C|M|LAW Professor David Forte spoke to a class in Comparative Constitutional Law at the State University of Milan, Italy on May 3, 2012.  For the class of first year Italian law students, about 80 in number, Forte described the differences between accommodation of religion in France and in the United States, with a reference to President Obama’s HHS mandate on Catholic institutions.

On May 7, 2012, Professor Forte spoke on Catholic and Islamic Traditions and the Prospect for Democracy,  at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty.  He analyzed the historical similarities and differences in the way Catholicism and Islam confronted and dealt with or is dealing with the phenomenon of representative democracy.

During his trip to Italy, on May 11, 2012, Professor Forte was interviewed by Xenit, the Catholic News Agency.  His interview with Xenit centered on the significance of the Islamist consolidation of political power in the Middle East.

You may access the interview here:  http://www.zenit.org/article-34761?l=english

Professor Phyllis L. Crocker

C|M|LAW Professor Phyllis L. Crocker and C|M|LAW Adjunct Professor Gordon Friedman have been appointed to the Cuyahoga County Public Defender Commission by Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald.  Their appointments were confirmed by the Cuyahoga County Council on May 22, 2012.   The Public Defender Commission is composed of 5 members.  The Commission recommends an annual operating budget for the Public Defender’s Office, establishes its operational standards, and determines the qualifications and size of the supporting staff in the office in an effort to provide essential legal representation to indigent persons in Cuyahoga County.   Crocker and Friedman were confirmed to serve 4-year terms on the Commission.

Professor Crocker is a recognized authority on the death penalty.  She chaired the American Bar Association’s Ohio Death Penalty Assessment Team that published the report Evaluating Fairness and Accuracy in State Death Penalty Systems:  The Ohio Death Penalty Assessment Report (2007).  She has written extensively on the constitutional, historical and cultural underpinnings of capital punishment.  She is a co-author Katz & Giannelli, Baldwin’s Ohio Practice: Criminal Law (3rd ed., 2009) and is a frequent guest lecturer on capital punishment.   Professor Crocker teaches Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure I and II, Capital Punishment and the Law and the Externship Seminar.

Gordon Friedman is a partner in the law firm of Friedman and Gilbert, where he practices criminal defense in the areas of drug crimes, homicide/murder, white collar crimes, sex crimes, DUI, federal criminal practice and sentencing, tax crimes, fraud, and more.  Early in his career, he served as an assistant public defender in Cuyahoga County, and as the director of the Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland. He teaches Criminal Procedure I at C|M|LAW.  He and his law partner, Terry Gilbert, sponsor the Friedman and Gilbert Criminal Justice Forum Lecture, held annually at C|M|LAW.

Dean Craig M. Boise

Eaton Corporation is buying a rival company and incorporating the new merged company in Ireland rather than the United States.   Eaton expects to save $160 billion in taxes annually as a result of the merger and Irish incorporation.  An article in the May 22, 2012 edition of The Plain Dealer, Eaton Corp. plans to buy Cooper Industries in a $11.8 billion deal; move incorporation to Ireland, by Robert Schoenberger, indicates that Cooper Industries is already incorporated in Ireland, where the corporate tax rate is 12.5 percent.  The U.S. rate is 35 percent.  Overseas incorporation will shield Eaton from some overseas profits, though it will continue to be responsible for taxes on income earned in the U.S.

According to Dean Boise, a “secondary benefit could come from patents and other intellectual property. When a company develops new technology, it tends to license those inventions to its own subsidiaries and other companies. If those patents are held in the U.S., the profits from those licensing fees generate U.S. profits. But if Eaton is an Irish company, it can hold those patents in Dublin, and licensing fees will be subject to that country’s lower rates.”

Boise stated that “[t]hat’s one of the biggest reasons that pharmaceutical and technology companies hold their intellectual property offshore, to avoid U.S. taxation.”

