Spring 2009 Faculty News

Faculty Notes

On June 6, 2008, Richardson Professor of Law Roger I. Abrams prosecuted a criminal case at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, against Rube Waddell for taking bribes from New York gamblers in exchange for not pitching for the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1905 World Series against the New York Giants. (The Giants won, four games to one.) The criminal proceeding, before a jury of 125 attendees at the hall’s annual Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, resulted in a hung jury, which mirrors the historical conclusion about whether Rube participated in the payoff scandal.

Abrams’ blog on sports business appears regularly on huffingtonpost.com. He is also busy writing his next book, Sports Justice, which will be published in 2010 by the University Press of New England at Dartmouth College. Abrams spoke at the “Power of Sport Symposium,” sponsored by the Northeastern University Center for the Study of Sport in Society in June; taught a class at Penn. State University on “Sports Law and Business” by teleconference in October; spoke at a Seton Hall University School of Law symposium on sports violence in November; and was the guest speaker for “The Second Step: A Way from Violence to Self-Reliance” in November. He appeared on NECN with Chet Curtis in June and was quoted in the Chicago Tribune in July on Justice John Paul Stevens; The Sporting News in December on the baseball salary arbitration process; on website Law360 in September on employee layoffs; and was interviewed on national XM radio’s baseball show on free agency in December. He also published four labor arbitration opinions.

Professor Brook K. Baker continues to advocate, write, teach and consult on access to HIV/AIDS treatment and global health issues. He recently published two articles: “Ending drug registration apartheid — taming data exclusivity and patent/registration linkage,” in 34 American Journal of Law and Medicine 303 (2008) and with Eva Ombaka, The Danger of Drug Donations (In-Kind Contributions) to the Global Fund — Adverse Market and Therapeutic Effects in 371 TheLancet.com (Oct. 9, 2008). He also wrote three expert submissions: “Estimates of potential costs savings on second-generation antiretroviral medicines — single-source monopolies vs. patent-pool open competition” in Annex 2, Update for the Secretariat on Patent Pool UNITAID/EB8/2008/11/1, June 11, 2008; “Expert Comments — Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Access to HIV Treatment” in Draft UNAIDS, UNDP and WHO Policy Brief (Sept. 9, 2008); and “Voluntary Licenses for Local Production of Antiretrovirals in Brazil” (Sept. 9, 2008).

Baker traveled to Durban, South Africa, in June and July to co-teach an intensive two-week course, Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Participants in the course included AIDS activists from South Africa and Zambia, academics from South Africa and human rights lawyers from Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Tanzania. Shortly after returning, Baker attended the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City in August, where he presented a skill workshop panel, “IMF Policies Blocking the Response to HIV/AIDS: A Call to Action,” and also co-presented three posters: “Addressing Gaps in Financing for HIV and Human Resources for Health,” “Overcoming Barriers to Registration of Essential AIDS Medicines” and “The Danger of Drug Donations to the Global Fund.”

As co-chair and policy advisor for Health GAP (Global Access Project), Baker has been involved with a WHO civil society action research project, Maximizing Positive Synergies Between Health Systems and Global Health Initiatives. He has attended expert consultations and academic consultations on this project in Mexico City, Cambridge and Geneva. While in Geneva, he also attended the Global Health Workforce Alliance First Coordination Meeting of the Task Forces and Working Groups.

Addressing global health financing needs and International Monetary Fund macroeconomic policies that limit developing countries’ ability to make needed investments in health and education, Baker co-taught a two day Macroeconomic Literacy Training workshop for Health Alliance International in Seattle in June. He presented “Trends in Donor Financing for Health and How and Why the IMF Blocks the Global Response to HIV/AIDS” at a Joint Retreat of Civil Society Delegations, UNAIDS, GF, UNIAID, GAVI and IHP+, held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in September. Finally, he traveled back to Africa and gave a presentation, “IMF Expenditure Ceilings and Health Financing in Africa,” at a conference of Africa chairs of health, HIV, gender and finance parliamentary committees, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November.

