Author: Jessica Roberts Martin

A majority of children in the child welfare system maintain stable health coverage, finds a first-of-its-kind study published in the current issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Ramesh Raghavan, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of social work and psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis and lead author of the study, says that these findings are “a testament to the success of policies directed at securing stable insurance coverage for children. “Given this vulnerable population’s dependence on Medicaid, protection of existing entitlements to Medicaid is essential to preserve their stable insurance coverage.”

In remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Society of Black Student Social Workers at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work will host a “Financial Freedom Seminar: Achieving Economic Independence Through Education,” from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 2 in Brown Hall, Room 100. The event is designed for members of the St. Louis community interested in building wealth, repairing and maintaining good credit, purchasing a home or starting and expanding a business. The event is free.

As part of his continuing efforts to serve his native country, A. Peter Mutharika, J.S.D., professor of law, has been named Malawi’s Chief Advisor to the President on Constitutional, Legal and International Affairs. Mutharika currently is on leave in Malawi for the 2007-08 academic year. Upon his return, he will serve as the Charles Nagel Professor of International and Comparative Law.

In remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Society of Black Student Social Workers at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work will host a “Financial Freedom Seminar: Achieving Economic Independence Through Education,” from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 2 in Brown Hall, Room 100. The event is designed for members of the St. Louis community interested in building wealth, repairing and maintaining good credit, purchasing a home or starting and expanding a business. The event is free, but participants must register by Friday, Jan. 25.

The Gephardt Institute for Public Service invites students, faculty, and staff to participate in its “Faces of Hope,” a campus-wide celebration of civic engagement and community service at the University from 4:30-6:00 p.m. on April 8 in Whitaker Hall Atrium and Auditorium. A reception will follow.

Photo by Mary ButkusKim Norwood, J.D., professor of law, addresses Soldan High School students as part of a new collaboration between law students and Mound City Bar Association lawyers to encourage juniors and seniors at Soldan to pursue a legal education.

Faculty and graduate students from St. Louis-area universities with an interest in labor, households, health care, law and social welfare are being invited to take part in a series of Monday brown-bag luncheon seminars to be held on campus biweekly through April 14. Now in its 12th year, the “Work, Families and Public Policy” series […]

Carla A. Hills, J.D., former U.S. Trade Representative, will deliver the School of Law’s Tyrrell Williams Lecture on “Trade and the 2008 Elections” at 4 p.m. Feb. 7 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom at Anheuser-Busch Hall.

Richard J. Goldstone, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and former Justice of the South African Constitutional Court, will receive the 2008 World Peace Through Law Award from the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. Goldstone was chairperson of South Africa’s Standing Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation Justice (the Goldstone Commission) and chairperson of the International Independent Inquiry on Kosovo. He also served on the panel investigating the U.N. “Oil for Food” program in Iraq. Goldstone is available for interviews throughout the day.

Reversing the longstanding case law would give undue windfall to opportunistic third parties, says Kieff.The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing Quanta v. LG, a case that could determine the future direction of patent law. “This case is key to ensuring that patent law develops in a way that best promotes innovation and competition,” says F. Scott Kieff, J.D., professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Kieff and colleagues have filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in support of LG, arguing that under contract law the patent holder had a right to sue a downstream purchaser. Kieff will be closely following this case and is available for comment.