Search

Claims that GPT-4 can outperform more than 90% of human test-takers in the US Uniform Bar Examination have sparked heated debates about the impact of Generative AI (GenAI) on legal education, academic integrity, and the future of legal practice. Yet GenAI’s capabilities in broader legal examination contexts – including in jurisdictions outside the US – are unclear. This study addresses this gap by evaluating GenAI’s performance against students who took the ‘Criminal Law’ final exam at an Australian law school in Spring 2023. Various AI models and prompt engineering techniques were used to generate 10 distinct answers to the exam question. Five criminal law tutors, unaware of AI involvement, graded a mix of AI-generated and student responses. Then, the tutors were briefed on the AI-generated papers they marked and engaged in reflective semi-structured interviews. The study found that GenAI performed below the student average in questions that required detailed legal and critical analysis. However, all GenAI papers performed better than students in open-ended questions and essay writing tasks. These results provide a benchmark for the capabilities and limitations of GenAI in higher education and provide insights into the potential implications of its application to legal assessments and education, curriculum development, and the future workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The examination of the characteristic law of traditional village transformation over time represents a vital nexus in cultural heritage preservation and the transmission of vernacular culture. Historical event points were used to augment village development information, facilitating the restoration of the village's historical pattern. Geographical analysis methods, including Standard Deviation Ellipse Analysis (SDSEA), Nearest Neighbor Analysis (NNA), and Source-Destination Analysis (SDA), were employed to explore the characteristics of the village's geographical center of gravity, changes in concentration and dispersion, and functional transfer. The stepwise progression of the village's evolution was investigated, as well as the mechanism of residents' behavior during the evolution process. The results reveal: 1) The spatial evolution of the settlement shows a trend of agglomeration. As time passes, the center of gravity of each functional space gradually converges, and the average distance between elements decreases, resulting in a shift from a dispersed to a clustered distribution. 2) The village space changes from simple to complex due to the conduct of the villagers. Residential behaviors promote the establishment of residential space and the development of public and commercial space. The usage, abandonment, and functional transitions that occur inside the space cause functional zones to nest with each other, resulting in a more intricate spatial structure. 3) Both the degree of change and the preservation of the village's functional space show an increasing trend, indicating that the protection of the built space and the expansion of the unbuilt space occur simultaneously. This represents a developmental trend that is consistent with the social surroundings and the villagers' ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: The objective of this study was to analyze proposed Korean nursing legislation as depicted in newspaper articles, to highlight issues related to the legislative process for this potential law, and to better understand social awareness regarding this matter. Methods: The study focused on articles from 11 leading newspapers in Korea, published between February 2020 and August 2023, that pertained to nursing legislation. The articles were retrieved from the BigKinds database. Following text preprocessing, analytical methods including term frequency-inverse document frequency were employed, along with latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), for word and topic modeling analysis. Additionally, LDA was applied across time periods to examine temporal changes in topics. Results: Following preprocessing, a total of 7,967 words were extracted from the 991 articles selected for analysis. The primary themes identified in newspaper articles concerning the nursing legislation were organized into three main topics: 1) the necessity and impact of enactment of the nursing law, 2) the political context surrounding enactment of the law, and 3) the conflicts between and actions of healthcare organizations related to enactment of the law. Conclusions: The findings confirmed that media coverage regarding the proposed nursing legislation primarily concentrated on the political and social conflicts associated with the law's passage, rather than its necessity and substance. More compelling evidence must be presented concerning the influence of the nursing workforce and the work environment of nurses on patient safety and health outcomes. Additionally, strategies should be devised to improve public comprehension of the nursing law's provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AI-enabled assessment of student papers has the potential to provide both summative and formative feedback and reduce the time spent on grading. Using auto-ethnography, this study compares AI-enabled and human assessment of business student examination papers in a law module based on previously established rubrics. Examination papers were corrected by the professor and then subjected to a series of tests by Gen-AI tools. While we were impressed with the personalised feedback of Gen-AI tools, the accuracy of grading and the learning capacity of AI tools, we found that Gen-AI tools used are not fully satisfactory to enable fully autonomous correction due to erroneous grading, the hallucination phenomenon and verbose feedback that is not always personalised. The 8C model of challenges of AI-enabled correction is outlined. This paper has implications for professors, HEIs and instructional designers and all those who correct student papers in a third-level institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin of Legal Medicine / Adli Tıp Bülteni is the property of Galenos Yayinevi Tic. LTD. STI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background and Purpose: In Malaysia, there is no specific defence for female victims of domestic violence who in the unfortunate event killed their abusive partners due to provocation. In this instance, they can raise the defence of