Judges are Human Too: Recognizing and Combatting Judicial Bias

Tuesday, June 1
12:00-1:00 p.m. 

1.0 Ethics CLE

Professors Itay Ravid and Jessica Webb

While discussions about judicial bias are as old as the judiciary itself, recent years have shown meaningful advancement in empirical and normative research in this domain. In this CLE we will offer an overview of the current trends in scholarship about judicial bias and will specifically address how the media coverage of crime affects judicial decision-making. Through our discussion, we hope to achieve two main goals: first, advance conceptual understandings about the meaning and consequences of the (somewhat loaded) term "judicial bias," and second, discuss potential methods for reducing the influence of bias in the decision-making process. 

Legal Issues in the Olympics and International Sports Law

Wednesday, June 2
12:00-1:00 p.m.

1.0 Substantive CLE

Moderated by Professors Andrew Brandt and Diane Edelman

Panelists:
Katherine Porter '10, Associate, International Litigation and Arbitration, Skadden

Matthew Kaiser '16, Attorney, Global Sports Advocates

Andrew Visnovsky '13, Lawyer and Sports Management Consultant, Ad Victoriam Sports Group, LLC

This year has been an unusual year in so many areas of the law – including international sports law. Postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020, the Olympics are now scheduled to take place in Tokyo from July 23 to August 8.  In addition to COVID's effects on athletes' travel, competitions – and even team practices – other legal issues are currently challenging athletes' abilities to compete.

This CLE, featuring three Villanova Law alumni who earned Master’s Degrees in International Sports Law at Madrid's Instituto Superior y Derecho as part of the Law School's JD/LLM International Studies program, have become experts not only in areas of domestic sports law practice, but in areas of international practice as well. They will share their perspectives on Olympic hot topics like anti-doping, the rights of transgender athletes, equal pay issues, and COVID-19 regulation. Please join us for what promises to be a timely and captivating discussion!

Law and Literature – The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks

Thursday, June 3
4:00-5:00 p.m. 

1.0 Ethics CLE

Professor David Caudill 

This one-hour ethics CLE program will focus on Russell Banks' 1991 novel, The Sweet Hereafter. Set in a small town in upstate New York, the novel explores the tragic aftermath of a school bus accident that has taken the lives of many of the town's children. Through Banks's skillful use of multiple first-person narratives, we enter the lives of the survivors, the grief-stricken parents and the lawyer hired to file a lawsuit seeking damages.

The novel, which was made into an award-winning motion picture of the same title, brilliantly illuminates the personal impact of the catastrophe on several characters, including those who are now charged with seeking justice. The novel also effectively explores the tort system—while the novel delineates the emotional and psychic damage wrought by the accident, it spends much more time on questions about liability, the complexities of litigation and, ultimately, the process of healing. These and many other questions — including a surprising twist in testimony by one of the victims — make the novel a good choice for a CLE ethics program.