Faculty Events Calendar: Colloquia, Workshops, Lectures and Conferences
Consistent with its longstanding commitment to fostering a communal environment of intellectual engagement, the Law School is pleased to host countless colloquia, conferences, and guest lectures throughout the school year. Many of these events are specially scheduled, one-time affairs. In addition, the school runs the following regularly scheduled series, which cover a range of formats and scholarly areas.
August 30, 2018 Thursday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
SCOTUS Review and Committee of the Whole
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Robert M Chesney
John Jeffers Research Chair in Law
Honorable James A. Baker III Chair in the Rule of Law and World Affairs
Dean
University of Texas -
Susan C Morse
Angus G. Wynne, Sr. Professor in Civil Jurisprudence
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
University of Texas -
David M Rabban
Dahr Jamail, Randall Hage Jamail and Robert Lee Jamail Regents Chair
University Distinguished Teaching Professor
University of Texas -
Jordan M Steiker
Judge Robert M Parker Endowed Chair in Law
Co-Director - Capital Punishment Center
University of Texas
September 6, 2018 Thursday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Faculty Colloquium - Tom McGarity
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Thomas O McGarity
William Powers, Jr. and Kim L. Heilbrun Chair in Tort Law
University of Texas
September 12, 2018 Wednesday
TNH 3.129 (Atlas Seminar Room)3:45pm - 5:30pm
Law and Economic Seminar - Geeyoung Min // Columbia Law
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Geeyoung Min
Professor, Columbia Law
September 12, 2018 Wednesday
JON 6.207 (Susman Academic Center, The Judge William W. and Margaret R. Kilgarlin Chambers (6.207 / 6.208))3:45pm - 5:30pm
Law and Philosophy Workshop - David Brink // UC San Diego
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David Brink
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, UC San Diego
The Law and Philosophy Seminar Workshop surveys different topics in legal philosophy and constitutional theory. Organized around a series of six workshops, each features a different scholar who presents and discusses their own work with both law and philosophy faculty and the students in the seminar.
September 13, 2018 Thursday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Faculty Colloquium - Anup Malani // University of Chicago
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Anup Malani
Professor, University of Chicago
September 13, 2018 Thursday
CCJ 2.306 (Eidman Courtroom)6:00pm - 9:00pm
- Gladys Sarabia
Shakespeare and the Law -- The Law’s Delay in Hamlet
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Angela K Littwin
Ronald D. Krist Professor in Law
University of Texas
Free Admission. The Law’s Delay in Hamlet. Reception followed by panel on Shakespeare's "Hamlet" Panel members include Professor Alan Friedman, Coordinator, AFTLS; Professors Angela Littwin, Texas Law; James Loehlin, Director, Shakespeare at Winedale, and the Spirit of Shakespeare's players.
Panelist will discuss legal and related issues central to "Hamlet".
September 17, 2018 Monday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Drawing Board Luncheon - Susan Morse
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Susan C Morse
Angus G. Wynne, Sr. Professor in Civil Jurisprudence
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
University of Texas
Susie Morse
September 19, 2018 Wednesday
TNH 3.129 (Atlas Seminar Room)3:45pm - 5:30pm
Law and Economic Seminar - Tamar Katz // Tel Aviv University
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Tamar Katz
Professor, Tel Aviv University
September 20, 2018 Thursday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Faculty Colloquium - Steve Vladeck
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Stephen I Vladeck
Charles Alan Wright Chair In Federal Courts
University of Texas
September 24, 2018 Monday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Drawing Board Luncheon - Tom McGarity and Wendy Wagner - "Stealth Deregulation with Science"
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Thomas O McGarity
William Powers, Jr. and Kim L. Heilbrun Chair in Tort Law
University of Texas -
Wendy E Wagner
Richard Dale Endowed Chair in Law
University of Texas
Drawing Board Luncheon - Tom McGarity and Wendy Wagner - "Stealth Deregulation with Science"
IPST Workshop: Bhaven Sampat, “The Public Sector Role in Pharmaceutical Innovation: Measurement Issues and Policy Implications”
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Bhaven Sampat
Professor, Columbia, Public Health
Claims that the public sector is the source of a large share of important drugs abound, and help form the basis of proposals to change public sector patent laws, to intervene to lower drug costs, to regulate the drug industry more generally, and to increase public research support. In this paper, I argue that the policy discussion needs to pay better attention to the nuances in the empirical literature. Part I of this paper reviews what is known about the public sector role, and provides new updated data extending previous studies. Part II discusses conceptual and measurement issues in linking and attributing public funding to drugs. Part III considers implications for public policy, and emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between the direct and indirect public sector roles when considering changes to patent law and other innovation policies.
