School of Law

Below is a link to the Washington University news release about the U.S. News & World Report undergraduate rankings for 2004-05: http://news-info.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/3627.html To view a full listing of U.S. News magazine, book and Web-only rankings for 2004-05, please visit the U.S. News & World Report site: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php

Washington University School of Law is launching a Transnational Law Program, a first-of-its-kind offering for students in both the United States and Europe. Beginning in fall 2008, a new four-year combined degree program will be offered in association with four prestigious European universities. “There is a growing need for lawyers who understand both American and European law, can identify legal issues and know reliable sources in the U.S. and throughout Europe,” says Kent D. Syverud, J.D., law dean and the Ethan A.H. Shepley University Professor. “Many American law schools are expanding their international curricula study-abroad programs. Washington University Law and Utrecht University are now taking international legal education to the next level.”

Courtesy photoSamir Kaushik and Andrew Nash receive the final trophy from six judges of the Bombay High Court.Andrew Nash and Samir Kaushik, third-year law students from Washington University in St. Louis, won the prestigious D.M. Harish Memorial International Law Moot Court Competition (DMH), held in Mumbai, India. The two defeated teams from around the world en route to the championship and eventually defeated a team from Cornell Law School in the championship round. In addition, Nash took individual honors, winning second-best oralist in the Competition. This marked the first year that a United States school has competed in the DMH, which has historically been limited to schools from former members of the British Commonwealth.

As part of his continuing efforts to serve his native country, A. Peter Mutharika, J.S.D., professor of law, has been named Malawi’s Chief Advisor to the President on Constitutional, Legal and International Affairs. Mutharika currently is on leave in Malawi for the 2007-08 academic year. Upon his return, he will serve as the Charles Nagel Professor of International and Comparative Law.

Leon Kass has been at the forefront of bioethics since before Louise Brown, the first test tube baby, was born in 1978. His talk for the Assembly Series, “Brave New Biology: The Challenge for Bioethics” will be presented at 4 p.m. Wednesday, February 6 in Graham Chapel on Washington University’s Danforth Campus. The program is free and open to the public

Richard J. Goldstone, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and former Justice of the South African Constitutional Court, will receive the 2008 World Peace Through Law Award from the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute. Goldstone was chairperson of South Africa’s Standing Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation Justice (the Goldstone Commission) and chairperson of the International Independent Inquiry on Kosovo. He also served on the panel investigating the U.N. “Oil for Food” program in Iraq. Goldstone is available for interviews throughout the day.

Reversing the longstanding case law would give undue windfall to opportunistic third parties, says Kieff.The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing Quanta v. LG, a case that could determine the future direction of patent law. “This case is key to ensuring that patent law develops in a way that best promotes innovation and competition,” says F. Scott Kieff, J.D., professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Kieff and colleagues have filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in support of LG, arguing that under contract law the patent holder had a right to sue a downstream purchaser. Kieff will be closely following this case and is available for comment.

Looking back over the recent past, the advances in biomedicine seem astonishing. The birth of the first “test tube baby” 30 years ago, for example, was viewed as exotic and, to some, scary. Now, in vitro fertilization is commonplace. And yet, justifiable ethical concerns surround the human outcomes of these medical breakthroughs. Leon Kass, M.D., […]

Two nationally recognized law professors who served on the legal team representing Anita Hill during the Justice Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings and the author of “Guantánamo: What the World Should Know,” are part of the spring lineup for the School of Law’s 10th annual Public Interest Law and Policy Speakers Series. Titled “Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers,” the yearlong series brings to WUSTL nationally and internationally prominent experts in such areas as international human rights, the economics of poverty, racial justice, clinical legal education, government public service and pro bono legal practice.

As part of his continuing efforts to serve his native country, A. Peter Mutharika, J.S.D., professor of law, has been named Malawi’s Chief Advisor to the President on Constitutional, Legal and International Affairs. Mutharika currently is on leave in Malawi for the 2007-08 academic year. Upon his return, he will serve as Washington University School of Law’s Charles Nagel Professor of International and Comparative Law. In his current role, Mutharika is advising President Bingu wa Mutharika on the constitutionality of the president’s decisions, constitutional reforms and judicial appointments. He also acts as a special presidential envoy to other heads of state and heads of international organizations.