My Profile Search Directory Submit News Contact Us Logout Alumni Home
Spring 2008UVA Lawyer - Home
Class NotesIn MemoriamIn PrintFaculty Briefs Home
Twitter

 
E-mail  E-mail   print  Print

Faculty Briefs


Ken AbrahamIn March, the Harvard University Press published Ken Abraham’s book, The Liability Century;Insurance and Tort Law from the Progressive Era to 9/11.

In the book, Abraham explores the development and interdependency ofthe tort liability regime and the insurance system in the UnitedStates during the twentieth century and beyond, including the events of September 11, 2001.

Abraham’s book claims that from its beginning late in the nineteenth century, theavailability of liability insurance led to the creation of newforms of liability, heavily influenced expansion of theliabilities that already existed, and continually promotedincreases in the amount of money that was awarded in tort suits. A“liability-and-insurance spiral” emerged, in which theavailability of liability insurance encouraged the imposition ofmore liability, and, in turn, the imposition of liabilityencouraged the further spread of insurance.

Liability insurance was not merely a source of funding forever-greater amounts of tort liability—liability insurers came todominate tort litigation. They defended lawsuits against theirpolicyholders, and they decided which cases to settle, fight, orappeal. The very idea behind insurance––that spreading lossesamong large numbers of policyholders is desirable––came toinfluence the ideology of tort law. To serve the aim of lossspreading, liability had to expand.

Today the tort liability and insurance systems constantlyinteract, and to reform one, the role of the other must be fullyunderstood.

Margo BagleyMargo Bagley has published “Patents and Technology Commercialization: Issues and Opportunities,” a book chapter in volume 18, Advances In The Study Of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Growth (Gary Libecap, ed., Elsevier Science and Technology Books 2007).

In March 2007, she was a panelist at the Kauffman Workshop on Graduate Education in Technology Commercialization and the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Last July, Bagley taught in the George Washington University Munich Summer Intellectual Property Program at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany.

In October, she presented “A Global Controversy: Issues in Patenting Life” at the Roger Williams School of Law in Bristol, R.I., and also at the J.B. Moore International Law Society at the Law School in November.

In March, Bagley presented “Challenges Facing Entrepreneurs in Licensing and Enforcing Patents” at the Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Symposium held at the University of California-Berkeley Center for Law and Technology; and “Patents, Stem Cells and Morality: Issues in the U.S. and Beyond” at the Symposium on Embryonic Stem Cells, Clones, and Genes: Science, Law, Politics, and Values at Hofstra University School of Law.

Michal BarzuzaMichal Barzuza will be presenting her paper “Signaling a Lemon: the Decision not to Cross-List and High Private Benefits of Control” at the annual conference of the American Law and Economics Association in May at Columbia Law School. She presented the same paper at the last annual conference of the American Law and Economics Association in May 2007 at Harvard. Her paper, “Delaware’s Compensation,” will be published in the Virginia Law Review in May.

Lillian VeVierLillian BeVier participated in a symposium at Pepperdine University School of Law on April 4 entitled "Free Speech and Press in the Modern Age" which asks the question whether 20th century theory bears the weight of 21st century demands. In addition, BeVier continues her service on the board of directors of the Legal Services Corporation.

Richard Bonnie '69 In October, Richard Bonnie ’69 received the Thomas Jefferson Award during UVA’s Fall Convocation. Bonnie was the 54th winner of the award, the University’s highest honor, which has been given annually since 1955 to a member of the University community who exemplifies in character, work, and influence the principles and ideals of Jefferson, and thus advances the objectives for which he founded the University.

In November, Bonnie was honored as one of the “Leaders in the Law, 2007” by Virginia Lawyer’s Weekly.

Much of Bonnie’s energy in the past six months was devoted to his work as chair of the Commission on Mental Health Law Reform, established by the Supreme Court of Virginia in the fall of 2006 to conduct a comprehensive study of Virginia’s mental health legislation and the accessibility of mental health services. The Commission issued a preliminary report, outlining a blueprint for reform, responding to the mental health recommendations by the Governor’s Virginia Tech Review Panel, and including specific proposals for consideration by the Virginia General Assembly in 2008. Bonnie made 14 public presentations to various Virginia audiences regarding the Commission’s work. His audiences included the Senate of Virginia, the Associated Press, members of the Virginia Bar at the Virginia Bar Association Annual Meeting in Williamsburg, and the Psychiatric Society of Virginia. He also presented a paper at a conference at Columbia University entitled “Troubled Students and the Law in Distress” on April 4.