September 26, 2018 Wednesday
JON 6.207 (Susman Academic Center, The Judge William W. and Margaret R. Kilgarlin Chambers (6.207 / 6.208))3:45pm - 5:30pm
Law and Philosophy Workshop - Nelson Tebbe // Cornell and Lawrence Sager // UT
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Nelson Tebbe
Professor of Law, Cornell Law School -
Lawrence Sager
Alice Jane Drysdale Sheffield Regents Chair
University of Texas
The Law and Philosophy Seminar Workshop surveys different topics in legal philosophy and constitutional theory. Organized around a series of six workshops, each features a different leading scholar who presents and discusses their own work with UT law and philosophy faculty and the students in the seminar.
September 28, 2018 Friday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)2:00pm - 4:00pm
Bookfest - Lucas A. (Scot) Powe Jr.
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Lucas A Powe Jr.
Anne Green Regents Chair in Law
Professor of Government
University of Texas -
Justin Driver
Professor, University of Chicago -
Ernie Young
Professor, Duke University
America's Lone Star Constitution: How Supreme Court Cases from Texas Shape the Nation
October 1, 2018 Monday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Drawing Board Luncheon - David Rabban
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David M Rabban
Dahr Jamail, Randall Hage Jamail and Robert Lee Jamail Regents Chair
University Distinguished Teaching Professor
University of Texas
Drawing Board Luncheon - David Rabban
IPST Workshop: Barton Beebe, “Testing for Trademark Dilution in the Court and the Lab”
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Barton Beebe
Professor, NYU School of Law
Federal courts are currently split, even within particular districts, on the basic question of what a plaintiff must show to establish that a defendant’s conduct constitutes trademark dilution by blurring. Federal trademark law defines “dilution by blurring” as “association arising from the similarity between a mark or trade name and a famous mark that impairs the distinctiveness of the famous mark.” In construing this statutory language, a majority of courts have held that to establish blurring, a plaintiff need only show that consumers associate the defendant’s mark with the plaintiff’s famous mark. These courts appear to assume that to the extent that there is consumer association, this association alone will “impair the distinctiveness” of the famous mark. A minority of courts have held that the plaintiff must show both consumer association and that the consumer association “impairs the distinctiveness” of the famous mark. In this article, we make two contributions to the current debate over what must be shown to establish dilution by blurring. First, we report the results of a set of experiments that reveal that the majority approach is fundamentally deficient. These experiments demonstrate that even when consumers associate a junior mark with a famous senior mark, this association does not necessarily result in any impairment of the ability of the senior mark to identify its source and associations. For a plaintiff to prove that association leads to blurring, more must be done; we describe a method for determining when association is likely to lead to impairment. Second, we evaluate the current state of the art in trademark dilution survey methodology: response time surveys. These surveys purportedly show both consumer association and impairment. Through a set of experiments, we demonstrate that these surveys currently use the wrong control and are invalid. In light of our findings, we reflect more generally on the question of whether dilution by blurring ever occurs and on how the blurring cause of action may be reconfigured better to comport with courts’ intuitions about the true nature of the harm that the cause of action seeks to address.
