Author: TSA Press

In the era of social distancing, folks can get a little stir crazy. Everywhere you look, someone is touting the new hobby they’ve taken up because of the pandemic that they would never explore without the enforced, alienating solitude. Everyone’s out here baking bread, learning to knit, developing feelings about Tiger King, singing from their balconies, or writing long-form editorials about the importance of embracing authoritarianism.

Harvard Law’s Adrian Vermeule decided to take on the last hobby with a column in the Atlantic titled “Beyond Originalism,” where he pretty much argued for turning over the judicial system to a bargain-basement theocracy. And then… said he didn’t? Or something?

To untangle this, let’s begin with Vermeule’s original argument which begins by praising the work that the empty signifier for contemporary conservative politics judicial philosophy known as “Originalism” has done to make aggressive right-wing legal principles palatable by framing them simply the understanding of that lionized generation of Constitutional Framers. But now, with the conservative stranglehold on the courts so complete that they’ve had to resort to nominating “not qualified” people just to fill all their vacancies, Vermeule believes “assured of this, conservatives ought to turn their attention to developing new and more robust alternatives to both originalism and left-liberal constitutionalism. It is now possible to imagine a substantive moral constitutionalism that, although not enslaved to the original meaning of the Constitution, is also liberated from the left-liberals’ overarching sacramental narrative, the relentless expansion of individualistic autonomy.” What exactly does that mean?

Well, part of it involves the need “to ensure that the ruler has the power needed to rule well,” a nod to authoritarianism more at home in Machiavelli than the Federalist Papers. And when it comes to defining what “well” means, you can see why progressive critics had some problems with all this:

The Court’s jurisprudence on free speech, abortion, sexual liberties, and related matters will prove vulnerable under a regime of common-good constitutionalism. The claim, from the notorious joint opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, that each individual may “define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life” should be not only rejected but stamped as abominable, beyond the realm of the acceptable forever after. So too should the libertarian assumptions central to free-speech law and free-speech ideology—that government is forbidden to judge the quality and moral worth of public speech, that “one man’s vulgarity is another’s lyric,” and so on—fall under the ax. Libertarian conceptions of property rights and economic rights will also have to go, insofar as they bar the state from enforcing duties of community and solidarity in the use and distribution of resources.

It’s not all bad. Vermeule also envisions an iron-fisted bureaucracy that might stand up for exploited workers, protect the environment, and make people get vaccinated. Still, there are better justifications for that, like maintaining a functioning economy, than asking our Philosopher King to protect the people as his — and this person is almost definitely a him in this article — children.

Meanwhile, conservatives were also up in arms about this. In trying to resuscitate Originalism’s usefulness as a check on “conservative living constitutionalism,” Professor Randy Barnett penned a response to Vermeule that helpfully distinguishes Vermeule’s core Catholic integralism as putting him on the outs with a lot of mainstream Originalism loving conservatives who can do without all of Catholicism’s baggage of “caring about poor people.” But basically Barnett’s criticism boils down to “liberals, be glad for Originalism or conservatives would really run wild.”

But the FedSoc doth protest too much. It’s not as though there’s any empirical evidence from the last 30 years of jurisprudence to suggest “Originalism” posed any check — beyond requiring judges to develop a proficiency in sophistry — on conservatives enforcing their contemporary political views and pawning it off as “Original.” If they had a problem with Vermeule’s vision of an authoritarian bureaucracy dominated by a powerful, moralizing chief executive they haven’t shown it in the decades of reverence they’ve showed Unitary Executive theory and its evangelists from Scalia to Kavanaugh. Tying that dog to the “Original” public meaning of the Constitution requires sociopathic levels of cognitive dissonance denial.

Vermeule cited the recent decisions asserting an individual right to bear arms as evidence that Originalism isn’t really tied to anything but contemporary politics and Barnett acts like this is a sign that Vermeule is out to lunch. If “Originalism” is really about the original public meaning of the Constitution, the best evidence we have about the original public meaning of these words is that, as president, George Washington marched an Army to go kick the hell out of some people who thought they had an individual right to bear arms and everybody seemed pretty cool with that reading of the Second Amendment at the time. I mean, this is an actual quote from a lauded Originalist gun opinion “While considering materials that post-date the Bill of Rights by at least 75 years might stretch the term ‘original public meaning’…” Oof.

