Prof. Michael Dorf is a contributor to the inaugural issue of "WRIT,"
the first e-zine dedicated to the law, launched by FindLaw. Prof. Dorf's
article, "They Are All Activists Now," can be found at: http://writ.findlaw.com/commentary/
20000501_dorf.html
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about Ford Motor Company's
recent acknowledgment that sport utility vehicles can be hazardous to other
motorists. "There isn't any clear duty by Ford to other motorists, they
owe a duty to their customers," said Prof. Coffee. The New York Times,
May 30, 2000
Article about the confirmations of Prof. Gerard Lynch '75 and Nicholas Garaufis
'74 appeared in the Legal Times on May 29, 2000.
Appearing again on CNN to discuss Napster, its rival technology Gnutella, and
the overall debate in the music industry over copyright infringement and new
Internet technology, Prof. Coffee said, "There's really no one to
sue. There's just a faceless sea in this online community of hackers who are
using this new technology." "CNN Moneyline News Hour," "Moneyline,"
and "Digital Jam" (May 26, 2000); "Market Coverage" (May
29, 2000)
Announcements of the pending Senate vote on -- and final confirmation of --
the nominations of Prof. Gerard Lynch '75 and Nicholas Garaufis '74
to the federal bench appeared in Legal Times (May 22, 2000), The Recorder
and The Legal Intelligencer (May 24, 2000), and The New York Times and The Legal
Intelligencer (May 25, 2000).
Prof. Mark Barenburg's treatise on the debate over granting permanent,
normal trading status to China was referenced by U.S. Rep. Robert C. Scott,
D-3rd District. The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA), May 25, 2000
Prof. Peter Strauss was quoted in an article titled "Compliance
Education Goes Self-Service," about the trend toward businesses hiring
consultants to decipher and ensure compliance with federal health, safety, environmental,
and equal-opportunity regulations. Many providers of such services are now using
the Web to help their clients. "The White House has stressed consumer service,"
said Prof. Strauss. "You can find fantastic information that you couldn't
find before from the Internal Revenue Service, the EPA and the Social Security
Administration. What is a lot less consistent is involvement in regulatory activities."
The Washington Post, May 23, 2000
Prof. Richard Gardner was quoted in an article titled "Spain's
Surge," about the resurgence and globalization of Spain's economy. Prof.
Gardner, former U.S. Ambassador to Spain and Italy, said, "Right now, Spain
is overtaking Italy on many fronts, and the reason is political stability and
the vitality of a new generation of talented managers." Business Week,
May 22, 2000
Prof. Michael Dorf appeared on ABC's "World News Tonight"
to discuss gun control rights and the Second Amendment. "The evidence is
quite clear, since colonial times, that that right has been subject to reasonable
regulation," said Prof. Dorf.
Prof. Oscar Schachter '39 received an honorary degree from Columbia
at the University's commencement exercises on May 17, 2000. The New York
Times, May 18, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was one of several academics asked by the judge to
file amicus briefs in the antitrust case against Sotheby's and Christie's auction
houses. The Legal Intelligencer, May 18, 2000
Prof. Coffee was quoted in articles about the recent decision against
Bear Stearns Company, which ordered the company to pay an investor $111.5 million
for failing to warn him of the risks of foreign currency speculation. Prof.
Coffee said, "This is a number that is off the charts. It will raise eyebrows
all over Wall Street." The New York Times and the San Antonio Express-News
(May 17, 2000)
Dean Ellen Wayne was a guest on NPR's "All Things Considered,"
where she discussed last winter's jump in salaries for associates. Dean Wayne
said: "We're seeing people that are getting calls from headhunters six
months out of law school. They don't even have a full year's experience yet,
and yet, they're being courted by people who are trying to place them with another
agency or firm. People staying at the same firm for two years or more is unusual."
She continued, "Clients in the past have helped to support the training
effort of new associates coming into the profession, and I would hate to see
that change. I would hate to see it impact not only training of associates,
but pro bono activities that law firms are engaged in." NPR Transcripts,
May 16, 2000
Prof. Harvey Goldschmid was quoted in an article titled "SEC regulators
touch a populist nerve." Discussing a new SEC proposal designed to curb
selective disclosure, called "Regulation Fair Disclosure," Prof. Goldschmid
said, "There is nothing publicly useful when a favorite analyst of the
company gets a call before a stock goes down. It gives them an unfair advantage
and interferes with the integrity of the market." Financial Times (London),
May 11, 2000
Prof. Robert Ferguson was scheduled to participate in the first annual
Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum at Yale Law School on May 12-13. Prof. Ferguson
served as a commentator on "The Crisis of Child Custody: A History of the
Birth of Family Law in England." M2 Presswire, May 11, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted on several CNN shows about the case against
Napster. Prof. Coffee said: "Napster is going to be a very simple story
on the legal level; namely, that the owners of intellectual property will win
against organizations like Napster that create a technology for the illegal
sharing of intellectual property. But on the enforcement level, there is no
answer. There is very little way that it can use legal remedies against a diffuse
community of online users, where generally, there is no large corporate defendant
at the center of the process." "CNN Moneyline News Hour" (May
9, 2000); "Before Hours" and "Entrepreneurs Only" (May 10,
2000)
Prof. William Sage is scheduled to participate in a June 28 conference
titled "National Symposium on Patient Safety." PR Newswire, May
10, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was the subject of an article titled "Foe Becomes
Friend for Fen-Phen," about his involvement with the massive class action
diet drug settlement. Pennsylvania Law Weekly, May 8, 2000
Prof. Jane C. Ginsburg was quoted in an article titled "Bye-Bye,
American Pie," about an amendment to copyright law that strips songwriters
of any right to their own recordings. "It is not a minor change,"
said Prof. Ginsburg. "If a work is a work for hire, the authors are completely
cut out." The National Journal, May 6, 2000
Prof. Gerard Lynch '75 and Nicholas Garaufis '74 were both confirmed
this week as federal judges -- Prof. Lynch in the Southern District of New York
and Mr. Garaufis in the Eastern District of New York.
Prof. Vivian Berger was quoted in an article about the recent U.S. Supreme
Court decision interpreting a 1996 law designed to speed up executions. The
court refused to adopt a new standard that would have limited a prisoner's ability
to fight a state conviction in federal court. Prof. Berger, a general counsel
of the ACLU, said the case was "the most important of the term" for
civil rights groups who had feared a contrary ruling. Had the court affirmed
the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, she continued, no prisoner could ever have
prevailed when attacking the constitutionality of a conviction in federal court.
"The downside potential was immense," Prof. Berger said. She added
that for a law designed to speed things up, it has created much legal wrangling.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Chicago Tribune, April 19, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article titled "Case's Spot:
No. 2 with a Bullet; Broad Duties Outlined at AOL Time Warner" about the
announcement by AOL and Time Warner that AOL CEO Steve Case will have even more
power than anticipated in the merged company, AOL Time Warner. In the combined
company, Case will serve as chairman and Gerald Levin, his counterpart at Time
Warner, will be CEO. Prof. Coffee said, "The kind of structure where senior
executives report to different people like this has been the prelude to organizational
tension and bureaucratic infighting. I can't say it's an iron law, but the experience
at other companies suggests that this can't persist for a number of years."
