Alabama Power Company CEO Mark Crosswhite, ’87, challenged Law School degree candidates to work in Alabama, take advantage of opportunities and enjoy the legal profession.
Degree candidates were hooded by Kimberly Boone, Director of Legal Writing Program; Bryan Fair, Thomas E. Skinner Professor of Law; and Susan Lyons, Ira Drayton Pruitt, Sr. Professor of Law.
A reception honoring the 152 graduating students was held immediately following the ceremony on the Camille Wright Cook Plaza in front of the Law School.
Associate Dean Noah Funderburg, ’77,retired April 30 from the Law School after serving for more than 38 years as a professor and administrator. After graduation, Funderburg worked in the Law School’s Clinical Program first as a staff attorney and then as a managing attorney. In 1978 he entered private practice and in 1981 worked to help found the Legal Services Corporation of Alabama’s Tuscaloosa Regional Office. He returned to the Law School in 1982 and held the position of associate director of the program from 1985 through 1994. He was appointed assistant dean for administration in 1995, senior assistant dean for administration in 2000 and associate dean in 2007.
Funderburg was named an associate professor of clinical legal instruction in 1994 and promoted to professor of clinical legal instruction in 1996.
Funderburg’s responsibilities have been split among Thomas Ksobiech, associate dean for administration and communication; Daniel Powell, associate dean of online graduate programs and director of CLE; and Terry Davis, director of technology and facilities. Lezlie A. Griffin was named assistant dean of career services.
The University of Alabama School of Law Public Interest Institute honored Dean’s Community Service Award and Order of the Samaritan recipients during its annual awards ceremony April 20. The institute also recognized students who received a Certificate in Public Interest Law. Stephen Black, president and founder of Impact America, delivered the keynote address.
After winning the regional, The University of Alabama School of Law competed in the national finals of the ABA National Moot Court competition in Chicago in April. The team of Stanley Blackmon, Caitlin Looney and Chelsea Phillips won and advanced as far as the octo-final rounds. More than 200 teams competed, and Alabama was ranked among the top 16 teams in the nation.
Blackmon and Looney each won awards for their advocacy in the preliminary rounds. The team was coached by Professor Carol Andrews and supported by two Moot Court Fellows, Logan Matthews and Caitlyn Prichard. In addition, many lawyers – including panels from Balch & Bingham, Burr Forman, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, and Ogletree Deakins – supported the team by hosting and judging practice rounds.
On Campus Interviews
Registration is now open for Fall 2015 On-Campus Interviews. The Career Services Office helps employers find 2Ls for summer positions and 3Ls and alumni for post-graduation employment. Please contact the Assistant Dean for Career Services, Lezlie A. Griffin (lgriffin@law.ua.edu), for more information on recruitment opportunities. The CSO arranges on-campus and video-conference interviews, collects resumes and posts positions on its electronic job board. All CSO services are free of charge.
LL.M. Concentrations in Taxation and Business Transactions Offered Online
The Law School offers two exceptional LL.M. programs through live, interactive Internet technologies. Students receive skills-based instruction, taught by respected professors and practitioners throughout the country, without having to leave their offices.
The tax program permits students to focus on courses in estate planning or business tax. The course of study for the business program is interdisciplinary in fields of law and business – including tax, finance, intellectual property, entrepreneurship and traditional corporate classes. For more information, or to apply to either concentration, visit www.alabamallm.com or contact Associate Dean for Online Graduate Programs and Director of CLE Daniel Powell.
Alumni are invited to participate in training opportunities throughout the state.
May 8
Legal Issues Facing City and County Governments, Orange Beach
The Class of 2015, faculty, friends and family raised $10,791 for the Hector Dominic DeSimone Memorial Scholarship in honor of DeSimone, a beloved second-year law student, who died in a motorcycle accident a year ago.