provocation as expressly stated in Exception 1 to section 300 of the Penal Code (Exception 1). Since the defence was not formulated specifically in the context of domestic violence, the application of the defence may not be able to appreciate the uniqueness of female victims of domestic violence. One notable issue is that of cumulative provocation. Exception 1 is silent as to the legal status of cumulative provocation. However, there have been cases where the accused raised cumulative provocation as a defence against the offence of murder. The research therefore, aims to analyse the legal position of cumulative provocation in Malaysia. Methodology: This research employed a doctrinal legal research approach, conducting a thorough analysis of relevant laws, including the Penal Code (Act 574), Homicide Act 1957 (HA 1957), and the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (CJA 2009). In addition to statutory analysis, an examination of case law was undertaken to gain insights into the court’s interpretation of the legal status of cumulative provocation. Furthermore, scholarly writings in this field were examined to provide a thorough understanding of the subject. Findings: The decisions of the Federal Court’s cases of Che Omar bin Che Akhir v Public Prosecutor [2007] 4 MLJ 309 and Public Prosecutor v Surbir Gole [2017] 2 CLJ 621 show that cumulative provocation does not fall under Exception 1. This might lead the court to look only at the events that took place immediately before the killing as a single act. This can lead to a perception that the accused’s response, including female victims of domestic violence to provocation is not sufficiently grave. Hence, it is proposed that the cumulative provocation is given statutory recognition under Exception 1 which allows the circumstances of the accused to be taken into account by the court in deciding the defence of provocation. Contributions: This research contributes to the corpus of legal knowledge on cumulative provocation in domestic violence against women within the legal framework of the criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on improvement project which models an evidence-based approach to law school decision-making. Topics discussed include two-wave approach followed by the project, pressures faced by law school to respond to unfavorable bar exam results, and best place to look for ways to help bar takers.

This article provides a detailed analysis of the Spanish context in relation to the independent living of people with disabilities. It emphasises the importance of accessibility, deinstitutionalisation, and personal assistance as key factors. Four years after Spain’s review by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a thorough examination of the policies and laws implemented by the Spanish government is conducted from a human rights perspective. The article updates and delves into the debates on achieving independent and autonomous living for people with disabilities in Spain, offering a comprehensive view of the legal and political environment that facilitates this essential transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unstoppable digitalisation of work also brings with it alterations at the collective level of labour relations. On the one hand, the dispersal of the workforce entails the breaking of traditional ties of proximity, which engendered solidarity among workers. On the other hand, however, new technologies can contribute decisively to the development of representation activity, also being a fruitful field for collective bargaining. Through a synthetic examination of comparative law, several of these possibilities are presented, and how they fit with Spanish law is analysed. Among the subjects addressed are digital tools that can favour tasks in representation. In addition to the legislative dimension, the study takes into account the latest developments in jurisprudence and collective bargaining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Georgetown Law's Curriculum B (also known as Section 3) offers a unique opportunity to study an alternative 1L curriculum. The standard 1L curriculum has been around for decades and is still offered at the vast majority of US law schools. Leaders in the legal academy often talk about experimenting with the 1L curriculum, but hardly anyone does it. Georgetown Law has. We study whether Georgetown's Curriculum B yields measurable differences in student outcomes. Our empirical design leverages the fact that enrollment in Curriculum B is done by lottery when it is oversubscribed—meaning our study is effectively a randomized controlled trial. We measure treatment effects of Curriculum B by comparing outcomes of students who received the treatment (Curriculum B) with outcomes of students who received the placebo (Curriculum A) but wanted the treatment. Because students in both the treatment and control groups elected to enroll in Curriculum B, our empirical design overcomes the issue of selection bias. We find that taking Curriculum B decreases students' performance in two business law electives (Corporations and Securities Regulation) and reduces the rate at which they graduate with Latin honors. In addition, we find that it increases students' propensity to take certain public law electives and decreases their propensity to take certain business law electives. We further find that taking Curriculum B decreases students' likelihood of working in the private sector (law firm or business/industry), increases their likelihood of working in the public sector (government or public interest) or doing a judicial clerkship, and reduces their average annual salary. At the same, however, we find no statistically significant effects on other outcomes, including students' cumulative grade point average, their chances of passing the bar exam or being employed 10 months after graduation, or their rate or amount of alumni giving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A reprint of the article "Ensuring Progress: The NextGen Bar Exam Improves Lawyer Skills Testing and Grader Consistency," published in the Spring 2024 issue of the journal "The Bar Examiner." The article discusses the adoption by Idaho of the National Conference of Bar Examiners ' (NCBE) Multistate Essay Examination, the elimination of concerns regarding grading and consistency through the NextGen Bar Exam, and the importance of lawyering skills to the practice of law.

