Thought Leadership

Professor Nina Kohn Delivers Keynote Address at the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators

Nina Kohn, the David M. Levy Professor of Law, recently delivered the keynote address at the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) Annual Conference.  The conference, organized by the National Center for State Courts, brought together the chief justices of the nation’s state courts and top court administrators.  This year, the conference focused its educational programming on guardianship and conservatorship.  Kohn’s keynote called attention to major problems in guardianship systems and urged the Chief Judges and Court Administrators to make guardianship a priority for their court systems and how court leadership can make a difference.

Kohn’s talk focused on the key civil rights concerns raised by current guardianship practice, and what courts can—and should—do about it.  Kohn explained that guardianship continues to be treated as a go-to intervention for individuals with cognitive and intellectual disabilities, not the last resort option it’s legally designed to be.  In addition, she explained that, despite reforms requiring courts to consider less restrictive alternatives, courts continue to order guardianships that strip individuals of all rights permitted under state law even when less restrictive arrangements would meet the needs of most respondents. 

Kohn then outlined a series of steps court leaders could take to not only reduce unnecessary and overbroad guardianships but also reduce the risk of abuse and exploitation by unscrupulous guardians.

After the talk, Kohn observed “I was impressed by the warm reception my remarks received.  Many of the participants expressed serious concern about the patterns of practice I described and expressed interest in making changes in their systems.  I look forward to supporting those efforts in the coming months and years.”

Kohn is a nationally recognized leader on guardianship and elder law.  Her remarks built on her scholarship around guardianship, as well as her work as Reporter for the Uniform Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Other Protective Arrangements Act.

Professor Olatunde Johnson to be the 60th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Commemoration Speaker

Professor Olatunde Johnson of Columbia Law School will be the Keynote Speaker at Syracuse Law’s 60th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Commemoration. She will deliver the address, “The Future of Civil Rights in An Age of Colorblindness”. An interdisciplinary panel discussion will follow the address.

Johnson is the Ruth Bader Ginsburg’ 59 Professor of Law at Columbia Law School where she teaches, writes, and provides public commentary about anti-discrimination law, administrative law, courts, democracy, and inequality in the United States.  She directs Columbia’s Constitutional Democracy Initiative and co-directs the Center on Constitutional Governance at Columbia Law School.  

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a landmark law that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

Monday, October 7

4:30 p.m.

Room 350

Reception to follow in the Atrium

RSVP to Christy Ramsdell by October 1. 

Syracuse Law’s Disability Law and Policy Program Hosts “A Body’s Work: A Discussion with Professor Britney Wilson”

Syracuse University College of Law’s Disability Law and Policy Program recently hosted “A Body’s Work: A Discussion with Professor Britney Wilson. Professor Wilson is an associate professor of law and the director of the Civil Rights and Disability Rights Clinic at New York Law School. She discussed her experiences as a Black disabled woman, civil rights attorney, and law professor.

Her discussion was based on her paper “A Body’s Work: On Self and Peer Education as a Black Disabled Lawyer” published in the Journal of Legal Education. The essay and her Syracuse Law discussion explored the effects of an overall lack of disability inclusion in the law school curriculum and how it impacts the way she navigates life and work as a Black disabled woman and attorney.

Wilson also touched upon ongoing transportation services litigation that the Civil Rights and Disability Rights Clinic is litigating by applying the Americans with Disabilities Act and New York City Human Rights law.

Also, an accomplished writer and artist, Wilson has published short stories, poetry, and creative nonfiction essays. She was a featured poet on the HBO series Brave New Voices. She explained how creativity in other areas can positively affect making creative legal arguments.

Professor Wilson also met with DLPP students to discuss their experiences studying disability law and navigating law school with disabilities.

Professor Nina Kohn co-authors “Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Caring for Patients Under Guardianships”

“Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Caring for Patients Under Guardianships”, co-authored by Professor Nina Kohn, has been published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine.   Kohn’s co-authors are Dhrity Bhowmik, Sally Balch Hurme, Jasmine Sandhu, June Jeon, Syeda Sundus Mujahid, Latrice Pelissier, Eric Widera, Andrew B. Cohen, Mary Galvez, Vicki Alkire, Pamela B. Teaster, William E. Rosa, and Cynthia X. Pan.

“Clinicians working in the palliative care space frequently encounter patients for whom a court has appointed a guardian, but often are confused as to the implications for medical decision-making,” says Kohn. “I enjoyed working with this truly interdisciplinary team of co-authors to provide practical guidance that clinicians can use to better support patients under guardianship.”

