Professor of Law Stephen Calkins co-taught a one day session on horizontal restraints at the Fordham Competition Law Institute Refresher Course for Experienced Agency Staff and Judges in New York City this past summer. He also delivered invited testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection on the "Proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency: Implications for Consumers and the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C.

Associate Professor Brad Roth has authored essays for the European Journal of International Law weblog on the "torture memo" controversy and on the current crisis in Honduras. These can be read at < http://www.ejiltalk.org/author/brad-roth/>.

Associate Professor of Law Linda Beale who is serving as vice-chair of the ABA Tax Section Standards of Tax Practice Committee, moderated a panel representative of small, large and in-house practices to discuss the impact of the changes to Circular 230. The panel was part of the ABA Tax Section's fall meeting in Chicago September 25-26. Prof. Beale noted that the initial amendments to Circular 230 drew widespread criticism from practitioners, complaining of a "sea change" to the rules that would wreak havoc on attorney-client relationships and cause enormous additional transaction costs for the simplest planning. The panel concluded that the changes had been less onerous than predicted, and that they had encouraged practitioners to focus on quality control issues that are always worthy of attention. Panelists even suggested that it was time for the Treasury and IRS to just leave the rules alone -more tweaking to address the few remaining complaints would likely just create more problems as practitioners have to adjust their current procedures to suit.

Associate Professor of Law Julia Qin has been honored by the Law School with the Donald H. Gordon Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award was established by friends of Gordon who served as dean of Wayne Law from 1975 to 1980. At Wayne Law, Professor Qin teaches courses on international business transactions, international finance, international trade law and doing business in China. She joined the Wayne Law faculty in 2000.

Distinguished Professor of Law Robert Sedler gave a presentation on September 23 at the Michigan Supreme Court 2009 Judicial Conference, which all Circuit Court and District Court judges are required to attend. Court of Appeals judges are encouraged to attend. Sedler reviewed constitutional decisions rendered during the last year by the United States Supreme Court and the Michigan Supreme Court. His presentation will be available on the Web site of the Michigan Judicial Institute, the educational arm of the Michigan Supreme Court.