In the News - November 16, 2020

Media Highlights

Employers Facing Wave of Lawsuits by Parents Fired During Pandemic
Insurance Journal—November 12, 2020
Joan Williams: “We’re going to be seeing the economic consequences of this period — and they’re going to be to impoverish women and children for decades.”

Uber Brands Gig Companies’ Efforts to Reshape Labor Laws as ‘IC+’
MarketWatch—November 11, 2020
Veena Dubal: “Prop. 22 is not, in any way, an ‘independent contractor-plus’ model. Like Prop. 22’s political advertising, Khosrowshahi’s framing is inaccurate, misleading and dangerous.”

The CDC Chief Lost His Way During COVID-19. Now His Agency Is in the Balance.
USA Today—November 11, 2020
Dorit Reiss: “Once the president’s political intervention has been put in place, there will always be suspicion that it can happen again.”

Biden Win Unlikely to End Legal Fight Over Pendley
E&E News—November 11, 2020
John Leshy: “It’s very common for DOJ to file a notice of appeal as a placeholder,” regardless of whether it follows through on the challenge.

Can American Labor Survive Prop 22?
The Nation—November 10, 2020
Veena Dubal: Prop 22’s passage represents “the most radical undoing of labor legislation since Taft-Hartley in 1947.”

I’m Hoping We Can Remind People of the Value of Civility
We Can Find a Way—November 9, 2020
Sheila Purcell: “I think it’s great for students if they can take Dispute System Design, because it exposes them to the idea that these systems are built by someone and they have implications when they are built.”

With No Oversight of List of Problem Cops, Prosecutors Mainly Rely on Police to Self-Report
Lansing State Journal—November 8, 2020
Jon Abel: Brady information is not automatically allowed to be released to the jury. Defense attorneys have to convince a judge the information is relevant and admissible. (paywall/subscription req.)

What You Need To Know About Biden and IP
Law360—November 8, 2020
Robin Feldman: “To get the major breakthroughs, we need incentives that focus on whether a new drug (or variant) makes a major contribution to patient care. Small contributions aren’t worth the rewards we are lavishing.”

Kamala Harris: Watch Her Journey From Berkeley to VP to Become First Black, Asian Woman Elected to Vice Presidency
ABC7 News—November 7, 2020
Loren Hampton: “As a Black woman at Hastings with the hopes of working to create systemic change throughout this country, it’s really inspiring to see someone like Kamala Harris in the incredible position that she’s in. It really just does feel like the sky’s the limit.”

With Joe Biden Predicted to Win the White House, Should We Expect Legal Battles?
KCBS—November 7, 2020
Rory Little: “Let me take a minute to celebrate the fact that Kamala Harris is a graduate of UC Law SF, where I teach, the first Black woman to be in line for the presidency, and we are very proud of her.”

Human Capital: The Gig Economy in a Post-Prop 22 World
TechCrunch—November 7, 2020
Veena Dubal: “To get Prop 22 passed, gig companies — which have yet to turn a profit — spent a historic $205 million on their campaign, effectively creating a political template for future anti-democratic, corporate law-making.”

Blaine Bookey: Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
Daily Journal—November 4, 2020
Blaine Bookey: “They’re living in horrible conditions, languishing while unable to prepare their [asylum] claims. Only about 5% are represented, compared with the 30% or so who have attorneys in U.S. immigration courts. (paywall/subscription req.)

College and Community Stories

The Future Starts Now
In 2020 we adopted a strategic plan for the college that articulates a vitalizing vision for the years ahead and establishes a blueprint for achieving it. Already, progress is evident in every arena of activity.

Congratulations Kamala!
“Today it is my singular honor to congratulate our extraordinary graduate, Kamala Harris ’89, on being the Vice President-Elect of the United States.” –Chancellor and Dean David Faigman

Judge Foley and Justice Stewart Join Faculty as Adjunct Professors
Continuing a long tradition of attracting prominent members of the judiciary to its teaching ranks, UC Law SF has added two new accomplished jurists as faculty for the Spring 2021 term – Chief Judge of the U.S. Tax Court Judge Maurice Foley and California Court of Appeal Justice Therese Stewart.

Hadar Aviram Wins Criminology Society ‘Founders’ Award
Prof. Hadar Aviram has received the Western Society of Criminology’s June Morrison-Tom Gitchoff Founders Award for 2021, which honors a person who significantly improved the quality of justice in the United States. The award acknowledges Aviram’s “profound influence on criminology and criminal justice.”

Feldman Wins Goldberg Memorial Lecture Award for Pharma Policy Work
Prof. Robin Feldman has been honored with the 2020 Leon I. Goldberg Memorial Lecture Award by the University of Chicago’s Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics for her work in pharmaceutical policy and law. She is the first person from outside the field of medicine to receive the award.

T. Anansi Wilson Joins CREJ as Affiliated Scholar
Wilson is an award-winning scholar of law, literary, and cultural studies; a racial-justice strategist; and an author of creative nonfiction. An Adjunct Professor and Affiliated Scholar with CREJ for this academic year, Wilson is teaching Constitutional Law II with Prof. Rory Little and a seminar, Race, Sexuality and the Law.

Student Q&A: 2L Kameelah Sims-Traylor
“I definitely have two hands full, but I’m used to multitasking. I’ve become pretty efficient.”

Scholarly Leadership

Veena Dubal: ‘Those in Power Won’t Give up Willingly’: Veena Dubal and Meredith Whittaker on the Future of Organizing Under Prop 22, OneZero

Reuel Schiller: Spoke on a panel at the American Society for Legal History’s annual meeting, “Publishing Legal History Books in the Coronavirus Era”

Manoj Viswanathan: Lower-Income Tax Planning, Illinois Law Review

Joan Williams: How Biden Won Back (Enough of) the White Working Class, Harvard Business Review

Upcoming Events

Law and Economics Virtual Series, Nov. 18: Jared Ellias is speaking on “Independent Directors in Distress.” The series is sponsored by University of Florida Levin College of Law, Michigan Law, and University of Virginia School of Law.