School of Law

Bracey”The situation does not look good for Michael Vick and his co-defendants,” says Christopher A. Bracey, associate professor of law and of African and African-American studies at Washington University in St. Louis. “Vick’s indictment on charges related to dog fighting contains multiple allegations of overt acts, and only one needs to be proven in order to sustain a conviction.” Bracey says that this indictment raises a number of cultural and legal questions. He is following the case and is available for interviews.

The School of Law’s American Indian Law and Economic Development Program and the St. Louis law firm of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal have garnered an important legal victory concerning the sovereignty of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. Working with local attorneys in South Dakota, they helped the tribe defend a federal lawsuit challenging the authority of the tribe’s courts to hear a discrimination case brought by tribal members against a non-Indian bank doing business on the reservation. In a twenty-one-page opinion released on June 26, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a 2003 discrimination verdict by a tribal jury awarding nearly a million dollars in damages, interest, and costs to the aggrieved tribal members.

The School of Law’s American Indian Law and Economic Development Program and the St. Louis law firm of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal have garnered an important legal victory concerning the sovereignty of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. Working with local attorneys in South Dakota, they helped the tribe defend a federal lawsuit challenging the authority of the tribe’s courts to hear a discrimination case brought by tribal members against a non-Indian bank doing business on the reservation. In a twenty-one-page opinion released on June 26, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a 2003 discrimination verdict by a tribal jury awarding nearly a million dollars in damages, interest, and costs to the aggrieved tribal members.

Immigration law expert Stephen H. Legomsky says that an easy way to put a serious dent in illegal immigration is to exempt the spouses and young children of legal immigrants from numerical ceilings, just as we now exempt the spouses and children of U.S. citizens. Legomsky is the author of America’s leading law school textbook on immigration law and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. He has advised both Republican and Democratic administrations and several foreign governments on immigration, refugee and citizenship issues. More…

PakrasiThe International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) at Washington University will operate under the direction of Himadri B. Pakrasi, Ph.D., the George William and Irene Koechig Freiberg professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, and professor of energy in the School of Engineering.

Washington University in St. Louis is creating a new International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) to encourage and coordinate university-wide and external collaborative research in the areas of renewable energy and sustainability — including biofuels, CO2 mitigation and coal-related issues. The university will invest more than $55 million in the initiative, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.

The newly established International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) at Washington University in St. Louis will encourage international collaborative research on energy and environmental issues by working closely with a global partnership of leading universities forged recently by the University’s McDonnell International Scholars Academy.

The International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) at Washington University in St. Louis will be shaped and supported by advisory and steering committees comprised of both internal and external leaders, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton announced.

Women from Mahabo Village in Madagascar weaving baskets for the Blessing Basket Project.It might seem odd that college students in the middle of the United States could make a difference to a small village in a developing country halfway around the world, but that’s exactly what happened when five students from Washington University in St. Louis went to Madagascar. More…

The School of Law is hosting the Philip D. Shelton Symposium titled “A Higher Sense of Purpose: Access to Higher Education and the Professions” from 1-4:30 p.m. April 12 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall. The symposium is the final event in the series “A Higher Sense of Purpose,” part of the Danforth Campus naming celebration.