University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

WATCH: Prof. Kermit Roosevelt discusses SCOTUS and Project 2025 on MSNBC with Velshi.

An America that you won’t recognize’: Legal scholar Kermit Roosevelt III on SCOTUS and Project 2025 The Supreme Court’s latest term revealed just how fundamentally the ultraconservative supermajority has changed the dynamics on the court, as well as how dire its ethics issues are. The justices, however, seem to believe they’re above reproach. “The only way to take the Supreme Court back in t...

At Al Jazeera English, Prof. Claire Finkelstein emphasizes the long-term significance of Trump immunity ruling.

"What it says is that, if Donald Trump becomes president again, he can use his official capacity—in particular his core constitutional functions—to subvert the law, to shield himself from criminal liability, to distort justice in ways that favour himself," said Finkelstein.

How Supreme Court’s immunity ruling ‘transforms’ US presidency Experts say shielding official presidential action from prosecution undermines rule of law and enables abuse of power.

Prof. Kate Shaw calls the Supreme Court's immunity decision "a very big win for former President Trump."

'A Very Big Win for Former President Trump': Supreme Court Issues Ruling Affecting Jan. 6 Case The U.S.

At The Christian Science Monitor, Prof. Claire Finkelstein: SCOTUS decision on Trump immunity "flies in the face" of precedent.

Supreme Court grants Trump some immunity. Are presidents now above the law? The decision in Trump v. United States immediately ranks as one of the Supreme Court’s most significant.

At AP News, Senior Fellow and CTIC Academic Director Gus Hurwitz calls the NetChoice decision a "bumpy win" for free speech advocates.

The Supreme Court casts doubt on Florida and Texas laws to regulate social media platforms The Supreme Court is keeping a hold on efforts in Texas and Florida to limit how social media platforms regulate content posted by their users. The justices returned the cases to lower courts.

As part of the Hamilton Project of The Brookings Institution, Prof. Shelley Welton proposes the creation of a public grid planning authority to develop grid expansion plans in the national interest.

"Congress should pass legislation creating a 'Federal Grid Planning Authority' (FGPA) and task it with creating a national grid development plan every three years," writes Welton. "This plan should identify all high-voltage transmission lines that are determined to cost-effectively meet the nation’s identified long-term transmission needs."

The Case for a Federal Grid Planning Authority Prof. Shelley Welton proposes the creation of a public grid planning authority to develop grid expansion plans in the national interest.

At The Regulatory Review, Prof. Cary Coglianese reflects on and responds to an article, “A Right to a Human Decision,” written by law professor Aziz Huq.

Coglianese agrees with Huq’s position that we should insist upon better governmental decisions overall, whether made by humans or by machines and concludes that "public preferences for human decisions may give way in time to calls for governmental decisions made by artificial intelligence.”

‘A Right to a Better Decision' Prof. Cary Coglianese writes that “public preferences for human decisions may give way in time to calls for governmental decisions made by artificial in...

Prof. Jill Fisch says the Exxon shareholder case dismissal leaves activist investors vulnerable.

https://penncareylaw.news/4comJPs

Exxon lawsuit against activist investor not the final word on issue Dismissal of litigation only ends one skirmish over investor advocacy.

🎉 Today marks one year with Dean Sophia Z. Lee at the helm of Penn Carey Law.

In the latest issues of The Journal, Dean Sophia Z. Lee discusses her belief in the power of dialogue as she moves the Law School toward the next decade with respect for the past and excitement about the future.

https://penncareylaw.news/4bve6kC

Toward Tomorrow As featured in the latest issue of The Journal, Dean Sophia Z. Lee believes in the power of dialogue as she moves Penn Carey Law toward the next decade wi...

The Supreme Court dismissed Moyle v. United States, allowing doctors in Idaho to continue providing abortions in emergency medical situations.

"Justice Jackson’s sharp opinion put it best," said Prof. Allison K. Hoffman. “'Today’s decision is not a victory for pregnant patients in Idaho. It is delay. While this Court dawdles and the country waits, pregnant people experiencing emergency medical conditions remain in a precarious position, as their doctors are kept in the dark about what the law requires.'”

Read Hoffman's full statement:

Continued Access to Emergency Abortion Care “The opinion does not explain why the Court took this procedural punt,” said Prof. Allison K. Hoffman.

Prof. Cary Coglianese and Senior Fellow Gus Hurwitz offer their insights on the Supreme Court decision overturning Chevron.

"Today’s overturning of the Supreme Court’s 1984 decision in Chevron v. NRDC, one of the most cited administrative law precedents in the Supreme Court’s history, is dramatic," said Coglianese. "Yet it is not altogether surprising either, as it is of a piece with the current Court majority’s skepticism of the exercise of governmental authority by administrative agencies."

