Ian’s Legal Fact of the Week: 3/30/2015: A Republican Form of Government

Article 4, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution states that the United States “shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government….” Sometimes referred to as the Guarantee Clause, the definition of “republican” government is not … Continue reading

Ian’s Legal Fact of the Week 3/23/15: The Number of Laws in the U.S.

Want to guess the number of federal laws in the U.S.? Good luck– even the Library of Congress doesn’t know. While this is one of the most popular questions asked of the Library’s reference librarians, they point out that simply tallying … Continue reading

Online Legal Education

I was pleased to have the opportunity to share some thoughts about distance learning in legal education in the National Jurist a few weeks ago. As the article just came out–you can read it here (Education Anywhere February 2015) — I … Continue reading

Ian’s Legal Fact of the Week 3/16/15: The Public Benefit Corporation

In addition to the for-profit and limited-liability models of traditional corporations, other variants exist. A public-benefit corporation is state-chartered and designed  to perform some public benefit (examples include the MBTA and Massachusetts Turnpike Authority). A B Corporation is a corporation certified by the non-profit … Continue reading

Ian’s Legal Fact of the Week 3/2/15: Citizen’s Arrest!

A citizen’s arrest — an arrest by a non-law enforcement officer — is statutorily provided for in 49 states (North Carolina is the exception) where a citizen observes a felony being committed, or when a citizen is asked by a … Continue reading