October 1, 2018 Monday
JON 6.207 (Susman Academic Center, The Judge William W. and Margaret R. Kilgarlin Chambers (6.207 / 6.208))3:45pm - 5:45pm
Business Law Workshop - Edward Fox
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Edward Fox
Professor, University of Michigan
Professor Edward Fox of the University of Michigan School of Law will be the guest speaker in todays Business Law Workshop, hosted by Jens Dammann, Mira Ganor and James Spindler.
October 1, 2018 Monday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)4:00pm - 6:00pm
- Sharmila Rudrappa
Trade, Distribution and Development under Supply Chain Capitalism
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Dan Danielsen
Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Program on the Corporation, Law and Global Society, Northeastern University
Rapoport Center Colloquium: Law and the Production of Inequality
"Trade, Distribution and Development under Supply Chain Capitalism"
Dan Danielsen, Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Program on the Corporation, Law and Global Society, Northeastern University
Respondent: Sharmila Rudrappa, Professor of Sociology & Director of the Center for Asian American Studies, University of Texas at Austin
Our public debates are increasingly centered on the question of socio-economic inequality – its increase, its economic and political consequences, its importance to the present and its likely future. Inequality may well be at the root of many of the human rights violations in the world today. Our Fall 2018 speaker series will explore the role of law (including, perhaps, human rights law) in the production of inequality, and the role of law (including, of course, human rights law) in responding to inequality. The Colloquium presents an interdisciplinary group of scholars who focus their investigations on the ways in which various legal regimes create, reinforce, and/or ameliorate patterns of structural inequality, locally and globally.
October 3, 2018 Wednesday
TNH 3.129 (Atlas Seminar Room)3:45pm - 5:30pm
Law and Economic Seminar - Manisha Padi // University of Chicago
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Manisha Padi
Professor, University of Chicago
October 3, 2018 Wednesday
JON 6.207 (Susman Academic Center, The Judge William W. and Margaret R. Kilgarlin Chambers (6.207 / 6.208))3:45pm - 5:30pm
Law and Philosophy Workshop - Dimitrios Kyritsis // Univ. of Reading School of Law
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Dimitrios Kyritsis
Associate Professor of Law, Univ. of Reading School of Law
The Law and Philosophy Seminar Workshop surveys different topics in legal philosophy and constitutional theory. Organized around a series of six workshops, each features a different leading scholar who presents and discusses their own work with UT law and philosophy faculty and the students in the seminar.
October 4, 2018 Thursday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Faculty Colloquium - Jack Getman / Charles Bennett
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Julius G Getman
Earl E. Sheffield Regents Chair Emeritus
University of Texas -
Charles Bennett
Dr., University of South Carolina
October 8, 2018 Monday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Drawing Board Luncheon - Calvin Johnson
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Calvin H Johnson
John T. Kipp Chair Emeritus in Corporate and Business Law
University of Texas
Calvin Johnson
October 10, 2018 Wednesday
TNH 3.129 (Atlas Seminar Room)3:45pm - 5:30pm
Law and Economic Seminar - Josh Teitelbaum // Georgetown University
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Joshua Teitelbaum
Professor, Georgetown University
October 11, 2018 Thursday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
IPST Workshop: Jessica Silbey, “Against Progress: Intellectual Property and Fundamental Values in the Internet Age”
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Jessica Silbey
Professor, Northeastern
“Against Progress: Intellectual Property and Fundamental Values in the Internet Age” (book to be published by Stanford University Press, forthcoming 2020)
Abstract: This book studies intellectual property as a bellwether of changing social justice needs in the digital era. It asks questions about the relationship between technological development and socio-economic welfare by tracing through legal cases, media accounts, and over 75 face-to-face interviews varieties of popular legal consciousness and legal arguments that challenge conventional accounts of intellectual property's implications for our society and its future.
