School of Law

Viet D. Dinh, professor of law and director of the Asian Law and Policy Studies Program at Georgetown University, will speak about “Liberty and the Rule of Law After September 11” for the Assembly Series. As the U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy under John Ashcroft from 2001 to 2003, Dinh worked on a number of important initiatives, including the U.S.A. Patriot Act.

One goal of these talks is to provide a forum for the University community to engage in a discussion of legal, social and ethical issues.

Photo by Mary ButkusLeila Nadya Sadat is installed as the first Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law Sept. 7 in Anheuser-Busch Hall.

Sadat will be installed as the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law Sept. 7; Foster will become the Edward T. Foote II Professor of Law Feb. 17.

The special master of the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund and the editor and publisher of The Weekly Standard are part of the fall lineup for the School of Law’s seventh annual Public Interest Law Speakers Series. This popular series, titled “Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers,” brings to Washington University outstanding academics and practitioners in such areas as international human rights, the economics of poverty, civil liberties, racial justice, capital punishment, clinical legal education, and government and private public service. The series, which is free and open to the public, begins Sept. 14.

A page entitled, “Rankings of WUSTL by News Media.”

Washington University has a number of internationally recognized experts and researchers on terrorism and homeland security who can address issues including intelligence, critical infrastructure, cybersecurity, target identification, and many other areas of concern related to the latest news on threats to the U.S. Faculty associated with the University’s Center for Security Technologies may be of […]

Charter schools are attended disproportionately by poor, minority students.Since their creation in the early 1990s, charter schools have come under fire from many civil rights supporters. “Traditional advocates of civil rights claim that charter schools are but another opportunity for whites to escape from the public school system and gain advantage for their children at taxpayers’ expense,” says Tomiko Brown-Nagin, associate professor of law and of history at Washington University in St. Louis. “This criticism overlooks the astounding fact, however, that most charter schools have been established in poor, minority neighborhoods and are attended disproportionately by poor, minority students — those whose schools and neighborhoods have been untouched by Brown v. Board of Education.”

Sadat”The story of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison is shocking, and certainly requires a full investigation, and perhaps the criminal prosecution of some of those either directly or indirectly responsible,” says Leila N. Sadat, vice-president and co-director of studies of the American branch of the International Law Association. “However, one thing the story is not, is new. While leading an International Bar Association training program for Iraqi lawyers, judges and prosecutors in Dubai in February, I saw a story on CNN International which reported that 17 soldiers had been relieved of command due to allegations of torture and abuse. Sadat comments on her discussions with Iraqi lawyers as well as the treatment of civilians in the prison.

The rise of corporate bankruptcies over the last few years has prompted legislators and academics alike to push for bankruptcy law reform. Fearing the death of legal liability, these reformers are calling for increased creditor protectionism through the weakening of limited liability and the reversal of “judgment proof” transactions such as the creation of special purpose entities (SPE) commonly used for the sequestering of assets. “Letting intellectual property (IP) assets slip into a bankruptcy estate is a dangerous idea,” says Troy Paredes, associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.