Professor Claire Robinson May presented “Evaluate Everything: Instilling the Critical Reader in the Novice Legal Writer at the Western Regional Legal Writing Conference at Stanford Law School.  The conference took place on September 19-20.

On September 19, 2014, Professor John Plecnik spoke on tax policy at the 2014 Joint Fall CLE Meeting of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation in Denver, Colorado.  Professor Plecnik was invited to speak as a result of his article, “The New Flat Tax,” which ranked number one as the most downloaded recent tax paper on the Social Science Research Network shortly after its publication in the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly this spring. 

Plecnik spoke as part of a panel on wealth taxation and the Apportionment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.  Professor Plecnik’s panel was hosted by the ABA Tax Policy and Simplification Committee.  It was moderated by Roger Royse of the Royse Law Firm PC, and included Professor Alice Abreu of Temple University Beasley School of Law, Diana Furchtgott-Roth of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and Professor Richard Lavoie of the University of Akron School of Law.

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio participated in the inaugural Irish-American Law Forum on September 26 in downtown Cleveland.  Professor Sterio moderated two sessions: one on international insolvency, and the other on cyber security.  Speakers at both sessions included practicing attorneys and experts from both the United States and Ireland.

Associate Dean and Professor Milena Sterio participated in the taping of another episode of the “Talking Foreign Policy” radio show on WCPN 90.3.  This episode focused on the ongoing military strikes against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria, and it will be broadcast on Monday, September 29 at 9:00 p.m. on WCPN 90.3.

Other participants included Shannon French, Director of Case Western’s Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence, Paul Williams, Professor at American University Law School and Director of the Public International Law and Policy Group, and Sandra Hodgkinson, former Department of Defense member of Senior Executive Service.  The show was hosted, as usual, by Case Western Law School Interim Dean Michael Scharf.

Professor Sandra Kerber recently participated in Judge4Yourself interviews of judicial candidates running in the November 4th Ohio General Election. The candidates’ ratings are due to be released soon and are based on their answers to the comprehensive questionnaire that is used to vet the judicial qualifications.

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.