Business & Entrepreneurship

The social media giant Twitter began five years ago this month. While millions of people are using it to let their friends know about good places to go for lunch and what their kids are up to, it’s impact on business may be just beginning.

The School of Law’s Clinical Legal Education Program will host its 10th annual “Access to Equal Justice Colloquium: Challenging Structural Impediments to Substantive Justice” Friday, March 19 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall. The event is free and open to the public but registration is required.

Hillary A. Sale, JD, was installed as the Walter D. Coles Professor of Law March 25 in the Trial Courtroom, Room 309, of Anheuser-Busch Hall.

Recent earthquakes have rocked the Chilean wine industry, spilling millions of gallons of stored vintages throughout the region.  A study tour from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis will visit Chilean vineyards, wineries and exporters next week for a first-hand look at the industry and how it has been affected by the quakes.

Reconciliation is a “fast-track” legislative process that bypasses potential Senate gridlock and permits the passage of budget-related legislation by majority vote. It’s a hot-button issue now as the Senate grapples with health-care legislation. “The passage this term of health-care legislation, and perhaps the future of health care reform more generally now may turn on rulings of the current parliamentarian,” says Cheryl Block, JD, professor of law. 

Top international criminal law experts will unveil and discuss a draft of a multilateral treaty condemning and prohibiting crimes against humanity during a conference March 11 and 12 at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. The treaty is the culmination of a two-year Crimes Against Humanity Initiative at the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. UPDATE: View the Declaration on the Need for a Comprehensive Convention on Crimes Against Humanity (including a list of supporters).  

The School of Law is hosting a screening and panel discussion of the award-winning documentary “Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam” at 7 p.m. Monday, March 15. Operation Babylift airlifted more than 2,500 Vietnamese orphans out of a war-torn country in 1975 to protect them from the impending threat of the Communist regime. Called one of the “most humanitarian efforts in history,” it was plagued by lawsuits and political turmoil. The event is free, but registration is required. 

“What goes down, must come up,” says Olin Business School’s Sam Chun. He will share tips on how businesses can prepare for economic recovery at the next “Thought Leadership Series” discussion in Kansas City, Mo.

The small increase in take-home pay that began in April 2009 through the Making Work Pay Credit (MWPC) could mean an unexpected bump in your tax bill says Cheryl Block, tax law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. The problem, according to Block, is that the Treasury Department’s new withholding tables do not take several individual employment circumstances into account. Some joint filers, college students and retirees, among others, may end up repaying all or part of the credit this tax season.

OUTlaw, the student- run LGBT awareness, advocacy, support, and social group at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, will host “Queer in the Midwest,” the annual Midwest LGBT law conference Feb. 25-27