ULaw Today

3L Kent Participates in Award-Winning Effort to Design Hacker-Thwarting ID Badge

Barry Scholl — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:10:32 +0000

David Kent, a 3L at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law and also a student in the U’s College of Pharmacy, was part of a student entrepreneurial team that won first place in the business school’s Opportunity Quest competition with a virtual ID badge that works in conjunction with mobile devices.

Kent explained that, “The technology was developed here at the U of U by Craig Swapp, MS and Kevin Wethington, MD. It allows users to access secure information in a way that converts a mobile device into a virtual ID badge — it can replace the use of username and password because our technology is more secure and easier to use. In short, users don’t have to try to remember a zillion crazy passwords anymore. “

In addition to Kent, the team’s other members are Austin Aerts, a graduate student in accounting, and Emily Theisen, a Ph.D. student in the College of Pharmacy. They are currently working with the U’s Lassonde Program to help bring the technology to market.

New York Times Quotes Cassell about Case that Pits Victims’ Rights Against Secrecy

Barry Scholl — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:06:16 +0000

On February 5, The New York Times quoted University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law Professor Paul Cassell in the story “By Revealing Man’s Past, Lawyer Tests Court Secrecy.”

The story noted that Cassell submitted a brief on behalf of the lawyer who filed a lawsuit alleging that a group of people attached to a New York investment group of stealing millions of dollars from investors. According to the complaint, one of the businessmen being sued had pleaded guilty to an organized crime case in Brooklyn and had become a cooperating witness for the prosecution.

According to the story, critics of the attorney’s actions charged that he was being “reckless and unethical.” Cassell, who disagreed, told The Times: “He’s challenging the power and ability of the courts to run a secret criminal docket. I think he’s stumbled onto something here that raises profound issues about how crime victims and cooperators are going to be treated in our federal criminal justice system.”

To read the article, click here (free subscription required).

Rosky Quoted on Same-Sex Ruling in California

Barry Scholl — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:54:02 +0000

On February 7, Clifford Rosky, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, was quoted in a Salt Lake Tribune article about a federal appeals court’s ruling that the California gay marriage ban is unconstitutional.

Rosky told The Tribune that the narrowness of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling make it less likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will take an appeal. Click here to read the article.

Medwed’s New Book Forthcoming, Local Readings Scheduled

Barry Scholl — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:23:45 +0000

In March, Daniel Medwed, Professor of Law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, will publish a new book titled Prosecution Complex: America’s Race to Convict and Its Impact on the Innocent.

Best-selling author John Grisham wrote of the book: “Wrongful convictions will continue until prosecutors are one day held accountable for their deliberate misconduct. Prosecution Complex examines their misbehavior and the tragic consequences. It also shows us how to fix the problems.”

Medwed will be doing two area readings once the book is available. More details will be published as they become available.

Rosky Interviewed by Fox 13

Barry Scholl — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:42:48 +0000

Clifford Rosky, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, was interviewed recently by Fox-13 News for a story titled “Mother fighting Social Security Administration may set court precedent.” After Michael Burns’ death, his widow, Gail, used his frozen sperm to have a child. For seven years, she has been battling the Social Security Administration for her son Ian to receive his father’s social security survivor benefits, and is now taking her fight to the Utah Supreme Court.

Rosky comments on how this matter will likely set a precedent in Utah. “This is a pretty complex case,” he says. “But at the end of the day, it boils down to a contract. The question is whether by signing that contract, [Michael Burns] consented to being legally recognized as the child’s parent, even if the child was conceived after his death.”

To view the first part of the story, click here. To view the second part, featuring Rosky’s comments, click here.

Dewald Participates in Widener Law School Panel

Barry Scholl — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:13:50 +0000

On February 3, Aaron Dewald, Director of the Technology Initiative, participated in a panel at Widener Law School in Wilmington Delaware, centered around the use of technology in legal education. The presentation was designed to inform law faculty of technology integration into their curriculum, as well as offering law professors ways to incorporate active learning into their teaching practice.

The other panelists included Michael Hunter Schwartz, co-director of the Institute of Law Teaching & Learning; Scott Burnham, President of CALI; and Daphne Koller, a professor of Law at Stanford University.

