Visit to Macau

In March and early April I spent some weeks working with the law faculty at the Macau University of Science and Technology.  The Vice Rector and the law faculty want to build a first-class communication and practice program, and I consulted with them about this project.  I also taught a short course in the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods. 

Levan Institute Roundtable

I spoke on a roundtable panel at the University of Southern California on Tuesday, March 20, 2012. The panel, which was entitled “How do We Bring the Rule of Law to Places that Don’t Have it?” was sponsored by the Levan Institute for Humanities and Ethics at USC, the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, and Jewish World Watch. The Program was designed by Prof. Lyn Boyd-Judson, the Director of the Levan Institute, who is also a Carnegie Global Ethics Fellow. Other Panelists included Richard Dekmejian (USC Pol.Sci.), Naama Haviv (Jewish World Watch), and Ed Smith (USC Law).

Article in The Crit

My article "Using John Dewey's Pragmatist Epistemology to Teach Legal Analysis and Communication" has been published in The Crit: The Journal of Critical Legal Studies, Volume 5, Number 1 (Spring 2012).  A link to the article can be found here.

Visiting Brazil

My first sabbatical stop is Rio de Janeiro! I am working on a book about the Brazilian constitution with my friends Fernanda Duarte and Rafael Iorio. Of course it doesn't hurt that it's summer here, and this week is Carnival.

On Sabbatical During Spring Term 2012

During the spring semester 2012 I will be on sabbatical. During this time I will be working with colleagues in Brazil, Curacao, Macau, Oxford, Belgrade, and Turkey. It will be a busy time, but I hope it will be productive as well.

Law and Interpretation Panel at AALS Annual Meeting

On January 6, 2012 I spoke on a panel entitled "Law as a Discourse Community: Critical Perspectives on Legal Discourse" at the AALS Annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The panel was the program for the Law and Interpretation Section, which I chaired for the last 18 months. The panel was co-sponsored by the section on Legal Research, Reasoning, and Writing. Other speakers included Teresa Godwin Phelps (American University), Teri McMurtry-Chubb (Laverne), and David Caudill (Villanova). Papers from this panel, and additional commentaries to be produced by scholars in the field, will be published in book form by Carolina Academic Press later this year.

Presentation at LWI Regional Workshop

On December 2, 2011 I gave a presentation entitled "The Obligation to Produce Scholarship" at the one day LWI Regional Workshop held at the John Marshall Law School, in Atlanta. My presentation, which argued that all members of the legal academy have a professional obligation to produce scholarship regardless of their job category status, was part of the professional development portion of the program.