Locally, Baker spoke to student groups at the second annual Student Global Health Conference, “Building a Movement: Action for Justice,” held at Boston University School of Public Health on Oct. 5; at an American Medical Student Association workshop, “Bridging the Gap — PharmFree joins Access to Essential Medicines,” held at the University of Illinois, Chicago, on Oct. 11; at the Student Global AIDS Campaign New England Regional Summit, held at Harvard University on Nov. 8; at an NUSL panel, “Our Research, Our Responsibility: Making University Innovations Available in Developing Countries,” on Dec. 2; and at a panel, “Leadership in the Global Response to HIV/AIDS,” held at BU on Dec. 4.

While on sabbatical for the 2008-2009 academic year, Professor Martha F. Davis is a visiting fellow at the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program as well as a fellow of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Her recent activities have centered on domestic applications of human rights norms. A particular focus of her work this fall was reproductive rights.

In June, Davis participated in an invitation-only gathering of law professors and advocates at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York to discuss human rights perspectives on reproductive health and rights; she led a discussion on teaching reproductive rights. In October, she participated in a similar discussion convened at the University of Colorado, and in December, she presented “The US Human Rights Movement and Reproductive Rights” at the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program. Several other speaking engagements addressed human rights norms in other areas. In August, Davis spoke at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association on a panel, “The Application of International Human Rights Principles in US Violence Against Women Litigation,” sponsored by the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence. In November, she presented “Human Rights at Home: The Role of Human Rights Law in Domestic Courts,” at the North American Judicial Colloquium, sponsored by the Brandeis Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life. The 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) provided a cause for celebration and an occasion for several talks, including two December panels — at City Year in Boston and at NUSL, on the topic “Sixty Years of Human Rights: Why the Universal Declaration Still Matters.”

At the end of 2008, Bringing Human Rights Home, a three-volume work co-edited by Davis, was honored by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America, which annually presents an outstanding book award in the human rights field. Davis’ book was among 10 winners from a pool of 400 nominees.

In a change of pace, Davis was one of the performers in a dramatic reading of the UDHR staged on Dec. 10 under the direction of the American Repertory Theater at Harvard’s Kennedy School. During this period, Davis published “The ERA: Then and Now” in 17 Columbia Journal of Gender and Law 419 (2008) and “Upstairs, Downstairs: Subnational Incorporation of International Human Rights Law at the End of an Era” in 77 Fordham Law Review 399 (2008). Her summary and analysis of pending Supreme Court case Barnstable v. Fitzgerald was published in the ABA Preview, and the ABA’s website posted her further commentary following the oral argument. In addition, her opinion piece, “A View from the National Kitchen Table,” was published on the website of the Women’s Economic Agenda Project at www.weap.org. Finally, Davis is working with a group of advocates urging the new administration to create internal structures to protect human rights in the US, including creation of a new human rights commission.

In August, Professor Richard A. Daynard traveled to Lausanne, Switzerland, for a meeting on the intersection of human rights and tobacco control, an area in which he has been working for some time. Later that month he participated in a conference sponsored by the Public Health Foundation of India and held in Hyderabad, India. He went from there to Kuala Lampur and Penang in Malaysia to meet with human rights lawyers about tobacco control, and finished his trip in Manila with a meeting of national tobacco control coordinators at the regional headquarters of the World Health Organization.

In September, Daynard chaired the fifth conference on legal approaches to the obesity epidemic of the law school’s Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI), which focused on steps the incoming administration could take to contain the epidemic. The PHAI team came up with 47 recommendations that were forwarded to the Obama transition team. In November, Daynard went to Durban, South Africa, for the third Conference of the Parties of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, where he joined the NGO community in successfully encouraging delegates to adopt strong guidelines on cigarette labeling and advertising.