October 15, 2018 Monday
JON 6.207 (Susman Academic Center, The Judge William W. and Margaret R. Kilgarlin Chambers (6.207 / 6.208))3:45pm - 5:45pm
Business Law Seminar - Marc Steinberg
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Marc Steinberg
Professor, SMU
Professor Marc Steinberg of SMU will be the guest speaker in today's Business Law Workshop, hosted by Jens Dammann, Mira Ganor and James Spindler.
October 15, 2018 Monday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)4:00pm - 6:00pm
- Erin Lentz
From Disparity to Dignity: Tackling Economic Inequality through Human Rights
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Ignacio Saiz
Executive Director, Center for Economic and Social Rights
Rapoport Center Colloquium: Law and the Production of Inequality
Our public debates are increasingly centered on the question of socio-economic inequality – its increase, its economic and political consequences, its importance to the present and its likely future. Inequality may well be at the root of many of the human rights violations in the world today. Our Fall 2018 speaker series will explore the role of law (including, perhaps, human rights law) in the production of inequality, and the role of law (including, of course, human rights law) in responding to inequality. The Colloquium presents an interdisciplinary group of scholars who focus their investigations on the ways in which various legal regimes create, reinforce, and/or ameliorate patterns of structural inequality, locally and globally.
October 18, 2018 Thursday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Faculty Colloquium - Michael Vandenbergh // Vanderbilt
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Michael Vandenbergh
Professor, Vanderbilt
October 22, 2018 Monday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Drawing Board Luncheon - Larry Sager
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Lawrence Sager
Alice Jane Drysdale Sheffield Regents Chair
University of Texas
Larry Sager, "An Upside Down Masterpiece"
IPST Workshop: Jeanne Fromer, “Claiming Design" (co-author with Mark P. McKenna)
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Jeanne Fromer
Professor, NYU Law
“Claiming Design"
October 24, 2018 Wednesday
CCJ 2.310 (Jury Room)8:00am - 6:00pm
- Gladys Sarabia
Cybersecurity Bootcamp 2.0 -- Day 2
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Matthew Tait
Adjunct Professor
University of Texas
On October 23rd and 24th, the Strauss Center will host its second cybersecurity training session for legal and policy professionals. The event is a customized workshop led by Professor Matt Tait, introducing an array of core technical concepts for non-technical professionals interested in cybersecurity issues. This event is by invitation only.
October 24, 2018 Wednesday
TNH 3.129 (Atlas Seminar Room)3:45pm - 5:30pm
October 24, 2018 Wednesday
JON 6.207 (Susman Academic Center, The Judge William W. and Margaret R. Kilgarlin Chambers (6.207 / 6.208))3:45pm - 5:30pm
Law and Philosophy Workshop - Mitchell Berman // Univ. of Pennsylvania Law School
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Mitchell Berman
Leon Meltzer Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy, Univ. of Pennsylvania Law School
The Law and Philosophy Seminar Workshop surveys different topics in legal philosophy and constitutional theory. Organized around a series of six workshops, each features a different leading scholar who presents and discusses their own work with UT law and philosophy faculty and the students in the seminar.
October 26, 2018 Friday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Faculty Colloquium - Justin Driver /// University of Chicago
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Justin Driver
Professor, University of Chicago
October 29, 2018 Monday
JON 6.207 (Susman Academic Center, The Judge William W. and Margaret R. Kilgarlin Chambers (6.207 / 6.208))3:45pm - 5:45pm
Business Law Seminar - Davidoff Solomon
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Davidoff Solomon
Berkeley
Professor Davidoff Solomon of Berkeley Law will be the guest speaker in today's Business Law Workshop, hosted by Jens Dammann, Mira Ganor and James Spindler.