University Professor David Driesen Publishes “Does the Separation of Powers Justify the Major Questions Doctrine?” Article in the University of Illinois Law Review

University Professor David Driesen’s article, Does the Separation of Powers Justify the Major Questions Doctrine?”, is now published in the University of Illinois Law Review. The article is at Vol. 2024 No. 4 U. Ill. L. Rev. 1177 (2024.)

In summary, Driesen writes: In West Virginia v. EPA, the Supreme Court announced the arrival of the major questions doctrine and used that doctrine to limit the EPA’s ability to address the global climate crisis. It held that judges should resolve major questions—extraordinary questions of economic and political significance—through application of a clear statement rule forbidding major new applications of general policies embodied in legislation.

The West Virginia Court claimed that the separation of powers justifies the major questions doctrine but failed to explain why. The major questions cases, however, strongly suggest that when the Court decides a major question itself rather than letting the executive branch do so, the Court preserves congressional authority to legislate on major questions.

This Article shows that this assumption is wrong. Judicial resolution of major questions interferes with the prerogatives of the enacting Congress and does nothing to preserve the authority of current and future Congresses. Indeed, this Article shows that in cases employing the clear statement rule announced in West Virginia v. EPA the Court usurps the powers of Congress by, in effect, amending legislation. It also interferes with the President’s authority to execute the law. Accordingly, the major questions doctrine undermines, rather than supports the separation of powers.

Professor Shubha Ghosh Writes Review of Professor Pablo Ibáñez Colomo’s book, The New EU Competition Law

Professor Shubha Ghosh, Director of the Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute, recently contributed a review of Professor Pablo Ibáñez Colomo’s book The New EU Competition Law to the Jotwell blog.

In the review, Ghosh provides commentary on developments and shifts in competition law and policy in the European Union that the book covers.

Ghosh writes, “The book provides a deep dive with much refreshing insight into the directions competition law can and should take. Professor Colomo teaches at the London School of Economics and is an Ordinary Member of the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal. His book is a masterwork for scholars and students of competition law and theory.”

Professor Lauryn Gouldin’s Research Uses Artificial Intelligence to Improve Fairness of Criminal Court Scheduling

 College of Law professor who is an expert on criminal court pretrial appearance is partnering with computer science faculty to see if artificial intelligence tools and optimized data analysis can improve fairness and efficiency in scheduling defendants’ court dates.

Headshot of woman in glasses smiling.

Lauryn Gouldin (Photo by Marilyn Hesler)

Lauryn Gouldin, Crandall Melvin Professor of Law and a 2022-25 Laura J. & L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence, is one of three researchers on the project, “End-to-End Learning of Fair and Explainable Schedules for Court Systems.” She and Fernando (Nando) Fioretto, assistant professor of computer science at the University of Virginia (formerly of Syracuse University) and William Yeoh, associate professor of computer science and engineering at Washington University in St. Louis received a $600,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for the research. They are examining three issues: the uniformity and fairness of criminal court-date scheduling processes, if individual circumstances are considered when setting court dates, and whether a “smarter” computerized system can produce more equity and efficiency in those processes.

Ensuring that defendants who are released before trial return to court as scheduled is one of the primary goals of the pretrial process, Gouldin says. “Fortunately, data across jurisdictions suggest that most defendants show up for court as required. With bail reform efforts in many jurisdictions leading to higher rates of pretrial release, courts are focused on ensuring that pretrial appearance rates remain high,” she says.

Scheduling court appearances on dates and at times that work for defendants will help keep pretrial appearance rates high and avoid court system inefficiencies, she believes. Many factors—often legitimate hardships—can influence whether a defendant appears in court when scheduled. Gouldin says those factors are not consistently considered by courts and there is little uniformity in how appearance dates are scheduled from court to court.

The researchers are working to produce a system that predicts dates and times when defendants are more likely to appear versus being assigned an arbitrary court date or time. They believe having that knowledge, along with more flexibility in scheduling court dates—such as setting evening or weekend appearance dates—could improve pretrial appearance rates and create a more equitable scheduling process overall.

Continue reading here.

Professor Shubha Ghosh Publishes Second Edition of “Questions and Answers: Antitrust” Textbook

Crandall Melvin Professor of Law Shubha Ghosh has published the second edition of his textbook “Questions and Answers: Antitrust” with Carolina Academic Press.

