Even though there have already been  leaks since oil began flowing through the Dakota Access Pipeline this spring, American Indian tribes still have a chance to stop it, according to a University of Kansas professor.

In "Environmental Justice: A Necessary Lens to Effectively View Environmental Threats to Indigenous Survival," an article published in the Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems Journal, Elizabeth Kronk Warner writes that there are a number of bases under which affected American Indian tribes might reasonably challenge the pipeline in court. Kronk Warner is a KU Law professor and director of the school's Tribal Law & Government Center.

A court has already ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that approved and permitted a segment of the pipeline's cross-country route, met the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act and adequately consulted the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as to that path, which brushes up against the tribe's reservation.

But Kronk Warner writes that there are other issues over which the tribes might sue and prevail, including the basic unfairness of re-routing the pipeline away from the mostly white city of Bismarck, North Dakota, for fear of contaminating its water supply and toward the Standing Rock reservation.

"The environmental justice claim has not yet been fully adjudicated," Kronk Warner said. "There are still cases ongoing."  Then, too, Kronk Warner writes, there are legal issues related to the fact that American Indian tribes have national sovereignty.

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A recent KU Law graduate has been named a finalist in one of the nation's most competitive fellowship programs.

Josh DeMoss, L'17, earned the designation of  2018 Presidential Management Fellow Finalist after an intensive application and interview process. More than 6,000 people applied for the fellowship, and less than 10 percent made the final cut.

DeMoss accepted an appointment with the International Trade Administration at the Department of Commerce.

"I applied to the PMF program because I knew it was a prestigious avenue to federal government service for those with advanced degrees. I have wanted to work in the government since I was a child - even enlisting in the Air Force when I was 17," said DeMoss, a native of Gilmer, Texas. "I would love to have a career that is internationally focused. I aspire to one day be a Foreign Service officer or work in international development, particularly through trade."

DeMoss is certainly laying the foundation for the career of his dreams. He earned a law degree and a master's in  Russian and East European studies through KU's joint-degree program after studying the Russian language and interning in Moscow as an undergraduate at Baylor University. He switched his focus to Ukraine during his first year at KU, when that country's revolution signaled future interest in development.

Climate change is posing problems around the world to the way people live and feed themselves. In the Mediterranean Basin, a vital region to dozens of nations, it is exacerbating the existing problems of environmental degradation, agricultural land misuse, pollution, population increases and declining species. A University of Kansas law professor and two recent graduates have published an article examining the problems facing the Mediterranean region, what is being done to address them and how a new, multinational "trusteeship" entity might address the issues facing millions of the area's inhabitants.

John Head, Robert W. Wagstaff Distinguished Professor of Law at KU, wrote an article with KU Law alumni Kate Marples and Jon Simpson that was published in the journal Mediterranean Studies. Marples is a judicial clerk for the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, and Simpson is an assistant solicitor general for the state of Kansas.

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KU Law and  Washburn University School of Law co-hosted the 4th Annual Great Plains International and Comparative Law Colloquium in early May in Lawrence. Faculty members from six law schools in the region workshopped and discussed scholarship on women's rights in international trade law, global migration rights, health law in Japan, the relationship between the growth of legal systems and GDP, protecting ecosystems from climate change, judicial discretion at the International Cr iminal Court, and the disclosure of non-financial factors in global financial regulation.

Anita Killeen, former chief prosecutor in New Zealand's Serious Fraud Office, presented "Animal Law: The Connection between Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty - A New Zealand Perspective" on March 5 at the KU School of Law. 

Killeen is founder and chair of the internationally recognized Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Auckland Pro Bono Panel of Prosecutors, a group of senior New Zealand lawyers who prosecute animal cruelty cases for free. She discussed significant case law and empirical research linking domestic violence and animal cruelty and recommended legislative changes to help curb abuse.

Killeen regularly publishes and speaks nationally and internationally. She is a faculty member of the New Zealand Law Society Litigation Skills Programme, an international member of the American Bar Association Animal Law Committee and a member of the International Association of Prosecutors. A former criminal law tutor at the Auckland University School of Law, Killeen also has served in New Zealand's Government Chief Legal Advisors' Forum and the Organised and Financial Crime Policy Action Group.

Killeen is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and both the Institute of Directors and the Institute for Strategic Leadership (New Zealand).

The Diplomat's Forum is the law school's most prestigious annual international and comparative law event. Its aim is to provide a platform for an open sharing of thoughts on international law and relations and the United States through the perspective of a professional with notable diplomatic experience in the service of a foreign government.

The University of Kansas School of Law regularly serves as host to visiting scholars from overseas. The program aims to provide an opportunity for professors, practitioners and graduate students from other countries to enrich their own experience and the KU Law community in a way that can lead to a long-term mutually beneficial relationship between the scholar and KU Law faculty and students. KU Law is pleased to serve as host to these current and recent distinguished scholars.