The Washington Post, May 5, 2000
Prof. and former Dean Lance Liebman and former Dean Benno Schmidt were
both mentioned in an article about a report issued by the Assoc. of the Bar
of the City of NY's Special Commission on the Future of CUNY. Dr. Schmidt chaired
the mayor's task force on CUNY last year, and Prof. Liebman is on the City Bar
Association's Commission. PR Newswire, May 4, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was the subject of an article titled "Critic
of Class Actions Backs Settlement in Fen-Phen Case." Prof. Coffee testified
in the settlement hearings for the class-action suit against American Home Products,
makers of Fen-Phen. He defended a proposed $3.75 billion national settlement,
saying it could benefit those claiming injuries from the drugs. The Record
(Bergen County, NJ), May 4, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about a dispute over the
stock report of a California company, Environmental Solutions Worldwide Inc.
An analyst says he was paid by Teodosio Pangia to write a glowing report of
the company -- which caused stock prices to jump considerably -- just several
weeks before Mr. Pangia announced his intention to sell his 3.2 million shares
in the company. Mr. Pangia denies having paid the analyst for the report. Prof.
Coffee said that as a case study, Environmental Solutions seems "consistent
with a short-term manipulation of the market for the benefit of a selling insider."
The National Post, May 2, 2000
Prof. Eben Moglen was quoted in an article titled "Privacy is a
thing of the past online; Prying eyes can download your personal info in seconds."
Prof. Moglen said, "It's not a constitutional problem. It's a consumer
protection problem. We need laws to protect consumers against the collection
and distribution of their information in ways they don't approve of." Daily
News, April 30, 2000
Prof. George Bermann was quoted in an article titled "A Haider in
Their Future," about Jorg Haider, the recently resigned leader of Austria's
far-right Freedom Party. Discussing recent sanctions by the European Union against
Austria, Prof. Bermann questioned on what basis European states can "collectively
punish a sister state, given the language in the E.U. treaty on human rights
and the fact that any violations on Austria's part are purely anticipated."
The New York Times (NYT Magazine), April 30, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was mentioned and quoted in several articles about
the class action settlement hearings in the fen-phen/American Home Products
case. Prof. Coffee is serving as a legal expert for American Home Products in
the fairness hearings that began on May 2, 2000. The Legal Intelligencer,
May 1, 2000, and The Star-Ledger, May 2, 2000
Prof. John Coffee appeared on the CNN show "Street Sweep" to
discuss the government's recommendation to break up Microsoft. CNN Transcripts,
April 28, 2000
Nathan Lewin, lecturer in law, wrote an article titled "Without
a Justice: The Properly Unattended State of the Union," published in the
Legal Times on April 24, 2000.
Prof. Michael Dorf was quoted in an article titled "Two Justices
Seen as Critical in Nebraska Abortion Case." Discussing the first significant
abortion-rights case to be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court since the 1992
case Casey v. Planned Parenthood, Prof. Dorf said the arguments on April 25
would be unusual because both sides will be arguing whether banning the dilation-and-extraction
(D&X) procedure is constitutional and whether the Nebraska law applies to
abortion procedures other than D&X. In most cases, Prof. Dorf said, the
scope of a law has been determined long before it reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.
He also said the case breaks ground in that it deals with a law that bans a
method of abortion, while the Casey decision dealt with regulations on all types
of abortion. "The Casey opinion says that a law that imposes a substantial
obstacle on a woman trying to get an abortion is going to be held unconstitutional,"
Prof. Dorf said. "This case provides the court with an opportunity to clarify
what constitutes a substantial obstacle." Omaha World-Herald, April
24, 2000
Prof. Michael Dorf appeared on CBS News to discuss the removal of Elian
Gonzalez from the home of his Miami relatives. In response to the question of
whether the INS made a "fatal mistake" by placing Elian with his family
in Miami before finding out what his father's wishes were, Prof. Dorf said,
"Well, in retrospect, it looks like it was a fatal mistake, although actually,
I think at the time it was the right thing to do. Perhaps they should have gotten
some more information out of Cuba about the status of his father. But the United
States doesn't even have formal diplomatic relations with Cuba, and so the information
that flows back and forth there is less than it is with other countries."
Discussing the actual removal process, during which heavily armed INS officers
entered the Miami home and took the boy, Prof. Dorf said, "The argument
that the Justice Department made, and I think reasonably, is that they were
afraid of possible violence by the crowd outside the house.... It's, in some
ways, similar to U.S. military doctrine, which is you go in with overwhelming
force and strike quickly and then get out. Now the very fact that we're talking
about this, the taking custody of a six-year-old child, the analogies to military
doctrine, I think, are a little unsettling, but under the circumstances, it
worked out pretty well." CBS News Transcripts, April 24, 2000
Prof. Jim Liebman's comments on the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings in two
death-penalty cases were also quoted in the New Jersey Law Journal on April
24, 2000.
Prof. Michael Dorf was quoted in an article titled "No Quick Answers
in Elian's Case; But Delays May Help Boy's Miami Relatives Keep Him in U.S."
Referring to the federal appellate court's decision preventing Elian Gonzalez
from leaving the U.S., Prof. Dorf said, "What you are seeing here is a
clash of two worlds. The political system needs to move on an expedited basis,
and the court system is not persuaded to depart from its deliberate procedures."
The New York Times, April 21, 2000 and International Herald Tribune, April
22, 2000
Prof. Carol Sanger was quoted in an article discussing the case of Elian
Gonzalez and its ramifications on the rights of children to be heard. The article
states that the legal question is complicated in this case, partly because there
is no absolute rule in American law setting forth how old children should be
before their opinions are considered in court. "We tend not to draw the
line," said Prof. Sanger. But, she continued, the courts had not expanded
their flexible approach to credit the wishes of a 6-year-old on an issue as
important as where he should live when a living parent has expressed a strong
desire. "We use a maturity standard. But the judicial system thinks a 6-year-old
is inherently immature. We think they discuss what they want now: chocolate
milk, an electric car," she said. The New York Times, April 22, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about the class action suit filed
on behalf of all people whose civil rights were allegedly violated by the Los
Angeles Police Department during the ongoing Rampart scandal. Prof. Coffee said
that the Rampart case might be looked at skeptically by a federal judge because
of two decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court in the last three years in which
the court threw out class action settlements of asbestos litigation on the grounds
that the interests of the class members were too diverse to be valid. "The
principal problem is a lack of factual homogeneity," Prof. Coffee said.
"To the extent that there is not a centrally coordinated conspiracy of
high-ranking police officers, rather than a loose network of officers who have
an understanding that they can break the law, class certification seems inappropriate."
Los Angeles Times, April 21, 2000
Prof. Jim Liebman was quoted in several articles about the U.S. Supreme
Court's ruling last week in a Virginia murder case. The court limited federal
judges' authority to review a prisoner's claim that his conviction or sentence
was constitutionally flawed (i.e., that his lawyer was incompetent or that prosecutors
hadn't turned over important evidence). The decision reduces the federal courts'
role in death penalty appeals, but doesn't close them out entirely, the Washington
Post reported. In that paper, Prof. Liebman said that while the court retreats
from "the view that federal judges should always maintain control, it leaves
intact more federal habeas corpus power" than some appellate courts had
read into the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. Prof. Liebman
also observed that the ruling, and another issued separately that coincidentally
involves a Virginia defendant named Michael Williams, repudiate the famously
conservative 4th Circuit's narrow interpretations of inmate appeals. "There
is a message," he said, "that there are limits to what the Supreme
Court will tolerate." The Washington Post, April 19, 2000; also, The
Recorder, The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), the Austin-American Statesman,
The Plain Dealer, and The Legal Intelligencer, April 19, 2000
Prof. Vivian Berger wrote an article titled "Get out of jail with DNA."
