Spotlight Feature: Brandon Young Graduation Year: 2011 WLR Position: Articles Editor Brandon Young is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and currently leads the Government and Regulatory practice group. Prior to joining Manatt and after graduating from law school, Brandon was an associate here in Seattle at Oles Morrison Rinker & Baker, specializing in government contracts. As a WLR alumnus, Brandon attributes his growth as an attorney to his journal experience, which has honed his ability to identify emerging legal issues critical for clients’ unde ..read more

Abstract: Companies use everyday applications and personal devices to collect deeply personal information about a user’s body and health. While this “intimate health data” includes seemingly innocuous information about fitness activities and basic vitals, it also includes extremely private information about the user’s health, such as chronic conditions and reproductive health. However, consumers have no established rights over the intimate health data shared on their devices. Believing that these technologies are created for their benefit, consumers hand over the most intimate aspects ..read more

Abstract: Death is difficult—even for lawyers who counsel clients on end-of-life planning. The predominant approach to counseling clients about death relies too heavily on traditional notions of personal autonomy and a nearly impenetrable right to be free from interference by others. Rooted in these notions, contracts called “advance directives” emerged as the primary tool for choosing one’s final destiny. Nevertheless, advance directives are underutilized and ineffective because many people are mired in death anxiety, indecision, and the weight of planning for a hypothetical illness. In t ..read more

Abstract: Substantive due process provides heightened protection from government interference with enumerated constitutional rights and unenumerated—but nevertheless “fundamental”—rights. To date, the United States Supreme Court has never recognized any property right as a fundamental right for substantive due process purposes. But in Yim v. City of Seattle, a case recently decided by the Ninth Circuit, landlords and tenant screening companies argued that the right to exclude from one’s property should be a fundamental right. Yim involved a challenge to Seattle’s Fair Chance Housing O ..read more

JANUARY 11, 2024 Washington Law Review will soon be seeking submissions from current UW Law students for publication in Washington Law Review Online. One selected paper will be published in Washington Law Review Online as a student comment, and the author will win a prize of $1,000, thanks to law firm Lane Powell. The accepted paper will go through rounds of edits by WLR editors during Spring Quarter, and be published in 2024. Student Eligibility WLR will accept submissions from UW Law students who are currently 2Ls, 3Ls, LLMs, or MJs. We will also not accept submissions from current WLR m ..read more

Abstract: Article 17 of both the Montreal Convention and its predecessor, the Warsaw Convention, imposes liability onto air carriers for certain injuries and damages from “accidents” incurred by passengers during international air carriage. However, neither Convention defines the term “accident.” While the United States Supreme Court opined that, for the purposes of Article 17, an air carrier’s liability “arises only if a passenger’s injury is caused by an unexpected or unusual event or happening that is external to the passenger,” it did not explain what standards lower courts should empl ..read more

Abstract: Climate change is the greatest existential crisis of our time. Yet, to date, Congress has failed to enact the broad-sweeping policies required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the rate scientists have deemed necessary to avoid devastating consequences for our planet and all those who inhabit it. In the absence of comprehensive legislative action to solve the climate crisis, the executive branch has become more creative in the use of its authorities under bedrock environmental statutes to develop new climate regulations. Environmental advocates, states, and industry groups th ..read more

Abstract: This Article argues that the administrative state’s most acute constitutional fault is its routine failure to comply with the Seventh Amendment. Properly understood, that Amendment establishes an independent limitation on congressional authority to designate jurisdiction to juryless tribunals, and its dictate as to “Suits at common law” refers to all federal legal rights regardless of forum. Agencies’ use of binding, juryless adjudication fails these requirements and must be reformed. But this does not mean dismantling the administrative state; it is possible (indeed, necessary ..read more

Abstract: According to the sole normative foundation for trademark protection—“search costs” theory—trademarks transmit useful information to consumers, enabling an efficient marketplace. The marketplace, however, is in the midst of a fundamental change. Increasingly, retail is virtual, marketing is data-driven, and purchasing decisions are automated by AI. Predictive analytics are changing how consumers shop. Search costs theory no longer accurately describes the function of trademarks in this marketplace. Consumers now have numerous digital alternatives to trademarks that more efficientl ..read more

DECEMBER 30, 2023 The ME Department of Washington Law Review alongside the Diversity Committee and other department representatives of WLR proudly present the new 2024 WLR Style Guide. This Style Guide is to be used going forward with edits for Volume 99 and reflects a larger effort to reorganize the Style Guide for accessibility and to be a more user-friendly document by organizing it in alphabetical order with clear rule numbers. You can see the new 2024 WLR Style Guide here. Other Recent News from Washington Law Review July 10, 2022 in NEWS ANNUAL BANQUET ANNOUNCEMENT APRIL 15, 2021 ..read more