A wealth of research suggests that as stress increases, so does conflict in close relationships. But is this always the case? Specifically, how does the trajectory of conflict unfold in the period before and after an acute and anticipated major life stressor? We capitalize on a 44‐day dyadic diary where one partner was preparing for the New York State Bar Exam (N = 312 couples) to explore the trajectory of conflict leading up to the exam, as well as how these patterns differed once exams finished. Results revealed that examinees and partners reported statistically meaningful decreases in conflict as exams approached, which contrasts prior research. This was followed by a spike in the likelihood of conflict immediately after exams were finished, and a quick return to low likelihoods of conflict one week after exams. This work highlights how couples, even in the face of stress, regulate their emotions and engage in relationship maintenance processes. However, relationship frustrations tend to be expressed—resulting in conflict—once the stressor is over. Not only does this work inform theories about relational conflict during times of stress, but it also highlights the need to study the dynamics of stress before, during, and after meaningful life events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bar Exam is changing. The National Conference of Bar Examiners is pushing full steam ahead with a replacement for the current elements that make up the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE). This new exam, called the NextGen Bar Exam (NextGen), is scheduled to launch in Summer 2026. Current American Bar Association (ABA) accreditation standards do not considerthe coming changes. A full picture of what the adjustments will look like is hazy and very much in the trial stages still. These shifts impact current law students, the legal education practices of law schools, and accreditation standards. There is a near-universal agreementthat changes are overdue to the current legal licensure format. Simultaneously, alternatives to the NextGen, and even to the "need" for any summative licensure exam, are being actively explored. Performance onthe Bar Exam is used asa measurementtool bythe American BarAssociation for law schools to maintain accreditation. Standard 316, commonly referred to as Ultimate Bar Passage, has undergone several changes over its short life; yet, even in its current iteration, it fails to meaningfully consider what is just around the corner. There is no question that the Bar Exam continues to have racially discriminatory, disparate outcomes and impacts. Making matters worse, the use of aggregate limited durational performance data on post-graduation individual licensure exams as a meaningful metric by which accreditation is affected is inconsistent with accepted practices in similarly situated professions. Rectifying some baseline injustices can start with acknowledging how changes starting in 2026 are unaccounted for in the current standard. Adjusting or removing current prelicensure requirements and standards, either in ABA accreditation requirements for law schools or in educational prerequisites on examinees placed before the exam itself, would go a long way to align stated accreditation goals with licensure outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we experimentally evaluate the zero-shot performance of GPT-4 against prior generations of GPT on the entire uniform bar examination (UBE), including not only the multiple-choice multistate bar examination (MBE), but also the open-ended multistate essay exam (MEE) and multistate performance test (MPT) components. On the MBE, GPT-4 significantly outperforms both human test-takers and prior models, demonstrating a 26% increase over ChatGPT and beating humans in five of seven subject areas. On the MEE and MPT, which have not previously been evaluated by scholars, GPT-4 scores an average of 4.2/6.0 when compared with much lower scores for ChatGPT. Graded across the UBE components, in the manner in which a human test-taker would be, GPT-4 scores approximately 297 points, significantly in excess of the passing threshold for all UBE jurisdictions. These findings document not just the rapid and remarkable advance of large language model performance generally, but also the potential for such models to support the delivery of legal services in society. This article is part of the theme issue 'A complexity science approach to law and governance'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2010, the faculty of St. Louis University School of Law implemented a research exam to test student competencies after their first year of law school. Since its creation, the exam has helped students feel more secure starting their first legal internships, allowed faculty to identify areas of decreased competency, and helped faculty find “better” ways to teach legal research and writing material. In anticipation of the implementation of the NextGen Bar exam in July 2026, the faculty determined that it was necessary to make some changes to the research exam in order to both gather data on students’ responses to the new question styles as well as expose students to the new question formatting. Professor Chris Rollins utilized NCBE materials and Missouri case law to craft a set of NextGen Bar Exam questions that then appeared in the research exam. There are several takeaways from the student data for the NextGen Bar questions that appeared on the research exam. First, students must employ critical reading skills and concept retention when they encounter the progression of questions rolled out for any given fact pattern, as they are currently expected to do on the MPT section of the Bar exam. Second, students need a strong handle on time management in order to succeed with these questions. Third, faculty must help students learn how to spot multiple correct answers instead of searching for a singular correct answer. Lastly, students need more opportunities to connect concepts from different class subjects. There are more and more resources available to help address these needs, and with proper planning, faculty can help students succeed with the NextGen Bar requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the text of the remarks given by Governor Greg Abbott of Texas to the 2023 Federalist Society National Student Symposium. He discussed the categories of people involved in the battle for the soul of the future of the U.S., a tip for those preparing for the bar exam, and the ultimate place to litigate if one wants to be a litigator.

