On Friday, November 21, CSU Law School hosted a day-long seminar on Advanced Appellate Advocacy in partnership with the Eighth District Court of Appeals. The seminar featured Justices, Judges, court staff, and practitioners who shared their experiences and expertise on appellate practice.
Two CSU Law faculty members also presented at the event. Professor Methab Khan presented on a panel titled “Generative AI 101 for courts: Hallucinations, Deepfakes, and the Record.” Professor Doron Kalir presented on “The Art of Persuasion – How to Write an Appellate Brief.”
The seminar was extremely well-received, and the MCR was full to near capacity.
Professor Sterio reviewed former International Criminal Court Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji’s book, “The End of Immunity: Holding World Leaders Accountable for Aggression, Genocide, War Crimes, and Crimes Against Humanity” (Prometheus, 2024). Judge Eboe-Osuji’s book espouses the view that customary international law rejects the principle of personal immunity before international criminal courts for sitting political and military leaders who commit atrocity crimes. This view, which Judge Eboe-Osuji had adopted and advanced as an ICC judge, is shared by some scholars but rejected by others who argue that sitting heads-of-state waive immunity only if they are judged before an international tribunal whose jurisdiction their respective states have agreed to. Judge Eboe-Osuji’s book addresses an important scholarly as well as practical topic. It also provides a comprehensive historical analysis of various international negotiations, agreements, and other instruments as proof, according to Judge Eboe-Osuji, that customary law rejects personal immunity as a bar to prosecution of atrocity crimes before an international court.
According to Professor Sterio’s review, “The strengths of ‘The End of Immunity’ lie in its elegant language, its thorough recounting of historical developments regarding immunity, and its passionate call to action for accountability for heads of state who commit atrocity crimes. It thus reflects Judge Eboe-Osuji’s long-standing quest to establish accountability for high-ranking officials and represents a kind of intellectual culmination of his career. In Eboe-Osuji’s words, “[a]ny argument for immunity of heads of state is effectively a protest against the judicial process[.]”
We are pleased to share that Cory Scott, of the Center for Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection at CSU|LAW provided testimony for a legislative proposal in Ohio addressing artificial intelligence personhood, and his insights are included in an article published by the Ohio Capital Journal.
In the piece titled “What’s in Ohio’s proposal banning AI personhood,” the article explores House Bill 469, which would prohibit AI systems from obtaining legal personhood (such as marrying an AI or holding decision-making authority within a company) and ensure that human actors are held accountable for harm caused by AI tools.
Mr. Scott’s testimony emphasized the need for legal clarity around liability and the definition of sentience or consciousness in AI systems, reinforcing that accountability must remain with the human or entity behind the technology.
Please join us in commending Mr. Scott for his engagement in this important policy discussion at the intersection of law and emerging AI regulation.
Debbie Hoffman, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at CSU College of Law, spoke on November 11, 2025, at the Executive Women’s Summit 2025 (EWS) in Santa Fe, hosted by the Women of ALICE. She joined Brooke Anderson-Tompkins, Erica Acie, and Kim Hoffman for a featured panel titled“Beyond the Hype: Leading with clArIty.”
The discussion examined how financial and technology leaders can navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies with purpose and accountability. Panelists addressed building trust and transparency around AI adoption, aligning innovation with organizational mission and risk tolerance, strengthening vendor governance, and exploring how blockchain and tokenization are shaping the future of mortgage and financial services.
Hoffman’s remarks emphasized clarity and responsible innovation as essential leadership tools for guiding technology adoption in regulated industries.
Professor Debbi Hoffman (right) speaking at the Executive Women’s Conference.
Professor Milena Sterio organized and participated in a side event at the United Nations 6th Committee during International Law Week, on Friday, October 31. The event, “The Right to Equal and Inclusive Participation and the International Court of Justice: Where are the Women,” focused on the need for gender parity at the International Court of Justice. The event was hosted by the Gender Parity at the International Court of Justice Project (Professor Sterio serves on the Steering Committee), and the American Branch of the International Law Association’s Gender Justice in International Law Committee (Professor Sterio co-chairs this Committee, which she also co-founded). In addition, the event was co-sponsored by the United Nations Permanent Missions of Canada, Mexico, Sweden, and Singapore.