The New York Law Journal, April 17, 2000
Prof. Vivian Berger was quoted in an article about Stephen Pack, a doctor
at Montefiore Medical Center who has been charged with assault and abortion
after attacking his pregnant mistress, a nurse at the hospital, with a hypodermic
needle allegedly filled with a drug that induces abortion. Prof. Berger said
that under New York law, a fetus is not human and therefore the doctor could
not be charged with assaulting or killing it. However, she continued, attempting
to perform an abortion on a woman without her consent is against the law. Daily
News, April 16, 2000
The obituary of James Vorenberg, in which Prof. Jack Greenberg was mentioned,
appeared in The Record (Bergen County, NJ) on April 14, 2000.
Prof. Debra Livingston was mentioned in an article about aggressive
policing in NYC. The article referenced comments made by NY Police Commissioner
Howard Safir at a seminar conducted by Prof. Livingston in 1999. The New
Republic, April 10, 2000
Prof. Patricia Williams was quoted in an article about the book "Police
Brutality," a collection of essays by scholars, lawyers, writers, a former
NYC cop, and many others. According to the article, Prof. Williams points out
that we are victims of the "innocent profiling" of white kids, which
allowed Dylan Klebold, one of the Columbine High School shooters, to drive around
with bombs and guns in his BMW without being stopped and searched. Newsday,
April 6, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about the Microsoft ruling.
The article states that because a judge has made a final determination in the
case, future litigants can cite his findings. In addition, Microsoft can be
barred from using the same defenses used in this case. Prof. Coffee said, "Once
you have had a chance to defend on the merits and there has been a full decision
by the court, you can be denied the opportunity to re-litigate the same issue."
The article said that Prof. Coffee foresees billions of dollars in potential
damages. That procedural advantage alone will attract swarms of new lawyers,
he said. "Merely the potential application of that doctrine gives Microsoft
a significant problem. It leverages up the level of risk to Microsoft."
Los Angeles Times, April 6, 2000
Prof. Eben Moglen was quoted in two articles about the Microsoft ruling.
In The Baltimore Sun on April 5, 2000, he said, "Technology in itself
is not some sort of amulet that protects you from the general purpose of the
Sherman Act. Antitrust law protects competition." Also on April 5,
he was quoted in the Cincinnati Enquirer, saying, "regardless of
the remedies Judge Jackson may ultimately decide to impose, private litigation
will distract and dismember Microsoft."
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article titled "Expedited Appeal
Proposed by Judge in Microsoft Case." The article stated that based on
Judge Jackson's ruling that Microsoft was a "predatory" monopolist
that had repeatedly violated antitrust laws, the company could now face many
suits from the private sector because plaintiffs have a far less daunting challenge
in suits already filed, and in actions being considered by companies that believe
they have suffered at Microsoft's hands. "This is now an awfully big invitation
to plaintiffs' lawyers," said Prof. Coffee. "We may have reached a
point for Microsoft, as there was in the tobacco cases, that basic attitudes
have shifted, and a powerful defendant is no longer seen as invulnerable."
The New York Times, April 5, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article titled "MicroStrategy to
Hire Accounting Expert," about the company that recently issued a restatement
of its financial results on March 20, 2000. The restatement caused its stock
to drop 62 percent in one day, lopping off $11 billion of the company's market
valuation. Prof. Coffee said, "For high-tech companies, there is a strong
incentive to maintain continuity in revenue growth because the first time you
break that continuity and have a flat or declining quarter, you are likely to
pay a price in your" stock value. Speaking about high-tech companies in
general, Prof. Coffee said that pressure can give chief executives an incentive
"for, if need be, borrowing revenues from the next quarter and booking
them in this quarter." The Washington Post, April 4, 2000
Prof. Jim Liebman was quoted in an article about the expected issuance of
a stay in the execution of convicted murderer Philip Workman in Tennessee. According
to the article, the only person who claimed he saw Mr. Workman shoot Memphis
police officer Ronald Oliver admitted last year that police and prosecutors
had coerced him to lie during the 1982 trial. Prof. Liebman said, "In a
case like this one, the court could be saying we ought to think about this again.
A decision has been reached based on one point of view. Other judges could say
we believe a combination of doubts about the case lead us to think we ought
to take another look at this before we let it go." The Tennessean, April
4, 2000
Prof. Eben Moglen was quoted about the Microsoft ruling. He said, "With
clarity and care, Judge Jackson brought the Microsoft Era to a certain and devastating
end.... The facts Judge Jackson found last November are now unquestionable by
Microsoft in any other antitrust litigation brought by those who allege that
they have been harmed by this or similar conduct.... The chances of reversal
on appeal are comparatively low.... Regardless of the remedies Judge Jackson
may ultimately decide to impose, private litigation will distract and dismember
Microsoft, while the free software movement continues to replace the lower-quality
higher-price goods provided by any monopolist, with superior software that anyone
can get, improve and redistribute for nothing." Institute for Public
Accuracy, April 4, 2000
Prof. Issacharoff's comments (below) were reprinted in The Washington
Times on April 4, 2000.
Prof. Samuel Issacharoff was quoted in an article titled Bus Stop; The
Lost Promise of School Integration." Responding to the Supreme Court's
recent decision to let stand a ruling by a federal appeals court, which held
that school authorities in Montgomery County, MD, violated the constitution
when they tried to prevent a white student from transferring to a magnet school
from his predominantly black middle school, Prof. Issacharoff said, "You
can't reconcile choice with diversity, and that's the tragedy. Fifty years after
Brown versus Board of Education, there is still no non-coercive mechanism for
racial integration that has evolved in this country." The New York Times,
April 2, 2000
Prof. Eben Moglen was quoted in an article about a US District Court judge's
issuance of an injunction barring two men from publishing a software program
that overcomes Mattel's Internet filtering program Cyber Patrol. Cyber Patrol
is used by parents to block children's access to certain Web sites. The men
had made their program available on the Web; Mattel brought suit, claiming that
its copyright was violated and that the company would suffer financial harm
if its program were defeated. The article said that Prof. Moglen called the
geographic sweep of the judge's order "audacious." He said that it
represented "a sudden tumor-like expansion of the power of the courts."
The International Herald Tribune, April 3, 2000
Prof. Richard Uviller wrote an Op-Ed piece titled "Cutting Crime, Keeping
Our Rights." The piece was written in response to an editorial request
for expert opinions on how police can aggressively fight guns and drugs, while
respecting a citizen's civil rights. Prof. Uviller said, "Aggressive street
patrol is the most effective strategy for illegal handgun interdiction. But
'aggressive' does not mean brutal or abusive, much less murderous. Officers
assigned to these gun runs must be carefully selected and rigorously trained.
It's not the only way to reduce violence, but it is a critical component of
any sane policy." The New York Times, April 1, 2000
Prof. Gerard Lynch was quoted in an article titled "The man who placed
truth over justice," about former Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. Prof.
Lynch said that the coercive tools available to prosecutors were not designed
to accomplish generalized oversight interests. "Journalists naturally want
the 'whole story,'as do historians, sociologists, and the public. But the criminal
process is designed to decide whether an individual, at a particular moment
in time, violated a very specific social norm without qualifying for any of
a limited number of particular defenses, and subject to a standard of proof
beyond a reasonable doubt," he explained. "To confuse the power to
prosecute for crimes with the power to broadly investigate malfeasance in office
is terribly dangerous." The New Republic, April 1, 2000
Prof. Bill Sage was co-author of an article titled "'Clear and convincing
evidence' law cruel," about NY State's laws on medical decision-making.
The article states that NY is one of only a handful of states whose laws explicitly
prohibit family members from making critical decisions about life-sustaining
medical treatment for patients too sick or too young to decide for themselves.
