Feb. 8, 2022

Faculty Spotlight — Thomas Bennett

Starting a new job in the middle of a pandemic can be challenging at best. But when that job includes teaching students without ever meeting them face-to-face, “challenging” may be an understatement. For Professor Thomas Bennett, Mizzou Law’s newest faculty member, finally getting to step foot in a classroom this fall was a vast improvement over how he spent his first year teaching at Mizzou. Bennett, an associate professor of law and a Wall Family Fellow at the University of Missouri School of Law, began teaching at Mizzou in 2020 when most Mizzou Law classes took place over Zoom. Now…

Feb. 3, 2022

Mizzou Law Announces New Faculty Hires for Fall 2022

Officials at the University of Missouri School of Law are kicking off the 150th anniversary of the school by announcing two exciting new faculty hires joining the ranks of the nationally renowned faculty scholars and teachers at Mizzou Law. Sandra Sperino, a professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, and Rachel Wechsler, a research fellow at the New York University School of Law, will be joining the faculty at Mizzou Law in time to begin teaching classes in the Fall 2022 semester. “We are so excited to welcome these accomplished legal experts to our faculty,” said Lyrissa Lidsky,…

Dec. 7, 2021

MU researchers say it’s time to clean up the Clean Water Act

By Kenny Gerling, MU News Bureau In 1969, the Cuyahoga River near Cleveland was so polluted that it caught fire, helping to launch the modern environmental movement and prompting Congress to pass the Clean Water Act three years later. It was one of the first laws to safeguard waterways and set national water quality standards. While the Clean Water Act successfully regulated many obvious causes of pollution, such as the dumping of wastewater, it’s done less to limit more diffuse types of pollution, such as “nonpoint source pollution” that includes agricultural runoff from fields and urban stormwater from buildings,…

Dec. 2, 2021

Mizzou Law professor weighs in on implications of challenge to Roe v. Wade

Rigel Oliveri, the Isabelle Wade and Paul C. Lyda Professor of Law at Mizzou Law, spoke with KOMU 8 News in Columbia about the ongoing Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case currently before the US Supreme Court. To read the full question and answer session with Prof. Oliveri, visit: https://www.komu.com/news/mu-law-professor-weighs-in-on-implications-of-challenge-to-roe-v-wade/article_fa7b0482-52e0-11ec-a2a0-079576e7a7ba.html?utm_source=SocialNewsDesk&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=SND_facebook  …

Nov. 2, 2021

Prof. Frank Bowman Speak at England Conference on Impeachment

Frank Bowman, F.L. Gibson Endowed Professor of Law and Curator’s Distinguished Professor at the MU School of Law, is appearing virtually at the International Conference: Questions of Accountability in England to discuss impeachment. He will take part in the keynote panel discussion from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 4. To learn more, visit: https://www.worcester.ac.uk/about/academic-schools/school-of-humanities/humanities-research/international-conference/  

Nov. 1, 2021

Prof. Christina Wells Quoted in Springfield First Amendment Story

Christina Wells, the Enoch H. Crowder Professor of Law at Mizzou Law, was quoted last week by KY3 television news in Springfield, Missouri regarding the government’s ability to regulate profane and offensive political signs, especially with children present. “Use it as an opportunity to engage with our children. And it can be a talking point, to explain your values and why it is that you don’t think that those words should be used and why that person who’s doing those types of things, is not in line with what you think.” To view and read the whole story, visit:…

Oct. 15, 2021

Professor Frank Bowman Quoted in Washington Post and Slate Regarding Bannon Subpoenas

Frank Bowman, the Floyd Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law and Curator’s Distinguished Professor at Mizzou Law, was quoted in the Washington Post and Slate about a recent subpoena for former President Trump aide Steve Bannon. “The objective in this case — for Bannon and for anybody similarly situated — is to run out the clock until the election in 2022 on the hope, at least, that Republicans will gain control of the House, at which point this investigation will be kicked into the tall grass,” Bowman told the Washington Post. “The law here is absolutely plain, I think…

Sep. 29, 2021

Paul Litton co-authors research study on how past suffering can result in future praise

A team of researchers at Mizzou, including Paul Litton, the associate dean for faculty research and R. B. Price Professor of Law at Mizzou Law, have discovered that people tend to give more praise to someone for their good deeds as an adult after discovering that person has also had to overcome adversity or suffering earlier in life, such as abuse and neglect as a child. Litton collaborated with Philip Robbins, an associate professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy in the MU College of Arts and Science. They say these findings can help to narrow a knowledge gap…

Sep. 20, 2021

Mizzou Law Professor Participates in Panel on Presidential Pardons

Frank Bowman, the Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law at Mizzou Law, participated in a panel on the future of the presidential pardon power at Ohio State University in September. The panel: “Set the stage for the two subsequent panels about the future of presidential pardoning, by asking basic questions about the role of a regular pardon process and the result of its having been sidelined by Trump.” To learn more or to view a recording of the panel, visit: https://u.osu.edu/clemencyseries/panel-1/

Sep. 14, 2021

Prof. David Mitchell Honored with the Spurgeon Smithson Award by the Missouri Bar Foundation

S. David Mitchell, the Ruth L. Hulston Professor of Law and co-director of the Michael A. Middleton Center for Race, Citizenship and Justice, was one of three people honored with the 2021 Spurgeon Smithson Award by the Missouri Bar Foundation. Established in 1976, the Spurgeon Smithson Awards recognize judges, law teachers, and/or lawyers who have provided outstanding services toward the increase and diffusion of justice. The Missouri Bar Foundation Board of Trustees selects the recipients, and each award recipient receives a $2,000 stipend. “I find the teaching of the law to be a privilege and am humbled and thankful to be able…