Stanford Law School

BREAKING: A new report by SLS's Rule of Law Impact Lab (https://stanford.io/3Vyx5Fa), Human Rights Watch and Florida Rising, “‘Why Do They Hate Us So Much?’: Discriminatory Censorship Laws Harm Education in Florida,” says Florida leaders are reshaping K-12 content through laws that censor, distort, and discriminate by limiting education on race, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and ban books. The groups interviewed more than 60 teachers, students, and parents in Florida to learn how these laws are impacting their daily lives and found that Florida’s education policies and laws since 2019 restrict students' access to vital information on race, history, sexual orientation, and gender identity, harming Black and LGBTQ individuals. Check out the report here: https://stanford.io/45txg9j

What a day! 277 Stanford Law School students graduated -193 JD students, 71 LLM students, 9 JSM students, 3 JSD students, and 1 MLS student. Congratulations, graduates! We can’t wait to see the incredible things you do in the years to come!

What a day! 277 Stanford Law School students graduated -193 JD students, 71 LLM students, 9 JSM students, 3 JSD students, and 1 MLS student. Congratulations, graduates! We can’t wait to see the incredible things you do in the years to come! 🎓

Congratulations to Stanford Law School’s class of 2024! We are so proud of you!🎓🎈

We are so excited to celebrate our graduates today! Please tag your graduation photos with

Allen Weiner, Senior Lecturer in Law, Director of the Stanford Program in International and Comparative Law, Director of the Stanford Humanitarian Program and Director of the Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation discusses the "proportionality of war" in an interview for CBC News. View more: https://stanford.io/4c0eSXQ

Mark Lemley, the William H. Neukom Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and the Director of the Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology, co-authored an opinion essay, "How Big Tech Is Killing Innovation," for The New York Times. Read more here: https://stanford.io/3RrSkY5

Curtis Milhaupt, the SLS William F. Baxter-Visa International Professor of Law and a Senior Fellow, by courtesy, of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, received a "Best Paper" award for his paper titled, "The (Geo)Politics of Controlling Shareholders," from the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI).

“It is an honor to be recognized for my effort to analyze the complex interplay between corporate control and wide-ranging geopolitical and domestic political concerns,” said Curtis Milhaupt about the award. Congratulations Professor Milhaupt!

https://stanford.io/4ejRB4J

Stanford Law School's 2024 Summer Faculty Reading List is here! From Shoe Dog by Phil Knight to David Grann's The Wager, SLS faculty weigh in on the books that are worth reading. Take a look at the link below to get summer reading recommendations.

https://stanford.io/4ejptPe

The Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law’s (CDDRL), the Poverty, Violence, and Governance Lab (PovGov), and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace worked together to host a panel discussing Mexico's historic election and the state of democracy in Mexico.

"I think it's important to recognize that INE has been one of the crown jewels of Mexico's democracy. It is widely regarded as one of the most independent and professional election commissions in the world. Whether it continues to be as highly regarded will depend on what Claudia Sheinbaum decides to do — whether she chooses to break from President López Obrador's authoritarian agenda or to open a new chapter in Mexico in favor of democracy and the rule of law," said one of the panelists, Amrit Singh, Professor of the Practice of Law and founding Executive Director of the Rule of Law Impact Lab at Stanford Law School. Learn more about the six insights generated from the Q&A at the link below.

https://stanford.io/3KyOLvb

Nora Freeman Engstrom, the Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law and the Co-Director of the Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession, and David Freeman Engstrom, LSVF Professor in Law and the Co-Director of the Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession, sat down with Pamela Karlan on Stanford Legal to discuss the access to justice problem in the United States and the difficulties people encounter when trying to manage a legal issue.

"They're made to navigate what's really a baffling legal system without any help at all, and then when they have problems where the legal system could help them, they're totally thwarted, and they can't find a lawyer to make their way into court," said Nora Freeman Engstrom. Listen to the episode at the link below.

https://stanford.io/3X9icLJ

As a professional working at the intersection of legal and tech, how do you stay up to speed and navigate these new challenges and opportunities? Join us for this year's Stanford Digital Economy Best Practices next week on June 10!

Stanford Digital Economy Best Practices is "the premier educational event for in-house counsel and practitioners who work in tech. Leading experts from industry, legal practice and academia will address current issues facing the industry and offer practical solutions for dealing with the many legal uncertainties that arise when doing business online."

Learn more and register: https://stanford.io/45g9o8T

Last week, SLS students in the Three Strikes Project worked with individuals at San Quentin State Prison’s Mt. Tamalpais College on a criminal law and policy seminar. The joint seminar occurred in a classroom in the prison where students from SLS and Mt. Tam College sat together to discuss criminal law. Both groups brought unique insights based on their knowledge and experiences.

