Thinkers & Doers Roundup: January 2019
THE FACULTY BUZZ:
“Is building a wall military work? There’s lots of room for debate,” Professor Rory Little (@RoryLittle) said in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle titled “An emergency declaration for Trump’s wall? Not so fast, say experts.” http://bit.ly/2MJiKSh
–Professor Little appeared on KQEDForum recapping Attorney General nominee William Barr’s confirmation hearing and discussing his record in law and government: http://bit.ly/2SsWHVp.
—Professor Little also published his regular commentary on SCOTUS blog entitled “Opinion analysis: Interesting 5-4 coalition holds that the ACCA reaches robberies that require force sufficient to overcome resistance.” http://bit.ly/2Blr4Dh
The Center for WorkLife Law and Professor Joan C. Williams (@JoanCWilliams) had a busy month on the heels of the release of its first-of-its-kind study on breastfeeding and the workplace. The study appeared in publications ranging from Employee Benefit Advisor (http://bit.ly/2SdxPAU), the New York Times (https://nyti.ms/2Wy3211), Fortune (http://bit.ly/2S8a), the non-profit news organization MinnPost (http://bit.ly/2UrQm9S) and more. The Center was also featured in articles from Employee Benefit News (http://bit.ly/2DUPRQx) and Business Insider India (http://bit.ly/2SxPlQE).
Professor and Director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies Karen Musalo (@KarenMusalo)was quoted in an NPR article titled “FACT CHECK: Migrants Are Not Overwhelming The Southwest Border.” https://n.pr/2Wv9iXe.
– Professor Musalo also provided expert commentary for a piece from NPR entitled “As More Migrants Are Denied Asylum, An Abuse Survivor Is Turned Away.” https://n.pr/2Sqf11n.
Lisa Frydman, managing director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, was quoted in a piece from the Center for Public Integrity and The California Report titled “A Life and Death Struggle for Asylum in America.” http://bit.ly/2S2h8Ja.
Kate Jastram, senior staff attorney for the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, was quoted in an article from BBC News on the government shutdown and the U.S.-Mexico border. https://bbc.in/2HFICj1
“More than a legal fear is a fear of collective action. They don’t want the contractors to feel like employees. They don’t want them to be motivated to feel like they could have the same benefits as the regular employees,” Professor Venna Dubal (@veenadubal) said in an article published on Huff Post. http://bit.ly/2Wy4h0b
–Professor Dubal was also quoted in a BloombergQuint article on the business model and potential IPO problems facing ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft. http://bit.ly/2S8IZHP
“Cilantro is a good example for showing the stupidity of racial stereotype,” Professor Frank H. Wu (@frankhwu) writes in the opening line of his regular column in Diverse Issues of Higher Education. http://bit.ly/2WHFerq
–Professor Wu was a guest on the Think About It podcast, where he spoke about the lawsuit against Harvard University. http://bit.ly/2HTfJjy.
—Professor Wu also published his regular column in the Daily Journal titled “The Truth is I Do Not Have An Opinion About That,” and appeared in an article published by the New South Wales, Australia law society.
Eumi K. Lee’s groundbreaking appointment to the Alameda County Superior Court was covered once again, this time by the Pleasanton Weekly. http://bit.ly/2MKgri6
“I think at least the status of the law now is pretty strong that horizontal mergers, which result in high market shares, are going to be questioned and probably challenged,” said Professor Tim Greaney in an article published in the Pahrump Valley Times.
–Professor Greaney added expert commentary to The Columbus Dispatch for an article in its Side Effects series examining reports that CVS paid itself far more than several competitors http://bit.ly/2t5Dzi3 as well as to California Healthline for a story on a bid by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to postpone the sale of two nonprofit hospitals to Santa Clara County. http://bit.ly/2D9gRtR
—In January, Professor Greaney also spoke on the topic of consolidation in healthcare markets at the AMA’s annual Advocacy Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Professor Naomi Roht-Arriaza lent her expertise to a New York Times article exploring the December 1981 massacre in the Salvadoran village of El Mozote and nearby hamlets when Salvadoran military units killed almost 1,000 people. https://nyti.ms/2kDdgLI
Professor Jared Ellias (@jared_ellias) was quoted in a Los Angeles Times story on Sears Chairman Eddie Lampert’s latest attempt at saving the brand from liquidation (https://lat.ms/2D0g5PA). He was also quoted on a piece about Lampert and Sears from Bloomberg. https://bloom.bg/2Gb5Tbh.