In October, Bonnie testified on tobacco regulation before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health and the Environment. He was testifying on behalf of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine regarding the recently released study that he chaired. The IOM report wasentitled Ending the Tobacco Problem: Blueprint for the Nation. He also gave the keynote address at the Triennial Conference on Tobacco Policy in Seattle, sponsored by the National Association of Attorneys General under the Master Settlement Agreement, and presented“Gun Control and Mental Illness” at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Miami Beach.

In February, Bonnie delivered the keynote presentation in Charlottesville at UVA’s All-University Retreat, Fostering Public Service at the University of Virginia.

Bonnie has also published with co-authors John Jeffries ’73 and Peter Low ’63 The Trial of John W. Hinckley, Jr.: A Case Study in the Insanity Defense, Third Edition (Foundation Press, 2008) (previous editions, 2000 and 1986); and (with Wright, S.) “Legal Authority to Preserve Organs in Cases of Uncontrolled Cardiac Death: Preserving Family Choice,” Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics (in press, 2008).

Tomiko Brown-NaginTomiko Brown-Nagin published “Missouri v. Jenkins: Why District Courts and Local Politics Matter,” in Civil Rights Stories, Foundation Press.

In October, Brown-Nagin was on a panel at the Annual Conference of the American Society for Legal History in Tempe, Ariz., discussing “Friends of the Court: History Meets Law.” She also gave a workshop presentation on “Pragmatic Civil Rights” at Harvard Law School’s Legal History Colloquium, and was on a Law School panel discussing “Marching Toward Justice: Legal Aid and the Civil Rights Movement, 1967-2007.”

In January, she was on a panel called “New Voices in Legal History” for the Section on Legal History at the AALS Annual Meeting in New York, and she moderated a panel on “De Facto Segregation: Regional Fallacies, Racial Myths, Historical Practices” at the American Historical Association’s Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. In February, Brown-Nagin gave the keynote address at Longwood University commemorating African American History Month.

In March, she presented "Legal Dead Ends and the Case for the Civil Rights Act of 1964" in a workshop at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law; and “The Marriage of Civil Rights Lawyers and Demonstrators, 1961-1964,” in a workshop at the American University School of Law.

In June, Brown-Nagin will serve on a panel at the “Citizenship” session at the AALS Conference on Constitutional Law in Cleveland and as a commentator on Risa Goluboff’s The Lost Promise of Civil Rights at a “Meet the Author” Roundtable at the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting in Montreal.

George CohenGeorge Cohen is on leave this semester to work as a consultant to the legal department of Ellington Management Group, a hedge fund in Old Greenwich, Conn.

Cohen participated in a January panel discussion at the American Enterprise Institute discussing the Vioxx settlement.He is visiting the University of Pittsburgh in April as the inaugural Edgar M. Snyder Distinguished Visiting Scholar, which brings distinguished scholars in the field of legal ethics to the school for two days. Cohen will be discussing the Vioxx case as well as his work on side agreements, which was the subject of his chair lecture last year.

Kim Forde-MazruiIn April 2007, Kim Forde-Mazrui delivered a lecture at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The talk, “Post-Michigan, Now What? The Future of Diversity-Focused Outreach in Higher Education,” explored how the Supreme Court's 2003 decisions in Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger will likely affect diversity at Virginia Tech and other public universities. Forde-Mazrui traced the history of Equal Protection Doctrine as it pertains to race, culminating in an analysis of the legality of affirmative action today.

Also in April 2007, Forde-Mazrui participated on a panel entitled, “Civil Rights: Where Do We Go From Here?” The panel was part of a symposium hosted by UVA's Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies entitled, “Celebrating the Legacy, Scholarship and Future of the Woodson Institute,” to commemorate the Institute's 25th anniversary. In his remarks, Forde-Mazrui discussed legal and political challenges in the contemporary quest for substantive racial equality and explored a range of potential strategies for future civil rights advocates.

In September, Forde-Mazrui gave a presentation on affirmative action at the annual “Newcomers” conference hosted by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) in Philadelphia. The talk educated the audience of new admissions officers from law schools across the country on the legal challenges facing race-conscious admission practices under federal constitutional law. Forde-Mazrui also completed a two-year stint on LSAC's Test Development and Research Committee.

Also in September, Forde-Mazrui gave a presentation entitled “Ruling Out the Rule of Law: Delegating Standardless Discretion Through Specific Rules” on a panel at the Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference at Southern New England School of Law, in North Dartmouth, Mass. The talk was based on an article Forde-Mazrui published in October.

