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NDLS Classes Resume Jan. 12, 2009

The University of Notre Dame Law School will be closed Christmas Eve until Jan. 5, 2009, when faculty and staff return. Classes begin Monday, Jan. 12, in the new Eck Hall of Law—a three-story, 85,000-square-foot building that is on the site of the former campus post office. Eck Hall will be composed primarily of a new moot courtroom, classrooms and faculty offices.…

The 32-page document on bioethical issues issued last week by the Vatican reemphasized the Catholic Church’s moral opposition to in-vitro fertilization, human cloning and embryonic stem cell research. p. The document, whose title,“Dignitas Personae,”is Latin for"the dignity of a person,"was issued by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of…

The Law School at the University of Notre Dame and the Family Justice Center of St. Joseph County are partnering to provide help to women seeking protective orders against their abusers. The program is the result of a $200,000 grant awarded by the United States Department of Justice—one of just 15 grants awarded nationwide last year through the Family Justice Center Initiative.…

Notre Dame Professor of Law Paolo Carozza, president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), recently led an IACHR delegation to Jamaica at the invitation of the Jamaican government to observe the human rights situation there. This is the first visit by the IACHR to the English-speaking Caribbean in 15 years.

Julie Marie Baworowsky ’09 won the 2008 William Pew Religious Freedom Scholarship Competition. The $2,500 scholarship is awarded each year to a law student who is concerned about issues of religious freedom and the human rights of people exercising all faiths.

The Center for Civil and Human Rights congratulates Pablo Saavedra Alessandri, a 1996 Notre Dame LLM graduate, who this week was reelected to a second five-year term as Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. According to the Court’s press release, the judges agreed on Saavedra’s reelection base on his outstanding performance during his first term as Executive Secretary, from 2003-2008.

University of Notre Dame Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights Douglass Cassel won the 2008 Elmer Gertz Award from the Human Rights Section of the Illinois State Bar Association. The award is for a civil and human rights lawyer who has exemplified that commitment to civil and human rights shown by famous Chicago lawyer Elmer Gertz.

The Federalist Society’s 2008 National Lawyers Convention will feature two University of Notre Dame Professors of Law, Richard Garnett and William Kelley. They will contribute to discussions about the role of the judiciary in American life, and will join national leaders like Michael Chertoff of Homeland Security, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in the conversation.

Katie Fuehrmeyer, a 2008 Notre Dame Law School alum, won first place in the Tannenwald Writing Competition. The prestigious, national competition is open to all full- or part-time law school students, undergraduate or graduate.

Notre Dame Law School Professor Emeritus Donald Kommers recently completed work on a translation of the Basic Law, Germany’s Constitution. The Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, recognized as one of the world’s great constitutions, entered into force in May 1949. Its 146 articles have been amended over 50 times, most recently in 2006 when numerous provisions governing the financial relationship between the national and regional government were changed.

Notre Dame Professor of Law Joseph Bauer delivered a keynote speech at the Korean Competition Law Association International Symposium in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 6-7. “Competition law” is analogous to America’s antitrust law, which is enacted to support a free market economy by promoting competition and limiting monopolies. The symposium focused on the regulation of the insurance industry, a subject which has recently made its way into headlines around the world.

Beginning Friday, November 21, the Circulation desk will take reservations for laptops that are on reserve.
Reservations will be taken on a first come, first served basis. During the exam period—Friday, December 12 through Friday, December 19—laptops will be available only for Electronic Bluebook exams and there will be no overnight circulation of the laptops. Because of the limited number of loaner laptops available, we request that you do not reserve a laptop as a back up for your personal laptop. We appreciate your cooperation with this request.…

We are accustomed to hearing Theodore Roosevelt being quoted in favor of environmental conservation. We forget that T.R. also served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Chief Justice Roberts invoked that experience yesterday’s Supreme Court case involving the effects of Navy sonar exercises on whales and other marine mammals.

