• The Economics of Injunctive and Reverse Settlements by Professor Cho

    by  • October 27, 2009 • 0 Comments

    Professor Sungjoon Cho and his co-author Keith Hylton (Boston University) have recently posted their new working paper "The Economics of Injunctive and Reverse Settlements" on ssrn.  Here is the abstract:

     This paper extends the economic literature on settlement, and draws some practical insights on reverse settlements. The key contributions to the economic literature on settlements follow from the distinction drawn between standard settlements, in which the status quo is preserved, and injunctive settlements, which prohibit the defendant’s activity. The analysis identifies the conditions under which injunctive settlements (rather than standard settlements) are likely to be observed and the conditions under which reverse settlements will be observed among the injunctive settlements. Specifically, reverse settlements are likely when the stakes associated with the injunction are large relative to damages and litigation costs. The analysis of settlement here has broader implications for efficient remedies and legal rules.

    Teaching Brown v. Board of Education

    by  • October 26, 2009 • 0 Comments

    By Sheldon Nahmod [via Nahmod Law]

    Introduction

    Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), is one of the great constitutional law cases and perhaps the most important Supreme Court decision of the 20th century. I want to describe how I approach the case in class and what I hope students will learn.

    History

    Brown cannot be understood in isolation from what preceded it: the history of slavery, the Civil War, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments and Jim Crow in the South as exemplified by Plessy v. Ferguson, 166 U.S. 537 (1896). In Plessy, the Court, over Justice Harlan’s prescient dissent, had upheld separate but equal for railroad cars, with far-reaching implications for segregation generally.

    Similarly, Brown cannot be understood apart from its own specific historical setting: victory over the racist Nazi regime in the Second World War, the rise of the Soviet Union, the integration of the American military, the urgent need for workers after the Second World War and important demographic changes.

    Finally, there is an obvious moral dimension to Brown, although the Court did not expressly ground Brown on moral considerations.

    In this connection, I raise the question in class whether the Court in Brown was leading the nation, whether it was following the nation or some combination thereof. I also disabuse my students of the notion that the Court as an institution was particularly heroic in Brown, since its own late 19th and 20th century decisions enabled and encouraged the South to continue the segregationist policies that the Court in Brown finally  began to dismantle.

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    “The Nazi Obsession with Legalizing the Holocaust” – Law and Humanities Event

    by  • October 22, 2009 • 0 Comments

    The Institute for Law and the Humanities is pleased to announce that nationally known Nazi Holocaust scholar Harry Reicher, who is Adjunct Professor at University of Pennsylvania Law School and Scholar-in-Residence at Touro Law School, will speak at Chicago-Kent on November 4, 2009, at 3 pm in the Event Room. A reception follows at 4 pm. All faculty, staff and students, as well as the public, are invited. 

    The title of his presentation is The Nazi Obsession with Legalizing the Holocaust. Here is his description: 

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    Chicago-Kent and UIC Host Law and Society Symposium

    by  • October 21, 2009 • 0 Comments

    Scholars representing diverse disciplines at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Chicago-Kent College of Law will discuss issues related to political economy and the law during a symposium at UIC's Institute for the Humanities. 

    WHEN:
    Oct. 21
    3 – 5 p.m.

    WHERE:
    Institute for the Humanities
    Stevenson Hall, lower level, 701 S. Morgan St.

    DETAILS:
    Scholars scheduled to present are:

    Bette Bottoms, dean of the UIC Honors College, vice provost for undergraduate affairs, and professor of psychology
    "Psychological Perspectives on Race in Cases involving Child Victims and Offenders"

    Stephen Engelmann, UIC associate professor of political science
    "Fairness, Efficiency, and the Making of Markets"

    Nancy Marder, professor of law, Chicago-Kent College of Law
    "Theories of Juror Bias, Voir Dire and Jury Decision-Making"

    Mark Rosen, professor of law, Chicago-Kent College of Law
    "The Constitutional Principle of Democratic Integrity: A Critical Re-examination of the Political Gerrymandering and Voter Identification Cases"

    Walter Benn Michaels, UIC professor of English, and Katharine Baker, professor of law and associate dean, Chicago-Kent College of Law, serve as the program's moderators.

    Admission is free. For more information call (312) 996-6354.

    Student Brief: Mark Rosen: What Our Constitution Does (and Does Not) Do

    by  • October 20, 2009 • 0 Comments

    By Student Blogger Danny Hergott

    In honor of Constitution Day, constitutional law Prof. Mark Rosen presented his thoughts on the founding document of the United States of America.  The event was held at Chicago-Kent and attracted a diverse audience of students, faculty members and interested members of the public. 

    Prof. Rosen began by immediately admitting his bias: "I love the Constitution." (Perhaps constitutional law professors are required to publicly admit their love of the Constitution on Constitution Day.  See here for other Constitution Day requirements.)  In any event, Prof. Rosen possesses more than strong feelings for the document; he is an erudite scholar of its history and interpretation.  See some of his work here.

