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UPCOMING EVENTS

Oct. 14

Arizona Supreme Court Visit

Nov. 2-8

Homecoming Week

Nov. 6

LawCat Connect Reception

Greetings,

This week we feature the upcoming visit of the Arizona State Supreme Court, which will hear cases on election procedure and product defects.

The array of legal subjects on the docket at Arizona Law on any given day continues below, with highlights of what our professors are doing in health law, international law and the intersection of Indigenous knowledge and intellectual property.

Read on,

Jason

As part of its ongoing public education effort, the Arizona Supreme Court will hold oral arguments during its annual visit to Arizona Law on Oct. 14, 2025. This court visit is hosted by the Arizona Law William H. Rehnquist Center. 

The court will hear two cases. A question-and-answer period will follow Case 2. During the Q&A the judges will take questions from the audience, though they will be unable to discuss anything related to either case just argued.

Seating will be available first to those who have registered. Others are welcome to observe on a first-come, first-served basis as space is available.

The cases are:

Republican National Committee et al. v. Adrian Fontes et al. (CV-25-0089-PR)

Time: 2:30-3:10 p.m.

At issue: What procedures must the Secretary of State follow when issuing the Elections Procedures Manual?

Shawn Maywald v. Toyota Motor Corp. (CV-25-0009-PR)

Time: 3:30-4:10 p.m.

At issue: How do courts determine if a vehicle is defective and unreasonably dangerous?

When registering, choose whether to observe Case 1, Case 2 or both cases. A break will follow Case 1 so that those audience members unable to attend both arguments may transition in and out of the courtroom.

Check-in for Case 1 starts at 1:45, and check-in for Case 2 starts at 2:45. There is no courtroom entry once court is in session. Attendees who leave the courtroom must go through security again to reenter.

FROM THE COLLEGE

Left to right: Braydon Mathis (3L), Benjamin Runkle (attorney mentor for the Health Law & Policy Program), Prof. Tara Sklar, Tracy Nuckolls (’70), Jack Dias (3L), Kimberly Hodson (MLS ’24), Assistant Prof. Leila Barraza, Raquel Nascimento (LLM ’24), AzSHA President Melissa Soliz, Prof. of Practice John Howard (BA ’12, MLS ’14, JD ’17) at the Arizona Society of Healthcare Attorneys Annual Conference

September has been a busy time for the Arizona Law Health Law & Policy Program.

On September 17, the University of Arizona Health Law Society kicked off its inaugural mixer in Tucson with students and faculty from the College of Law, College of Medicine – Tucson, College of Pharmacy and College of Public Health. Special thanks to Fellow in Health Law & Policy Braydon Mathis for organizing the event. Faculty Director Tara Sklar, CJ Pommier (PhD ’03, JD ’23), Professor Roy Spece, Assistant Dean for Career Development Leah Won (’05) and Professor of Practice Tracy Nuckolls (’70) spoke during the event.

On September 19, the largest group of Arizona Law faculty and students ever to attend headed to the Arizona Society of Healthcare Attorneys (AzSHA) 2025 Annual Conference in Phoenix, where Prof. Sklar gave a talk on AI in Law and Medicine with Arizona State University Law Professor Gary Marchant.

On September 24, Prof. Sklar traveled to Flagstaff for the 12th Annual Tribal Health Summit with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona where she shared information on the importance of access to telehealth for tribal communities and materials about the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program with the College of Medicine-Tucson, Arizona Telemedicine Program and Southwest Telehealth Resource Center.

This fall, the Health Law & Policy Program welcomes 125 students taking courses within the program, adding to the now over 2,025 students who have taken Health Law & Policy courses since the program’s launch in 2019.

Prof. Sklar, center, along with Melanie Esher and Michael Holcomb of the Arizona Telemedicine Program

In August, Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law Rebecca Tsosie and Michael Kotutwa Johnson, assistant specialist at the Indigenous Resiliency Center at the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Arizona, co-authored “The Seed is the Law: Creating New Governance Frameworks for Indigenous Heirloom Seeds and Traditional Knowledge,” in the UCLA Law Review.

The article critiques the limits of the 2024 U.N. treaty on intellectual property, genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Prof. Tsosie and Dr. Johnson argue that while the treaty marks progress, it does not fully safeguard Indigenous peoples’ rights to their heirloom seeds and the cultural knowledge tied to them.

Their research was also featured in articles by the Indigenous Resilience Center and the University of Arizona Office of Research and Partnerships.

IN THE NEWS

Will mining destroy America’s most-visited wilderness?

Washington Post. Justin Pidot

Instagram, @uarizonalaw

In the coming weeks, you will continue to learn more about the many events on campus, like the Arizona Supreme Court visit, that form an integral part of the intellectual life of the law school.

Onward!

Jason