Originalism is sloganeering. In fairness, it’s a pretty effective slogan. It’s a better than anything its rivals to its left have come up with. What it’s not though, is a meaningful check on “conservative living constitutionalism.”

This whole thing was weird enough and then the weekend happened. After a couple of days of getting ripped by left-leaning and right-leaning critics alike, Vermeule wrote a blog post that he flags as satirical except it’s… not funny or ironic?

First, I am happy to inform the left-liberal critics that the piece was never actually intended to make a Dworkinian argument for reading the Constitution in light of moral principles of the common good. Rather it was intended to make a Dworkinian argument for reading the Constitution in light of moral principles of equality and freedom, as specified by the programme of the American Civil Liberties Union. (Sadly unoriginal, I know; the legal literature is replete with that kind of scholarship). Somehow, a global search-and-replace occurred, and the phrase “Equality and Freedom” was everywhere replaced with “Common Good.” That change inadvertently transformed the piece from a banal effort, safely mainstream within the legal academy, into a menacing harbinger of fascism.

Why is this satire? Another conservative hot take is that Vermeule is trying to undermine the left’s adherence to Dworkin by coopting it for authoritarianism. But then… is the original piece satire?

Second, I am equally happy to inform the right-liberals that the piece was never intended to criticize originalism.

Is this satire then? He goes on to suggest that Originalists are just button pushers who will betray the moral fabric of the country by adhering blindly to the Constitution as if there’s some hand-wringing Originalist out there going all Warren Court because of what the Federalist Papers say.

Could this whole thing have just been a swipe — planted in the very opening paragraph of the first piece — at the line “We are all originalists now,” a phrase that no one seriously uses and that Elena Kagan probably regretted seconds after she let it slip from her mouth. Could this whole thing be Vermeule’s long con that liberals are coopting Originalism just as adeptly as conservatives could coopt his straw argument vision of living constitutionalism? And if that’s the whole point, then it’s not really satire, it’s an explicit call to more nakedly pursue right-wing ideology through the judiciary lest liberals someday win a battle for what “original” means?

In other news, Harvard Law students are joining the push for diploma-privilege admission. I’ve been sympathetic to this, but after this window into Harvard Law School’s faculty I’m going to have to step back and question the value of that diploma.

Now that is satire.

Kind of.

Beyond Originalism [The Atlantic]
A Series of Unfortunate Events [Mirror of Justice]
Common-Good Constitutionalism Reveals the Dangers of Any Non-originalist Approach to the Constitution [The Atlantic]
When conservatives interpret the Constitution like progressives [The Week]

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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

NCBE’s mission is to promote fairness, integrity, and best practices in admission to the legal profession for the benefit and protection of the public. That mission is more important than ever at a time when there is such great need for a competent and ethical legal profession to serve the public. It is with that aim in mind that we are seeking to ensure that the bar exam can be administered to as many candidates as possible in 2020.

To provide needed flexibility for jurisdictions and candidates, in addition to preparing materials for a July bar exam, NCBE will make bar exam materials available for two fall administrations in 2020: September 9-10 and September 30-October 1. Each jurisdiction will determine whether to offer the exam in July, in early September, or in late September.

We don’t yet know what the months ahead will hold. NCBE is being proactive and continuing to explore solutions for as many scenarios as we can anticipate. We are consulting with outside testing, technology, and exam security experts to consider various options and alternative methods of testing if the traditional group setting must be canceled or modified.

—  a statement from the National Conference of Bar Examiners regarding the upcoming Fall 2020 administrations of the bar exam in lieu of the formerly planned July 2020 exam. The NCBE has created a webpage detailing COVID-19 updates, noting their goal was to “ensur[e] that law students have every opportunity to become licensed so that they can put their legal education to work in helping those affected by this crisis.”

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

The bad news is that, unlike every other exam in the world, those bank stress tests are still on. The good news is that means U.S. banks—unlike their benighted European peers—will probably be allowed to keep paying dividends.

Fed officials are unlikely to do so, at least in the short term. They see key differences in how lenders distribute capital on the two continents, and they plan to conduct a more deliberate analysis of the U.S. banking system’s health, the people said.

Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said she prefers to await the results of the next set of the banks’ “stress tests” in June before deciding whether to limit dividend payments.

The other day we pointed you to a list of the grading policy changes around the country (and Canada) to keep everyone up to date on the updates we’re putting out there as we get them. Information is coming in rapidly, but it’s nice to have a place to go back and look at everything in one place.