On Friday, Nov. 14, Notre Dame Law School’s Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR) will host the Hon. Juan Guzman, the retired Chilean judge who became internationally famous for being the first judge to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet on human rights charges, and Ambassador Richard Williamson, President Bush’s special envoy to Sudan. Guzman will speak in room 105 of the Law School at 12:10 p.m., and Williamson will speak in room 105 at 2:00 p.m.

Notre Dame Professor of Law Mary Ellen O’Connell serves as a panelist and moderator at a conference at Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas this week (Nov. 13-14). Titled “The Rule of Law and the Global War on Terrorism,” the conference features a distinguished lineup of faculty, practicing attorneys, non-profit leaders, military officers, and journalists.

Three University of Notre Dame Law School graduates were re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the Tuesday, Nov. 4 election.

Notre Dame Professor of Law Paolo Carozza just returned from Washington, D.C., where he presided at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ most recent period of sessions, held Oct. 15-31. The Commission (IACHR) voted unanimously last spring to elect Carozza as its president for 2008-2009.

University of Notre Dame Professor of Law James Seckinger joins some of the world’s top international arbitration practitioners and educators this month for the Foundation for International Arbitration Advocacy (FIAA) Workshop on “Questioning of Expert Witnesses in International Arbitration” in Lausanne, Switzerland.

On Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Hammes Bookstore on campus, Notre Dame Professor of Law Vincent Rougeau will discuss his new book “Christians in the American Empire.” The book was published by Oxford University Press (OUP)—a premier publisher of research and scholarship, and the world’s largest University press. A reception and book signing will follow Rougeau’s lecture.

Professor Carter Snead is in Paris this week serving in his new role as a member of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Culture Organization’s (UNESCO) International Committee on Bioethics (IBC).

O. Carter Snead, associate professor of law in the Notre Dame Law School, will speak at the inaugural meeting of the Neuroethics Society on Nov. 13 and 14 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science headquarters in Washington, D.C. p. The meeting will include a debate on…

Jimmy Gurulé, an internationally known expert in the field of international criminal law—specifically terrorism, terrorist financing, and anti-money laundering—met with top government officials, prosecutors, bank representatives, and police officers in Albania’s capital city, Tirana, to discuss financial investigations and the fight against money laundering.

During fall break, Hallett Movers transferred most of the books in Stacks 1, 2 & 3 to Large Compact Storage (which from now on will be called “Stacks”) on the bottom floor of the law library. They will remain there throughout the library renovation which will begin in January and should be completed by June of 2010.…

University of Notre Dame Professor of Law Rick Garnett was interviewed for a segment of the ABC News program “Faith Matters Now”, which aired on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008.

Jimmy Gurulé, an internationally known expert in the field of international criminal law—specifically terrorism, terrorist financing, and anti-money laundering—will meet with top government officials, prosecutors, bank representatives, and police officers in Albania’s capital city, Tirana, to discuss financial investigations and the fight against money laundering. He is in the Southeastern European country for three days, from Oct. 15-17, at the request of the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT) of the Department of Justice.

The Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) was recently enhanced, thanks largely to a growing LRAP endowment. Now, the LRAP can provide substantially increased benefits to program participants.

THE APPLICATION DEADLINE IS NOVEMBER 1. Please click on the link below for program details and to apply.

http://law.nd.edu/admissions-and-financial-aid/financing-your-legal-education/loan-repayment-assistance-program-lrap…

Check out the website below to see the results of the 2008 Summer Research Experience Survey recently completed by our 2L’s and 3L’s.

Notre Dame Law School Professor G. Robert Blakey, author of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), is prominently featured in a “Fortune” magazine article for his role in a multi-billion dollar lawsuit filed by the Russian Customs Service against the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. Blakey has been retained as an expert for Russia on civil RICO. The case is being tried in a Moscow commercial court.

Notre Dame Law School Professor Carter Snead spoke to an audience of federal and state judges at Rice University on Monday, Oct. 6, about how cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging evidence have entered the courtroom and impacted verdicts and sentencing.

Notre Dame Professor of Law Mary Ellen O’Connell will discuss her new book, THE POWER AND PURPOSE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW (Oxford University Press, August 2008), on Wednesday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. in the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore.