News Center

This Week's Experts – February 26, 2008

Overview

Stanford Law School experts are available to comment on the following news topics this week.

World

  • Cuba/Castro Resignation
  • Darfur
  • Russia: Gazprom Deal and Increased Coal Production
  • Afghanistan
  • Kosovan Independence
  • Pakistan
  • China and Internet Censorship
  • Iran Sanctions/ Iran Nuclear Program
  • Iraq Security Plan

Nation

  • U.S. Supreme Court
    • Exxon Valdez Hearing
    • Medical Device Ruling: Riegel v. Medtronic
    • Harm Liability Case: Wyeth v. Levine
  • U.S. Business
    • Microsoft-Yahoo Proxy Fight
    • Securities Fraud
    • Corporate Governance
  • Congress
    • Senate Bill to Cut Iraq Funding
    • Farm Bill
    • Subprime Mortgage Crisis
    • Foreclosure Plan
    • Patent Reform
  • Election 2008
  • EPA & Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  • Guantanamo

California

  • California Supreme Court: Hearing on Gay Marriage March 4

World

Cuba/ Castro Resignation

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

Darfur

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

Russia: Gazprom Deal and Increased Coal Production

David Victor
Professor of Law
650 724.1712
Expertise: Energy Law and Regulation, Environmental and Natural Resources Law, International Environment, International Law and Economy

Afghanistan

Barbara Olshansky
Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor in Human Rights
650 736.2312
Expertise: International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, Detention related to Terrorism / GTMO, Immigrants' Rights, Prisoners' Rights, Native American Rights, Environmental Law, Public Health, Race Discrimination in Employment and Education. (Note: Has additional expertise on Afghanistan)

Kosovan Independence

Allen S. Weiner
Senior Lecturer in Law 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

Pakistan

Allen S. Weiner
Senior Lecturer in Law 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

China and Internet Censorship

Allen S. Weiner
Senior Lecturer in Law 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

Iran Sanctions/ Iran Nuclear Program

Allen S. Weiner
Senior Lecturer in Law 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

Iraq Security Plan

Allen S. Weiner
Senior Lecturer in Law 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

U.S. Supreme Court: Exxon Valdez Hearing

Jeffrey L. Fisher
Associate Professor of Law (Teaching)
650 724.7081
Expertise: Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Federal Courts, the Supreme Court
Note: Fisher is arguing the case in the Supreme Court on behalf of the claimants.

U.S. Supreme Court: Medical Device Ruling: Riegel v. Medtronic

Alan O. Sykes
Professor of Law
650 723.0178
Expertise: Antitrust, Contracts, Insurance, International Law, International Trade, Law and Economics, Torts (Product Standards, Product Liability)

U.S. Supreme Court: Harm Liability Case: Wyeth v. Levine

Alan O. Sykes
Professor of Law
650 723.0178
Expertise: Antitrust, Contracts, Insurance, International Law, International Trade, Law and Economics, Torts (Product Standards, Product Liability)

U.S. Business: Microsoft-Yahoo Proxy Fight

Michael Klausner
Nancy and Charles Munger Professor of Business and Professor of Law
650 723.6433
Expertise: Corporate Law and Governance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Shareholder Litigation

U.S. Business: Securities Fraud

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: Corporate Governance

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

Congress: Senate Bill to Cut Iraq Funding

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

Congress: Farm Bill

Barton H. "Buzz" Thompson, Jr.
Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law and Director, Woods Institute for the Environment
650 723.2518
Expertise: Natural Resources Law, Water Law, Environmental Law, Property
Woods Institute Farm Bill website: http://woods.stanford.edu/ideas/farmbill/results.html

Congress: Subprime Mortgage Crisis

G. Marcus Cole
Wm. Benjamin Scott and Luna M. Scott Professor of Law
650 723.9216
Expertise: Bankruptcy, Commercial Law, Contracts, Venture Capital

Congress: Foreclosure Plan

G. Marcus Cole
Wm. Benjamin Scott and Luna M. Scott Professor of Law
650 723.9216
Expertise: Bankruptcy, Commercial Law, Contracts, Venture Capital

Congress: Patent Reform

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

Election 2008

Mariano-Florentino Cuellar
Professor of Law and Deane F. Johnson Faculty Scholar
650 723.9216
Expertise: International Criminal Law, International Security, Separation of Powers (Note: Professor Cuellar advises the Obama campaign on immigration, criminal justice, national security, and other legal issues.)
George Fisher
Judge Crown Professor of Law
650 723.2578
Expertise: Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, Criminal Procedure, Evidence
William B. Gould IV
Charles A. Beardsley Professor of Law, Emeritus
650 723.2111
Expertise: Comparative Law, Labor and Employment Law, Sports and Entertainment Law
Dan Siciliano
Executive Director, Program in Law, Economics and Business
650 725.9045
Expertise: Immigration and the Economy, Corporate Finance, Corporate Governance
Allen S. Weiner
Senior Lecturer in Law 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 (Note: Professor Weiner served as a legal advisor to John EdwardsÕ campaign.)

