2020 Legal Forum Symposium: Law for the Next Pandemic
Update: Thank you for joining us for the 2020 Symposium. You can find a playlist containing recordings from the Symposium available on The University of Chicago Law School YouTube page.
The COVID-19 pandemic is not the first global health crisis of our lifetimes nor will it be the last. As habitat loss forces wildlife and humans to interact, the incidence of pathogenic crossover will rise; drug-resistant bacteria continue to evolve; and insect-borne diseases like Zika will migrate to new populations as climate change progresses. While physicians and public health experts collaborate to provide preventative and therapeutic solutions, legal scholars will be called upon to assess the performance of our institutions during this pandemic and to envision ways law can better prepare us for the next pandemic.
The 2020 Legal Forum Symposium will feature conversations on what lessons can be carried forward to the next pandemic. In examining the effects of the pandemic on the law, we hope to clear away doctrines and rules which have outlived their usefulness. In looking forward, we hope to propose remedies where current law is deficient. And, in doing both, we hope to help policymakers focus their time and energy during the next pandemic to where it is needed most.
Please join us. The Symposium is open to the public, but you must register in advance for this meeting:
Registration for the 2020 Legal Forum Symposium
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Friday, November 6
9:00 – 9:10 a.m.
WELCOMING REMARKS
Dean Thomas J. Miles
9:10 – 9:15 a.m.
INTRODUCTION FROM LEGAL FORUM'S EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Claire G. Lee
9:15 – 10:20 a.m.
PANEL A:
GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY IN PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES
Moderator: Jennifer Nou, University of Chicago Law School
1. Lochner Under Lockdown
Eugene Kontorovich, Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University
2. The Validity of Tribal Checkpoints in South Dakota to Curb the Spread of COVID-19
Ann Tweedy, University of South Dakota Law School
3. Ethical Issues in Pandemic Response: Examples from India
Anup Malani, University of Chicago Law School
10:30 – 11:55 a.m.
PANEL B:
PANDEMICS AND ECONOMIC POLICY
Moderator: Aneil Kovvali, University of Chicago Law School
1. Social Distancing for the Long Haul
Daniel Hemel, University of Chicago Law School
2. Livelihood Insurance for the Next Pandemic
Michael Abramowicz, George Washington University
3. Of Bankruptcies, Bailouts, and Subsidies: Law for Economic and Financial Distress in a Pandemic
Anthony Casey, University of Chicago Law School
4. Essential Businesses and Shareholder Value
Aneil Kovvali, University of Chicago Law School
LUNCH BREAK
11:55 – 1:00 p.m.
1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
THE FEDERAL COURTS RESPONSE TO COVID-19
A Q + A with Chief Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer
Moderated by Jonathan Masur, The University of Chicago Law School
2:00 – 3:10 p.m.
PANEL C:
REACTIONS AND ADAPTATIONS TO PANDEMICS IN THE LAW: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
Moderator:
1. Scrambling the New Sanitarian Synthesis: Civil Liberties and Public Health in the Age of COVID-19
John Fabian Witt, Yale Law School
2. The Need for Tort Law Privileges of Self- Defense and Necessity in Intellectual Property Law
Liza Vertinsky, Emory University School of Law
Yaniv Heled, George State University College of Law
Ana Santos-Rutschman, Saint Louis University School of Law
3. Post-Pandemic Wills
Bridget Crawford, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
Kelly Purser, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology
Tina Cockburn, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology
3:10 – 3:15 p.m.
CLOSING REMARKS
Megan Delurey, Legal Forum Symposium Editor