School of Law

Prominent criminal defense attorney and civil rights advocate Michael Pinard, J.D., will address the pressing problem of prisoner reentry in America to kick off the spring lineup of Washington University School of Law’s 11th annual Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series on Jan. 22. The spring series includes civil rights experts, an award-winning journalist, a top intellectual property law scholar and a leading advocate for children. The law school’s Clinical Education Program sponsors the series. All lectures will be held at noon in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall unless otherwise noted. They are free and open to the public.

An expert on the Second Amendment says that gun owners and sellers should not be sweating bullets over Barack Obama’s election as president. Despite Obama’s record on gun control, David T. Konig, Ph.D., a professor of history in Arts & Sciences and a professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, says that the right of the people to keep and bear arms will not be an issue that Obama will address as president early in his term — if at all.

“Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan need to be top foreign policy priorities for President Barack Obama,” says Thomas Schweich, former ambassador for counternarcotics and justice reform in Afghanistan and visiting professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Schweich, the Special Representative for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, is available to discuss foreign policy issues facing the next president.

Magarian”No evidence exists of any serious threat of voter fraud, at present or in any recent election cycle,” says Greg Magarian, J.D., election law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. The current cries of ‘fraud’ focus on the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a public interest organization that advocates for low- and moderate- income and minority citizens. “Filing false registration forms does not constitute voter fraud,” he says. “Voter fraud requires voting by a person who is not legally entitled to vote. That is a difficult trick to pull off, and simply turning in a registration form for ‘Captain Crunch’ does almost nothing to enable it.”

Distinguished environmental law and policy scholars and scientists from around the country will gather at WUSTL Oct. 30 to discuss “International Climate Change: Post-Kyoto Challenges.”

Distinguished environmental law and policy scholars and scientists from around the country will gather at Washington University in St. Louis to discuss “International Climate Change: Post-Kyoto Challenges,” from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 30 in Anheuser-Busch and Seigle Halls. “The international community is aiming to complete negotiations by the end of 2009 on a new climate change agreement to take effect when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012,” says Maxine Lipeles, J.D., director of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic and senior lecturer in law. “This conference will address the critical question of what roles the world’s two largest emitters – the U.S. and China – will play under the new agreement.” The conference, hosted by Washington University School of Law’s Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute, is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Block”Emergency government bailouts of private industry are nothing new, but what makes the recent spate of so-called bailouts so extraordinary is simply the numbers involved and the extent of government involvement in ownership and management,” says Cheryl Block, leading federal budget expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “We absolutely need a better regulatory infrastructure to monitor and provide better early-warning signals, and to provide procedural mechanisms for responding to emergencies. It is troubling that weighty decisions are being made on an ad hoc basis behind closed doors. These decisions potentially involve not only substantial amounts of taxpayer money, but they also involve employment decisions regarding management of major business enterprises.”

Charles W. Burson, former counsel to the Vice President and assistant to the President and Chief of Staff at The White House, and Ambassador Thomas Schweich, special representative for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, are the lead commentators for the Washington University School of Law’s Vice Presidential Debate Watch Party at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 2 in the Student Commons of Anheuser-Busch Hall.

Terry Smith, J.D., professor of law at Fordham University and nationally recognized expert on race and politics, will kick off the School of Law’s 11th annual Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series at noon Sept. 23 with a timely talk on politics and racism. The fall lineup of speakers also includes an international peace […]

Terry Smith, J.D., professor of law at Fordham University and nationally recognized expert on race and politics, will kick off the School of Law’s 11th annual Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series with a talk on “Politics and Post-Racialism: Reflections on the Meaning of a Black President” September 23.