To read the article, click here: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/05/eaton_corp_plans_to_merge_with.html

C|M|LAW Professor Milena Sterio will appear on “Talking Foreign Policy” at 8:00 PM (EST) on Thursday, May 24.  “Talking Foreign Policy” is an hour-long radio program hosted by Michael Scharf (Case) , in which experts discuss the salient foreign policy issues of the day.  For those outside of Cleveland, the  show will be streamed live on the Internet at wcpn.org.  In Cleveland, you can hear it on 90.3 FM — Cleveland’s NPR station.

The May 24th program will examine the controversial policy of using drones to kill Americans abroad, the challenges of bringing indicted tyrants to justice, and America’s Afghanistan exit strategy.

The expert panel for the May 24th program is composed of:

James A. Thomas Distinguished Professor of Law Chris Sagers was quoted in today’s Wall Street Journal, for his thoughts on a potential antitrust enforcement action by the Federal Trade Commission against Google.  While no complaint has yet been filed, indications are that the Commission will sue Google for having monopolized the market for “internet search.”  Google acknowledged in summer 2011 that the Commission had begun an internal investigation, and observers believe recent steps indicate that an FTC complaint is imminent.  Prominently, in April the Commission announced its hiring of a high profile Washington litigator to head a potential Google prosecution team, and just this week Google announced the publication of two Google-sponsored white papers written by prominent academics in its defense.  Asked whether these steps increased the likelihood of a complaint, Sagers said “the ‘mutual saber-rattling’ is an indication that both sides are girding for battle. Google ‘is laying out its legal strategy as a way to make the FTC blink’ . . .  while the agency’s move to bring in Ms. Wilkinson ‘demonstrates that they’re not going to back down.’ ”

The article is available here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304543904577396483337361246.html

Legal Writing Professor Sandra Kerber has been selected as one of 20 to 25 professors from across the country to participate in a Lexis Summit in Desert Palm Springs in June of 2012.   The subject is “Legal Research and Writing Trends and Challenges about New Approaches to Teaching: adapting to changing student and market demands.”  This Summit is open by invitation only.

On May 1, Professor Phyllis L. Crocker participated in a panel discussion at An Eye for An Eye: Is Capital Punishment Justice or Revenge?, a special program of Baldwin-Wallace’s Leadership & Public Policy Institute in Partnership with the Levin College Forum Program.  The event took place at the Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University.

Professor Alan Weinstein

On, April 16, C|M|LAW Professor Alan Weinstein spoke recently at the annual national conference of the American Planning Association (APA) in Los Angeles.   This presentation was part of a conference session titled “Constitutional Challenges to Local Sign Regulations.” It also featured  Randal Morrison, a San Diego attorney with a national practice focused on drafting and defending local sign regulations. 

Weinstein also participated in a national teleconference sponsored by the International Municipal Lawyers Association (IMLA).  For the one-hour IMLA Teleconference on April 18, Professor Weinstein was interviewed by Professor Daniel Mandelker of Washington University (St. Louis) and Dwight Merriam, a nationally-known land-use attorney in Hartford, about his extensive research and writing on the topic of regulating sexually oriented adult entertainment businesses, with an emphasis on how local governments can regulate such businesses without violating the first amendment.

Professor Chris Sagers

James A. Thomas Distinguished Professor of Law Chris Sagers was one of 95 community leaders from 27 states called to the White House on May 4th for a summit on the looming judicial vacancy crisis.  The event was convened by the White House Counsel’s Office in collaboration with more than two dozen public interest advocacy organizations, including the National Council of Jewish Women, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law the American Constitution Society, the Alliance for Justice People for the American Way, and the Center for American Progress.  The event began with a morning of White House briefings by Attorney General Eric Holder, White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler, and officials of the White House Office of General Counsel, Office of Legislative Affairs, and Office of Public Engagement.  Attendees at the summit spent the rest of the day in meetings with Members of the Senate and their staff, and Professor Sagers joined the Ohio delegation in meetings with staff of Senators Brown and Portman.  Attendees also met with Jeremy Paris, Senate Judiciary counsel, and Serena Hoy, Chief Counsel to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.