Fall 2020

In the past two years, which contained unprecendeted challenges, the Resnick Center worked to create cutting-edge legal research and scholarship, to bring together allies, and to form strategic partnerships and coalitions in food law and policy to improve health and quality of life for humans and the planet. The Resnick Center engaged in food systems thinking to focus on the development of food governance strategies to promote accountability, transparency and safety in the national and global food chain. Below is a selection of the Resnick Center’s events, partnerships, and publications from 2019 and 2020.

Please reach out to us at resnickcenter@law.ucla.edu for more information, to get involved, or to donate to our work. Thank you for your support.

Partnerships and Coalitions

The Resnick Center and the FAO – Historic Partnership Formed

Resnick Center co-hosts the Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

In February 2019, the Resnick Center and the Promise Institute for Human Rights co-sponsored a talk by the Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, José Graziano da Silva, titled A Global Perspective on Regulating and Promoting Nutrition. The Resnick Center’s Global Distinguished Fellow Hilal Elver introduced the Director General, with whom she worked closely with in her collaboration with the FAO. This discussion promoted thought-provoking dialogue about the issue of nutrition and government intervention.

Resnick Center partners with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN

In June 2019, the Resnick Center entered into a partnership with the FAO on a series of research and advisory initiatives to confront global food security, nutrition, safety, and quality. The memorandum of understanding was signed by Executive Director Michael T. Roberts on June 10, 2019, at an FAO event in Rome organized for food policy leaders to discuss the future of food. For the first project, the Resnick Center will be the lead author of a major legal report on food fraud that the FAO will publish and submit to all countries and to the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Food Fraud Workshop hosted by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization

In November 2019, Executive Director Michael T. Roberts delivered a keynote presentation at a Food Fraud Workshop hosted by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in conjunction with the drafting of a background paper on the international regulation of food fraud.

China and Food Law Governance

The Resnick Center in 2019-2020 has worked on a best practices initiative in China with Renmin University School of Law and leading associations. The initiative involves analysis of public-private law and governance strategies to improve food safety. As part of this initiative, Michael Roberts gave a keynote address in 2019 for a roundtable in Shanghai on how best practices in food safety by food companies can help shape food laws and policies. Roberts has also submitted a chapter to be included in a book as part of this initiative on the concept of “social governance” in China and how it relates to public-private partnerships to improve food safety.

Food Law CLE with CLE International

In 2019 and 2020, the Resnick Center worked in collaboration with CLE International to co-host the 4th and the 5th annual Food Law CLE Conferences. These conferences had presentations and panels from leading lawyers and academics and influential stakeholders in food law and policy, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The panels covered topics such as food safety, food fraud, preemption, class actions, and more.

In 2020, three UCLA Law students—Alexandra Libro, Gregg Stephenson, and Stephanie Teuber—accompanied Michael T. Roberts and Diana Winters to San Francisco to attend the conference.

Publications

Launch of Covid-19 and Food Law digital library guide

In April 2020, the Resnick Center in conjunction with the UCLA Law Library launched a digital guide to resources about Covid-19 and food law. Food law clinic fellows Adam Frankel and Paulina Chau helped to build the guide in Summer 2020. The purpose of this guide is to provide resources on the intersection of Covid-19 and food law and policy for scholars, researchers, and officials, which comports with the Resnick Center’s mission to provide cutting-edge legal research and scholarship in food law and policy. These resources can also be used to evaluate the role of law in shaping the resiliency of the global food systems to any future sudden disruption.

Research Handbook on International Food Law

Executive Director Michael T. Roberts is editing a book on international food law to be published by Edwards Elgar Publishing in 2021. Over thirty renowned food law scholars have agreed to contribute chapters to the book, which will cover the development of international food law and current regulation. Topics include cultural and historical aspects of food law, food safety and labeling, environmental law and food, and technology and food, among many other important issues. This publication will complete the trilogy of foundational food law publications, the first two being a treatise and casebook.

Publication of Guide to Careers in Public Interest Food Law & Policy

In May 2020, the Resnick Center published a guide to public interest careers in food law and policy. A food law and policy career, especially for attorneys interested in working in the public interest sector, can take many shapes. Food policy work often intersects with other legal subject matters, such as housing, health care, education, and family law. The Center created this guide to help law students and graduates understand the varied directions a public interest food law career can go, and how to embark upon such a career path.

Resource Guide for Pro Bono Attorneys

In October 2020, the Resnick Center published  “Setting the Table for Food-Based Pro Bono Opportunities: A Resource Guide for Pro Bono Attorneys,” authored by Tommy Tobin, a member of the Resnick Center’s Advisory Board, and MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. The guide is designed to facilitate connections between attorneys seeking meaningful pro bono work and anti-hunger organizations.

