Faculty in the News

Professor Sheila Reynolds was selected as the recipient of the 2008 Robert L. Gernon Award. Established in 2005 and presented annually by the Kansas Continuing Legal Education Commission, the Robert L. Gernon Award for Outstanding Service to Continuing Legal Education in Kansas recognizes those individuals or organizations that have demonstrated a unique commitment to legal education for lawyers in Kansas and have provided outstanding service to continuing legal education.

Commenting to the Topeka Capital-Journal in a June 17, 2008 story about a civil lawsuit brought against University of Kansas basketball player Sheron Collins, Professor Michael Kaye says that a judge's decision to start over with the case and give Collins a second chance to offer a defense indicates the judge is "looking out for a fair result." Collins failed to file a written response within 20 days to a summons and petition served to him on May 14, 2008. Though Collins has never been charged with a crime as a result of an alleged May 2007 incident at the Jayhawker Towers, the plaintiff filed the civil suit because the statute of limitations was set to expire.

In the June 13, 2008 National Public Radio report "The End of Guantanamo as We Know It" by Nina Totenberg, discussing the ramifications of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Boumediene v. Bush holding that detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have the right to seek their release in federal court, Dean Thomas Romig asserts that the Uniform Code of Military Justice can provide a framework for trying enemy combatants held at Guantanamo. Other commentators question whether the Uniform Code can be used because of the demands of classified information and collecting evidence on the battlefield. Dean Romig observes "it is a bit of a red herring because a military courts martial had a process for dealing with classified information and there had been a number of trials in the past where there was classified information provided as evidence and the court dealt with it." During the report Dean Romig also commented another problem that may arise during detainee trials is the evidence to be used was obtained as the result of physical or mental coercion; none of this evidence can be used under the military code. (Note: Dean Romig's comments begin about 6:19 minutes into the report.)

Dean Kelly Lynn Anders' article 'Fight at the Museum' is featured on the front page of National Law Journal's special Intellectual Property section in the May 12, 2008 issue. The Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) became part of the Copyright Code in 1990, but its applications remain contested and uncertain. Based, in part, on European “moral rights” attached to artists and the art they produce, VARA is too often unclear in how it defines these rights or the works of art that it was designed to protect. One of the greatest uncertainties is whether the statute offers protection for works-in-progress. Last year, a case was decided in Massachusetts that said that it did not, which remains controversial. This article provides an overview of how VARA has been applied to unfinished works, along with commentary about the potential effects of this decision on the relationships between museums and artists.

Dean Romig is quoted in an April 1, 2008 front page Washington Post article about a Justice Department memo that examines the military interrogation of alien unlawful combatants held outside the United States. The March 14, 2003 document reviews both domestic and international law that might be applicable to the conduct of those interrogations. The Washington Post article observes that the memo asserts "federal laws prohibiting assault, maiming and other crimes did not apply to military interrogators who questioned al-Qaeda captives because the president's ultimate authority as commander in chief overrode such statutes." Justice Department officials told the Defense Department to stop relying on the memo nine months after it was issued. After reviewing the memo, Dean Romig said "it appears to argue there are no rules in a time of war," a concept he finds "downright offensive."

Professor Nancy Maxwell's comments about student use of laptops in the classroom were featured in the March 2008 National Jurist article 'Adopting a no-laptop policy' (p. 22). When Professor Maxwell banned laptops in her classroom in the fall of 2005 she knew her students might react with confusion or anger. Though she does use other forms of technology in her Criminal Law classes, Professor Maxwell banned laptops in part because she felt disconnected from her students. In addition, data shows that students who took Professor Maxwell's course in a laptop environment had lower test scores on the same multiple choice questions on the final exam than did students who answered those questions after learning in a laptop-free environment. Professor Maxwell observes that "My joy of teaching has returned (and) my teacher evaluations have remained high. A no-laptop policy has not harmed my students." Professor Maxwell's article, "From Facebook to Folsom Prison Blues," is also highlighted in an April 2008 article in Student Lawyer titled "Multitasking Helpful or Harmful?" (vol. 36, no. 8) (see link below).