EPA & Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Deborah A. "Debbie" Sivas
Director, Environmental Law Clinic and Lecturer in Law
650 723.0325
Expertise: Environmental & Natural Resources Law, Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Guantanamo

Mariano-Florentino Cuellar
Professor of Law and Deane F. Johnson Faculty Scholar
650 723.9216
Expertise: International Criminal Law, International Security, Separation of Powers (Enemy Combatants)
Jenny S. Martinez
Associate Professor of Law and Justin M. Roach, Jr. Faculty Scholar
650 725.2749
Expertise: Separation of Powers, Civil Procedure and Litigation, Comparative Law, Constitutional Law, Human Rights, International Law, Detention related to Terrorism/GTMO, Jose Padilla case
Barbara Olshansky
Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor in Human Rights
650 736.2312
Expertise: International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, Detention related to Terrorism / GTMO, Immigrants' Rights, Prisoners' Rights, Native American Rights, Environmental Law, Public Health, Race Discrimination in Employment and Education.

California

California Supreme Court: Hearing on Gay Marriage March 4

Michael Wald
Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law, Emeritus
650 723.0322
Expertise: Family Law, Children and the Law
Note: Wald filed an amicus brief on behalf of 23 of the 26 California professors of family law and is named counsel in the case.

Bios

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. In November 2006, Cole was part of a group of regulatory experts, who, represented by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, filed an 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.

George Fisher

A former Massachusetts assistant attorney general and assistant district attorney, George Fisher is one of the nation's top scholars of criminal law and evidence. In his scholarship he explores, through meticulous archival research, the history of criminal law and criminal institutions from prisons to juries, from plea bargaining to the regulation of alcohol and drugs. Professor Fisher's publications include an acclaimed casebook on evidence and a history of plea bargaining in America. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1995, he was a professor at Boston College Law School and an assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office.

Jeffrey Fisher

A leading Supreme Court litigator and nationally recognized expert on criminal procedure, Jeffrey Fisher has argued several and worked on dozens of other cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. His successes include bringing and winning the landmark cases of Blakely v. Washington, in which the Court held the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial applies to sentencing guidelines and Crawford v. Washington, in which he persuaded the Court to adopt a new approach to the Constitution's Confrontation Clause. In 2006, the National Law Journal named Professor Fisher one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America. He co-directs the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School, and is arguing Exxon Shipping Co. v. Grant Baker before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of claimants.

William B. Gould IV

A prolific scholar of labor and discrimination law, William B. Gould IV has been an influential voice on worker-management relations for over forty years and recently served as chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. Professor Gould has been a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators since 1970 and has arbitrated and mediated more than 200 labor disputes, including the 1992 and 1993 salary disputes between the Major League Baseball Players Association and the Major League Baseball Player Relations Committee. Professor Gould is the recipient of five honorary doctorates for his significant contributions in the fields of labor law and labor relations.

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.

Michael Klausner

Klausner, a leading scholar of corporate law and corporate governance, has conducted in-depth empirical studies of outside director liability and takeover defenses in firms at their initial public offering. He also has done theoretical work on the overall structure and function of corporate law, and his recent scholarship has focused on securities litigation, directorsÕ and officersÕ liability insurance, and the liability risk of outside directors.

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.

Barbara Olshansky

Known for her groundbreaking work on the 2004 Rasul v. Bush case, in which the Supreme Court of the United States overruled a lower court ruling and found that American courts have jurisdiction over claims brought by Guantanamo detainees who are foreign nationals, Olshansky is a leading voice in international human rights and humanitarian law. Prior to her appointment at Stanford Law, she led the Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative at the Center for Constitutional Rights and served as CCR's deputy legal director litigating civil and human rights cases and supervising new lawyers. She has also served as a union-side labor and plaintiff's employment discrimination lawyer and argued cases for the Environmental Defense Fund.

Dan Siciliano

In addition to serving as executive director of the Program in Law, Economics, and Business, and co-director of Stanford's Directors' College, Siciliano is a senior research fellow with the Immigration Policy Center and a frequent commentator on the long-term economic impact of immigration policy and reform. His work has included expert testimony in front of both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. Prior to his position at the law school, he co-founded the Immigration Outreach Center in Phoenix, Arizona and served as executive director for five years.

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.

Alan Sykes

A leading expert on the application of economics to legal problems, Sykes has focused his research on international economic relations. His writing and teaching have encompassed international trade, torts, contracts, insurance, antitrust, and economic analysis of law. He has been a member of the executive committee and the board of the American Law and Economics Association, and currently serves as reporter for the American Law Institute Project on Principles of Trade Law: The World Trade Organization. Sykes is associate editor of the Journal of International Economic Law, and a member of the board of editors of the World Trade Review.

Barton H. "Buzz" Thompson, Jr.

Barton H. "Buzz" Thompson has contributed a large body of scholarship on environmental issues ranging from the future of endangered species and fisheries to the use of economic techniques for regulating the environment. He is the founding director of the law schoolÕs Environmental and Natural Resources Program, director of and a senior scholar at the Woods Institute for the Environment, and a senior scholar at the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies. Thompson is chairman of the Natural Heritage Institute and a board member of the the Nature Conservancy of California, the American Farmland Trust, the Resources Legacy Fund, and the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation.

David Victor

David Victor, an expert in the areas of regulation, energy law, and environmental policy, came to Stanford University in 2001 to start the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). The Program focuses on the economic and environmental consequences of energy consumption, and much of Professor Victor's work involves extensive field research in emerging markets (notably China and India) and in some of the world's poorest regions, including in Africa. Professor Victor teaches regulation at the Law School and continues his work at FSI through a joint appointment. Previously, he directed the Science and Technology program at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

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.