In today’s episode, UVA Law 3Ls, Makenna Cherry and Meghana Puchalapalli join me to continue our discussion with Lancaster University professor Stephen Wilkinson. Wilkinson is a Professor of Bioethics, Associate Dean for Research for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and Chair of the University Research Ethics Committee.Much of his work is about reproductive ethics and the regulation of reproductive technologies, especially the ethics of selective reproduction. A book on this topic (Choosing Tomorrow’s Children, Oxford University Press) was published in 2010. Since then, particular interests have included ethical issues raised by uterus transplantation, non-invasive pre-natal testing, mitochondrial replacement, new sources of eggs and sperm, genome editing, surrogacy, and public funding for infertility treatment.Another abiding interest is the commercial exploitation of the human body, which was the subject of his first book, Bodies for Sale (Routledge, 2003), which we discuss in this episode, together with his 2016 article, Exploitation in international paid surrogacy arrangements, which appeared in the Journal of Applied Philosophy. Professor Stephen Wilkinson Bio, Lancaster University: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/ppr/people/stephen-wilkinson Exploitation in international paid surrogacy arrangementsWilkinson, S. 05/2016 In: Journal of Applied Philosophy. 33, 2, p. 125-145 Bodies for sale: ethics and exploitation in the human body tradeWilkinson, S. 2003 New York : Routledge. 248 p. ISBN: 9780415266253 .

My guest today is Lancaster University professor Stephen Wilkinson and I’m joined by two UVA Law 3L co-hosts, Makenna Cherry and Meghana Puchalapalli. Wilkinson is a Professor of Bioethics, Associate Dean for Research for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and Chair of the University Research Ethics Committee.Much of his work is about reproductive ethics and the regulation of reproductive technologies, especially the ethics of selective reproduction. A book on this topic (Choosing Tomorrow’s Children, Oxford University Press) was published in 2010. Since then, particular interests have included ethical issues raised by uterus transplantation, non-invasive pre-natal testing, mitochondrial replacement, new sources of eggs and sperm, genome editing, surrogacy, and public funding for infertility treatment.Another abiding interest is the commercial exploitation of the human body, which was the subject of his first book, Bodies for Sale (Routledge, 2003), which we discuss in this episode, together with his 2016 article, Exploitation in international paid surrogacy arrangements, which appeared in the Journal of Applied Philosophy. Professor Stephen Wilkinson Bio, Lancaster University: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/ppr/people/stephen-wilkinson Exploitation in international paid surrogacy arrangementsWilkinson, S. 05/2016 In: Journal of Applied Philosophy. 33, 2, p. 125-145 Bodies for sale: ethics and exploitation in the human body tradeWilkinson, S. 2003 New York : Routledge. 248 p. ISBN: 9780415266253 .

In today’s episode, UVA Law 3Ls Reidar Composano and Bryan Blaylock join me to continue our discussion with University of Chicago Law professor, Mary Anne Case, about her forthcoming paper, Donorsexuality. The f-bomb is dropped (but for reasons relevant to the paper) and I emphasize (again) that all this Con Law talk is not welcome on my podcast. No one listens to me.  Case litigated for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and was professor of law and Class of 1966 Research Professor at the University of Virginia before joining the Chicago Law School faculty. Her scholarship has concentrated on the regulation of sex, gender, sexuality, religion, and family; and the early history of feminism. Mary Anne Case faculty bio: https://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/case

University of Chicago Law professor, Mary Anne Case, joins me and UVA Law 3Ls Reidar Composano and Bryan Blaylock to discuss her forthcoming paper, Donorsexuality. The f-bomb is dropped (but for reasons relevant to the paper) and I emphasize (again) that all this Con Law talk is not welcome on my podcast. No one listens to me. Case litigated for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and was professor of law and Class of 1966 Research Professor at the University of Virginia before joining the Chicago Law School faculty. Her scholarship has concentrated on the regulation of sex, gender, sexuality, religion, and family; and the early history of feminism. Mary Anne Case faculty bio: https://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/case

Jonathan Peterson and I continue our discussion of prisons, commodification, and privatization, together with UVA Law 3Ls Ryan Fitzgerald and Mary Talkington.  Peterson is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Loyola New Orleans and the paper we’re discussing is forthcoming in the Routledge Handbook on Commodification, edited by Elodie Bertrand and Vida Panitch. (As mentioned in the last episode, I have a chapter in the Handbook as well) Jonathan’s research specializations are in philosophy of law and political philosophy. His current research focuses on political authority, social justice, criminal law, and punishment. Jonathan’s paper is an important read for anyone interested in prison reform. We hope you enjoy this final portion of our discussion. Jonathan Peterson's webpage at Loyola New Orleans: http://cas.loyno.edu/philosophy/bios/jonathan-peterson 

In this episode, I – together with UVA Law 3Ls Ryan Fitzgerald and Mary Talkington -- interview Jonathan Peterson, an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Loyola New Orleans, about commodification and privatization in prisons. The paper we’re discussing is forthcoming in the Routledge Handbook on Commodification, edited by Elodie Bertrand and Vida Panitch. Jonathan’s research specializations are in philosophy of law and political philosophy. His current research focuses on political authority, social justice, criminal law, and punishment. Jonathan Peterson's webpage at Loyola New Orleans: http://cas.loyno.edu/philosophy/bios/jonathan-peterson 