The article explores the bar admission rules and practice in Vermont. Topics discussed include the way bar admission tend to depend on the results of the Uniform Bar Examination and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, the alternative option for legal education being offered by the Vermont's Law Office Study Program, and the proposed adoption of one or more diploma-plus pathways to reform the Rules of Admission of Vermont.

Background: Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has been associated with symptoms of Digital Eye Strain (DES) and poor academic performance among adolescent students. The purpose of this study is to assess whether a student's achievement of a specific academic goal within a short period of time can be directly predicted by symptoms of IGD and DES. Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey of 140 high school graduates who received an examination of visual acuity as a pre-requisite for entering the written admission examinations of law enforcement and military academies. The students completed the Digital Eye Strain Questionnaire (DESQ) and the Ten-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT-10) and stated their own evaluation of their chances for success. They were contacted following their admission examinations, and their success or failure to be admitted was recorded. Results: The students with IGD symptomatology were more likely to present with symptoms of DES. They were also more pessimistic about their chances of success in the subsequent written admission examinations; none succeeded, while the rest of the students recorded an expected rate of success. A combination of IGD and complaints related to the prolonged fixation of the upper body in a specific viewing position was the best predictor variable set for future success in admission examinations. Conclusions: IGD is associated with a failure to achieve academic success. Combining a factor for physical discomfort during prolonged sessions of gaming with the typical criteria for IGD may expand the predictive validity of the construct of gaming disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the relationship between Indigenous Food Sovereignty and the resurgence of Indigenous law through an examination of the Mi'kmaq concept of Netukulimk. We present a case study of L'sɨtkuk First Nation's exploration of the original spirit and intent of the eighteenth-century Peace and Friendship Treaties and their enactment of the Mi'kmaq always those treaties are anchored in, focusing on insights coming out of We Story the Land, our documentary film about L'sɨtkuk youth and their mentors on a canoe journey to reclaim a series of ancient routes leaving from the reserve to cross their traditional territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of FinanzRundschau is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present study aims at providing an overview of the international, European, and national legal frameworks relating to the obligation of intermediaries of financial transactions to report to tax authorities, and the professional secrecy which applies to their professions, as well as the conflict between the two. The authors address these topics from theoretical and jurisprudential perspectives, both at national and European levels, using doctrinaire, documentary, and comparative approaches. The analyses pointed out that the focus is placed on lawyer–intermediaries' activities and liabilities when their activity is covered by confidentiality and legal privilege. Specific attention was revealed to be necessary when the conditions under which an exemption from the reporting obligation applies, and the particularities of the effects of the regulation in these scenarios. The topic of observing the legal framework and solving the possible conflicts generated by the divergent regulation of the law enforced has been the subject matter of recent European case laws that impact all the legal systems of the European Union's member states, which has necessitated an examination of the hierarchy of law systems within the European Union member states and to emphasize the practical jurisprudential effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how to apply deep learning techniques to Mongolian bar exam questions. Several approaches that utilize eight different fine-tuned transformer models were demonstrated for recognizing textual inference in Mongolian bar exam questions. Among eight different models, the fine-tuned bert-base-multilingual-cased obtained the best accuracy of 0.7619. The fine-tuned bert-base-multilingual-cased was capable of recognizing "contradiction", with a recall of 0.7857 and an F1 score of 0.7674; it recognized "entailment" with a precision of 0.7750, a recall of 0.7381, and an F1 score of 0.7561. Moreover, the fine-tuned bert-large-mongolian-uncased showed balanced performance in recognizing textual inference in Mongolian bar exam questions, thus achieving a precision of 0.7561, a recall of 0.7381, and an F1 score of 0.7470 for recognizing "contradiction". