Professor Karin Mika has been selected as a peer reviewer for the Journal of Legal Communication and Rhetoric (the Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors). The Journal’s purpose is to develop scholarship focusing on the study and practice of professional legal writing and skills related to professional legal writing, and its readership is geared toward practitioners as well as professors.  The journal is peer-edited, and all articles are peer-reviewed prior to acceptance for publication.

Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson, who writes regularly for Crain’s Cleveland Business’ Shale and Energy Reports, posted The road to state control over drilling is paved with legislation, on August 22, 2014.  Robertson explains the persistent evolution of the Ohio legislation that supports the state’s position that localities have no power to regulate shale oil and gas activities within their borders.  She notes the many instances the legislature amended the statute to further and more completely list activities that would be included within the state’s authority and thereby excluded from local control or involvement.  She discusses the potential conflict between that legislation and the home rule provision in Ohio’s Constitution and notes that we await a decision on this issue from the Ohio Supreme Court.

Professor Robertson’s post is available here.

Associate Dean Mark Sundahl spoke on September 10th at Oxford University’s Faculty of Law regarding the interaction of the new UNIDROIT Space Assets Protocol with the existing body of the law of outer space.  Sundahl delivered his paper at the university’s annual Cape Town Convention Academic Project Conference.  In his presentation, Sundahl explained how existing international space law can interfere with (or in some cases facilitate) the operation of the new Space Assets Protocol to the Cape Town Convention which allows for the creation of security interests in satellites and other space assets.   

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio published a blog post on the prestigious international law blog, Opinio Juris, about the legality of the proposed Scottish secession under international law.  Professor Sterio’s post is entitled “International Law Should Matter – Thoughts on the Proposed Scottish Secession.”  The post is available here.

Professor Sterio’s post was selected for Opinio Juris’ online “Scottish Independence Insta-Symposium.”  Her argument is that international law should matter in secession issues, even if the proposed secession is legal under domestic law of the mother-state.  Moreover, Professor Sterio argues in this post that international law should develop to encompass a normative framework on secession, which would be helpful for future secessionist conflicts, and in particular in situations where the seceding territory is disputed between the mother-state and the secessionist movement.

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio’s Letter to the Editor  was published in the September 15 edition of the Plain Dealer.  The title of Professor Sterio’s Letter is “Striking back at Isis in Iraq and Syria is a bad idea.”  The Letter is available here.

Associate Dean Mark Sundahl has been appointed by the Department of State as an Industry Adviser to the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). The COPUOS develops international legal responses to pressing legal issues in the use of outer space, such as the militarization of Earth orbits and the proliferation of space debris. Dean Sundahl will advise the U.S. delegation on how these new legal initiatives will affect the operation and competitiveness of the U.S. space industry.

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio published a blog post on Intlawgrrls (www.ilg2.or) on the recent speech and announcement by President Obama (September 10) that the United States would expand military strikes against the Islamic State or ISIS in both Iraq and Syria.  The post is available here.

Professor Dennis Keating has been selected to present, with Professor Norman Krumholz of the Levin College of Urban Affairs, a Cleveland State University Homecoming Signature Lecture on the topic of “In the year 1964.”  The lecture will take place on Saturday, September 20, at Drinko Hall.