Sep. 25, 2024

Professor Ryan Vacca publishes article in Harvard journal

Ryan Vacca, the John D. Lawson Professor of Law at Mizzou Law, this week published a new article, Revisiting the Federal Circuit En Banc, in the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology. Professor Vacca’s article examines the recent move by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to abandon en banc review in utility law patents. The piece also evaluates the need for the court to revive its previous en banc practices to ensure an effective and consistent patent law landscape and to effectively guide patent stakeholders. En banc review is when all active judges…

Sep. 17, 2024

Faculty Spotlight — Meet Eric Hintz

To poet John Donne, no man is an island. To Eric Hintz, one of Mizzou Law’s newest professors, no area of the law is, either. With an undergraduate degree in economics and a graduate degree in global security studies, Hintz has always enjoyed approaching academic questions from a trans-substantive perspective. “I really liked the interdisciplinary component of [the law], and the sort of aspect that you can be a generalist, and learn all sorts of different things,” Hintz said. “One of the meta points that I enjoyed about economics and global security studies was that you’re thinking about all…

Sep. 13, 2024

Faculty Spotlight — Meet Ryan Vacca

When Ryan Vacca, ‘04, gave his first guest lecture to students studying the entertainment business at St. Louis Community College, the then-attorney at Stinson LLP began considering going back to school — as a professor. “I could see the light bulb was going off [for students,]” Vacca recalled. “They understood it and were asking great questions. It was a lot of fun, and at that point, I started thinking maybe academia might be for me.” Becoming a law professor was a far cry from what Vacca originally planned to pursue as an undergraduate at Amherst College, where he entered as…

Aug. 23, 2024

Dean Sperino cited by U.S. Court of Appeals

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit cited two of Associate Dean Sandra Sperino’s articles in a case involving how causation principles apply to a statute. The Third Circuit cited Statutory Proximate Cause, 88 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1199 (2013) and The Causation Canon, 108 Iowa L. Rev. 703, 704 (2023). The case is U.S. v. Johnson, 2024 2024 WL 3883682 (Aug. 21, 2024). Dean Sperino’s article Revitalizing State Employment Discrimination Law, 20 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 545 (2013) was also cited by the Supreme Court of Connecticut this summer in its discussion of…

Aug. 22, 2024

Professors Woods and Alexander Present at the LWI Bienniel Conference

Professors Anne Alexander and Jayne Woods each presented separately at the Legal Writing Institute’s Biennial Conference this summer in Indianapolis, Ind. At the national conference for legal writing professors, Professor Alexander presented on inclusive teaching practices and Professor Woods presented on teaching legal research in an engaging way.

Aug. 19, 2024

Professor Oliveri Speaks at Human Rights conference

On Monday, August 12, Professor Oliveri spoke at the 75th annual conference of the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies. The conference was held in St. Louis and featured attendees from Human Rights agencies across the country. Professor Oliveri spoke on the History of Housing Discrimination, Redlining, and Affordable Housing in St. Louis.

Aug. 15, 2024

Professor Lietzan Named to “Best Lawyers in America”

For the 11th straight year, Erika Lietzan, William H. Pittman Professor of Law & Timothy J. Heinsz Professor of Law at Mizzou Law, was named a Best Lawyer in FDA Law and for the 17th straight year as a Best Lawyer in Biotechnology & Life Sciences Law for 2025.

Aug. 14, 2024

Professor Jayne Woods featured in story about AI and legal education

Professor Jayne Woods was quoted in a story by Missouri Lawyers Media about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in legal education. “It is going to change it in the way that calculators changed math classes,” Woods said. “It is going to take some tasks that we used to spend a lot of time on and it’s going to really take that time away so that we can spend it on other things that probably require more of our expertise and knowledge.” To read Professor Woods’ full comments, visit the story here: https://molawyersmedia.com/2024/08/14/robophobia-law-schools-pivot-to-artificial-intelligence-experts-say-it-will-shape-the-future-of-law/…

Aug. 13, 2024

Professor Erika Lietzan Reappointed to ACUS

Erika Lietzan, the WIlliam H. Pittman and Timothy J. Heinsz Professor of Law, has been reappointed to a third term as a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS). ACUS is a federal agency charged by Congress with studying the efficiency, adequacy, and fairness of the procedures used by administrative agencies and with developing recommendations for improvement.  These recommendations are issued to administrative agencies, the President, Congress, and the Judicial Conference of the United States, and often result in important procedural reforms. Members of ACUS develop these recommendations in committee, and the agency then meets in plenary session…

Aug. 6, 2024

Dean Sperino cited by Supreme Court of Connecticut

The Supreme Court of Connecticut cited Associate Dean Sandra Sperino’s article, Revitalizing State Employment Discrimination Law, 20 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 545 (2013), in its discussion of whether to adopt the federal standard for defining supervisor for purposes of vicarious liability for employment discrimination. O’Reggio v. Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, 2024 WL 3628514 (dissenting opinion). …