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Abstract:
This article provides a basic primer in insurance contract law, by summarizing high points in several law review articles published on a range of basic insurance law topics. The annotation includes state-specific updates to the articles, with a national application but with a focus on Arkansas state law. The article is marked by running commentary and organization by the editor that places primary insurance law principles in context. The article is a compilation effort by a teacher of insurance law and her students, with a table of contents and focused guidance for additional reading.

insurance law, insurance law primer, bad faith, misrepresentation, concealment, first party coverage, third party coverage, insurer, insured, reasonable expectations, preexisting condition, exclusions, life insurance, stacking, condition precedent, waiver, estoppel, election, bad faith, subrogation

Abstract:
Nonprofit insurance risks and insurance products objectively analyzed, in context of practical research and discussion, written for legal practitioners. This paper provides brief historical discussion of charitable immunity and provides outline treatment of nonprofit statutes and related immunity statutes. Developed textual footnotes compile nationwide legal research as well as insurance product research. Covers basic terminology needed to understand insurance product advertising (e.g., claims-made versus occurrence policies; coverage versus exclusions). Covers nationwide research on insurance claims litigation that will help readers make informed consumer decisions about what insurance products make sense in light of nonprofit risks. Highlights features of Directors and Officers Liability (D&O) insurance; Errors and Omissions (E&O) insurance; and General Liability (CGL) insurance. While case and statutory examples are drawn from Arkansas case and statutory law, national research and application appears in nonprofit insurance product discussion and in textual footnotes.

nonprofit insurance, nonprofit, risk, nonprofit business insurance, insurance nonprofit, insurance for nonprofit organizations, nonprofit liability insurance

Abstract:
Illustrates poster presentation technology for use in conference presentations. Provides current description (September 2008) of legal research and writing program at the University of Arkansas School of Law.

The basic template is a Microsoft Power Point Slide and has been distributed by Swarthmore College online.

legal writing, legal education, poster presentation, legal research and writing

Abstract:
"Much of the literature on the ethics of legal advocacy focuses on a 'you should because you are supposed to' argument." However, this analysis focuses on disclosing and confronting adverse authority to help an attorney win her case. The paper ends with three specific writing techniques to employ in "grappling with" adverse authority: A) highlighting inconsistent rule statements; B) distinguishing and synthesizing cases on their facts and holdings, and C) using procedural posture and policy arguments.

This paper also identifies and discusses ethical rules for attorneys directed to obligations to disclose adverse facts and adverse authority in legal argument. It further discusses mental resistance and sells "the benefits of candor." The topic of the strengths inherit in the use of adverse authority had no fully explored in the scholarship in 1999, and is still under-discussed in the literature, as of 2008.

legal writing, legal research, advocacy, adverse authority, legal method, adverse facts, winning your case, professional ethics, dlsclosure, ethics, bad fact, bad law, persuasion

Abstract:
Accessible models of advocacy (at the end of this paper), using the same group of cases, to make arguments for a plaintiff on the one hand and a defendant on the other, show how case law can be interpreted broadly and narrowly. Preceding the models are tools for understanding the case law as well as some narrative discussion of the rationales for including "bad news" in the argument. A separate narrative appears in the footnotes, with a focus on Clarence Darrow's defense of himself in a bribery prosecution - this narrative illustrates the gravity of "bad facts" and "bad law" as well as an expert litigator's approach to addressing them.

legal writing, legal research, advocacy, bad facts, bad law, adverse facts, adverse law, distinguishing, analogizing, advocacy, Clarence Darrow, synthesis, synthesis grid

Abstract:
This article treats the adverse authority of case law in favor of strict attorney liability under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. It illustrates legal and procedural aspects of defending an attorney who has been sued pursuant to the FDCPA for unfair debt collection practices. Focused on a case that was new in 2001, the analysis demonstrates how that 2001 case was open to interpretation but also illustrates the difficulty in making an argument for judicial leniency on behalf of a defendant attorney debt collector. The article is followed by student arguments this author assigned, selected, and edited. The student arguments were drafted pursuant to this author's classroom exercise focused on appellate advocacy. Both the lead article, and the "student arguments" article that follows it, fit into the theme of treating adverse authority in a specific content situation. Both provide illustrative examples of techniques in fully confronting adverse authority in legal argumentation. These materials are also useful as illustrations of the strict liability that attaches to attorney debt collectors under the FDCPA.

