Category: Faculty News

rigel oliveri

May 28, 2026

Professor Oliveri speaks at UN women’s panel

Professor Rigel Oliveri of the University of Missouri School of Law participated in a joint UN Women panel on women’s empowerment and safe housing, held at the World Urban Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan, alongside global human rights advocates, municipal officials, and academics. She discussed how the sexual harassment of low-income women by their housing providers is a product of a chronic shortage of affordable housing and leads to further instability for affected households. The panel, titled “ONE UN – Beyond shelter: adequate, safe, resilient housing for gender equality and women’s empowerment,” explored how women—particularly in developing and transition states—are affected by…

david gamage

May 27, 2026

Professor Gamage quoted in New Republic story

Professor David Gamage was quoted extensively in a New Republic story on the California Billionaire Tax ballot measure. A measure Professor Gamage helped draft through his academic scholarship. Read the full story here.

erika lietzan

May 18, 2026

Associate Dean Lietzan’s article highlighted in The Regulatory Review

Associate Dean and Professor Erika Lietzan‘s new article forthcoming in the SMU Law Review, “FDA After Loper Bright,” was recently reviewed in “The Regulatory Review.” The Review article highlights Professor Lietzans argument that the Loper Bright decision “may not be nearly as devastating” for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as many scholars believe it will be. Read the full The Regulatory Review article here.

erika lietzan

May 6, 2026

Professor Lietzan edits book on pharmaceutical marketplace

Professor Erika Lietzan edited a new book just published in French, titled “Le marché pharmaceutique, de l’aporie à une dialectique commerce international/santé.” The book, published by European publisher Mare & Martin, discusses the pharmaceutical marketplace and a wide range of issues relating to reconciling the importance of medicine to global public health with its nature as a commodity like any other. The chapters were written from a range of academic perspectives by scholars around the world. Professor Lietzan also wrote a chapter herself on the prospects for the U.S. government to play a role in the pharmaceutical marketplace. Read more…

lauren shores pelikan

May 4, 2026

Professor Shores Pelikan discusses new paper on Tax Notes podcast

Professor Lauren Shores Pelikan recently appeared on the Tax Notes Talk podcast to discuss her forthcoming article, “Toddlers, investors, and Tax Policy.” Professor Shores Pelikan’s paper has been accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue of the Southern California Law Review. You can listen to the podcast episode here.

rachel wechsler

May 1, 2026

Professor Rachel Wechsler wins Gold Chalk Award

Professor Rachel Wechlser was honored with the Gold Chalk Award. This prestigious award recognizes outstanding faculty who have contributed significantly to graduate and professional education. Gold Chalk awards are student-nominated and student-selected. The Gold Chalk Award is presented by the Mizzou Graduate Professional Council.

rigel oliveri

April 21, 2026

Professor Oliveri presents on fair housing at Columbia event

Professor Rigel Oliveri recently presented on fair housing for the City of Columbia. The event served as a collaborative platform to discuss critical housing issues within the Columbia community.

rocky rhodes speaking

April 17, 2026

Professor Rhodes Presents at University of the Pacific Law Review Symposium

Professor Charles W. “Rocky” Rhodes presented the closing keynote panel address, A Court Not for this Moment: Departmental Enforcement, Stare Decisis, and the Rule of Law, at the University of the Pacific Law Review Symposium on the Rule of Law under Pressure: Executive Power, the Role of the Judiciary, and Democracy’s Future. His remarks addressed the role of constitutional precedential instability in emboldening executive authority to aggressively probe the limits of enforcement authority, focusing on the executive branch’s utilization of the shadow docket and on state exclusive private enforcement schemes. 

larry dessem

April 16, 2026

Dean Emeritus Dessem publishes op-ed on state and federal ethics investigations

Dean Emeritus R. Lawrence Dessem published an op-ed piece in the Kansas City Star where he argues that the federal Department of Justice should stay out of state bar ethics investigations. Read the full piece here.

thom lambert

April 15, 2026

Professor Lambert sits on panel in Rome

Professor Thom Lambert recently participated on a panel at the International Center for Law & Economics conference titled “Substance over Slogans: Competition and the Wealth of Nations” in Rome, Italy. The panel he sat on was titled, “Gatekeepers or Guardians: Designing Platforms in the Face of Regulation” and the discussion focused on how to conceptualize platforms—as gatekeepers that require constraint or as curators that create value through governance—and how frameworks like the Digital Markets Act (DMA) shape those roles. Watch the full panel here.