On February 11, 2013, Assistant Professor Charles C. Jalloh gave the invited lecture at the T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague. His talk, entitled Rome Statute Plus or Minus: Assessing the Proposal for an African Regional Court to Prosecute International Crimes, was part of the prestigious Supranational Criminal Law Lecture Series organized jointly by the Asser Institute, the Grotius Center at Leiden University and the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. For more information on this lecture series which has over the years included some of the leading scholars of international criminal law, and the announcement of Professor Jalloh’s lecture, click here.
Faculty News
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 - 9:00am
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 - 8:56am
On February 10, 2012, Professor Douglas Branson was a featured guest on KDKA television’s “Sunday Business Page,” with Jon Delano. Professor Branson spoke about asset securitization, rating services’ activities, and the Department of Justice’s suit against Standard & Poors Corporation.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 - 8:48am
Professor John Burkoff commented on a newly-released report on the Penn State child sex scandal centering on Jerry Sandusky. The new report was commissioned by the family of the late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, and it comes to some conclusions that are quite different than those in the report produced last year by former FBI Director Louis Freeh. But Professor Burkoff does not anticipate that the new report will change the ongoing legal proceedings. "There's really nothing new in this critique that would shift the balance in the upcoming prosecutions," Professor Burkoff told the Patriot-News.
See the article here.
Sunday, February 10, 2013 - 3:44pm
Professor Harry Gruener will receive the 2013 Chancellor's Distinguished Public Service Award. Professor Gruener's work with Pitt Law's Family Law Clinic brought him this important recognition, particularly his work with the Clinic and the Family Court that has extended the Clinic's service to many pro se litigants who would not otherwise have access to legal help. Professor Gruener will be recognized for his work with the Family Law Clinic at the 2013 Honors Convocation.
Sunday, February 10, 2013 - 3:35pm
Together with a small group of other Civil Procedure professors, Professor Rhonda Wasserman submitted an amicus curiae brief to the United States Supreme Court in the case of American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, No. 12-133 (2013). The brief argues that arbitration agreements should not be enforced against claimants who, as a practical matter, cannot enforce their statutory rights in the arbitral forum. The brief further maintains that the pro-arbitration policy underlying the Federal Arbitration Act must be balanced with the First Amendment right of access to justice.
Read the Amicus brief by clicking here.
Thursday, February 7, 2013 - 9:49am
Professor John Burkoff has offered comments several times this week on the trial of Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin; see his comments in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review here.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013 - 11:47am
Visiting Professor David Frakt discussed the Secretary of Defense's newly announced rule that will open combat positions to women in the military. Professor Frakt was a guest on Essential Pittsburgh on WESA, Pittsburgh's public radio station, on Tuesday, February 5. The audio can be found here, under the heading "Back to Front."
Tuesday, February 5, 2013 - 11:45am
Professor Emily Collins presented at the "Spring 2013 Environmental Forum: Effectively Governing Shale Gas Development," at Florida State University College of Law on Friday, February 1st, 2013. Professor Collins lectured on the permitting process acrosse states for gas development, and how permitting standards differ from other environmental permitting schemes. Also presenting at the Forum were Professors Hannah Wiseman, Keith B. Hall, and Bruce Kramer.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013 - 11:29am
Professor David Harris's book Failed Evidence: Why Law Enforcement Resists Science (NYU Press, 2012) is the Feb. 4 selection by delanceyplace.com, a service that highlights and quotes new works for a large community of readers. Delancyplace.com provides daily subscribers with "an excerpt or quote we view as interesting or noteworthy, offered with commentary to provide context. There is no theme, except that most excerpts will come from a non-fiction work, primarily historical in focus, and will occasionally be controversial. Finally, we hope that the selections will resonate beyond the subject of the book from which they were excerpted." Other recent selections have included Jared Diamond, The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies, Gordon Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815, and Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman, Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever.
See the delanceyplace.com feature on Failed Evidence here.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013 - 6:56am
Professor Larry Frolik’s article (co-authored with Professor Linda Whitton), “Surrogate Decision-Making Standards for Guardians: Theory and Reality,” has been published in Volume 2012 of the Utah Law Review Symposium issue published in conjunction with the Third National Guardianship Summit: Standards of Excellence held at the Utah College of Law in October of 2011. The Frolik-Whitton article was one of nine background papers prepared for the 93 Summit attendees. Professor Frolik, one of the voting delegates to Summit, was a representative of the ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section. He was also one of only seven delegates to have attended all three Summits, including the 1988 Wingspread Guardianship Summit held in Racine, Wisconsin and the 2001 Summit held at the Stetson University School of Law.
