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The Business Roundtable’s New Statement on a Corporation’s Purpose: Embody or Avoid?

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By Andrew Farrington

Since 1978, the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of America’s leading companies, has been issuing annual statements regarding the purpose of a corporation. Each statement, from 1978 to 2018, has claimed that “corporations exist principally to serve shareholders.” Business Roundtable Redefines the Purpose of a Corporation to Promote ‘An Economy That Serves All Americans’, Business Roundtable (Aug. 19, 2019). However, on August 19, 2019, the Business Roundtable, led by Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., redefined the purpose of a corporation to include all stakeholders, namely a corporation’s customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and shareholders. Id. . . .

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Smartphones and Compelled Decryption: An Interview with Attorney David Rangaviz

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By David Rangaviz and Miranda Jang

Under what circumstances can a citizen be forced to unlock their smartphone for government inspection? On March 6, 2019, the Supreme Judicial Court decided Commonwealth v. Dennis Jones, in which the Court held that the government can compel a suspect to unlock their smartphone, and so disclose all of its contents, if it proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect knows the passcode to the phone in question. The SJC held that the only “testimonial” aspect to an act of decryption is just the person saying that he or she knows the code to the target phone. Jones was the first decision from any state supreme court in the country to set out the constitutional rules around compelled decryption, which is one of the most significant self-incrimination issues in the digital age . . .

Promises and Perils of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs: Workshop Report

By Leo Beletsky

In the wake of the opioid overdose crisis, all United States jurisdictions have rapidly adopted Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (“PDMPs”). PDMPs electronically collect, monitor, and analyze controlled substance prescription information. Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs), CDC https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/pdf/pdmp_factsheet-a.pdf (last visited October 30, 2019). According to the CDC, PDMPs “continue to be among the most promising state-level interventions to improve opioid prescribing, inform clinical practice, and protect patients at risk.” What States Need to Know about PDMPs, CDC (Oct. 3, 2017), https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/pdmp/states.html. These purported benefits have been elusive, however, while various shortcomings and pitfalls have received little scrutiny . . .

How the Internet and The Mapping of the Human Genome Disrupted the Teaching of Health Law: Does The 21st Century Really Change Everything?

By Jennifer S. Bard

For the symposium, I was asked to grapple with how health law teaching has been disrupted by technological innovation. On these occasions, my thoughts immediately go to the rapidly evolving expectations of privacy in the face of the ever growing breaches of cyber security in healthcare settings, the widespread access to communications technology, and the rapidly evolving technologies to establish identity and extract significant amounts of medical information from the genetic material left behind on a coffee cup . . .

Measuring Health Privacy – Part II

By Ignacio Cofone

We are pleased to present this symposium featuring commentary from participants in the Center for Health Policy and Law’s annual conference, Promises and Perils of Emerging Health Innovations, held on April 11-12, 2019 at Northeastern University School of Law. As a note, additional detailed analyses of issues discussed during the conference will be published in the 2021 Winter Issue of the Northeastern University Law Review . . .

Measuring Health Privacy – Part I

By Ignacio Cofone

We are pleased to present this symposium featuring commentary from participants in the Center for Health Policy and Law’s annual conference, Promises and Perils of Emerging Health Innovations, held on April 11-12, 2019 at Northeastern University School of Law. As a note, additional detailed analyses of issues discussed during the conference will be published in the 2021 Winter Issue of the Northeastern University Law Review. . .

A Delicate Balance: Proposed Regulations May Upset the Tension Between Accessibility and Privacy of Health Information

By Oliver Kim

We are pleased to present this symposium featuring commentary from participants in the Center for Health Policy and Law’s annual conference, Promises and Perils of Emerging Health Innovations, held on April 11-12, 2019 at Northeastern University School of Law. Throughout the two-day conference, speakers and attendees discussed how innovations, including artificial intelligence, robotics, mobile technology, gene therapies, pharmaceuticals, big data analytics, tele- and virtual health care delivery, and new models of delivery, such as accountable care organizations (ACOs), retail clinics, and medical-legal partnerships (MLPs), have entered and changed the healthcare market. More dramatic innovations and market disruptions are likely in the years to come . . .

The Promises and Perils of Medical Legal Partnerships

By Jessica Mantel and Leah Fowler

We are pleased to present this symposium featuring commentary from participants in the Center for Health Policy and Law’s annual conference, Promises and Perils of Emerging Health Innovations, held on April 11-12, 2019 at Northeastern University School of Law. As a note, additional detailed analyses of issues discussed during the conference will be published in the 2021 Winter Issue of the Northeastern University Law Review. @NUSLHealth @nulawreview. . .

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John Roberts: Shedding Light on a Secretive Man

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By Michael Conklin

In her new book The Chief: The Life and Turbulent Times of Chief Justice John Roberts, Joan Biskupic provides insight into the personal and professional life of the seventeenth Chief Justice. Joan Biskupic, The Chief: The Life and Turbulent Times of Chief Justice John Roberts (2019). The intriguing format of the book does so in a very interesting way—instead of simply reporting significant events in the life of John Roberts, it guides the reader on a chronological journey through Roberts’s life with concurrent landmark Supreme Court cases providing a backdrop along the way . . .

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UPDATE – Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Finds Doctrine of Abatement Ab Initio Outdated, Reinstates Aaron Hernandez’s Conviction

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By Monica Delateur

On April 19, 2017, former New England Patriots football player Aaron Hernandez committed suicide at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center outside of Boston, Massachusetts.  At the time of Hernandez’s death, the appeal of Hernandez’s conviction for the murder of Odin Lloyd was pending in front of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. This high-profile suicide sparked a debate around the doctrine of abatement ab initio, applied in Massachusetts as well as a number of states at the time of Hernandez’s death . . .

