For the Record: Awards for International Legal Education, Environmental Leadership, Philanthropy and Expert Insight on Shrinkflation, Trump Indictments, ChatGPT and More
Catch up on recent University of Arizona Law faculty accomplishments.
News
Lett Recognized with Global Skills Award
Professor Sylvia Lett was recognized with the Global Legal Skills Award for her significant contributions to global legal skills education during the 15th Global Legal Skills Conference. The conference focused on international legal education and essential skills, including legal writing, legal research, legal reasoning, legal English, translations and advocacy skills. The Global Legal Skills Conference took place from July 30 to Aug. 1 in Nottingham, England.
During the conference, Lett also presented on, “The ABA’s Cultural Competency Standard and the Foreign-Trained Lawyer,” alongside Megan Davis from the University of Houston Law Center.
Sundareshan Recognized as Rising Environmental Leader
During the National Conference of Environmental Legislators National Forum in August, Priya Sundareshan (’11), Arizona State Senator and director of the University of Arizona Law Natural Resource Use and Management Clinic, was honored with the organization's Rising Environmental Leader Award.
In her role as a state legislator, Sundareshan also serves on the Assured Water Supply Committee of the Governor's Water Policy Council and the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority. The Council was established by executive order in January 2023 to modernize the Arizona Groundwater Management Act. She is one of four legislators who serve on the council, along with tribal representatives and members appointed by the governor.
Woods Article Named in Top Intellectual Property Law Review Articles
Professor of Practice Robert Woods and Derek Bambauer, Irving Cypen Professor of Law at University of Florida Law, co-authored article “Tea and Donuts” (107 Minn.L.Rev. 1875) was named one of the best law review articles on intellectual property in the last year by Karen B. Tripp, editor of the Intellectual Property Law Review. The article will be included in an upcoming edition of the journal .
Clairmont and Silverman Honored During the State Bar of Arizona Annual Convention
This summer, during the Arizona Bar Foundation luncheon, Kristy Clairmont (’15), the program coordinator for the Legal Paraprofessional Program, was recognized as one of the top 50 pro bono attorneys in the state.
Professor Emeritus Andy Silverman (’69) received the Arizona Bar Foundation’s John J. Bouma Philanthropy Award, which is awarded for demonstrating an understanding of the importance and commitment to raising support for justice in Arizona.
Desai Latest Case, Panels and Speaking Events
Associate Professor Shefali Milczarek-Desai recently served as co-counsel in Molina v. Dempsey’s Adult Care Homes LLC, et al., 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 9587 (9th Cir. 2023), upholding an im/migrant worker's rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Arizona’s minimum wage and paid sick time laws.
This was a Workers' Rights Clinic case in which Desai and her students represented an im/migrant woman nursing home aide who had been subjected to wage theft for over a decade by her former employer. After negotiations with the employer were unsuccessful, the Clinic filed a federal lawsuit in Tucson District Court for violations of overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and minimum wage and paid sick leave under Arizona's Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act. The clinic prevailed in the District Court, but the employer appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. After a full briefing by the parties and setting oral argument, a unanimous three-judge panel ruled in favor of the Clinic's client in an opinion that unequivocally adopted the Clinic's positions on each and every legal issue raised in the appeal.
In April, Desai was an invited panelist at American Constitution Society State Attorneys Generals Project and Harvard Center for Labor and a Just Economy. She was a panelist in Migrant Child Labor: Investigating and Enforcing State and Federal Legal Requirements, where she discussed the recent discovery that thousands of migrant children are working in key American industries in violation of child labor laws. Desai spoke about the many challenges that face im/migrant workers, including minors, in the workplace and offered tools for supporting im/migrant workers in combatting violations of their employment and labor rights.
