Joint College of Education/C|M|LAW Professor Ralph Mawdsley was recently appointed as a Professor Extraordinary by the University of the Free State, in South Africa. This is a three year appointment that will require him travel to Bloemfentein during break periods to deliver lectures to students and faculty.
Congratulations, Dr. Mawdsley!
Legal Writing Professor Carolyn Broering-Jacobs
C|M|LAW Legal Writing Professor and Director of Legal Writing Carolyn Broering-Jacobs led a workshop on persuasion for a group of grant writers at Grants Plus, a grant writing firm started by C|M|Law graduate, Lauren Steiner. In last month’s workshop, she presented on Robert Cialdini’s “Six Principles of Influence” as a means of evaluating opportunities for persuasion in grant writing. The lead article in the organization’s November newsletter is based on the principles discussed in that workshop, and the article closes with, “Special thanks to Professor Carolyn Broering-Jacobs at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law for the insight and inspiration for this article.”
C|M|LAW tax professor John Plecnik was elected to the Willoughy Hills City Council in the most recent election. See coverage on TaxProf below:
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2013/11/tax-prof.html
Clinical Professor Doron Kalir
C|M|LAW Clinical Professor Doron Kalir was a panelist for a joint C|M|LAW/Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage Program on the Dreyfus Affair Trials on Wednesday, October 30th. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Stuart Friedman and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Steve Dettelbach were also on the panel. The program was moderated by C|M|LAW Associate Dean for Academic Enrichment Heidi Gorovitz Robertson. Professor Kalir provided insights for the participants about the impact the Dreyfus Affair had on him, growing up in Israel, and spoke about its influence on his sense of justice. The panel was organized to coincide with the Maltz Museum’s special exhibition Traitor! Spies, Lies, and Justice Denied, which is currently open at the museum http://www.maltzmuseum.org/.
Professor Deborah Geier
The ABA Section of Taxation News Quarterly (Fall 2013) published in their “Point & Counterpoint” section the remarks made Professor Deborah A. Geier (Cleveland-Marshall), Professor Omri Y. Marian (University of Florida), David S. Miller (Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft), and Professor Adam H. Rosenzweig (Washington University) at a Lincoln-Douglas style debate on “The Future of Corporate Tax Reform,” which was held on May 10, 2013, at the ABA Section of Taxation’s meeting held in Washington, D.C.
Dean Emeritus Steven H. Steinglass
C|M|LAW’s Dean Emeritus Steven H. Steinglass has been appointed Senior Policy Advisor to the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission. The Commission is charged with reviewing the Ohio Constitution and, by a two-thirds vote, recommending proposed constitutional amendments to the Ohio General Assembly (which may submit them to the voters for ultimate approval). Modeled after a successful Commission that operated in the 1970s, the bi-partisan Commission has 12 legislative and 20 public members.
Dean Steinglass, who had been assisting the Commission in its initial organizational and educational activities, is now working on a part-time basis with the Commission’s six subject-matter committees as they begin their study of the state constitution. Noting that Ohio’s current constitution, which was adopted in 1851, is the sixth oldest in the country and the second oldest outside New England, Dean Steinglass points out that Ohio has not had a constitutional convention since 1912, Nonetheless, Ohio has had significant piecemeal constitutional revision, having adopted 120 amendments since 1912.
Additional information about the Commission be found at the Commission website:
http://www.ocmc.ohio.gov/ocmc/about?0
And a website with additional information on the Ohio Constitution can be found on the CSU server at Ohio Constitution–Law and History: https://www.law.csuohio.edu/lawlibrary/ohioconstitution
Professor David Forte
C|M|LAW Professor David Forte has had a busy summer and fall!
The Ohio State Law Journal published his article, Life, Heartbeat, Birth: A Medical Basis for Reform, 74 Oh. St. L. J. 121 (2013). In this article, Professor Forte argued that recent medical research demonstrates that the onset of cardiac activity is a better marker for fetal survival to birth (and hence for the state interest in “potential life”) than the uncertain “point of viability.”
On May 28, Professor Forte presented “The Deja-vu Future of Legal Education,” to the Harvard College 50th Reunion, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He noted how modern reforms in legal education were cycling back to the example of the Tapping Reeve school in the early 19th century, which had been supplanted by formal university based law training.
