Welcome to the Villanova Law School Website

Accessibility Navigation:

Villanova Header Image

Symposia & CLE

Villanova University School of Law Symposia & CLE

Every year, Villanova Law School hosts a number of symposia and CLE programs. The Villanova Law Alumni Association organizes CLE programs throughout the year. In addition, the Villanova Law Review, the Villanova Environmental Law Journal, the Villanova Sports and Entertainment Law Journal, and the Journal of Catholic Social Thought each sponsor annual symposia and publish the papers submitted in those proceedings. Most of the symposia qualify for CLE credit. All of these events are open to the public. Upcoming programs and registration information are listed below.

Upcoming Symposia & CLE Events:

TBA

Previous Symposia & CLE Events:

03/15/2013

On March 15, Villanova University School of Law hosted the 2013 Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal Symposium—Concussion Conundrum—which explored, debated, and informed on the key issues facing players, teams, leagues, doctors, and lawyers regarding head injuries and brain trauma in sports.

Panels included:

  • commentary from retired professional athletes—Keith Primeau, Jim Nelson, Taylor Twellman, and  Brian Westbrook—about concussion awareness and prevention amongst players;
     
  • an examination of both sides of the NFL Concussion Injury Litigation—the concussion injury class action suit brought by former NFL players against the league—featuring an attorney for the plaintiff
     
  • an exploration of the science and concussion-related liability facing professional and amateur sports
     
  • a look at the state of sports and concussions with media personalities.
     

Click here for an archived webcast of the event.

01/18/2013

The Norman J. Shachoy Law Review Symposium: Assessing the CISG and Other International Endeavors to Unify International Contract Law

On January 18, 2013, the Villanova Law Review held a symposium on "Assessing the CISG and Other International Endeavors to Unify International Contract Law: Has the Time Come for a New Global Initiative to Harmonize and Unify International Trade?" This topic is both timely and important as the United Nations is considering a proposal to study whether it should undertake the drafting a new convention on international sales law. The symposium featured the leading authorities on the subject of international sales law from across the globe, including the Secretary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), The Honorable Renaud Sorieul.

Participants Included: 

  • Yesim Atamer, Professor of Law, Istanbul Bilgi University; Vice Director, European Union Institute , Istanbul Bilgi University
  • Michael Bridge, Cassel Professor of Commercial Law, London School of Economics
  • Sieg Eiselen, Professor of Private Law, University of South Africa
  • Harry Flechtner, Professor of International and Domestic Commercial Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
  • Alejandro Garro, Adjunct Professor of Law and Senior Research Scholar, Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law, Columbia University School of Law
  • John Y. Gotanda, Dean and Professor, Villanova University School of Law
  • Keith Loken, Assistant Legal Adviser for Private International Law, U.S. State Department
  • Alejandro Osuna, Adjunct Professor, Universidad Iberoamericana Tijuana; Osuna Gonzáles y Asociados, S.C.
  • Jan Ramberg, Professor Emiritus, University of Stockholm; former Chairman, CISG Advisory Council
  • Dr. Djakhongir Saidov, Professor of International Sales Law, University of Birmingham and Birmingham Law School
  • Dr. Ulrich Schroeter, Chair for Private Law, International Corporate Law, and European Business Law, University of Mannheim
  • Dr. Ingeborg Schwenzer, Professor of Private and Comparative Law, University of Basel
  • Han Shiyuan, Professor of Civil Law, Tsinghua University School of Law; Director, European and Comparative Law Center, Tsinghua University
  • Hiroo Sono, Professor of Law, Hokkaido University
  • Lisa Spagnolo, Assistant Lecturer in Property Law, Monash University
  • Renaud Sorieul, Secretary, UNCITRAL; Director, International Trade Law Division, United Nations Office of Legal Affairs
  • Pilar Perales Viscasillas, Chair of Commercial Law, University Carlos III of Madrid
  • Peter Winship, Professor of International and Domestic Commercial Law, SMU Dedman School of Law
     

Click here for an archived webcast of the event.

