Christopher Edley and Stephen Rosenbaum Discuss Academic Freedom, Professional Conduct

The Daily Californian, April 28, 2009 by Zach E.J. Williams
http://www.dailycal.org/printable.php?id=105468

“Given his long history of very good teaching and his prolific but controversial scholarshipֽ I can’t imagine dismissal unless and until there is a criminal conviction and direct appeals are exhaustedֽ” Edley said in an e-mail.

“Members of the UC academic community have an obligation to speak outֽ” Rosenbaum said. “Academic freedom and due process are principles that must be respectedֽ (but) they do not trump moral outrage.”

Erin Murphy Explains Limitations of Forensic Evidence in Huckaby Case

Contra Costa Times, April 24, 2009 by Marcus Wohlsen
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_12216791?source=rss

“Internal trauma can be telling, especially in a girl this ageֽ because we can make the inference she has not had any recent sexual experience, at least not consensualֽ” said Erin Murphyֽ a criminal law professor at the University of Californiaֽ Berkeley School of Law. At the same timeֽ genital injuries in children can occur during normal childhood activities such as running and jumpingֽ Murphy said.

Carolyn Patty Blum Calls for Investigation of U.S. Policies that Led to Torture

The Washington Independent, April 23, 2009 by Daphne Eviatar
http://washingtonindependent.com/40163/pressure-mounts-for-enhanced-interrogation-prosecutions

“There’s still a lot we don’t know, about how this all took place, how this went up and down the chain of command,” said Blum. “Based on what we know now, it would indicate that the Department of Justice would be derelict in its duties to not follow the evidence where it might lead and initiate some sort of criminal investigation. Both of those who perpetrated it and those who ordered it — the relationship between the lawyers who were assisting part of a criminal conspiracy. Because that’s what we’re talking about here. A criminal conspiracy to violate the U.S. law against torture.”

Robert Cole and Eric Rakowski Discuss Tenets of Faculty Code of Conduct

The Daily Californian, April 22, 2009 by Alexandra Wilcox
http://www.dailycal.org/printable.php?id=105371

“These news stories underline what has long been the case—that the university has some obligations to conduct a thorough professional analysis on how its code of conduct applies to off-campus conduct by a faculty member at a professional schoolֽ” said Robert H. Cole.

Rakowski said pursuing disciplinary action for professors’ off-campus conduct is extremely rare. “It’s a real stretch,” he said. “It’s going to be a difficult question whether the faculty code of conduct applies to this, if the accusations are true.”

John Yoo Defends His Legal Counsel

Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2009 by Carol J. Williams
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bybee22-2009apr22,0,2274085.story

“Three thousand of our fellow citizens had been killed in a deliberate attack by a foreign enemyֽ” Yooֽ unruffled by shouts that he is a war criminal and should be in jailֽ told a packed auditorium on the Orange County campus. “That forced us in the government to have to consider measures to gain information using presidential constitutional provisions to protect the country from further attack.”

Mary Ann Mason Calls for Tenure Reform

The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 22, 2009 by Mary Ann Mason
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2009/04/2009042201c.htm

Certainly the timing of tenure is terrible for women. Today, the average age at which women can expect to receive a Ph.D. is 34. That puts the five to seven years of racing the tenure clock squarely at the end of the normal reproductive cycle. Those are the “make or break” years for female academicsֽ in terms of both career and childbearingֽ not to mention the demands of raising young children. Difficult choices must be made.

Edward Tom Says Brown University’s ″New Curriculum″ Doesn’t Hurt Law School Applicants

The Brown Daily Herald, April 20, 2009 by Nicole Friedman
http://www.browndailyherald.com/your-brown-transcript-off-college-hill-1.1722969

Brown students have “never been hurt” by the curriculum in applying to the University of California at Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Lawֽ said Edward Tomֽ its dean of admissions. He added that Brown has a strong reputation as one of the law school’s top feeder colleges

David Caron Explains the Complexities of Piracy Law

The National, April 18, 2009 by Steven Stanek
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090419/FOREIGN/752708574/1014

“There is plenty of authority all around to go after piratesֽ” said David Caronֽ a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley and the incoming president of the American Society of International Law. “The problem has been really what to do when you catch them.”… The story has generated such a reaction in the US media that Prof Caron said the prospect of leaving the case in Kenyan courts would be viewed as “politically unacceptable”.

Pamela Samuelson Raises Antitrust Concerns over Google Book Search Settlement

-O’Reilly “Radar” blog, April 17, 2009 by Pamela Samuelson
http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/04/legally-speaking-the-dead-soul.html

The Book Search agreement is not really a settlement of a dispute over whether scanning books to index them is fair use. It is a major restructuring of the book industry’s future without meaningful government oversight. The market for digitized orphan books could be competitiveֽ but will not be if this settlement is approved as is.

-The New York Times “Bits” blog, April 17, 2009 by Miguel Helft
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/opposition-to-google-books-settlement/?scp=6&sq=university%20california&st=cse

Ms. Samuelson also points out that many authors of orphan works may want to grant far greater access to their own books that would be allowed by the settlement. “If asked, the authors of orphan books in major research libraries might well prefer for their books to be available under Creative Commons licenses or put in the public domain so that fellow researchers could have greater access to themֽ” Ms. Samuelson wrote.

-The Recorder, April 20, 2009 by Zusha Elinson
http://www.law.com (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

Pamela Samuelson said the issue of orphaned works should be handled by legislators, not a settlement in a class action. “Usually if you want a compulsory license you have to go to Congress,” she said. Samuelson said she favors a scenario in which the Internet Archive and other digital librariesֽ not just Google, would get a license to scan the books and make them available online.

-San Jose Mercury News, April 28, 2009 by Elise Ackerman
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12248048?source=rss
“It is clear to us that the settlementֽ if approvedֽ will shape the future of readingֽ researchֽ writing and publication practices for decades to comeֽ” Professor Pamela Samuelson of the University of California-Berkeley School of Law wrote in an April 27 letter to the judge.