In this episode, UVA Law 3L Marley Peters and I continue our discussion with Brittany Farr, Assistant Professor of Law at NYU School of Law. We’re discussing her article, Breach By Violence, which is forthcoming in the UCLA Law Review. It analyzes the use of private law by sharecroppers and tenant farmers in the Jim Crow South to address violent breaches of contract by landlords. To hear the full interview, make sure to also listen to the prior episode, Episode 3.  Farr is a scholar of private law and race. With more than a decade of interdisciplinary training, her research draws on history, legal theory, and cultural studies to theorize how marginalized populations have availed themselves of otherwise inhospitable legal regimes. In particular, her research focuses on enslaved and free African Americans’ use of contract law during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and interrogates the ways in which contract law mediated African Americans’ relationship to bodily autonomy, economic freedom, and legal agency both during and after slavery.   Brittany Farr NYU Homepage: https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.overview&personid=57053 Interview with Samuel James (S. J.) and Leonia Farrar, May 28, 2003. Interview K-0652. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007). https://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/playback.html?base_file=K-0652&duration=01:29:20 Oral history with 84 year old black female, Joiner, Arkansas https://www.loc.gov/item/afccal000030

In this episode, UVA Law 3L Marley Peters and I interview Brittany Farr, Assistant Professor of Law at NYU School of Law. Farr is a scholar of private law and race. With more than a decade of interdisciplinary training, her research draws on history, legal theory, and cultural studies to theorize how marginalized populations have availed themselves of otherwise inhospitable legal regimes. In particular, her research focuses on enslaved and free African Americans’ use of contract law during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and interrogates the ways in which contract law mediated African Americans’ relationship to bodily autonomy, economic freedom, and legal agency both during and after slavery.  We’re discussing her article, Breach By Violence, forthcoming in the UCLA Law Review, which analyzes the use of private law by sharecroppers and tenant farmers in the Jim Crow South to address violent breaches of contract by landlords.  Brittany Farr NYU Homepage: https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.overview&personid=57053 Interview with Samuel James (S. J.) and Leonia Farrar, May 28, 2003. Interview K-0652. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007). https://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/playback.html?base_file=K-0652&duration=01:29:20 Oral history with 84 year old black female, Joiner, Arkansas https://www.loc.gov/item/afccal000030 

In this episode, we continue our discussion with Nathan B. Oman, the W. Taylor Reveley III Research Professor and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Markets at William & Mary School of Law. Nate specializes in Contract Law, the Economic Analysis of Law, Jurisprudence, Law and Religion, and Legal History. Today, we’re discussing his 2009 article, Specific Performance and the Thirteenth Amendment, published in the Minnesota Law Review. As I mentioned in episode 1, the article first came to my attention this summer, when the internet erupted with suggestions that the specific performance clause in the Elon Musk (more precisely, X Holdings) merger agreement with Twitter wasn’t enforceable because of the 13th Amendment. As you heard in our last episode, Nate strongly disagrees with that take.  I’ve split my discussion with Nate into two parts. In Episode 1, largely driven by questions from UVA Law 3Ls Bridget Boyd and Jenn Scoler, we discussed the Musk-Twitter litigation and the various provisions of the merger agreement, including the specific performance provision and the termination fee. In this episode, we delve more deeply into Nate’s analysis of the scope of the 13th amendment’s prohibition against indentured servitude and its relation to the specific performance of personal service contracts. As always, we spend some time on examples from the world of sports . . . because hey, we’re in Virginia. Links:Nathan B. Oman faculty bio https://law2.wm.edu/faculty/bios/fulltime/nboman.php Nathan B. Oman, Specific Performance and the Thirteenth Amendment, 93 MINN. L. REV. 2020 (2009). https://www.minnesotalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Oman_MLR.pdfAmendment and Plan of Merger by and among X Holdings I, Inc., X Holdings II, Inc. and Twitter, Inc. dated as of April 25, 2022 https://kimberlydkrawiec.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Musk-Twitter-Agreement.pdf

In this episode, UVA Law 3Ls Bridget Boyd and Jenn Scoler join me to interview Nathan B. Oman, the W. Taylor Reveley III Research Professor and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Markets at William & Mary School of Law. Nate specializes in Contract Law, the Economic Analysis of Law, Jurisprudence, Law and Religion, and Legal History. Today, we’re discussing his 2009 article, Specific Performance and the Thirteenth Amendment, published in the Minnesota Law Review. The article first came to my attention this summer, when the internet erupted with suggestions that the specific performance clause in the Elon Musk (more precisely, X Holdings) merger agreement with Twitter wasn’t enforceable because of the 13thAmendment. As you’ll hear in this episode, Nate is having none of that.  I’ve split my discussion with Nate into two parts. In this Part, largely driven by questions from Bridget and Jenn, we discuss the Musk-Twitter litigation and the various provisions of the merger agreement, including the specific performance provision and the termination fee. If you’re covering that litigation in class this year, in my completely and wholly unbiased view , the episode makes a really nice introduction for students to some of the issues.  Links:Nathan B. Oman faculty bio https://law2.wm.edu/faculty/bios/fulltime/nboman.phpNathan B. Oman, Specific Performance and the Thirteenth Amendment, 93 MINN. L. REV. 2020 (2009). https://www.minnesotalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Oman_MLR.pdfAmendment and Plan of Merger by and among X Holdings I, Inc., X Holdings II, Inc. and Twitter, Inc. dated as of April 25, 2022 https://kimberlydkrawiec.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Musk-Twitter-Agreement.pdf