Faculty Forum – December 2018

Faculty Forum is a monthly feature written by Teri Baxter highlighting the achievements of faculty at UT Law including publications in academia and the media, speaking engagements, interviews, awards, and other accomplishments.

Professor Judy Cornett has been invited to write a response to Professor Michael Hoffheimer’s article, The Stealth Revolution in Personal Jurisdiction, 70 Fla. L. Rev. 499 (2018). Her response will appear in the Florida Law Review Forum.

Professor Iris Goodwin was the featured speaker for the Columbia University Faculty Seminar on Law & Politics on Dec. 11. Her topic was “Dating in Tennessee:  Relief under the Draconian Wills Act for Some But Not All.”

Professor Maurice Stucke spoke about the risks of data-opolies on our economy, autonomy, well-being and democracy at two recent events: First, the conference Bridge Over Troubled Water – Digital Competition in a Trans-Atlantic Dialogue, whichBEUC, the primary European consumer organization, held in Brussels, Belgium, and second, University College London’s conference, Taming the “Fourth Power”: Competition Law and Policy in the Era of Digital Platforms and Intermediaries in London.

Professor Stucke spoke on Dec. 3 at the Georgetown Law-Cornell Tech Roundtable on the Political Economy of Data held at Georgetown Law.  The roundtable session considered regulatory and governance issues relating to data holdings and access to data in the networked, platform-based information environment. Maurice and Julia Powles also helped lead the discussions on the second panel involving competition and data labor. 

On Dec. 5, Professor Stucke participated in the ABA Antitrust Section’s event, Alternatives to the Consumer Welfare Standard and Media and Technology Mergers, where he and his co-author presented and discussed their paper, The Effective Competition Standard: A New Standard for Antitrust, forthcoming in the University of Chicago Law Review.

Professor Stucke’s research and his testimony before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics of the Canadian House of Commons has been cited extensively in the Committee’s report: Democracy Under Threat: Risks and Solutions in the Era of Disinformation and Data Monopoly. Not only did they adopt his recommendations, they added “Recommendation 12 on modernizing the Competition Act:  that the Government of Canada study the potential economic harms caused by so-called “data-opolies” in Canada and determine if modernization of the Competition Act is required.”

Professor Penny White conducted a half-day evidence session for Tennessee’s municipal judges who are seeking their judicial development certificate on Nov. 16 and a half-day evidence and trial practice boot camp for the Memphis Bar Association on Dec. 10.

Professor White presented a half-day program for the Tennessee Municipal Judges Conference on Nov. 17 in Chattanooga. Judges with municipal jurisdiction in the state, many of whom also serve as juvenile and general sessions judges in their respective counties, attended. The judges participated in interactive discussions about fair and efficient courtroom management, appropriate judicial procedure with self-represented litigants, and implementing an evidentiary framework.