Now that updates to firm summer associate programs are coming in fast and furious, we found that Reddit once again has done the good work of gathering this under one roof before we did. We can’t stress how helpful this is, because we here at Above the Law are tracking layoffs, bar cancellations, grading changes, summer programs, SCOTUS arguments, DOJ shenanigans, and terrible law firm advertising all at once, so we’re glad there’s a chart like this out there.

In this case, it’s Redditor Hstrat maintaining the chart with updates to summer programs. To give you a preview of what Hstrat’s got, here are the Vault top 10. The rest of the list is here:

Firm Name	Status	Last Updated
Cravath (V1)	Committed to SA program but likely delayed. Advances have been paid	4/3
Wachtell (V2)	They plan to have a program; may be remote until safe to return; advances have been paid	4/5
Skadden (V3)	Program will continue, will go remote if necessary. Exploring possible contingency plans if needed	4/5
S&C (V4)	They expect start dates to be delayed, will update their summers when they know more	4/3
Latham (V5)	Firm-wide offer of counseling services; Some locations guaranteeing pay/SA program, others no communication	4/3
Kirkland (V6)	Considering options – email focused on health & safety concerns	4/1
Davis Polk (V7)	Delayed Start; on 4/6 asked for direct deposit info of summers who requested advances	4/6
Simpson Thatcher (V8)	Expect to have summer program, otherwise ambiguous email	4/1
Gibson Dunn (V9)	Planning to adapt summer program to maximize the SA experience – reminder that they did not cut SA program in ’08	4/3
Paul, Weiss (V10)	Remain fully committed to SA program – considering a delayed start	4/3

Thanks for keeping up on all this. We’ll keep putting out the stories as we ferret them out.

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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

Donald Trump has been very busy protecting America from COVID-19 the past week. What with his corona pressers to hype unproven drug regimens and constant tweeting — 14 and counting as of 1pm today — it’s a wonder he can find time to sleep. Luckily, he’d set an iPhone alert (probably) to remind him to take revenge on civil servants who failed to cover up his plan to extort the president of Ukraine for dirt on Joe Biden last summer. So Friday night, Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson got the pink slip.

Atkinson committed the cardinal sin of applying the law evenhandedly to the president’s conduct. Last August, IG Atkinson received the infamous whistleblower complaint alleging that Trump was withholding military aid from Ukraine in an attempt to get that country’s president to announce a criminal investigation of Joe Biden’s son. Atkinson found the allegations credible and forwarded the complaint to then-Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire to be transmitted to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees as required by statute. Maguire instead sent it to the White House, where Attorney General Bill Barr and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone contrived to bury it. And then … well, we all know what happened next.

Atkinson was appointed by Trump himself in May of 2018. And yet, Trump insisted at his Saturday coronavirus briefing that Atkinson, who left private practice at Winston & Strawn after the September 11 attacks to serve his country at the Justice Department, lacks the one essential qualification for the ICIG job: He’s not a “big Trump fan.”

I thought he did a terrible job.  Absolutely terrible.  He took a whistleblower report, which turned out to be a fake report — it was fake.  It was totally wrong.  It was about my conversation with the President of Ukraine.  He took a fake report and he brought it to Congress, with an emergency.  Okay?  Not a big Trump fan — that, I can tell you.

After which Trump demonstrated his deep respect for whistleblowers by opining that, “He’s a fake whistleblower. And, frankly, somebody ought to sue his ass off.”

Atkinson himself released a statement yesterday saying, “It is hard not to think that the President’s loss of confidence in me derives from my having faithfully discharged my legal obligations as an independent and impartial Inspector General, and from my commitment to continue to do so.”

He continued with a dire warning against politicizing the position of Inspector General and a plea to protect whistleblowers, ending with “a message for any government employee or contractor who believes they have learned of or observed unethical, wasteful, or illegal behavior in the federal government.”

The American people deserve an honest and effective government. They are counting on you to use authorized channels to bravely speak up – there is no disgrace in doing so. It is important to remember, as others have said, that the need for secrecy in the United States Intelligence Community is not a grant of power, but a grant of trust. Our government benefits when individuals are encouraged to report suspected fraud, waste, and abuse. I have faith that my colleagues in Inspectors General Offices throughout the federal government will continue to operate effective and independent whistleblower programs, and that they will continue to do everything in their power to protect the rights of whistleblowers. Please do not allow recent events to silence your voices.

