Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson testified at an Ohio Power Siting Board hearing pertaining to the proposed Frasier Solar energy development project. The hearing concerned whether the OPSB should grant Frasier a Certificate of Public Necessity and Convenience, a necessary precursor to obtaining a permit to construct the facility. Frasier Solar has proposed an industrial scale 120-megawatt solar energy project in Knox County, Ohio. Knox Smart Development, among others, opposes the project. To prepare Robertson for testimony, Environmental Law Fellow Mark Bank, a second-year law student, worked through all of the citizen testimony from three separate public hearings on this matter. Bank and Robertson sorted all of the citizen comments made in opposition to the project into four categories – those that were contrary to fact, those for which the concerns were mitigated through permit conditions or applicant concessions, those that were statements of opinion, and those for which the record neither supported nor disproved the statement. The purpose was to determine whether the citizen concerns amounted to “prominent, one-sided, and compelling opposition to the project – the OPSB’s stated standard for denying the requested certificate. Robertson and Bank found that although comments in opposition outnumber comments in support of the project by more than a 2 to 1 margin, only a few of the comments were not factually incorrect, mitigated, or statements of opinion. Robertson and Bank conducted this research in cooperation with the Ohio Environmental Council and Robertson’s testimony supported the OEC’s efforts to assist Frasier Solar’s effort to increase Ohio’s solar energy production capacity.

Prof. Robertson is the Steven W. Percy Distinguished Professor of Law (CSU|Law) and Professor of Environmental Studies (Levin College).

Visiting Professor Debbie Hoffman created and has taught for several years on online course on blockchain technologies at Albany Law School, which recognized her as an outstanding graduate adjunct faculty member. The award noted:
“𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘮𝘢𝘯…𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 [Albany] 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵-𝘶𝘱𝘴. 𝘈𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘱𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦.”

Professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich has appeared in local media discussing issues related to bail and pretrial release.  On August 12, Professor Witmer-Rich spoke with WKYC Channel 3 news about the case of Bobby George, a local restaurant order charged with attempted murder and rape, who was released on a $200,000 bond.  Professor Witmer-Rich explained the considerations that go into the bond amount.  On August 21, Professor Witmer-Rich was interviewed as part of a Cleveland Heights Public Library public education program.  He discussed the 2018 Cuyahoga County Bail Task Force Report, of which he was the principal author.  Professor Witmer-Rich discussed the recommendations in that report, including the current state of bail reform in Cuyahoga County and in the state of Ohio.  

Legal Educator-in-Residence Howard E. Katz made two presentations at the Southeast Association of Law Schools (SEALS) Annual Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl, held from July 20 through July 27. He spoke about Designing an Effective Core Law School Course, as part of the Newer Law Professors Workshop, and gave advice to newer professors on a panel entitled Designing Your Course Package. 

Leon M. and Gloria Plevin Professor of Law and Associate Dean Brian Ray co-authored the U.S. Biometric Systems Privacy Primer recently published by the Sedona Conference Journal.

Prof. Ray chaired the Primer drafting group, a national group of experts on biometric privacy. The Primer provides a general introduction to biometric systems and a summary of existing U.S. laws regulating the collection, use, and sharing of the biometric information these technologies collect.

The Primer is written as a resource for lawyers, judges, legislators, and other policymakers. It provides a general guide to the relationships among the technical, legal, and policy aspects of biometric systems – with a particular focus on privacy and related concerns these systems may raise.

Professor Milena Sterio delivered an online lecture on the topic of “Creating a Special International Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine” on August 2; the lecture was organized by the Center for Civil Liberties, a leading Ukrainian NGO which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023.  In her remarks, Professor Sterio focused on the need to create a special international tribunal which would have jurisdiction to prosecute Russian leaders, including Vladimir Putin, for the crime of aggression.  

Professor Milena Sterio participated in an episode of the radio show “Talking Foreign Policy” on the topic of “Foreign Policy and the 2024 Presidential Election.”  Professor Sterio is a regular contributor/guest expert on this quarterly radio show; the show is hosted by CWRU Law School Professor Michael Scharf.  This episode’s guests, in addition to Professor Sterio, included Yale Law Professor and former Legal Advisor to the State Department, Harold Koh; former Legal Advisor to the State Department, John Bellinger; Professor Paul Williams, American University Washington College of Law, and Professor Michael Newton, Vanderbilt University Law School.  The episode will be broadcast on Monday, August 26, at 9:00 am and at 9:00 pm on WCPN/89.3.  

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.