October 29, 2018 Monday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)4:00pm - 6:00pm
- Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso
Inequality and the Elite Origins of Democracy
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Michael Albertus
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago
Rapoport Center Colloquium: Law and the Production of Inequality - Michael Albertus presents "Inequality and the Elite Origins of Democracy"
Our public debates are increasingly centered on the question of socio-economic inequality – its increase, its economic and political consequences, its importance to the present and its likely future. Inequality may well be at the root of many of the human rights violations in the world today. Our Fall 2018 speaker series will explore the role of law (including, perhaps, human rights law) in the production of inequality, and the role of law (including, of course, human rights law) in responding to inequality. The Colloquium presents an interdisciplinary group of scholars who focus their investigations on the ways in which various legal regimes create, reinforce, and/or ameliorate patterns of structural inequality, locally and globally.
October 31, 2018 Wednesday
TNH 3.129 (Atlas Seminar Room)3:45pm - 5:30pm
Law and Economic Seminar - John Hatfield // UT McCombs School of Business
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John Hatfield
Professor, UT McCombs
Collusion in Markets with Syndication
November 1, 2018 Thursday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
November 5, 2018 Monday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Drawing Board Luncheon - Louise Weinberg, “Saving Nevada v. Hall”
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Louise L Weinberg
William B. Bates Chair Emeritus for the Administration of Justice
University of Texas
Louise Weinberg, “Saving Nevada v. Hall”
IPST Workshop: Paul Ohm, “The Many Revolutions of Carpenter”
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Paul Ohm
Professor, Georgetown
Abstract: The Supreme Court’s opinion in Carpenter v. United States has been heralded by many as an important victory for the privacy of individuals against government surveillance in our rapidly changing technological age. Despite this, scholars and commentators have surprisingly underappreciated many of the important impacts of this landmark opinion. Carpenter works many small revolutions in Fourth Amendment law, in ways are likely to guide the evolution of privacy in this country for a generation or more.
November 7, 2018 Wednesday
JON 6.207 (Susman Academic Center, The Judge William W. and Margaret R. Kilgarlin Chambers (6.207 / 6.208))3:45pm - 5:30pm
Law and Philosophy Workshop - Seana Shiffrin // UCLA
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Seana Shiffrin
Prof. of Philosophy and Pete Kameron Professor of Law and Social Justice, UCLA: School of Law and Dept. of Philosophy
The Law and Philosophy Seminar Workshop surveys different topics in legal philosophy and constitutional theory. Organized around a series of six workshops, each features a different leading scholar who presents and discusses their own work with UT law and philosophy faculty and the students in the seminar.
November 8, 2018 Thursday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Faculty Colloquium - Paul Mahoney // University of Virginia
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Paul Mahoney
Professor, University of Virginia
The Regulatory Effect
IPST Workshop: Rachel Sachs, “Regulating Intermediate Technologies”
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Rachel Sachs
Associate Professor of Law, Washington University Law
Abstract: Over the last several years, scholars studying health innovation policy have carefully considered the ways in which administrative agencies do and should regulate different types of technologies to encourage their development and dissemination. Scholars have examined a range of legal incentives, including patents, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) exclusivity periods, taxes, grants, health insurance reimbursement, and other tools to promote socially valuable innovations that our current system has structurally disfavored. This research has considered broad categories of technologies, including drugs, devices, and diagnostics.
November 12, 2018 Monday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)4:00pm - 6:00pm
- Rajeev Patel
Law and the Reproduction of Food Poverty
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Tomaso Ferrando
Lecturer in Law, University of Bristol
Rapoport Center Colloquium: Law and the Production of Inequality - Tomaso Ferrando presents "Law and the Reproduction of Food Poverty" with a response from Rajeev Patel
Our public debates are increasingly centered on the question of socio-economic inequality – its increase, its economic and political consequences, its importance to the present and its likely future. Inequality may well be at the root of many of the human rights violations in the world today. Our Fall 2018 speaker series will explore the role of law (including, perhaps, human rights law) in the production of inequality, and the role of law (including, of course, human rights law) in responding to inequality. The Colloquium presents an interdisciplinary group of scholars who focus their investigations on the ways in which various legal regimes create, reinforce, and/or ameliorate patterns of structural inequality, locally and globally.
