Kilpatrick Chair of Corporate Finance and Securities Law Usha Rodrigues's article "Law and the Blockchain" (104 Iowa Law Review 679 (2019)) was reviewed by Anna Gelpern in JOTWELL (Jan. 29, 2019). In the review, Gelpern states, "The specter of runaway firms impervious to legal intervention could be a very big governance deal. Kudos to Usha Rodrigues for spotting it and launching the conversation."

Hosch Associate Professor Kent Barnett's forthcoming article "Some Kind of Hearing Officer" was reviewed by Kathryn Watts in JOTWELL (Jan. 28, 2019). In the review, Watts notes that Barnett's work "begins to pull the cover back from the administrative state's previously hidden judiciary."

CURRENTLY ALL UNIVERSITY OPERATIONS ARE NORMAL

At this time, we are planning for normal operations at the Athens Campus of UGA on Tuesday, Jan. 29. Clarke County is not listed among the 35 affected counties, and we are not expecting any weather-related problems during the day on Tuesday. However, we are continuing to monitor weather forecasts. Check emergency.uga.edu for updates.

Smith Professor Hillel Y. Levin published "A proposal to reduce vaccine exemptions while respecting rights of conscience" (with S. Kershner, T. Lytton and D. Salmon) on The Conversation. The article was published 1/2/19.

Congratulations to the team of third-year student Samuel Baker and second-year student William C. Phillips for finishing as first runner-up in Tulane Law School's Professional Football Negotiation Competition. The pair competed in six rounds of negotiations in the School of Law's first appearance in the competition.

Congratulations to third-year students Simone Ford, Thomas Grantham and Timia Skelton for winning the Hunton Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship. The team defeated William & Mary Law School in the final round. This invitation-only tournament is for the top 16 moot court programs from law schools across the country based on performances from the previous academic year.

The University of Georgia School of Law has announced the establishment of The Be Kind Fund, in memory of the late Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice P. Harris Hines. The fund will: sponsor a Georgia Jurist-in-Residence, where a Georgia judge or justice will spend a period in residence at the School of Law teaching and interacting with students each year; support semester/summer fellowships for students, with preference given to those who will work or serve as judicial clerks at the Supreme Court of Georgia; and fund scholarship aid for law students.

University Professor & Caldwell Chair Dan T. Coenen published "Free Speech and the Law of Evidence" in 68 Duke Law Journal 639 (2019).

Carter Chair in Tort and Insurance Law Michael L. Wells published "Qualified Immunity After Ziglar v. Abbasi: The Case for a Categorical Approach" in 68 American University Law Review 379 (2018).

Wilner/UGA Foundation Professor in International Law Harlan G. Cohen presented "The Sociology of International Precedent" at the "Opening the Black Box of Precedent and Case-based Reasoning" workshop held at the University of Vienna in Austria during January.

Congratulations to second-year student Sydney A. Hamer for being awarded a Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough Diversity Scholarship. This honor is open to second-year law students and is designed to increase the number of diverse law students interested in summer and long-term employment with the firm.

The School of Law was recently awarded a Self Represented Litigant Grant from the Judicial Council of Georgia to support the efforts of the Athens Access to Justice Initiative, which seeks to provide community members, who are unable to afford legal representation, with access to attorneys. The initiative operates through a partnership between the School of Law, the Western Circuit Bar Association and the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, and includes monthly legal pop-up clinics and a Self-Represented Litigant Center and Library.

Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives & Alston Associate Chair in Corporate Law Mehrsa Baradaran was featured in Bloomberg Law regarding her thoughts on U.S. Rep. Katherine Porter's appointment to the House Financial Services Committee. The article titled "Warren Protege is Rookie to Watch on House Financial Services" was written by Lydia Beyoud and published 1/18/19.

Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives & Alston Associate Chair in Corporate Law Mehrsa Baradaran was mentioned in The Atlantic regarding her book The Color of Money, which is considered "one of the most influential recent works on the racial wealth gap." The article titled "The Racial Wealth Gap Could Become a 2020 Litmus Test" was written by Vann R. Newkirk II and published 1/16/19.

Callaway Chair Elizabeth Chamblee Burch was featured in The Wall Street Journal regarding a French court revoking approval for a Bayer AG weedkiller. The article titled "Bayer's Roundup Faces New Setback in France" was written by Ruth Bender and published 1/16/19.

Notable scholars and national leaders in politics, business, higher education and several other fields will visit the University of Georgia this semester as part of the Signature Lecture series. The law school's 117th Sibley Lecture to be delivered by the University of Chicago's David A. Strauss on the topic of U.S. Supreme Court decisions is included in this special series. Signature Lectures denote campus talks by speakers with broad, multidisciplinary appeal and compelling bodies of work. Many of the lectures are supported by endowments, while others honor notable figures and milestones in the university's history.

Dean Peter B. "Bo" Rutledge and third-year student Amanda Newton published "Mystery Subpoena Case at Supreme Court Could Expand US Authority" in the Daily Report on 1/15/19.

Georgia Athletic Association Professor David E. Shipley was featured on GPB regarding copyright issues surrounding the use of Stacey Abrams photos during Brian Kemp's campaign for governor. The article titled "Photographer Sues Kemp Campaign for Unapproved Use of Abrams Photo" was written by Bailey Walker and published 1/15/19.

Associate Dean for Faculty Development & Hosch Professor Elizabeth Weeks was elected to the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Torts and Compensation Systems.

Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives & Alston Associate Chair in Corporate Law Mehrsa Baradaran was featured in Harvard Law Today regarding her keynote address "The Color of Money: Banking and Racial Inequality" at the school's "Money as a Democratic Medium" conference. The article was written by Brett Milano and published 1/11/19.