News Center

This Week's Experts – April 10, 2007

Overview

Stanford Law School faculty are available to offer legal analysis/commentary on the following news topics this week:

World

  • Zimbabwe Crisis
  • Iran / Nuclear Enrichment / Iran-Russia Relations
  • North Korean Nuclear Disarmament
  • Iraqi Security Plan
  • Guantanamo Detainees / Supreme Court Rejection of Appeal
  • Serbian Court Convictions in Srebrenica Deaths

Nation

  • Federal Prosecutor Dismissals
  • War Spending Bill
  • Stem Cell Research Bill
  • U.S. Business
    • U.S. Trade Cases Against China
    • Vonage-Verizon Patent Infringement
    • Apple-EMI Deal / Digital Rights Management
    • Sub-Prime Loan Market
    • Sarbanes-Oxley
    • Stock Option Backdating
  • Taxes / House Democrat Plans for Alternative Minimum Tax
  • U.S. Immigration Reform
  • Climate Change: Supreme Court Ruling Against EPA / Vermont Auto Emission Trial
  • Blogging Code of Conduct / Blogger Etiquette

California

  • Liquefied Natural Gas Plants / Environmental Impact
  • State Prisons & Criminal Sentencing Reform
    • Assembly Appropriations Report
    • Proposed Sentencing Commission, Little Hoover Commission Report
    • Prison Overcrowding

World

Zimbabwe Crisis

Helen Stacy
Lecturer in Law
650 725.9608
Expertise: International Human Rights, International Jurisprudence, International Law, Legal and Social Theory

Iran / Nuclear Enrichment / Iran-Russia Relations

Allen S. Weiner
Associate Professor of Law (Teaching), Warren Christopher Professor of the Practice of International Law and Diplomacy, and Co-director of the Center on International Conflict and Resolution
650 724.5892 or 650 724.4818
Expertise: Contemporary Security Threats, International Security, Nuclear Proliferation, International Law, Laws of War, Human Rights

North Korean Nuclear Disarmament

Allen S. Weiner
Associate Professor of Law (Teaching), Warren Christopher Professor of the Practice of International Law and Diplomacy, and Co-director of the Center on International Conflict and Resolution
650 724.5892 or 650 724.4818
Expertise: Contemporary Security Threats, International Security, Nuclear Proliferation, International Law, Laws of War, Human Rights

Iraqi Security Plan

Allen S. Weiner
Associate Professor of Law (Teaching), Warren Christopher Professor of the Practice of International Law and Diplomacy, and Co-director of the Center on International Conflict and Resolution
650 724.5892 or 650 724.4818
Expertise: Contemporary Security Threats, International Security, Nuclear Proliferation, International Law, Laws of War, Human Rights

Guantanamo Detainees / Supreme Court Rejection of Appeal

Jenny S. Martinez
Associate Professor of Law
650 725.2749
Expertise: Separation of Powers, Civil Procedure and Litigation, Comparative Law, Constitutional Law, Human Rights, International Law, Detention related to Terrorism / GITMO

Serbian Court Convictions in Srebrenica Deaths

Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar
Associate Professor of Law and Deane F. Johnson Faculty Scholar
650 723.9216
Expertise: International Criminal Law, International Security, Separation of Powers
Jenny S. Martinez
Associate Professor of Law
650 725.2749
Expertise: Separation of Powers, Civil Procedure and Litigation, Comparative Law, Constitutional Law, Human Rights, International Law, Detention related to Terrorism / GITMO
Allen S. Weiner
Associate Professor of Law (Teaching), Warren Christopher Professor of the Practice of International Law and Diplomacy, and Co-director of the Center on International Conflict and Resolution
650 724.5892 or 650 724.4818
Expertise: Contemporary Security Threats, International Security, Nuclear Proliferation, International Law, Laws of War, Human Rights

Nation

Federal Prosecutor Dismissals

Deborah L. Rhode
Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law
650 723.0319
Expertise: Antidiscrimination Law, Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Sex and the Law

War Spending Bill

Mariano-Florentio Cuéllar
Associate Professor of Law and Deane F. Johnson Faculty Scholar
650 723.9216
Expertise: International Criminal Law, International Security, Separation of Powers

Stem Cell Research Bill

Henry T. "Hank" Greely
Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law and Professor (by courtesy) of Genetics
650 723.2517
Expertise: Biotechnology, Health Law and Policy, Law and the Biosciences, FDA

U.S. Business: U.S. Trade Cases Against China

Mark A. Lemley
William H. Neukom Professor of Law
650 723.4605
Expertise: Antitrust, Intellectual Property (Patents, Trademarks, Copyright), Technology and the Law

U.S. Business: Vonage-Verizon Patent Infringement

Mark A. Lemley
William H. Neukom Professor of Law
650 723.4605
Expertise: Antitrust, Intellectual Property (Patents, Trademarks, Copyright), Technology and the Law

