At the end of the 28th Annual Clifford Symposium, I asked our distinguished faculty what the topic for the 29th Symposium ought to be. With surprising alacrity and unanimity, they urged exploration of the development of “new torts.” The scholars invited to speak at this year’s Symposium have identified the broadest range of topics as relevant to our conversations. They have focused on individual harms, public nuisance, health care and medicine, the impact of technological innovation and matters intimately connected to gender.
What is particularly remarkable in the Symposium faculty’s selection of topics is their mixing of the traditional and the innovative. Individual harms as old as battery are said to be ripe for new consideration. The same goes for the centuries-old doctrine of public nuisance, revived and nominated to serve on a number of fronts. At the other extreme, cutting-edge activities in health care and technology are seen by our scholars as in need of serious examination, most particularly those involved with Artificial Intelligence. And, reflecting heightened social concern, our faculty has focused on a number of genderrelated issues.
The mix of topics is rich and varied but, I suspect, will lead both participants and auditors back to core questions about the work that needs to be undertaken by judges, juries, lawyers and scholars to make sure that the rule of law is preserved and the pivotal mission of torts—to protect individuals from the wrongs done by others—is continued.
- Stephan Landsman, Director, Clifford SymposiumTHURSDAY, JUNE 8, 2023
9:00 REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
10:00 OPENING REMARKS
Jennifer Rosato Perea
Dean, DePaul College of Law
Stephan Landsman
Emeritus Professor, DePaul College of Law; Director, Clifford Symposium
10:15 SESSION I: INDIVIDUAL HARMS AND REMEDIES
How an Old Tort Became New: The Case of Offensive Battery
Kenneth Abraham, University of Virginia
G. Edward White, University of Virginia
After the Firefighters’ Rule: Tort Litigation Arising from Protest
Ellie Bublick, University of Arizona
An Ideal of Resilience and the Law of Torts
Erik Encarnacion, University of Texas
Discussant: Robert Rabin, Stanford University
12:15 LUNCH (provided)
1:15 SESSION II: TECHNOLOGY
AI Malpractice
Bryan Choi, The Ohio State University
Remote Repossession
Rebecca Crootof, University of Richmond
Locating Liability for Medical AI
I. Glen Cohen, Harvard University
Nicholson Price, University of Michigan
Discussant: John Goldberg, Harvard University
3:15 BREAK
3:30 SESSION III: PUBLIC NUISANCE
Cottages as Public Nuisances: Housing the Poor in the Time of Blackstone
Molly Brady, Harvard University
The Duty of Climate Care
Douglas Kysar, Yale University
Public Nuisance and the Apportionment of Responsibility
Anthony Sebok, Yeshiva University
Discussant: Catherine Sharkey, New York University
5:15 DAY 1 CONCLUDES
FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 2022
8:00 REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
9:00 SESSION IV: HEALTHCARE AND MEDICINE
Renewing Product Liability and Safety for Semen
Anita Bernstein, Brooklyn Law School
Loss of Chance in Tort Law: A Profound or Incremental Development?
Mark Geistfeld, New York University
Lost Chance of a Better Medical Outcome: New Tort, New Type of Compensable Injury or a New Causation Rule?
Kenneth Simons, University of California, Irvine
When a Wrong Creates a Life: Institutional Liability for Unconsented-to Births
Karen Tani, University of Pennsylvania
Discussant: Stephan Landsman, DePaul University
11:15 BREAK
11:30 SESSION V: GENDER
Impaired in Pairs
Cristina Tilley, University of Iowa
Reviving False Light
Benjamin Zipursky, Fordham University
Torts Arms Race: Anti-Abortion and Safe-Harbor Private Causes of Action
Carly Zubrzycki, University of Connecticut
Discussant: Deborah Tuerkheimer, Northwestern University
1:15 CONCLUDING REMARKS
Image stills from Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis, 1927.2022
Litigating the Public Good: Punishing Serious Corporate Misconduct
2021
Civil Litigation in a Post-COVID World
2020
The Opioid Crisis: Where Do We Go from Here?