On Sunday, Donald Trump forwarded the names of five additional Inspector General candidates to the Senate for confirmation. Presumably these nominees have passed the “big Trump fan” test and will be more to the president’s liking.

Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing [WH Transcript, April 4, 2020]
Statement of Michael K. Atkinson, Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, on His Removal from Office [via NYT, April 5, 2020]

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Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

Covid- 19 which had its first cases in Zimbabwe in February 2020 has now claimed a life with 9 people confirmed to be positive and undergoing treatment. Throughout the world, we have USA, China ,Italy  and Spain among the most hit with the virus spreading like veld fire to the whole world causing devastating socio-economic and political challenges.

PYCD is cognizant of the unprecedented colossal threat that this rabid pandemic presents to the life of our local community in Chipinge and the nation at large. PYCD share the broken hearts of communities in Zimbabwe on the realization that the pandemic has come at a time when our health delivery service is at its most dysfunctional. Chipinge and Mutare do not have adequately equipped centres for COVID – 19 cases.

PYCD is a community based organisation with limited capacity but have put in place a campaign to deal specifically with awareness and monitoring through advocacy. Our intervention focused on demystifying social myths associated with the COVID – 19 pandemic, through provision of verifiable easy to grasp information.  The information is packaged in such a way to ensure that every community is provided with adequate information that tells them everything they need to know to prevent themselves and at the same time play a critical role in curtailing the spread of COVID -19. Adequate information is the only tool that can empower local communities to take care of themselves and have a sudden consciousness of our common objective of curbing the spread of COVID – 19 in the district. COVID – 19 is a behavior related crisis, and information plays a critical role in regulating personal behavior.

Our involvement so far has put in place a three week based intervention divided into three phases that will be reviewed after the 21 Days of the official lock down.

First Week – 30 March to April 6 2020

PYCD has just finished this phase in which we were using the social media, and in particular our WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter accounts to encourage the public to respect the directive from government to stay at home. There were a lot of misconceptions that were being spread by other unscrupulous elements dismissing COVID 19 as a curse on the western countries and unable to hit Africans but countries in the first world. Some of the social myths that we endeavored to address included that kids and even Africans cannot contract the Covid-19 and that only those who can afford to travel to countries hard hit by the virus can contract the virus.  Our just concluded week involved sharing important information on the number of people who were being affected and how deadly the disease was affecting other countries from the globe.

We observed that non-compliance on the observance of social and physical distancing has been due to cultural interpretations of COVID – 19 pandemic. The Ndau cultural aspects have a great influence on the processes of symptom recognition, labeling and help-seeking including peoples’ decision to attend or to ignore pronouncements made on measures to curb the spread of COVID – 19.

PYCD is saddened by the heavy handedness of our security sector in enforcing the Presidential pronouncement on the measures to curb the spread of COVID – 19. This is an opportunity for the government to prove its worth to the general populace through the provision of assurance and safety of our communities.

Social and economic challenges remained an inhibiting factor in our local communities in addressing the COVID -19 scourge. As a community based organization, PYCD is literally present in the community where people live their lives with enormous outreach in the district. No one is any longer in doubt about the nature and size of the COVID – 19 pandemic. Chipinge district has weaker health systems and limited capacity to handle surges in cases. Thus, the situation creates distributional inequalities as the government is more focused on national health institutions in major cities. The poorest districts in our country are often the most vulnerable since they have fewer pandemic response resources—fewer health workers and clinics and less medicine. As the COVID – 19 is beginning to assert itself, the local communities are more likely to have already been suffering from malnutrition and immunosuppressive conditions, which can increase susceptibility to COVID – 19.

At the time of writing, people are queuing for basic commodities in Checheche, and humanitarian organisations will be distributing food handouts to vulnerable communities in Chinyamukwaka, Chisumbanje, Mahenye and surrounding areas. This includes the department of social welfare.

Face Masks, hand gloves and sanitizers as well as basics increased in terms of prizes due to some unscrupulous elements that are bent on taking advantage of the crisis.

The general public responded positively to the call for the stay home but there is a growing fatigue which might create challenges mid -way toward the end of the 21 -day period of the declared days.

