By: Jesse DePauw
Marijuana legalization is a recent trend within the US and around the world. Some see legalization of medical marijuana as a step towards full legalization. However, when marijuana use is still illegal, how protected are medical marijuana users?
Read MoreBy: Janice Pan
Trade secret law protects everything from chocolate chip cookie recipes to transnational commercial methods. International agreements, however, leave protection of trade secrets to domestic enforcement. In addition to this international inconsistency, US trade secret law differs from the other forms of intellectual property in that it is governed by each individual state through the common law. To provide more certainty to businesses, a standardized trademark law should be passed in the United State.
Read MoreBy: Ryan Brenner
Better late than never, here is a look at the new climate deal which was negotiated in Paris at the end of 2015. Read more to find out what this agreement entails, how the agreement fits with the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol, and how the negotiations were organized.
Read MoreBy: Alannah Buford
A sunken ship with cargo worth more than a billion dollars. Two countries in a legal battle over ownership. Who said property wasn't interesting?
Read MoreBy: Brent Lockwood
As a central international governing body, the United Nations’ leadership is necessary to successfully combat global gender inequality and violence against women. Despite continued efforts to protect the rights of women and promote equality, women continue to face economic, social, and political inequality as well as high rates of physical and sexual violence. Changes need to be made.
Read MoreBy: Kyla Barranco
Despite its wide prevalence, sexual violence is one of the most unreported crimes in the world. Faced with uncooperative victims reluctant to seek justice through the courts, prosecutors often struggle to bring perpetrators of sexual violence to justice. Even with countries strengthening their laws criminalizing sexual violence, an inability to overcome evidentiary hurdles will leave these changes meaningless. Countries should follow the example of prosecutors in the United States who find unique ways to work within the general system to prosecute under the unique circumstances surrounding sexual violence.
Read MoreBy: Chantelle Dial
Western Australia’s recent threats to close indigenous communities will be a tragic international human rights violation unless national and international steps are taken to prevent unlawful removal and to learn from the 2011 Oombulgurri removal.
Read MoreBy: Jason Farrelly
The United States is the only globally developed nation to tax income earned abroad. However, tax liability is only assessed when a company repatriates the income back to the United States. This creates the incentive to keep capital abroad rather than bring it back to the US to invest here. This note examines the plans proposed by the current presidential candidate front runners to address this issue.
Read MoreBy: Janice Pan
The United States produces about 1.8 zettabytes of data each year. To adapt to this increasing use of technology, the court system in the United States is modifying its discovery process to allow greater access to electronically stored information. Other countries, however, seem to be less adaptive and are instead taking increasing measures to protect data and privacy.
Read MoreBy: Ryan Brenner
This week the legal forum will take a brief look into the law of public holidays by asking how official holidays are declared and what they actually mean, legally.
Read MoreBy: Ryan Brenner
A quick news search for "Europe" will turn up countless articles on the major influx of people from war-torn countries across Africa, the Middle East, and even European countries like Ukraine. While the media has characterized this as a "Migrant Crisis", is migrant the proper term? If not, does it really matter?
Read MoreBy: Hyun Muniz
The rise of genetically modified (GMO) crops in the U.S. paired with the E.U.’s precautionary approach to regulating GMO products has resulted in trade difficulties that threaten the harmony of this longstanding trade relationship.
Read MoreBy: Chantelle Dial
Despite how dramatically traditions and roles may have changed over the years, the current U.S. approach to why women at home and abroad should be educated often perpetuates harmful stereotypes under the guise of progress.
Read MoreBy: Ryan Brenner
Today, the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Ms. Rita Izsák, gave a presentation to MSU law students on the international human rights implications of police killings of unarmed Black men and boys through an event hosted by the Talsky Center for Human Rights.
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