12/04/2012

Preparing Students to be Practice-Ready Attorneys
Legal Writing Institute One-Day Workshop at Villanova Law School

Dialogue about what constitutes a “practice-ready” attorney and how law schools and legal writing programs can nurture and develop the skills students should have as they transition from law school to practice.

02/10/2012

WATCH THE WEBCAST!

To watch the stream of this event, please select one of the feeds below:

Watch the High Quality Stream (high bandwidth)

Watch the Low Quality Stream (low bandwith)

If you are having trouble viewing the webcast, please review the player requirements.

Featured Panelists

Jeffrey S. Moorad, VLS ’81, Vice Chairman and CEO, San Diego Padres
Billy Beane, Vice President and General Manager, Oakland Athletics
Phil Griffin, President, MSNBC
Omar Minaya, Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations, San Diego Padres

Moderator

Hon. Edward G. Rendell, VLS ’68, former Governor of Pennsylvania

Date and Time

Friday, February 10 - 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.

09/23/2011

Villanova University Law Review Norman J. Shachoy Symposium

This symposium brings together leading academics, government officials, practitioners, and journalists to discuss issues relating to the taxation of offshore activity - both individuals and MNC's, and the role of the tax laws regulating executive compensation.

To view the archive of this symposium - Click here.

Environmental Law Journal

1/29/2011

Environmental Law Journal Symposium: Renewable Energy Development and Wildlife

Sources of clean, renewable energy such as the wind and the sun hold out the promise of an endless supply of energy without dependency on foreign energy sources, drilling or mining, or the output of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. The federal government has prioritized renewable energy development and has been approving large-scale wind and solar projects, such as the CapeWind Project off the coast of Massachusetts and the Blythe and Calico Solar Projects in California. Opponents of renewable energy projects, however, contend that they have adverse environmental consequences, most prominently on wildlife. Wind projects have been associated with bird mortality, and solar projects with destruction of habitat for endangered species. This symposium will focus on the challenge of balancing renewable energy's environmental benefits and ecological costs.

Video Recordings:

Session 1

  • Catherine J. Lanctot, Associate Dean for Acedemic Affairs, Villanova University School of Law
  • David Stout, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
  • William Eubanks, Meyer Glitzstein & Crystal
  • Adam Siegel, Hogan Lovells US LLP

Session 2

  • Todd Aagaard, Assistant Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
  • David Stout, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
  • Matthew Sanders, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP
  • Lisa Belenky, Center for Biological Diversity

Sports Entertainment Law Journal

1/29/2011

Sports and Entertainment Law Journal Symposium: Stitching Together the Past, Present, and Future of Antitrust Law in Professional Sports with an American Needle: Where Do Professional Sports Leagues Stand after American Needle v. NFL?

In 1922, the Supreme Court’s refusal to apply the Sherman Antitrust Act to Major League Baseball in Federal Baseball v. National League sparked debate about the proper application of federal antitrust law to professional sports leagues. Continued refusal to subject the MLB to antitrust laws indicates that the Court, at one time, considered professional sports leagues worthy of an exception to the law.

Over the past 90 years, professional sports leagues and teams have grown in popularity and flourished economically. Sports leagues have become more complex business enterprises that now engage in complex transactions such as cooperative broadcast contacting and revenue sharing. Today, professional sports leagues present a unique business model in which individually owned teams are forced to cooperate to further the interests of their leagues.

This symposium will explore the fundamental legal and economic arguments surrounding the business of professional sports and the purpose of antitrust legislation. We will examine the historical connection between antitrust law and professional sports and consider future legal and economic developments in this area. Panel discussions will focus on the application of the Sherman Antitrust Act to professional sports leagues and the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision not to grant the NFL single entity status in American Needle.

