Professor Patricia J. Falk

Professor Patricia Falk was quoted in a news story for NBC News, entitled “‘I Wanted Justice’: Con Victim Turns Focus to Changing Rape Law.”  The news story reports on the case of New Jersey resident Mischele Lewis, who was fraudulently induced to marry a con-man, “with a roster of ex-wives and children.”  In the wake of this case, a New Jersey assemblyman introduced a bill before the New Jersey legislature, which would criminalize sexual assault by fraud.

Professors Falk and Jed Rubenfeld (Yale Law School) were asked to opine about the proposed New Jersey law.  Professor Falk supports the criminalization of sexual assault by fraud, but recognizes that “[t]he biggest problem at the heart of this dilemma is drawing the line” and ask “[h]ow far down the road toward these kinds of lies should a criminal lie extend?”  Professor Rubenfeld opposes laws which attempt to criminalize sex by deception, because he worries that such laws would be overbroad, unenforceable, vague, and potentially unconstitutional.  Both Professors Falk and Rubenfeld has already engaged in an academic debate on the issue of rape-by-fraud, in a series of articles published by the Yale Law Journal Online, available here.

Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Distinguished Professor of Law, recently served as Editorial Chair and principle author of a new publication from the ABA Antitrust Section, Handbook on the Scope of Antitrust (more details here).  The scope of antitrust–the law governing when antitrust does and does not apply to given conduct–is itself a large, complex, and highly controversial body of law. Sagers is widely recognized for his work on the issue, and in particular for his conceptualization of the dozens of individual rules and doctrines that go to the question of scope as comprising one, coherent body of law.  His contribution to this particular publication was recognized by the Section, by his identification on the book’s cover as Editorial  Chair (a rarely bestowed recognition, as ABA works are typically published anonymously).

Professor Candice Hoke

Professor Candice Hoke’s article, co-authored with Lorrie Faith Cranor (Carnegie Mellon University) and Pedro Giovanni Leon and Alyssa Au (both from the University of Pittsburgh), was published by the I/S Journal (a journal of law and policy for the information society, published at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University).

Professor Hoke’s co-authored article, entitled “Are They Worth Reading? An In-Depth Analysis of Online Trackers’ Privacy Policies,” is available here.  Professor Hoke had previously presented a version of this article at a Privacy Law Scholars’ conference at George Washington University Law School in June 2014.

Professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich

Professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich was interviewed by WCPN/ideastream, for a story that aired on January 22, regarding the use of police body cameras and possible privacy issues (“Cleveland Must Balance Transparency, Privacy as it Equips Cops with Cameras”).  The story and the audio clip are available here.

Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson

On January 13, 2015, C|M|LAW’s Steven W. Percy Professor of Law, Heidi Gorovitz Robertson, was appointed by Gates Mills’ Mayor Shawn Riley, and the Gates Mills Village Council, as an inaugural commissioner in a newly created regional commission.  The Regional Commission was convened and organized in Gates Mills to study and address issues concerning shale oil and gas exploration and development in the region.  Robertson was invited to co-chair the commission’s committee on legal and legislative issues.  The Regional Commission includes land conservancy representatives, experts in science, finance, and law, local government representatives, public safety officials, and others. Its mission is to consider legal, political, educational, sociological and legislative issues of concern to Gates Mills Village and the broader region within the Marcellus, Utica, and other geological formations, and to recommend prudent and legal actions.​

C|M|LAW Associate Dean Mark Sundahl has just published an article entitled “The Cape Town Convention and the Law of Outer Space: Five Scenarios” in the Cape Town Convention Journal.  The Journal is published jointly by Oxford University and the University of Washington.  The paper explores the intersections between the new Space Assets Protocol to the Cape Town Convention and the existing body of space law.  The article can be accessed on the Journal website here:  http://cdm15895.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/journal

Dean Sundahl was also recently reappointed by Anthony Foxx, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, for a second two-year term on the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC).  The COMSTAC advises the FAA regarding new regulations to ensure the continuing competitiveness of the U.S. space launch industry.

Professor and Associate Dean published a post on Communis Hostis Omnium (an academic blog devoted to a discussion of legal issues related to maritime piracy), which was cross-posted on Intlawgrrls, entitled “European Court of Human Rights Orders France to Pay Damages to Somali Pirates.”  In this post, Professor Sterio discusses the recent European Court of Human Rights decision, ordering France to pay damages to Somali pirates, who had been held for 48 hours on French soil before being officially charged before judicial authorities.  The pirates had been held for multiple days overseas, by French authorities, but the European Court of Human Rights found that this delay was justified because of exceptional circumstances.  However, the Court found that the additional 48-hour delay on French soil could not be justified under article 5(3) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Professor Brian Glassman’s article, “In the Mind’s Eye: Visual Lessons for Law Students,” was published by Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research & Writing, the online legal writing journal.  In this article, Professor Glassman explores the use of works of visual art as a tool in teaching writing lessons.  The article is available here.

Alan Miles Ruben, Emeritus Professor, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, and Advisory Professor of Law, Fu Dan University, Shanghai, PRC, was appointed to an Arbitration Tribunal by the International Court of Arbitration to adjudicate a dispute between a Bolivian and an American Corporation.

Professor Ruben also lectured this fall on “The Past Practice Puzzle” at the San Francisco, California and Cleveland, Ohio Programs presented by the Labor Arbitration Institute.