Robert K. Savage, Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor at Florida International University College of Law, will be presenting a Securities Law Update at the 21st Annual PIABA Meeting and Securities Law Seminar on October 24, 2012.

The Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA) organizes the seminar, which will be held over four days. PIABA is an international bar association whose members represent investors in disputes with the securities industry.

The PIABA Annual Meeting and Securities Law Seminar bring together all segments of the securities field and provides in-depth presentations related to securities arbitration and law. These meetings aim to develop a greater understanding of claimants’ issues among securities professionals.

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Professor Thomas E. Baker has garnered another important honor and national recognition. Lauren K. Robel, the President of the Association of American Law Schools, appointed Professor Baker to the Advisory Committee of the Journal of Legal Education. He will serve three years on the editorial board of the Journal, the official publication of the legal academy with a readership of more than 10,000 law teachers and other subscribers.

“I have been reading the Journal for a long time and I have published there several times,” Baker said, “so I am looking forward to working inside the Journal.”

Dean Acosta observed, “This is a noteworthy and important service to the law teaching profession.  It recognizes Professor Baker’s scholarly reputation in the U.S. legal academy.”

In the August 9th edition of The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, FIU Law Professor Megan A. Fairlie discusses the need for the “International Criminal Court (ICC), both to ensure accountability for the perpetrators of the worst crimes known to humankind and to stem the loss of innocent lives.”

Megan Fairlie is an Assistant Professor at Florida International University College of Law. She has lectured and published in the United States and abroad on international criminal justice issues over the last decade. Her analyses have appeared in such prestigious venues as the American Journal of International Law and the Berkeley Journal of International Law. Professor Fairlie is an honors graduate of Washington and Lee School of Law; she also holds an LL.M. in International Peace Support Operations and a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law, both from the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Security Council referrals to the International Criminal Court: Much Ado about Nothing?

BY MEGAN FAIRLIE

The ongoing brutalization of civilians at the hands of the Syrian regime makes it abundantly clear that the world needs the International Criminal Court (ICC), both to ensure accountability for the perpetrators of the worst crimes known to humankind and to stem the loss of innocent lives. As it stands, however, leading powers and the UN Security Council are preventing the ICC from effectively deterring the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria and elsewhere.

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In the July 23rd edition of The Atlantic, FIU Law Professor Howard Wasserman and co-author Dan Markel discuss creating “Fan Action Committees” to enable fans to pool and pay money to lure free-agent athletes to their teams.

Howard Wasserman is a professor of law at Florida International University and the editor of the Sports Law Blog.

What If Fans Could Have Paid Jeremy Lin to Stay in New York?

BY DAN MARKEL & HOWARD WASSERMAN

Introducing a new plan to lure sports superstars: Fan Action Committees

New York Knicks fans were deeply disappointed by the loss last week of guard and basketball folk hero Jeremy Lin to the Houston Rockets. Knicks fans are not alone in their sadness. Cleveland fans still have not recovered from LeBron James’ decision to take his talents to South Beach, when he signed with the Miami Heat two years ago.

It’s too late now for Lin and LeBron, but high-profile departures like these are a recurring matter in professional sports. And fans should be able to have more influence on these matters. Here’s how.

Imagine if Knicks fans could monetize their support for re-signing Lin, either as a financial kicker or simply as an expression of their desire to have him stay with the Knicks. Like politics, where we see political action committees (PACs) raise and spend money for candidates, we think there should be “Fan Action Committees” (FACs) performing similar functions. Using Facebook, Paypal, and other crowd-sourcing technologies, fans in the future could form something like a “Don’t Stop the Linsanity” Committee. From the other side, Houston fans might to do the same to make their city even more attractive to Lin.

Such FACs would organize and collect money (pledged conditionally via credit card) from other fans to provide a one-time (or perhaps even a recurring) payment for a player who joins or stays with the team. The organizers of the FAC could track the number of fans participating, as well as the money raised, as a demonstration of fan love for the player. In essence, FAC members operate like college boosters, showing their support for their teams through money. The difference is that the money goes not to the team, but to the players.

Read more at theatlantic.com »

In NBC News, Professor Phyllis Kotey is quoted on the possible strategic reasons for George Zimmerman granting an exclusive interview to Fox News’ Sean Hannity on national television.

In the article, Kotey states: “It’s a chance to hone the story and test it — test versions, what works, reactions, to see what’s going to happen. It’s an opportunity to see how a particular position will play.” She also notes that in a television appearance, Zimmerman can speak without the risk of cross-examination by the prosecution.

Phyllis Kotey is a retired judge and former prosecutor , who now teaches at Florida International University College of Law.

