Professor of Law Katherine White was re-elected to the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan on November 7.
Distinguished Professor of Law Robert Sedler gave a videoconference presentation on November 1 to judges and staff of the Michigan Court of Appeals in Detroit, Troy, Lansing, and Grand Rapids on "Last Term's United States Supreme Court Decisions Relevant to the Work of the Court of
Appeals."
On November 2, Professor Sedler gave a speech, "The Supreme Court Today," to the Institute of Retired Professionals, Jewish Community Center, in Oak Park, Michigan.
On November 9, Professor Sedler did a presentation, "Civil Liberties and the War on Terrorism," for the Wayne State University Society of Active Retirees Program, Oakland Center, Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Law John Rothchild spoke on a panel at the University of Michigan Law School called "MySpace and Your Facebook: Is Poking a Tort and Other Social Networking Dilemmas," which explored legal issues arising from social networking websites.
Assistant Professor of Law Noah Hall spoke at the United Nations / IUCN Environmental Law Colloquium in New York in October. The Colloquium brought together leading environmental officials and scholars from around the world, and many of the sessions were held at the UN building in Manhattan. He presented a paper entitled "The Evolving Role of Citizens in United States-Canadian International Environmental Law Compliance." The paper will appear in an upcoming volume published by the Cambridge University Press and a special peer-reviewed edition of the Pace Environmental Law Review.
Professor of Law Gregory Fox spoke at the United Nations / IUCN Environmental Law Colloquium in New York in October. The Colloquium brought together leading environmental officials and scholars from around the world, and many of the sessions were held at the UN building in Manhattan. He presented a paper entitled "The Evolving Role of Citizens in United States-Canadian International Environmental Law Compliance." The paper will appear in an upcoming volume published by the Cambridge University Press and a special peer-reviewed edition of the Pace Environmental Law Review.
Steven Davidoff published an op-ed, "Regulating the Fair in Fairness Opinions," in The Deal, Nov. 20, 2006.
Professor Davidoff also participated on the following panels:
"How Much is Enough? U.S. Securities Regulation in the Face of Global Capital Markets," Panel Chair, ABILA International Law Weekend 2006 (Oct. 27, 2006); and
"Oh, The Places You'll Go! European Takeover Law," presented as a speaker on the International M&A panel, ABILA International Law Weekend 2006 (Oct. 27, 2006).
Professor Davidoff was appointed to the Michigan State Bar Committee on Business Law, Section on Corporations, and to Business Corporations Act Revision Subcommittee.
Assistant Professor of Law Susan Cancelosi gave a presentation on "The Position of the Elderly after Part D, and How Private Employer Experience Might Preserve Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage" at Marquette University Law School's 2006 Colloquium on Current Scholarship in Labor and Employment Law on October 27.
Professor of Law William Burnham just returned from teaching the course on American Law at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands on the WSU-Maastricht exchange program. The course used the just-completed 2006 edition of his West book, Introduction to the Law and Legal System of the United States, a book written especially for foreign lawyers and law students. A Russian edition of the same book was just published in Moscow by Novaya Justitsia Publishing House (there are also Ukrainian and Chinese editions).
While at Maastricht, he also gave a talk to the faculty on "Suing Governments in the US and the EU," which emphasized the availability of relief in the EU pursuant to the European Court's decisions in Francovich v. Italy and the difficulties of obtaining relief when suing states in the US because of sovereign immunity. He also spoke in the class on Comparative Criminal Procedure on Criminal Procedure in Russia. Peter Bal, the teacher of that class, is slated to teach Comparative Criminal Procedure at WSU next year.
In October, Professor Burnham traveled to Russia to meet with the Working Group on the Criminal Procedure Code to discuss possible amendments to the pretrial investigation stage. His participation was sponsored by the US Department of Justice.
In November, he spoke at a conference marking the five-year anniversary of the Russian Criminal Procedure Code of 2001 held at the Russian State Legal Academy in Moscow. His invitation to the conference was based on his participation in the Working Group in mark-up sessions throughout 2000 and 2001.
Through Professor Burnham's efforts, a post-graduate Russian legal scholar, Irina Krylatova, was approved in October by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science to do research on her dissertation at WSU law school. Her research topic is "Protection of Property Interests in the Russian Federation and the USA." She will be in residence at WSU law school during the winter semester, 2007, and will stay on the law school floor of the Towers. Her visit is financed by a competitive "Russian Federation Presidential Fellowship Grant" administered by the Ministry. She is one of only 100 scholars selected for the grant nationwide. She hails from Ekaterinburg, Russia.
Professor of Law Laura Bartell has been appointed by the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges to serve as a member of the Advisory Board to the American Bankruptcy Law Journal.
Derek Bambauer assisted with an Amnesty International report, "Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, A Tightening Net, Web-based Repression and Censorship." The report was published on October 22 together with a link to a Web action on Amnesty International's website (http://web.amnesty.org/pages/vnm-221006-action-eng) focusing on prisoners of conscience Nguyen Vu Binh and Truong Quoc Huy.
Walter S. Gibbs Professor of Constitutional Law Steven Winter participated in a Symposium on Using Metaphor in Legal Analysis and Communication held at the Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law in Macon, GA, presenting a paper, "Re-Embodying Law," on the role of metaphor in legal analysis.