U.S. Business: Sub-Prime Loan Market

G. Marcus Cole
Professor of Law, The Helen L. Crocker Faculty Scholar, and Associate Dean for Curriculum
650 723.9216
Expertise: Bankruptcy, Commercial Law, Contracts, Venture Capital

U.S. Business: Sarbanes-Oxley

Joseph A. Grundfest
W. A. Franke Professor of Law and Business, Co-director of the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance
650 723.0458
Expertise: Corporate Law, Securities Regulation, Mergers and Acquisitions, Venture Capital

U.S. Business: Stock Option Backdating

Joseph A. Grundfest
W. A. Franke Professor of Law and Business, Co-director of the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance
650 723.0458
Expertise: Corporate Law, Securities Regulation, Mergers and Acquisitions, Venture Capital

U.S. Business: Apple-EMI Deal / Digital Rights Management

Anthony Falzone
Executive Director, Stanford Law School's Fair Use Project
650 736.9050
Expertise: Copyright, Trademark, Rights of Publicity, Intellectual Property

Climate Change: Supreme Court Ruling Against EPA / Vermont Auto Emission Trial

Deborah A. "Debbie" Sivas
Director, Environmental Law Clinic and Lecturer in Law
650 723.0325
Expertise: Environmental Law, Climate Change/Global Warming, litigates environmental protection cases in federal courts

U.S. Immigration Reform

Jayashri Srikantiah
Associate Professor of Law (Teaching)
650 724.2442
Expertise: Civil Rights, Immigration Law

Blogging Code of Conduct / Blogger Etiquette

Lauren Gelman
Associate Director, Center for Internet and Society and Lecturer in Law
650 724.3358
Expertise: Internet and Cyberlaw

California

Liquefied Natural Gas Plants / Environmental Impact

Deborah A. "Debbie" Sivas
Director, Environmental Law Clinic and Lecturer in Law
650 723.0325
Expertise: Environmental Law, Climate Change / Global Warming, litigates environmental protection cases in federal courts

State Prisons & Criminal Sentencing Reform: Assembly Appropriations Report

Kara Dansky
Executive Director, Stanford Criminal Justice Center
650 724.5786
Expertise: Criminal Law, Criminal Sentencing Policy, Member of California's Little Hoover Commission
Robert Weisberg
Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr. Professor of Law
650 723.0612
Expertise: Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, Criminal Procedure

State Prisons & Criminal Sentencing Reform: Proposed Sentencing Commission, Little Hoover Commission Report

Kara Dansky
Executive Director, Stanford Criminal Justice Center
650 724.5786
Expertise: Criminal Law, Criminal Sentencing Policy, Member of California's Little Hoover Commission
Robert Weisberg
Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr. Professor of Law
650 723.0612
Expertise: Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, Criminal Procedure

State Prisons & Criminal Sentencing Reform: Prison Overcrowding

Kara Dansky
Executive Director, Stanford Criminal Justice Center
650 724.5786
Expertise: Criminal Law, Criminal Sentencing Policy, Member of California's Little Hoover Commission
Robert Weisberg
Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr. Professor of Law
650 723.0612
Expertise: Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, Criminal Procedure

Bios

Joseph Bankman

A leading scholar in the field of tax law, Joseph Bankman is the author of two widely used casebooks on the subject. He has gained wide attention for his work on how government might control the use of tax shelters and has testified before Congress and other legislative bodies on tax compliance problems posed by the cash economy. He has worked with the State of California, coauthoring a bill that helps to simplify tax filing by giving low-income taxpayers the option of receiving a ReadyReturn—a completed tax return prepared by the state.

G. Marcus Cole

Cole takes an empirical law and economics approach to research questions such as why corporate bankruptcies increasingly are adjudicated in Delaware, and what drives the financial structure of companies backed by venture capital. He has been a national fellow at the Hoover Institution, and has scholarly interests that range from classical liberal political theory to natural law and the history of commercial law. He serves on the board of directors for the Central Pacific Region of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, and on the editorial board of the Cato Supreme Court Review. In November 2006, Cole joined a group of distinguished economists and law professors in a amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to uphold federal preemption in Watters v. Wachovia Bank.

Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar

Cuéllar is an affiliated faculty member with the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation and served as senior advisor to the U.S. Treasury Department's Under Secretary for Enforcement. He has published the leading academic paper on the operation of federal money laundering laws. Recent projects address the role of criminal enforcement in managing transnational threats, the physical safety of refugee communities in the developing world, legislative and budgetary dynamics affecting the federal Department of Homeland Security, and the impact of bureaucratic structure on how institutions implement legal mandates.

Kara Dansky

Dansky is an expert on California sentencing policy and a member of the Little Hoover Commission Advisory Committee on Sentencing Reform. Previously, she was a staff attorney, with the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and a staff attorney for the Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons.

