Professor Karin Mika has been selected to serve as a brief grader for the Capital University Law School and the Family and Youth Law Center 11^th annual National Moot Court Competition in Child Welfare and Adoption Law.  The issue involves the termination of parental rights in a situation where a child has been abused and neglected but also appears not to be adoptable because of psychological issues.

In addition, Professor Mika has been selected to serve as an essay judge for the first annual “We Solve Problems” essay competition sponsored by the Gertsburg Law Firm.  The competition is a collaborative endeavor the firm has put together with Kenston High School in Chagrin Falls that is intended to have students solve difficult issues through research, thought, reflection, and written communication.  The inaugural topic is solving issues related to Cyberbullying.  Winning essays will receive monetary prizes.

Alex Gertsburg, founder of the Gertsburg law firm, is a Cleveland-Marshall graduate, and Brittany Mallow, who currently works for the firm, is a second year student at Cleveland-Marshall.

Professor Joseph Mead reports that the following articles, that he recently authored, have been accepted for publication after a rigorous peer review process:

Law and the Volunteer: The Uncertain Employment and Tort Law Implications of the Altruistic Worker, forthcoming in Nonprofit Policy Forum;

 Quasi-Governmental Organizations at the Local Level: Publicly-Appointed Directors Leading Nonprofit Organizations, forthcoming in Nonprofit Policy Forum (with K. Warren);

Why We Need Reed: Unmasking Pretext in Anti-Panhandling Legislation, forthcoming in ConLawNOW (Formerly Akron Constitutional Law Journal).

In addition, Professor Mead has also joined the Nonprofit Law Prof Blog as a contributing editor.

The Cleveland-Marshall College of Law’s newly created Center for Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection has launched a new eJournal, entitled Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & eDiscovery Law & Policy eJournal. 

Professors Candice Hoke and Brian Ray will serve as the Journal’s co-editors.  The Journal will include working and accepted paper abstracts that address all aspects of cybersecurity, data privacy and eDiscovery law and policy. The eJournal will provide a hub for sharing research across fields by abstracting papers from all social-science disciplines that consider the legal and regulatory aspects of these interconnected subjects.

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio participated in a radio show entitled “Talking Foreign Policy: National Security and the Presidential Primaries,” which was broadcast on 90.3/WCPN on February 12th at 1:00 p.m.  An audio of the show is available here.  Professor Sterio is a regular participant of “Talking Foreign Policy” and has participated in several previous episodes.

Professor Lolita Buckner Inniss recently co-authored a report, with Sean Gralton and Josh Scheiner, entitled “Analysis of Grenada’s Referendum Act,” (Expert Report, American Bar Association/United Nations Development Program, ed., December 21, 2015).

In addition, Professor Buckner Inniss presented at the AALS Joint Scholars and Scholarship Workshop, on January 6, 2016, at Fordham University Law School.  Her presentation was entitled “Finding Theodosia: A Genealogical Approach to Legal History, Gender and Slavery.”

Professor Lolita Buckner Inniss provided commentary to Al Jazeera America on February 2, regarding the Bill Cosby sexual assault case.  Professor Inniss had previously written a blog post about the gender and racial implications of the Bill Cosby case.  Her commentary is available here (about 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the segment).

Professor Buckner Inniss had previously been interviewed regarding the Bill Cosby case, as part of a radio segment entitled “Lawyer Faces National Scrutiny While Defending Bill Cosby,” on January 8, by National Public Radio.  That story, and Professor Inniss’ commentary, is available here.

Professor David Forte‘s article on “Limited Government” has been published in the four volume work, American Governance.  The full citation for this article is available here:

Forte, David F. “Limited Government.” American Governance. Ed. Stephen Schechter, et al. Vol. 3. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2016. 206-208. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 Feb. 2016.

In addition, Professor David Forte is participating as amicus curiae for the brief of federalism scholars submitted to the Supreme Court in the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.

The American Planning Association (APA) has published two practitioner-oriented articles by Professor Alan Weinstein that offer guidance to local governments on how to comply with two recent Supreme Court rulings.

“The Legal Standard for Decisions,” appeared in the December 2015 issue of Planning, the APA’s monthly journal for members. The article discusses what local governments must do to ensure that their decisions on permit applications for wireless communication facilities (e.g., towers and antennae) comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling in T-Mobile South, LLC v. City of Roswell, Georgia, 135 S.Ct. 808 (2015).

“Practice: Temporary Signs” was published in the February 2016 edition of Zoning Practice, APA’s monthly practice journal. published by APA.  Co-authored with Wendy Moeller, a Cincinnati-based planning consultant, the article provides detailed guidance to planners and local government officials on how to revise their regulations of temporary signs to comply with the new rules for sign regulations announced by the Supreme Court in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Arizona, 135 S.Ct. 2218 (2015).

Professor Karin Mika presented at the Legal Writing One Day Workshop in December 2015 at Concordia Law School in Boise, Idaho.  Her topic was “Meeting the Changing Needs of Our Students.”  Professor Mika discussed the reasons why students seem ill-prepared for law school and how the changes in our world have caused students to have a much different primary education than professors over a certain age.  Professor Mika also talked about how most students are more accomplished as opposed to less accomplished than students from 20 years ago, but other factors make them ill-equipped for understanding the nature of legal teaching as it is still done.  Naturally, Professor Mika advocated accepting students as they are as opposed to trying to turn back time.

Additionally, Professor Mika will serve as Chair of the AALS Teaching Methods Section for 2016.  Professor Mika reports that the section officers have already chosen a topic for next year, which will essentially be an expansion of Professor Mika’s presentation in Idaho.