Author: Neil Schoenherr

In 2014, so called “Right to Try” laws, which gave terminally ill patients access to investigational medications, were enacted in five states. More state legislatures are now considering such laws. While time will tell whether these investigational drugs have any significant impact on quality of life or longevity, the legislative debate over such laws must be more informed than it has been, argues Rebecca Dresser, JD, expert in biomedical ethics and law at Washington University in St. Louis.

Neil Bernstein, JD, professor of law emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis, died Friday, Aug. 7, 2015. He was 83.

Following the death of Michael Brown a year ago this August, one of the key issues to emerge was a critical examination of the municipal court system in the individual communities that make up St. Louis County. Many of the courts were accused of not working primarily for justice, but as a way to raise funds for municipalities. Three faculty members from the School of Law, all of whom are involved in court reform efforts, express their thoughts on the reform process.

The U.S. Department of Justice released July 31 a report critical of the St. Louis County Family Court, alleging racial bias and unfair treatment of black youth, among other accusations. Mae Quinn, JD, professor of law and director of the Juvenile Law and Justice Clinic at Washington University in St. Louis, is hopeful the report will lead to some measure of change and reform.

The Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis has launched three new joint-degree programs and a dual-degree program with Fudan University to begin this fall, expanding class offerings and learning opportunities both in St. Louis and around the world.

When lawyers blow the whistle on clients, should they be financially rewarded by the government? Kathleen Clark, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, tackles this issue in a forthcoming article in the Boston College Law Review.

A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage is justified, say two constitutional law experts at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis has launched the Evaluation Center to provide client-driven evaluation services and training for nonprofit organizations, funders, universities and governmental agencies.

An analysis of Twitter hashtag use on the subject of diabetes provides new insights about spreading health information through social media. The study, led by Jenine Harris, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, looked at the hashtag #diabetes and its interaction with two Twitter measures of engagement, retweeting and favoriting. The study found retweeting and favoriting was significantly lower for tweets about the number or percentage of people with diabetes, while favoriting was higher for tweets about health problems associated with diabetes.

The Syrian civil war began in 2011. Its spread since that time has caused refugees to spill across its borders and created a fertile environment for the rise of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). How can the international community get a handle on a conflict that already has claimed some 220,000 lives? One possible solution is to refer the Syrian situation to the International Criminal Court, says Leila Sadat, PhD, an expert in international criminal law at Washington University in St. Louis.