Rather, NY's law requires "clear and convincing" evidence of the patient's
own wishes. The authors wrote, "New Yorkers concerned about compassionate
treatment of dying patients should press their legislators to pass the Family
Health Care Decisions Act this session. In the meantime, take a few moments
to create a health care proxy or living will." The Times Union (Albany,
NY), March 31, 2000
Profs. Jane Ginsburg and Eben Moglen have both been actively involved
with Columbia University's Committee on Intellectual Property (CIP). Prof. Ginsburg
is CIP's co-chair. Both were quoted extensively in a Columbia Spectator article
titled "Copyright policy proposal sparks debate at Columbia U." Columbia
Daily Spectator, March 30, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about an SEC judge's decision
to suspend and fine Monetta Financial Services, Inc. for improperly allocating
shares of hot IPOs in 1993 to the personal accounts of three Monetta funds directors.
Prof. Coffee, who testified on the SEC's behalf in the case, said that the decision
will be closely watched in the mutual fund industry. "This is the first
case that really involved hot IPO allocations and the use of them to achieve
an investment adviser's objectives, rather than mutual fund shareholders' objectives,"
he said. When a mutual fund group gets an allocation of hot IPO stock, "it
is not because they are good friends of the underwriter but because they have
given the underwriter enough brokerage business from the mutual fund,"
he continued. "So the mutual fund is the source of this allocation of a
kind of free money." Chicago Tribune, March 29, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article titled "Dark Side of the
IPO Frenzy; Some High-Tech Businesses Co-opt IPO Buzz to Their Own Sinister
Ends." Prof. Coffee said, "In a superheated market the pressure to
go public makes the usual gatekeepers more prepared to say, 'Damn the torpedoes,
full speed ahead.'" The San Francisco Chronicle, March 28, 2000
Prof. Jane Ginsburg was quoted in an article titled "Battle Brews on
Rights to Web Content, Those Who Think Material Should Be Free Are at Odds with
Owners, Current Law." Referring to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
of 1998 (DMCA), a federal law that, according to the article, made it a felony
for someone to even attempt circumvention of protective code, Prof. Ginsburg
said that she worries about the inability of code to identify motives behind
the copying of a film in the wake of the DMCA. "The same device that could
stop me from copying a whole movie could also stop me from copying a small amount
of the movie to show to my class," she said. "In that case, the copy
would be locked up and I couldn't circumvent the lock because of the DMCA. Here
is where the existence of an alternative copy is very important." The
Boston Globe, March 26, 2000
Prof. Richard Uviller was quoted in an article about the guilty verdict
in the trial of "subway pusher" Andrew Goldstein. "People who
are mentally ill can nonetheless be guilty of crimes -- it's designed to achieve
that result," he said. The verdict was not surprising, he continued, considering
Mr. Goldstein's statement to the police that he knew his act was wrong. The
New York Times, March 23, 2000
Prof. Richard Uviller was quoted in an article about the guilty verdict
in the trial of "subway pusher" Andrew Goldstein. "People who
are mentally ill can nonetheless be guilty of crimes -- it's designed to achieve
that result," he said. The verdict was not surprising, he continued, considering
Mr. Goldstein's statement to the police that he knew his act was wrong. The
New York Times, March 23, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about the potential for Big
Tobacco companies to claim bankruptcy rather than face potentially enormous
punitive damages in a Florida case. If the companies were to appeal rather than
file for bankruptcy, they would have to post a bond equal to the damages awarded.
Prof. Coffee said, "If the bond is high, many if not all of the tobacco
companies may not be in the position to post." The New York Times, March
22, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about the Georgetown University
Law Students who were charged with Internet securities fraud by the SEC. The
article states that some people argue that the SEC is stretching the law to
fit alleged bad behavior. Prof. Coffee said that he thought the SEC's case was
strong, but he questioned its appearance, as the agency settled without collecting
any money, despite the students' profits of $345,000. "The facts justify
the fraud prosecution, but the settlement is so weak [that it appears to express]
the SEC's own doubts of the merits," he said. "It's rare to quantify
ill-gotten gains with no attempt to get restitution." The National Law
Journal, March 20, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about the Georgetown University
Law Students who were charged with Internet securities fraud by the SEC. The
article states that some people argue that the SEC is stretching the law to
fit alleged bad behavior. Prof. Coffee said that he thought the SEC's case was
strong, but he questioned its appearance, as the agency settled without collecting
any money, despite the students' profits of $345,000. "The facts justify
the fraud prosecution, but the settlement is so weak [that it appears to express]
the SEC's own doubts of the merits," he said. "It's rare to quantify
ill-gotten gains with no attempt to get restitution." The National Law
Journal, March 20, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in two articles about the potential for
a Miami jury to hand out the largest punitive damages award ever, sending Big
Tobacco companies into bankruptcy. In one article, discussing Big Tobacco's
attempts to lobby Georgia, Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina (where the
companies have headquarters) to pass bills that shield industry assets, Prof.
Coffee said that he believed the new laws would be overturned because they appear
to violate the "full faith and credit" clause of the U.S. Constitution,
which requires the authorities in one state to enforce court judgments from
another state (The New York Times, March 20, 2000). The second article
discussed the Virginia Legislature's passing of a law seeking to cap at $25
million the bond required for one tobacco company to appeal an out-of-state
judgment. Prof. Coffee called the measure constitutionally dubious (Los Angeles
Times, March 20, 2000).
Prof. Richard Uviller was quoted in three articles about the indictment last
week of an unknown rapist based on his DNA genetic profile. The indictment names
"John Doe," the man considered to be the East Side rapist in Manhattan,
who is accused of three rapes. It was filed just four days before the five-year
statute of limitations lapsed for the first rape. A John Doe indictment is legal
if it contains sufficient description of the suspect, said Prof. Uviller. "DNA
certainly fits that bill. You can change your name, physical features, but you
can't change your DNA." The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), The News
and Observer (Raleigh, NC), and The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN), March 16,
2000
Prof. Uviller was quoted in an article about the NYPD's continued resistance
to reform, even in the face of the Louima, Diallo, Ferguson, and Dorismond cases.
Prof. Uviller said, "The mayor and the police commissioner are in a tough
spot. If they react to all of this by saying we've got major problems with the
police, it can be very demoralizing. What they say and do publicly has to throw
something to the community but also support the troops." Los Angeles
Times, March 20, 2000
Prof. Richard Briffault was quoted in an article about a debate in Mississippi
over business improvement districts. Arguments that self-taxing business improvement
districts are racist and corrupt have led to a review of Jackson, Mississippi's
district by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. The
DOJ's findings may hold ramifications for dozens of business improvement districts
in states and counties monitored under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. "There
would be no reason to have a tougher rule...[in Mississippi]. I assume the Justice
Department has to think about that," said Prof. Briffault. He continued,
"New York City has 40 [business improvement districts], most in jurisdictions
subject to the Voting Rights Act." The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN),
March 19, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt's
call for the securities industry to prepare a plan under which limit orders
-- which are placed by customers to trade at specific prices rather than the
market price -- would be pooled by exchanges, brokerages, and electronic trading
networks (ECNs). The best orders for each stock would be consolidated by private
data vendors and sold to brokerages for use by investors. Prof. Coffee said,
"Exchanges have a deep-seated resistance to any integration of order flow
because it tends to make their specialists obsolete and cheapens the value of
their seats." He continued that specialists on exchange floors, who smooth
the execution of orders for individual stocks, might have a diminished role
if limit orders were to be electronically pooled. He also said that Chairman
Levitt's plan may be overtaken by fast-moving developments in the private sector,
specifically citing the alliance announced last week between Archipelago, an
ECN, and the Pacific Exchange, a regional stock market. "This may create
a kind of central order book and reduce the need for authoritative SEC action,"
Prof. Coffee said. The Seattle Times, March 17, 2000
In a USA Today article about the Freeman case, Prof. Coffee also said,
"This is The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight of insider trading. This
is one of the dumber insider schemes I've encountered, because they left too
much information on their trail." Prof. Coffee noted that the celebrated
insider trading cases of the 1980s involved the selling of inside information
at the wholesale level to big players such as Ivan Boesky, who then poured massive
sums of money into companies at precisely the right time. In the case of Freeman
and his accomplices, Prof. Coffee said the information was being sold at the
"retail" level. "Once you've started selling the information
on the retail level, it leaks out, provides signals and clues and gets back
to regulators. You've got someone here advertising to a broad audience. That
has proven to be a dumb way to exploit inside information. No one should copy
him." USA Today, March 16, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about the case of John Freeman,
a temporary worker charged with conspiracy and insider trading. Mr. Freeman
was a part-time computer graphics worker at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse
First Boston, where he obtained information about companies about to merge,
then used the Internet to gather more information about the companies before
passing confidential information via email and Internet chat rooms. Mr. Freeman
and 18 people he tipped off made a total of $8.4 million in illegal stock-trading
profits. Several of the people who received the information were also charged.
