School of Law

Labor Day may celebrate the historical contributions of the American labor movement, but the future of the movement is in question. “Unions are under siege,” says labor and employment law expert Marion Crain, JD, the Wiley B. Rutledge Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. “In the public sector, governors seeking to slash budgets are de-authorizing state labor laws that govern the organizing and bargaining rights of state employees. In the private sector, both the federal legislation that supports union action and the administrative body that enforces the law are under attack. Union density is on a dramatic downswing.” At the same time, wage inequality has not been higher since the Great Depression.

The International Criminal Court, civil rights class actions, gun rights, migration and food security are among topics that will be discussed during the fall lineup for the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law’s fourteenth annual Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series. The series kicks off Tuesday, Sept. 6, with “Mea Culpa: The Role of Apologies in Legal Decisionmaking,” by Jennifer Robbennolt, JD, PhD.

The violence against peaceful protesters in Libya and Syria drives home the need for an international convention for the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity, says Leila Nadya Sadat, JD, international law expert and director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University School of Law. “The concerted efforts of the international community have helped to bring about a resolution of the Libyan situation, but the situation in Syria continues to deteriorate,” she says. “Reports of civilian roundups in Syria are reminiscent of Nazi roundups of the Jews during WWII. History shows that widespread human rights abuses lead to ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and even genocide.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently filed a lawsuit against the Camdenton, Mo. school district for using filtering software to block websites targeted to the gay and lesbian community. “The Supreme Court has made clear that school districts have great latitude in choosing what educational materials they make available to their students,” says Gregory P. Magarian, JD, constitutional law expert and professor of law at Washington University In St. Louis. “However, in a case in 1982, a plurality of the Court suggested that schools may not have the authority to remove materials from school libraries based on viewpoint discrimination.”

Investors are highly interested in information regarding corporate political spending, says Hillary Sale, JD, securities and corporate governance expert and the Walter D. Coles Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. “The SEC should address the need for transparency in political spending to better inform shareholders and allow them to protect themselves from hidden political agendas in corporate campaign spending,” she says. 

Kent D. Syverud, JD, dean of the School of Law and the Ethan A. H. Shepley University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, has been elected chair-elect of the Council of the American Bar Association’s (ABA’s) Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Rebecca Dresser, JD, the Daniel Noyes Kirby Professor of Law and professor of ethics in medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, has been appointed to the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee of the National Institutes of Health. The committee serves a critical role in the oversight of federally funded research involving recombinant DNA.  

Estate planning with Fido in mind? Better be careful, says a trusts and estates expert at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. The issue has been in the news recently. British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who died in February 2010, left a sizeable sum of money to his beloved dogs; Trouble, the recently deceased dog of “The Queen of Mean,” Leona Helmsley, famously inherited $12 million. Beyond celebrities, a powerful pet inheritance constituency thrives. Between 12 percent and 27 percent of owners have provisions for their pets in their wills. But what happens to the inheritance when the pet passes?

Unlike the majority of workers, domestic workers — such as housekeepers and paid caregivers of children and the elderly — remain invisible, laboring in the private setting of the home. This situation can lead to exploitative labor conditions. The International Labour Organization (ILO), a U.N. agency that promotes opportunities for workers to obtain decent and productive work, recently agreed to a Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, establishing international standards to improve working conditions for as many as 100 million domestic workers worldwide, the majority of whom are women and young girls. “Although delegates from the United States played a leading role in rallying support for the convention and advocating strong protections on behalf of domestic workers, it will take a Herculean effort to achieve decent work for domestic workers in the United States,” says Peggie Smith, JD, employment law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “At present, none of the major pieces of federal labor legislation in the United States comply with the standards in the convention.”

HBO’s Big Love and TLC’s reality-TV offering Sister Wives have thrust polygamy into popular culture in the United States. Estimates are that somewhere between 50,000-100,000 families in this country are currently risking criminal prosecution by practicing plural marriage. Proponents and detractors of polygamy use same-sex marriage to support their arguments, but that’s just a distraction, says Adrienne Davis, JD, an expert on gender relations and the William M. Van Cleve Professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “While the gay analogy may make for splashy punditry and good television, it distracts us from the main legal issue — polygamy challenges the regulations inherent in the conventional two-person marriage,” Davis says. “Putting aside whether you think polygamy is ‘right’ or ‘wrong,’ it is important to look at whether U.S. law is up to regulating marital multiplicity.” She proposes some default rules that might accommodate polygamy, while ensuring against some of its historic and ongoing abuses.