Professor Ali Khan was interviewed as part of a roundtable discussion on the Constitutional Crisis in Pakistan and U.S.-Pakistan Relations with Radio Aap ki Dunyaa and Voice of America (VOA) News on March 21, 2008. In the interview, Professor Khan argued that if Perved Musharraf does not willing leave the office of the President, Pakistan might land into another constitutional crisis. If the newly-elected Parliament used a two-thirds majority to overule the constitutional amendments that Musharraf made during emergency, the procedure would legitimize the intial constitutionality of the amendments. If the Parliament declared the amendments unlawful through a simple majority vote, the pro-Musharraf Supreme Court might rule that a simple law cannot amend the constitution. To resolve this constitutional dilemma, Professor Khan strongly urged that Musharraf resign and the pre-emergency Supreme Court be restored. (Note: the roundtable discussion is in Urdu and begins approximately 11:40 minutes into the broadcast; it lasts about 33:20 minutes.)

Professor Jim Wadley talked with WIBW-TV about a woman who is being threatened with a lawsuit by the Embroidery Software Protection Coalition. The Coalition claims she illegally bought pirated software through eBay. The woman claims whe did not know she was purchasing pirated software. Professor Wadley commented that shrinkwrap laws way computer programs are owned by the original purchaser, but the disk is still owned by the company. Thus, reselling a disk is not allowed. Professor Wadley indicated that the company would likely end up spending more to sue than they would recover and this will affect the company's strategy.

Professor Ali Khan's comments about Pakistani military rulers and the constitution are included in the recent Council on Foreign Relations Pakistan's Constitution Backgrounder written by Jayshree Bajoria. In the article, Professor Khan says the military rulers give themselves immunity through the constitutional amendments so that they can't be tried for proclaiming emergency or for any of their other actions. In addition, they also say these amendments can't be challenged in a court of law.

Professor Linda Elrod testified against House Bill 2621 on Tuesday, March 4, 2008, before the Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee. In her testimony Professor Elrod observed that the proposed legislation relating to military deployment, mobilization or temporary duty does not consider the best interests of the child. In addition, others besides soldiers, e.g., civilian contractors, may also have custody agreements that are disrupted by assignments.

Professor Ali Khan, in an interview by Ismail Salami for Press TV, discusses whether the results of the recent elections in Pakistan is it a good sign for the country, the prospects for democracy, the future of Pervez Musharraf, and best course for the people of Pakistan.

Professor Ali Khan was interviewed by Gail Davidson and Charles Boyland from CFRO Co-operative Radio in Vancouver, British Columbia, about NATO on February 13, 2008. In this 58-minute interview, Professor Khan examines international law against genocide and raises the question whether the NATO policy of killing the Taliban in Afghanistan is tantamount to genocide. Professor Khan also discusses the role of lawyers in safeguarding fundamental rights without fear or favor.

Dean Romig is quoted in a January 10, 2008 New York Times front page article that explores questions raised by an incident in 2005 where the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide released canisters of CS gas on U.S. Army Soldiers and Iraqi civilians at the Assassins' Gate checkpoint in Iraq. Riot control agents are not used by the United States military in Iraq. If such agents were to be used they would require the approval of the military's most senior commanders. Dean Romig noted that "You never had a soldier with the authority to do it [use an agent] on his own." Dean Romig also provided background information used in the story.

The Bush administration has proposed a regulation requiring "coordination" with politically appointed Pentagon lawyers before any member of the Judge Advocate General corps can be promoted. In the Boston Globe, Dean Thomas Romig calls the proposal an attempt "to control the military JAGs" by sending a message that if they want to be promoted, they should be "team players" who "bow to their political masters on legal advice." This regulation "would certainly have a chilling effect on the JAGs' advice to commanders. The implication is clear: without [the administration's] approval the officer will not be promoted." In a December 19, 2007 follow-up article, the Boston Globe reported that the plan to take control over the promotions of military lawyers was dropped following an outpouring of alarm over the independence of uniformed attorneys. In this follow-up Dean Romig observed that the proposal made sense only as an effort to silence dissent by members of the JAG corps. He questioned "Why would they need to have civilian involvement in selecting JAGs, but not infantry officers or pilots or all those other equally important jobs? Clearly the reason is that they want to control the legal advice that JAGs give. This was an attempt to politicize the advice of the JAG attorneys and to ensure that it is consistent with what the political appointees say."

Professor Bill Rich spoke with the Topeka Capital-Journal about the 'bar and ban' list being developed by Topeka police and landlords. The voluntary program is designed to reduce criminal activity at rental properties by providing a mechanism for landlords to identify individuals previously banned from a complex due to such activity. Professor Rich noted that use of police power by the city to restrict access to rental property without due process of law may violate 14th Amendment rights. Private citizens operating such a list would not violate citizens' rights.