Zimmerman to appear on Fox to ‘open up’ about night of Trayvon Martin shooting

George Zimmerman has granted an exclusive interview to Fox News’ Sean Hannity, scheduled to air Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET, Fox announced.

“Zimmerman will open up about what happened the night of Trayvon Martin’s death and his experience in the aftermath of the fatal shooting,” according to a Fox press release.

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Martin, an unarmed black teenager, on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla. The case has become the focus of national media, and ignited an emotional debate over race and gun rights.

Zimmerman, the son of a white father and Peruvian mother of Hispanic descent, has pleaded innocent to the murder charge, and says that he shot Martin in self-defense after Martin attacked him. He is out on bail preparing for a trial.

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Professor Mirow will deliver a talk on the Spanish Constitution of Cadiz’s importance in colonial Florida to the 18th Congreso del Instituto Internacional de Historia del Derecho Indiano, in Cordoba, Argentina, at a plenary session of the congress on July 18, 2012.

With over 60 presentations by professors from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, El Salvador, Italy, France, Mexico, Peru, Spain, and Venezuela, the congress is often considered the most important gathering of historians of Spanish colonial law.  Mirow and FIU are the only presenter and university from the United States listed in the program.  Presentation at the congress is by invitation.

“It is really an honor for me to be invited to the congress and to represent Florida and the United States at this international event.  There is an incredible amount of interest from the Spanish-speaking world about the colonial period in Florida, it laws and institutions, and its promulgation of the Constitution of Cadiz 200 years ago,” Mirow said.

In the July 9th edition of The New York Times’ “Room for Debate” feature, FIU Law Professor Elizabeth Price Foley advocates revisiting the Constitution and restoring federalism.

Elizabeth Price Foley serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Justice Florida Chapter. She is also the Institute for Justice Chair in Constitutional Litigation and Professor of Law at Florida International University College of Law.

Restore Federalism: It Isn’t a Bad Word

BY ELIZABETH PRICE FOLEY

Don’t change the text. Change the attitude with more judicial engagement in enforcing existing, critical constitutional features — in particular: federalism.

To some, the F word is constitutional obscenity. It is relabeled “states’ rights” and followed by reference to slavery and the Confederacy. This taps into deep emotions but is utterly wrong.

Greater engagement with the existing Constitution is best, but proposed amendments aimed at restoring state power are worth considering.

Federalism isn’t about states’ rights. It’s about individual liberty. The Supreme Court emphasized this in Bond v. United States (2011): “By denying any one government complete jurisdiction over all the concerns of public life, federalism protects the liberty of the individual from arbitrary power. When government acts in excess of its lawful powers, that liberty is at stake.” And lest you think this emanates from the court’s right wing, Bond was unanimous.

The powers “reserved to the states” under the 10th Amendment are functionally nonexistent if the Constitution’s carefully enumerated powers are infinitely capacious. So while the 10th Amendment doesn’t tell us what powers belong to the states, its message is clear: preserving federalism requires vigilant enforcement of limited and enumerated powers.

Read more at the NYTimes.com »

At the World Meeting of Environmental Lawyers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Ryan Stoa (GLOWS Program Executive Officer and Fellow in Water Law and Policy at FIU’s College of Law) spoke of the need to harmonize and integrate international water laws.

A side event that took place during the United Nation’s Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), the World Meeting brought together environmental legal experts from around the world to discuss pressing issues and propose a way forward.

Harmonizing various legal instruments that codify or promote international water law – the Watercourses Convention and the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, in particular – would strengthen existing principles and lay a foundation for the development of a more robust and synergistic regime in water management worldwide, Stoa said in his presentation.

Stoa traced the history of international water laws and the role they have played in human society.  While local water laws have been in place for millenia, international water laws are a relatively recent, albeit urgently needed, development.

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Pictured with Bernie (middle) are Professor H.T. Smith (left), Director
of the Trial Advocacy Program,and Professor H. Scott Fingerhut (right),
Assistant Director.

Last week, the Trial Advocacy Program proudly recognized Bernardo (“Bernie”) Pastor on his fifth year as an adjunct professor teaching Trial Advocacy for the College of Law.

Bernie is currently an Assistant County Attorney for the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office, having begun his legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable John H. Moore II, of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.  After clerking for Judge Moore, Professor Pastor joined Holland & Knight here in Miami as an associate, following which he became a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida for three years, and then working at White & Case for three years more before going to the County Attorney.

Bernie has been a National Faculty Lecturer for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA).  He has also served on the Advisory (Ad Hoc) Committee on Federal Rules & Procedures here in the Southern District, The Florida Bar Federal Court Practice Committee, and chaired a Florida Bar Grievance Committee.

Professor Pastor earned his B.A. in Political Science and Economics from Fordham University, and graduated from Temple University School of Law.