Hurwitz said the opinion "re-asserts a primary role for the courts in interpreting what Congress intended for those laws to mean. In so doing, it promises to prevent policy future “flip-flops” and shift responsibility for correcting interpretative mistakes from the executive to the legislature."

Read their full statements:

Overturning Chevron Prof. Cary Coglianese and Senior Fellow Gus Hurwitz offer their insights on the Supreme Court decision overturning Chevron.

This past spring, our Transnational Legal Clinic students traveled to Georgia to work with the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative (SIFI), serving clients seeking asylum and other forms of immigration relief.

“We are so grateful for the support of the Transnational Legal Clinic at UPenn,” said Erin Argueta L’09, SIFI Senior Lead Attorney. “Their week in Lumpkin, Georgia is not only a huge capacity boost to our four-person office in terms of meeting with detained individuals and preparing their cases for court, but it is also an important act of solidarity with the thousands of people detained and silenced in remote detention centers. The students met with people in eight languages, in some cases being the only person that individual would get to speak to in their own language while detained. It’s important for the migrants, their families and communities, the immigration court, and ICE to know that we are here to bear witness and defend against the abuses and lack of due process all too common at Stewart.”

Supporting Vital Immigrant Defense This spring, the Transnational Legal Clinic traveled to Georgia to assist the Southern Poverty Law Center's work representing immigrant detainees.

Arman Tatoyan LLM’13, Ichsan Zikry LLM’20, Clara Hochleitner-Wanner LLM’18 returned to their home countries after earning Penn Carey Law LLM degrees.

Since earning his Penn Carey Law LLM, Arman Tatoyan LLM’13 has served as the Vice Minister of Justice in Armenia and was also elected to a six-year term as Ombudsman of Human Rights in his home country. Ichsan Zikry LLM’20 battles public corruption in Indonesia and Clara Hochleitner-Wanner LLM’18 practices real estate and corporate law at a private firm.

Read more about their experiences at Penn Carey Law and beyond.

LLM Alums' Impactful Careers in Their Home Countries Arman Tatoyan LLM'13, Ichsan Zikry LLM'20, Clara Hochleitner-Wanner LLM'18 returned to their home countries after earning Penn Carey Law LLM degrees...

“The challenge ahead will be to find the best ways for humans and computers to collaborate,” said Prof. Cary Coglianese at Judicature, a publication of the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School.

"Society needs ways to govern AI that can equitably reap its benefits while reducing its harms," he added. "If we can do that, then we can use AI to make the world better. Along the way, it’s worth remembering that a world dependent solely on humans is imperfect, too. The key is to do better."

AI in the Legal Space “The challenge ahead will be to find the best ways for humans and computers to collaborate,” said Prof. Cary Coglianese at Judicature.

At the end of the spring semester, the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School held its first-year student oral arguments at the federal courthouse in Philadelphia.

As a capstone to the Legal Practice Skills course, every first-year law student stood up in front of a panel of judges to argue a motion for summary judgment.

What an incredible week! Congratulations to all of the first-year students 🎉

Learn more about Penn Carey Law's LPS course: https://penncareylaw.news/4e7KJY3

The Law & Society Association has recognized Prof. Tom Baker with the Harry J. Kalven, Jr. Prize for his “continuing and most distinguished theoretical-empirical contributions to the advancement of law and society research.”

“Given how broadly insurance affects our economic structure, investment, and industrial innovation, and as or more importantly the security of ordinary daily life, Tom’s scholarship and insights have proven to be transformative,” said the LSA in a statement announcement the award.

LSA's 2024 Harry J. Kalven, Jr. Prize The Law & Society Association has recognized Prof. Tom Baker for his “continuing and most distinguished theoretical-empirical contributions to the a...

🎉 Congrats to Astonique Robinson L’25, the first Penn Carey Law student to receive the Susman Godfrey Prize, which provides law students of color ongoing mentorship from the firm's partners and associates.

“Astonique is a brilliant legal mind who will soon be a spectacular lawyer. Susman Godfrey is lucky to have her as an awardee,” said Prof. Tobias B. Wolff. “Astonique is the first Penn Carey Law student to participate in this great program at Susman Godfrey, and I look forward to working with the firm to deepen that relationship.”

2024 Susman Godfrey Prize Recipient Astonique Robinson L'25 is the first Penn Carey Law student to receive the Susman Godfrey Prize.

The Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice played a vital role in the establishment of Chatham County, Georgia's Conviction Integrity Unit, serving as the training and technical advisor for the DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance grant that supported the CIU's establishment

The Quattrone Center also hosted monthly webinars, where they had an expert teach about topics such as investigative interviewing, proper eyewitness identification methods, and signs of potentially false confessions.

Chatham District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit develops prioritization tool to review cases The Chatham County DA's Conviction Integrity Unit has developed tool to assist in screening potential wrongful convictions.

Our Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic students provide legal services to start-ups & entrepreneurs in the Philly area, with a focus underrepresented entrepreneurs and social impact start-ups.

