1. Prof. Jessie Allen’s Blackstone Weekly Blog Featured By Post-Gazette’s Ipso Facto Prof. Jesse Allen’s blog Blackstone Weekly, in which she discusses Blackstone’s Commentaries, will be featured weekly on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s new legal blog, Ipso Facto. Every Thursday, the Post-Gazette will do a post inviting people to read their way through Professor Allen’s views on the Commentaries. Sir William Blackstone Prof. Jessie Allen

2. Prof. Alan Meisel in JAMA on Informed Consent in Clinical Care Professor Alan Meisel, director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Bioethics and Health Law and the Law School’s Health Law Program, published “Informed Consent in Clinical Care: Practical Considerations in the Effort to Achieve Ethical Goals” (with co-author Yael Schenker of the Department of Medicine), in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

3. Prof. Flechtner Receives Fulbright for 2012 Prof. Harry Flechtner has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to support teaching and research as a Visiting Professor at the University of Salzburg (Austria) in spring 2012. The award is designed to support a visiting professor whose program will enhance understanding of the American legal system in general, and U.S. contract law in particular, among Salzburg students, and will explore the global impact of U.S. contract law. Professor Flechtner will teach two courses during his time at the University of Salzburg: a course on Comparative American and (Emerging) European Contract Law, and another on Comparative International Sales Law.

4. Prof. Janewa Oseitutu Presents at Yale Young Scholars Conference Visiting Assistant Professor J. Janewa OseiTutu presented her work in progress at a Young Scholars Conference that was co-hosted by the Junior International Law Scholars Association and the Yale Journal of International Law. The conference took place at Yale Law School on February 25-26, 2011. Professor OseiTutu’s presentation was entitled “Valuing Diversity in Global Intellectual Property Law,” and was present in a workshop called “Regulating the Economy.”

5. Prof.Barry McCarthy had the lead “letter to the editor” published in the April 7th edition of the New York Review of Books. Prof. McCarthy wrote in response to an article published in the previous edition by Prof. David Cole of Georgetown Law School on whether the new health care reform act - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – is constitutional in light of the commerce clause. (He argued that it is.) Prof. McCarthy wrote to point out that the commerce clause appears in Article One, Section 8, which has 18 provisions, the last of which states that the federal government has the power to do whatever is “necessary and proper” to carry out the proceeding list of powers – including the right to regulate commerce. He argues that the “necessary and proper” clause provides sufficient support for the federal government to mandate that its citizens purchase health care insurance. (You should read his letter to get the full reasoning and force of his argument.)

6. Michael Madison on The Role of Law in Emerging Forms of Scientific Research Professor Michael Madison spoke on Thursday, March 10, 2011 in Washington, DC at a symposium titled “The Future of Scientific Knowledge Discovery in Open Networked Environments.” The program was part of a two day National Symposium and Workshop organized by the Board on Research Data and Information in collaboration with the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board. Both Boards are programs of the National Academy of Sciences. Professor Madison’s presentation focused on legal barriers to conducting and sharing the products of emerging forms of data-intensive scientific research.

7. Prof. Vivian Curran aaaVivian Curran at the Collège de France in Paris Prof. Vivian Curran recently made two presentations at the Collège de France in Paris. On March 7, Professor Curran made a presentation at a colloquium to celebrate the publication of the French translation of Justice Beyer's new book. The subject of Professor Curran’s presentation was “Comparative Law and American Democracy.” On March 8, Professor Curran spoke about the Second Circuit’s opinion in Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and the future of the Alien Tort Statute.

8. Prof. Deborah Brake Speaks at West Virginia University College of Law Professor Deborah Brake presented her recent paper, “Sport and Masculinity,” at a faculty workshop at the West Virginia University College of Law in Morgantown, West Virginia, on March 9, 2011.