DISCOVERY presented by UW Law

In 2020, the police-involved killings of Manuel Ellis in Tacoma and George Floyd in Minneapolis were two cases among many incidents across the nation which led to the recent establishment of the Office of Independent Investigations (OII) earlier this summer in Olympia. Signed into law by Governor Inslee, the OII is a civilian-led agency that conducts investigations into police-involved incidents o...

Sexual assault affects many Washingtonians, but justice does not always come to survivors and their families. In many cases these violent felonies and sexually motivated offenses become cold cases. As a participant in the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), Washington's Office of the Attorney General received multiple grants ꟷ totaling $5.5 million ꟷ from the U.S. Department of Justice...

The Seattle Mariners have a three-pronged mission: to win championships, create unforgettable experiences for fans, guests and employees, and to serve their communities. In the first episode of Season Five, we take you out to the proverbial ball game for a discussion with Mariners' Executive Vice President/General Counsel Fred Rivera about how the Mariners are delivering on their mission. We hear...

Copyright law is written in such a way that suggests copyright is a grant of rights to authors, rewarding them with the commercial advantages of producing original work. However, upon closer examination, consumers who want to build on existing works of authorship also have rights that are protected.  Pamela Samuelson is the Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law and Information at the U...

Deep systemic issues leading to a culture of punishment in our criminal justice system often seal the fates of children who end up incarcerated. The case of Kimonti Carter, a model prisoner who grew up as a "baby gangster" in the redlined, 1990s neighborhoods of Tacoma, Washington, is a prototype for many others like him. Sentenced two months after his eighteenth birthday to a life without parole,...

Public interest attorneys are charged with advancing justice for all, but according to Washington Supreme Court Justice G. Helen Whitener, the practice of public interest law has lost its focus since the 1960s. Solving the intersecting inequities that face underrepresented communities requires that we reckon with our history and commit to creating new solutions together. Justice Whitener was appoi...

On March 19, 2022, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission held a second vote regarding a proposed spring bear hunting season, this time deciding 5-4 against the seasonal hunt, after a 4-4 vote in November 2021. Before the March vote, Washington's spring bear hunt was just one of eight in the nation allowed by state environmental agencies. The controversial vote has brought concerns to the sur...

The U.S. Supreme Court has endorsed companies' ability to block class actions through mandatory individual arbitration clauses. A recent policy-based critique balances the purely legal, doctrinal perspective of class actions by examining issues through the lens of economics. Depending on circumstances surrounding the interests of consumers, investors and employees, some class actions maximize soci...

As the result of a broad societal shift recognizing the injuries of violence, it's been said that we live in an "age of trauma." Emotional trauma has fueled legal and policy social justice reforms in the three key social justice movements of our time: #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, and climate change. However, trauma-centered advocacy and social justice can have negative implications. Noa Ben-Asher, L...

Exploring space involves launching satellites which create debris. The international community is working on the process of debris mitigation and traffic coordination to avoid interference and future collisions. Though technical regulations exist, there are no binding regulations nor enforcement mechanism in space. Information sharing and data collection, particularly from as many sources as possi...

In 2020, the United States held its first presidential election in a pandemic. It was expected that nationwide voting by mail would cause issues, but few expected a partisan fight over access to voting during a pandemic. Elisabeth Frost is a partner at Perkins Coie, which has the oldest political law department in the country. She specializes in litigation that involves the political practice. On...

Since George Floyd's murder this past summer, dozens of bills have been introduced at the Washington Legislature intending to increase accountability and transparency among police forces. ACLU of Washington attorney Enoka Herat has worked on many of them, including two landmark pieces of legislation that address police tactics and use of force. On this episode, she talks about the ways in which ac...

Over the past four years, members of America's business community have taken increasingly stronger steps in opposition of divisive policies, actions and rhetoric of the Trump presidency. That footfall became heaviest following the 2020 election and Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Now with states across the country seeking to enact more restrictive voter suppression laws, Professor Jeffery Sonnenfeld...

