Michelle Hanlon Named Space Activist of the Year by National Space Society
Michelle Hanlon, Executive Director of the Center for Air and Space Law and Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Mississippi School of Law, has been awarded the 2023 Chris Pancratz Space Activist of the Year Award from the National Space Society.
“There are so many passionate advocates for space, I am truly humbled and honored to be the one selected this year to receive the award,” said Hanlon. “I will hold it up to students as proof that even one single voice can make a substantive difference especially in the quickly evolving realm of space law.”
A former President of NSS, Hanlon is recognized around the world as a leading expert on space law. Additionally, she is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Space Law, the oldest Journal in the world devoted to analyzing the legal problems arising out of human activities in space, and the Journal of Drone Law and Policy, the first of its kind.
In addition to her roles at Ole Miss Law, she is also Co-Founder and President of For All Moonkind, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that is the only organization in the world focused on obtaining international legal recognition for and protection of human cultural heritage in outer space.
Hanlon was instrumental in the development of the One Small Step Act in the United States, the first national legislation to acknowledge the existence of human heritage in outer space. For All Moonkind has been recognized by the United Nations as a Permanent Observer to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and Hanlon contributes regularly to the international discourse on space law through the Committee. Most recently, she urged the United Nations to recognize and adopt temporary heritage protection zones around certain sites on the Moon as part of a legal framework for space resource utilization. Under Hanlon’s leadership, more than 100 space law and heritage law experts from every inhabited continent contribute their valuable time and experience to advance For All Moonkind’s important mission. Last March Hanlon announced the formation of For All Moonkind’s Institute on Space Law and Ethics bringing together thought leaders in the space industry with the mission to develop an accepted ethical foundation for all space activity.
Hanlon’s research and advocacy centers upon the concept of “due regard” in space law and evolving the framework necessary to assure that human exploration of space is responsible, successful and sustainable. In this regard she has done considerable work and written and presented extensively on topics related to orbital debris remediation, space solar power, small satellite constellations, environmental considerations and the protection of human heritage in space.
Hanlon is an advisor to The Hague Institute for Global Justice Off-World Approach project. She also serves on the Advisory Committees of a number of space-related start-up organizations.
Michelle received her B.A. in Political Science from Yale College and her J.D. magna cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center. She earned her LL.M in Air and Space Law from McGill University where the focus of her research was commercial space and the intersection of commerce and public law.
Professor Farish Percy Elected Fellow of American College of Coverage Counsel
Farish Percy, University of Mississippi School of Law Professor of Law and Jamie L. Whitten Chair of Law and Government, has been elected as a Fellow of the American College of Coverage Counsel.
The ACCC is a national organization comprised of over 300 preeminent lawyers involved in coverage and extracontractual matters, with Fellows representing both policyholders and insurers and Honorary members from academia. Established in 2012, the College is focused on the creative, ethical, and efficient adjudication of insurance coverage and extra-contractual disputes, peer-provided scholarship, professional coordination and the improvement of the relationship between and among its diverse members.
“I look forward to getting to know the lawyers and academics in the group and learning from their expertise,” Percy said.
The organization engages in a rigorous vetting process prior to inviting a lawyer to become a fellow. Fellows include many of the most prominent members of the insurance law bar and academia, including Percy.
Percy joined the Ole Miss Law faculty in 2001 after practicing with the Tollison Law Firm, P.A. in Oxford, Mississippi for eight years. While engaged in private practice, Professor Percy concentrated in tort litigation, commercial litigation and appellate practice. She tried numerous civil cases in state and federal courts in Mississippi and briefed and argued several appellate cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Mississippi Supreme Court. Percy regularly teaches Torts, Civil Procedure II, Insurance and Evidence. She acted as the reporter for the Civil Procedure and Complex Litigation Subcommittees of the Mississippi Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules from 2006 to 2021 and she offers an annual CLE to the Mississippi bar that focuses on recent developments in Mississippi civil law.
Percy has published law journal articles addressing the medical malpractice liability insurance crisis, removal/remand litigation based on fraudulent joinder and fraudulent misjoinder and ERISA’s effect on health insurers’ claims for subrogation and reimbursement. Her articles have appeared in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Iowa Law Review, the Florida Law Review, the Baylor Law Review and the Mississippi Law Journal. She is also a member of the American Law Institute.
The ACCC focuses on educating all sectors involved in the field of insurance law – including the judiciary, legal and insurance professionals, law students and businesses – on cutting edge, emerging, and critical issues such as developing trends in insurance law and bad faith, trial practice and alternative dispute resolution, policy formation and claims handling. To this end, the ACCC holds an annual meeting with two days of topical programming, publishes scholarly papers, presents an annual insurance law symposium at a US law school and sponsors a writing competition with the aim of encouraging law students to pursue a career in the challenging field of insurance law.
Gershon Presents Top Five Code Sections That Should Not Exist At Alabama
From Tax Prof Blog:
Richard Gershon (Mississippi) presented Top Five Code Sections That Should Not Exist at Alabama this week:
As a fan of the strange and unusual, I am a fan of YouTube. YouTube channels often feature top 5’s. For example, the Top 5 Unknowns often features videos like “The Five Photos That Should Not Exist.” I find it so interesting that even though those photos should not exist, they in fact do exist. Since every aspect of life eventually leads back to tax law, I realized that there are at least five sections of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) that should not exist, but nevertheless do exist. In true YouTube style, this article will discuss each of these five sections in order from least compelling to most compelling and will include one honorable mention.
The sections I have chosen in this article are those that have always bothered me when I taught them in my tax classes. The article will address the flaws in policy, application, or both of each of the code sections discussed. So, turn out the lights and grab some popcorn because tax law is always entertaining.
- Number 1: § 101
- Number 2: § 280E
- Number 3: § 117(d)
- Number 4: § 104
- Number 5: §1014(e)
- Honorable Mention: All of Subchapter K (the Partnership Tax Provisions)