 

Dogan Durna analyzes agricultural biotechnology policy and law in Turkey. His research explores international biotechnnological inventions and plant varieties and their application in the Turkish agricultural sector.

Xiu "Monica" Huang   conducts research for her doctoral dissertation, "Sino-China Comparative Study on the Legal Issues of Water Resources Allocation and Usage in the Coastal Areas of the Inter-Basin Water Transfer."

 

Ali Nawaz Khan  researches institutional arbitration in Pakistan. His current research evaluates the role that institutional arbitration plays in settling international disputes between investors and states.  

  

In 2013 I made my first trip to Tanzania on a Fulbright-Hays Scholarship. Not only was this my first trip outside of the United States, but it was also my first experience speaking Swahili outside of the comforts of my classroom. I was terrified that I would only last one week. After traveling around to different cities and visiting with community groups, NGOs and policymakers, my nerves quickly went away and my love for East Africa and my passion for women and children's rights began to grow.

After leaving Tanzania, I could not get back fast enough. However, from the time I attended law school with my dad when I was in second grade, I always knew that law school was in my future. My dad was a non-traditional law student with two young daughters. I attended class with him everyday after he picked me up from school. I was even called on once! After my first semester of law school, I spent the month of December researching and applying for organizations that would hopefully bring me back to East Africa. Finally, in January I received an email from the executive director of the Tanzania Women Lawyer's Association (TAWLA). After interviewing in both Swahili and English, she offered me an internship where I would focus on custody issues and land right issues for women.

The course has three sections: law as literature, law in literature and rhetoric. For the first, students read legal documents like the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, known as GATT, and apply literary theories and schools of thought to them as a better means of understanding. In a recent class, students considered how post-structuralism, deconstruction and Marxist literary interpretation could help in the understand of China's nonmarket economy status and legally ambiguous wording that has led to anti-dumping lawsuits working through the World Trade Organization, U.S. Court of International Trade and U.S. Commerce Department.

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"International" might not be a word many people immediately associate with Kansas. But don't let KU Law's location on the prairie fool you.

As president of KU's International Law Society, I have the honor of heading up one of the law school's oldest student organizations; the KU chapter of ILS is over 40 years old. Yet KU's international law tradition goes back even further. International and comparative law have been taught at KU Law since the school first opened its doors in 1878. I don't think it is a coincidence that from its beginning in 1878, KU Law has never discriminated on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender or religion. This legacy of tolerance and openness has fostered a community of ILS members interested in expanding their horizons and engaging with the varieties of law practiced around the world.

 

ILS membership is diverse because every student has a unique reason for joining. Many of our members are international students. Indeed, in recent years up to 8 percent of law students at KU have been from outside the United States. We have law students from countries around the world, including China, Egypt, Mexico, Ethiopia, Korea, Turkey, Nigeria, Libya, Ecuador and South Africa. Over the years, ILS has been a place where people from various backgrounds can meet and discuss any number of international topics. Last fall, ILS held a lunch symposium featuring some of KU's international students, many of whom have already earned law degrees in their own countries.

 

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Legal scholars from around the world gathered in Lawrence in February 2017 to present their research on contemporary law and business issues. The American Society of Comparative Law (ASCL) Younger Comparativists Committee's Third Annual Comparative Business and Financial Law Workshop explored topics ranging from Islamic commercial law to consumer financial protection and Chinese corporate governance.

"The workshop is an opportunity for younger comparative scholars to engage with a group of interdisciplinary commentators around cutting-edge issues in business law and financial regulation," said Virginia Harper Ho, University of Kansas professor of law and current chair of the Younger Comparativists Committee.  "KU Law has a strong tradition as a member of the ASCL, and this workshop is a great complement to our international and comparative law program. It's also an opportunity to collaborate with colleagues from the KU School of Business, who will be participating as commentators." 

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In international arbitration cases, billions of dollars and the validity of government regulations can be at stake, so it is imperative parties are able to choose the best arbitrator to settle their disputes. A University of Kansas law professor is part of a project working to improve the information available to parties in such cases, making the process fairer and more efficient and increasing the diversity of people deciding international arbitration cases.

Christopher Drahozal, the John M. Rounds Distinguished Professor of Law, is a member of the board of directors of  Arbitrator Intelligence, Inc. , also known as AI, an entity affiliated with Penn State University that aims to promote fairness, transparency and accountability in the arbitrator selection process. When disputes arise under international treaties, contracts and investment deals, the parties often choose to submit the dispute to arbitration, where an independent third-party rules on the case, instead of the traditional court system.

"Arbitration is different from litigation in court because in arbitration the parties pick the person who resolves their dispute (the arbitrator). But arbitration can become less fair if one party has better information about prospective arbitrators than the other," Drahozal said.

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