Prof. Coffee called the case "somewhat bizarre" because of the way
Mr. Freeman communicated his information and the large number of people who
were caught. "The Internet is the great fear of people handling securities
cases these days," said Prof. Coffee. "But it's suicidal to communicate
this way because there's a trail." The Washington Post, March 15, 2000
Profs. John Coffee and Harvey Goldschmid are both scheduled to
participate in a Complex Litigation Conference sponsored by Duke University
Law School and the Institute for Law and Economic Policy on April 14 and 15,
2000. Prof. Coffee will be a presenter in a session titled "Ethical Issues
and Mass Tort Class Actions After Amchem and Ortiz," and a commentator
in a session called "Attorney's Fees and Ethical Issues." Prof. Goldschmid
will moderate a session titled "Securities Litigation Under PSLRA and the
Uniform Standards Act." Business Wire, March 14, 2000
Prof. John Coffee wrote an article titled "Selective Disclosure"
for The National Law Journal, published on March 13, 2000.
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in a Time magazine article about the SEC's
efforts to curb online stock scamming. "Traders today are willingly complicit
in the dissemination of false information," said Prof. Coffee. "That's
why they often flock to [the] chat rooms with the worst information, so they
can find material that will destabilize the market one minute before they profitably
pull out the next." Time, March 13, 2000
Prof. Jane Ginsburg was quoted in the Columbia Daily Spectator discussing
the question of students selling class notes to Websites such as Versity.com,
which provides the notes free to other students. Prof. Ginsburg, a co-chair
of Columbia's recently formed Intellectual Property Committee, said the concept
of Versity.com rests on shaky legal ground. Because the notes are based on someone
else's work, they are "derivative property," which the original owner
has some rights over. "The notes would be worthless if they didn't correspond
to what the professor said," added Prof. Ginsburg. "It's clearly a
copyright infringement, and they probably should be shut down." Columbia
Daily Spectator, via University Wire, March 10, 2000
Prof. Patricia Williams was a panelist at a March 9 NYU forum on the
acquittal of the four NYPD officers who killed Amadou Diallo. Prof. Williams
said that solutions offered by the government in the wake of tragedy often miss
the mark, and referred to a recent case in which a 12-year-old boy was shot
by police who thought his toy gun was real. In the wake of that shooting, she
continued, officials pushed to have realistic toy guns pulled from the market.
Prof. Williams called the reaction irresponsible, saying that attention should
have been focused on the improper conduct of the officers. Washington Square
News, via University Wire, March 10, 2000
Prof. Bill Sage will be a panelist at the American Enterprise Institute's
(AEI) Amgen Forum Conference on "The Rise of Class Action Lawsuits Against
Health Care Providers." The event will take place on Friday, March 10 at
the AEI Wohlstetter Conference Center in Washington, D.C. U.S. Newswire,
March 2, 2000 and FNS Daybook, March 10, 2000
The announcement that Prof. Harvey Goldschmid '65 will join Weil Gotshal
as counsel in June also appeared in The Lawyer, March 6, 2000.
Prof. Michael Sovern '55 was featured in a short piece titled "Michael
Sovern: A Top Gun for Sotheby's," about his appointment as chairman of
the auction house. Business Week, March 6, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about four Georgetown University
Law Center students and the mother of one of the students who have been charged
with violating securities laws. One of the students set up a free stock-picking
Web site called Fast-Trades.com and persuaded many of its 9,000 visitors to
buy certain stocks--stocks that he and his friends and mother had already purchased
before his recommendations caused the prices to swell. Prof. Coffee said that
the "First Amendment does not protect fraud, and when someone is selling
a stock while urging their customers to buy it," there is a duty to disclose
this conflict. The Washington Post, March 3, 2000
The announcement of Prof. Gerard Lynch '75's nomination to the federal
district court in New York City was also featured in The New York Times and
M2 Presswire. (See ALUMNI/AE IN THE NEWS)
Prof. Richard Uviller was quoted in an article about the trend of children
being prosecuted as adults. Referring to the shooting of a six-year-old girl
this week by her six-year-old classmate, Prof. Uviller said, "States have
been rolling back the age of responsibility. It used to be 16, and it's been
pushed back to 14, and even 12. What we have done is become more and more punitive
to younger and younger children. But at 6 years old, [a prosecution] is unthinkable."
Daily News. March 1, 2000
Prof. H. Richard Uviller was quoted in an article about the second trial
of Andrew Goldstein, the subway pusher. In this trial, defense attorneys
have urged Mr. Goldstein to go off his anti-psychotic medication in an attempt
to show the jury how he behaves when not medicated. Since he stopped taking
his medication, he has punched a court social worker twice. Prof. Uviller
has criticized the defense strategy, and said that the legal issue in this case
will be his state of mind at the time of the killing, not during the trial.
"Mental illness is something you don't fool around with," he said,
asking if defense lawyers should break a client's leg to demonstrate the severity
of that injury. "You don't make a demonstration out of your own client
at his peril." The New York Times, February 29, 2000
Prof. Gerard Lynch was nominated by President Clinton to the U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York. In addition to teaching and
working as part-time counsel with Howard, Darby & Levin (now the NY office
of Covington & Burling), Prof. Lynch has also served as chief of the criminal
division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York
from 1990-92, as associate counsel for the Office of Independent Counsel from
1988-90, and as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New
York from 1980-83. He also clerked for the Hon. Wilfred Feinberg of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1975-76, and the Hon. William
J. Brennan, Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1976-77. U.S. Newswire,
February 28, 2000
Prof. Vivian Berger was a guest on NPR's Talk of the Nation to
discuss the verdicts in the Diallo trial. NPR transcripts, February
28, 2000
Prof. Vivian Berger spoke extensively on the acquittals of four police
officers accused of murdering Amadou Diallo. Referring to testimony that
one of the officers had shouted "gun," Prof. Berger said in Newsday,
"That made it obvious they were acting out of fear, and that made it a
second-guessing case. The defendants and their lawyers were really effective
in arguing, 'How would you like to be judged in the cool light of Monday morning
hindsight about how you behaved in a situation that took place in seconds?'"
On NPR's All Things Considered, she was asked if she had been surprised by the
verdict. "Not terribly surprised," she responded. "I
had thought that quite likely the two officers in the rear, Kenneth Boss and
Richard Murphy, would be acquitted because they really seemingly just depended
on what was said and done by the officers ahead of them. With respect
to those officers, Sean Carroll and Edward McMellon, if I'd had to lay odds,
I would have said that they would be convicted of negligent homicide.