Video Recordings:

Session 1

  • Catherine J. Lanctot, Associate Dean for Acedemic Affairs, Villanova University School of Law
  • Clark C. Griffith, Lawyer and Arbitrator, Clark C. Griffith PA
  • Christopher L. Sagers, Associate Professor of Law, Cleveland State University, Marshall College of Law
  • Marc Edelman, Assistant Professor of Law, Barry University, Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law
  • Meir Feder, Partner, Jones Day

Session 2

  • Robert T. Miller, Associate Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
  • Gary Roberts, Dean and Gerald L. Bepko Professor of Law, Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis
  • David G. Feher, Partner, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLC
  • Gregory J. Werden, Senior Economic Counsel, Antritrust Division, United States Department of Justice

Ryan Center Innocence Behind Bars

1/21/2011

Villanova University School of Law Matthew J. Ryan Law and Public Policy Forum
Innocents Behind Bars: The Keys to Exoneration

The upcoming Ryan Forum will focus on issues that contribute to wrongful convictions and challenges confronting attorneys representing wrongfully convicted clients. Panels of experts will discuss:

  • Post-Conviction Investigation: Finding the Missing Key
  • Forensic Investigation: Problems with Contextual Bias
  • False Confessions
  • Policy Issues in Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania Advisory Committee to Investigate Wrongful Convictions

Video Recordings:

Session 1

  • John Y. Gotanda, Dean, Villanova University School of Law
  • Susan Burt-Collins, Esq., Partner, Dinsmore & Shohl, General Counsel - Louisville Courier-Journal
  • Kate Germond, Centurion Ministries
  • Karl Schwartz, Delaware Federal Defender Captial Habeas Unit
  • Leonard Sosnov, Professor of law, Widner University School of Law
  • Bradley Bridge, Defender Association of Philadelphia (Download PowerPoint Presentation)

Session 2

Session 3

Session 4

  • Marissa Boyers Bluestine, Esq., Legal Director, Pennsylvania Innocence Project
  • Senator Stewart Greenleaf, Pennsylvania 12th Senatorial District (Download PowerPoint Presentation)
  • John T. Rago, Founding Executive Director, Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and law; Founding Director, Post Conviction DNA Project, Duquesne University School of Law
  • The Honorable Sheila Woods-Skipper, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas
  • David Rudovsky, Senior Fellow, University of Pennsylvania School of Law

Joseph T. McCullen Symposium on Catholic Social Thought Jean Porter 10/22/10

10/22/2010

Joseph T. McCullen Symposium on Catholic Social Thought and Law
Symposium on Jean Porter - Ministers of the Law: A Natural Law Theory of Legal Authority

In her forthcoming book Ministers of the Law (Eerdmans, 2010), Jean Porter articulates a theory of legal authority derived from the natural law tradition. As she points out, the legal authority of most traditions rests on their own internal structures, independent of extralegal considerations—legal houses built on sand, as it were.Natural law tradition, on the other hand, offers a basis for legal authority that goes beyond mere arbitrary commands or social conventions, offering some extralegal authority without compromising the independence and integrity of the law. Yet Porter does more in Ministers of the Law than simply discuss historical and theoretical realms of natural law. She carries the theory into application to contemporary legal issues, bringing objective normative structures to contemporary Western societies suspicious of such concepts.

Video Recordings:

Session 1

  • Barbara Wall, Vice President for Mission and Ministry, Villanova University
  • Doris DelTosto Brogan, Acting Dean and Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
  • Jean Porter, John A. Obrien Professor of Theology and Concurrent Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame
  • Michael P. Moreland, Associate Professor of Law, Villanova University of Law & Forbes Visiting Fellow, James Madison Program, Princeton University

Session 2

  • Patrick McKinley Brennan, John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal Studies and Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
  • Francis J. Mootz III, William S. Boyd Professor of Law, William S. Boyd school of Law, University of Nevada-Las Vegas
  • Maris Kopcke Tinture, Lecturer in Law, Oxford University
  • Penelope Pether, Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law

Session 3

  • Kevin Flannery, S.J., Ordinary Professor of the History of Ancient Philosophy, Pontifical Gregorian University
  • V. Bradley Lewis, Associate Professor of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America
  • Nicholas P. Wolterstorff, Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology, Yale University
  • Michelle Madden Dempsey, Associate Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law

Session 4

  • Response and Concluding Round Table

10/09/2010

Villanova Law Review Norman J. Shachoy Symposium
In Recognition of John F. Murphy

This year marks Professor John Murphy's 40th year in the legal academy and it culminates in the publication of his latest book, The Evolving Dimensions of International Law: Hard Choices for the World Community (Cambridge University Press). On this occasion, we are gathering Professor Murphy's friends and colleagues to celebrate his contributions to international law by publishing a Festschrift and holding a symposium in his honor on October 9, 2010 at Villanova Law School.