This second edition of Questions & Answers: Antitrust adds many new questions reflecting developments in antitrust law over the past decade: challenges to NCAA professionalism rules limiting athletes’ rights in Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL); pay for delay agreements; intellectual property limits on antitrust; credit card platforms; and trade associations. With these additions, students will continue to better understand what they are learning and prepare effectively for exams by applying concepts learned in antitrust courses. This study guide includes over 150 multiple-choice and short-answer questions arranged topically for ease of use during the semester, plus an additional set of 40 questions comprising a comprehensive “practice exam.”

For each multiple-choice question, the book provides a detailed answer that indicates which of the four options is the best answer and explains thoroughly why that option is better than the other three options. Each short-answer question is designed to be answered in fifteen minutes or less and includes a thoughtful, comprehensive, yet brief, model answer.

The Hon. James E. Baker Discusses the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) /Federal Judicial Center Report on Workplace Practices Across the Federal Judiciary on the NAPA Podcast

The Hon. James E. Baker recently chaired the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA)/Federal Justice Center panel that examined the workplace practices across the Federal judiciary in a study of the workplace climate in the Article III judiciary.

The panel has issued its report “Enhancing Efforts to Coordinate Best Workplace Practices Across the Federal Judiciary.” Judge Baker was a guest on NAPA’s Management Matters podcast to discuss the key takeaways and lessons learned from the report that researched best workplace practices across the Judiciary.

College of Law Adds Alumni from Sidley Austin LLP, Starbucks, and Wiley Rein LLP to its Board of Advisors

Kenneth W. Irvin L’92, Zabrina Jenkins G’97, L’00, and The Hon. Nazakhtar (Nazak) Nikakhtar G’02, L’02
Kenneth W. Irvin L’92, Zabrina Jenkins G’97, L’00, and The Hon. Nazakhtar (Nazak) Nikakhtar G’02, L’02

Syracuse University College of Law has added Kenneth W. Irvin L’92, Partner, Energy, M&A, Securities Enforcement and Regulatory at Sidley Austin LLP; the Hon. Nazakhtar (Nazak) Nikakhtar G’02. L’02, Partner, Chair, National Security Practice and Co-Chair, Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. at Wiley Rein LLP; and Zabrina M. Jenkins G’97, L’00, Executive Advisor to the Office of the CEO at Starbucks to its Board of Advisors.

“As the legal world evolves at an unprecedented pace, we need the diverse expertise that Ken, Nazak, and Zabrina bring to the Board to help lead our College and students into the future,” says Acting Dean Keith J. Bybee, Paul E. and Hon. Joanne F. Alper ’72 Judiciary Studies Professor.

“I would like to welcome Ken, Nazak, and Zabrina to the Board of Advisors,” says College of Law Board of Advisors Chair Melanie Gray L’81. “These impressive alumni bring extensive experiences from law firms, government, and consumer businesses to the Board that will benefit our students and College as we deliver a legal education for today’s ever-changing world.”

Kenneth W. Irvin L’92 is a co-leader of Sidley’s global Energy practice area team, and represents clients on a variety of regulatory, enforcement, compliance, and transactional matters involving the U.S. wholesale electricity and natural gas markets, as well as with respect to the energy transition. Irvin has extensive experience representing clients in regulatory and investigations proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and multiple state energy regulatory agencies, which includes handling FERC enforcement matters and self-reports. Irvin graduated from the College of Law, magna cum laude in 1992 and from Clarkson University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1987.

The Hon. Nazakhtar (Nazak) Nikakhtar G’02, L’02 is an international trade and national security attorney at Wiley Rein LLP where she is the Chair of Wiley’s national security practice and Co-Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U. S. practice. From 2018 to 2021, with unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Nikakhtar served as the Department of Commerce’s Assistant Secretary for Industry & Analysis at the International Trade Administration. She also fulfilled the duties of the Under Secretary for Industry and Security at Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security. Nikakhtar earned Juris Doctor and Master of Economics degrees from Syracuse University, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce, and a B. A. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Zabrina Jenkins G’97, L’00 is executive advisor to the Office of the Chief Executive Officer of Starbucks. She is a member of CEO Laxman Narasimhan’s extended executive leadership team providing strategic counsel and support in several key areas including corporate strategy, public affairs, talent development, inclusion and diversity, and legal and stakeholder engagement. Previously, she was acting executive vice president and general counsel for Starbucks, leading legal and regulatory affairs, global security, and ethics and compliance for the company. Additionally, Jenkins serves as an executive champion to the Starbucks Black Partner Network and an advisor to the diversity committee for the Law & Corporate Affairs department. Zabrina received a B. S. in business administration from Central Washington University, an M. S. from Syracuse University School of Education, and a J. D. cum laude from Syracuse University College of Law.