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Answerable only to the courts that have the sole authority to grant or withhold the right to practice law, lawyers operate under a system of self-regulation. The self-regulated legal profession staunchly resists external interference from the legislative and administrative branches of government. Yet, with the same fervor that the legal profession defies non-judicial oversight, it has subordinated itself to the controlling influence of a private interest. By outsourcing the mechanisms that dictate admission to the bar, the legal profession has all but surrendered control of the most crucial component of its gatekeeping function to an unregulated industry that profits at the expense of those seeking entry. The judicial outsourcing of the bar exam has privatized bar admission in ways that can be detrimental to the goal of public protection and damaging to those seeking licensure. The manner in which state courts have fostered privatized bar admission brings into question whether the delegation of judicial power is consistent with Constitutional prerogatives. This Article applies the lenses of multiple political-economic theories to the normative framework of attorney self-regulation and bar admission. In so doing, it seeks to identify justifications for outsourcing an exclusive judicial power that is essential to the goals of self-regulation. This Article ultimately questions whether the legal profession has surrendered, or will soon lose, the ability to regulate itself. The Article concludes with multiple recommendations to reverse the directional flow of power in attorney licensure in a manner that will yield more transparency and public accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the historical context and contemporary implications of the bar exam as a gateway to the legal profession in the U.S. It highlights the discriminatory roots of the bar exam, which was historically used as a tool of exclusion, particularly targeting people of color and immigrants seeking to enter the legal profession.

In 2017, the institutional structure of the Supreme Court of Cameroon was amended to include a Common Law Division (CLD). That was done partly to address a violent conflict that originated from wider discriminatory practices against the English-speaking minorities, the unsatisfactory application of the common law, and longstanding difficulties experienced by common law lawyers in accessing that court. This article applies conflict transformation theory to investigate the transformative potentials of the CLD, through a qualitative exploration of its organization and functioning and the common law lawyers' perception and experience of the CLD. It finds that participants were generally receptive to the CLD, despite cautious optimism in the extent to which it could effectively represent and develop the common law, due to some limitations imposed by application of the 2006 Supreme Court Law. Consistent with conflict transformation theory, the findings highlight the need for the continuity of the transformation process to further refine the CLD. The findings have broader implications for the agency of courts in conflict transformation in postcolonial divided societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a presentation by Anthony Sebok on the topic of damages in tort law. Sebok discusses the handling of multiple factual causes in the Restatement of Torts and explores the issue of determining damages in cases with multiple causes. The presentation outlines the structure of the solution provided in the Restatement and examines different scenarios involving simultaneous tortious causes, simultaneous tortious and non-tortious causes, and sequential causation. The presentation concludes with a summary of the principles outlined in the Restatement. The text also discusses the ALI's approach to the two-by-two matrix in cases of duplicated causation and concurrent causation, raising concerns about certain aspects and suggesting an amendment to one of the principles. [Extracted from the article]

A two-day written bar exam cannot test a prospective lawyer’s ability to counsel clients, investigate facts, research novel issues, negotiate with adversaries, or perform other essential tasks. The conventional exam has also become a test of resources, favoring candidates who can afford to buy commercial prep courses and devote 8-10 weeks to full-time study. Cognizant of these flaws, several states have adopted—or begun exploring—other approaches to licensing. Oregon has already implemented a small program that allows some law graduates to demonstrate their competence by practicing under the supervision of a licensed attorney and compiling portfolios of work product from that supervised practice. Candidates submit those portfolios, which include materials related to client counseling and negotiation, to bar examiners for independent assessment. Starting in May 2024, the Oregon program will be available to more graduates. Other states are exploring similar approaches. This article provides the first empirical evidence that supervised practice