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“AI, Ain’t I a Woman:” The Gendered Lens of Facial Recognition Technology

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By Christie Dougherty

Most facial recognition software cannot identify dark-skinned women. This was one of the most spine-chilling revelations at the Northeastern University Center for Law, Innovation and Creativity’s recent conference, “About Face: The Changing Landscape of Facial Recognition.” The conference highlighted the social and legal implications of surveillance technology. On Friday May 10, 2019, MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini gave a moving presentation highlighting a major problem in facial recognition technology: its gendered and racial lenses. AI, Ain’t I A Woman? Algorithmic Justice League Project, https://www.notflawless.ai/#2 (last visited June 14, 2019). Her research revealed this critical flaw in current software . . .

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Legislation to Watch: Abolishing Life Without Parole

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By Renna Ayyash

Seeking to continue the success of last session’s Criminal Justice Reform Act, St. 2018, c. 69, a number of currently proposed legislative bills aim to reprioritize rehabilitation, rather than punishment, in the Massachusetts’s prison system. The specific focus of this entry will be on An Act to Reduce Mass Incarceration, S.D. 533/H.D. 154, which would abolish the sentence of life without parole (LWOP), a sentence more than one in ten Massachusetts’ prisoners are serving. Ashley Nellis, Still Life: America’s Increasing Use of Life and Long-Term Sentences, The Sentencing Project (May 3, 2017). As this article hopes to illustrate, this proposed bill should be seriously considered for both pecuniary and financial reasons . . .

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In a Post-Michelle Carter World, Be Careful What You Say

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By Laurel Newman

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (SJC) recently affirmed Michelle Carter’s conviction of involuntary manslaughter for her role in the suicide of Conrad Roy. The case has been especially newsworthy since before the trial occurred, due to Ms. Carter’s indictment resting solely on spoken and written words that the Commonwealth says coerced the victim to commit suicide. As this author previously wrote, this case is the first where a defendant has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter without doing any physical act . . .

Take Notice! Deficient Notices to Appear No Longer Trigger the Stop-Time Rule in Removal Proceedings

By Sarah E. Kelly

In Pereira v. Sessions, decided on June 21, 2018, the Supreme Court declined to apply Chevron deference in holding that a Notice to Appear (NTA), which fails to specify the time and place of a noncitizen’s removal proceeding, does not trigger the stop-time rule under section 1229(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) . . .

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Massachusetts Operating Agreements: What You Need To Know

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By Sarah Eskreis

You have chosen your ideal entity type, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), so what’s next? Once you have filed your Certificate of Organization, you must consider how you want your LLC to be structured and governed. This can be done in one of two ways. You can choose to default to the Massachusetts Limited Liability Company Act (Act) or you can create an operating agreement. An operating agreement is a document that helps members or managers customize the terms and functions of the LLC to suit their needs. The operating agreement is a contract that binds the LLC’s members and managers . . .

T-Mobile/Sprint Merger: Consumer’s Dream or Antitrust Nightmare?

By Jeffrey W. Kennedy

On June 18, 2019, the third and fourth largest nation-wide mobile carriers, T-Mobile and Sprint, respectively, submitted an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to begin the process of merging into “New T-Mobile.” See Current & Recent Transactions: T-Mobile and Sprint, WT Docket 18-197, Fed. Commc’ns Comm’n (last visited Jan. 21, 2019).  New T-Mobile must now navigate multiple hurdles in order to finalize this merger. First, Sprint and T-Mobile must obtain approval from the FCC to transfer their FCC licenses to New T-Mobile.  To do this, New T-Mobile must convince the FCC that “public interest, convenience, and necessity will be served” by the merger.  See 47 U.S.C. § 310(d) . . .

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When and Why a Business Should Implement a Sexual Harassment Policy

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By Elena J. Despotopulos

In the wake of the #MeToo and #TimesUp Movements, as well as the highly publicized charges against people such as Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, sexual harassment is very much in the public conversation. Business owners should take this shift in conversation to reflect on their business’s harassment policies and to consider if it is compliant with applicable laws. And if such a policy does not exist, businesses should consider implementing one . . .

Law Enforcement’s Use of DNA Ancestry Websites and Why Your Consent May Not Matter

By Sarah Eskreis

A staggering amount of people trace their ancestry through online genealogy service providers to learn more about themselves and their heritage. See, e.g., Ancestry Company Facts, Ancestry.com (last visited Jan. 19, 2019) (Ancestry.com alone boasts testing 10+ million people since May 2012, making their database the largest in the world). There appears to be an innate desire for people to understand their culture and embrace their heritage as an important part of forming their identity . . .

We’ve Got A Live One!: Incorporating an Ongoing SCOTUS Case into a Skills-Based Legal Analysis Course

By Prof. Sarah J. Schendel

Teaching a skills-based class presents its own set of challenges, namely, continuity of the semester without a cohesive topical “theme” (e.g., Contracts, Criminal Law), and the differing skill levels and needs of students. At Suffolk University Law School, students who are on academic probation are required to take Legal Analysis and Methods (LAM) during the Fall of their 2L year. The goal of the course is to reinforce and deepen skills critical to success both in law school and in practice; including exam prep, time management, statutory interpretation, and rule-based analysis. Because not all students in LAM are enrolled in the same courses I generally select readings, out-of-class assignments, and in-class exercises from a variety of topics . . .