Footnotes Serenade Assistant Dean
The Footnotes, UA Law School’s a cappella choir, serenaded Assistant Dean Becca (Brinkley) Brady, ’05, at the Faculty-Student Mixer celebrating the last day of classes in the Spring semester.
Christian Legal Society Wins Award
The 2014-15 Christian Legal Society took home the Outstanding Religious/Spiritual Organization Award at the Profiles in Service and Leadership Awards given out by The SOURCE. The award is given to organizations exhibiting exceptional student engagement and contributions to the UA and the Tuscaloosa community. Standing from left to right: Allyn Powell, Russell Register and Zack Walden.
Law Students Help the Homeless
University of Alabama School of Law students volunteered April 11 at Project Homeless Connect in Birmingham. Students conducted intake interviews and researched court records to determine whether clients had any pending cases that could be resolved. Volunteer attorneys then advised the clients on their legal concerns and attempted to resolve any pending matters. Standing Left to Right: Martin Weinberg (’02), Misty Sosebee-Ledbetter (’03), Zachary King (1L), Caleb Christian (2L), Hannah Hicks (2L), Wendy Padilla-Madden (’04), Glory McLaughlin (’05).
Students Visit White House Press Room
Externship students Kevin Bartz, Kelsey Unruh, Gayla Pate, Julie Gafnea and adjunct professor Mike House of Hogan Lovells visit the White House Press Room. UA externs, each working and studying for a semester of credit in Washington, D.C. with a congressional committee, agency or non-profit, were given an after-hours tour of the White House West Wing that was arranged by Shomari Figures, ’10, who is the domestic director of president personnel. They are accompanied by adjunct professor Mike House, ’71, of Hogan Lovells.
Send Class Notes to Alumni News.
PROFESSOR BILL ANDREEN presented a paper on “Dynamic Federalism and the Clean Water Act: Completing the Task” at a conference on the Law & Policy of Environmental Federalism, which was held at George Washington University Law School on April 24.
PROFESSOR ALAN DURHAM’S article “Patent Scope and Enablement in Rapidly-Developing Arts” has been accepted for publication in the North Carolina Law Review. Patent law demands that the claims of a patent and its enabling disclosure be “commensurate in scope.” Problems arise where advances in technology make it impossible for a patent applicant to describe all of the ways in which the applicant’s invention might be implemented during the term of the patent. The article suggests a solution based on both foreseeability and the relationship of the technological advances to the applicant’s contribution to the art.
PROFESSOR MIRIT EYAL-COHEN presented her paper “Through the Lens of Innovation” to the UA Law and Business Students Association and UA Law and Economics Students Association.
PROFESSOR PAUL HORWITZ spoke at two recent conferences at the Law School: a symposium on Antidiscrimination Law and Policy after Hobby Lobby, hosted by the Alabama Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, and a symposium titled Imagining a More Just World, hosted by Austin Sarat, at which Prof. Horwitz provided the closing overview and commentary.
PROFESSOR PAM PIERSON was the keynote speaker at the Phi Beta Kappa Installation Ceremony at her alma mater, Austin College in Sherman, Texas; spoke on the UA law school course, Business of Being a Lawyer, to a faculty colloquium at Texas A & M School of Law in Fort Worth, Texas; presented a program on Emotional Intelligence for Lawyers to the 2014 Leadership Forum of the Alabama State Bar; and presented a program on Economic Trends in the Legal Marketplace to Business Law Section of the Birmingham Bar Association.
PROFESSOR MEREDITH RENDER presented her paper, “Forms versus Norms in Property” at The Tulane Property Roundtable.
PROFESSOR ADAM STEINMAN published “Atlantic Marine Through the Lens of Erie” was published in the Hastings Law Journal (here’s the link: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2585120). His article “The Rise and Fall of Plausibility Pleading” was accepted for publication in the Vanderbilt Law Review (forthcoming 2016). He presented “Case Law” at a faculty workshop at Boston University School of Law (link to schedule: http://www.bu.edu/law/faculty/scholarship/workshops.html).
