Stanford Law School has been lucky to add two great new people to our health law group lately, Michelle Mello, whom we stole from Harvard, and David Studdert, whom we imported from the University of Melbourne. Both focus on public health and have collaborated often; Michelle also works in bioethics.

The two combined with Stanford student Jordan Flanders to publish today an article in PLOS Medicine: Searching for Public Health Law’s Sweet Spot: The Regulation of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages. I’m not sure I approve of the title’s pun – though I’ll admit it’s not saccharine – but the paper is an interesting examination of what seems to work, and not work, in regulating sweet drinks, in the real world and in the courts.  Worth a read while downing your (caffeinated) Coke Zero.  There’s also a discussion of the piece in the Medical Center’s blog (we share Michelle and David, happily, with Stanford Medical School), Scope.