Video Recordings:

Session 1

  • Doris DelTosto Brogan, Acting Dean and Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
  • Mark Weston Janis, William F. Starr Professor of Law, University of Connecticut School of Law
  • Peter H. Pfund, Special Assistant for Private International Law, U.S. Department of State (retired)
  • David Penneys Edelman, Assistant Dean for International Programs, Villanova University School of Law

Session 2

  • James Dinnag, General Counsel, Dupont Performance Elastomer L.L.C.
  • John Lawrence Hargrove, Former Director of Studies and Executive Director, American Society of International Law
  • John E. Noyes, Roger Traynor Professor of Law, California Western School of Law
  • Stephen Zamora, Leonard B. Rosenberg Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center
  • Ruth Gordon, Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law

Session 3

  • Arthur T. Downey, Former Washington D.C. Attorney
  • Charles H. Gustafson, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
  • Yoram Dinstein, Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University
  • Joseph Dellapenna, Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law

Ryan Center Constitution Day

09/17/2010

The Matthew J. Ryan Center for the Study of Free Institutions and the Public Good
 Constitution Day Symposium

The United States Constitution: An Enduring Blueprint for Freedom in a Changing Society.

Video Recordings:

Session 1

  • Robert T. Miller, Associate Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
  • Patrick McKinley Brennan, John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal Studies and Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
  • Viet D. Dihn, Professor of Law; Co-Director, Georgetown Law-Asia
  • Penelope J. Pether, Professor of Law, Villanova University School of law

Session 2

  • Vincent Blasi, Corliss Lamont Professor of Civil Liberties, Columbia Law School
  • Colleen A. Sheehan, Professor, Department of Political Science, Villanova University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Session 3

  • Louis J. Sirico, Jr., Professor of Law & Director, Legal Writing Program, Villanova University School of Law
  • Richard R. Beeman, Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania

Session 4

  • Catherine J. Lanctot, Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
  • Samuel Issacharoff, Bonnie and Richard Reiss Professor of law, New York University School of Law
  • Tabatha Abu El-Haj, Assistant Professor of Law, The Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University
  • John O. McGinnis, Stanford Clinton Sr. And Zylpha Kilbride Clinton Research Professor, Northwester University School of Law
  • Tuan Samahon, Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
  • Robert T. Miller, Associate Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law

Fouth Annual John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics and Culture

10/23/2009

The Fourth Annual John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics, and Culture
 A Celebration and Exploration of the Path-breaking Work of Joseph Vining

Over four decades, Joseph Vining has changed the way we think about law by challenging us to resist the reductions and totalizing impulses that are so common in legal and other theory. Where others find in law cause for cynicism or despair, Vining discovers cause for hope and aspiration, even evidence of the transcendent. Administrative law, criminal law, group criminality, corporations, and animal law - Vining has left his signature contribution on each of these bodies of law and on our understanding of the interrelatedness of their deep parings in language, responsibility, value, and personhood.

Video Recordings:

Session 1

  • Lee Bollinger, President, Columbia University, Professor of Law, Columbia University School of Law
  • Steven D. Smith, Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law & Co-Director of the University of San Diego's Institute of Law and Philosophy
  • Rev. John McCausland, Vicar, Holy Cross Episcopal Church Weare, NH

Session 2

  • H. Jefferson Powell, Frederic Cleavland Professor of Law and Divinity, Duke University School of Law
  • Patrick McKinley Brennan, John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal Studies and Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law