November 14, 2018 Wednesday
TNH 3.129 (Atlas Seminar Room)3:45pm - 5:30pm
Law and Economic Seminar - Murat Mungan // George Mason University
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Murat Mungan
Professor, George Mason University
November 15, 2018 Thursday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Faculty Colloquium - David Spence
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David B Spence
The Rex G. Baker Centennial Chair in Natural Resources Law
Professor of Business, Government and Society, McCombs School of Business
University of Texas
The Politics of Regulating (Energy) Market Entry
November 19, 2018 Monday
3:45pm - 5:45pmBusiness Law Seminar - Saule Omarova
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Saule Omarova
Cornell
Professor Saule Omarova of Cornell Law School will be the guest speaker in todays Business Law Workshop, hosted by Jens Dammann, Mira Ganor and James Spindler.
IPST Workshop: Paul Gugliuzza, “The Supreme Court at the Bar of Patents”
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Paul Gugliuzza
Associate Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
Over the past two decades, a few dozen lawyers have come to dominate practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. By many accounts, these elite lawyers—whose clients are often among the largest corporations in the world—have spurred the Court to hear more cases that businesses care about and to decide those cases in favor of their clients. The Supreme Court’s recent case law on antitrust, arbitration, punitive damages, class actions, and more provides copious examples.
November 26, 2018 Monday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Drawing Board Luncheon - Lynn Baker
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Lynn A Baker
Frederick M. Baron Chair in Law
University of Texas
Lynn Baker, “Anatomy of Mass Tort Litigant Finance” (coauthor, Ronen Avraham)
November 26, 2018 Monday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)4:00pm - 6:00pm
- Christine Williams
Feminist Approaches to the Regulation of Sex Work: Patterns in Transnational Governance Feminist Law Making
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Hila Shamir
Associate Professor of Law, Tel-Aviv University
Rapoport Center Colloquium: Law and the Production of Inequality - Hila Shamir presents "Feminist Approaches to the Regulation of Sex Work: Patterns in Transnational Governance Feminist Law Making," with a response from Christine Williams
Our public debates are increasingly centered on the question of socio-economic inequality – its increase, its economic and political consequences, its importance to the present and its likely future. Inequality may well be at the root of many of the human rights violations in the world today. Our Fall 2018 speaker series will explore the role of law (including, perhaps, human rights law) in the production of inequality, and the role of law (including, of course, human rights law) in responding to inequality. The Colloquium presents an interdisciplinary group of scholars who focus their investigations on the ways in which various legal regimes create, reinforce, and/or ameliorate patterns of structural inequality, locally and globally.
November 28, 2018 Wednesday
TNH 3.129 (Atlas Seminar Room)3:45pm - 5:30pm
Law and Economic Seminar - Leyla Karakas // Syracuse University
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Leyla Karakas
Professor, Syracuse University
November 28, 2018 Wednesday
JON 6.207 (Susman Academic Center, The Judge William W. and Margaret R. Kilgarlin Chambers (6.207 / 6.208))3:45pm - 5:30pm
LAW & PHILOSOPHY WORKSHOP - JOHN FEREJOHN on "Illiberal Democracy"
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John Ferejohn
Samuel Tilden Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
The Law and Philosophy Seminar Workshop surveys different topics in legal philosophy and constitutional theory. Organized around a series of six workshops, each features a different leading scholar who presents and discusses their own work with both law and philosophy faculty and the students in the seminar.
November 29, 2018 Thursday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
December 1, 2018 Saturday
JON 6.207 (Susman Academic Center, The Judge William W. and Margaret R. Kilgarlin Chambers (6.207 / 6.208))3:45pm - 5:45pm
Business Law Workshop - Kent Greenfield
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Kent Greenfield
Boston College
Professor Kent Greenfield of Boston College Law School will be the guest speaker in today's Business Law Workshop, hosted by Jens Dammann, Mira Ganor and James Spindler.