On June 19, he gave an address entitled, “What’s the Pro-Life Strategy Now?” to the Catholic Lawyers’ Guild at the City Club of Cleveland. At the City Club event, Professor Forte discussed the advances made on behalf of the unborn by pro-life advocates in state legislatures over the past four years, and the prognosis for the future.
On July 16, Professor Forte gave a talk entitled, “Religious Liberty through Time,” to the Bastiat Society, here in Cleveland and discussed how the cultures of Judeo-Christianity, Greece, Rome, Scholasticism, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment merged to produce the notion of religious liberty as we understand it today.
On August 30, he presented a paper entitled “The Natural Law Bridge between Religion and the Constitutional State,” to the International Conference of Catholic Jurists in Frascati, Italy, followed by an audience with Pope Francis. The paper, which discusses the role of natural law rationality linking Christianity and the modern state has been accepted for publication in The Jurist, a refereed journal, published by the Catholic University of America.
On September 18, he gave a lecture “Why is Freedom of Religion under Attack across the World?” at the University of Toledo Law School. His thesis was that religion is always a threat to positivist legal regimes, whether they be ideological (e.g. Marxist), politico-religious (e.g. Islamism) or intolerantly secularist.
On Saturday, September 28, he addressed the We the People Convention in Columbus, Ohio, on the topic, “Religion in the Public Square.” He noted that religious presence as a social force for human betterment was being pushed aside by governmental programs.
On Sunday, September 29, Professor Forte was featured as a commentator in Brazil’s largest circulation daily news paper, CORREIO BRAZILIENSE, regarding home grown terrorism in the United States. In his comments, Forte suggested that the American education system should replicate the kind of welcoming assimilation that was present in the early twentieth century when a large group of immigrants with “alien” traditions came to our shores.
On October 15, Professor Forte gave a lecture at Southern Illinois University Law School entitled, “Isn’t it Time We Stopped Trusting Judges?” There followed commentary by Professors William Schroeder and Mark Brittingham. The theme of the lecture is that Originalism offers a solution to the recent politicization of the judiciary.
On October 23, he debated Professor Mitch Pickerell at Northern Illinois University Law School on the question, “Whether the Roberts Court is expanding State Sovereign Rights.” He asserted the affirmative, citing dormant commerce clause cases and Shelby County v. Holder. Professor Pickerell argued that preemption cases have gone strongly against the states under the Roberts Court.
Professor Browne Lewis
C|M|LAW Professor Browne Lewis recently spoke at the annual meeting of the National Association of Female Judges in New Orleans. The audience consisted of female judges from the United States and several other countries. Her talk focused upon the need for legislatures to change the intestacy system to accommodate nontraditional families. She argued that judges should be given the flexibility to consider the best interests of the children when designating the heirs of the estate of a person who dies without executing a will. For example, the current intestacy system negatively impacts children who are born into same-sex families. In order to accomplish that judges should be able to expand the definition of legal parent to include adults who have parental-type relationships with children.
After her presentation, Professor Lewis signed and sold copies of her book, Papa’s Baby: Paternity and Artificial Insemination.
Information about the event is at:
C|M|LAW Associate Dean Mark Sundahl was quoted in a September 27, 2013, article in SpaceNews, regarding new proposed safety practices for commercial orbital and suborbital human spaceflight companies. The safety practices have been proposed in response to the recent growth of private companies, such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, that will soon be providing human spacelflight services to NASA and the public. The article quotes Sundahl during a recent FAA teleconference where he commented that “if the intention of the document is to prevent Congress from stepping in to guide the process, I think we need to continue to consider whether the contents of the document are sufficient to do that.” The entire article can be found here:
Clinical Professor Doron Kalir
On October 8, 2013, C|M|LAW Clinical Professor Doron Kalir presented his work in progress on Same-Sex Marriage and Jewish Law: A Contemporary Perspective to faculty and students at Michigan State Law School. Professor Kalir’s presentation was a part of Michigan State’s LGBT History Month events. In his remarks, Kalir argued that the notion that the Jewish Bible supports only a one-man and one-woman marriage model is intellectually indefensible, and that contemporary reflection on the text must lead us to recognize a much more tolerant approach. In addition, Professor Kalir reviewed recent developments in Israeli Law on the subject, which let the Israeli Supreme Court to de-facto recognition of same-sex marriage conducted outside Israel.
CSU Law Faculty 