In the Bleak Midwinter

Snow had fallen snow on snow, snow on snow.

Call for Papers

On Friday, March 26, 2010, the Penn State Law Review will hold a symposium addressing the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Ashcroft v. Iqbal. The symposium is entitled Reflections on Iqbal—Discerning Its Rule, Grappling With Its Implications and will feature panels addressing the following topics:

• Iqbal’s implications for the role of the courts and judges in providing American society with both the opportunity for redress of harms and a common law-based approach to the development of law.
• The majority’s reference to purposeful discrimination and what it signals about contemporary understandings of race in America.
• Iqbal’s implications for constitutional tort litigation, including the decision’s potential impact on supervisory liability, qualified immunity, and the behavior of agency officials operating under adverse conditions.

Presenters currently include: Hon. Anthony Scirica (Chief Judge, Third Circuit), Hon. D. Brooks Smith (Third Circuit), Mark Brown (Capital), Ray Campbell (Penn State), Gary Gildin (Penn State), Ramzi Kassem (CUNY), Kit Kinports (Penn State), Jim Pfander (Northwestern), Jeff Rachlinski (Cornell), Victor Romero (Penn State), Jean Sternlight (UNLV), Shoba Wadhia (Penn State), and Nancy Welsh (Penn State). Presented papers will be published in a Symposium Issue of the Penn State Law Review. Brief abstracts of the papers are posted on Penn Statim.

The deadline for submissions in response to this Call is Friday, April 16, 2010. All submissions must be sent to iqbalsymposium@law.psu.edu. All submissions must be in English and comply with Bluebook formatting rules. If possible, please limit the submissions to five thousand words or less.

For more information, visit the Penn State Law Review web site: Penn Statim.

It Smells Like Stress

Perhaps I am imagining it, but upon entering the Law School this morning, there was a distinct smell that I can only attribute to one thing: stress. The smell was nothing too obvious, but coupled with the stillness in the building, it brought to mind my own final exam periods, which are – thankfully - over. Today is the first day of final exams for the fall semester, and the first exam for our 1Ls is torts. I can think of few exams more daunting than first-year torts. Even the bar exam didn’t compare, at least for me.

As the students march forward through these examinations, I encourage them to remember to take care of themselves. Good sleep, proper nutrition, and sticking to a schedule will all aid in the actual exam-taking itself. These next ten days will be over soon, and the festivities of the holidays will be fast upon all of us. For now, I wish all exam-takers peace in their studies, energy for the work ahead of them, and vision for their futures. There is a point to all of this madness, and diligence during these next few days will pay dividends down the road.

Good luck, everyone!