In November, Forde-Mazrui debated Brigham Young University Law Professor Lynn Wardle at the Law School on the risks of same-sex marriage and adoption by gay parents. Forde-Mazrui argued, among other points, that the purported risks of same-sex marriage for children are statistically less common and no more substantiated than the risks to children from many marital arrangements that are legal, such as marriages by veterans, police officers, and people who live in “red” bible-belt states.

In February, Forde-Mazrui presented on a panel at the University of Michigan Law School during a conference entitled “From Proposition 209 to Proposal 2: Examining the Effects of Anti-Affirmative Action Voter Initiatives.” Forde-Mazrui's remarks, entitled “Alternative Action,” examined various arguments for and against the pursuit of affirmative action through race-neutral means under both federal constitutional law and Michigan's recent amendment to the state constitution banning racial preferences in the public sector.

Brandon GarrettIn March, Brandon Garrett testified before U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, saying that courts and prosecutors need more guidance on how to regulate agreements allowing the use of private attorneys to monitor corporate fraud settlements. Garrett became an expert on the issue after investigating deferred prosecution agreements for an article that was published in the current issue of the Virginia Law Review (and In Brief, the journal's online magazine). He and the Law School's library staff conducted an exhaustive search to find information on the more than 70 agreements made since the U.S. Department of Justice endorsed the practice in 2003 as an avenue for prosecuting corporate crime, not long after the Enron scandal brought the need for increased government monitoring to light. (See full story at www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2008_spr/garrett.htm.)

In September, Garrett gave a presentation titled "Improper use of Forensic Science in the First 200 Post-Conviction DNA Exonerations" to the National Academy of Science Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Sciences Community, with Peter J. Neufeld, co-director of The Innocence Project. He also presented a paper titled "Claiming Innocence,"forthcoming in the 2008 Minnesota Law Review, at the University of Georgia School of Law and at the Law School in August.

In January, his article "Judging Innocence" was published in the Columbia Law Review.In February, Garrett submitted a report co-authored with Neufeld to the same NAS committee, titled "The Incidence of Improper Forensic Science Testimony in the Criminal Trials of the Innocent." In March, Garrett presented an essay, “Corporate Confessions,” (forthcoming in the Cardozo Law Review,) at Cardozo Law School’s symposium "The Future of Self-Incrimination: Fifth Amendment, Confessions, & Guilty Pleas."

Risa GoluboffRisa Goluboff published Civil Rights Stories (co-edited with Myriam Gilles, Foundation Press, 2008), and in that volume wrote: “Brown v. Board of Education and The Lost Promise of Civil Rights.” She also gave a number of presentations in the fall and winter: “New Voices in Legal History” at the American Association of Law Schools 2008 Annual Meeting; “An Interdisciplinary and Intergenerational Conversation about Constitutional History” at the American Political Science Association 2007 Annual Meeting; “The Lost Promise of Civil Rights” at the Race and Class in Metropolitan America Colloquium at the University of California, Santa Barbara (November 2007); “The Lost Promise of Civil Rights” on a panel to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Little Rock incident at the University of Richmond (November 2007); “Of Vagrants and Wanderers: History and Mythology in Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville” in a symposium called “Law’s History: How Law Understands the Past” at the University of Alabama (October 2007); and “The Lost Promise of Civil Rights” at the Legal History Colloquium, University of Minnesota Law School (October 2007). Goluboff chaired the program committee at the American Society for Legal History 2007 Annual Meeting.

Goluboff also presented her book to a number of public audiences and appeared on radio shows across the country (even Irish National Radio). She discussed with a variety of media outlets not only her book but also Martin Luther King, Jr., and the issue of race in the presidential election. Goluboff’s book has received favorable reviews in the American Lawyer, Choice, the Law & Politics Book Review, and Democracy: A Journal of Ideas.

Rachel HarmonRachel Harmon wrote an article entitled "A Justification Theory of Police Violence" published this spring in Northwestern University Law Review.

John HarrisonJohn Harrison is serving as Counselor on International Law for the Legal Adviser at the State Department, replacing Paul Stephan ’77.

A.E. Dick HowardIn Warsaw, a team of scholars and jurists at work on a revision of Poland's Constitution has invited A.E. Dick Howard ’61 to be their outside expert. They especially want his input on defining and enforcing rights and on the shape of Poland's judiciary, drawing upon comparative insights from constitutionalism in the United States and Europe. In working with the Polish revisors, Howard will also build upon the work he did with constitution makers in Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of communism in 1989.

