In the Public Interest

In July 2020, the death penalty attracted national attention when the Trump Administration and the Department of Justice reinstituted federal executions for the first time in more than 17 years. Ultimately, the administration carried out an unprecedented 13 executions in six months. The death penalty continues to make headlines today amid several recent important developments. In this episode, WilmerHale podcast co-host and Partner John Walsh welcomes Partner Seth Waxman and guest Professor Carol Steiker for an in-depth discussion of the death penalty in America. 

Waxman, who is the co-chair of WilmerHale’s Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation Practice, served as Solicitor General of the United States from 1997 through January 2001. He is one of the country’s foremost appellate advocates, including in death penalty cases. He has represented death row inmates over the course of 36 years while in private law practice, and has argued and won several death penalty cases in the US Supreme Court. Those victories include Roper v. Simmons, in which the Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional for juvenile offenders. Most recently, Waxman was part of a team of WilmerHale lawyers who represented Wes Purkey, a federal inmate who was executed in July 2020.   

Steiker is the Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the Harvard faculty sponsor of the Capital Punishment Clinic. She served as the faculty co-director of the Harvard Criminal Justice Policy Program from 2015–2020. A former law clerk for US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Professor Steiker focuses on criminal justice, with an emphasis on issues related to capital punishment. She is an author on death penalty matters, including the recent book Courting Death: The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment, which she co-authored with her brother Jordan Steiker, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law. 

Links:

• Carol Steiker’s books, Courting Death: The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment and Criminal Procedure Stories: An In-Depth Look at Leading Criminal Procedure Cases
• Charles L. Black, Jr.'s book, Capital Punishment: The Inevitability of Caprice and Mistake
• Jack Carlton House case
• Death Penalty Information Center (see page about Race and the death penalty)
• Most Americans Favor the Death Penalty Despite Concerns About Its Administration (Pew Research Center)
• In Trump’s final days, a rush of federal executions (BBC)
• Biden administration pushes for Boston Marathon bomber death sentence (Reuters)
• South Carolina: new law makes inmates choose firing squad or electric chair (The Guardian)
• Garland orders halt to any further federal executions (ABC News)

In today’s interconnected world, personal information has never been more broadly collected and analyzed by governments and corporations alike, making it imperative that we understand, enforce and update privacy laws in order to safeguard individual privacy. In this episode, WilmerHale podcast co-host and Partner John Walsh welcomes two national leaders in privacy law of all kinds: Partner Kirk Nahra and guest Stacey Gray.

Nahra is the co-chair of WilmerHale’s Big Data and Cybersecurity and Privacy Practices. Among his other accolades, he is the winner of the 2021 Vanguard Award from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)—one of the most prestigious in the privacy field—which recognizes one IAPP member each year who demonstrates exceptional leadership, knowledge and creativity in privacy and data protection. Gray is a Senior Counsel at the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and leads FPF’s engagement on federal and state privacy legislation. Prior to leading FPF’s legislative engagement, she spent several years focusing on the privacy implication of data collection in online and mobile advertising, platform regulation, cross-device tracking, Smart Homes, and the Internet of Things.

Nahra and Gray talk with Walsh about the challenges of having states with different privacy laws and why that may ultimately drive a single national law. They also dive into consumer consent and the complexities of regulating the collection and sharing of personal data. The episode wraps up with tips for individuals and companies to keep in mind when considering privacy and personal data.

Links:

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
• Future of Privacy Forum
• Stacey Gray's bio
• WilmerHale's Privacy and Cybersecurity Law blog
• Kirk Nahra's bio

This episode profiles Dewey Bozella, a former professional boxer and WilmerHale client who spent 26 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Bozella is interviewed by WilmerHale Partner Ross Firsenbaum and former WilmerHale lawyer Shauna Friedman, two of the lawyers who worked tirelessly to establish his innocence and secure his freedom. Bozella speaks about the circumstances that led up to his arrest and wrongful conviction, his multiple trials and the injustices that kept him imprisoned, and how he’s maintained a resilient and positive mindset despite the overwhelming challenges he’s faced during his life.

