Faculty and College News

Kessia Cericola, Moritz College of Law LL.M ’12, was selected as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine for the fourth consecutive year. This recognition is granted to a small percentage of attorneys in the United States who are under 40 and is based on peer nomination. A native of Brazil, Cericola was selected as a Rising Star in Business Law for three years, and this year she was featured on the Immigration Law list – the only attorney from Columbus.

The Divided Community Project (DCP) recently received a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. The grant is part of the 2023 Community Policing Development (CPD) Program Awards, which gave funds to municipalities and universities across the country. The funding DCP received will go toward the development of Ohio State Community-Police Relations resources.

DCP is housed in the College’s Program on Dispute Resolution, which was ranked #2 in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. By offering resources, classes, and direct assistance, DCP helps community and university leaders enhance community resiliency and strengthen local capacity to transform division into collaboration and progress.

Jessica H. Kim '11 was recently appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick B.  Garland to serve as the U.S. Special Prosecutor for the Crime of Aggression. In this role, she will be working with the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine (ICPA), a unique judicial hub established at Eurojust in The Hague to support investigations into the crime of aggression related to the war in Ukraine. Kim will work alongside other prosecutors from countries, including Ukraine, to secure crucial evidence and prepare cases for future trials to hold the highest levels of political and military leadership accountable for the crime of aggression related to the war in Ukraine.  

The Moritz College of Law recently celebrated the contributions of several outstanding individuals at the 2023 Alumni Awards. Each year, these awards recognize alumni selected from a deep and exceptionally well-qualified pool of nominees. 

This year's awards and winners included:

• Outstanding Recent Alumni Award - Janay Stevens '13
• The George V. Voinovich Humanitarian Award - Angela Plummer '92
• Inclusive Excellence Award - Dr. Robert J. Weiler, Sr.
• William K. Thomas Distinguished Jurist Award - Magistrate Judge Chelsey Vascura ‘03 
• Distinguished Alumni Award - Elizabeth (Liza) Kessler ‘93

Professor Patricia (Patti) Zettler has been appointed as Deputy General Counsel to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  While she serves the nation promoting public health and the rule of law for the Biden-Harris administration, Zettler will be on leave from Ohio State Law. 

Each autumn semester, the Distinguished Practitioner in Residence (DPIR) courses provide Moritz students an opportunity to work closely with professionals who are at the top of their game in a variety of exciting fields. The DPIR courses are taught by lawyers with special ties to Ohio State in intensive, short-course formats that allow students to dive deep into the subject matter. 

Congratulations to Professor Amy Schmitz and colleague Tom Stipanowich (Pepperdine Caruso Law) on their recent book release! "Arbitration: Practice, Policy, and Law" provides students with a practice-based approach that helps them apply legal concepts under the Federal Arbitration Act and other laws, and better identify the value of arbitration practice and procedures.

Prof. Amy Schmitz, an expert in online dispute resolution, has recently contributed to the forthcoming Cambridge Handbook on the Law and Policy of NFTs with her chapter on “Resolving NFT and Smart Contract Disputes”.

The Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) built in the blockchain are quietly revolutionizing ideas around digital assets despite their questionable status under current law. Furthermore, the smart contracts that control many NFTs are disrupting the way deals are done. At the same time, disputes regarding NFTs and smart contracts are inevitable, and parties will need means for dealing with these highly technical issues. This chapter tackles this challenge and proposes that parties turn to online dispute resolution (“ODR”) to efficiently and fairly resolve NFT and smart contract disputes. Furthermore, the chapter acknowledges the benefits and challenges of current means for addressing blockchain issues and proposes ideas for how designers could address those challenges and incorporate ODR to provide efficient and fair resolutions.

Check out Prof. Chow's new publication, A Critique of the 2020 United States China Trade Agreement and Suggested Corrective Measures. 

This paper offers an analysis and critique of the 2020 United States China Economic and Trade Agreement (USCTA). Although the USCTA may have some short term benefits for the United States, the USCTA also contains a number of positions that are inconsistent with the long-term interests of the United States and the global economy. Our proposals are (1) a new trade agreement on counterfeiting on the Internet that supplements the intellectual property provisions of the USCTA; (2) a proposed rethinking and revision of the USCTA unilateral dispute resolution process purporting to give the United States complete control over all USCTA and WTO disputes with China; and (3) a new approach to dealing with China’s use of industrial subsidies and other market access issues in light of the abandonment of Phase II of the USCTA.