Park Service Anthropologist to Discuss American Indians and the Constructed ‘Wilderness’ of Yellowstone, Feb. 14

Barry Scholl — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:36:47 +0000

On February 14, Rosemary Sucec, a cultural anthroploogist with the National Park Service, will deliver a Green Bag lecture titled “American Indians and the Constructed ‘Wilderness’ of Yellowstone National Park.” The 12:15 lecture, to be held in room 106, is free and open to the public. One hour CLE is available and a light lunch wlll be provided for attendees.

As one of 20 cultural anthropologists in the National Park Service (NPS), Rosemary Sucec works with cultural communities whose associations with national parks precede that of the federal government. She gathers data and assists with developing programs, policies and guidelines to help land managers identify and protect culturally significant resources to traditionally associated peoples such as American Indians, cattle ranchers and Latter-day Saints. As an NPS employee, she worked in the Denver Regional Office (RO), in Yellowstone National Park (YELL), and is now located at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area/Rainbow Bridge National Monument (GLCA). At the RO, she assisted parks from the Northern Rockies to the Colorado Plateau in consulting with American Indian tribes; at Yellowstone, she served as the cultural anthropologist/tribal liaison for eight years; and at GLCA she directs the program that oversees all cultural resources associated with the Utah canyons along the Colorado River/Lake Powell corridor, as well as those along the relict stretch of Glen Canyon below the Glen Canyon Dam.

Brown Moderates Panel on Prenatal and Early Childhood Brain Development at Neuroscience Conference

Barry Scholl — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:18:34 +0000

On February 10, Teneille Brown, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, will moderate a panel titled “Assaults on Prenatal and Early Childhood Brain Development: What Can Be Done? Limits on Autonomy and Government Regulation”, at the Law and Policy of the Developing Brain: Neuroscience from Womb to Death conference held at UC Hastings and Stanford University.

Other participants in the two-part panel include commentators Kate Bloch, JD, Professor of Law, University of California Hastings College of Law; and Jaime King, JD, PhD, Associate Professor of Law, University of California Hastings College of Law; and panelists including Gideon Koren, MD, FACMT, FRCP(C); Mishka Terplan, MD, MPH; Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MD; Khiara Bridges, JD, PhD; Megan Schwarzman, MD, MPH; and Mishka Terplan, MD, MPH.

The theme of the Conference revolves around the law and policy surrounding the developing brain. The Conference will begin Friday morning at UC Hastings with a principal talk from Dr. Robert Sapolsky on the general themes of the two-day conference. The panels and speakers over the two days of the conference will consider law and neuroscience issues as they arise throughout the human lifespan, beginning Friday morning with prenatal and infant brains, and ending Saturday afternoon with the neuroscience of aging and death.

Guiora Awarded Grant, Speaks at Oxford

Barry Scholl — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:29:17 +0000

Amos Guiora, Professor of Law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, has been invited by the University of Oxford to present public lectures from February 6-8, 2012, including “Targeted Killing: Exploring its Legality, Morality and Effectiveness.” Jeremy Waldron, Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, Oxford, and University Professor, New York University Law School, will be the respondent.

The Earhart Foundation (Ann Arbor, Michigan) awarded Guiora a fellowship research grant; the grant will enable him to research his forthcoming book Extremism: What is it and What Dangers Does it Pose to Society. Guiora previously received a grant from the Stuart Family Foundation (Chicago, Illinois) for research in the Netherlands on the limits of free speech.

Rosky to Testify at Utah State Legislature on Nondiscrimination Bill

Barry Scholl — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:43:15 +0000

On Friday, February 3, at 2:00 p.m., Clifford Rosky, Associate Professor of Law at the S.J. Quinney College of Law, will testify before the Government Operations Committee of the Utah Senate in support of a bill to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment and housing. The law has been proposed for four consecutive years, but this is the first year in which it will receive a hearing before a legislative committee. At present, Utah does not have any statewide laws to protect people from being fired or evicted because they are gay or transgender. In a recent survey that Professor Rosky co-authored, 43% of gay Utahns and 67% of transgender Utahns reported that they had experienced discrimination in employment.