Professor Milena Sterio participated in five different panels at the AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego. Professor Sterio organized and moderated a discussion group on the topic “Russia v. Ukraine: Implications for a New Global Order” on January 5.

On January 6, Professor Sterio participated as a panelist in a program titled “International Human Rights and the Sanctions on Russia for its Aggressive War on Ukraine,” sponsored by the International Human Rights Law section, as well as in a program titled “How Can Students and Faculty Make a Difference via Teaching and Clinical Work in Times of Crisis?,” cosponsored by the Section on Global Engagement, Section on International Human Rights, and Section on Comparative Law (also cosponsored by teaching international law committee of the American Branch of the International Law Association).

On January 7, Professor Sterio participated as panelist in a program titled “Global War and Conflict in Ukraine and Beyond: An Effective and Balanced Response?” (cosponsored by the Section on Comparative Law, the Section on Global Engagement, the Section on Litigation, and the Section on International Human Rights). Finally, on January 7, Professor Sterio also moderated a “New Voices in International Human Rights Law” panel, sponsored by the International Human Rights Law Section.

Professor Sterio was elected Treasurer of the Women in Legal Education section at the AALS. Professor Sterio is former chair of the International Law, International Human Rights Law, and National Security Law sections; she currently serves on the Executive Committee of all three sections.

On January 23, Professor Christa Laser presented her latest paper, “Rethinking Patent Law’s Exclusive Appellate Jurisdiction,” at the George Washington University Law School. A video of Professor Laser’s talk can be seen here.

Senior Legal Writing Professor Claire C. Robinson May presented at the Legal Writing Institute’s One-Day Workshop on December 1, 2022. The workshop, hosted virtually by the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, was entitled “Teaching Social Justice and Legal Change in Legal Writing.” In her presentation, “Law, Inequality, and Everyday Life: A New Course for Justice-Seeking Law Students,” Professor May discussed the inspiration for and pedagogical design of a new legal writing seminar she is offering for the first time in Spring 2023. In the course, law students will read a variety of scholarly and literary non-fiction texts that explore issues of inequality. Students may elect to take the course for either upper-level or third-semester Legal Writing credit, with writing assignments that culminate in either a scholarly research paper or legal practice portfolio.

Professor Doron Kalir was an invited speaker in Miami at a conference of the Academic Engagement Network, a national academic organization designed to oppose the efforts to delegitimize Israel on campuses. At AEN’s recent Miami conference, Professor Kalir spoke on the recent elections in Israel and their implications for Jewish students nationwide.

In his presentation, Kalir lamented the move of the Israeli Government towards the ultra-religious right, and warned of its likely damage to the rule of law in general, and to the Israeli Supreme Court in particular — a damage that might be irreversible. As for the students on American campuses, Professor Kalir suggested a more nuanced understanding of  the term “pro-Israel”: On the one hand, an express support for Israel’s right to exist — in particular in light of the current wave of Antisemitism in America; and on other hand, an express denouncement of the current Government’s policies. 

Professor Karin Mika served as a contributing editor for “Concise Legal Writing and Analysis,” written by Vivek Sehrawat.  The book is one of the first Legal Writing style books available for students attending Indian law schools.

Professor Mika also graded submissions for the Stetson International Environmental Law Moot Court Competition. 

Professor Milena Sterio attended the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of States Parties (ICC ASP) in The Hague, Netherlands, from December 5-9, 2022.  The ICC ASP convenes once per year in The Hague or in New York, at the United Nations. The ASP is the ICC’s management organ which sets the Court’s budget, conducts judicial elections, and where representatives of states parties discuss various ICC-related issues.  

Professor Sterio, during the ASP, moderated a panel discussion on the topic of “Shocking the Conscience of Humanity: From Gravity Theory to Practice” on December 5th.  The panelists included, in addition to Professor Sterio, Margaret deGuzman, Judge on the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals and Professor at Temple Law School; Marieke de Hoon, Professor at the University of Amsterdam; Rod Rastan, Prosecutor, International Criminal Court; and Marie O’Leary, Defense Counsel, International Criminal Court.  

In addition, Professor Sterio conducted meetings with prosecutors at the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor regarding the ICC’s Rohingya investigation, as well as meetings with representatives from the ICC Trust Fund for Victims.

Professor Milena Sterio, with a group of experts convened under the auspices of the Public International Law and Policy Group, submitted observations as amici curiae to the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court in the Case of the Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen.

Professor Sterio’s observations focused on the allocation of the burden of proof and the appropriate standard of proof in relation to the applicability of the grounds excluding criminal responsibility enshrined in art. 31(1)(a) and (d) of the Rome Statute. Professor Sterio, with Dean Michael Scharf (CWRU School of Law), appeared in person at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, in February 2022, to present these observations during the Ongwen appellate hearing.

The International Criminal Court, in this appellate judgement, generally accepted Professor Sterio’s advice and cited Professor Sterio’s amici curiae observations six times in the judgment and three additional times in the annexes to the judgement.

The ICC’s decision is available here, at the link titled, “Appeals judgment on the verdict, 15 December 2022.”

Professor of Law Emeritus Deborah A. Geier has published the tenth edition of her textbook for the first law school tax class: Federal Income Taxation of Individuals 2023. The textbook can be downloaded for free at https://www.cali.org/books/us-federal-income-taxation-individuals in pdf or Word format, as well as ePub (for iPads) and Mobi (for Kindles) formats. Very soon, the book can be ordered in hard copy at cost from Lulu.com at the same link above. CALI’s eLangdell publishing seeks to reduce student textbook cost by publishing free e-textbooks. This tenth edition will be Professor Geier’s last edition, as she transitions to full retirement.

On December 4, 2022, the Business Insider interviewed Professor Doron Kalir on the recent “Twitter Files” controversy. Professor Kalir explained that because Twitter is not a “state actor,” the First Amendment is not properly implicated in this story. The article was titled, “You may think Twitter was wrong to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story, but it was not a violation of the First Amendment.”

Professor Matthew Green spoke on the significance of Bostock v. Clayton County, Ga. and issues pertaining to religion and LGBTQ rights that Bostock raised but left unresolved. The discussion was part of a civil rights-civil liberties course at Barnard College.