Session 3

  • Joseph Vining, Harry Burns Hutchins Collegiate Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan Law School
  • Judge John T. Noonan, Jr., Senior Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
  • Jack Sammons, Griffen B. Bell Professor of Law, Mercer University School of Law
  • James Boyd White, L. Hart Wright Collegiate Professor Emeritus of Law & Professor of English Emeritus, University of Michigan

Session 4

  • Response and Concluding Round Table

Joseph T. McCullen Symposium on Catholic Social Thought and the Law Catholic Social Thought and Legal Education

09/26/2009

Joseph T. McCullen Symposium on Catholic Social Thought and Law
 Catholic Social Thought and Legal Education

There are twenty-nine law schools in Catholic universities in the United States, and the past ten years have witnessed a renaissance in Catholic legal education. New law schools have opened with an express commitment to Catholic identity, and established law schools at Catholic universities have under taken to enhance their institutional mission. Catholic social teaching offers extraordinary opportunities for the integration of Catholic perspectives into legal education, as principles in Catholic social teaching such as solidarity, subsidiarily, the option for poor, and economic justice provide distinct bases for both critique and reconstruction of existing legal structures. The 2009 annual conference sponsored by the Villanova University School of Law and the Journal of Catholic Social Thought explores a range of topics at the intersection of Catholic social thought and legal education and how Catholic social thought can produce a vibrantly Catholic approach to law and legal education.

Video Recordings:

Session 1

  • Barbara Wall, Vice President for Mission and Ministry, Villanova University
  • Doris DelTosto Brogan, Acting Dean and Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
  • Christine Mooney, Director for Legal Writing Programs, Villanova University School of Law
  • Zachary Calo, Assistant Professor of Law, Valparaiso University School of Law
  • Eric Claeys, Associate Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law
  • Steven Shiffrin, Charles Frank Reavis, Sr. Professor of Law, Cornell University Law School
  • William Wagner, Professor of Law, The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law

Session 2

  • Michael Moreland, Associate Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
  • Richard Garnett, Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School
  • George Garvey, Professor of Law, The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law
  • Greg Kalascheur, S.J., Associate Professor of Law, Boston College Law School
  • Amy Uelmen, Director, Institute on Religion, Law & Lawyer's Work, Fordham Law School

Session 3

  • Peter Donohue, O.S.A., President, Villanova University
  • Thomas Mengler, Dean and Ryan Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) School of Law
  • Todd Aagaard, Assistant Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
  • Helen Alvare, Associate Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law
  • Bill Piatt, Professor of Law, St. Mary's University School of Law
  • Lucia Silecchia, Professor of Law, The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law
  • Ana M. Novoa, Associate Dean for Clinical Programs and Public Interest & Professor of Law, St. Mary's University School of Law

Session 4

  • Joseph Farrell, O.S.A, Office for Mission and Ministry, Villanaova University
  • Susan Stabile, Robert and Marion Short Distinguished Char in Law & Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) School of Law
  • Robert Araujo, S.J., John Courtney Murray, S.J. Professor of Law, Loyola University-Chicago School of Law
  • John Breen, Associate Professor of Law, Loyola University-Chicago School of Law
  • Lee Stang, Associate Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of law
  • Joseph Calderone, O.S.A., Chaplain and Counselor, Villanaova University School of Law

Villanova Law Review Norman J. Shachoy Symposium 09/11/09

09/11/2009

Villanova Law Review Norman J. Shachoy Symposium
 Sovereignty's Seductions: Reconciling Claims to Govern

Questions about sovereignty are both timely and enduring, and of consequence to diverse people and peoples around the globe. From the nation state to the tribe and in multiple groupings in between, sovereignty is sought, claimed, disputed, and denied. As a result sovereignty figures significantly in the literatures of many disciplines. It is our aim to bring into conversation voices that sometime talk past one another.

Video Recordings:

Session 1

  • Kevin Gover, Director, Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Indian
  • Douglas Endreson, Partner, Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Enderson & Perry, LLP
  • Catherine Struve, Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School

Session 2

  • Hope Babcock, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Session 3

  • Donald Doernberg, Professor of Law, Pace Law School
  • Gregory Sisk, Orestes A. Brownson Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Panel Discussion