Members of the Thomas Jefferson faculty take a particular interest in developments that are at the cutting-edge of the law and of special contemporary importance. Here are a few examples of some cutting-edge issues on which they have been teaching, writing and serving the community:
Legalization of Marijuana: Professor Alex Kreit is an expert on the law of controlled substances. He served as chair of the San Diego Task Force on Medical Marijuana, is the author of the first casebook ever written on illegal drug and marijuana law and is currently working on another casebook devoted solely to legal issues involved in the legalization of marijuana.
Immigration: Professor Ilene Durst was a founding board member of the Immigration Justice Project, an ABA-sponsored nonprofit that represents detained immigrants. Her work has been relied upon by the U.S. Court of Appeals in decisions relating to credibility assessments in asylum proceedings.
Transgender and Intersex: Emerita Professor Julie Greenberg was a pioneer in the field of law that addresses the special problems of the transgender and intersex communities, a field in which she has been working since 1999. She is the author of an award-winning book on the subject and is often consulted by attorneys litigating cases challenging the binary gender system.
Economic Globalization: Professor Ken Vandevelde has worked for both the White House and the State Department on an array of issues relating to free trade agreements, such as the NAFTA. He has written four books on the subject, has served as an advisor to the U.S. Senate, the United Nations and several foreign governments, and has testified as an expert witness in a number of international arbitrations. Professor Susan Bisom-Rapp is an authority on the impact of economic globalization on workers and has published a path breaking casebook on international and comparative employment law.
Assisted Reproduction: Professor Ellen Waldman is an expert in the field of bioethics, with a particular emphasis on issues related to assisted reproduction. She is currently advising a state court judge who is deciding a case relating to the custody of frozen embryos.
Sexual Harassment: Although sexual harassment has recently dominated the news, Professor Susan Bisom-Rapp has been writing and teaching about the subject for years. She is the author of a recent book on sex discrimination in the workplace.
Consumer Protection: Professor Steve Semeraro is widely published expert on credit card fees and has been asked by the state of Texas to serve as an expert witness in a litigation challenging a law prohibiting credit card surcharges. He is also authoring a brief for submission to the Supreme Court in a case involving anticompetitive practices by credit card companies.
Sex and Drugs: Professor Anders Kaye has created a course on Vice Crimes, dealing with non-violent sex crimes and drug crimes. He recently has been writing ab out the line between prostitution and participation in pornography and is working on a casebook entitled “Sex and Drugs.”
Law and Technology: Dean Joan Bullock holds a leadership position in the ABA Section on Science & Technology Law. She has devoted much of her academic career to the issue of how to utilize technology in the practice of law.
Much of our cutting edge work is done in conjunction with our five centers of academic excellence, several of which offer fellowship programs and certificates attesting to students’ specialized study. Our five centers are
The Center for Law and Intellectual Property
The Center for Global Legal Studies
The Center for Law and Social Justice
The Center for Criminal Law and Policy
The Center for Sports Law and Policy