This winter, Howard completed and submitted an article, "The Road from Monticello: The Influence of the American Constitutional Experience in Other Lands." This paper will be published with others that were presented at a spring 2007 conference, "The Call for a New World Order: Thomas Jefferson's Separation of Church and State," sponsored by Monticello, the University of Virginia, and Colonial Williamsburg at the Archbishop's Palace in Prague.

In recent months, Howard has given several lectures. At the Supreme Court, he lectured on "Justice Souter and the Supreme Court" to newly elected Rhodes Scholars and other guests at a session sponsored by the Association of American Rhodes Scholars. In that lecture, Howard emphasized the influence of David Souter's study of jurisprudence at Oxford, especially English legal history, on his opinions as a justice.

In North Carolina, Howard gave the inaugural Sandra Day O'Connor Lecture at Elon University. His subject was "The Changing Face of the Supreme Court." Elon University has a new law school, dedicated by Justice O'Connor, and Howard’s lecture was the first in what will be an annual series of lectures in her honor. In his lecture, Howard traced the Supreme Court from the liberal activist days of the Warren Court to the more conservative bent of the Rehnquist and Roberts Courts.

In Richmond, under the auspices of the Council for America's First Freedom, Howard lectured on "The Supreme Court and the Serpentine Wall." In this lecture, he considered the legacy of Thomas Jefferson's Statute for Religious Freedom, its influence on the Supreme Court's Establishment Clause jurisprudence, and the drift in recent Supreme Court cases away from a strict wall of separation toward a more relaxed view of the relations between religion and government.

Also in Richmond, under the auspices of James Madison's Montpelier, Howard lectured on "How Constitutional Ideas Travel." In this lecture, Howard examined the manner in which Madison drew upon ideas from the Old World in shaping his proposals for an American Constitution and then, in turn, the ways in which peoples in other countries have drawn upon the American constitutional experience in drafting their constitutions.

At the National Archives in Washington, Howard was the keynote speaker at ceremonies marking the return of Magna Carta to the Archives. A generous donor, David Rubenstein, purchased the copy of Magna Carta now on display at the Archives—the only copy of the Charter not in England. Howard traced Magna Carta and its principles through the upheavals of seventeen-century England, the colonial charters in America (especially the Virginia Company Charter of 1606), and the revolutionary era in eighteenth-century America, to the founding period of American constitutionalism.

Also in Washington, Howard presented a paper, "To Begin the World Anew," at the Literary Society. Taking his theme from Thomas Paine's Common Sense, Howard considered the inspiration that American ideas, especially in the periods of revolution andof the making of the state and federal constitutions, had on constitutional debates in places such asrevolutionary France.

Howard also gave the Hugo L. Black lecture at the University of Alabama. Having clerked for Justice Black, Howard was especially honored to be asked to give a lecture named for him. In the lecture, "The Struggle for the Supreme Court," Howard recreated a sense of what the Supreme Court was like when he clerked in the days of the Warren Court. He then recounted conservative efforts—especially in the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and the two Bushes—to overturn much of the work of the Warren Court and what the results of those efforts have been.

Deena HurwitzThis fall, Deena Hurwitz, Human Rights Program Director, wrote with International Human Rights Clinic students, solicited amici, and filed a Brief of United States Member of Congress and Law Professors as Amici Curiae In Support of Plaintiffs-Appellants and Reversal of the District Court’s Decision in Yousef et al v. Samantar. The case is now on appeal to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

She also wrote with Stephen Smith ’92 and pro bono students, solicited amici, and filed a Brief of Amici Curiae International Law, Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, and Immigration Law Professors in support of Petitioner, Dalegrand v. Mukasey. The case is now on Appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Hurwitz also spoke to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Universalist Unitarian Church in Charlottesville on “Reading Between the Headlines: Global Impacts of U.S. Policy in the War on Terror.” In February, Hurwitz presented a work in progress, “Politics of Atrocity, What’s Law Got To Do With It? Lessons from the Sabra and Shatila Case in Belgium,” to the Junior International Law Scholars Conference at New York Law School. In March, Hurwitz’s Human Rights Program organized a major conference on "Justice and Legal Reform  in China" at the Law School.

Also in March, the Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic participated in a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights examining the right to education for Afro-descendant and indigenous communities in Washington, D.C. Hurwitz, who teaches the clinic, testified before the Commission on a report assembled by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights in coordination with the Virginia Law clinic and the Cornell School of Law’s International Human Rights Clinic. The 132-page report, which focused on the rights to education and non-discrimination in Guatemala, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, was the culmination of three semesters of work by 14Virginia law students.