Second Week-7 April to 14 April 2020

PYCD will use this period to share observations and opinion on the way the public and stakeholders are responding to COVID 19.This period will involve some of the PYCD staff having to take outdoor assignments to verify cases and incidences warranting attention. This will be part of a monitoring exercise. Government of Zimbabwe has introduced intervention methods aimed at cushioning the vulnerable and less privileged public who are struggling to survive the stay home campaign. Activities by government through the covid-19 taskforce will be monitored to check transparency and accountability in the manner they are distributed.

Third Week-15 April to 21 April 2020

During this period PYCD will be focusing on the lessons learnt during the lockdown period with the aim of going beyond the lockdown and COVID -19.Lessons drawn from our work and our networks will be used to make up recommendations for government on how to respond to emergencies and natural disasters. PYCD will also be drawing lessons from the Cyclone Idai disaster that struck in Zimbabwe

Post published in: Featured

A police water canon sprays disinfectant over residential flats during a 21-day nationwide lockdown called to help curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Harare, Zimbabwe, April 3, 2020. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

South Africa has become the epicenter of COVID -19 in Africa with nearly 1,500 cases and fiver fatalities as of Thursday.

Pretoria ordered a national three-week lock down last week to control the spread of the virus and thousands of Zimbabwean economic refugees returned with at least 13,500 passing through the Beitbridge main border post in three days.

The Zimbabwean government, faced with a collapsed health infrastructure and an acute shortage of testing kits, is afraid of a spike in infections if the returnees do not adhere to the self-quarantine regulations.

According to Health and Child Care minister Obadiah Moyo, “We have seen a sudden large influx of returning residents through our Beitbridge border post. Initially, we were advised that there was a group of 500 nationals returned by the South African government. We recommend that they be put under self-quarantine at designated venues.”

Dr.Moyo is quoted saying the surge in returnees was putting pressure on border officials who have to carry out proper screening for the virus.

He said 13,500 people had been advised to self-quarantine but experts said it is impossible in a country where urban centers have no running water and citizens have to queue for the basics which are always in short supply.

Experts have warned that the number of returning residents was just the tip of the iceberg as thousands could have used illegal crossing points because they has no travel documents making it difficult to enforce self-quarantine measures among undocumented immigrants.

Zimbabwe began its own 21-day lockdown on March 30, and in two days 182 people had been arrested for straying out of their homes to fetch water or to buy food.

Post published in: Featured

Take for instance the recent announcement that land was being handed back to dispossessed farmers. Even world media got it wrong and assumed that white farmers were to return. It meant nothing of the sort as Comrade Air Marshal Shiri, the Lands Minister, later explained – some whites could come back but not Zimbabwean whites because they were not really Zimbabwean . . .

Or, more immediately, take today’s story about Nelson Chamisa. Bulawayo 24 excitedly reported ‘A pophetic message’ (sic) from Chamisa quoting him as tweeting: ‘Zimbabwe is about to see God’s powerful move. We shall soon be the hub of new development modes in the world. We shall be the wisdom center of the entire continent. We shall have a new song of joy. A new anthem and new wealth. Oh I see all these new things. Everything NEW! I smell change. Change is in the air!’ (See: https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-182634.html.)

Well, we know that restrictions on alcohol sales have just been announced but withdrawal symptoms don’t usually spark a full-blown messianic complex so quickly, do they? Not surprisingly, looking at Chamisa’s twitter account we can’t find the tweet quoted.

Of course, it’s possible that poor Nelson has been driven mad by the Supreme Court ruling this week that he is not really the MDC leader: ‘Just a naughty boy’ as a UK comic would put it. MDC Senator David Coltart, himself a lawyer, says the Mnangagwa regime is deeply worried at the threat posed by Chamisa’s MDC and that the court’s ruling is ‘seriously flawed from start to finish’.

Coltart said he had shared with Chamisa texts from the Bible including Isaiah 40.29: ‘He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak’. Coltart says of the MDC: ‘There is no doubt that in many senses we are now at our weakest – we have the full force of a brutal, corrupt and violent state arrayed against us. The regime will probably use its power to deprive us of our buildings, assets and income in the coming weeks. But I believe that it is in our moments of greatest physical weakness that we are strongest.’ (See: http://www.davi?coltart.com/2020/04/giving-strength-to-the-weary-and-increasing-the-power-of-the-weak-comment-regarding-the-supreme-court-judgment-issued-on-the-31st-mhelparch-2020-against-nelson-chamisa/.)