"As for it being all 34 counts, they were just 34 acts of doing pretty much the same thing in 34 different financial entries, so maybe 'all or none' is not a surprise," said Robert Weisberg, the Edwin E. Huddleson Jr. Professor of Law, in a Legal Aggregate Q&A titled, "Stanford’s Robert Weisberg on the Trump Conviction in Hush-Money Case." Read more at the link below.

https://stanford.io/457OybC

"Nope. The Constitution says you have to be 35, and a native-born citizen, and that’s it. He may not be able to vote, if the conviction is not reversed on appeal by November, but he can run, and serve," said SLS's Robert Gordon in response to the question of whether a federal conviction will prevent Trump from holding public office.

Robert Gordon, Professor of Law, Emeritus, sat down yesterday for a Legal Aggregate Q&A about previous presidential crimes and the significance of former President Trump's conviction. Read more at the link below.

https://stanford.io/4e0VJqi

“Carrying out a passion for service can only be accomplished with institutional commitment and within an institutional culture,” SLS's interim Dean Paul Brest said during the Spring Community Leadership and Public Interest Awards Reception on May 20. At the reception, eight students were recognized with awards for their public interest and pro bono work, along with their school leadership.

115 members of SLS's class of 2024 will graduate with pro bono distinction, which means they completed 50 hours or more of pro bono work during their time at Stanford Law School. The class of 2024 completed over 16,000 hours of pro bono work in all. Congratulations to the soon to be graduates!

https://stanford.io/456tFOe

Lawsuits challenging public health measures can significantly impact officials’ ability to respond to emergencies, according to a new study, "Judicial Decisions Constraining Public Health Powers During COVID-19: Implications For Public Health Policy Making," from SLS Professor Michelle Mello and J.D. student David Jiang.

“Although plaintiff victories were relatively unusual during the pandemic, those decisions could have important effects on officials’ ability to respond to emergencies—as well as on the everyday work of public health," said Professor Mello. Learn more about the study at the link below.

https://stanford.io/4e31WSO

Ralph Richard Banks, the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Stanford Center for Racial Justice joined SLS Professors Pamela Karlan and Richard Ford on Stanford Legal's most recent podcast episode to discuss the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education and whether it was a success or failure.

"The Court in Brown could have, rather than relying solely on the Equal Protection Clause, it could have articulated a right to education of some sort, right? That there’s a federal constitutional right to an education of some particular quality, but the Court declined to do that," said Professor Banks in the episode. Listen in at the link below.

https://stanford.io/3wUgYta

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, International Peace Institute CEO and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, accepted SLS's Ralston Prize in International Law on May 23. He discussed human rights with Prof. Gulika Reddy and, later, spoke about "Memory and Moral Consistency."

The prize "is intended to recognize original and distinguished contributions to the development of the role of law in international relations." Congratulations, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.

William Gould, the Charles A. Beardsley Professor of Law, Emeritus, recently sat down for a Legal Aggregate Q&A titled, "The UAW Vote in Alabama and the Future of Unions in the US."

"The union won’t give up. Even if the UAW doesn’t try to get these results reversed on the grounds that illegal company behavior made the exercise of employee free choice unlikely, another election can be held in 12 months and the campaign will be ongoing," said Professor Gould. Read the whole interview at the link below.

https://stanford.io/3WVhjq1

SLS's Nora Freeman Engstrom spent 5+ years collaborating with fellow ALI reporters to identify and clearly state the law of medical malpractice in the United States. Their Restatement of Torts was announced this week. Congratulations, Professor Engstrom!

https://stanford.io/4bLGX4K

Some of California’s 3,000+ people with intellectual and developmental disabilities live in specialized group homes which, according to a new report titled, "Individualizing the Safety Net: Rethinking the Residential Continuum of Care for People with I/DD and Complex Support Needs," co-authored by SLS’s Alison Morantz, could be stabilized and strengthened in key ways.

Professor Morantz, the James and Nancy Kelso Professor of Law, is also the Director of the Stanford Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Law and Policy Project (SIDDLAPP) which is "an interdisciplinary program at SLS that focuses on the rights and welfare of individuals with I/DD."

“Our report is designed to inform the state’s long-range planning to expand opportunities and improve quality of life for individuals with I/DD who require intensive behavioral support," said Professor Morantz. Learn more about the report and SIDDLAPP's important work at the link below.

https://stanford.io/3Kbs14a

Stanford Law School students on a CodeX Hackathon team created an AI tool to simplify the process for veterans applying for disability benefits. The process of filing for disability benefits can often be challenging and long, but this AI chatbot makes the process easier by asking veterans to identify where they are hurt and to describe what happened to them. AI then takes that information and turns it into "VA-acceptable" language. Learn more about this AI tool on a recent NPR Morning Edition episode.

https://stanford.io/4bJAZkS

A new report from SLS's Law and Policy Lab, "Regulating the Legal Enablers of Russia’s War on Ukraine," highlights how Western lawyers help Russian oligarchs evade sanctions by hiding and transferring offshore wealth.

https://stanford.io/4bwIZWL