Professor Oliveri participates in NAACP public housing forum

On Dec. 7, Rigel Oliveri, the Isabelle Wade and Paul C. Lyda Professor of Law at Mizzou Law, participated in a forum hosted by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s Thurgood Marshall Institute on Protecting and Expanding Public Housing. The invitation-only forum was held at the NAACP’s offices in New York and Washington, DC. The forum, which included former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, brought together scholars, advocates, and other experts to discuss ways to reimagine public housing to better provide for the…

Associate Dean Sperino Provides Training to Federal Judges

Sandra Sperino, the associate dean for research and faculty development and the Elwood L. Thomas Missouri Endowed Professor at Mizzou Law serves as a faculty member for the Federal Judicial Center. The Federal Judicial Center is the research and education agency of the judicial branch of the U.S. government. On Dec. 5, Professor Sperino gave a 90-minute presentation at the Phase II Orientation Seminar for U.S. District Judges in Washington D.C. She discussed cutting edge issues in discrimination law and the recently enacted Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act. In late October, Dean Sperino conducted…

Professor Emeritus Esbeck Publishes Op-Ed on Respect for Marriage Act

Carl Esbeck, the R.B. Price Professor Emeritus and Isabelle Wade & Paul C. Lyda Professor Emeritus of Law, has published an op-ed in Christianity Today in favor of the bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act, which recently passed in Congress. Additionally, prior to the vote on the bill, Professor Emertus Esbeck co-authored a letter to Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Tammy Baldwin. In the letter, Esbeck, along with fellow constitutional law experts Douglas Laycock from the University of Virginia, Thomas Berg from the University of St. Thomas, and Robin Fretwell Wilson from the University of Illinois, urged the senators…

Legal Lion

By Marcus Wilkins At first, Zarifullah Darkhily assumed the explosions echoing through the halls of Kabul University were automobile backfire in the streets of Afghanistan’s capital city. In reality, terrorists had breached the building on Nov. 2, 2020. For the young professor and his contemporaries, it was their darkest day “I thought of my family and my friends,” said Darkhily, who was head of the institution’s public policy and administration department at the time. “I thought briefly of how I was at this university trying to be useful to my people. But mostly I thought about getting to safety.”…

Prof. Barondes Publishes Source Materials for Statutes on Federal and Missouri Firearms Law

Prof. Royce Barondes has published with Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing books collecting primary source materials (mostly statutes) on Federal and Missouri firearms law. In the fall, he authored a casebook for use in Contracts 1, sold to Mizzou Law students through Amazon.com for substantially less than the prices charged for casebooks customarily used in Contracts 1. Federal: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLRCXJ92 Missouri: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLZWSL97

Are Drug Companies the Villain?

For years, brand drug companies have been villainized for “evergreening” or manipulating the law to extend the period of exclusivity for drugs beyond their 20-year patent — a practice critics say unfairly prevents competition from generic drug companies and that has prompted legislators to consider significant reform to policies that govern the pharmaceutical industry. But an audit of more than 200 drugs by a University of Missouri researcher found generic versions of all the drugs were available before their patents expired, raising questions about data being used by policymakers to prove evergreening exists. According to the new study, a comprehensive…

Prof. David English Honored as ABA Advocate of the Month

David English, the William Franklin Fratcher Endowed Professor of Law and the Edward L Jenkins Professor of Law at the MU School of Law, was honored as the September Advocate of the Month by the American Bar Association in their monthly Washington Letter newsletter. From the ABA’s Washington Letter: “We are proud to honor David English as our Advocate of the Month for September 2022 for his work on reforming the nation’s guardianship system, a task on which he has been continually engaged since 1987. He currently serves as Chair of the National Guardianship Network, which is a coalition of…

Faculty Spotlight — Meet Prof. Rachel Wechsler

When Professor Rachel Wechsler and her husband Steven Evers moved to Columbia from the hustle and bustle of New York this summer, the first thing they did was begin to explore the many walking paths and biking trails. Professor Wechsler accepted a professorship at the University of Missouri School of Law after experiencing Columbia’s small-town charm and the strong sense of community among Mizzou Law students and faculty. “This is a really supportive community, a really vibrant community,” she said. “I wake up every day thinking about how lucky I am to be here.” Her move to Missouri was an…

Prof. Lietzan publishes new paper on why medical device companies rarely renew patents

Professor Erika Lietzan, the William H. Pittman Professor of Law and Timothy J. Heinsz Professor of Law at Mizzou Law, recent published a new paper, “The Case of the Missing Device Patents, or: Why Device Patents Matter,” in the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal. To read Prof. Lietzen’s article, visit: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4223781

Professors Henson, Pratzel honored with 2022 Spurgeon Smithson Awards

  Mizzou Law professor Chuck Henson and adjunct professor Alan Pratzel were honored on Sept. 14 with Spurgeon Smith Awards by the Missouri Bar Foundation. This award recognizes judges, law teachers, and/or lawyers who have provided outstanding services toward the increase and diffusion of justice. The Foundation’s board recognizes the great work Professor Henson has done at the university, with the Supreme Court of Missouri’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Law, and with students: “Henson seeks out the meaning of justice and ensures his students focus on the special responsibility lawyers have for the quality…