The Vigil was heartened by reports from Harare of a US$770 million handout from the UN to help overcome Zimbabwe’s problems with famine and coronavirus etc. Sports Minister Kirsty Coventry tweeted the news: ‘UN Zimbabwe have provided Zimbabwe with a $770 million humanitarian response plan’. Yes indeed, but is this real money or just an appeal for money? It appears to be the latter and we can only hope that it will be delivered.

What is clear is that the International Monetary Fund says only half of the humanitarian aid last requested for Zimbabwe by the United Nations had been pledged by donors. It added ominously that the Zimbabwe economy contracted by 8.3% last year (see: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-03/imf-says-zimbabwe-needs-aid-urgently-to-ease-humanitarian-crisis).

An equally gloomy report came from the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference, on the eve of the 40^th anniversary of Zimbabwe’s Independence. The conference said the country had last an opportunity to redefine its history, foster national healing and to end corruption, international isolation and to save the collapse of the country’s infrastructure (see: https://www.newsday.co.zw/2020/04/zim-has-lost-40-years-catholic-bishops/).

Other points

• Because of the coronavirus, we can no longer physically meet outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London, so we have started a virtual Vigil. We asked our activists to put on Vigil / ROHR / Zimbabwe regalia and take a photo of themselves holding an appropriate poster reflecting our protest against human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. The photos are uploaded on our Flickr site (see: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/albums/72157713754508431). Our virtual Vigil activists today were Marvellous Chinguwa and Rose Benton who both also kindly contributed to Vigil funds.
• For Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website.

Notices

• The Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s partner organization based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil to have an organization on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents us.
• The Vigil’s book ‘Zimbabwe Emergency’ is based on our weekly diaries. It records how events in Zimbabwe have unfolded as seen by the diaspora in the UK. It chronicles the economic disintegration, violence, growing oppression and political manoeuvring – and the tragic human cost involved. It is available at the Vigil. All proceeds go to the Vigil and our sister organisation the Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe’s work in Zimbabwe. The book is also available from Amazon.
• Facebook pages:

Vigil: https://www.facebook.com/zimbabwevigil

ROHR: https://www.facebook.com/Restoration-of-Human-Rights-ROHR-Zimbabwe-International-370825706588551/

ZAF: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zimbabwe-Action-Forum-ZAF/490257051027515

The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 17.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.

Post published in: Featured

We are living in strange times. I don’t think anyone could have predicted the COVID-19 pandemic, let alone its transmissibility and the seriousness of the illness. Being sheltered-in-place and working remotely is one thing — doing so because everyone’s life may depend on it is another. This got me to thinking about how the medical, scientific, and technological experts are battling this disease, and the vast resources of data they are using to do so. The good news is that amazing headway is being made in tackling this global contagion; the bad news is that there is one casualty from this pandemic that may take longer to heal (if at all) than you may think.

Whether you realize this or not, there are a great many technological tools used in battling such a pandemic. Believe it or not, one of the biggest ones is big data. More specifically, the confluence of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and analysis of big data. Think about it — it makes sense. First, the increases in the capability of AI over the past decade are resulting in vast capabilities to intelligently parse vast amounts of information. This is leading to the capability to review and analyze large quantities of public information in a way that not only helps track the propagation of COVID-19 and associated risks, but helps monitor and perhaps even predict future hotspots (more on predictive analytics in a future article).  Given the vast amount of data available from news sources, social media feeds, third-party website commentary, and even official government information portals and feeds, it is not hard to see that with the proper algorithms and training, AI can see patterns within vast mountains of data not easily seen through other less technical means.

Moreover, this confluence is permitting AI/ML to draw inferences from vast information sources that will likely help research scientists in identifying effective treatments and drug regimes, as well as a likely vaccine. Think about it — scientists have already put together a large neural network called COVID-Net to process chest X-ray information to facilitate better testing from COVID-19. Although this convolutional neural network is more a research tool that has yet to be validated, the fact that this network has been made available to the public to help combat COVID-19 is a testament to the rapid progression of AI/ML tools. It is only a matter of time before such tools help find the necessary weaknesses in COVID-19 to help find not only an effective vaccine, but hopefully render this pandemic into a mere seasonal nuisance for future generations.