Alex JohnsonLexis Publishing published the Second Edition of Alex Johnson’s "Understanding Modern Real Estate" in fall 2007. In addition, his article, “An Economic Analysis of the Duty to Disclose Information: Lessons Learned from the Caveat Emptor Doctrine," will be published in Volume 44 of the San Diego Law Review.

His essay, "Brown's Ambiguous Legacy," in Law Touches the Hearts of Children: A Generation Remembers Brown v. Board of Education, edited by Richard Bonnie and Mildred Robinson, is forthcoming from Vanderbilt University Press.

Johnson gave two faculty workshop presentations in the fall. The first was at the University of San Diego Law School where he presented a paper entitled "A Systematic Analysis of Affirmative Action in American Law Schools, A Reply in Favor of Context." At Arizona State University School of Law he presented a paper entitled, "Knots in the Pipeline for Students of Color: The LSAT is Not the Problem and Affirmative Action is Not the Answer."

Johnson completed the second year of a three year term as President of the Executive Committee of the Order of the Coif. He also participated in the investiture of S. Bernard Goodwyn '86 to the Virginia Supreme Court. Finally, in April, he debated Professor Rick Sander (U.C.L.A. Law) on the efficacy of affirmative action in legal education at the Annual National Conference of Bar Examiners in Portland, Ore.

Michael KlarmanIn January, Mike Klarman gave a talk at UVA’s Miller Center for Public Affairs on his book Unfinished Business: Racial Equality in American History, and in February he gave a kickoff talk on Unfinished Business at the Law School for Black History Month. Also in February, he appeared on “Virginia Insight” with Tom Graham, WMRA (National Public Radio affiliate in Harrisonburg) and at the Philadelphia Free Public Library to discuss Unfinished Business.

In March, Klarman appeared on a panel on civil rights books at the Virginia Festival of the Book to discuss Unfinished Business; and gave a talk on "Civil Liberties During Wartime" at the Judicial Conference of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. In April, Klarman conducted a faculty workshop at the University of Oklahoma School of Law on his “backlash” book project, which considers the political backlash generated by certain prominent Supreme Court rulings.

Doug LeslieDoug Leslie released a contracts study aid on his website, www.MasteringContracts.com. The study aid is full-featured, and offers a replacement for several stand-alone commercial study aids. Mastering Contracts is free to students and represents a substantial cost savings to students who wish to use a study aid during the semester or in examination preparation. Leslie is solely responsible for the study aid’s content and attests to its quality. In the fall semester, the study aid had over 3000 registered users. Leslie hopes that number will grow through word-of-mouth.

M. Elizabeth MagillIn fall 2007, M. Elizabeth Magill ’95 presented a paper at a conference at Vanderbilt Law School entitled “Historical Foundations of the Administrative State,” which described the “public interest” era in American public law, the 1960s and 1970s. She presented a revised version of the paper at Chicago Kent Law School in April. The conference is the first in a series of three conferences that will be held at Vanderbilt, then Virginia Law, then Boalt Hall at Berkeley. Each conference will be about a different aspect of administrative law and governance.

In late 2007, Magill published an article about Presidential signing statements, “The First Word,” in the William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal. It is a revised version of a paper she gave at a conference in early 2007. Magill also authored a book review that will soon be published in the Michigan Law Review. The piece reviews Professor Steven Croley’s book, Regulation and Public Interest: The Possibility of Good Regulatory Government.

Starting in July 2007, Magill served as chair of the Law School Dean Search Committee. President Casteen announced in February that he had appointed Paul Mahoney Dean of the Law School, effective July 1st.

In late May, Magill will teach a short course on American Constitutional Law in Germany.

Greg MitchellGreg Mitchell presented talks at St. Louis University and in the Distinguished Speaker Series at McGeorge School of Law. Mitchell took part in the Law and Psychology Roundtable at Washington University in St. Louis.

Two papers co-authored by Mitchell were published this spring. Adam Hirsch of Florida State University and Mitchell published "Law and Proximity" in the University of Illinois Law Review.This article examines the legal implications of psychological reactions to near miss experiences, such as occur in many bargaining and tort situations. Philip Tetlock of the University of California, Berkeley, and Mitchell published "Calibrating Prejudice in Milliseconds " in the Social Psychology Quarterly. This essay discusses recent research on unconscious sources of prejudice and argues that before we deem unconscious prejudice an inevitable source of individual-level disparate treatment that requires structural solutions such as quotas, researchers need to explore the efficacy of institutional norms and accountability systems in checking unconscious forms of bias.

