You have to write for two different prompts. I will attach class notes and homework and readings that need to be used for the citations/sources. I can only course materials and a little bit of research for the first prompt the professor said. ONLY read the highlighted parts of the file with cases that I attached, as said in the title. I’m also adding a Coase Theorem example from the professor to do prompt 2.
1. Cause Lawyering (about 700–900 words)
The following happens to you early in your life in your city: Your father passes away and your mother’s boyfriend moves in with you, your mother, your ailing grandmother, and your three sisters. The city zoning board learns that you all are living together in a five-bedroom house that your mother owns outright (no loan on the house). The house is in good shape, and even though the adults work and are busy, the lawn and exterior are kept in great shape.
However, the zoning board notifies your mother that the house is restricted to “single-family residences,” and because your mother’s boyfriend is not a spouse or blood relative, your mother must pay the city $50 in fees every month.
You decide that you want to change the law because this strikes you as unfair. You become a lawyer and are seeking a sensible way to change the law as an attorney.
Please rigorously draw on and cite course materials and any other law-and-society research you might do to evaluate different approaches you might take to changing the law as an attorney as well as their advantages and disadvantages. Include a discussion of the implications of taking on a government entity.
Second prompt is:
2. Wolves on the Loose (about 600–800 words)
Efforts to reintroduce and protect gray wolves into the United States have been controversial. Farmers often argue that U.S. protection efforts essentially deny them of their property when wolves attack or eat their livestock. Conservationists argue that suppressing wolf populations does untold damage to the environment, as natural prey (deer, beavers, etc.) run amok, destroying forested and riparian ecosystems.
A current (hypothetical) proposal recommends the government be obligated to pay farmers a fixed amount of money every time they lose livestock to a wolf. Currently the average farmer’s preference is to shoot any wolf that comes onto their land—the farmer gets about $500 a week in sales of their livestock if no wolves eat them. If the farmer doesn’t get to shoot wolves, the farmer gets some vague environmental benefit worth about $5/week. The government does get some economic value if the farmer can shoot wolves: sales tax revenue of about $10/week. The government also suffers economic loss if wolves eat some livestock. However, the government stands to gain a net present value of $525/week in future environmental benefit if it forbids farmers from shooting the wolves.
Please rigorously draw on and cite course materials for the following:
Please make a table with numbers and explain what to expect, assuming the Coase Theorem applies, if the proposal passes.
Describe the assumptions required for the Coase Theorem to apply.
Describe what might happen if the program is adopted, given the limitations we discussed.
Briefly propose a qualitative research study along the lines of Ellickson that would help us understand whether the program would be effective.
