Thinkers & Doers: May 2016

FACULTY

Professor Joan Williams and the Center for WorkLife Law’s deputy director Liz Morris have chimed in on the lawsuit recently filed by four women pilots who are suing Frontier Airlines after the company denied them accommodations for pregnancy and breastfeeding.

  • They co-authored a blog for the Huffington Post http://huff.to/1OtckFq
  • “We still have a lot of work to do when it comes to employers making accommodations for nursing mothers,” said Morris, who was extensively quoted in a CBS Moneywatch story about the case. http://cbsn.ws/22bteuI

Professor Williams was separately quoted in a couple of articles about work-life issues.

  • In a NY Times article that explored whether women should explain a childcare gap in their resumes when looking for a job. http://nyti.ms/1suRLhE
  • “Often, in low-income families, the choice is between leaving your kids home alone, or getting fired, becoming homeless and losing your kids,” said Williams in a marketplace.org story about the challenges faced by working parents during summer break. http://bit.ly/210TpDd

‘Tis the season for a deep dive into work-life balance issues. Several outlets recently highlighted reports published by the Center for WorkLife Law.

Google’s legal activity is keeping Professor Ben Depoorter on his toes.

  • Google “will claim that they’re in the business of directing traffic to the sites, not replacing them,” he remarked in a technewsworld.com article discussing Getty Images’ recent filing with the European Commission of a competition law complaint against Google. http://bit.ly/1SPbeDP
  • He also commented on the expected appeal by Oracle of a verdict in favor of Google in a case involving the fair use doctrine.

Professors Hadar Aviram and Rory Little were both quoted in a Recorder story about pending criminal trials against FedEx and PG&E that will test theories of corporate culpability. http://bit.ly/1Zi0DBT

Professor Ahmed Ghappour continues to be a sought-after source on matters involving the dark web.

  • “Using hacking tools on the dark web is ‘like playing Russian Roulette with cross-border cyber operations,’” he said in a recent motherboard.com article about the FBI’s recent child porn hacking operation: http://bit.ly/1YzsBsJ.  He was also quoted in a subsequent story on the site about the case. http://bit.ly/1tahmNN
  • Arstechnica.com quoted Ghappour in an article about a federal judge’s Catch-22 ruling recognizing the right of a child porn suspect to review malware source code while acknowledging the FBI’s right to keep it secret. http://bit.ly/27DI0hN

“Nothing is more bitter than a failed marriage — that is often the context of a trade secrets case. It’s a relationship entered into with hope and optimism that goes sour,” commented Professor Robin Feldman in an LA Times article about a trade secrets lawsuit brought by a tech entrepreneur against a Middle Eastern bank. http://lat.ms/1Wp6wz3

Professor Dorit Rubinstein Reiss continues to receive attention for her work promoting vaccinations.

  • She recently spoke at the California Immunization Coalition Summit in Sacramento, where she gave a presentation on the legal issues surrounding the state’s new vaccination legislation. http://bit.ly/1ZFfs1B
  • She also spoke on a panel entitled “Achieving Childhood Vaccination Success in the U.S.” at the National Meningitis Association’s Annual Gala. http://bit.ly/1WpcvDW
  • She was cited in a Mercury News blog post about a recent lawsuit filed against California’s new vaccination law, SB277. http://bayareane.ws/1qlTCnG

Professor Rory Little penned a couple of analyses for SCOTUSBlog.

  • On the Court’s opinion in Ocasio v. United States, which clarified the reach of federal conspiracy law. http://bit.ly/1WasANJ
  • On the Court’s opinion in Betterman v. Montana, which found that the “speedy trial” guarantee does not extend to sentencing. http://bit.ly/1VFXInF

Professor Marsha Cohen was quoted in a couple of articles about food labeling.

  • “Everyone is always going to have their own conception of what is natural. The most logical position is to say this word is never going to be meaningful enough to not be misleading to people,” she said in a NY Times article about the FDA’s attempt to define the word “natural” on food labels. http://nyti.ms/1qrssvA
  • In an article for Good magazine, she also commented on the Food Date Labeling Act, proposed legislation that would require companies to use clearer “sell by” language on packaging. http://bit.ly/22GVghL

Professor Veena Dubal was quoted in a couple of articles.