Bozella’s story of courage and perseverance has inspired millions across the country. In 2011, Bozella was honored at ESPN’s annual ESPY Awards show as the recipient of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, and in 2012, ESPN aired a 60-minute documentary entitled “26 Years: The Dewey Bozella Story,” which chronicled Bozella’s quest to earn his freedom and pursuit of his single dream to fight a professional boxing match as a free man. 

As President Biden’s first executive orders demonstrate, climate change is now at the heart of the federal environmental policy agenda. Outside of government, there’s a growing momentum among private companies to focus on and invest in renewable energy. In this episode, WilmerHale podcast co-host and Partner John Walsh welcomes Partner Peggy Otum, who leads a discussion with special guests Professor Daniel Farber and Marsden Hanna on climate change and renewable energy. 

Otum is the co-chair of WilmerHale’s Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Practice. Her practice focuses on representing corporate clients in a variety of environmental regulatory compliance, litigation and transactional matters. Farber is a professor at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, and Hanna is the Head of Sustainability and Climate Policy at Google. 

Farber and Hanna discuss how the Biden Administration is reinvigorating efforts around climate change regulation, the growing commitment from private companies like Google to counteract climate change (and why they’re doing it), the role of technology in addressing climate change, and what they expect to see from the Biden Administration in the march toward sustainability. 

Links:

• Professor Daniel Farber’s bio
• Sustainability.google
• UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy & the Environment
• Biden’s Executive Orders (CNN)
• “Here’s how Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan addresses climate change" (CNBC)
• Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance
• Google’s Environmental Insights Explorer
• Climate Trace
• UN Climate Change Conference UK 2021 (COP26)

WilmerHale podcast co-host and Partner John Walsh welcomes Partner Jason Chipman, who moderates a discussion between fellow WilmerHale lawyer Matthew Ferraro and special guest Nina Schick on “deepfakes”—using synthetic media to spread misinformation or disinformation.

Schick is an author, advisor and speaker who has become an expert on how technology and artificial intelligence are reshaping our society. She is the author of the 2020 book Deepfakes: The Coming Infocalypse. Ferraro, a counsel at WilmerHale, is a prolific writer on deepfakes and disinformation. Before joining WilmerHale, he worked as an intelligence officer with the US government and brings to his practice his experience in intelligence issues and national security. Chipman’s practice focuses on how the rapidly evolving world of technology interacts with the law—and the opportunities and challenges that interaction presents.

Ferraro and Schick talk with Chipman about the definition and examples of deepfakes, the fast-developing technology used to create and detect deepfakes, the potential for AI technology to be used for good, and the implications of deepfakes on government, business and society as a whole.  

Links: 

• Nina Schick’s website and book, Deepfakes: The Coming Infocalypse
• Matthew Ferraro's bio
• Jason Chipman's bio
• Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast (Smithsonian Mag)
• “Slick Tom Cruise Deepfakes Signal That Near Flawless Forgeries May Be Here” (NPR)
• “Reddit Just Shut Down the Deepfakes Subreddit” (Vice)
• MIT’s Center for Advanced Virtuality’s project, “In Event of Moon Disaster”
• “Some Deepfaker on YouTube Spent Seven Days Fixing the Shitty De-Aging in The Irishman” (Esquire)
• WilmerHale’s thought leadership on deepfakes

WilmerHale Partners Seth Waxman and Felicia Ellsworth talk with Lawrence Bacow, the 29th President of Harvard University, about the lawsuit filed by Harvard and MIT challenging the Trump administration’s controversial directive to ban international students from the United States if they took most of their fall 2020 courses online. Waxman, Ellsworth and a team of lawyers represented the universities during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, ultimately filing a lawsuit challenging the directive in a mere 23 hours and obtaining a successful result.