Professor Ali Khan spoke with National Public Radio for their story "What Martial Law Means for Pakistani Families." He talks about his family, all of whom still live in Pakistan. Khan observes that the emergency has not yet reached the ordinary people and that so far protests are confined to the intellectuals. He is surprised that the population has not become involved in the protests and suggests that they are skeptical of the alternative leadership and do not know who to follow. (Professor Khan's comments begin approximately 8 minutes into the story and last for about 4 minutes.)

Dean Thomas Romig, Major General (Ret.), and Dean Donald J. Guter, Rear Admiral (Ret.), argue in a Washington Post letter to the editor that waterboarding is not a political issue; it is inhumane, it is torture, and it is illegal. Suggesting otherwise does a terrible disservice to the nation and those who fight to preserve it.

Professor Ali Khan calls upon lawyers around the world to show solidarity with the lawyers in Pakistan. The lawyers of Pakistan are putting their lives on the line because the basic rights of the people of Pakistan have been suspended. The constitutional right that no person shall be deprived of life or liberty save in accordance with law has been suspended. This suspension means that the government can imprison or kill anyone in Pakistan with no protection of law.

Professor Michael Kaye, talking to the Topeka Capital-Journal about the verdict in Baltimore, Maryland against the Westboro Baptist Church, notes courts have consistently held that citizens have an absolute right to a belief. However, there is a difference between expression of belief and conduct.

Professor Bill Rich, speaking with WIBW-TV, says awarding damages because of behavior involving public protest activity will have a chilling effect on this activity. He questions whether invasion of privacy has occurred if picketers are on public property. The outcome of appeals may hinge on whether the church is targeting individuals and causing distress or engaging in public protest activities.

Professor Michael Kaye attended closing arguments in the case of Lisa Montgomery, who was convicted October 22, 2007 of murdering Victoria Jo Stinnett and kidnapping an infant from Stinnett's womb. The short time it took the jury to return its guilty verdict indicates that jury members were not divided and that Montgomery's insanity defense was not persuasive.

Professor Ali Khan was interviewed by Voice of America for their October 11, 2007 story about the Pakistan presidential election where General Pervez Musharraf received the most votes. If the Pakistan Supreme Court rules General Musharraf's candidacy illegal, Professor Khan believes a new presidential election would need to be held.

Professor Michael Schwartz shares his views about the utility of the Socratic Method in the October 2007 Student Lawyer article 'Beyond the Socratic Method.' In his remarks Schwartz compares Baby Boomer 'just in case' learning with Millennial/Generation Y 'just in time' learning. He also talks about use of technology in the classroom to assist learning.

Michael Kaye comments for the Kansas City Star on the use of grand juries Kansas at the county level. Professor Kaye's comments were also distributed on the Associated Press newswire and appeared in several Kansas newspapers.

Professor Sheila Reynolds was recently recognized with a Pro Bono Award by the Kansas Bar Association for her legal representation of indigent persons without charge. For many years, Professor Reynolds has volunteered through Kansas Legal Services to represent clients pro bono, generally representing one to two clients a year. Last year, she represented a client in a contested and emotional divorce action with several difficult issues, spending more than 50 hours before the case was completed. Washburn University School of Law congratulates Professor Reynolds for her commitment to our community and to those who otherwise would not have access to legal representation.

