Professor Milena Sterio participated as a speaker and expert in a week-long Peace Negotiation Summer School, organized by the Public International Law and Policy Group, from July 15-19.  The Summer School consisted of a week-long online course, composed of online lectures from former government officials, diplomats, military officials, peace negotiations, international law experts and war crimes prosecutors.

Professor Milena Sterio spent a week in Nairobi, Kenya, in June 2024, where she trained a cohort of Kenyan Foreign Affairs Ministry officials on peace negotiation and mediation.  Kenya has been playing a key role in regional peace negotiations and mediations, and Kenya is currently mediating the South Sudan peace process/negotiations.  The Kenyan government is thus seeking to develop a permanent peace negotiation and mediation unit, within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Professor Sterio was engaged, through a U.S. State Department grant, on working with the Keyan Foreign Affairs Ministry to both develop such a peace negotiation/mediation unit, and to train a cohort of ministry officials on negotiations/mediation. 

The Supreme Court’s last opinion of the Term, granting former President Trump complete immunity for all his “official” acts, caused much uproar. Professor Doron Kalir harshly criticized the decision in an Op-Ed published by the Plain Dealer, where he claimed that the decision reads more like a Trump campaign ad than a serious, and balanced, Supreme Court decision. Separately, the Voice of America (VOA) program interviewed Prof. Kalir on several other aspects of the decision, including the new and improved pardon power, which may now allow the President the power of self-pardon. (Professor Kalir’s comments begin at min. 13:45).

Legal Educator-in-Residence Howard E. Katz made a presentation at the annual AALS Workshop for New Law Teachers held June 6-8 in Washington, D.C. He conducted a session on Course Design, and also facilitated two group discussions. Howard has made presentations on teaching to new professors at this conference the last seven times it was held. The book Strategies and Techniques of Law School Teaching, which he co-authored with Professor Kevin F. O’Neill, was given to attendees. Also available to attendees were books from the Strategies and Techniques series edited by Professor Katz (including one of the most recent additions to the series, Strategies and Techniques for Teaching Environmental Law, written by Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson). Those books provide subject-specific teaching advice.

On June 13-14, the College of Law hosted an MDL bench-bar leadership conference. The Rabiej Litigation Law Center brought to the School some of the best defense and plaintiffs’ attorneys in Multi-District Litigation, as well as special masters, vendors, and other stakeholders in this advanced civil procedure litigation mammoth. In particular, the Conference heard from federal Judges across the country – from Alabama to Illinois, from New Jersey to Kentucky, and, of course, our own Northern District of Ohio (Hon. Judge Polster) – who has managed, supervised, and ruled on Multi-District Litigations. Professors Michael Borden and Doron Kalir moderated the conference’s panels.

Professor Karin Mika was appointed as a member of the Association of Legal Writing Directors’ Feedback Circle. The purpose of the Feedback Circle is to mentor Legal Writing professors in their scholarship. The members of the Circle provide feedback, editing suggestions, and general support.

Her essay, “Courage in the Legal Writing Classroom Redefined” was published in the AALS Legal Writing Section newsletter. The essay describes how Legal Writing professors are able to discuss topics related to equity and inclusiveness in situations where state legislatures are banning various topics from being discussed in university classrooms. (The newsletter with the article is attached.)

Prof. Mika also presented at the Global Legal Skills Conference held in Bari, Italy from June 4-7th. My topic was, “Legal Education in the 21st Century: Establishing an Online JD Program with Global Outreach.” The presentation discussed how Legal Writing can be taught online, the potential international outreach of online JD programs, and how American law schools with online JD programs must be attuned to the needs (including shifting time zones) of any international students that may be entering an online program.

Professors Brian Ray and Jonathan Witmer-Rich were panelists at the Cleveland Community Police Commission’s Community Forum on Police Surveillance. Professor Witmer-Rich addressed the Fourth Amendment issues raised by the dramatic increase in the Cleveland police’s use of these technologies. Professor Ray discussed the ways that other cities, like Oakland, California, have adopted ordinances requiring transparency, accountability and community oversight.

Professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich participated in a panel discussion of former President Donald Trump’s recent convictions on WCPN’s Sound of Ideas Reporter’s Roundtable.

Professor Milena Sterio was quoted in a Politifact article regarding whether former President Donald Trump is a political prisoner (as he claims – in light of his guilty verdict he has been repeating this claim).

Professor Milena Sterio participated in a meeting of the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Expert Working Group on Accountability in an Era of Strategic Rivalry on May 29. This Expert Working Group (members are invited based on their expertise) studies the impact of strategic political rivalries on norms and institutions of accountability for the commission of atrocity crimes, with the goal of generating recommendations to strengthen global commitment to these norms.

Professor Sterio also participated as an expert in a training on negotiation, mediation, and international law principles for a cohort of Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs diplomats on May 29. The training session focused on procedural issues regarding negotiation and mediation, as well as on relevant substantive issues such as self-determination, power-sharing, federalism, and transitional justice.