We are grateful to Tommy Tobin, Mazon, and Perkins Coie LLP for their work on and support of the guide. The guide will be updated periodically.

Saving the Endangered Honey Producer white paper

In August 2019, Executive Director Michael T. Roberts published A "Food Systems Thinking" Roadmap for Policymakers and Retailers to Save the Ecosystem by Saving the Endangered Honey Producer from the Devastating Consequences of Honey Fraud, a white paper that discusses the threat to the ecosystem and “food system” due to the disappearance of the honey bee and the honey producer. This paper explores the consequences of honey fraud and how stakeholders—policymakers and retailers—can employ strategies to address the fraud and thereby help save honey bee pollination and preserve the ecosystem.

Food Law and Policy Clinic

The Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy has one of the only clinical programs in the country dedicated to Food Law and Policy. The Clinic, led by Assistant Dean for Experiential Education, Allison Korn, allows students to take on the role of policy advocate within the food justice movement, which calls for positive, systemic change in the areas of food insecurity, public health, workers’ rights, urban agriculture, land use, animal welfare, and social entrepreneurship. The following are two examples of this year’s FPLC projects.

In Spring 2020, the FLPC partnered with Worksafe, a “California-based organization dedicated to promoting and protecting the basic right of all people to a safe and healthy workplace.” Once the pandemic hit, students in the FLPC conducted extensive research and advocacy in support of Worksafe's efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing for "essential workers" across the food chain. These efforts continued into the summer, as two of FLPC's summer law clerk's built on the prior team’s work, covering topics relating to workplace retaliation as well as restrooms and other basic needs requirements for farmworkers.

The FLPC also worked with Land Core, a California-based 501(c)3 organization that aims “to advance soil health policies and programs that create value for farmers, businesses, and communities.”  FLPC students reviewed, updated, and sharpened Land Core’s policy objectives for the 116th Congress, which include an emphasis of outcomes-based verification, crop insurance reform, and market-based incentives. Students also developed analyses of and talking points for key bills introduced into Congress, which Land Core anticipates including in their Federal Bill Tracker.

New Outside Advisory Board Members and Research Affiliates

Outside Advisory Board

The Resnick Center is pleased to announce the addition of seven new professionals to our outside advisory board: David Biderman, Kevin Boylan, Ethan Brown, Sascha Henry, Rita Mansuryan, Michael Reese, Tommy Tobin, Bernhard van Lengerich, and Gillian Wade.

David Biderman is a partner at Perkins Coie, LLP, where Tommy Tobin is an associate. Kevin Boylan is the co-founder and managing partner of Powerplant Ventures, a growth equity fund investing in emerging food and foodservice companies. Ethan Brown is the founder and CEO of Beyond Meat, famous for the plant-based Beyond Burger. Sascha Henry is a partner at Sheppard Mullin LLP. Rita Mansuryan is an associate at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP and a recent graduate of UCLA Law School where she was active in the Resnick Center. Michael Reese spearheads Reese LLP and is a frequent lecturer on food litigation. Bernhard van Lengerich is the former CSO and VP of Technology Strategy at General Mills Inc. and is a board member at Beyond Meat, Inc. Lastly, Gillian Wade is a partner at Milstein Jackson Fairchild and Wade LLP. We are so excited to have these experts in food law and policy on our advisory board.

Resnick Center Research Affiliates

In August 2020, the Resnick Center launched its Research Affiliates program. Research Affiliates are recent law school graduates working to better the food system who will consult and assist on various Resnick Center research projects. The inaugural research affiliate class includes private and public sector lawyers who are recent law graduates from UCLA Law and elsewhere and who have worked with the Resnick Center in some capacity.

Other news

Teaching

The Resnick Center continued to offer food law classes in addition to the Food Law and Policy Clinic, including the Introduction to Food Law and Policy, Historical Perspective: The Role of Law in the Pursuit of a Moral Food System, and Regulating Food, and supervised independent student research.

Conferences & Events

In February 2019, the Resnick Center assisted UCLA’s Animal Law program in presenting the UCLA Animal Law Conference, Public Values in Conflict with Animal Agribusiness Practices. This conference explored the gap between public values and animal agribusiness practices.

In December 2019 both Executive Director, Michael T. Roberts and Assistant Director, Diana Winters, attended the Academy of Food Law & Policy’s second annual conference, held at Georgia State University. Diana Winters moderated a panel on regulatory law.

In March 2020, the Resnick Center held a roundtable with food law and policy experts on the topic of law and policy strategies to reduce meat consumption. This roundtable was to be held in conjunction with a public event that was cancelled because of the Covid-19 shutdown.

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