Additionally in April, Desai was a speaker at Reinventing the Canon: Great Torts Cases of the 21st Century. She presented a paper titled, "Disentangling Immigration Policy from Tort Claims for Future Lost Wages," which is forthcoming in the Journal of Tort Law in Fall 2023. The paper argues that immigration status should not be considered in tort cases where an im/migrant individual has been injured and seeks an award of damages for future lost wages. Allowing immigration status evidence to affect damages awards in this way contravenes tort laws' compensatory and deterrent functions while allowing tortfeasors to benefit from the current, inflammatory rhetoric surrounding im/migrants and immigration.
She was a panelist at Wisconsin International Law Journal’s Immigration and Access to Legal Resources for Migrants and Refugees discussion in April. Desai discussed a forthcoming paper in the Wisconsin International Law Journal arguing for the need of "radical hope" alternatives for low-wage, im/migrant workers who face seemingly insurmountable challenges to accessing their workers' rights under state and federal employment and labor laws. One such alternative analyzed in the paper is a case study of a group of im/migrant workers in Arizona who are forming worker-owned, cooperative, business entities as a way to avoid wage theft and own their own labor.
Also in April, Desai was an invited panelist at the American Constitution Society Student Convention where she spoke on a panel to students from around the country about the Workers' Rights Clinic, the value of clinical education, the need for more robust workers' rights enforcement, and the plight of low-wage, im/migrant workers who labor in America's essential and frontline industries.
Media
It may have just gotten harder to protect minority communities from pollution
Pennsylvania Capital
Aug. 29, 2023
In the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Affirmative Action in college admissions policies, legal experts fear more lawsuits challenging other race-conscious policies, including many state-level efforts to address environmental justice. Those legal battles could stall investments to help polluted communities. Regents Professor of Law and Dean Emerita Toni Massaro weighs in.
Do Antitrust Enforcers Know They Induce Shrinkflation?
ProMarket
Aug. 18, 2023
Professor Barak Orbach argues that competition typically drives shrinkflation.
Is a Donald Trump indictment likely in Arizona?
KGUN 9
Aug. 16, 2023
With former president Donald Trump now facing is fourth indictment this year, could a similar case of election meddling be made here in Arizona? Professor Chris Griffin weighs in.
Arizona mentioned five times in Georgia indictment
KVOA 4
Aug. 16, 2023
Professor Chris Griffin discusses the latest indictment handed down by Fulton County against former President Donald Trump
Expanding Our Vision of Immigrants’ Rights and Workers’ Rights
Radio Cachimbona
Aug. 14, 2023
Professor Shefali Milczarek-Desai discusses two of her recent/upcoming papers about the intersection of immigrants' rights and workers' rights.
Chat GPT Makes A Better Therapist Than A Lawyer
TaxProf Blog
Aug. 12, 2021
Diana Simon argues that Chat GPT (and generative AI in general) makes a better therapist than a lawyer, in latest article for Tax Prof Blog.
'We Still Need Lawyer Intelligence' In Age Of AI, Law Prof Says
Law360
Aug. 11, 2023
A review of Professor Diana Simon’s article for the Arizona Legal Studies Research Paper Series where she questions the use of the generative AI chatbot in the legal field, and what she's learned about the tool.
Investigators identify Minnesota trooper who killed Black driver, activists call for charges
USA Today
Aug. 4, 2023
Minnesota officials on Thursday identified the state trooper who shot and killed a 33-year-old Black man during a traffic stop. Professor Jordan Blair Woods research on traffic stops is cited.
Coan and Schwartz on Interpreting Ratification @uarizonalaw @WisconsinLaw
Law & Humanities Blog
Aug. 4, 2023
Law and Humanities blogposts abstract from Professor Andrew Coan’s latest published article Interpreting Ratification.
Judicatura recibió visita de bibliotecarios asistentes al Seminario Latinoaméricano de Teoría Constitucional y Política (SELA)
Consejo Superior de la Judicatura
June 8, 2023
Director of the Law Library Teresa Miguel-Stearns' visit to the Colombia Courts.