School of Law

On Saturday, Nov. 2, Washington University’s “family” will come from near and far to gather in St. Louis and celebrate its founding in 1853. The annual Founders Day dinner and ceremony, sponsored by the WUSTL Alumni Association, will feature an address by Jon Huntsman Jr., former U.S. ambassador to China. Other highlights include the presentation of Distinguished Faculty and Alumni awards and the Robert S. Brookings Awards.

Washington University School of Law will celebrate 40 years of clinical education and community collaborations at the 13th annual Access to Equal Justice Conference from noon-4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, in Anheuser-Busch Hall’s Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom. The conference is free and open to students, faculty, staff and the public.

Sir Christopher Greenwood, LLB, the British judge on the International Court of Justice, will discuss how the International Court of Justice works to bring about world peace at noon Wednesday, Oct. 30, in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall.

Recent political showdowns over the so-called “debt ceiling crisis” have many people questioning whether it is appropriate for the Supreme Court to intervene in the legislative and executive issue. Adam H. Rosenzweig, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, examines in Constitution Daily the Supreme Court’s potential involvement.​

In Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, the civil rights lawyer and professor offers surprising revelations about how our current prison system and drug policies are condeming a large population of African Americans to a life of second-class statush. Alexander will deliver a lecture on the subject at noon on Friday, November 1 for the Assembly Series and the Law School’s Public Interest Law and Policy Speakers Series.

WUSTL students, faculty and physicians and members of the community packed Brown Hall on Friday evening, Oct. 4, to hear Jonathan Gruber, one of the foremost authorities on the Affordable Care Act.

Sixty-five years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court — in a unanimous decision — ruled that housing covenants restricting home ownership based on race violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. The case was Shelley v. Kraemer. Leading the charge in that historic 1948 case was Margaret Bush Wilson, an African-American lawyer and civil rights activist. Margaret Bush Wilson’s legacy will be explored in a 1.0 credit CLE event, “Celebrating the 65th Anniversary of Shelley v. Kraemer and the Legacy of Margaret Bush Wilson: Where Are We Now?”, at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22,  in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Washington University School of Law. The celebration will feature Theodore M. Shaw, JD, professor of professional practice at Columbia University School of Law. The event is free and open to students, faculty, staff, and the community.

The controversy and legal battles surrounding the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act have led to a new – and worrisome – legal concept: the idea of a “corporate conscience,” warns Elizabeth Sepper, who teaches at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis.

Legal scholar, author and political activist Lawrence Lessig, JD, is such a popular speaker that it’s challenging to get him for one lecture, so Washington University is doubly fortunate to present an Assembly Series talk by Lessig twice in one day – Thursday, Oct. 10 — on two different subjects.

Many deplore the vast scope of the National Security Agency sweep of private phone and electronic communications and question the balance and fairness of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court decisions about such activities. Others contend protection against terrorism requires such activities and that they must remain secret. Reacting to the public debate, President Obama seeks balance by establishing a spokesperson with the court to advocate for constitutional protection. A recent Huffington Post piece by Merton Bernstein, JD, professor of law emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis, says this move is desirable but not sufficient.