–Professor Elias was also frequently called upon to offer expert commentary on the PG&E bankruptcy case, lending his voice to McClatchy papers such as the Merced Sun-Star (http://bit.ly/2WHevLN), the Fresno Bee (http://bit.ly/2WztBCS), and the Sacramento Bee (http://bit.ly/2t6xgul). He also spoke about the topic to the Wall Street Journal (https://on.wsj.com/2t4vgTr), The Toronto Star (http://bit.ly/2RGinZT), Bloomberg Law (http://bit.ly/2MOptdU), the Associated Press, and several other publications.
Professor Marsha Cohen appeared on KCBS Radio to discuss the impact of the government shutdown on FDA food inspections.
Professor Manoj Viswanathan was included in TaxProf Blog’s Weekly SSRN Tax Article Review And Roundup. http://bit.ly/2HSnyWS
Professor Binyamin Blum presented a paper titled “Going Ballistic: The Forgotten Origins of Forensic Firearm Identification,” at the Center for the Study of Law & Society speaker series at UC Berkeley.
Professor David Levine appeared on KPIX to discuss the government shutdown and on KTVU to discuss the William Barr hearings and the Supreme Court’s intervention in the challenges to Trump’s policy banning transgender people in the military.
“The deals between the drug companies and the PBM middle players are guarded as fiercely as Fort Knox,” Professor Robin Feldman (@ProfRobnFeldman) said in an article from Kaiser Health News on hidden pacts between drug companies and middlemen that keep some generic drugs for diabetes and other illnesses out of reach for many (http://bit.ly/2t6YJfG). The article was republished in several other publications, including The Daily Beast (http://bit.ly/2t67lDe) and the Dothan Eagle (http://bit.ly/2WFQvIK).
–Professor Feldman’s forthcoming Minn L.J. empirical piece measuring patent licensing and innovation was discussed in a blog post on Intellectual Property Watch. http://bit.ly/2DQY9so.
Professor Zachary Price published his latest piece in Take Care Blog titled “The Constitutional Law of Shutdowns.” http://bit.ly/2D8erMc
An article debunking the link between vaccines and autism by Professor Dorit Reiss was referenced in a piece published on The Hill called “Vaccines cannot and do not cause autism—there’s no debate.” http://bit.ly/2S7BJMz
Former Dean and Chancellor Mary Kay Kane has been the subject of The Women in Legal Education Oral History Project, and now the project’s creators are on the hunt for more interviewees. http://bit.ly/2RG3uGG
Professor Jessica Vapnek spent two weeks at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland, as a Fulbright Specialist giving a compressed course on the US legal system.
Kathryn L. Tucker, Executive Director of the End of Life Liberty Project at the UCSF/UC Law SF Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy, published “Aid in Dying in North Carolina” in the North Carolina Law Review. http://bit.ly/2S9nE16
Professor Chimene Keitner (@KeitnerLaw) published an article on Foreign Affairs unpacking the case against Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou https://fam.ag/2S94w37
Nicole Phillips, a UC Law SF professor who teaches Human Rights and Rule of Law in Haiti, was one of 70 scholars who signed an open letter calling for the United States government to cease interfering in Venezuela’s internal politics. http://bit.ly/2Ty7kmY
IT’S FEBRUARY:
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TWEET OF THE MONTH:
“She suffered horrendous abuse, she went to the police, really to no avail. And tried to escape him,” Prof @KarenMusalo said. “And that’s really the classic facts of a case that should have been granted.” https://t.co/jehBFsfdBZ via @NPRJoel @MorningEdition
— UC Law SF School (@UCHastingsLaw) January 20, 2019
IG POST OF THE MONTH:
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD:
Cutting Ball Theater made the first stop of its The Tenderloin Tour at UC Law SF on Jan. 10.
The Tenderloin neighborhood is a little safer and a whole lot brighter in the evenings thanks to the installation of 97 new streetlights.
ON CAMPUS:
Professor Mai Linh Spencer was selected as this year’s recipient of The Rutter Award for Teaching Excellence.
The Ninth Circuit Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee selected UC Law SF as its 2018 Ninth Circuit ADR Education Award recipient, recognizing the depth of its commitment to excellence in alternative dispute resolution education.