Yakama Nation v. Klickitat County involves a dispute that dates back 150 years and encompasses issues central to Tribal sovereignty in Washington state. Revolving around the status of tract of land on the Yakama Reservation's southern boundary, the case calls in to play a legal framework that has been a pillar of U.S. Indian law for centuries. When you throw ​in a SCOTUS ruling with major potentia...

Data is one of the world's most valuable commodities, and every second companies are collecting lots of it. With so much information available, open data offers limitless opportunities to benefit the greater public. Figuring out how to license it effectively, however, has proved tricky. Steven Mortinger knows this particularly well: At IBM, he has been on the cutting edge of all things IP for deca...

Oregon Measure 109 is a landmark piece of legislation that creates a legal market for psilocybin-assisted therapy in the state — the first of its kind anywhere in the United States. On this episode, hear from Dave Kopilak, the law's primary drafter, who shares insights into what it takes to put together a successful ballot measure centered in such an uncharted field of the law.

The Japanese American incarceration during World War II is a black eye on U.S. history. In the four decades that followed, activists and community leaders waged what was ultimately a successful campaign for redress and reparations on behalf of those who were sent to the internment camps. On this episode, Professor Margaret Chon discusses how the reparations campaign built on groundwork laid during...

California v. Texas is a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court that is the first major challenge to the Affordable Care Act since the appointment of the court's newest justice. Over the past decade, the ACA has been surprisingly resilient despite constant legal battles — and this one certainly won't be the last. Health law expert Joan Altman has been on the front lines in Washington since the...

Recent legislation and several key developments this past year are impacting the future of gaming on Tribal lands in Washington. HB 2638 is of particular significance, which last March legalized sports wagering at Tribal casinos. Rion Ramirez and David Trujillo have been at the negotiating table for years. They join to discuss the history of gaming on Tribal lands in Washington, how to build a sol...

Law students can be notoriously hard on themselves amid the pressure cooker that is law school. That stress, says Dr. Isaiah Pickens, manifests in a number of ways, including feelings of imposterism that can be hard to shake. 2020 certainly hasn't made the experience any easier, but Pickens asserts there are still important approaches that strengthen the mental muscles that foster resilience in th...

When COVID-19 first gained a foothold in Washington, Taya Briley knew her world was about to be turned upside down. As executive vice president and general counsel of the WSHA, Briley is one of the Washington medical community's key leaders tasked with spearheading response efforts to the rapidly evolving legal issues raised by the virus. Working on behalf of the state's 114 community hospitals, B...

The one-two punch of COVID-19 and political efforts to undermine the voting process has made this U.S. presidential election unlike any other. Yet despite these challenges, mail-in and early voting are driving record turnout across the country. Now with the election just one week away, what if anything should voters be aware of as they head to polls? On the season three premiere of DISCOVERY prese...

The Trump Administration has pursued one of the most aggressive deregulatory agendas since the Reagan years, leveraging a variety of political and legal tactics to do so. As the United States ramps up toward the 2020 election, University of Chicago Law School Professor Jonathan Masur details how the Trump Administration has used executive orders, cost-benefit analyses and the application of the Ch...

Leading forensics expert Dr. Geoffrey Baird is no stranger to the courtroom. Over the years, he has been called upon regularly to share insights and analysis in some of the country's biggest, most high-profile cases. A litigator's abilities to effectively wield forensic evidence and present expert testimony can make or break a case, which is why Dr. Baird is also a frequent guest in UW Law classro...

Jails and prisons are dangerous incubators of the COVID-19 virus, and incarcerated individuals constitute one of the country's most at-risk populations. This unprecedented reality has amplified discussions around incarceration in the United States, accelerating advocacy efforts as calls for reform get louder. La Rond Baker has spent her career in the legal profession spearheading civil rights and...