Faculty News

Professor Prentiss Cox was quoted in a Wall Street Journal story concerning the likely settlement between state attorneys general and the largest mortgage servicing companies. The article focused on New York Attorney General Schneiderman's opposition to a proposed settlement. Cox was quoted about the problem with combining an investigation on behalf of investors with an investigation about homeowner concerns.

Read Prentiss Cox's Faculty Profile

Professor Jane Kirtley was quoted in the "Mr. Know-It-All" column in the August 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Kirtley discussed employer social media policies and the impact of stock disclaimers on potential liability for employees' tweets. "It's certainly a piece of evidence the company can use in its defense, but it's not sufficient in itself to limit liability," she said.

Read Jane Kirtley's Faculty Profile

Professor Allan Erbsen commented on the Supreme Court's recent decisions addressing class actions (Wal-Mart v. Dukes) and personal jurisdiction (McIntyre v. Nicastro and Goodyear v. Brown) as a guest blogger on Prawfsblawg, a blog on various topics related to law. Erbsen's posts were subsequently referenced on other legal blogs, including SCOTUSblog, the Civil Procedure and Federal Courts Blog, and the Mass Tort Litigation Blog.

Read Allan Erbsen's Faculty Profile

An article in the Huffington Post about the impact of Hurricane Katrina six years ago included a reference to a report by the Institute on Race and Poverty (IRP) issued in May 2010, which found that the reorganization of the city's schools has created more segregation between the city's white students and students of color. Professor Myron Orfield is Executive Director of the IRP.

Read Myron Orfield's Faculty Profile

Professor David Weissbrodt spoke on CBS Minnesota's "Good Question: How Are War Criminals Punished?" The world has only had a permanent International Criminal Court since 2002, and it has been criticized because, "they've had relatively few cases and no convictions yet," Weissbrodt said. "There are now 116 nations that have become members of the [ICC]," said Weissbrodt. The United States is not one of those members.

Read David Weissbrodt's Faculty Profile

Professor Gregory Shaffer was quoted in a Dow Jones Newswires story entitled "Brazil Ponders More WTO Battles As Trade Talks Languish." Shaffer was interview based on his work on the World Trade Organization, Brazil and developing countries.

Read Gregory Shaffer's Faculty Profile

Professor Daniel Schwarcz was quoted in an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal entitled "To Read And Protect," which detailed homeowner's insurance policies. Schwarcz warned not to "rely on the persistent myth that policies offer similar coverage and that you choose an insurer based on its reputation and the rates charged."

Read Daniel Schwarcz's Faculty Profile

Professor Amy Monahan was quoted in a New York Times article discussing the recent bankruptcy of Central Falls, Rhode Island and its impact on the pension benefits of city retirees. Monahan noted that there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the legal protection of public employee pension benefits, particularly in the municipal bankruptcy context.

Read Amy B. Monahan's Faculty Profile

Professor Herbert Kritzer was quoted in the Star Tribune in an article about a possible merger between Minneapolis-based Faegre & Benson and the Indianapolis-based law firm Baker & Daniels. Kritzer commented on the potentially good fit between the two firms given the current location of offices and the similar level of profit per partner. He also noted, however, that the challenge that must be faced in any merger of large law firms is the combining of two different institutional cultures.

Read Herbert M. Kritzer's Faculty Profile

Professors Richard Frase and Perry Moriearty were quoted in the Pioneer Press in an article on whether the presence of service dogs at trial hinders justice. Frase and Moriearty commented on the constitutionality of dogs being in the courtroom and the possibility of their nature unfairly swaying jurors against defendants.

Read Richard Frase's Faculty Profile

Read Perry Moriearty's Faculty Profile

Professor Amy Monahan will address the National Conference of State Legislatures at the organization's Annual Legislative Summit. Monahan will present her research on the legal protections for state and local retirement plans, as part of a series of talks that focuses on the public pension issues facing the states. The National Conference of State Legislatures is the bipartisan voice of the states serving the legislators and staffs of the nation's 50 states, its commonwealths and territories.

Read Amy B. Monahan's Faculty Profile

Professor Jane Kirtley appeared on two pre-conference panels on international freedom of information laws at the 2011 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference in St. Louis. Kirtley discussed "Freedom of Information as a Human Right," and comparative freedom of information law around the world, specifically in Europe and Eurasia.

Read Jane Kirtley's Faculty Profile

Professor Ruth Okediji's article "Intellectual Property Rights and International Technology Transfer to Address Climate Change: Risks, Opportunities and Policy Options," co-authored by Keith Maskus, was quoted several times in the United Nations' annual World Economical and Social Survey. This year's survey deals with "The Great Green Technological Transformation."

Read Ruth Okediji's Faculty Profile

Professor Jane Kirtley visited Rwanda under the U.S. State Department "Speaker and Specialist" program July 26-August 2. She met with government officials, journalists, civil society representatives, and academics to discuss Rwanda's transition from government control to voluntary self-regulation of the news media. She also led workshops on current media law and ethics topics, such as the News of the World phone-hacking scandal in the United Kingdom.

Read Jane Kirtley's Faculty Profile

Professor Myron Orfield, a former Democratic state senator from Minnesota, was quoted in a TIME magazine article on Michele Bachmann entitled "The True Believer." Orfield said Bachmann is a sincere believer and predicts that's why she will be a strong candidate. "She strokes the fires and enjoys herself immensely while doing it. There's no way that you'll knock her off balance. She just changes the subject and moves forward," said Orfield.

Read Myron Orfield's Faculty Profile

Professor Ralph Hall was referenced in a Star Tribune editorial entitled, "The Wrong Prescription on Medical Devices." The article states that the Institute of Medicine experts' recommendation calls for "blowing up" the current route for product approval. Hall's FDA recall data was included to show that "Just 0.45 percent of 510(k) clearances from 2005-2009 were subject to Class I recalls, the FDA's most serious recall category."

Read Ralph Hall's Faculty Profile

Professor Richard Painter was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article on White House Chief of Staff William Daley's contacts with J.P. Morgan and other large banks about the federal debt crisis. The article reports that although Daley joined the White House from J.P. Morgan seven months ago, his "calls with J.P. Morgan Chase would be unlikely to trip ethics rules because the topic, the federal budget, is so broad and general, said Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota and former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush. According to the White House, Mr. Daley sold all his J.P. Morgan stock."

Read Richard W. Painter's Faculty Profile

Professor William McGeveran was quoted in a story in the ABA Journal on his explanation of trademark law in an article about a fight over the term "urban homesteading." McGeveran, who specializes in trademark and Internet law, expressed great skepticism about efforts to claim trademark rights in the seemingly descriptive phrase. He said in part, "A lot of people think trademark registration is this automatic monopoly. And that's not accurate."

Read William McGeveran's Faculty Profile