So I'm not terribly surprised that, being considered with the others, they got
off altogether." Newsday and NPR transcripts, February 26, 2000
Prof. Jim Liebman was quoted in an article about Federal Appeals Court
Judge J. Michael Luttig. Judge Luttig sits on the notoriously conservative
4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and has a track-record of denying death penalty
appeals. He is also a man whose own father was brutally murdered by a
car-jacker in 1994. The article discusses his ability to remain impartial
when trying death penalty cases. In a preliminary study, Prof. Liebman
found that in capital cases where the Richmond, VA-based 4th Circuit determined
the final outcome, it found in favor of the condemned only 9 percent of the
time. "When only cases from Virginia are studied, the rate of error
found by the 4th Circuit was 7 percent, the lowest rate of error found on habeas
review in the country for any state with substantial numbers of death cases,"
wrote Prof. Liebman in his study. The Richmond Times Dispatch, February
20, 2000
Prof. H. Richard Uviller was quoted in an article about the second murder
trial of subway pusher Andrew Goldstein. Mr. Goldstein and his defense
attorneys are trying a new tactic in this trial: Mr. Goldstein, a schizophrenic,
has stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication for the duration of the trial
in an attempt to demonstrate to the jury the debilitating effects of his mental
illness. "It seems irresponsible to take a man off medication to
produce some kind of dramatic effect before a jury," said Prof. Uviller.
"A lawyer's first duty is to preserve a client's health." The
New York Times, February 23, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about changes in the structure
and functioning of the nation's stock markets due to the boom in online trading.
The article states that the SEC is facing new legislative challenges as Wall
Street and cyberspace meet, as SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt discussed in his speech
here at Columbia Law School in September 1999. In that speech, Mr. Levitt
addressed the issue of self-regulation versus one central, regulating body.
Prof. Coffee said, "When you turn the primary (self-regulating exchange)
into a privatized body, the first thing you discover is that law enforcement
is not a profit center." The National Journal, February 19, 2000
Prof. Michael I. Sovern '55 has been appointed chairman of Sotheby's.
The former chairman, Alfred Taubman, resigned under pressure from government
investigations and potential class-action lawsuits by customers alleging that
the 256-year-old auction house and its competitor, Christie's, violated federal
anti-trust laws by agreeing to fix commissions. Prof. Sovern is president
emeritus of Columbia University, and former dean of the Law School. The
New York Times and the Financial Times (London), February 22, 2000
Visiting Prof. Mark Tushnet was quoted in an article about upcoming debates
in Congress over taxes on e-commerce. Two years ago, Congress passed a
moratorium on Internet taxation, making online vendors exempt from collecting
sales taxes on Internet purchases. Prof. Tushnet said, "If the moratorium...becomes
permanent, there may be really quite substantial effects on state revenues as
shoppers shift from mail-order and retail outlets to the Internet. That
would place the states under fiscal strain. There are various scenarios
in which they would have to raise other taxes, like property taxes. Most
states are now limited by their constitutions from doing that." The
issue is turning into a classic struggle between states' rights and federal
authority. Boxed in by constitutional limits and potential Internet revenue
loss, the states want either to expand their taxing authority in return for
a simplified sales tax system or set up a national body that will collect taxes
on Internet sales and redistribute them to the states, continued Prof. Tushnet.
Either option would infringe upon a prime measure of state power -- the right
to levy taxes -- and be one step closer to a nationalized sales tax system such
as Europe's. "The tradeoff the states are facing is between giving
up power to the Internet corporations and giving up power to Congress.
In the first one, they don't get any money. In the second one, they do
get money. Odds are, they'll go with the second." The Times
Union (Albany, NY), February 20, 2000
Prof. Michael Dorf was quoted in an article titled "Critics Slam
Judge's No-Pregnancy Sentence." The article discussed the case of
Dawn Marie Sprinkle, who was convicted of child endangerment (for using drugs
while pregnant) and forbidden from getting pregnant for 10 years. Ms.
Sprinkle was ordered by a Montana judge to report to the county jail every few
months for a pregnancy test. If she becomes pregnant, the judge said,
she could be placed under intensive supervision or jailed to keep her from using
drugs. Prof. Dorf said, "Telling people they can't reproduce is problematic
and fraught with moral questions. It's saying any child you have while
taking drugs is better off not coming into existence. There is a constitutionality
question underlying the criminal prohibition of criminal punishment. The
court is saying, 'You can't reproduce,' which is the opposite of saying, 'You
can't have an abortion.'" Because Ms. Sprinkle is 29, critics argue
that a 10-year sentence could put her ability to have children in the future
at risk. "This could mean she never has another child," said
Prof. Dorf. APBnews.com, February 18, 2000
Prof. Vivian Berger, who has been speaking extensively on the Diallo
trial, was quoted in an article about the testimony of the four police officers
charged with Mr. Diallo's murder. Some experts say that the officers'
testimony seemed too canned and rehearsed, raising questions about their candor.
"They need to show they gave warnings to show they were behaving reasonably,
but they don't have to say they approached him super-politely," said Prof.
Berger. "If a witness earns the jury's distrust by seeming to lie
even on a minor point, that may cause jurors to mistrust him on a major point."
The jury's belief in the warnings could be critical, because none of the non-police
witnesses within earshot said they heard such warnings, and the absence of clear
identification might explain Diallo's otherwise unexplained attempt to get in
his door. In the absence of clear identification, noted Berger, "It
quickly crosses the line from reasonable police conduct to negligence, and it
may cross into recklessness." Newsday, February 20, 2000
Prof. Vivian Berger was quoted in an article titled "Defendants
Put Jurors in Bronx Vestibule," about the testimony of the four policemen
accused of killing Amadou Diallo. The officers have each taken the
stand in their own defense and attempted to put the jurors in their shoes in
the vestibule of Mr. Diallo's home, where they thought he had a gun. State
law allows police officers or anyone else to kill someone in self-defense if
they "reasonably believe" their lives are at risk. The law also
allows for the prosecution and defense to ask the jury to consider lesser charges.
"They certainly have a decent shot at something less than murder,"
said Prof. Berger. She continued that Officer Sean Carroll, who broke
down several times on the stand, gave compelling testimony that could help his
fellow officers. "Everything seems to hinge on Carroll. He
was the most user-friendly. He was able to let it all hang out."
But, she added, "there's always the danger that people will think this
is totally canned." Daily News, February 16, 2000
Prof. Jim Liebman was quoted extensively in an article about the recent
series of stays of execution granted by the U.S. Supreme Court -- six since
July. The stays, which require the vote of at least five justices, signify
a subtle shift in the way the Court is approaching death penalty cases.
A larger-scale sign of change, according to Prof. Liebman, can be seen by comparing
the Court's death penalty docket five years ago or so with today's cases.
In previous years, many of the Court's death penalty cases came on appeal by
states from decisions of the liberal U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
"The Court felt the 9th Circuit was out of line, and that it needed disciplining,"
said Prof. Liebman. Now, and for the last several terms, the death
penalty cases before the Court come most often from Virginia and the conservative
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, and, said Prof. Liebman, all have
been filed by inmates rather than the state, suggesting the Court is open to
arguments that the death penalty is being improperly administered. And
though the Court has decided in favor of the state in these cases, it is often
by a 5-4 vote. "The Court may have thought two or three years ago
that it could withdraw from these cases and let the system exist," said
Prof. Liebman. "But it's clear from all the cases they still take
that they can't extricate themselves. The death penalty continues to present
difficulties they can't let go by." Referring to Illinois Governor
George Ryan's January moratorium on executions in that state, Prof. Liebman
said, "The Illinois moratorium could confirm the Court's sense that there
are deep problems with the death penalty that it can't see very well.
