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 Eric Franklin Amarante was interviewed and quoted in the article “White supremacist groups exploit IRS loophole to make millions” on ThinkProgress.org. As noted in the article, “[f]ew experts and academics have paid as close attention to the tax loopholes available to some white supremacist organizations as Eric Franklin Amarante, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law.” The article described and quoted Professor Amarante’s article Why Don’t Some White Supremacists Groups Pay Taxes? 67 Emory L.J. Online 2045 (2018).
Professor Doug Blaze’s article, Law Student Motivation, Satisfaction, and Well-Being: The Value of a Leadership and Professional Development Curriculum, was published at 58 Santa Clara L. Rev. 547 (2018).
At the annual AALS conference in New Orleans, Professor Blaze was elected as chair-elect for the AALS leadership section. He remains on the section executive committee and will serve as chair during 2020.
Last semester, Professor Robert Blitt offered a guest lecture for the undergraduate “Intro to Global Studies” program. Professor Blitt’s lecture discussed the rise of the modern international human rights system, and focused on the challenges relating to implementation and enforcement of human rights norms.
Professor Blitt’s analysis of recent amendments to the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), The Wolf Act Amendments to the U.S. International Religious Freedom Act: Breakthrough or Breakdown? is the lead article in the latest issue of The Journal of Law & Public Affairs. The article takes a critical look at the major changes brought about by the Wolf Act, and argues that while this bipartisan legislative initiative originally envisioned a wide range of amendments intended to address IRFA’s past shortcomings, the final product resulted in many provisions being either diluted or altogether deleted, the victims of bad design or competing political interests. In the end, the Wolf Act as enacted represents an ambivalent renewal of IRFA’s original promise “to use and implement appropriate tools in the United States foreign policy apparatus . . . to promote respect for religious freedom by all governments and peoples.”
Professor Zack Buck’s article A Farewell to Falsity: Shifting Standards in Medicare Fraud Enforcement, was the lead article in volume 49 of the Seton Hall Law Review.
Professor Buck published a review in JOTWELL titled Corporate Responsibility: The Duty to Rescue and Access to Medicine.
Professor Buck was an invited guest on “Who’s Been Naughty or Nice?” Holiday Show, This Week in Health Law Podcast, Episode 153, with host Professor Nic Terry, iTunes, Dec. 23, 2018. The podcast features Professors Zack Buck, Erin Fuse Brown, and Elizabeth Weeks Leonard.
Professor Buck was invited to present States As Activists; Symposium: Solving America’s Drug Pricing Problem, at the Journal of Legal Medicine Symposium, Georgia State University College of Law, on Jan. 25, 2019.
Professor Alex Long’s article Abolishing the Suicide Rule, was published in volume 113 of the Northwestern University Law Review. The article addresses longstanding reluctance in tort law to permit recovery in a wrongful death action from a defendant who is alleged to have caused the suicide of the decedent.
Professor Glenn Reynolds’s Crime Follies: Overcriminalization, Independent Prosecutors, and the Rule of Law is currently ranked #1 on the SSRN Top Downloads for the Legal Scholarship Network. “This chapter from Peter W. Morgan & Glenn H. Reynolds, ‘The Appearance of Impropriety: How The Ethics Wars Have Undermined American Government, Business, and Society’ describes how the combination of politically inspired prosecutions and indeterminate criminal offenses has served to undermine fairness and faith in government.”
Professor Reynolds’s article Splitsylvania: State Secession and What to Do About It was published at 94 Notre Dame L. Rev. Online 90 (2019).
The Southeast Association of Law Schools has selected Professor Greg Stein’s article, Will the Sharing Economy Increase Inequality?, as one of two papers to be presented in response to its Call for Papers. Professor Stein will present the article at the SEALS annual meeting in July.
Professor Stein’s article, Professors of Real Estate Law: Different Types, Different Needs, has been published at 53 Wake Forest Law Review 961 (2018).
Dean Melanie Wilson was selected to serve as co-chair of the planning committee for the New Law Dean’s Workshop, which takes place in June in Denver. In the past, the conference has been hosted by the ABA Section of Legal Education. This year, it is offered by the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar and also LSAC, AALS, NALP, and AccessLex.
AALS Participation
During this year’s meeting, Professor Eric Amarante Franklin was selected as a Bellow Scholar. The program supports scholars who employ empirical analysis, connect research to advocacy, and involve substantial collaboration between law and other academic disciplines. Selected projects become the focus of information sharing, discussion, and critique at the annual AALS Clinical Conference and at annual workshops organized by the committee.
Professor Brad Areheart spoke twice at the 2019 AALS annual conference. He was an invited speaker for the panel, Disability Rights as a Social Movement,and there presented his work in progress, Empathy, Sympathy, and Social Movements. He also presented The Headwinds and Tailwinds of Workplace Equality as part of the Works in Progress series. Areheart was elected as treasurer of the scholarship section, and continues to serve of the executive committees of the employment discrimination, labor and employment, disability law, and new law professors sections.
Associate Dean Teri D. Baxter participated on the Associate Deans for Academic Affairs and Research Panel on “Essential Skills: Leadership, Project Management, Communication, and Integrity.” She discussed communication challenges and strategies within the law school, with university administrators, and other stakeholders.
Professor Joan Heminway co-organized and co-moderated a discussion session at the 2019 AALS Annual Meeting titled “Insider Trading and Cryptoassests: The Future of Regulation in the Blockchain Era.” She was elected to the executive committee of the AALS Section on Agency, Partnerships, LLCs, and Unincorporated Associations at the Annual Meeting.
Professor Michael Higdon was a panelist on “Parents’ and Children’s Rights in a Post-Obergefell World,” presented by the section on family and juvenile law, and “LGBTQ Rights Halfway Through Trump’s (First?) Term: Advancement, Retrenchment, Potential,” presented by the section on sexual orientation and gender identity issues.