Notable scholarship and activity from the Pitt Law faculty
Notable scholarship and activity from the Pitt Law faculty
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Faculty Impact                                      March 2017

Deborah Brake Delivers Keynote Address at Major Title IX Conference

Professor Deborah Brake delivered the keynote address at the University of Tennessee College of Law’s conference on March 2 in honor of Coach Pat Summitt, “Title IX: History, Legacy, and Controversy,” held in Knoxville, Tennessee. The title of Brake’s keynote address was “Living up to a Legacy: Title IX’s Challenge for Women’s Leadership.” The conference addressed Title IX issues regarding athletics and education, campus sexual assault, procedural and evidentiary issues in sexual assault cases, and media coverage of Title IX issues. It was sponsored by the University of Tennessee College of Law, the Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender & Social Justice, and Law Women.

Pulitzer-winning Author David Garrow's Biography of President Barack Obama To Be Released May 9

Pitt Law Professor and Pulitzer-winning biographer David Garrow has been working on a comprehensive 1,500 page biography of President Barack Obama's life for the last nine years. The book, Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, will be released May 9.
Commenting to The Daily Beast, Garrow said, "I think that people irrespective of their political views or partisan identification will be astonished—I cannot say that too strongly—will be profoundly astonished by how much important substance of Barack Obama’s life has not previously been known."

New Faculty Publications

Ronald Brand, Arbitration or Litigation? Private Choice As a Political Matter, 8 Yearbook on Arbitration and Mediation 20-44 (2016).
Vivian Curran, Law and Human Suffering: A Slice of Life of Vichy France, 28 Law and Literature 1 (2017).
Arthur Hellman, Statement on ‘Bringing Justice Closer to the People: Examining Ideas for Restructuring the Ninth Circuit,’ Hearing Before the House Committee on the Judiciary -- Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, March 16, 2017, U. of Pittsburgh Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2017-03.
Michael Madison, “Understanding Access to Things: A Knowledge Commons Perspective,” Intellectual Property and Access to Im/material Goods, (eds. JC Lai & AM Dominicé) (Edward Elgar, 2016).

Speaking Engagements

Elena Baylis presented her research on international rule of law initiatives at the IntLawGrrls 10th anniversary conference at the University of Georgia Law School on March 3. Baylis was one of the original founding contributors to the IntLawGrrls blog, which provides a forum for women who study or work on international law and policy.
Matiangai Sirleaf presented at Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia, PA in Feb. 2017. She was one of the invited guest speakers for the 2017 International Law Colloquium. Sirleaf presented her draft article “Ebola Does Not Fall from the Sky: Global Structural Violence and International Responsibility.”
Ronald Brand participated as a member of the U.S. Delegation in the Second Special Commission on Judgments of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 16-24.

Pitt Law Hosts 24th Annual McLean Lecture: Cyber Law, Policy and Security Issues in the New Age of Nationalism

24th Annual McLean Lecture: Cyber Law, Policy and Security Issues in the New Age of Nationalism
Former U.S. Attorney David Hickton and Professor Ronald Brand introduced the 24th Annual McLean Lecture: Cyber Law, Policy and Security Issues in the New Age of Nationalism at Pitt Law. The honored guest lecturer was Luke Dembosky, Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security and DOJ representative to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

Gerald Dickinson Publishes Op-Ed in Washington Post Addressing President Trump's Border Wall Proposal

The Washington Post published an op-ed by Pitt Law Professor Gerald Dickinson concerning President Trump's plan for a wall along the Mexican border. The op-ed entitled, "The biggest problem for Trump's border wall isn't money. It's getting the land," addresses the legal complexities and eminent domain issues border wall construction would entail.
Dickinson writes, "Trump's real difficulty will be in getting permission from property owners to build the wall — no matter how much money it takes — and the land wars that will bog down his plans."

Faculty In The News

Ronald Brand’s op-ed, “Engaging the world through the rule of law: The U.S. system should remain inspiring across the globe,” was published in the Feb. 20 edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Mary Crossley was interviewed by Modern Healthcare magazine/website regarding the legal implications of statements by the CEO of the Mayo Clinic that the non-profit health system would prioritize treating privately insured patients over publicly insured patients. 
Mary Crossley, with Professors Bill Eskridge (Yale) and Robin Fretwell Wilson (Illinois), co-authored an op-ed titled “Thinking Like Millennials” in the March 15 edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The op-ed introduced the themes explored at a panel at the Law School on March 16 titled “Religion and Gay Marriage: Do They Have to be at Odds?” Eskridge and Wilson spoke on the panel, and Crossley moderated.
Anthony C. Infanti spoke to The Morning Call on March 15 regarding the feasibility of taxing March Madness brackets in Pennsylvania.
Jules Lobel was quoted in the March issue of Washington Monthly about David Cole, the national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Rhonda Wasserman was quoted in March 22 issue of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review on the significance of a jury verdict in favor of a doctor accused of performing an unnecessary stent procedure.
Rhonda Wasserman's article Dueling Class Actions, 80 B.U. L. Rev. 461, 486-87 (2000) was cited in an opinion of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in the case Bartolucci v. 1-800 Contacts, Inc., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44928 (D.D.C. March 28, 2017).
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