School of Law

The WikiLeaks controversy raises a number of important legal issues about national security and freedom of the press under U.S. law, says Neil Richards, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Journalists and government officials have suggested that either WikiLeaks or The New York Times (NYT) might face legal liability for publishing the contents of diplomatic cables and other leaked documents. “In order to find either WikiLeaks/Julian Assange or the NYT liable, the government would need to prove two things — first that a law had been broken, and second that enforcement of the law was constitutional under the First Amendment,” Richards says.

The National Law Review has named Heejung Park, a master of laws student at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, a winner of its student writing contest. Park, who is from Korea, is studying U.S. law.

The business world runs on agreements. As long as everyone fulfills his or her end of the bargain, things tend to run smoothly. But the question of the most effective way to enforce or regulate these agreements remains. Adam B. Badawi, JD, PhD, associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, looks at this question in the context of franchises. After examining a large number of franchise agreements, Badawi found that despite sometimes allowing contract damage awards against franchisees, the more effective method of enforcing these agreements is often through informal, non-legal rewards system.

Should weather conditions create potentially hazardous travel conditions, Washington University will evaluate the situation and take into consideration the safety of the faculty, staff and students as well as the services that must be provided despite the inclement weather.

Washington University in St. Louis School of Law’s Trial Team swept the inaugural Missouri Attorney General’s Cup Trial Competition held in Jefferson City, Mo., Nov. 12-14, taking first and second place in the championship round.

Before delivering the Stein Lecture in Ethics for the Assembly Series Nov. 17, humanitarian and actress Mia Farrow participated in a seminar on human trafficking at the School of Law in Anheuser-Busch Hall. Karen Tokarz, JD, the Charles Nagel Professor of Public Interest Law & Public Service and director of the Dispute Resolution Program, led the group of social work and law students.

Van Jones, JD, wants to put Americans to work — millions of Americans, and not just any kind of work. The former special adviser on green jobs to President Barack Obama has a clear vision to solve the two most profound challenges facing the United States today: poverty and pollution. He will share that vision for the Assembly Series at noon Tuesday, Nov. 30, in Graham Chapel.

Washington University in St. Louis School of Law will host a screening of the award-winning documentary Family Affair at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall.

Students in various disciplines throughout universities receive hands-on training through service-learning programs such as law school clinics. But that type of academic training is under attack from both big business and legislative bodies, say two professors from the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. “Recent legislative and corporate efforts to interfere in the operations of law clinics indicate that academic freedom is at risk when hands-on student learning bumps up against ‘real-world’ disputes,” write Robert Kuehn, JD, and Peter Joy, JD, in “‘Kneecapping’ Academic Freedom,” the recent lead article for “The Conflicted University,” a special edition of Academe, the publication of the American Association of University Professors. 

Standard and Poor’s recently released study on “Global Aging 2010: An Irreversible Truth” calls for the raising of the retirement age and says that age-related public spending is “unsustainable without policy change.” But Merton Bernstein, LLB, the Walter D. Coles Professor Emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis, says raising the retirement age could be a costly mistake.