John Norton MooreJohn Norton Moore reports that the 32nd annual conference co-sponsored by the Center for Oceans Law & Policy was a great success. The conference, entitled "Freedom of Seas, Passage Rights, and the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention," took place in Singapore in January and featured an opening address by Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar. The many excellent papers given at the conference will be published this year by the Center in a volume of the same title through Martinus Nijhoff Press.

In March, Moore delivered a major presentation to the Council on Foreign Affairs on the importance of moving the Law of the Sea Convention forward in the Senate.

Moore and Bob Turner ’81 are putting together a book on terrorism entitled Legal Issues in the Struggle Against Terror. Chapter contributors include Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap, Prof. Fred Hitz, Dean Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, Col. David Graham, Maj. Gen. John Altenburg, Hon. Stewart Baker, Prof. Hays Parks, and Prof. Robert Chesney (forthcoming 2009).

Jeffrey O'ConnellIn September, Jeffrey O’Connell lectured on “Medical Malpractice Law and Its Possible Reform” in the UVA Medical School “Core Competency” lecture series aimed at the school’s residents.

In December, Lexington Books published a book by O’Connell and his brother, Thomas E. O’Connell, President Emeritus, Berkshire (Mass) Community College, Friendships Across Ages: Johnson and Boswell; Holmes and Laski.

In January, O’Connell published with a co-author, Tim Hagen, Ph. D., “With a Poster Case Like the Trial Bar’s, Who Needs Enemies?” in the Drake Law Review. In March, he lectured at a “Crimtorts” symposium at the Widener Law School in Harrisburg, Penn., on “The Large Cost Savings and Other Advantages of a ‘Crimtorts’ Approach to Medical Malpractice Claims,” which paper will be published in the Widener Law Review. O’Connell also lectured at the Law & Economics Program at Vanderbilt Law School on product liability reform. His talk was the subject of a paper he co-authored with Patricia Born, Ph.D., that will be published in the Columbia Business Law Review.

In May, O’Connell will present “A Neo-No Fault Approach to Medical Malpractice Claims” at the Beazley Institute for Health Law & Policy at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. O’Connell is also writing a book entitled A Balanced Recipe For Tort Reform (with co-author, Christopher Robinette), Carolina Academic Press; a book entitled Lawyers, Leaders & Litigants (with co-author, Thomas E. O’Connell), Carolina Academic Press; an article entitled “An Empirical Assessment of Early Offer Reform for Medical Malpractice” (with co-authors, Joni Hersch and Kip Viscusi), forthcoming in the Journal of Legal Studies; and an article entitled “Churchill and the Jews,” (with co-authors, Rita Simon and Thomas E. O’Connell).

Dotan OliarDotan Oliar will present his paper “Intellectual Property Norms in Stand-Up Comedy,” co-authored with Chris Sprigman, at the “IP Without IP Law” conference in Cambridge, Mass.; and at the Annual Conference of the America Law and Economics Association at Columbia Law School, both in May.

Robert O'NeilIn late October, Robert O’Neil shared with New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis a two-day program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where O’Neil was this year's Seacrist Lecturer (in both law and journalism). In October, the Thomas Jefferson Center convened the first conference of directors of First Amendment Center, supported by the Scripps-Howard Foundation and the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center.

At the AALS Annual Meeting in January, O’Neill gave the luncheon speech to the Section on Law and Socio-Economics. In February, the Harvard University Press published O’Neil’s book, Academic Freedom in the Wired World: Political Extremism, Corporate Power and the University. In March, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars sponsored a book discussion at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. O’Neil also spoke in Washington at the second Hillel Summit on the University and the Jewish Community entitled “Imagining a More Civil Society.” In April, he moderated two programs at the National Conference on Trusteeship of the Association of Governing Boards, and was also the speaker at the annual Rotunda dinner of the University’s Jefferson Society.

The Ford Foundation's Difficult Dialogues program, of which O’Neill has been the director from the outset, has been approved and funded by the Foundation's Trustees for an additional two years, through 2010. O’Neill is currently serving as one of three co-editors of the Free Speech Compendium for the National Association of College & University Attorneys. During the winter, he wrote two chapters for books that should appear in 2008: a chapter on “Faculty Issues and Academic Freedom” for a volume on the Duke Lacrosse saga; and a chapter on “Hate Propaganda and the War Against Terror” for a volume (edited by John Norton Moore and Bob Turner ’81) on “Civil Liberties and the War Against Terror.”

