Court in Puerto Rico relies on article by Professor Soucek and Remington Lamons '18

The U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico relied on a 2018 article by Professor Brian Soucek and Remington Lamons ’18 in deciding how high the burden is on defendants wanting to plead affirmative defenses in federal court.

In a study of 925 cases across the country, Soucek and Lamons found that judges had imposed a lower burden 62% of the time, although this varied greatly by region. The court in Puerto Rico quoted their results and decided that to promote “uniformity in federal pleading requirements,” it too would choose the lower burden.

Professor Soucek’s primary teaching and research interests are antidiscrimination law, civil procedure, constitutional law, and refugee/asylum law. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Mark R. Kravitz in Connecticut, and Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.