offers a valid, feasible, and fair context for evaluating prospective lawyers’ competence. Oregon’s current program is too small to assess empirically, but two related programs in California offer a rich dataset about the potential for assessing prospective lawyers’ competence through supervised practice. Our analyses, which draw upon qualitative and quantitative data from more than four thousand law graduates and licensed lawyers in California, demonstrate that: (1) Licensing programs rooted in supervised practice allow states to assess a broader range of lawyering skills and doctrinal knowledge than can be assessed on a two-day, written exam. (2) Candidates readily find supervisors, and both parties reap many benefits from the program. (3) Supervised practice is fully accessible to first-generation candidates, candidates of color, women, and candidates who live with disabilities. In fact, women of color, men of color, and white women were significantly more likely than white men to take advantage of California’s supervised practice options. (4) Supervised practice licensing paths can expand access to justice by increasing the number of lawyers who work for legal services providers and in rural parts of a state. Licensing paths rooted in supervise practice, in sum, are valid, feasible, and fair pathways that can protect the public better than a two-day written exam, make our profession more inclusive, and expand access to justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an ideal world, resettlement initiatives would be publicly debated, officially announced, and supported by a clear regulatory framework. This is not always the case in practice. This paper examines one resettlement initiative that has -- intentionally -- passed almost entirely under the radar: the Japanese resettlement of North Korean escapees. This initiative has focused on resettling North Korean escapees who either were previously resident in Japan, or are related to somebody who was. Despite its significance to understanding refugee flows in the region, it has attracted hardly any English-language scholarship. This paper aims to fill the gap. First, I provide a comprehensive examination of the law and policy of Japan's resettlement programme. Second, I interrogate the lack of transparency that characterises it, in particular examining Japan's motivations for keeping its resettlement programme under the radar, and the implications of doing so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic factors contribute significantly to interindividual differences in the susceptibility to stress‐related disorders. As stress can also be conceptualized as environmental exposure, controlled gene–environment interaction (GxE) studies with an in‐depth phenotyping may help to unravel mechanisms underlying the interplay between genetic factors and stress. In a prospective‐longitudinal quasi‐experimental study, we investigated whether polygenic scores (PGS) for depression (DEP‐PGS) and neuroticism (NEU‐PGS), respectively, were associated with responses to chronic stress in daily life. We examined law students (n = 432) over 13 months. Participants in the stress group experienced a long‐lasting stress phase, namely the preparation for the first state examination for law students. The control group consisted of law students without particular stress exposure. In the present manuscript, we analyzed perceived stress levels assessed at high frequency and in an ecologically valid manner by ambulatory assessments as well as depression symptoms and two parameters of the cortisol awakening response. The latter was only assessed in a subsample (n = 196). No associations between the DEP‐PGS and stress‐related variables were found. However, for the NEU‐PGS we found a significant GxE effect. Only in individuals experiencing academic stress a higher PGS for neuroticism predicted stronger increases of perceived stress levels until the exam. At baseline, a higher NEU‐PGS was associated with higher perceived stress levels in both groups. Despite the small sample size, we provide preliminary evidence that the genetic disposition for neuroticism is associated with stress level increases in daily life during a long‐lasting stress period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the differences in legal education between the U.S. and Germany, highlighting how these differences stem from each country's distinct historical and societal contexts. It examines how American legal education emphasizes practical skills and career objectives tailored to prestigious law firms or bar exam preparation, while German legal education is oriented towards producing well-rounded professionals for the judiciary, administration, and prosecution.

The article discusses the personal experience of passing the bar exam while dealing with a partner's struggle with alcohol addiction. Topics include the emotional journey of celebrating a major professional achievement; the impact of a partner's addiction on personal and academic life; and the ongoing challenges and adjustments required to support a loved one through recovery.