Seeing the governor of Illinois take this action may give justices a greater
sense of safety when they express their own concerns." Legal Times,
February 14, 2000
Dean David Leebron was quoted in an article about navigating the new
minefield of online investing. The article discussed the fine print in
most online trading companies' customer agreements, which makes it clear that
the company is not liable in case of shutdown-related losses, and that it is
incumbent upon the customer to use "alternative methods" to communicate
with the trading company during an outage. Dean Leebron said that the
law has yet to catch up with the new online reality. "There is no
liability for the firms unless investors can prove negligence," he said.
"It's as if you walked to your brokerage firm and they had a power outage
because of a flood and you couldn't get in to trade. When you're online,
that's the risk you take." Newsday, February 16, 2000
Prof. Vivian Berger was quoted in an article about the ongoing Amadou
Diallo trial. Discussing testimony by two of the police officers accused
of murder, who said that they had believed that Mr. Diallo posed a threat of
deadly force, Prof. Berger said, "The question now is whether their fear
was reasonable, and that's where all the other evidence comes in -- the number
of shots, Diallo's gesture and the rest." Daily News, February
15, 2000
Prof. Vivian Berger was quoted in an article on the front page of The
New York Times about the Amadou Diallo trial. The article discussed the
testimony of three witnesses for the prosecution, who all claimed to have heard
a pause in the shower of 41 shots fired by the defendants. Prosecutors
may use the pause to argue that the officers would have had time to realize
that Mr. Diallo no longer posed a threat to their safety. Prof. Berger
said that a pause could bear on the charge of intentional murder that the officers
face. "It is much harder to infer intent at the beginning -- the
officers were reacting in fright. But if they had even a few seconds to
stop and think it over and realize their mistake," she continued, it could
support a murder charge. The New York Times, February 8, 2000
Prof. Philip Genty and Alex Roth '00 were mentioned in an article
about former death row inmate and Black Panther Lawrence Hayes, who spoke at
St. Paul's Chapel on the Columbia campus on February 3. Mr. Roth and Prof.
Genty worked with the organization Campaign to End the Death Penalty (CEDP)
to secure Mr. Hayes' release from prison on the grounds that a parole board
member had "inappropriately intervened" in Mr. Hayes' parole revocation
hearing. University Wire, February 4, 2000
Prof. Lance Liebman was quoted in an article titled "Union Reels
Over Ban, Goes to Bat for Rocker," about the Major League Baseball Players
Association's reaction to the suspension of player John Rocker. The union
filed a grievance this week to overturn Commissioner Bud Selig's decision.
Prof. Liebman said that because Rocker is a unionized employee, an arbitrator
would have to interpret his contract. Referring to the "loyalty clause"
language in each player's contract, requiring that each player "...pledges
himself to the American public and to the club to conform to high standards
of personal conduct, fair play and good sportsmanship," Prof. Liebman said,
"This is broad language that needs to be defined. Obviously the commissioner
has given it an interpretation. An arbitrator will have to think hard
about the role of a prominent professional athlete in our society."
Daily News, February 2, 2000
Prof. Victor Goldberg's comments on the antitrust case resulting from
the Federal Trade Commission's move this week to block BP Amoco's takeover of
Atlantic Richfield Co. appeared in many publications. Prof. Goldberg said
that there have been other industry challenges and price fixing cases, but "this
would be the first one attacking the basic market structure of the oil industry"
since the Standard Oil case nearly a century ago. Saying that the government
may have a tough time proving its case, Prof. Goldberg continued, "Oil
flows. They're going to have to find some sort of argument to show why
the international (market) is not going to solve the problem." The
Austin American-Statesman, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN), The News and
Observer (Raleigh, NC), The Record (Bergen County, NJ), and The Toronto Star,
February 3, 2000
Vice Dean Richard Briffault was quoted in an article about Sandy Springs,
Georgia, a community that has filed a lawsuit in its fight to become a city.
The suit alleges that the county delegation system is unconstitutional because
it violates the "one person, one vote" principle of the 14th Amendment.
Though one expert said that courts have generally resisted extending this principle
from elections to the inner workings of a legislature, Vice Dean Briffault said,
"But I wouldn't rule it out because there's a certain logic to it."
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, February 2, 2000
Prof. H. Richard Uviller was quoted in an article about the Amadou Diallo
case and the subsequent outrage over the NYPD's conduct in minority communities.
Prof. Uviller said, "The challenge to develop an aggressive patrol that
is not murderous or excessive is a constant puzzle." U.S. News
& World Report, February 7, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article titled, "Once Again,
Milberg Weiss Lands on Hot Seat," about the firm's questionable involvement
in the massive securities fraud class action suit against Oxford Health Plans,
Inc. There has been some debate over a judge's July 1998 interpretation
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, in which he formed a triumvirate
of lead plaintiffs to litigate the case and put Milberg Weiss in place as lead
counsel. Prof. Coffee said, "The judge got it wrong originally."
He surmised that the judge's goal was a practical one because he wanted to move
the case as quickly as possible toward settlement. "Firms like Sullivan
and Cromwell and Milberg Weiss have negotiated class action settlements once
a week for decades," Prof. Coffee continued. "[The judge] knows
that repeat players are more likely to get to settlement faster than strangers.
However, that's not the congressional goal." The Recorder, January
26, 2000
Prof. Vivian Berger spoke on NPR's Morning Edition about New
York State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi's ruling that struck down a New
York law banning cameras from the courtroom. "If another high-profile
case arises tomorrow, say in Buffalo, and the judge feels differently, the judge
does not have to follow Judge Teresi's ruling even if you could somehow hypothesize
the same facts as the Diallo case," Prof. Berger said. National
Public Radio transcripts, January 26, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article titled, "Firm
Takes Big Gamble On AOL-Time Warner Deal," about Cravath, Swaine &
Moore's involvement in the merger. The article states that according to
several sources close to the agreement, the firm has agreed to receive one of
the biggest transaction fees ever for a law firm -- $35 million -- if the merger
closes. If the deal falls through, however, the firm will receive little
or nothing. There is one exception built into the agreement: if
the deal falls apart, the firm will recover a percentage of fees for associates'
time spent on document production. Prof. Coffee said that he is not certain
that other companies will imitate this arrangement. "It'll be interesting
to see how this turns out," he continued. The Recorder, January
20, 2000
Prof. Patricia Williams delivered the keynote address at a
January 17 ceremony at the Brooklyn Academy of Music honoring Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. In her remarks, Prof. Williams said that civil rights must advance
until it is no longer remarkable when a Latino from the Bronx becomes a chief
executive; until black is really seen as beautiful and "not a suspect profile,"
and until "Martin Luther King himself could come down from heaven, land
in the middle of Times Square and hail a cab without a moment's thought."
Speaking to a crowd of more than 2,100 people, Prof. Williams reflected on her
childhood in the South, saying, "My life has exceeded not only my parents'
but my own wildest dreams when I think back to the world in which I was born."
Also a columnist for The Nation, Prof. Williams noted that her success story
was "too often used as the exception that proves the rule."