  • “All of the laws that were written in the Great Depression era and the civil rights era were written with a particular sort of society in mind. Now everything looks so different,” she remarked in a Guardian story about how civil rights laws, which were enacted decades before today’s sharing economy, inadvertently allow racial discrimination by Airbnb hosts. http://bit.ly/1QYGtGY
  • “It seems like a petulant, childish response: We didn’t get what we want so we’ll do this. But it’s a brilliant business strategy — and really disturbing at the same time,” she commented in a San Francisco Chronicle story article about Uber’s and Lyft’s decision to stop operating in Austin, TX to protest the city’s requirement that their drivers submit to background checks.
  • She was extensively quoted in an LA Times article about her filing of an objection on behalf of drivers in CA and MA to the terms of a proposed settlement in a class action lawsuit about the independent contract vs. employee status of drivers. http://lat.ms/1RUECU6

“There’s nothing like Pinocchio. There’s no clue that everyone gives off when they lie, and there’s no one clue that definitely means they’re lying,” said Professor Clark Freshman during a recent talk in Kansas about detecting lies. His lecture was the subject of a Wichita Eagle article. http://bit.ly/1WA3ZlC

Professor Frank H. Wu recently participated in a Journal of Legal Education symposium in Boston, where he spoke on a panel about the business of legal education.

Professor Jill Bronfman continues to receive attention for her scholarship.

  • She was credited in a study issued by The Netherlands about privacy protection in the Internet of Things.
  • She recently presented her paper on Chinese privacy at the Privacy Law Scholars Conference (PLSC) in Washington DC and will also present it on June 24 at the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) summer institute in Geneva at during the Geneva Internet Law Research Colloquium.
  • She recently spoke to a couple of Daily Journal reporters about the propriety and privacy implications of the government unlocking phones via biometrics, the fair use instructions for the Google/Oracle IP retrial and the linguistics of code as a language.
  • On June 8, she will give a talk entitled “Weathering the Nest: Privacy Implications of Home Monitoring” at the 2016 Privacy Risk Summit in San Francisco. http://bit.ly/1OBToiw
  • A video of a panel Bronfman moderated about new regulatory approaches at the 2015 EU Data Protection conference is available online. http://bit.ly/1WEpNgP

Professor Richard Zitrin recently penned two pieces for The Recorder.

 

Professor Dave Owen has a lot to say about water.

  • He spoke to Circle of Blue about the complexity of drafting regulations to implement California’s 2014 law to better control groundwater use. “Local agencies will have to make tough choices that are politically difficult. There’s the potential for slippage, for plans that aren’t restrictive, with the hope that [the state department of water resources] will let them slip through.” http://bit.ly/1USH9EH
  • He also penned a couple of pieces for the Environmental Law Prof Blog about the Clean Water Act.
    • About the federal Clean Water Rule and its impact on stream protections. http://bit.ly/1YztUaZ
    • About the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent opinion in US Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes, Co. http://bit.ly/22GYFx3

Professor Hadar Aviram recently gave a lecture for the UC Santa Cruz/UC Law SF Social Justice Lecture Series on the U.S. prison system. Her talk was based on her 2015 book, “Cheap on Crime: Recession-Era Politics and the Transformation of Punishment.” http://bit.ly/1TQtM5t

Professor Osagie K. Obasogie’s research on how the blind perceive race was cited as “fascinating” by the Data-Pop Alliance in a recap of a recent conference on the “Color of Surveillance” at Georgetown Law Center. http://bit.ly/23HBZMa

Professor David Levine spoke to KQED radio about a federal lawsuit filed by the family of Kate Steinle who was murdered last year in San Francisco. He also provided commentary for an Associated Press story about a proposed bill that would make Hawaii the first state to require gun owners to be registered in a federal database. The article was picked up by several outlets, including SF Gate and ABC News.

Fairuz Abdullah, associate director of public interest programs and judicial clerkships, recently gave tips to aspiring clerks on a lawschooltoolbox.com podcast. http://bit.ly/23HBe5J. The podcast was recommended by the Girl’s Guide to Law School. http://bit.ly/1TEYGen

“This will not be an on-demand service,” said Sarah Hooper, executive director of the UCSF/UC Law SF Consortium on Law, Science and Health Policy, in an article on gayly.com about California’s new Aid in Dying Act. http://bit.ly/1OhZg5J

Congratulations to Visiting Professor Aaron Belkin, founder and executive director of gay rights organization the Palm Center, who has been inducted into OutServe-SLDN’s Hall of Heroes: http://bit.ly/1rNv5t6. The Palm Center has also been cited, and Belkin has been quoted, in several articles about the push to allow transgender people to serve in the military:

Visiting Professor Peter Keane was quoted in a San Francisco magazine profile about Greg Suhr, San Francisco’s police chief. http://bit.ly/1U7a9YN

Adjunct Professor Lothar Determann penned an article for Bloomberg BNA about the facts and myths of U.S. privacy safe harbor law. http://bit.ly/1Ulcc7C

The UC Law SF community bids a warm farewell to Visiting Professor Tracey Roberts who, over the course of two years, graciously shared her tax law expertise with our students and to audiences in Austin, Seattle, Tempe, Chicago, Australia and Germany. She is on her way to a new visiting professor position in Birmingham, Alabama via Yosemite, Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon. Best of luck, Professor Roberts!

IN MEMORIUM

The UC Law SF community extends its heartfelt condolences to the family of Ellis D. Reiter, Jr. ’63, who died in October 2015. He was a prominent real estate attorney who spent most of his career working for CBRE where he was serving as of counsel at the time of his death.

ALUMNI

Talking to the NY Times magazine about a historic Senate run, directing a notable documentary, making law firm partner, acquiring a winery …here’s what our alumni were up to in May:

 

  • In the run-up to the California primary on June 7, excitement is building for California Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Kamala Harris ’89. She was the subject of several profiles and articles.
  • The San Francisco Chronicle interviewed prominent documentary filmmaker Abby Ginzberg ‘75 about her new movie “Agents of Change,” which examines the 1960s college protest movement. http://bit.ly/23HxSQn
  • In the aftermath of the FX mini-series “American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson,” Christopher Darden ’80 continues to look back on the case, including in an interview with profile in the The Mercury News.
  • UC Law SF’ Board of Trustees member Paula Leibovitz Goodwin ’79 has joined Perkins Coie’s Trust & Estate Planning practice as partner in the firm’s San Francisco office.
  • The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette recently profiled Michael Hunter Schwartz ‘87, who serves as dean of William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas. http://bit.ly/1rXqFAi
  • Jill Ratner ‘97 [JFB1] has been promoted by the Fox Entertainment Network to executive VP of litigation. http://bit.ly/1OfCrdl
  • Susan Feder ’79, a longtime mediator, has joined Judicate West’s roster of neutrals.
  • Ben Peeler ‘03 has been promoted to partner at Eide Bailly LLP, a certified public accounting and business advisory firm. He leads the firm’s IRS Practices & Procedures group and is based in Salt Lake City.
  • Art Macomber ’03, a real estate lawyer based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, is running for election to the state legislature. http://bit.ly/1qdLci7
  • Sigrid Irias ’86, a civil litigator, is seeking a seat on the San Francisco Superior Court. http://bit.ly/1T4TVyN
  • Eduardo Angeles ‘90, who currently works for the Federal Aviation Administration, is in the running to become Dallas’ next city attorney. http://bit.ly/1sdrTrh
  • Adam Arms ’99, who lives in Portland, OR, has taken a new position as General Counsel for the Oregon Education Association.
  • Patrick Pekin ‘03 is a candidate for a superior court judgeship in Mendocino County. http://bit.ly/1r8vncZ
  • Marvell Technology Group has recently appointed Mitchell Gaynor ’84 as Executive VP and Chief Legal Officer. http://prn.to/1O9jkHA
  • Laura Alanis ‘09 recently joined Climb Real Estate as a broker, where she focuses on southern San Francisco neighborhoods. http://bit.ly/1OtdPmS
  • Jackson Family Wines, which is run by Barbara Banke ‘78, was mentioned in a couple of San Francisco Chronicle articles about the winery’s recent purchase of Healdsburg-based Copain Wines (http://bit.ly/1ODye8N) and the trend of large Bay Area food and wine companies acquiring smaller producers (http://bit.ly/1ODye8N).
  • Aimee Parmley ’10 has joined Hawkins Law, PLLC a firm in Eastgate, WA where she will practice employment and business law and general civil litigation. http://bit.ly/23XtRqZ
  • Jared Goldman ’00 has been appointed deputy director and chief counsel at the California Department of Health Care Services. http://bit.ly/22GVZQc
  • Congratulations to Joel Espino ‘14, environmental equity legal counsel for the Greenlining Institute in Berkeley, who has been named to GreenBiz’s 2016 30 Under 30 list. http://bit.ly/25FAK2T