In September 2008, Professor Stacey L. Dogan became co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA. In January, she was elected chair of the Intellectual Property Section of the Association of American Law Schools for 2009. Dogan’s recent articles include “The Trademark Use Requirement in Dilution Cases” (with Mark Lemley) in 24 Santa Clara High Technology Law Review 541 (2008) and “A Search Costs Theory of Limiting Doctrines in Trademark Law” (with Mark Lemley) in Graeme B. Dinwoodie and Mark D. Janis (eds.), Trademark Law and Theory: A Handbook of Contemporary Research (Edward Elgar Publishers, 2008). Dogan’s recent presentations include “Sports and Intellectual Property: Names, Faces and Money” for the Boston Bar Association, January 22, 2009; “‘Trademark Use’ in an Internet Age” for the International Trademark Association Leadership Meeting, Boca Raton, Florida, Nov. 15, 2008 (a debate with Professor Graeme Dinwoodie); “Antitrust Law and Regulatory Gaming” for the Minnesota Works-in-Progress Workshop, University of Minnesota, Sept. 19-20, 2008; and the keynote speech, “Expansions and Contractions in Turn-of-the-Century Trademark Law,” for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education’s Intellectual Property Law Annual Conference, June 18, 2008.

Lawyering Skills Professor Melinda F. Drew ’87 joined colleagues in founding a new organization, the New England Consortium of Academic Support Professionals (NECASP). The group met in December and plans to meet at least twice yearly, including holding an annual conference on academic support issues and ideas.

Professor Rashmi Dyal-Chand ’94 published two articles last summer: “Exporting the Ownership Society: A Case Study on the Economic Impact of Property Rights” in 39 Rutgers Law Journal 59 (2008), and “A Poor Relation? Reflections on a Panel Discussion Comparing Property Rights to Other Rights Enumerated in the Bill of Rights” in 16 William & Mary Bill of Rights Law Journal 849 (2008). One of her articles was also included as a book chapter in an anthology about international consumer law issues.

In June, Dyal-Chand presented a work in progress on homeownership at the Property Works in Progress Conference at the University of Colorado in Boulder. In September, she spoke on a panel about tenure and promotion at the Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference held at Boston University School of Law. In November, she presented on property law and the financial crisis at a workshop, “The Public Nature of Private Property,” sponsored by Syracuse University College of Law and Georgetown University Law Center.

Matthews Distinguished University Professor Karl E. Klare was invited to speak in the United Kingdom twice this fall. He presented two papers in September: “Labor Law and Workers’ Movements — Do They Have a Future Together?” and “Critical Legal Studies in a Nutshell” at the Critical Legal Conference 2008 at the University of Glasgow. In October, he participated in a colloquium, “Work, Employment and Industrial Relations in the New Social Contract,” sponsored by the Foundation for Law, Justice and Society at Oxford University.

Klare continues to advise labor unions on legislative matters. In recent months he focused on emerging jurisprudence under the new Massachusetts card-check law, which he authored, and on the federal Employee Free Choice Act, expected to come before Congress. In May, he gave an update on the law to the Massachusetts AFL-CIO Gompers-Murray-Meany Conference in Falmouth, and he spoke in November to the AFL-CIO Organizing Roundtable on the prospects for pro-worker legislation in the upcoming session of the Massachusetts legislature.

Professor Hope Lewis was a fall 2008 Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research at Harvard University, where she researched race and human rights for a book project. In October, Lewis presented a paper as part of a panel, “Human Rights and the Global Economy,” at a symposium on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 60, sponsored by the Maryland Journal of International Law. She also presented a paper at the “Defining Race” symposium cosponsored by the Albany Law Review and the Albany Journal of Science and Technology in November. She participated in a panel, “Suddenly Senior: The Post-Tenure Agenda,” at the Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, held in September at Boston University School of Law.