Since its inception in 1945, there has been only six female judges on the bench of the ICJ. In the upcoming ICJ judicial elections, out of eleven candidates thus far nominated by states, only three are women. The side event, which featured remarks by a slate of distinguished panelists, stressed the need for equal and inclusive participation for women on the ICJ’s judicial bench, as a fundamental human right. Professor Sterio moderated the discussion along with Dr. Jessica Corsi (University College London). Expert panelists included Karen Ong, Deputy Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations, Prof. Nilufer Oral, International Law Commission, Prof. Jelena Pia-Commella, Member of the Commission of the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women Committee, Jelena Crncevic, Special Counsel, Withers Worldwide, and Akhila Radhakrishnan, End Gender Apartheid Campaign.
Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson was honored to participate in Loyola University-Chicago’s Fifth Annual Environmental, Natural Resources, and Land Use Law Scholars Workshop, October 15 to 18, 2025, at Starved Rock State Park Lodge in Illinois. This intensive scholarship workshop invites 10 scholars to workshop projects over three days at a state park lodge. This year, in addition to Professor Robertson, invited participants included environmental/natural resources/land use law faculty from the law schools at the University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Northwestern, McGeorge, Ohio State, Case Western Reserve, SMU, University of Richmond, and Loyola-Chicago. Robertson workshopped her research on public involvement in energy development decision-making in Ohio.
Robertson is the Steven W. Percy Professor of Law at the College of Law and Professor of Environmental Studies at the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education, Cleveland State University.
Professor Oh’s article puts forth a novel theory to explain why Asian Americans are systematically shut out of leadership positions in virtually all professional fields, including in the STEM and medical fields. He argues that Asian Americans are excluded from leadership because of perceived lack of “leadership qualities” due to their perceived low status, deferential or subservient racial character.
Professor Oh will be presenting the article at the St. John’s Law School in the spring, at an event sponsored by the St. John’s Law Review and the school’s Asian Pacific American Law Students Association.
Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson spoke on The Public Voice In Ohio Administrative Law, at the Ohio Environmental Council’s Conference on Environmental Law, held at The Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law in Columbus on September 26, 2025. Her presentation described the research behind her recent testimony before the Ohio Power Siting Board regarding the appropriate agency evaluation of public comments. CSU College of Law Environmental Law Fellow Mark Bank presented on the same panel regarding his work on the data behind Professor Robertson’s testimony.
Robertson is the Steven W. Percy Professor of Law at the College of Law and Professor of Environmental Studies at the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education, Cleveland State University.
Professor Milena Sterio participated in the International Law Weekend conference in New York City from October 23-25. International Law Weekend is a premier international law conference organized and hosted by the American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA). Professor Sterio serves on the ABILA Board of Directors; Co-Chairs the Gender Justice and the Teaching International Law Committees; serves as Co-Director of Studies; and also served on the ILW Organizing Committee this past year.
Professor Sterio (far left above) moderated a panel discussion on the topic of “Crimes Against the Environment, Nature, and Biodiversity – Progresses and Gaps in the Law of International and Transnational Crimes.” This panel was sponsored by the ABILA International Environmental Law Committee, and speakers included Prof. David Donat Cattin (NYU); Prof. Cymie Payne (Rutgers University School of Law); Christopher Lentz (Ukraine Register for Damages); and Bryce Rudyk (NYC and Legal Advisor to the Coalition of Small States). Panelists explored progress and gaps within international environmental law, including ongoing civil and criminal cases and proceedings before international and regional tribunals.
CELS is an interdisciplinary gathering that draws empirical researchers from across the United States and the world, bringing together scholars in law, economics, political science, psychology, and other fields who are interested in the empirical analysis of law and legal institutions.
In his paper, Professor Luisetto examines how the regulation of noncompete agreements for employees through collective agreements affects firm-level markdowns in the French manufacturing sector. A key takeaway is that, by enhancing compliance or imposing additional requirements for noncompete enforceability, collective bargaining serves as an effective tool to regulate the use of noncompete agreements in France.
CSU Law Faculty 