After identifying an ambiguity in the recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act regarding the tax treatment of patent sales by their creators, Professor Deborah Geier was asked to do a guest blog posting on the issue by Professor Leandra Lederman of the University of Indiana at Bloomington, host of The Surly Subgroup blog. In the course of her blog post, Professor Geier also couldn’t help but muse whether the Conference Committee’s decision to drop the House bill’s proposed repeal of favorable tax treatment for sellers of musical works by their composer had anything to do with the fact that Finance Committee Chair Orrin Hatch composes songs. <grin> You can read the blog post here.

A new paper by Howard Katz is listed in SSRN’s Top Ten Downloads for law teaching articles in January. His paper is entitled: Teaching Legal Analysis Using the ‘Unified Field Theory’ — A Systematic Method for Instructing Students in the Fundamental Skill.

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio was interviewed for NPR’s “Morning Edition” show on January 18, on the topic of Secretary Rex Tillerson’s recent announcement that United States’ troops would remain in Syria indefinitely.  Professor Sterio’s interview is available here (segment entitled “Tillerson Says U.S. to Stay in Syria Indefinitely”).

Prof. Mark Sundahl recently signed a contract with Rutledge to write the first textbook on Space Law. The textbook will be marketed globally and will mirror the content of Prof. Sundahl’s global online course, Space Law: A Global View, which will be offered for the first time in Summer 2018.

Prof. Mark Sundahl was appointed to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Space Learning Group to work on reconciling air law and space law. ICAO is the arm of the United Nations that oversees the civil aviation industry. As suborbital space planes and other new-generation spacecraft are developed, the jurisdiction of regulatory agencies must be clarified to determine which agencies will have they power to regulate these new spacecraft. At a minimum, there must be a unified approach to air traffic management as spacecraft are launched more frequently.

Professor Deborah Geier has published her updated textbook, “Federal Income Taxation of Individuals 2018,” with eLandell, a division of CALI (The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction). The textbook incorporates the many tax changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted in late December. The book is a free download for all users in pdf, Word, ePub (for iPads) and MOBI (for Kindles) formats and can be accessed here.

Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson, the Steven W. Percy Distinguished Professor of Law, attended the Association of American Law Schools 2018 Annual Meeting in San Diego.  She served on the Selection Committee for planning the Natural Resources and Energy Law section program.  Robertson was elected to the position of Chair-Elect of the Natural Resources and Energy Law Section, and she serves on the Executive Committee of the Section on Environmental Law.

In December 2017, Professor David Forte spoke to a meeting of the Young Catholic Professionals on the topic, “Justice and Mercy in the Law.”

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio published an American Society of International Law Insight, entitled “Self-Determination and Secession Under International Law: The Cases of Kurdistan and Catalonia.”  Insights are 2,000-word online articles, published by the American Society of International Law, whose purpose “is to provide concise, objective, and timely background for recent developments of interest to the international community.” (description of Insights on the American Society of International Law website).  Insight proposals are peer-reviewed by the Insight editorial board.