School of Law

The fall lineup of the 18th annual Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series, sponsored by the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis, kicks off with two lectures Sept. 16-17. The yearlong series brings to the university nationally and internationally prominent experts from law and related fields to address issues of access to justice. Melvin Oliver, PhD, opens the series at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16 Anheuser-Busch Hall’s Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom.

Nancy Staudt, JD, PhD, dean of the School of Law and the Howard & Caroline Cayne Professor of Law, talks about her return to Washington University, her collaborative work around campus and her vision for the law school.

Contract employees and other temporary workers will be able to bargain more effectively with the business entity that controls their working conditions and wages after an Aug. 27 decision by the National Labor Relations Board. The ruling signals a shift toward a more realistic and fact-dependant analysis of the evolving nature of employment in the modern labor market, said noted Washington University in St. Louis labor law expert Marion Crain.

Washington University School of Law’s Center for Empirical Research in the Law is partnering with the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota to create an online searchable database of the tribe’s extensive body of laws and court decisions. By increasing the transparency of tribal law, the project aims to strengthen the institutions of tribal government and promote tribal self-determination.

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.

Kimberly Jade Norwood, JD, professor of law, in the School of Law, and of African and African-American Studies, in Arts & Sciences, at Washington University in St. Louis, was appointed to the newly formed Supreme Court Municipal Division Work Group to review the state’s municipal court system.

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.