Alexandra Huneeus published "Chávez vs. Inter-American human rights system" on IntLawGrrls. The post discusses recent threats to the OAS Human Rights System from Veneuzela's Hugo Chavez and other Latin American leaders.
Andrew Coan's recent article "The Irrelevance of Writtenness in Constitutional Interpretation" received a glowing review from JOTWELL: The Journal of Things We Like Lots (and Lots). Legal philosopher Frederick Schauer praises the article for "analytic precision, careful argument, useful distinctions, and just the right amount of philosophy".
Gretchen Viney presented "Role of the Guardian ad Litem in Children's Court" at the Statewide Adoption Partners Conference 2012, sponsored by Adoption Resources of Wisconsin. Viney led three "learning table" breakout sessions for professional involved in children's court and permanency planning. Viney also recently presented "Adult Guardian ad Litem Basics", a 90-minute CLE presentation.
Faculty Activities and Scholarship
Wisconsin faculty members share a commitment to excellence in research, embracing a wide variety of substantive concerns and methodological approaches. The faculty has long been known for its interest in interdisciplinary work and for its commitment to a law-in-action approach to scholarship.
For Wisconsin scholars, no matter how interesting or elegant the underlying theory, Wisconsin's law-in-action approach challenges them to answer the question: "Why should this matter to people in the real world?" In contrast to legal scholars whose work is theory-based, Wisconsin scholars tend to begin with an observed, real-world problem or phenomenon and then seek to explain it and to put it into a larger theoretical context.
Much of the research undertaken at Wisconsin is devoted to explaining how law and legal institutions work and often to understanding why law and legal institutions might not be working as intended. The Wisconsin faculty contextualizes law, studying it as one of many social processes that may shape behavior. Many faculty members are active in the Law & Society Association, an international organization of scholars who study the interrelation of society and the legal process; indeed, the current Wisconsin faculty includes three LSA past presidents.
The work of the Wisconsin faculty is not geographically bounded. Though a majority study U.S. law, a growing number explore law in less familiar settings and are focusing their research on the workings of law in countries throughout the world.