Dan OrtizDan Ortiz was nominated to be chair-elect of the Law School Admissions Council. He has also written three articles, one of which has been published and the other two of which are forthcoming: “Democratic Norms, Structures, and Conflict, in International Election Principles” (ABA Press, forthcoming 2008); “Constitutional Meaning, in Thinking of Reading” (forthcoming 2008); and “The Difference Two Justices Make: FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. II and the Destabilization of Campaign Finance Regulation” (1 Alb. Gov. L. Rev. 141 (2008).

George RutherglenGeorge Rutherglen has finished a series of articles on the Thirteenth Amendment and on related civil rights legislation. An essay on the Civil Rights Act of 1866 appears in the volume, Civil Rights Stories, under the title "Civil Rights in Private Schools: The Surprising Story of Runyon v. McCrary." Among the many surprises in this case, one concerns the identity of the plaintiff, Mike McCrary, who was a three-year-old toddler when the case was decided and who since went on to play for the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl. He is now a civic leader in Baltimore.

An article on "The Badges and Incidents of Slavery and the Power of Congress to Enforce the Thirteenth Amendment" will appear in a volume entitled The Promise of Liberty, Columbia University Press. It concerns the scope of congressional power to eliminate the consequences of slavery, known as its "badges and incidents." The phrase itself, however, was commonly used for a different purpose by writers such as Adam Smith. They used it to denote political domination, as Great Britain dominated the American colonies.

A final article on "State Action and the Thirteenth Amendment" will appear in the Virginia Law Review and concerns the scope of federal power under the amendment to regulate private activity. Unlike the Fourteenth Amendment, the Thirteenth Amendment is not limited to "state action" but prohibits all forms of slavery, whether created by the government or by private means. In the course of working on this article, Rutherglen discovered several discrepancies in the text of The Civil Rights Cases from 1883, a leading decision of the Supreme Court on the Thirteenth Amendment. It turns out that comparison of the official version of this opinion with the draft prepared by Justice Bradley shows that at least one major error crept into the published text, confusing the Thirteenth Amendment with the Fourteenth.

Jim RyanIn January, Jim Ryan ’92 spoke about charter schools at a conference on “Education as a Civil Right” at Stanford Law School. In February, he spoke at a conference on merit pay for teachers held at Vanderbilt University.

Ryan has two articles coming out this spring. An article about school finance litigation will appear in the Texas Law Review, and an article about charter schools and public education is forthcoming in the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Ryan has also written a chapter about the legal issues involved in merit pay for teachers, which will appear in a forthcoming book. Lastly, Ryan wrote a commentary about college and university presidents and public education, which appeared in Education Week in January, and a piece about how to fix the No Child Left Behind Act for Slate.com in March.

Rich SchraggerIn the fall, Rich Schragger published “San Antonio v. Rodriguez and the Legal Geography of School Finance Reform” in Civil Rights Stories (Gilles & Goluboff, editors 2007). His paper, “Cities, Economic Development, and the Free Trade Constitution,” will be published in the Virginia Law Review in September. Schragger also presented the paper at the Law School faculty workshop in November. In March, he presented “Liman at the Local Level: Public Interest Advocacy and American Federalism” at the Yale Law School Public Interest Program Colloquium.

Paul StephanIn December, Paul Stephan ’77 finished his term as Counselor on International Law to the Legal Adviser of the State Department and returned to the Law School. He also presented a paper called "Privatizing International Law" to the annual meeting of the International Law in Domestic Courts Interest Group of the American Society of International Law.

In January, Stephan presented the same paper to the Virginia faculty at their annual retreat and will present it to the Potomac Foreign Relations Roundtable at George Washington University Law School in May.

In February, he presented another paper on the states and international law at the University of Missouri as part of a conference called "Revisiting Missouri v. Holland: International Law and Federalism."

At the end of May, Stephan will travel to St. Petersburg as the guest of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Russian Association of International Law, and the International Law Faculty of St. Petersburg University to participate in a discussion of domestic implementation of international humanitarian law.

Rip VerkerkeRip Verkerke is teaching New Directions in Law & Economics at the University of Melbourne this spring. The course is a one-week “intensive subject” focused on topics in the behavioral economic analysis of law and legal policy.