from Kansas.com The Wichita Eagle by Mark McCormick Respect for life missing in a video of death As difficult as it may be to understand how people could continue shopping while LaShanda Calloway lay dying in front of them, what should happen to those callous customers yields even fewer answers. What obligation, if any, does a bystander have to someone in a life-or-death struggle? Are there criminal repercussions for the bystander who does nothing? If not criminal consequences, can relatives of the victim sue in civil court? Assistant District Attorney Kim Parker said Kansas doesn't have a Good Samaritan law that punishes citizens for failing to render aid. "I have had the facts reviewed with me, and based on what I have been told, I don't know where we could go with it criminally," Parker said Tuesday. This question arises in the wake of the disturbing scene at the Noori Convenience store June 23. Police say no fewer than five customers stepped over a bleeding Calloway as they completed purchases. One woman, they said, took out a cell phone camera and photographed Calloway. Police said the surveillance tape, which they have declined to copy for The Eagle or allow me to view, shows an approximate delay of two minutes before someone called 911. The video showed the 27-year-old Calloway struggling to her feet and collapsing three times without anyone helping her, police said. She eventually died from her wounds. "She laid on the floor while people continued to do their shopping," Police Chief Norman Williams told me Monday. "They're taking photographs. That's our frustration. They didn't call immediately. If people would have been calling us, who knows what the outcome might have been." The department was inundated Tuesday with calls from media outlets, including ABC's "Good Morning America" and NBC's "The Today Show," but won't grant further interviews on the case, police spokesman Gordon Bassham said. "We want to maintain the integrity of the prosecution's case" against the people accused of stabbing Calloway, he said. Still, questions remain unanswered: This behavior certainly qualifies as disgusting, but is it legally punishable? Should it be? Bill Rich, a constitutional law professor at Washburn University Law School, said the question of the legal obligation to render aid has a fairly long history, and that history says there is no obligation. "If someone did have a claim," Rich said, "it would be in a tort, or civil context, rather than in criminal law." Police said people in the surveillance footage seemed coldly indifferent. Was this indifference about the "Stop Snitching" campaign, an effort that urges people in some urban communities not to help police? Did some of the patrons want to avoid police contact? Could this be plain old fear? One reader e-mailed to say that with gang members shooting not only each other but innocent people, why should anyone feel obligated to get involved in a situation such as Calloway's? "I, for one, would not," the reader said. "I prefer to walk away than to be lying next to them when the coroner gets there." Fair enough. But I don't think most of us -- frightened or not -- could simply continue shopping while someone's life spilled out of them. Nor could we stand over them snapping pictures. I have no idea what will happen to the people who stepped over Calloway. But I do have a good idea for people who cross the line this way: They ought to be getting their own pictures taken at the police station. Reach Mark McCormick at 316-268-6549 or mmccormick@wichitaeagle.com.

Supreme Court ruling creates questions for Topeka's schools by Associated Press Jul 3, 2007, 16:47 TOPEKA Kan. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision could force the public school system here to modify the policies it has used for a decade to keep individual schools racially balanced, attorneys say. Since the 1990s, the Topeka district has permitted students to transfer from their neighborhood schools to others when it helps improve racial diversity. It also built three elementary "magnet" schools to attract students from across the city. The transfer policy and the magnet schools were part of the district's plan for countering housing patterns that had left neighborhood schools too segregated. The plan was a response to parents reopening the Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court's historic 1954 decision declaring segregated schools unconstitutional. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that public schools can't use race as a factor in deciding where students will attend classes. At issue were desegregation plans in Seattle and Louisville, Ky. "It looks like you're not allowed to do that anymore," Carl Gallagher, a Kansas City, Kan., attorney who represented the state during the later Brown litigation, said of the Topeka district's policy. Bill Rich, a Washburn University law professor who advised parents in the reopened Brown case, agreed. "The board of education will no longer be able to use race as a deciding factor for whether a student can transfer to another school," Rich told The Topeka Capital-Journal. "It will be more difficult to prevent resegregation." Joe Zima, the Topeka school board's attorney, said he's still reviewing the Supreme Court's opinion. He said Topeka's system for assigning students focuses more on testing, while Seattle and Louisville had a "blanket" policy based on race. And Rich said the Supreme Court decision left open the possibility of other measures, such as economic status, for improving diversity. The original Brown lawsuit was in 1951, taking its name from Linda Brown, whose father tried to enroll her in an all-white school nearest her home but couldn't. Other black parents also tried to enroll their children in white schools as part of an effort by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to challenge the segregation in elementary schools. In 1979, 25 years after the Brown ruling, parents reopened the case. While the district argued that racial imbalances in individual schools resulted from housing patterns it couldn't control, the parents successfully argued that the district hadn't done enough to achieve diversity.

Professor Janet Thompson Jackson is highlighted in the success stories section of the spring issue of CLEO Edge magazine. The article focuses on Professor Jackson's experience in business and transactional law and her work as executive director of Families Forward, Inc., a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that provides case management and helps low-income families obtain housing, job training and job placement.

Dean Rich interviewed about whether challenges by attorney general against two new laws will be effective.

Jurist contributing editor and Washburn Law professor Ali Khan says that the suspension of the Pakistan chief justice has pushed the country's lawyers and top judge into an unprecedented confrontation with the executive power of President Pervez Musharraf.

