle seem to agree on, is that social media bears at least some responsibility for spreading the lies that led to the attack. But, is that true? And if it is, even a little bit, what should lawmakers do about it? Those questions are what [Un]Common Law will explore in our new series called “Un...

For our next season of [Un]Common Law, we’re wading into the thorny debate over Big Tech and social media. Companies like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Twitter are much bigger than they were 20 years ago, but is this a problem? Is Big Tech impinging on your right to free speech? That depends on who you ask. And what about the increased influence of hate-speech, conspiracy theories and disinformation t...

Earlier this year [Un]Common Law published a podcast series looking at the experiences of African American lawyers and judges working in the legal industry—which, to this day, remains one of the least diverse professions in America. Now, more than a year since George Floyd’s murder, and the wave of soul-searching in the legal industry that followed, 16 of the nation’s largest law firms, nine of wh...

In the wake of Derek Chauvin’s conviction in the murder of George Floyd, lawmakers in both parties said they were “cautiously optimistic” that the trial could provide new momentum to overcome the political hurdles that have stymied efforts at policing reform. In a speech before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, President Joe Biden formally called on lawmakers to resurrect the George Floyd...

It took the jury less than 11 hours, to pronounce Derek Chauvin guilty on all three counts of murder in the second and third degree, as well as second-degree manslaughter. While there are many shoes yet to drop before this case is finally complete. Including sentencing, and there will surely be an appeal after that. Also, attention will now shift toward the criminal trial, later this summer, of th...

With closing arguments completed on Monday, April 19, former police officer Derek Chauvin’s fate rests in the hands of a jury of his peers. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Joining host Adam Allington to discuss closing arguments in the nation’s most intensely-watched police brutality trial since Rodney King is Kami Chavis, a profess...

Closing statements in the Derek Chauvin trial are set to begin on Monday. The former Minneapolis police officer is facing charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. Many attorneys agree that Chauvin faces an uphill battle to avoid being found guilty on at least one of the charges. That sets up, what would surely be, an appeal of the verdict. Has Chauvin’s...

Defense attorney Eric Nelson has a big task to accomplish this week in the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin as he set out to rewrite the narrative of George Floyd's final moments that prosecutors diligently laid out over a two-week period. All told, the prosecution called nearly 40 witnesses to the stand over the two weeks, including fellow police officers, medical experts and e...