Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Professor of Law, will publish his paper “Why Do Corporations Merge and Why Should Law Care?” in the Michigan Journal of Law Reform. The paper concerns a surprising empirical puzzle that is well-established and significant, but almost completely ignored by American law: that on average, corporate mergers and other acquisitions appear to do no demonstrable good for corporations, their shareholders, or anyone else. Sagers’ paper comprehensively surveys the empirical literature, works through the several serious puzzles it implies, and suggests policy corrections to take better account of it.

Professor Milena Sterio was a guest on The Sound of Ideas radio program on WCPN/90.3 on February 22, to discuss international law issues related to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

In addition, Professor Sterio moderated a discussion on 03/02 on “Happy Dog Takes on the Ukraine Crisis.”  This event was organized by the City Club of Cleveland and sponsored by the Cleveland Council on World Affairs.  A recording of the event is available here: https://www.cityclub.org/forums/2022/03/02/happy-dog-takes-on-the-ukraine-crisis.

On March 4, Professor Sterio moderated a panel discussion “The Role of International Law in the Ukraine-Russia Conflict.”  The panel discussion was organized by the Public International Law and Policy Group, and guest speakers included The Honorable Stephen Rapp, former Ambassador for War Crimes, U.S. Department of State; Professor Jennifer Trahan, NYU; Professor Meg deGuzman, Temple Law School; and Professor Yvonne Dutton, University of Indiana McKinney School of Law.  A recording of the event is available here: https://www.publicinternationallawandpolicygroup.org/ukraine-russia-conflict-roundtable.

Professor Sterio, with a group of academics and practitioners, under the auspices of the Public International Law and Policy Group, has been working on the creation of a website portal, “Ukraine Transitional Justice & Documentation.”  The portal is available here: https://www.ukrainetjdoc.org.

The purpose of the portal is to provide capacity building for civil society organizations and other individuals interested in documenting war crimes and human rights violations in Ukraine.  The portal also has information about transitional justice and accountability; much of the information is available both in English and in Ukrainian.

Finally, Professors John Plecnik, Brian Ray, Milena Sterio, and Mark Sundahl participated in a Cleveland-Marshall webinar about the Russia-Ukraine conflict on March 7th.  The webinar was moderated by Professor David Forte and co-sponsored by the Dean’s Ad Hoc Committee on Informed Discourse.  A recording of the webinar is available here.  

Legal Educator-in Residence Howard E. Katz made a plenary session presentation about pedagogy in constitutional law and related courses on February 25 at the Seventh Annual ACS/Barry/Texas A&M Constitutional Law Scholars Forum (held online).

Professor Matthew Ahn has published an article, titled “No Compassion,” reporting his original research into potential Supreme Court nominee J. Michelle Childs’s criminal justice record as a district court judge. He looks at Judge Childs’s available decisions on motions for compassionate release, which he finds to be unfriendly to incarcerated individuals and largely dismissive of their concerns, both compared to other judges in South Carolina and nationwide. 

The article is published at Inquest, a forum created by Harvard Law School’s Institute to End Mass Incarceration. 

Professor Christa Laser appeared as a guest on the podcast “3 Things to Know,” hosted by WKYC journalist Stephanie Haney. She discussed intellectual property issues related to non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The podcast is available here.

Professor Karin Mika assisted in reviewing articles for a variety of recent events. She graded essays for the Maltz Museum’s “Stop the Hate; Youth Speak Out” competition. In addition, she graded student briefs for Capital Law School’s “Child Welfare and Adoption Law” Competition. Finally, she scored law review articles for the Scribes Law Review Award Competition.

Clinical Professor of Law Doron Kalir was quoted last week by the Business Insider regarding the implications of the Supreme Court’s abortion (SB. 8) decision. In particular, professor Kalir opined on the legal landscape likely to be created by the Court’s refusal to block the new vigilante-enforcement regime adopted by Texas. Kalir warned that other States may adopt similar measures, and that that, in turn, may lead to creating a society very few of us would like to live in. 

Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Professor of Law, appeared in the German documentary series “Opaque Worlds,” produced by Germany’s public broadcaster ZDF, and distributed by ZDF and its international arm, Deutsche Welle. 

Sagers was featured in Part 5 of the series, “The Rise of Big Tech” (paywall), which details the rise and policy challenges of the dominant online platforms. He appeared along with experts from Stanford, Columbia, UCLA, NYU, and Harvard. 

Professor Deborah Geier appeared as a guest on WCPN’s “Sound of Ideas” program on February 3 to discuss (after a much more interesting segment on potential inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) items that may be of interest in the current tax filing season. The program can be accessed here.

The Environmental Law Institute’s latest edition of The Law of Environmental Protection is now out.  Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson wrote section E. Municipal Regulation, § 29:69 through § 29:85 in “VI. State and Local Government Regulation” in the new Chapter 29, Oil and Gas. This is the first time the ELI has included Oil and Gas Law in this set so the entire oil and gas section is new.

Professor Robertson is the Steven W. Percy Professor of Law.