Ingrams Magazine interviews Bill Rich in the article, "The Pipeline to a More Diverse Legal Community."

Professor Kaye, who followed the earlier trials of David Wittig and Doug Lake, weighs in on the announcement of a third trial.

Professor Khan, who recently returned from his native Pakistan, shares his personal involvement in some of the circumstances leading up to the suspension of Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Jurist, a Web-based legal news and real-time legal research service.

Professor Linda Henry Elrod interviewed by St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Professor J. Lyn Entrikin Goering was elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of the Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD). ALWD is a nonprofit professional association of directors and former directors of legal research, writing, analysis, and advocacy programs from law schools throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia dedicated to improving legal education and the analytic, reasoning, and writing abilities of lawyers. Her term will begin July 1, 2007. Learn more about ALWD at www.alwd.org/

Professor Linda Henry Elrod, Richard S. Righter Distinguished Professor, helped write the Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act that passed both chambers of the Kansas Legislature and awaits the governor's signature. Professor Elrod also testified in support of the prevention act.

Professor Myrl Duncan comments about access to water for property owners.

Professor Aliza Organick will be one of the presenters at Northern Illinois University Law Review's 16th Annual Law Review Symposium, Emerging Issues in Election Law, Monday, March 26.

Future Dean attracted to Washburn Law because of its reputation for 'very good and dedicated' faculty.

On February 15, Professor David Pierce presented his scholarship to a group of 300 lawyers in Houston, Texas, at the 58th Annual Oil & Gas Law Conference sponsored by the Energy Law Institute of the Center for American and International Law. Professor Pierce was one of the featured general session speakers and discussed major property and contract law issues impacting the development of oil and gas. His article, titled “Recent Developments in Nonregulatory Oil and Gas Law: Beyond Theories and Rules to the Motivating Jurisprudence,” will appear in volume 58 of the Annual Institute on Oil and Gas Law and Taxation. Pierce is also the director of the Business and Transactional Law Center at Washburn University School of Law.

Washburn University School of Law was host to the Feb. 10 ABA Regional Client Counseling Competition

Professor Michael Kaye, who has followed the David Wittig cases through court, comments on the judge's sentence.

Associate Dean Kelly Lynn Anders was the featured speaker at the Topeka Bar Association's February membership meeting. Dean Anders' program, "Externship Programs: The Impact of ABA Standard 305," addressed the elements of ABA Standard 305, ethical considerations for working with law students, and ways in which attorneys increase their legal knowledge and their skills as practitioners by working in the capacity of on-the-job teachers.

The American Inns of Court Foundation recently named Professor James M. Concannon, Distinquished Professor of Law, to the inaugural editorial board of The Bencher, the Foundation's flagship bimonthly publication. The Foundation's board of trustees established the new policy-setting editorial board in its recently approved strategic plan.

Pierce, a 1974 graduate of Pittsburg State University will be honored during the university's commencement activities Dec. 15.

Lawyers differ on whether the Park City Council's closed session before its vote to annex the Wichita Greyhound Park violated open meetings law.

Client loses after suspended lawyer files notice of appeal

The state's highest court will consider for the first time the constitutionality of a 1994 Kansas law that says a sperm donor has no parental rights unless he has a written agreement with the mother.

The Corporate Crime Reporter discusses a law review article published in the Arizona Law Review by Professor Mary Kreiner Ramirez that suggests a death penalty for corporations.

Read Professor Khan's recent article in Counterpunch.

Professor Michael Hunter Schwartz presented, "Maximizing Learning in a Multi-Generational Setting," at the New York State CLE Board Accredited Provider Conference at New York State Judicial Institute on the campus of Pace Law School.

Kelly L. Anders, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, was a guest panelist at Nebraska Bar Association's second annual Legal Diversity Summit panel discussion held Oct. 6 in Omaha.

David E. Pierce, professor of law, has been named director of The Business and Transactional Law Center at Washburn University School of Law.

Professor Jeffrey D. Jackson, associate professor of law, Washburn University School of Law, took part in a national symposium on designing the best judicial selection system. The April 7 symposium, "Rethinking Judicial Selection: A Critical Appraisal of Appointive Selection of State Court Judges," was held in New York City at Fordham University School of Law.

Ali Khan began his four-year term as president of the Islamic Center of Topeka and looks forward to speaking to religious and secular groups.

Professor Linda Elrod is being honored by the Career Chapter of the American Business Women's Association as the 2006 Woman of Distinction.