By Christina Pici, Staff Writer During my internship with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office I had the opportunity to witness how the two-part consent law protects an individual, even though my initial reaction was to question why anyone would consent to such recording. Pennsylvania’s “two-party consent” law makes it […]
Juris Features
Pre-dispute Mandatory Arbitration Agreements Deprive Employees of Their Right to Access the Courts When the Agreements Are a Condition of Employment
By Amanda Leonard, Staff Writer More than 60 million American employees are subject to pre-dispute arbitration agreements, a required condition of their employment.[1] Pre-dispute agreements dictate that any legal disputes between an employee and an employer cannot be brought in court, but rather, must go through private arbitration.[2] The […]
Pennsylvania’s Shift Toward Marijuana Legalization: Legal Implications and Tensions with Federal Law
By John Paul Abda, Feature Editor The issue of marijuana legalization has permeated the legislative bodies of nearly every state in the country. Whether or not a particular state has enacted laws favoring legalization, it is more likely than not that their respective legislatures have had to deal with the […]
Impact of North Carolina Gerrymandering Decision on Upcoming 2020 Census
By Margaret Potter, Blog Editor On October 28, 2019, a North Carolina state court ruled that the state’s current congressional district maps could not be used in the upcoming March primaries.[1] The three-judge panel in Wake County ruled that proceeding with the current congressional maps would be “improper”.[2] In […]
The Terms and Conditions of Free Speech in the Modern-Day Public Square
By Kurt Valentine, Web Editor Social media has rapidly asserted itself as the modern-day public square. In 2005, one year after Facebook’s launch, 10% of internet-using U.S. adults used at least one social media site.[1] Ten years later, that number increased to almost 80%.[2] Facebook, which is the most popular […]
Blockchain Technology: Potential to Change the Landscape of Transactional Law
By Jennifer Carter, Feature Editor If you are unfamiliar with blockchain technology and will be practicing law in the next five years, you should educate yourself yesterday. This groundbreaking development in technology has the potential to revolutionize the way attorneys approach contracts and transactions. The technology provides an unchangeable record […]
Data Monetization Without Compensation
By Kyle Steenland, Feature Editor The contemporary Wild West pans for its gold not through the streams of Mother Nature, but rather through the streams of internet connections created in the 1990s. This panning has yielded a New Age commodity: data. The value of this digital data rush rivals that […]
EU’s GDPR Places a Global Check on Data Collection Practices
By Natalia Holliday, Editor-in-Chief The digital age brought the digitization of just about every aspect of our lives into data points, to be analyzed and used by businesses, researchers, and the government to further their respective causes. Our “digital fingerprints” allow entities to predict our behaviors en masse and target […]
Decoding the Video Game End User License Agreement
By Stephen Hodzic, Staff Writer Watch any gamer as they make their initial purchase of a game. The rush and excitement of preparing to be able to play it is comparable to waiting to open a Christmas gift. Typically, gamers must wait to “unwrap” (download or install) the gift, even […]
Uber Drivers Aim to Steer Third Circuit Toward Employee Classification
By David Zvirman, Staff Writer Today, just about every one of us has taken a ride in an Uber or Lyft.[1] Some have even driven for one of these companies, hoping to make a buck in the growing gig economy. Most, however, have likely never considered whether these drivers […]