On September 27th, Professor Sterio participated as a panelist and expert in an interactive session with a group of Ukrainian government officials and representatives of their civil society on topics related to transitional justice.  Professor Sterio has been an active participant in a project, led by the leading NGO, the Public International Law and Policy group, on developing various transitional justice mechanisms in Ukraine.  

Professor Milena Sterio presented as a panelist at the Cox Center Conference at CWRU Law School on September 25th.  The theme of the conference was “The Academy and International Law:  A Catalyst for Change and Innovation” and Professor Sterio presented on a panel entitled “The Academy and Grotian Moments.”  Professor Sterio is also contributing an article entitled “Grotian Moments and Statehood” to the Case Western Journal of International Law.  In addition, Professor Sterio moderated a panel entitled “The Academy and the Pursuit of Peace and Human Rights.”

Professor Milena Sterio moderated an expert Roundtable on the topic of “The United Nations Human Rights Council” on September 10th.  The Roundtable was hosted by the leading NGO, the Public International Law and Policy Group, and panelists included Zorica Maric-Djordjevic, former Montenegro Ambassador the to the Human Rights Council, Amanda Ellis, former New Zealand Ambassador to the Human Rights Council, Yvette Stevens, former Sierra Leone Ambassador to the Human Rights Council, Filoretta Kodra, former Albanian Ambassador to the Human Rights Council, and Keith Harper, former U.S. Ambassador to the Human Rights Council.  

A recording of this Expert Roundtable is available here: https://www.publicinternationallawandpolicygroup.org/un-human-rights-council-roundtable

Dean Lee Fisher published a column for Community Leader, a publication of Cleveland Magazine, offering some advice to Cleveland’s next mayor, titled “An Open Letter to Cleveland’s Next Mayor.”

On August 11, 2021, Dean Lee Fisher moderated a United Way panel discussion on
the Cleveland Consent Decree and search and seizure issues. The Consent Decree
mandates that the Cleveland Police Department conduct all investigatory stops,
searches, and arrests fairly and respectfully. Dean Fisher was a charter member
of the Cleveland Community Police Commission. See: United Way Panel Discussion on Search and Seizure.

On September 1, 2021 Dean Fisher moderated a panel discussion at the William K. Thomas American Inn Court meeting with Terry Gilbert ’73 and Adjunct Professor Gordon Friedman, about Terry Gilbert’s book, Trying Times.

Dean Lee Fisher has published an article about leadership and law in the Baylor Law Review. See: Lee Fisher, Change at the Speed of Leadership, Baylor Law Review, Winter 2021 Edition.  In the article, Dean Fisher discusses leadership training and education within law schools, and describes C|M|LAW’s P. Kelly Thompkins Leadership and Law Program. Dean Fisher concludes, “We must prepare our students to make a difference in the world as citizens and leaders in a fast-changing environment. Leaders of the future need to have the skills to lead, counsel, and manage in a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, and to use law as a vehicle for social, organizational, and business change.”

Two Cleveland-Marshall Law professors were quoted in a recent Cleveland.com article titled “FirstEnergy hack is cyber-thieves’ latest effort to swipe personal info.”

Professor Brian Ray noted that large hacks of customer data are increasingly common. He explained, “The more connected we are, the more we put online, the bigger the surface area becomes and the harder it is to protect it all.”

The article also quotes C|M|LAW Adjunct Professor Tim Opsitnick, general counsel for TCDI, a legal technology and information security firm. Professor Opsitnick explained how cyberattacks and ransomware is becoming more common, as it has become less and less expensive. He explained, ““There are a lot of people participating, including state-sponsored entities and organized crime. There is a lot of money in it.”

Professor Ray is the Director of C|M|LAW’s Center for Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection. Professor Opsitnick teaches a variety of cybersecurity courses at C|M|LAW.

Legal Educator-in-Residence Howard Katz made two presentations at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) annual conference. As part of the Newer Law Teachers Workshop, Howard spoke about “Teaching Law: The Essentials.” As part of the Prospective Law Teachers Workshop, he met with aspiring candidates to review their CVs.

Professor Katz also was a participant in the discussion group on “How to Assure Effective Formative and Summative Assessment.” He presented his draft article Teaching Legal Analysis Using the “Unified Field Theory”, focusing on how this method of teaching legal analysis in first-year courses (which he has developed with the help of Professor Kevin O’Neill), incorporates formative assessment into daily class discussion. 

Professor Mark Sundahl was quoted in a recent Forbes article titled “Russian Space Junk Slammed Into A Chinese Satellite, Says U.S. Space Force.”

The U.S. Space Force reported that a Chinese weather satellite collided with remnants of a Russian rocket that had been launched in 1996. The article noted that the “incident raises an interesting question: can China sue Russia for damaging its spacecraft? This could be the first time such a claim has been pursued.”

For an answer to this novel legal question, Forbes turned to Professor Sundahl, a leading international expert on Space Law, and the Director of C|M|LAW’s Global Space Law Center.

Professor Sundahl explained, “An international treaty, the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects, applies when the ‘space object’ of one country causes harm to the ‘space object’ of another country. However, in order to find liability under the convention, there must be a determination of ‘fault’ on behalf of the offending country.” He noted that “What exactly would constitute ‘fault’ has not been settled under international law. China would have to prove negligence or similar bad behavior.”