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, FDCPA, attorney debt collector, Heintz v. Jenkins, debt collection, consumer protection

Abstract:
Defining disability, from youth to old age, is a lesson in legislative priorities and incentive systems that are below the radar screen. This poster presentation provides a visual illustration of the life cycle of the concept of disability, over an average life span. The time line begins when a child enters pre-school or elementary school and is first exposed to the possibility for a disability designation under the Individuals with Disabilities Act or under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and ends when an elder is exposed to the possibility of a disability designation under a guardianship or conservatorship statutory scheme.

disability, statutory construction, IDEA, Section 504, Rehabilitation Act, elder law

Abstract:
This group of annotations focuses on issues of timely relevance to an insurance practice. It includes article summaries and Arkansas state law updates on a variety of cutting edge topics including, e.g., tort reform, charitable immunity, subrogation, and insurability of punitive damages. It also features very specific issues related to health insurance, with treatment of clinical trial coverage, genetic discrimination, and insurance issures regarding infertility and anorexia. Further, it includes a discussion of title insurance as well as causation analysis in property insurance. Finally,it includes the employment insurance topics of Corporate Owned Life Insurance (COLI) and workers compensation. The form and purpose of this publication is similar to The Mouse in the Annotated Bibliography: An Insurance Law Primer, (http://ssrn.com/abstract=1182543). However, as to content, Mouse I focuses on basic doctrinal points, like the difference between first party and third party insurance, betweeen coverage and exclusions, and the conflicts of interest that inhere in an insurance defense relationship. This article, Mouse II, by contrast, focuses on more subtle points drawn from insurance practice, with a dominant public policy focus.

insurance, tort reform, charitable immunity, subrogation, punitive damages, clincial trial, genetic discrimination, infertility, anorexia, title insurance, causation, property insurance, Corporate Owned Life Insurance (COLI), workers compensation

Abstract:
Provides a good illustration for students who are in the process of drafting law review articles, because it sets up the fairly basic and practical contours of a scholarly piece that includes an historical background, thesis-specific factual discussions from the relevant case law, and analysis that has a clear connection to a published judicial source. This paper begins with a recent case at the time the article was written and then synthesizes related precedent over a period of several decades (from 1858 to 1996). With the guidance of an intermediate court of appeals judge, the paper suggests analytical approaches to clarifying case law that was, in 1996, difficult to comprehend and then synthesize.

burden shifting, will contest, confidential relationship. undue influence, Rules of Evidence, FRE 301 presumption, testator

Abstract:
This short article summarizes the use of news stories in a law school classroom, to generate student engagement at the start of the hour and to provide students with practice in professional judgment and public speaking. It includes footnote material on Carnegie report and "humanizing legal education" initiatives as well as material on prior restraint in college level publications. Longer title in publication, abbreviated for SSRN purposes.

professionalism, carnegie report, legal news, course content, curriculum, tinker, bethel, hazelwood, law school

Abstract:
Plagiarism is an elusive concept, and many teaching materials have been put together to help scholars (and students with research and writing projects) with the puzzle. This slide show collects several sources and provides some cautionary information about what can happen in the context of legal scholarship.

The slide show is titled, [Plagiarism] - Acknowledging Sources: Attribution and Perspectives on Originality with the idea that front-end teaching and information can supplant, replace, or at least ameliorate, plagiarism challenges raised by lack of clarity on how to provide attribution of research sources.