2019
Kenneth Abraham University of Virginia
Anita Bernstein Brooklyn Law
School
Molly Brady Harvard University
Ellie Bublick University of Arizona
Bryan Choi
The Ohio State University
I. Glenn Cohen
Harvard University
Rebecca Crootof University of Richmond
Erik Encarnacion University of Texas
Mark Geistfeld New York University
John Goldberg
Harvard University
Douglas Kysar Yale University
Stephan Landsman DePaul University
Nicholson Price University of Michigan
Robert Rabin Stanford University
Anthony Sebok Yeshiva University
Catherine Sharkey New York University
Kenneth Simons
University of California, Irvine
Karen Tani
University of Pennsylvania
Cristina Tilley University of Iowa
Deborah Tuerkheimer Northwestern University
G. Edward White University of Virginia
Benjamin Zipursky Fordham University
Carly Zubrzycki
University of Connecticut
In 1994, Robert A. Clifford (’76) endowed a faculty chair in tort law and social policy. The chair gives meaningful expression to his belief that the civil justice system serves a number of vital interests in American society. The Clifford Chair at DePaul provides a vehicle for exploration of the civil justice system in an intellectually rigorous fashion.
In addition to providing support for faculty research and teaching, the endowment makes possible an annual symposium addressing a timely issue in the civil justice area. The purpose of the symposium is to bring the latest scholarship and advances in legal practice to lawyers and scholars who specialize in tort law, civil justice and related fields. Professor Stephan Landsman is the current organizer and director of the symposium underwritten by the Clifford Chair.
Rising Stars: A New Generation of Legal Scholars Looks at Civil Justice
2018
Patient Safety: How Might the Law Help
2017
The Impact of Dark Money on Judicial Elections and Behavior
2016
Privacy, Data Theft and Corporate Responsibility
2015
The Supreme Court, Business and Civil Justice
2014
In Honor of Jack Weinstein
2013
Brave New World: The Changing Face of Litigation and Law Firm Finance
2012
A Celebration of the Thought of Marc Galanter
2011
Festschrift for Robert Rabin
2010
The Limits of Predictability and the Value of Uncertainty
2009
Rising Stars: A New Generation of Scholars Looks at Civil Justice
2008
The Challenge of 2020: Preparing a Civil Justice Reform Agenda for the Coming Decade
2007
Distortions in the Attorney/Client Relationship: Threats to Sound Advice?
2006
Is the Rule of Law Waning in America?
2005
Who Feels Their Pain? The Challenge of Non-Economic Damages in Civil Litigation
2004
Starting Over: Redesigning the Medical Malpractice System
2003
After Disaster: The September 11th Compensation Fund and the Future of Civil Justice
2002
Export Import: American Civil Justice in a Global Context
2001
Smoke Signals: Civil Justice in the Wake of the Tobacco Wars
2000
Civil Litigation and Popular Culture
1999
Judges as Tort Lawmakers
1998
The American Civil Jury: Illusion and Reality
1997
Contingent Fee Financing of Litigation in America
1996
Tort Law and the Science of the Twenty-First Century
1995
ADR and Torts: Implications for Practice and Reform
Register for this free CLE event by June 6 at 2023Clifford.eventbrite.com
The Symposium will be presented in person and online. There is a room cap of 100 in-person attendees, and online participants will receive a link to view the presentation just ahead of the event. No proof of vaccination is required of in-person guests and masks are optional. However, DePaul is a mask-friendly university, and wearing a mask is highly recommended for all indoor spaces. These rules are subject to change in accordance with public health guidance.
DePaul University College of Law is an accredited Illinois MCLE provider. This program has been approved for up to 10.5 hours of general CLE credit:
DAY 1: Up to 6.5 credits
DAY 2: Up to 4.0 credits
