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.

Carnegie Council Workshop

From November 9 to 13 I attended a workshop by the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs in New York. During the workshop participants discussed and developed programs to be sponsored by the Carnegie Council. One such program will be a class offered in the Philosophy Department at Mercer next Fall on “Civil Rights as Human Rights” which will also be offered in tandem with Professor Helle Porsdam from the University of Copenhagen.

Brazilian Judges Visit Mercer Law School

I hosted another group of Brazilian judges at Mercer this November. During their visit, Nov. 1-10, the judges attended law classes and panel discussions with Mercer Law School faculty and students, as well as area judges and lawyers. Among other events, the Brazilian judges attended panel discussions on comparative law, legal culture, legal education and legal discourse in the United States. The judges also plan to visit the Macon federal court, Georgia state courts, and the Georgia Supreme Court in Atlanta. For the full story on the visit please visit this site.

Appointment to Mercer's Philosophy Department

I recently received a secondary academic appointment to Mercer University's College of Liberal Arts (CLA). I will be a part of the philosophy department faculty teaching undergraduate courses in ethics, jurisprudence, and special topics. Last Spring term I taught Philosophy of Law, and this semester I am teaching a section of Introduction to Philosophy. Next academic year I will again teach Philosophy of Law, and a course in Philosophy of Film (which will be listed concurrently with my Law and Cinema class at the law school).

Carnegie Global Ethics Fellowship

I have been awarded a Global Ethics Fellowship by the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. I will be participating in Carnegie Council events between 2011 and 2014 (the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Council). Global Ethics Fellows develop programs in conjunction with the Carnegie Council’s mission to promote scholarship, teaching, and learning in the field of ethics in international affairs. There are currently 13 Global Ethics Fellows who are working to expand the Council’s Global Ethics Network, which will partner with educational institutions around the world to implement Carnegie sponsored programs. Carnegie programs will be offered at Mercer as part of my fellowship. As a Global Ethics Fellow I will primarily be working to promote the activities of the Council in South America (particularly Argentina and Brazil).

SEALS 2011 Annual Conference in Hilton Head, SC

At this year's Southeast Association of Law Schools [SEALS] conference I participated in an international roundtable discussion on “Global Challenges for Legal Education” as a member of the SEALS South American working group. While attending SEALS I also gave a talk on “The 1988 Brazilian Constitution and Social Composition.”

Research Fellowship at the University of Buenos Aires

I will be a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Buenos Aires Facultad de Derecho during May and June, 2011. I'll be part of an international working group convened by Emiliano Buis, which is studying the history of just war theory.

Writing Workshop at the Southeast Regional Legal Writing Conference

I moderated, along with Andrea McArdle, a session of the ALWD supported Writing Workshop at the 2011 Southeast Regional Legal Writing conference which was held at the Mercer University School of Law on April 15, 2011. During the session junior scholars from around the country presented their ideas for scholarly projects and received feedback.

Law Culture and Humanities Presentation

On March 11 I delivered a presentation entitled “Inevitability in Judicial Opinions,” with Linda Berger and Jack Sammons at the 14th Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and Humanities at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas.

AALS Section on Law and Interpretation

At the AALS Annual Meeting in San Francisco I was elected to one more term as the Chair of the Section on Law and Interpretation. I will be putting together the program for the 2012 meeting which will be held in Washington, DC.

Argentina 2010

I once again had the good fortune to teach Comparative Constitutional Law in the Stetson University College of Law, Summer Comparative and International Law Institute.

Weimar Article Republished in Book on Constitutionalism

My article Modern Constitutionalism and Weimar Liberalism was recently republished in G.V. MAHESH NATH, ED., CONSTITUTIONALISM (2010).

Reflections on Legal Writing Institute 25th Anniversary

My essay entitled Reflections, Remembrances, and Mimesis: One Person’s View of the Significance of the 25th Anniversary of the Founding of the Legal Writing Institute, was published in 61 MERCER L. REV. 747 (2010).

Article on Martin Luther King, Jr. and Martin Buber

I recently published an article on the relationship between the work of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber and the thought of Martin Luther King, Jr. Here is the citation for the article: The American Prophet: The Influence of the Prophetic Inclination on Martin Luther King, Jr., 49 REVISTA DA FACULDADE DE DIREITO DE UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO PARANA 59 (2009).