Chief Financial Officer David Seward was a speaker at Bisnow’s Bay Area Student Housing & Higher Ed Summit at Hotel Nikko in San Francisco. The speakers discussed “the need to make student housing accessible and affordable for students while dealing with the difficulty of having enough housing in a high-cost market with little space to grow.” http://bit.ly/2SsPHb5
The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) shared the government’s new guidance for asylum cases which clarifies that there is no blanket rule against claims involving applicants fleeing domestic violence and gang violence. CGRS made a toolkit available that can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/2t2Zy98. The Center also called on the Senate to Reject Trump-McConnell Bill, Reopen Government.
Award-winning tech reporter Cyrus Farivar announced a stop of his book tour at UC Law SF on May 17. http://bit.ly/2t1rGJU
Chancellor and Dean David Faigman and alumnus Sammy Chang ’18 appeared on KCBS Radio, discussing California Bar exam acceptance scores and whether a lowering of the cut score would lead to more lawyers of color.
IN VIDEO:
The CGRS and Human Rights Watch released a video about Ms. A.B., a Central American domestic violence survivor who was denied asylum when former US Attorney General Jeff Sessions intervened in her case. The video is part of a call from CGRS and HRW for the US government to uphold protections for survivors of domestic violence.
ALUMNI-LAND:
Nineteen alums from UC Law SF are among a group of more than 170 general counsels and corporate lawyers who signed an open letter urging the legal industry to commit to improving diversity and inclusion in new partner classes.
Stuart Thompson ’12 was appointed Chief Deputy Appointments Secretary by Governor-elect Gavin Newsom. http://bit.ly/2WwtM1U
Senator Kamala Harris ’89 was widely covered regionally and nationally in publications such as the Los Angeles Times (https://lat.ms/2RrY4Uo, https://lat.ms/2GbkvqV), Mother Jones (http://bit.ly/2E4WbFQ), Fox News (https://fxn.ws/2GoezKL), the Desert Sun (http://bit.ly/2WDHi3M), the Washington Post (https://wapo.st/2UIiFRQ), The Guardian (http://bit.ly/2GmhMdM) and the New Yorker (http://bit.ly/2UEOcUH). Harris’s recently released memoir, “The Truths We Hold,” was also reviewed by SF Datebook (http://bit.ly/2S2feZi)
Jennifer Cohn ’93 published an article on Medium discussing Georgia’s 6th District special election of 2017. http://bit.ly/2sYM91O
Cal Athletics presented John Ricksen ‘59 with the 2018-19 Pete Newell Career Achievement Award. http://bit.ly/2GaGWNg
For the first time in Nevada history, more women than men are at the helm of the state’s highest court – and one of those women, Lidia Stiglich ’95, is a UC Law SF graduate. http://bit.ly/2MP1paN
Emily Fons ’15, of Quarles & Brady LLP, was selected as one of Milwaukee Business Journal’ s 2019 40 Under 40 honorees. http://bit.ly/2HTHNDv. Quarles & Brady LLP officials said Fons is actively involved in the firm’s pro bono efforts. http://bit.ly/2RDL49D
Alumna Mieke Eoyang ‘02 made headlines when she spoke about President Donald Trump‘s surprise trip to visit U.S. troops in Iraq, saying: “Look, I think it’s important that the president goes and visits the troops, but he’s doing this backwards. His decision to pull out of Syria when the fight against ISIS is not quite finished…and then going to visit the troops after that.” http://bit.ly/2TvzlMb
Jeff Adachi ’85 was sworn into a record fifth term as San Francisco Public Defender.
Four years of pro bono work from alumnus Andrew Sparks ’10 resulted in a favorable ruling for an Iraq war veteran who was seeking expanded government benefits. http://bit.ly/2FzEeQd
Mark Muir ’09 was elevated to partner at Greenberg Glusker, one of Hollywood’s biggest law firms http://bit.ly/2DelVwW
Sander Alvarez ’96 was added to Hunt Ortmann’s Insurance practice. A shareholder and the firm’s Insurance practice group leader said the firm “pursued Sander to strengthen our already robust Insurance practice.” http://bit.ly/2Tx4Bua
The Bar Association of San Francisco announced plans to celebrate the appointment of Amarra Lee ’06 to the San Mateo County bench. Lee broke ground as the first Female African American judge in San Mateo.
TOP REFERRING SITES:
Entrepreneur
NPR
The Atlantic
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