Copyright of Legal Thought / Pravna Misao is the property of Legal Thought / Pravna Misao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The legal profession has a long history of excluding members of communities of color from the practice of law. Historically, this exclusion was intentional--a function of the harmful and false belief that one's race is a factor in one's ability, or right, to be a lawyer. Today, people from communities of color continue to be excluded from the profession due to systemic, structural, and invisible racism. One contemporary method of exclusion is the bar examination--which has been persuasively shown to produce racially and ethnically biased results even after controlling for other factors like students' entering credentials and tier of school. This Article contends that fifty years of knowing that the bar examination produces racially and ethnically biased results and failing to fix the problem is too long. Our approach to solving the problem must change. We must stop relying on the state supreme courts, the state bar examiners, and the National Conference of Bar Examiners to eliminate racial and ethnic bias in the exam. This Article proposes two paths to fixing the bar examination. First, we must develop successful legal approaches for suing the entities involved. As this Article shows, certain state entities responsible for adopting and administering the law may be subject to suit on Equal Protection, Due Process, Title VII, and contract grounds. The fear of such litigation or damages associated with their success could drive the change we are seeking. Second, law schools must take a more active role in solving the problem. Recent empirical research shows that changes to pedagogy can raise bar passage rates--provided they are the right changes. Law schools could reduce the impact of racial bias in the exam by adopting these pedagogical practices and thereby increasing the bar passage for graduates from communities of color to combat the exam's structural and systemic bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary legal framework in various jurisdictions includes provisions aimed at preventing the abuse of market-dominant enterprises, with the overarching goal of addressing monopolistic practices. This research centres on the examination of competition law in the contexts of Albania and Kosovo, specifically within the realm of addressing abusive behaviour by dominant market players. This article looks at the existing legal framework pertaining to the abuse of dominant market positions in Albania and Kosovo, and how closely it aligns with European legislation in this domain. Additionally, it considers the efficacy of the provisions prohibiting abusive conduct by dominant enterprises. Examining these two distinct legal systems is crucial, because both are currently in the early stages of alignment with EU legislation.Through analysing the legislative frameworks and the decisions rendered by the Competition Authorities in the countries under scrutiny, several key findings emerge: Firstly, the competition legislation in the examined states, particularly in Albania, bears a striking resemblance to the European Union's legal framework. Secondly, it is evident that Albania has devoted more research and attention to the issue of abuse of dominant positions than Kosovo. Specifically, the Albanian Competition Authority has conducted comprehensive investigations across various sectors of the economy, leading to the imposition of fines on dominant enterprises found to engage in abusive practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers the first systematic review of empirical research addressing the question of why employers underpay their employees, from the perspective of employers themselves – a perspective largely missing from scholarly examination of wage law non‐compliance. We conducted a comprehensive search of the vast peer‐reviewed literature on the topic, identifying studies which collected and analyzed primary data from employers regarding why they breached wage laws. A review of these studies identified four broad types of explanation offered by employers relating to financial viability, perceived consequences of non‐compliance, ethical and normative rationalization, and the role of external actors. We propose a research agenda and theoretical framework based on the key empirical, methodological and theoretical gaps which remain in understanding why employers underpay their employees, and discuss how this agenda can inform policy interventions designed to ameliorate the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the strength of the retail investors' protection regime in India and verifies whether it can withstand vulnerabilities that put retail investors in a precarious position. Delving upon two major causes of vulnerabilities, i.e. concentrated shareholding pattern in the listed public companies and the passive nature of retail investors, this paper establishes the veracity of these claims through the use of data collected from a sample of BSE top thirty companies to establish the effect it brings. This article also evaluates the efficacy of borrowed legislative techniques from other corporate governance regimes to protect investors in companies incorporated in India. Finally, it concludes by highlighting the deficiency in the enforcement system and demonstrating how the Indian corporate regime has failed to plug the vulnerabilities that affect retail investors and provides recommendations to reform the system to safeguard their interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a pilot research study done by the author which focused on the judicial implementation of the "best interests of the child" standard, also known as Article 5, Section 70 of the New York State Domestic Relations Law. This is the statutory principle that guides determinations of child custody in the USA. The ambiguous nature of this law grants judges significant discretion when determining the custodial arrangements for children, as it does not explicitly define what constitutes the best interests of a child. The lack of consensus surrounding this law results in marked inconsistencies in its application. In the absence of external guidance, the author presumed that judges rely heavily on their individual knowledge and conceptualization of childhood when making custody decisions, especially those regarding facts relayed by or about children. Through in‐depth interviews conducted with seven judges from the City of New York, this study sheds light on this complex and essential issue. By incorporating insights from sociological theories of law and childhood, this study provides further insight into how judges arrive at their rulings and can be used to assist in improving the lives of families who must interact with the legal system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article demonstrates the negative correlation between the percentages of students who receive accommodations in law schools and first-time bar passage rate. Topics discussed include standardized examinations for disabled examinees and appropriate accommodations for their disability under the American's With Disabilities Act, exclusionary history of the bar admission process, and link between examinee's accommodation status and probability of passing the bar exam.

