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Category: Notes

Note

Collective Disagreement: The Uneasy Interaction of the FLSA and FRCP 4(k) After Bristol-Myers Squibb

Ronahn Clarke

J.D. Candidate, Cornell Law School, 2024; B.A., Philosophy and Classical Civilization, Colby College, 2021. 

 

Across the country, due to a circuit split over the meaning of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Rule”) 4(k), federal courts are enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) inconsistently. This Note argues that, under the current state of the law, Rule 4(k) must be read to apply to out-of-state opt-in employee-plaintiffs’ claims and FLSA…

Apr 2024

Note

Dependent Contractors? The Case for Giving Non-Competes a Central Role in Worker-Classification Tests Under Federal Law

Cameron Misner

 J.D. Candidate, Cornell Law School, 2024; B.A. in Political Science, University of Indianapolis, 2021. 

As legal commentators and policymakers have taken greater notice of the harms that covenants not to compete (“noncompetes”) cause workers, they have offered numerous policy proposals seeking to curb those harms. Indeed, the Federal Trade Commission proposed an outright ban on non-competes on January 5, 2023. None of these policy proposals have yet become law…

Apr 2024

Note

Eliminating the Common Law Limitations on Force Majeure Clauses

Ben Luo

J.D. Candidate, Cornell Law School 2024; B.A., University of California, Berkeley 2020. 

This Note will argue that as a matter of law, courts should not apply common law limitations when interpreting catch-all provisions in contractual force majeure clauses. Instead, to properly limit the potential all-encompassing scope of force majeure catch-alls, courts should rely on the more general principles of contract interpretation. Part I of this Note will…

Feb 2024

Note

Regulating Crisis Pregnancy Centers: the State Attorney General Perspective

 Yue Wu

 J.D., Cornell Law School, 2024; B.A., Carleton College, 2019. 

This Note will discuss state AGs’ role in addressing CPC regulations and in fighting questionable CPC practices. Part I introduces CPCs and their history, describes some of the earlier efforts in combating deceptive CPC practices, and summarizes the supreme Court’s NIFLA ruling that invalidated legislation designed to curb CPC harm. Part II grapples with the…

Jan 2024

Note

Port in a Storm: Colorado’s “Safe Harbor” Settlement as a Template for Online Lending Reform 

Zachary R. Hunt

J.D. Candidate, Cornell Law School, 2024. M.S. in Finance, University of South Florida, 2021. Senior Articles Editor, Cornell Law Review Vol. 109. 

Innovations in financial technology have enabled nonbank firms to market, originate, and service consumer loans entirely online via web-based lending platforms. These online lenders promote themselves as a faster, disintermediated alternative to traditional lending that leverages technology to provide borrowers with convenient and near-instantaneous access to a wider variety of credit products. Yet despite its…

Jan 2024

Note

Political Advertising on Free Streaming Sites: Conflicts with First Amendment and Exploring Viability of Regulation

Pilar Gonzalez Navarrine

J.D., Cornell Law School, 2024; B.A., Washington University in St. Louis, 2018.

When broadcast TV first became a staple in the American household, it probably seemed unlikely that fifty years later, its hold on the American public would lessen in favor of other types of media. However, for years now, users have relied on online news—whether websites, social media sites, or streaming sites—instead of cable and broadcast…

Jan 2024

Note

Waging War: Exercising the Right to Selfdefense in Disputed Territories

Merrick Black

B.A., Yale University, 2019; J.D., Cornell Law School, 2024; Publishing Editor, Cornell Law Review, Vol. 109.

This Note will focus on whether a state may invoke the right to self-defense in order to protect citizens living in a different territory. In my Note, I will examine the separatist regions of Abkhazia, Transnistria, and Donbas. First, I will argue that Russia’s efforts to foster sovereignty in separatist regions by creating treaties with…

Jan 2024

Note

How to Get Away with Murder: The Norwegian Approach

Elena Smalline

J.D., Cornell Law School, 2023; B.S. (Business Management and Psychological Sciences), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2020.

What does it mean for one to be insane enough to not be held responsible for a criminal act one committed? The answer to this question varies across differing eras, cultures, countries, and laws. If one were to ask English legal-scholar Sir Matthew Hale, he would assert that to be insane enough to not be…

Nov 2023

Note

Googling, Profiling, and Drafting a “Fantasy Team” of Jurors: Contextualizing Online Investigations into Jurors and Venirepersons Within Centurues of Analog Litigation Practices

Alison Draikiwicz

J.D., Cornell Law School, 2023; B.A., Wellesley College, 2018.

In recent years, judges and commentators have sounded the alarm on litigators’ increasingly extensive research into jurors’ and venirepersons’ online presences. Despite critics’ ethical and practical concerns, the age of “voir google” continues to thrive and evolve. In this Note, I seek to contextualize the era of online investigations within the broader era of American…

Nov 2023

Note

A Site to Save a Life: The Case for Lobbying Congress to Restrict the Department of Justice from Targeting Supervised Drug Consumption Sites

Trevor Thompson

J.D., Cornell Law School 2022; B.A. Columbia University, 2018.

This Note will begin with an overview of fentanyl’s role in exacerbating the opioid crisis that has now claimed over a million American lives. It will then offer a partial explanation for why the crisis has gotten worse over the past few years: the Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA”) refusal to initiate a prescription to…

Sep 2023