Links:

• Harvard’s decision to close the campus on March 10, 2020 and the impact on students, especially international students, faculty and scholars (Boston Globe)
• ICE’s July 6, 2020 directive (NPR)
• Summary of Reversal (LawFare)
• Harvard President Lawrence Bacow's bio
• Seth Waxman's bio
• Felicia Ellsworth's bio

WilmerHale Partner David Bowker talks with Jason Rezaian, a journalist with The Washington Post and the paper’s former Tehran bureau chief who was wrongfully charged and convicted by the Iranian government on false claims of espionage. While imprisoned in Iran for 544 days, Jason was repeatedly tortured for information that he clearly did not possess. David, along with a WilmerHale team that included Ambassador Robert Kimmitt, helped obtain Jason’s release and developed a legal strategy that resulted in a $180 million judgment against the government of Iran, including $30 million in compensatory damages for Jason and his family and $150 million in punitive damages. Jason speaks about:

• his life in Iran before his imprisonment
• his arrest and captivity
• his sham Iranian trial
• the extraordinary efforts that led to his eventual release
• bringing the civil case against Iran
• the current state of affairs between the US and Iran

Links:

• BBC coverage of Jason’s conviction and trial:
• Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian held in Iran
• Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian 'faces Iran spy trial'
• Iran trial for Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian starts
• US reporter Jason Rezaian 'sentenced' in Iran over spying
• Iran releases Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian in prisoner swap with US
• U.S. judge orders Iran to pay $180 million in damages to detained Post journalist Jason Rezaian and his family (Washington Post subscription needed)
• WilmerHale Wins $180 Million Judgment Against Iran For Jason Rezaian And Family
• Jason’s book, “Prisoner: My 44 Days in an Iranian Prison—Solitary Confinement, a Sham Trial, High-Stakes Diplomacy, and the Extraordinary Efforts It Took to Get Me Out”

WilmerHale Partner Louis Tompros and Counsel Stephanie Lin discuss the Pepe the Frog copyright infringement case with host John Walsh. Louis, Stephanie and a team from WilmerHale assisted Matt Furie, the creator of Pepe the Frog, with enforcing his intellectual property rights to end the misappropriation of Pepe by alt-right entities. Louis and Stephanie discuss the legal actions brought on behalf of Furie, and his efforts to reclaim his work. The interview also highlights the challenges of “memeification” and how it applies to copyright protection.

Links:

• Background on Pepe the Frog copyright cases
• WilmerHale Assists Pepe the Frog Creator in Enforcing IP, Striking Back at Islamophobic Children’s Book
• Pepe the Frog’s Creator Obtains Monetary Settlement from Infowars
• In trademark law, certain marks can become generic.
• Copyright law doesn’t have that exception: just because something becomes extremely popular doesn’t mean that the copyright holder loses control.
• United Feature Syndicate, Inc. v. Jeff Koons (regarding use of Odie image from Garfield comic strip)
• ‘Meme-ification’ Isn’t A Thing, ‘Pepe’ Artist Tells Infowars (Law360—free login required)
• Furie v. Infowars, LLC
• “Feels Good Man” documentary: The film can be viewed on various streaming platforms and on PBS.
• Matt Furie’s website

US Commission on Civil Rights Commissioner and WilmerHale Partner Debo Adegbile and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot discuss the US Conference of Mayors’ blueprint for improving policing and promoting equal justice in America’s cities. The interview highlights the challenges of balancing the need to ensure public safety with crafting necessary reforms that protect people’s civil rights. They discuss the polarizing concept of defunding the police, the impact of COVID-19 on public safety, the importance of mayors having a seat at the table for city policymaking, and the critical responsibility of both police departments and communities in ensuring peace.

Topics covered:

• The US Conference of Mayors’ August release of a Report on Police Reform and Racial Justice.
• WilmerHale served as counsel to the working group that developed the blueprint.
• Lightfoot’s professional background in law.
• Bringing policymaking to the city level, not just the federal level. 
• Defunding the police versus ensuring an equitable distribution of resources in communities.
• Reexamining the job description for police officers.
• The impact of COVID-19 on public safety.
• Communities’ impatience following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, and how the public can play a role in putting into action the blueprint from the US Conference of Mayors’ report.
• The Trump Administration’s view of police reform and civil unrest in contrast with that of the Obama Administration and other administrations.

Other links:

• John Walsh’s bio
• Brendan McGuire’s bio