The Uniform Bar Examination (UBE) is a multijurisdictional test that law students can use to gain admission to the bar in 37 states and territories. Despite this near-universal applicability and the potential of UBE to affect law schools' admissions, diversity, affordability, and employment outcomes, no research to date has examined the impacts of UBE. Equipped with a novel data set that we make available to future researchers, we apply a difference-in-differences design to estimate these impacts by exploiting variation in UBE adoption timing across states. We find early evidence to suggest that law schools in UBE states benefited by receiving more applications and having higher overall enrollments after UBE adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A list of the individuals who passed the July 2024 bar examination in Missouri and completed all other requirements for admission to The Missouri Bar is presented including Jacob Hunter Addington, Sarra Elizabeth Agha, and Brian David Ahle.

The potential of hydropower turbines to cause injury or mortality to fish is a concern. To reduce this risk, engineers have begun to develop a conically arranged, cantilevered electrified bar rack (Center Sender). This device is proposed to be mounted within the intake of a turbine, guiding downstream-passing fish towards the center of the turbine where blade velocities are lower and blades are thicker, likely reducing the potential for fish to be injured. A simplified version was installed in a flume for testing with Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) while examining several parameters such as electrification, bar spacing, bar angle, and water velocity. The most effective settings were observed to be a water velocity of 1.0 m s−1 with all bars installed at an angle of 40° with electrification on. Other combinations were still effective but had varying results. A minimal proportion (2.3%) of fish passed at lower velocities with bars electrified and mounted at 20°, suggesting that while it functions well as a guidance device in high-velocity conditions, it performs better as a barrier at lower velocities. The study suggests that the Center Sender has promising potential for reducing the harmful effects of hydropower turbines on fish populations by guiding them away from stressors. Further research is needed, but current results encourage its potential use in hydropower operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, technological advancements, especially artificial intelligence (AI), have significantly transformed educational practices. Recently, the development and adoption of Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), particularly OpenAI's ChatGPT, has sparked considerable interest. The unprecedented capabilities of these models, such as generating humanlike text and facilitating automated conversations, have broad implications in various sectors, including education and health. Despite their immense potential, concerns regarding their widespread use and opacity have been raised within the scientific community. ChatGPT, the latest version of the GPT series, has displayed remarkable proficiency, passed the US bar law exam, and amassed over a million subscribers shortly after its launch. However, its impact on the education sector has elicited mixed reactions, with some educators heralding it as a progressive step and others raising alarms over its potential to reduce analytical skills and promote misconduct. This paper aims to delve into these discussions, exploring the potential and problems associated with applying advanced AI models in education. It builds on extant literature and contributes to understanding how these technologies reshape educational norms in the "new AI gold rush" era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The search for land to be conquered was not a departure for the German empire, nor a necessity. But faced with the pressures of those who saw in the conquest a way to boost the German economy, and to face the rise of France and Great Britain, it became a necessity. It is thus that Germany engages in the conquest and establish, following the signature of the treaty of July 12th, 1884, the protectorate on the Kamerun. Except that unlike the colony, the protectorate is a little more liberal, which is an obstacle to German policy on the territory. Even so, the douala chiefs, co-signers of the treaty, had been keen to protect their interests over trade and land. To circumvent these difficulties and establish its authority on the territory, Germany adopts a decree governing the land administration, on the creation, taking possession and the disposal of the domain of the crown, on June 15, 1896. Acquisition and alienation of lands in the Kamerun colony. The purpose of this article is to analyze the influences, interpretations and implications of the law in such a situation. The establishment of the German protectorate on the Kamerun is a good example. It allows us to understand what a protectorate is and especially why Germany broke the treaty of 12 July 1884 by adopting the decree of 15 June 1896. In arrogating all lands, Germany cancels the prerogatives that the protectorate regime grants to local populations in order to subject people to its authority. Because to control the earth is to control the territory and the men by reorienting the politics, the economy, the social relations and the culture. The use of law here proves indispensable and unavoidable insofar as it is he who shapes and guides the policy of domination of Germany over the Kamerun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]