Professor Shih-Chun “Steven” Chien has published an article in the Minnesota Journal of International Law titled, “Cultivating Sense: Cultural Change in the Prosecutor’s Office.”

Professor Chien’s article constructs a new paradigm for the understanding of cultural change within prosecutors’ offices. It reveals a troublesome paradox about modern prosecutorial power. The article argues that to transform organizational culture, prosecutors need to forge a new type of power based on their “sense-making authority.” Meanwhile, the same power enables prosecutors to create an opaque process that bypasses organizational structure and reduces external accountability. To build the theory of cultural change, Professor Chien relies on a comparative case-study approach based on ethnographic research. Professor Chien conducted extensive research on site at a group of district attorneys’ offices led by “progressive prosecutors” across the United States and a district prosecutor’s office located in a metropolitan area of Taiwan. 

Professor Chien proposes a contested cultural change model and explores ways in which the model could contribute much-needed theoretical and strategic groundings to the comparative study of prosecutorial reforms across different jurisdictions.

Professor Milena Sterio participated as a panelist in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference in Warsaw, Poland, on October 5, 2022.  Professor Sterio spoke on a panel entitled “Establishment of a Tribunal on Russian Aggression Against Ukraine: High Level of Responsibility as a Safeguard Against New Conflicts in Europe.”  In addition, Professor Sterio was a participant in the Warsaw Security Forum, in Warsaw, Poland, on October 4-5, 2022.  

Professor Christa Laser participated in the Three Rivers Colloquium at the University of Pittsburgh. She presented her work-in-progress paper, “Legal Issues in Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).”

Professor Milena Sterio participated in the American Society of International Law, International Courts and Tribunals Interest Group Workshop on February 3, 2023, where she presented her paper, “The Ukraine Crisis and the Legitimacy of the International Criminal Court.” This paper will be published by the American University Law Review.  

Professor Sterio also moderated a webinar entitled “Ukraine: Destruction of Cultural Heritage and Property,” which was organized by the Public International Law and Policy Group on February 2, 2023.

Legal Educator in Residence Howard E. Katz and Professor Kevin Francis O’Neill signed a contract in December for their book, Strategies and Techniques of Law School Teaching, to be translated into Chinese. The translation was requested and is being organized by Dean Jiang Huiling of the Tongji University School of Law in Shanghai, China. The book will be published by People’s Court Press.

Legal Educator in Residence Howard E. Katz made two presentations about law school teaching at the 2023 AALS annual meeting. The first was for the Section on New Law Professors, at a session called Beginnings, Middles, and Endings: Ideas for Your Classes and Courses. The second was for the Section on Property Law at a session called Stuff You’ll Want to Steal: Ideas for Teaching Topics in Property Law. Howard will continue to serve on the executive committee of both sections in the coming year. 

On Jan. 12, Professor Sterio moderated a webinar on the topic of “International Criminal Court: 21st Session of the Assembly of States Parties – Key Takeaways from the PILPG Team.” The webinar was organized by the Public International Law and Policy Group.

Professor Milena Sterio participated in five different panels at the AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego. Professor Sterio organized and moderated a discussion group on the topic “Russia v. Ukraine: Implications for a New Global Order” on January 5.

On January 6, Professor Sterio participated as a panelist in a program titled “International Human Rights and the Sanctions on Russia for its Aggressive War on Ukraine,” sponsored by the International Human Rights Law section, as well as in a program titled “How Can Students and Faculty Make a Difference via Teaching and Clinical Work in Times of Crisis?,” cosponsored by the Section on Global Engagement, Section on International Human Rights, and Section on Comparative Law (also cosponsored by teaching international law committee of the American Branch of the International Law Association).

On January 7, Professor Sterio participated as panelist in a program titled “Global War and Conflict in Ukraine and Beyond: An Effective and Balanced Response?” (cosponsored by the Section on Comparative Law, the Section on Global Engagement, the Section on Litigation, and the Section on International Human Rights). Finally, on January 7, Professor Sterio also moderated a “New Voices in International Human Rights Law” panel, sponsored by the International Human Rights Law Section.

Professor Sterio was elected Treasurer of the Women in Legal Education section at the AALS. Professor Sterio is former chair of the International Law, International Human Rights Law, and National Security Law sections; she currently serves on the Executive Committee of all three sections.

On January 23, Professor Christa Laser presented her latest paper, “Rethinking Patent Law’s Exclusive Appellate Jurisdiction,” at the George Washington University Law School. A video of Professor Laser’s talk can be seen here.

Senior Legal Writing Professor Claire C. Robinson May presented at the Legal Writing Institute’s One-Day Workshop on December 1, 2022. The workshop, hosted virtually by the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, was entitled “Teaching Social Justice and Legal Change in Legal Writing.” In her presentation, “Law, Inequality, and Everyday Life: A New Course for Justice-Seeking Law Students,” Professor May discussed the inspiration for and pedagogical design of a new legal writing seminar she is offering for the first time in Spring 2023. In the course, law students will read a variety of scholarly and literary non-fiction texts that explore issues of inequality. Students may elect to take the course for either upper-level or third-semester Legal Writing credit, with writing assignments that culminate in either a scholarly research paper or legal practice portfolio.