School Notes: Yale Law School
July/August 2010

Law School students successful in Connecticut Supreme Court case

The Education Adequacy Project won a major victory in the Connecticut Supreme Court in March when the court ruled in favor of the Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding in the case CCJEF v. Rell. CCJEF, represented by Yale Law students in the EAP clinic, asserted in a complaint back in 2005 that the state’s failure to adequately and equitably fund public schools had irreparably harmed thousands of schoolchildren. In oral arguments before the court almost two years ago, clinic members said Connecticut students had the right, not just to an education, but to an adequate one. In its 4–3 decision in March, the court agreed, saying, “The fundamental right to an education is not an empty linguistic shell” and that it must meet “modern educational standards.” “This is a significant victory by any standard,” said professor and director of clinical studies Bob Solomon. “The fact that the litigation team consists of a law school clinic is remarkable, and a real testament to the combination of intelligence and dedication that permeates Yale’s clinical program.” The Education Adequacy Project is part of the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School.

Professors win Guggenheim fellowships

Two YLS faculty members have been awarded fellowships by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation: James Q. Whitman ’80, ’88JD, the Ford Foundation Professor of Comparative and Foreign Law, and John Fabian Witt ’94, ’99JD, ’00PhD, the Allen H. Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law. Professor Whitman is an expert on comparative law, contracts, criminal law, and European legal history. He has written extensively on the origins of reasonable doubt and the widening divide between American and European criminal punishment. His Guggenheim project will explore the verdict of battle. Professor Witt is the author of widely acclaimed works in the history of American law and in torts, including Patriots and Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law and The Accidental Republic: Crippled Workingmen, Destitute Widows, and the Remaking of American Law. His Guggenheim research will examine the laws of war in American history. The Guggenheim grants provide support to exceptional mid-career scholars, scientists, and artists, giving them the opportunity to work on projects with complete creative freedom anywhere in the world. This year, the foundation selected 180 fellows from a group of approximately 3,000 applicants.

New program will promote field of law and economics

The Law School’s newly created Kauffman Program in Law, Economics, and Entrepreneurship will help “reenergize and redirect the field of law and economics,” says law professor George L. Priest. Priest, who has been named a Kauffman Distinguished Research Scholar in Law, Economics, and Entrepreneurship, is an expert in the fields of antitrust and regulation, and has focused his research on the determinants of economic growth. He says that the Kauffman Program will move the field of law and economics forward “by studying and developing the role of law in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in order to advance worldwide economic growth.” Funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Kauffman grant also supports the Information Society Project, which examines ways in which laws relating to technology can promote innovation and growth.