Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio published a blog post on Intlawgrrls discussing the recently-filed ACLU lawsuit against two psychologists who, as C.I.A. contractors, devised and implemented a harsh interrogation plan used against detainees at secret agency prisons.

“According to the lawsuit, defendants Mitchell and Jessen committed  torture, human experimentation, and war crimes because of their roles in the secret interrogation program.  The torturous interrogation techniques devised by Mitchell and Jessen included waterboarding, sleep deprivation, isolation and stress positions. These techniques  inflicted severe physical and mental pain on detainees to induce a state of  “learned helplessness,” where detainees become passive and fully compliant with all of their interrogators’ demands.  According to the complaint, these techniques amounted to torture and cruel, degrading and  inhuman treatment as well as war crimes.  In addition,  the complaint alleges that Mitchell and Jessen kept detailed logs of interrogation sessions in order to analyze detainees’ reactions to torture, calibrate the methods used, and provide the Bush administration with false assurances that such practices were “safe” and “effective.”  According to the complaint, collecting such information without informed consent constitutes unlawful research and experimentation.”

Professor Sterio’s post is available here.

Professor and Associate Dean  Milena Sterio published a blog post on Intlawgrrls entitled “Strike at Kunduz: Did the United States Violate International Humanitarian Law?”  The post, which is available here, analyzes whether the recent United States’ military strike against a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, violated international humanitarian law, and whether those responsible for the attacks committed war crimes.  Professor Sterio argues in this post that an independent investigation into the attack is crucial toward finding out what truly happened.

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio is the featured Cleveland State University Researcher for the month of October 2015.  Professor Sterio’s Researcher video is available here.

Other Cleveland-Marshall College of Law faculty previously featured as CSU researchers of the month have included Professor Brian Ray and Professor and Associate Dean Mark Sundhal.  Their respective researcher videos are available here and here.

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio presented on a panel entitled “Administration and Management of Ad Hoc International Criminal Tribunals” at the Bar Association of New York City on October 5.  The event was co-sponsored by the American Society of International Law’s International Criminal Law, International Courts and Tribunals, and Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Interest Groups, the New York City Bar Association, and the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice.  In addition to Professor Sterio, other panelists included:

• Adama Dieng, U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide
• Daryl Mundis, Registrar of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, The Hague
• Giles Norman, Legal Advisor, Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations
• Tamara Shockley, American Society of International Law International Courts & Tribunals Interest Group co-chair (moderator)

Clinical Professor Pamela Daiker-Middaugh led an innovative workshop at the 30th Annual Midwest Clinical Conference at Case Western Reserve University School of Law on Saturday, October 3rd. Her workshop was entitled “Is There a Better Way to Respond to Your Client? Teaching Compassionate Lawyering Skills to Students Who Rarely Look Up From Their Smart Phones.” Assisting Clinical Professor Daiker-Middaugh with the workshop were two of her Community Advocacy Law Clinic students, Cassandra McDonald and Joseph Trecaseo.

Professor Karin Mika has been appointed Co-editor for Social Media for the Journal of Legal Communication and Rhetoric, the Scholarly Publication of the Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD).  The goal of the publication is to publish scholarly research on writing, research, and persuasion that is also useful to the practicing bar.  Professor Mika’s job as a social media editor will be to enhance the social media presence of the Journal, and promote the publication among judges and practitioners.  The most current issue of the Journal is available here.

Chris Sagers, James A. Thomas Distinguished Professor of Law, has been selected as a speaker for the 2016 AALS Annual Meeting in New York City.  Professor Sagers will present on a panel entitled “Perspectives on Anti-Trust Law” on January 9, 2016, from 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

On September 9th, Professor Pamela Daiker-Middaugh served as the Moderator for a lively CLE Discussion on the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges U.S. Supreme Court case which struck down the ban on same sex marriage. The CLE took place at the Cleveland City Club and was sponsored by the William K. Thomas American Inn of Court.

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio presented on September 18 at the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center 25th Anniversary Conference/American Branch of the International Law Associations’ ILW/Midwest 2015, at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.  This conference was entitled “New Beginnings, Resets and Pivots: The International Legal Practice of the Obama Administration,” and Professor Sterio spoke on a panel entitled “The Obama Administration’s Legacy with respect to Crisis and Conflict in the Middle East-Plenary Panel.”

The panel was moderated by Tony Ganzer, host and producer at WCPN/90.3, and other panelists included Professor Paul Williams, American University Washington College of Law, David Stewart, Georgetown Law School, Greg Noone, Navy JAG Reserve and Director of the Fairmont STate University National Security and Intelligence Program, and Michael Scharf, Dean at Case Law School and Director of the Cox Center.

Heidi Gorovitz Robertson, Steven W. Percy Distinguished Professor of Law, will be speaking as part of the AALS’s Arc of the Career Program on a panel entitled “The AALS In Spite of Itself: How to Use the AALS for Professional Development Even If It Sometimes Makes You Mad.” This program is scheduled for Saturday, January 9 from 8:30-10:15 a.m. during the AALS 2016 Annual Meeting. The other panelists in this program include former C|M|LAW faculty member David Snyder (American), Stephen Ware (Kansas), and Christina Wells (Missouri).

This session will take on some of the difficulties the AALS presents for many faculty members. The idea is to help faculty overcome the problems of the AALS and to use the organization to advance their careers. Panelists will discuss strategies to address some of the difficulties, for example a culture of insiders, political correctness, scholarly faddishness, hierarchy, and bureaucracy. The goals are to help the people whom the AALS power structure seems to ignore, to allow them to feel less alone, to move them amicably past the problems, and thus to learn more about their fields, to have their ideas heard, to make contacts, and to advance their careers. Also, panelists will discuss how the AALS might improve itself for the benefit of all of its members.