ELC Director Praveen Kosuri developed the clinic’s focus on social impact, which has become a national model. He describes the clinic’s work as “grassroots economic development.”

Read more about recent ELC success stories:

Supporting Sustainable Start-Ups & Underrepresented Entrepreneurs Our Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic contributes to economic development with a focus on underrepresented entrepreneurs and social impact start-ups.

LISTEN: At Common Law, Prof. Karen Tani L'09, PhD'11 discusses “medicalizing” civil rights — assigning a medical diagnosis to receive help to address a social issue such as poverty.

S6 E7: Medicalizing Civil Rights Experts increasingly use the language of medicine and disability to address social issues like poverty and racial discrimination. Professors Craig Konnoth of UVA Law and Karen M. Tani of Penn Law disc

At ProMarket, CTIC Academic Director Gus Hurwitz explores the legality of the FTC’s noncompete ban.

"In a recent article for ProMarket, Jonathan Masur and Eric Posner defend the legality of the Federal Trade Commission’s rule banning noncompetes," writes Hurwitz. "However, little of their argument addresses the widespread contrary arguments against the ban."

The Legality of the FTC’s Noncompete Ban Is Less Certain Than Masur and Posner Suggest - ProMarket Gus Hurwitz replies to Jonathan Masur and Eric Posner’s May 8 article defending the Federal Trade Commission’s Congressional mandate to enforce a rule banning noncompetes. He argues that Congressional responses to FTC rulemaking in the 1970s suggest courts are unlikely to find that the FTC posse...

Our students are receiving real world experiences as lawyers in the classroom in the Legal Practice Skills course, which focuses on document-drafting, oral advocacy, and transactional negotiation, lead by our esteemed faculty members Sarah Pierce and Jessica Simon C'95.

“At its very core, what I’m hoping that they take out of this class is an ability to practice law, and that begins in their first summer … as soon as they start working this summer, they will be thrown in as if they are lawyers,” said Simon.

Learn more:

Preparing Real World Lawyers Our Legal Practice Skills (LPS) course teaches our students to think, act, and communicate like an attorney with a focus on document-drafting, oral advoca...

Prof. Dorothy Roberts discusses the impact of structural racism on the strength of Black families in this factcheck of Byron Donalds’ ‘Jim Crow’ comments on Black families and conservatism.

"Donalds ignores the negative impact of poverty on families and the reduction in Black family poverty produced by civil rights enforcement and social welfare programs," said Roberts.

Fact-checking Byron Donalds’ ‘Jim Crow’ comments Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., a prominent supporter of former President Donald Trump, recently tried to draw Black voters

Prof. Shelley Welton tells the New York Times, "Most models suggest that a more interconnected grid is a better grid."

She added, “I do think there is power in being interconnected across North America. We need scenario planning. We need long-term planning.”

When Hydropower Runs Dry The struggle of the world’s largest source of renewable last year could have important implications for the fight against climate change.

Prof. Herb Hovenkamp says antitrust suits against Big Tech are likely to fail and suggests another avenue for regulators.

Contracts the companies have signed could constitute unlawful “restraint of trade” stifling future competition under section 1 of the Sherman Act, he told Vox.

Biden’s overlooked campaign to protect Americans from Big Business Many Americans are focused on inflation, but from Big Tech to junk fees, Biden is advancing a pro-consumer agenda.

ARC Justice Clinic Director Cara McClellan GEd’12 has been named to serve on a task force to study reparations for Black Philadelphians.

Read more at Billy Penn:

New Philadelphia task force studies reparations for Black residents Recommendations could include payments, social services, and political reforms.

At STAT, Prof. Dorothy Roberts explains how Black women's lack of health care access affects their reproductive decisions.

How doctors are pressuring sickle cell patients into unwanted sterilizations STAT series 'Coercive Care' looks at pregnancy complications from sickle cell disease and patients who felt pressured to have an unwanted tubal ligation.

Prof. Elizabeth Pollman’s scholarship on the widespread failure of venture-backed startups was cited in this piece at CNN.

According to Pollman's research, at least 75% of venture-backed startups fail, for several reasons.

Venture capital: What it is and how it works A comprehensive guide that explains how venture capital works, its benefits, and risks, and how to get involved, either as a startup or an investor.

At The Hill, Prof. Jasmine E. Harris and Laura Hannon SP2’23, L’24 argue that fitness to serve is undermining our democracy.

"The way we represent and discuss disability in public service matters,” write Harris and Hannon. “People with disabilities are not simply passive subjects of service but must be active public servants participating in democratic governance at all levels.”

‘Weaponizing Fitness to Serve Is Undermining Our Democracy' At The Hill, Prof. Jasmine Harris and Laura Hannon SP2'23, L'24 write that “some politicians find success in being transparent about disability, but...