Noteworthy

Nick Fram and Thomas Frampton's article on the unionization of college athletes is getting notice again after student-athletes from Northwestern University petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for the right to form a union. A recent New York Times Op-Ed, Unionized College Athletes?, describes Fram and Frampton's argument in favor of classifying college athletes as employees, noting that the athletes still face "an uphill struggle."

On September 28, a Time Magazine online editorial titled College Athletes Need to Unionize Now, cited Nick Fram and Thomas Frampton’s A Union of Amateurs: A Legal Blueprint to Reshape Big-Time College Athletics. The Time article referenced Fram and Frampton’s theory that college athletes at public institutions should be considered university employees. The Buffalo Law Review published A Union of Amateurs in August 2012 (60 Buff. L. Rev. 1003).

The International Arbitration Club of New York awarded Professor Charles H. Brower II the Smit-Lowenfeld Prize for best scholarly article in the field of international arbitration for his article Arbitration and Antitrust: Navigating the Contours of Mandatory Law, which appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Buffalo Law Review (59 Buff. L. Rev. 1127).

Todd E. Pettys's article Judicial Retention Elections, the Rule of Law, and the Rhetorical Weaknesses of Consequentialism, 60 Buff. L. Rev. 69 (2012), has generated a lot of discussion:
- The Press-Citizen Editorial Board agrees with Pettys, saying "Iowa’s current judicial nominating system ... all but ties the hands of judges from defending themselves."
- Jordan M. Singer reflected on the uncertain future of judicial retention elections in BLR's The Docket.
- Pettys's article was featured in an editorial, "Judges Need to Learn to Defend Themselves," in the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

Should NCAA players unionize in an effort to get paid? A Union of Amateurs: A Legal Blueprint to Reshape Big-Time College Athletics by Nick Fram and Thomas Frampton presents surprising research regarding state-level paths to player unionization and pay. A recent article in Salon, "Madness of March: NCAA Gets Paid, Players Don’t," relies heavily on their cutting edge research to suggest an avenue to empower student-athletes: "Rather than corrupting 'amateurism,' Fram and Frampton argue, unionization offers a path to preserve its best aspects: protecting the league from legal crisis while providing players a forum to defend their academic pursuits and their physical and emotional health."

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