So what’s the problem? Well, it all boils down to the data itself. In an effort to combat this pandemic, Google has already released location tracking data to help governmental authorities determine which areas are complying to government-mandated stay-at-home orders. In fact, Google has also disabled its SameSite cookie support during the pandemic to avoid potential incompatibilities with some websites, opting to ensure continued website availability. This feature was a positive step toward personal information privacy because it prevents third-party domains from setting cookie data files when users are not on that third-party’s website — disabling the technology (although ostensibly temporary) is not a step in the right privacy direction.  Simply put: the unforeseen casualty from the COVID-19 pandemic is the privacy of your personal information.

Please don’t misunderstand the point here — I fully recognize that extraordinary circumstances require equally extraordinary responses. I applaud the use of AI/ML on available open-source data, and fully understand that the possibility of saving lives warrants taking some liberties involving personal data collection and use. The risk-benefit analysis in that regard is a no-brainer. What I worry about is that the Herculean response to this virus and big data efforts to combat it will not be adjusted once COVID-19 is under control.  Think about it — it’s not hard to imagine the use of location tracking data originally designed to address stay-at-home order compliance and contagion propagation continuing long after COVID-19 subsides, perhaps for purposes well outside of public health concerns.  Whether under the guise of tracking vaccine efficacy or for other ostensible public health-related reasons, it’s not hard to fathom uses of such information for other purposes by third parties that may not be so easy for individuals to address or accept. It’s like a toll-road that has already paid for itself, and the tolls far exceed the cost of maintenance of the roadway. Although no longer absolutely necessary, the operator continues to collect the tolls, and being used to doing so, we remain willing to pay them just to ride on the toll road.

Like you, I pray for this pandemic to be over soon, and remain quite optimistic about the prospects of AI/ML helping accelerate the learning curve and effectuate a vaccine. That said, the pandemic has now made it abundantly clear that privacy legislation on the federal level will need to become a reality sooner rather than later. State efforts (such as the CCPA in California) are a step in the right direction, but as I have written previously, they will result in a patchwork of legislation that will not uniformly address the underlying next-level privacy issues. Just as with the COVID-19 pandemic, a powerful federal response along the lines of the EU General Data Protection Regulation may be necessary in the future. Let’s all hope that Congress can come up with the right legislative vaccine regarding the future privacy of your personal information. I know what you may be thinking, but the health of your personal information may likely depend on it.

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Tom Kulik is an Intellectual Property & Information Technology Partner at the Dallas-based law firm of Scheef & Stone, LLP. In private practice for over 20 years, Tom is a sought-after technology lawyer who uses his industry experience as a former computer systems engineer to creatively counsel and help his clients navigate the complexities of law and technology in their business. News outlets reach out to Tom for his insight, and he has been quoted by national media organizations. Get in touch with Tom on Twitter (@LegalIntangibls) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/technologylawyer), or contact him directly at tom.kulik@solidcounsel.com.

We have some unfortunate news to report today, as we’ve learned that three Biglaw attorneys were infected with the novel coronavirus during an international business trip.

The group hailed from the Hong Kong office of Mayer Brown and traveled to London in early March for an arbitration case. Recall that the firm, after trying to bring its Hong Kong workforce back to the office, was recently forced to reinstate its work-from-home policy after facing major blowback from employees who were quite worried considering that COVID-19 had started making a comeback in the area thanks to lifted social-distancing restrictions.

The Standard, a local Hong Kong paper, has identified partner and international arbitration practice co-leader Menachem Hasofer as one of the lawyers who contracted COVID-19, along with two coworkers. Law.com International has a statement from the firm on the well-being of its attorneys:

“We confirm that all three of our Hong Kong-based colleagues who had recently returned to Hong Kong together from an overseas business trip have unfortunately all tested positive for COVID-19,” the firm said in a statement. …

Mayer Brown said all three members of the Hong Kong office immediately volunteered for a 14-day quarantine upon their return. “They have not been to any of our offices nor, as far as we are aware, have had any direct interaction with other members of our firm for around a month,” the firm said Friday.

The firm said it encourages “any person in our Hong Kong office who has concerns to work from home” and is closely monitoring developments.

We wish Hasofer and his colleagues the best of luck as they recover from the virus.

Three Mayer Brown Lawyers in Hong Kong Test Positive for COVID-19 [Law.com International]

Earlier: Biglaw Firm Reinstates Coronavirus Work-From-Home Policy After Blowback From Employees

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.