According to the editorial, child prostitutes – who can prosecuted for prostitution in most states – “would have a much better chance to build normal lives if the country stopped treating them as criminals and began to see them as the victims that they clearly are.” The editorial argues that states need to invest in counseling services and safe houses for these children.

Kirsten Widner, a lead author of the study and a post-graduate fellow of the Barton Clinic, worked closely with the author of the editorial. Widner also was quoted in a recent Washington Post article on the topic of child prostitution.

The Barton Clinic study can be viewed in its entirety here.

Worthington also serves as a senior fellow with Emory’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion and has been chosen to participate in Emory’s inaugural Academic Leadership Program.

Prior to joining Emory Law, Worthington served as director of Program Development for Fulton County Juvenile Court, as a staff attorney with the Juvenile Advocacy Division of Georgia Indigent Defense Council, and as director of the Georgia Supreme Court Child Placement Project.

The Barton Clinic is dedicated to effecting systemic policy and process changes for the benefit of children in Georgia's child welfare and juvenile justice systems. The clinic serves these children by providing multi-disciplinary, child-focused research, training, and support for practitioners and policymakers and by training the next generation of child advocates. The clinic teaches law and other graduate students through the Emory Summer Child Advocacy Program and the clinic’s three academic year offerings: a juvenile defender clinic, a public policy clinic and a legislative clinic. Located at Emory Law, the Barton Clinic collaborates with Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, School of Medicine, Candler School of Theology, as well as other Georgia colleges and universities. For more information about the Barton Clinic, please visit www.childwelfare.net.

The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers was founded in 1995 to promote achievement, advancement and excellence in the practice of labor and employment law. Fellows of the College are dedicated to the study of professional ethics in the practice of labor and employment law, and to the improvement of the delivery and quality of labor and employment legal services. Professor Shanor is one of a very small number of legal academics to be invited to membership in the College, which consists primarily of practicing lawyers.

“The clearest immediate impact of this ruling is to remove the remaining barriers for closing Guantanamo Bay,” Swift said on CNN. “It means, in legal terms, Guantanamo Bay is no different than Kansas.”

Swift also responded in an Associated Press story that ran on ABCNews.com. “Guantanamo generally and the [military] tribunals were conceived on the idea that ‘constitutional protections wouldn’t apply,’ Swift said. ‘The court said the Constitution applies. They’re in big trouble.’”

According to the AP article, Swift will “seek dismissal of the charges against Hamdan based on the new ruling.”

The 5-4 ruling applies to nearly 300 Guantanamo detainees, most of whom are being held as suspected terrorists with links to al-Qaida. The legal question of the detainees’ right to habeas corpus has been argued by the Supreme Court since 2004. “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times,” said Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote for the majority.

Professor Fred Tung, a corporate and bankruptcy law specialist, presented his paper Law, Agency Costs and Project Finance, co-authored with Subbu Subramanian and Xue Wang, both professors at Emory’s Goizueta Business School. The paper shows empirically across forty countries that project finance offers a contractual and organizational substitute for poor investor protection.

Professor Jonathan Nash, who will join the Emory Law faculty this fall from the University of Chicago and Tulane University, presented his paper Allocation and Uncertainty: Strategic Responses to Environmental Grandfathering, in which he evaluates government schemes for retrospective resource allocation for potential strategic inefficiencies, and proposes solutions.

Professor Sasha Volokh, who will join the Emory Law faculty in fall 2009, presented his paper Privatization, Free Riding, and Industry-Expanding Lobbying. Professor Volokh offers a formal model challenging the criticism of privatization that it distorts the political system by giving incentive to private contractors to self-interestedly lobby for changes in substantive laws.

An article about the lecture, featured in The Athens Messenger, is available here.

An-Na’im and his recent book, Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari’a, also were discussed in a recent U.S. News and World Report article, “Why Islamic State Would Be Bad for Muslims.” To read that article in its entirety, visit the U.S News and World Report Web site here.

“Our conference is a watershed in the evolution of transactional education,” Stark said. “It is the first conference that addresses the teaching of both drafting and transactional skills. To be the host of such a conference is clear evidence of Emory's leadership role in the advance of this new pedagogy.”

The two-day conference served as a “train the trainers” program for those involved in the teaching of transactional law and contract drafting. Phillip Knott, Professor of Professional Legal Education at Nottingham Trent University Law School delivered the conference’s keynote address, and more than 60 presenters lead education sessions on topics such as “Teaching Transactional

Skills in First-year Writing Courses” and “Using Technology to Teach Contract Drafting.”

Established in 2007, the Center for Transactional Law and Practice is one major component of Emory Law’s strategic plan. Under Stark’s leadership, the Center positions Emory Law at the forefront of legal education by integrating professional and transactional skills with traditional legal training.

For more information about the Center’s inaugural conference, visit www.law.emory.edu/contractdrafting.

Satz also published an article on “Re-imagining Health Care Reform” in the May issue of The Academic Exchange.

The Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University is home to world-class scholars and forums on the religious foundations of law, politics, and society. It offers first-rank expertise on how the teachings and practices of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have shaped and can continue to transform the fundamental ideas and institutions of our public and private lives. The scholarship of CSLR faculty provides the latest perspectives, while its conferences and public forums foster reasoned and robust public debate.

Alexander, an affordable housing expert and the founding director of the Emory’s Center for the Study of law and Religion (CSLR), has played a significant role in advising Congress and state governments on the issues surrounding vacant and abandoned properties resulting from foreclosures. Today’s testimony focuses on H.R. 5818: Neighborhood Stabilization Act of 2008, which would allocate $15 billion to state and local governments hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis.  

“Once foreclosures have occurred, the costs of vacant houses are borne by the adjoining property owners, the neighbors down the street, the surrounding community, the schools, and the local governments,” said Alexander. “A vacant house drives down the value of adjoining property within one-half mile by 1-3 percent. In addition, it is quickly vandalized, which drops the value further, calls to police and fire departments increase, and property tax revenues decline.”

The bill proposes that the communities most affected acquire and convert foreclosed properties into new productive uses, including affordable housing.

Alexander's testimony