Verkerke will also be a panelist at Seikei University in Tokyo in July at a conference sponsored by the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry. RIETI has an interest in corporate governance and has invited prominent U.S. academics to give presentations on their areas of expertise. Verkerke will be talking about at-will employment. The purpose of the meetings is to draft the rough equivalent of a Japanese Restatement of corporate governance.

Ted WhiteIn September, Ted White and Paul Halliday (UVA History Department) presented "The Suspension Clause: English Text, Imperial Contexts, American Implications" in a workshop at Harvard Law School. The paper appears in the May 2008 issue of the Virginia Law Review.

In April, White delivered the keynote address at a conference on "Neglected Justices" at Vanderbilt Law School. A version of that address, "Neglected Justices: Discounting For History," will appear in a forthcoming 2008 issue of the Vanderbilt Law Review. White also appeared on a panel on the Constitution in a series, "Weekends With History," held at the New York Historical Society's headquarters. The other panelists are Michael Oreskes, executive editor of the International Herald Tribune, and Benno Schmidt, former president of Yale University.

 

Howard Named Among Greatest 20th-Century Virginians

A.E. Dick HowardA Richmond Times-Dispatch and Library of Virginia survey has listed University of Virginia Law Professor A. E. Dick Howard among the greatest and most influential Virginians of the 20th century.

The newspaper’s editorial staff sent a questionnaire across the nation to historians and prominent citizens who study Virginia and its people. A committee then examined the results and further winnowed down selections.

Howard was singled out for authoring Virginia’s current constitution and “is recognized as one of the nation’s premier constitutional lawyers and scholars,” wrote Brent Tarter, a historian and editor with the Library of Virginia.

“A legendary professor in Charlottesville, Howard has also spent much time advising emerging democracies around the globe about how to write their own constitutions. These countries include Brazil, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Albania, Malawi, and South Africa. The structure of democracy was invented by Orange County's James Madison, and it is fitting that neighboring Albemarle's Howard continues the tradition,” he wrote.

The committee named civil rights attorney Oliver W. Hill Sr. as “the greatest” Virginian of the 20th century, while former U.S. senator and Virginia governor Harry F. Byrd Sr. was deemed “most influential.”

Other honored Virginians include President Woodrow Wilson; Gen. George C. Marshall, author of the Marshall Plan; country music’s the Carter Family; Lewis F. Powell, the only Virginian to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States since the 1850s; News Leader editorial cartoonist Jeff MacNelly; Walter Reed, the physician who discovered that mosquitoes were responsible for spreading yellow fever; author Tom Wolfe; and Frank Robert Rowlett, founder of the army's signal intelligence service and former chief of the National Security Agency’s cryptology school.


Nelson Wins All-University Teaching Award

Caleb NelsonCaleb Nelson has won the 2008 All-University Teaching Award. The award honors excellence in teaching and scholarship. “As there could be no more deserving candidate than Caleb,” said Dean John Jeffries, “the award should come as no surprise. Still, it is good to see excellence honored and dedication appreciated from across the University.”

“I am absolutely thrilled by this award,” Nelson said. “I know, though, that literally dozens of my colleagues deserve it as much as or more than I do. One of the many wonderful things about Virginia, and one of the things that sets us apart from many other leading law schools, is that the entire faculty takes teaching very seriously; we recognize the centrality of teaching to what we do, and we all work hard at it.”

Nelson, who joined the law faculty in 1998, teaches federal jurisdiction, civil procedure, constitutional law, and statutory interpretation. In 2000, his article on federal preemption of state law won the Scholarly Papers Competition of the Association of American Law Schools. In 2006, he received the Paul M. Bator Award from the national Federalist Society.

“Caleb Nelson is the ideal of the teacher-scholar,” said Jeffries. “It is his combination of extraordinary classroom performance, coupled with exceptional intellectual sophistication and depth, that I find amazing.”

Nelson’s Federal Courts course is an "unofficial rite of passage at the Law School," said former student Dan Bress ’05.

“There could not be a more fitting recipient for this award,” said Bress, who clerked for the Supreme Court last term. “Professor Nelson is a person of tremendous intellect and extraordinary generosity, and I feel so very grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from him. This award is really the perfect tribute to his incredible dedication to the Law School.”

Previous law faculty recipients of the All-University Teaching Award, which has been offered since 1990, are J. H. (Rip) Verkerke, John C. Harrison, Barry Cushman, Kenneth S. Abraham, Anne M. Coughlin, Paul G. Mahoney, Michael J. Klarman, and Pamela S. Karlan.