IPST Workshop: Kristelia Garcia, “Reconceptualizing Copyright’s Term”
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Kristelia Garcia
Associate Professor of Law
The debate over the optimal duration of copyright has occupied legislators, creators, industry leaders, and scholars for decades. The last legislative effort to address copyright’s term—the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, popularly known as the “Sonny Bono Act”—extended the period of protection to life of the author plus 70 years (or, in the case of works made for hire, to 95 years from the date of distribution, or 120 years from the date of creation, whichever comes first). While many copyright owners have cheered this development—which brought the U.S. into harmony with some of its foreign counterparts under the Berne Convention—critics have lamented the potential for waste, inefficiency, and overreach that this extended term brings. Notably, most of the arguments for and against a lengthy copyright term are impressionistic. To date, largely due to lack of data, there has been little robust empirical analysis of copyright’s usefulness over time.
Utilizing music industry sales data not previously available for academic analysis, this Article fills an evidentiary gap in the literature. Using recorded music as a case study, we determine that most copyrighted music earns the majority of its lifetime revenue in the first [5-10 years] following its initial release. We thus establish an important empirical baseline for future policy discussion: in the case of information goods such as music, the societal cost of strong copyright protection beyond the point of commercial viability may outweigh the benefit to both creators and consumers as the marginal return on this protection decreases sharply. This overprotection is socially wasteful and does little to incentivize creation or to improve access to content. The empirical argument against a lengthy term of strong copyright protection may well extend beyond music to other information goods such as books, film, and television.
Our analysis contributes to the normative debate around copyright’s incentive-access paradigm by proposing a more efficient conception of copyright’s term: one that replaces the conventional “life plus” durational standard with one based on the commercial viability of the [average?] work.
Biography: In addition to teaching copyright, trademark, and property, Professor García serves as Director of the Content Initiative at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship, where she hosts an annual content conference. Her research is focused on the intersection of law, technology, and economics, with a particular focus on efficiency, competition, private ordering, and distributive justice. Her work has been published in the California Law Review and the New York University Law Review, among others.
Prior to joining Colorado Law, Professor García was a visiting associate professor and the Frank H. Marks Fellow in Intellectual Property at the George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC. She is also an affiliated fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. As a practicing lawyer, Professor García worked in the music industry in Los Angeles; first at Quinn Emanuel as outside counsel to Napster, then as Director of Business Development in charge of content licensing at MySpace Music, and most recently in digital strategy as Director at Universal Music Group. Prior to her work in music, she was an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New Yor
December 5, 2018 Wednesday
TNH 3.129 (Atlas Seminar Room)3:45pm - 5:30pm
Law and Economic Seminar - Florencia Marotta-Wurgler // NYU
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Florencia Marotta-Wurgler
Professor, NYU
December 5, 2018 Wednesday
JON 6.207 (Susman Academic Center, The Judge William W. and Margaret R. Kilgarlin Chambers (6.207 / 6.208))3:45pm - 5:30pm
LAW & PHILOSOPHY WORKSHOP - JOEY FISHKIN on "Justice in Human Development"
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Joseph R Fishkin
The Marrs McLean Professor in Law
University of Texas
The Law and Philosophy Seminar Workshop surveys different topics in legal philosophy and constitutional theory. Organized around a series of six workshops, each features a different leading scholar who presents and discusses their own work with both law and philosophy faculty and the students in the seminar.
December 6, 2018 Thursday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Faculty Colloquium - Rick Pildes // NYU
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Rick Pildes
Professor, NYU
Political Participation and Polarization
December 10, 2018 Monday
TNH 2.111 (Sheffield-Massey Room)11:30am - 1:00pm
Drawing Board Luncheon - Oren Bracha
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Oren Bracha
William C. Conner Chair in Law
University of Texas
Oren Bracha