Professor Sterio contributed a book review (by invitation) to the Israel Law Review (a peer-reviewed journal published by Cambridge University Press).  Professor Sterio reviewed a recent book by Professor Timothy William Waters, “Boxing Pandora: Rethinking Borders, States, and Secession in a Democratic World.”

Professor Christa Laser was featured in an extended interview on Cleveland 19 News to discuss the trademark issues involved in the new “Guardians” name selected by the Cleveland baseball team. Potential trademark problems have arisen due to the fact that there is a Cleveland roller derby team called the Cleveland Guardians.

Professor Laser explained that “both sides are trying to position themselves to get the trademark for this Cleveland Guardians trademark.” She observed that the trademark issue will ultimately come down to the question of “which company has the first bona fide use?”

The full interview can be viewed here.

Professor Mark Sundahl has published an op-ed in SPACE NEWS titled “The Success of Artemis Hinges on NASA’s Commitment to Competition.” Professor Sundahl argues that NASA should not rely solely on one company to implement the Human Landing System (HLS), but should grant a second award for the HLS program to ensure ongoing healthy competition. He states, “Our capitalist system, defined by healthy competition, is the greatest advantage that the United States has as other countries, including China and Russia, jostle in space for geopolitical supremacy.”

Professor Sundahl is the director of C|M|LAW’s Global Space Law Center.

Professor Brian Ray and Cybersecurity Center Advisory Board member Kirk Nahra each published articles in the most recent edition of the Seton Hall Law Review. Ray’s article, Just Plain Dumb?: How Digital Contact Tracing Apps Could’ve Worked Better (And Why They Never Got the Chance), discusses how digital contact tracing apps failed in the US and recommends reforms to improve the use of digital tools in pandemic response. Nahra’s piece, The Past, Present, and Future of U.S. Privacy Law, examines the brief history of US privacy law and identifies governing principles and key issues that any federal privacy law should address.

Professor Brian Ray was quoted several times discussing ransomware, the need for training and cyber risk insurance in Crain’s Cleveland Business annual Cybersecurity edition.

Professor Ray is the Leon M. and Gloria Plevin Professor of Law and director of C|M|LAW’s Center for Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection.

Professor John Plecnik recently completed the week-long Ohio Public Leadership Academy at the Glenn College at Ohio State University.  The Academy is a bipartisan program for rising public officials created by the Ohio General Assembly and Ohio State for leadership training. Professor Plecnik serves as a County Commissioner for Lake County.

Professor Plecnik stated, “The opportunity to network and learn from leaders across Ohio is invaluable and I was personally grateful for the chance to meet the Director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety and tour the Ohio Emergency Operations Center, learn crisis management from a retired Major General and head of the Ohio National Guard, and talk policy with the Assistant Director of the County Commissioners Association of Ohio.”

Below is a picture of the attendees at the Ohio Public Leadership Academy. Professor Plecnik is in the top left.

Legal Educator in Residence Howard E. Katz made a presentation on Course Design at the AALS Workshop for New Law Teachers on June 3. The conference, normally held in Washington D.C., was on zoom this year. The session, conducted with Dean Michael Hunter Schwartz of McGeorge School of Law, addressed such topics as transparency, sequencing of material, decisions about coverage, assessment, and coursebook selection. Howard also facilitated two small group discussions with attendees, and hosted a session for new Contracts professors.  

Professor Reginald Oh was featured in a radio interview on “Attitude with Arnie Arneson” on July 8. The show is hosted by New Hampshire’s WNHN and is broadcast nationally. Professor Oh discussed his recent article on Critical Race Theory published in the Washington Monthly.

A link to the recording is here: https://www.wnhnfm.org/the-attitude-w-arnie-arnesen

Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Professor Law, spoke with the Financial Times, the prominent French news organ L’Express, and the Japanese business magazine Nikkei, on Amazon’s surprise effort last week to remove new Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Kahn from antitrust investigations of the company.

Sagers was also quoted in a deep-dive analysis in Fortune magazine of the failed merger of Visa and Plaid, a fintech combination that raised very interesting and uncertain antitrust issues and was successfully opposed by the Trump administration. 

Professor Reginald Oh has published an article titled “An Academic Theory Has Become the 21st Century’s Willie Horton” in the Washington Monthly. In the article, Professor Oh argues that “the Right is exploiting Critical Race Theory (CRT) to trigger explicit and implicit racial biases about what it deems to be dangerous, radical African American ideologies.”

Professor Oh contends that “the attacks on CRT are based on Big Lies that castigate complex legal scholarship as absolutist, dogmatic ideology laying out a programmatic blueprint for laying waste to the American social order.”

Professor Oh identifies four general themes of CRT scholarship:

• “First, CRT is committed to achieving racial equality and justice.”

• “Second, CRT seeks to achieve its broad goals of racial justice and equality by embracing the full complexity of race, racism, and social reality.”

• “A third general feature of CRT is careful, nuanced analysis,” characterized by a “more thoughtful and introspective” voice.

• “Fourth, CRT emphasizes nonviolence, community building, and even friendship.”

Professor Oh argues readers to familiarize themselves with the actual content of CRT scholarship. He concludes that “defending CRT is ultimately about defending truth and democracy.”