Lewis’ textbook (with Jeanne M. Woods), Human Rights and the Global Marketplace: Economic, Social, and Cultural Dimensions, (Transnational/Brill USA, 2005) received the 2008 Notable Contributions to Human Rights Book Award from the US Human Rights Network. Her book chapter, “‘New’ Human Rights?: US Ambivalence Toward the International Economic and Social Rights Framework,” appears in A History of Human Rights in the United States, part of the three-volume series Bringing Human Rights Home, Cynthia Soohoo, Cathy Albisa, and Martha Davis (eds.) (Praeger Perspectives, 2007), which was awarded the 2008 Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights Outstanding Book Award. Lewis’ book review of Richard Thompson Ford’s The Race Card: Why Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations Worse, was published as “Law Prof adds his voice to ongoing conversation on race,” in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, June 2, 2008.

Lewis was elected to the executive committee of the Association of American Law Schools Section on International Law in January 2009. As a regular contributor to the international law blog IntLawGrrls at http://intlawgrrls.blogspot.com/search/label/HL, Lewis posted on the Obama presidential election in the global context, international human rights in the US and disability human rights issues.

Executive Professor of Law and Business Susan Barbieri Montgomery ’86 spoke on “Trademark Essentials for Business Decision Makers” and participated in a panel discussion, “Transactions That Can Trigger Intellectual Property Issues,” during a conference hosted by Suffolk University Law School in October.

Matthews Distinguished University Professor Wendy E. Parmet attended the annual Health Law Professors Conference, held at Drexel University College of Law in Philadelphia in June. She participated in a panel, “Stretching the Boundaries of Public Health Law,” which included her presentation, “Beyond Privacy: Public Health and Repro-ductive Rights.” In August, she spoke about “Training Lawyers to Expand Public Health Capacity: A Global Perspective?” at a conference sponsored by the Public Health Foundation of India.

The September/October issue of the Hastings Center Report published a perspective of Parmet’s “Stigma, Hysteria and HIV,” and her article, “J.S. Mill and the American Law of Quarantine,” appears in 1 Public Health Ethics 210 (2008). With Patricia Illingworth, Parmet co-edited a special issue of Bioethics (Volume 23, 2009), titled “Ethical Implications of the Social Determinants of Health.” They also co-wrote the lead editorial, “The Ethical Implications of the Social Determinants of Health: A Global Renaissance for Bioethics.”

Associate Professor Daniel R. Williams presented a paper, “The Political Dream of Guantanamo,” at the International Human-ities Conference held at Fatih University in Istanbul, Turkey, in July. The paper was subsequently published in 6 The International Journal of the Humanities 127 (2008). Williams also published the second article of his two-part series on Guantanamo detention, “After the Gold Rush — Part II: Hamdi, The Jury Trial and Our Degraded Public Sphere,” in 113 Pennsylvania State Law Review 53 (2008). As he has for the past seven years, Williams spent a week in June at the Trial Lawyers College in Dubois, Wyoming, teaching advocacy skills to death penalty lawyers. He has also been elected to the board of directors of the Exoneration Initiative, a new organization based in Manhattan devoted to expanding the movement to free the wrongly convicted where there is no DNA evidence to rely on.

Professor Lucy A. Williams ’ chapter, “Temas y desafìos respecto del combate a la pobreza y de los derechos legales: un análisis comparative de los casos de los Estados Unidos y Sudáfrica,” was published in Más allá de la pobreza, Regìmenes de bienestar en Europa, Asia y Améica, C. Barba, G. Ordoñez and E. Valencia, eds. (Universidad de Guadalajara and El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, 2008). Williams wrote the forward for Jean Hardisty’s Marriage as a Cure for Poverty? Social Science Through a ‘Family Values’ Lens, a publication of Political Research Associates.

Williams spoke and participated in a colloquium, “Work, Employment and Industrial Relations in the New Social Contract,” sponsored by the Foundation for Law, Justice and Society, held in Oxford, England, in October. She presented a paper, “Water Rights as a Justiciable Issue: Mazibuki v. City of Johannesburg,” at the Norwegian Association for Development Research conference, “Globalisation — Nation States, Forced Migration and Human Rights” held in Trondheim, Norway, in November.