What you need to know if you’re an academic

Mary Ann Mason writes for The New York Times, July 8, 2013

For men, having children is a career advantage, and for women it is a career killer. And women who do advance through the faculty ranks do so at a high price. They are far less likely to be married with children. Among tenured faculty 70 percent of men are married with children compared with 44 percent of the women. Academia is difficult for mothers because of the rigid lockstep career track that puts the greatest pressure on aspirants in their 30s and 40s.

Fracking in California’s oil frontier

Michael Kiparsky quoted in The Sacramento Bee, July 7, 2013

“There is tremendous (scientific) uncertainty,” said Michael Kiparsky … co-author of a recent report that found gaping holes in California’s regulation of fracking. “California has historically been a leader in the governance of environmental issues” –but not fracking, Kiparsky said. “There is the opportunity to learn from other states … and try not to repeat their learning experiences.”

Crime makes halting comeback as a political issue, even as conservatives embrace softer stance

Franklin Zimring quoted in Associated Press, July 6, 2013

Frank Zimring, a University of California-Berkeley law professor who has written widely on crime and politics, noted that crime rates appear to have leveled out after a two-decade decline. He called the recent GOP efforts “the test run as to whether there could be a resurgence in hard-right, punitive” crime politics. In California, the Republican Party has no statewide office-holders and less than one-third of the seats in the state legislature. In those circumstances, Zimring said, “you consult your greatest hits playbook from previous eras.”

Free to marry—but ruling’s basis raises worries

Amanda Tyler and Daniel Farber quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, July 5, 2013 (registration required)

“It was born of a concern about federal courts overreaching beyond the power given to them,” said Amanda Tyler, a UC Berkeley constitutional law professor. The courts, she said, are often reluctant to “interfere with the workings of the executive or legislative branch.”

The ruling hasn’t eliminated environmental suits but has made them harder to sustain. Courts have insisted that plaintiffs show they are suffering a definable harm that would be cured by a favorable ruling, said Daniel Farber…. “You have to have an injury that was caused by the (government), and the court has to be able to help you,” he said.

To the mat: parents to appeal ruling allowing yoga in public schools

Jesse Choper and Stephen Sugarman quoted in The Christian Science Monitor, July 3, 2013

“Just because the Ten Commandments condemn murder and theft doesn’t make laws prohibiting murder a violation of church and state,” says Jesse Choper, a constitutional scholar at the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. “McGowan v. Maryland saved a lot of other religious-looking laws.”

The San Diego case is not the first time a court has rejected a legal claim that teaching yoga in the public schools violates the First Amendment prohibition of the establishment of religion by government, says UC Berkeley law professor Stephen Sugarman…. What is termed yoga can be delivered as a form of healthful exercise and breathing, in effect, as part of the physical education program, he says. “That is what the judge decided here.”

Scholar joins scrum on claims construction standard

Peter Menell cited in The Recorder, July 2, 2013

Cybor, Menell wrote in Monday’s filing, has “undermined the transparency of the claim construction process” and “produced alarming levels of appellate reversals.” Rather than fostering predictability, the Cybor dynamic has “discouraged settlements following claim construction and trial, delayed resolution of patent disputes, and run up the overall costs of patent litigation.”

An Athens story: from sharecropping to the US Supreme Court

Fred Smith quoted in Athens Banner-Herald, June 30, 2013

“It’s important work so I’m willing to do whatever I’m asked,” Fred Smith, Jr. said. “My understanding is that at the Supreme Court level it is very demanding work because the justices expect their clerks to be hard workers, and our job is to do our best to make sure the justices’ views on the law are reflected.”

Linos book symposium: response to Eric Posner and Ryan Goodman

Katerina Linos writes for Opinio Juris, June 26, 2013

Ryan Goodman’s work has changed the way we think about human rights, the law of war, and interdisciplinary scholarship in international law more generally. Goodman’s path-breaking article “How to Influence States: Socialization and International Human Rights Law” has lead many international lawyers to focus not only on only political science and economics, but also on sociology. It inspired me to write this book.

NSA surveillance reflects a broader interpretation of the Patriot Act

Deirdre Mulligan quoted in MIT Technology Review, June 7, 2013

Deirdre Mulligan … is also worried, and she’s not the only one. She attended the Privacy Law Scholars Conference at UC Berkeley on Friday and says the feeling was “morose.” “I think this revelation makes clear there was a cost to not having a more detailed conversation and public decision about the balances between democracy and policing,” she says.

Putting the world to rights: best practice or box ticking?

Kenneth Bamberger quoted in DataIQ, Summer 2013 (registration required)

“It seemed to me and my colleagues that what hamstrings privacy discussions was ignorance about what really happens on the ground. Most research has focused on what is on the books, like the various statutes and regulations in the US and the Directive in the EU,” he says. This has created a contrast between the advice provided by law firms advising corporations and the way chief privacy officers, such as the members of IAPP, actually practice. “We began to interview those CPOs as a means of seeing what is going on and how they enact privacy,” said Bamberger.