School of Law

Dec./Jan. Business, Law & Economics Tip Sheet

Rebecca Dresser, an expert on biomedical research law and bioethics and the Daniel Noyes Kirby Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis, discusses the legal and ethical implications of stem cell research with Mike Sampson of KWMU’s “St. Louis on the Air” Nov. 25. Dresser is also a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics. Listen to the program from the KWMU Web site.

Supreme Court cases are now predictable, thanks to new computer model.As the U.S. Supreme Court moves into its new term, litigants, attorneys and the public will be closely watching its docket and speculating about its decisions. Now, thanks to the Supreme Court Forecasting Project at Washington University in St. Louis, court watchers everywhere will be able to log on to the Internet and obtain a forecast of how individual cases are likely to be decided. The project accurately predicted decisions in 75 percent of the cases heard by the Court in its last term.

Ornette Coleman, inspiration for successful judging.Although United States laws attempt to safeguard the rights and interests of minorities, the subordination of socially disfavored groups persists in part because of informal structures and networks that have the effect of perpetuating social inequality. Christopher Bracey, an expert in the fields of American race relations and civil rights and associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, says that judges must respond to these destructive patterns of social and economic stratification through their interpretation of the law, or successful judging. In his article, “Adjudication, Antisubordination, and the Jazz Connection” (Alabama Law Review, Vol. 54), Bracey says inspiration on how to realize democracy through judging can be found through the free jazz movement, more specifically, the work of Ornette Coleman.

Bernstein”The settlement of the grocery strike in St. Louis sends conflicting messages to the parties involved in similar strikes in California, West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky,” says Neil Bernstein, an expert in labor law and legal issues relating to striking workers and a professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “In St. Louis, the Union did achieve an important victory in convincing the employers to eliminate the annual deductibles that they tried to impose for the first time. On the other hand, the contract requires them to make larger co-payments for doctor visits and prescription drugs.”

RugerTheodore Ruger, an expert in constitutional law and an associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, discusses freedom of religion with Mike Sampson of KWMU’s “St. Louis on the Air” on Nov. 3. This show is part of a three part series on the First Ammendment in the 21st century. Listen to the program from the KWMU Web site.

Jerome A. Cohen, a leading American specialist on law in the People’s Republic of China, will present a lecture on “Criminal Justice & U.S.-China Relations” at 3 p.m. Nov. 10 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall.The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies at the School of Law. A question and answer session and reception will follow the lecture.

The Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, the Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies and the Department of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis will present the conference, “Globalization, the State, and Society,” Nov. 13-14 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser Busch Hall. This event, which is free and open to the public, is planned as part of the University’s Sesquicentennial celebration.

November Business, Law & Economics Tip Sheet

BernsteinNeil Bernstein, an expert in labor law and legal issues relating to striking workers and a professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, analyzes the current state of the grocery strike in St. Louis and discusses the overall effectiveness of strikes with Mike Sampson of KWMU’s St. Louis on the Air on Oct. 27. Listen to the program from the KWMU Web site.