Anthony Falzone

Falzone, an intellectual property litigator with more than eight years of experience, has represented technology and media clients in a wide array of intellectual property disputes including copyright, trademark, rights of publicity, and patent matters. Prior to joining Stanford Law School, he was a partner in the San Francisco office of Bingham McCutchen LLP.

Lauren Gelman

Lauren Gelman writes and speaks about the interaction of new technologies and the law, represents clients in Internet litigations and advocacy matters, consults with businesses on new technologies, and survpervises students in the Cyberlaw Clinic. She also teaches Law, Technology and Privacy at the law school and is an adjunct lecturer in Stanford's School of Engineering. Her current research focuses on the legal implications of technologies that increase citizens' opportunity to participate online.

Henry T. "Hank" Greely

Greely directs both the Stanford Law School's Center for Law and the Biosciences and the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics' Program on Stem Cells in Society, and chairs the steering committee for the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. He chairs the California Advisory Committee on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and serves as an advisor on California, national, and international policy issues.

Joseph A. Grundfest

Grundfest, a former SEC Commissioner, is a nationally prominent expert on capital markets, corporate governance, and securities litigation. He has served on the staff of the President's Council of Economic Advisors as counsel and senior economist for legal and regulatory matters. Grundfest heads the award-winning Securities Class Action Clearinghouse and co-directs the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford Law School.

Mark A. Lemley

Widely recognized as a preeminent scholar of intellectual property law, Mark Lemley is a prolific writer, having published over 70 articles and six books, and an accomplished litigator, having tried cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court, and federal district courts. His major contributions to legal scholarship focus on how the economics and technology of the Internet affect patent law, copyright law, and trademark law. Professor Lemley has testified numerous times before Congress and the California legislature on patent, trade secret, antitrust, and constitutional law matters and currently serves as of counsel at Keker & Van Nest in their intellectual property and antitrust divisions.

Jenny S. Martinez

Martinez argued the 2004 case of Rumsfeld v. Padilla in the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to clarify the constitutional protections available to post-9/11 "enemy combatants" who are U.S. citizens. Martinez performed the rare feat of a clerkship triple crown, clerking on a federal appellate court, the United States Supreme Court (with Justice Stephen Breyer), and the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (with Judge Patricia Wald). Martinez's scholarship makes the first major attempt to synthesize and analyze the important new phenomenon of an increasing number of international tribunals operating in a globalized environment, but without any supervening sovereign authority to which they are all bound.

Deborah L. Rhode

Rhode, one of the nation's leading scholars in the fields of legal ethics and professional responsibility, is a prolific author of articles and books on the regulation and reform of the legal profession. She is the founding director of Stanford University's Center on Ethics and she has headed Stanford Law School's Keck Center on Legal Ethics and the Legal Profession. A former president of the Association of American Law Schools, Professor Rhode is also a regular columnist for the National Law Journal.

Deborah A. "Debbie" Sivas

Sivas has been the Director of the Stanford Environmental Law Clinic since 1997. She is a 1987 Stanford Law School graduate, clerked for a federal court, serves as president of the board for two NGOs, and has litigated many significant environmental cases in federal court on behalf of nonprofit organizations.

Jayashri Srikantiah

Jayashri Srikantiah is the director of the law school's Immigrants' Rights Clinic, in which students represent individual immigrants and immigrants' rights organizations and also engage in community outreach, public education, and policy advocacy. She has litigated extensively on behalf of immigrants, and her experience includes challenges to mandatory and indefinite detention policies in the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court and representation of human trafficking survivors. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 2004, Professor Srikantiah was the associate legal director of the ACLU of Northern California and a staff attorney at the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project.

Helen Stacy

Helen Stacy has produced works analyzing the efficacy of regional courts in promoting human rights, differences in the legal systems of neighboring countries, and the impact of postmodernism on legal thinking. Her recent scholarship has focused on the efforts of Romania, Mexico, and Thailand to improve their court systems and their policing. In addition to her role at the law school, Professor Stacy is a senior research scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. She is also a researcher with the European Forum at the Freeman Spogli Institute, a member of the Committee in Charge of the Program in Modern Thought and Literature, and is associated with the Center for African Studies.

Allen S. Weiner

Weiner is the co-director of the Stanford Center on International Conflict and Resolution. For more than a decade, he served at the United States Department of State, first as Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser, and then as Attaché and Counselor for Legal Affairs in the United States Embassy in The Hague. He is an expert on international law and the response to the contemporary security threats of international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including in North Korea and Iran.

Robert Weisberg

Weisberg is director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center. A frequent commentator and expert on white-collar crime, criminal law and procedure, sentencing, and criminal justice reform, he has served as a consulting attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the California Appellate Project, working on death penalty litigation in the federal courts. He is also versed in commercial law and secured transactions.