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    Student Brief: Iraq Panel Discussion

    by  • October 20, 2009 • 0 Comments

    Student Blogger Mark Berardi

    On September 24, the Federalist Society hosted a panel discussion on the development of a fair legal system in Iraq. The panel members were Ilya Shapiro from the Cato Institute, Daniel Rothenberg from the International Human Rights Law Institute at DePaul University College of Law and Professor Henry Perritt, Jr. from Chicago-Kent College of Law.  Each was asked about their thoughts regarding the rebuilding of the Iraqi legal system and what is necessary to ensure rule of law in the country.

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    “An Unusually Good Eye for Talent”

    by  • October 20, 2009 • 0 Comments

    By Sarah Harding

    Brian Leiter, in his infinite wisdom, has identified Chicago-Kent as one of the schools with an “unusually good eye for faculty talent.” See here. Leiter’s method for identifying these schools is the number of faculty who were snapped up by a “top 20ish law school.” Leiter identified some of the key individuals but to his list we should add Anita Bernstein (Emory – since moved on), Tim Holbrook (Emory), Claire Hill (Minnesota), and Peggie Smith (Iowa), not to mention the number of faculty who have turned down offers (e.g. Mark Rosen). Some schools might bemoan such a large number of departures but we here at Chicago-Kent are always delighted to celebrate the individual successes and career aspirations of our terrific scholars, not to mention we appreciate the goodwill these individuals spread to other institutions.   Thanks Brian.

    C-K Intellectual Property, Science, and Innovation Research Paper Series

    by  • October 20, 2009 • 0 Comments

    By Christopher Buccafusco

    Chicago-Kent has the country’s only Science, Technology, and Innovation Research Paper Series on SSRN.  This allows members of the faculty to circulate their working papers and recently published articles to the international community.  The series currently has over 700 subscribers.

    Here is a description of the series on SSRN:

    The Chicago-Kent College of Law Intellectual Property, Science & Technology Research Paper Series contains papers and abstracts from members of the Chicago-Kent College of Law community focusing on a broad range of topics partially or wholly touching on issues in intellectual property, technology, and telecommunications law, as well as on the implications of social and biological science for legal policy.

    To view the papers in the series click here.

    Recently circulated papers include:

    Dave Schwartz, Practice Makes Perfect? An Empirical Study of Claim Construction Reversal Rates in Patent Cases

    Jonathan Nash & Stephanie Stern, Property Frames

    Fred Bosselman, Swamp Swaps:  The ‘Second Nature’ of Wetlands

    Robert Knowles, American Hegemony and the Foreign Affairs Constitution

    Christopher Buccafusco, On the Legal Consequences of Sauces: Should Thomas Keller’s Recipes Be Per Se Copyrightable?

    Welcome

    by  • October 20, 2009 • 0 Comments

    By Christopher Buccafusco

    Thanks for visiting the new Chicago-Kent Faculty Blog.  I’d like to begin by suggesting a couple of the goals we hope to achieve through the blog.
     
    As Sarah alluded to in her welcome post, our primary goal is to share news about the intellectual life of the law school with the outside world.  We want to share exciting work that our faculty are doing with scholars, policy-makers, and the public.  We hope that the blog will provide current and prospective students with a sense of the academic enterprise of the law school.  And we hope that it will be a useful way for alumni to keep up-to-date about the intellectual progress of the law school.

    In addition to posts about faculty scholarship, faculty in the news, and traditional academic blogging, we will include a series of posts by our C-K Faculty Blog Fellows – excellent second and third year law students who will provide journalistic descriptions of events on campus and throughout the city.  These written descriptions will often be accompanied by audio/visual podcasts of the events.

    Thanks for visiting.  Please come by often.

    Let the Faculty Spin

    by  • October 15, 2009 • 0 Comments

    By Sarah Harding

    I often wonder what it would be like to bisect the law school at a single moment in time–to peer into every classroom and to listen to every conversation, debate, and presentation in every corner of this dynamic community, all at the same time. It would be dizzying, to be sure, but also invigorating. The variety of inquiries, perspectives and styles would be downright thrilling.

    The C-K Faculty Blog can’t capture the rich diversity of intellectual endeavors in that single moment in time, but it can capture, open up and expand the rich intellectual life of this law school as it unfolds daily. This is a place where you will find summaries of our recent scholarship, thoughts and opinions about developments in the law and the legal system, descriptions of workshops from visiting faculty, discussions of our own internal workshop series, celebrations of our individual successes and really just about anything that has to do with the intellectual life of the Chicago-Kent faculty. Welcome and enjoy.

    (And plaudits for anyone who can identify the literary allusion in the title and first paragraph of this post.)