The Washington Post recently reported that U.S officials have been concerned with issues of international child custody disputes. They say these issues affect up to 75 American couples.
U.S officials said that as parents of different nationalities divorce, issues arise when one parent decides to take their children out of their natural born country and back to the parent’s native country.
In September, 2009, U.S citizen Christopher Savoie was arrested in Japan when he attempted to take his children back to the United States without his ex-wife’s consent.
The Japanese government did not charge Savoie with child abduction. They let him return back his home town in Tennessee, but his children remained in Japan.
Prior to Savoie’s retrieval attempt, a court hearing in the U.S. determined that he would get full child custody of the couple’s children.
But after the decision was made, his ex-wife took their children back to her country of Japan. This was a violation of the U.S. court’s child custody decision.
In Japanese law, only one of the parents is allowed to have full child custody after a divorce. In most cases, ... Read more..
Archive for January, 2010
The pregnancy rate among teenage girls is on the rise in the United States, according to a new study released by the Guttmacher Institute (a nonpartisan, nonprofit group). The study examined the most recent statistical data available, and concluded that the pregnancy rate among teenagers aged 15-19 rose three percent in 2006. It had been previously reported that the teenage birthrate was up in 2006, but there was speculation that this might simply mean that more girls carried their pregnancies to term rather than seeking abortions. The Guttmacher study is especially noteworthy, because it looked at data for both teenage birthrates and rates of abortion: since the teenage birthrate increased four percent in 2006 and the teenage abortion rate increased one percent in 2006, it does show an overall rise in teenage pregnancies.
This rise comes after more than a decade of declining rates of teen pregnancies in the United States. According to the Guttmacher report, the teen pregnancy rate peaked in 1990 (when the rate was 116.9 per 1,000 young women), and reached its lowest point in more than three decades in 2005 (when the ... Read more..
For those of you who list mastery of apostrophe usage with the rest of your New Year’s resolutions, here is a short primer:
1. Use an apostrophe to indicate possession.
2. Place the apostrophe before the “s” when referring to a singular entity. For example, “the dog’s food bowl is in the kitchen.” Or, “Karen’s house is on the right.”
3. Place the apostrophe after the “s” when referring to a plural entity. For example, “the rabbits’ nest is in the grass.” Or, “the Smiths’ boat is huge.”
4. “It’s” indicates a contraction of the words “it” and “is.” “Its” indicates possession. For example, “it’s in the works.” (Meaning, it is in the works.) Or, “it’s time for a nap.” (Meaning, it is time for a nap.) If you can replace “it is” in the sentence, “it’s” is a correct contraction. But, “the beaver worked hard on building its dam across the pond.” (Meaning, the beaver’s dam.)
5. A debate exists about whether to add an additional “s” when using an apostrophe with a word that ends in “s.” Either option is generally acceptable ... Read more..
The Seventeenth Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ (PILS) Auction will be held on Friday, February 12, from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Italian Conference Center at 631 East Chicago Street in Milwaukee.
The event, which is named after the late Dean Howard Eisenberg, raises funds for the Public Interest Law Society’s Summer Fellowship Program.
The silent auction begins at 5:30 p.m. Complimentary beer, wine, and soda will be served from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The live auction, MC’d by the very entertaining Professor Ed Fallone, will begin at 7:30 p.m. Appetizers and a light dinner will be served.
Tickets are $40 per person. Student tickets are $25 if purchased by February 9. Tickets may be purchased online or by check at www.law.marquette.edu, or may be purchased at the door. Tickets may also be purchased in the student lounge at the Law School. Special Fellowship and Do-Gooder tables are available.
This year’s auction features terrific live and silent auction items.
The auction features items at all price levels. Here is a sample:
1. Romantic Pfister bed and breakfast package with flowers from Belle Fiori
2. Tripoli ... Read more..
It is curious thing that, even as undergraduate liberal arts programs continue to take a beating, law schools designed to train professionals now offer more humanistic (sometimes called perspective) courses than ever. What may be even more curious is that the presence of these courses in the curriculum is justified on instrumental grounds. Courses in jurisprudence, legal history, and comparative law (as well as others taking their cue from the social sciences) provide, it is argued, a context for the understanding (and later exercise) of practical wisdom. The Hessian effect – the sense that the law teacher is there simply to train practically-minded mercenaries, see Thomas Bergin, The Law Teacher: A Man Divided Against Himself, 54 Va. L. Rev. 637 (1968) – remains present in legal education, but the definition of the training of lawyers has broadened to encompass such courses as integral to one’s legal education.
Part of this transformation results from the greater employment of legal academics who hold joint degrees in law and other disciplines, many of whom had little experience in practice. Part was a reaction against dogged resistance ... Read more..