Hilary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) also spoke at
the event. Newsday, January 18, 2000
Prof. Patricia Williams was quoted in an article about the
celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in light of the December 8 verdict
that Dr. King was not killed by a lone gunman, but rather the victim of a far-reaching
conspiracy that included the U.S. government. A Memphis jury declared
that 73-year-old Loyd Jowers was liable in Dr. King's death for purportedly
hiring a Memphis restaurant owner to kill him. Dr. King's family had long
questioned the 1969 conviction of James Earl Ray. Discussing the speech
she would give at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Prof. Williams said, "Martin
Luther King's birthday is about celebrating his life, and that is what I feel
is appropriate to do." The New York Times, January 17, 2000
Prof. Vincent Blasi was quoted in an editorial piece titled
"Abroad at Home; 'No Limit But the Sky.'" The author of the
piece, Anthony Lewis, discusses what he calls "judicial overreaching"
by the U.S. Supreme Court. Referring to federalism cases decided
last June, the author quoted Prof. Blasi as saying, "After this I want
to hear no more about original intention, textualism, strict construction or
judicial restraint." The New York Times, January 15, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article titled, "AOL's
Case Moves to Ensure His Power." As the merger of AOL and Time Warner
evolves, AOL chief executive Steve Case has named to the new company's board
four executives and close associates who will answer directly to him rather
than to the new company's CEO, Time Warner Chief Gerald Levin. Prof. Coffee
said, "Normally the key person to whom everyone reports directly or indirectly
is the chief executive officer. You've got a small little enclave here
that is carved out of the general managerial and executive authority of the
chief executive officer." Prof. Coffee called the arrangement "very
rare" because it gives the members of that enclave a safety net amid the
power plays and job shifting that occur when two corporate hierarchies merge.
The Washington Post, January 15, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about "Tokyo
Joe" Park, the Internet stock picker who has been charged with civil fraud
by the SEC. The SEC has claimed that Mr. Park's disclosures weren't frequent
enough and that he deceived investors, some of whom paid as much as $200 a month
to belong to his subscription-based email club, "Societe Anonyme."
Referring to other stock pickers such as Mr. Park, Prof. Coffee said that these
pundits fear that they may have to register with the SEC and be subjected to
closer oversight and new restrictions if the agency prevails in the case.
Los Angeles Times, January 14, 2000
Prof. Coffee was quoted in an article titled "Class Clarity,"
about class action suits. Referring to defense counsels who shop for favorable
class action outcomes, removing many cases from state court to a more sympathetic
federal forum, Prof. Coffee said they can also decide to negotiate with, or
offer favorable terms to, more tractable plaintiffs' lawyers rather than deal
with their more recalcitrant adversaries. The American Lawyer,
January 2000
Both Prof. Coffee and Prof. Harvey Goldschmid'65 were quoted in an article titled "SEC takes aim at
disclosures." The article states that the proposals to stop the selective
disclosure of corporate information to analysts has been expected for months
as the swan song of Prof. Goldschmid's tenure as general counsel of the SEC.
Under the new proposals, a company could continue to have closed conference
calls with analysts, as long as contemporaneous public disclosure of any material
information is made by either press release or SEC filing. Prof. Coffee
said that the SEC "debated whether it should mandate open conference calls"
but feared that it "would chill" the release of company information.
One instance that may prove problematic under the new proposals is if a company
inadvertently discloses material nonpublic information. Companies will
have up to a day to inform the public if this happens, but, Prof. Goldschmid
said, a company that evidences a pattern of frequent inadvertent statements
could wind up being investigated. Though he said he is proud of the proposals,
Prof. Goldschmid added that he has enjoyed teaching his students about the ambiguities
of insider trading law. The new rules, he says, "will make the classroom
less fun, but the rest of the world much better." The National
Law Journal, December 27, 1999
Prof. Harvey Goldschmid '65 appeared on CNN's shows "Moneyline"
and "Moneyline News Hour" to discuss the antitrust issues involved
in the merger of AOL and Time Warner. Referring to the expectation of
some legal experts that AOL's competitors and some public interest groups will
speak out about the potential limiting of open access, Prof. Goldschmid said,
"That restriction of access for independent competitors who may not be
able to get into the game, that is a key antitrust concern. And so it's
blockage, it's restriction of access that may create a competitive problem.
And certainly, the antitrust agency's going to want to look at it hard."
CNN Transcripts, January 10, 2000
Prof. Harvey Goldschmid'65 was also quoted
in an article titled "Merger a landmark of Cyber Age." Again
discussing potential antitrust issues with the merger of AOL and Time Warner,
Prof. Goldschmid said, "The question is, are they going to be too powerful?"
The Christian Science Monitor, January 11, 2000
Prof. John Coffee was quoted in an article about the U.S.
Supreme Court's refusal to consider lower court rulings that health funds in
New York, Oregon, and Pennsylvania cannot sue the tobacco industry to recover
money spent on treating smoking-related illnesses. The high court upheld
the decisions without comment. Prof. Coffee said, "It looks like
this line of cases has dwindled to a complete failure," although he acknowledged
that some lower federal courts still might permit such cases to proceed.
Los Angeles Times, January 11, 2000
Prof. Eben Moglen was quoted in an article about a lawsuit
filed two weeks ago to shut down Web sites that were distributing software allowing
people to copy DVDs. The article states that the DVD Copy Control Association's
lawsuit is so narrow that the case may not become what Internet experts hoped
would be a precedent-setting showdown over free speech rights in cyberspace.
The DVD industry claimed in its suit that Web sites have pirated proprietary
technology designed to copy DVD movies and have illegally distributed the software
on the Internet. Web site operators sued by the industry, backed by the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), claim that the DVD industry is stepping
on First Amendment rights and impeding the exchange and development of new technologies.
The case, however, is resting more on the question of trade secrets than on
the greater First Amendment issue, and does not invoke the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA), which experts thought it would. Referring
to the DVD industry, Prof. Moglen, who is advising EFF, said, "I think
they wish to avoid litigating the DMCA question right now. They wanted
the maximum bang for the minimum buck. If they can get a California state
court judgment, they can race from court to court to enforce it."
San Jose Mercury News, January 11, 2000
Prof. Carol Sanger authored an Op/Ed piece in The New York
Times. The article, titled "The Needs of the Children," discussed
Troxel v. Granville, a case now before the U.S. Supreme Court that raises the
question of non-parental visitation rights. In Troxel v. Granville, the
paternal grandparents are suing the mother of their late son's children for
visitation rights. Washington State has a statute permitting "anyone"
to petition to visit children. Prof. Sanger wrote, "...why should
adults who have had established, significant relationships with children be
denied the right to seek continuing contact with them? It is important
to keep in mind that what Washington's law entitles 'anyone' to do is not demand
visitation, but only ask for it. Visitation statutes should not be ruled
unconstitutional; they should be drafted to include careful safeguards."
The New York Times, January 5, 2000
Prof. Eben Moglen wrote an article in the Commentary section
of the San Jose Mercury News titled, "Bill Gates' best bet: Set software
free." He wrote, "Microsoft should make the deal to strengthen
free software before the rush of events deprives it of the chance. If
it doesn't, a decade from now industry experts and disappointed investors will
be wondering why Microsoft chose instead the path that led to its complete destruction."
The San Jose Mercury News, December 30, 1999
Prof. Michael Dorf was quoted in an article titled "Gun
Fight" about the possibility that a case affecting gun-control laws will
come before the U.S. Supreme Court. In February 1999, a Texas judge ruled
that the Second Amendment may provide greater rights to gun ownership than the
courts have agreed to in the past. It may even guarantee individual citizens
the right to "own" guns -- a subtle but important distinction from
the "right to keep and bear arms" within a government-regulated militia.
Based on the precedent set in Texas, many legal experts believe that the decision,
which is currently before a three-judge panel at the Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals in New Orleans, could be the first Second Amendment case to reach the
Supreme Court since 1939. "I suspect the chief justice of the United
States, William Rehnquist, has sympathy for this position," said Prof.
Dorf. "If this decision stands up and the U.S. Supreme Court agrees,
then I think it is quite possible that many existing gun-control laws would
be invalid." Texas Monthly, January 2000.
