For 140 years, Alabama Law has produced attorneys who become leaders locally, nationally, and globally. Our graduates do more than practice law – they shape the future.
CANDIDATE CHARACTERISTICS
The University of Alabama School of Law seeks a dean with excellent academic credentials, extensive administrative leadership experience, and strong communication and fundraising skills. Leaders from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines may be considered. Candidates from the academy should possess a JD or equivalent degree and have a distinguished record of (or outstanding potential for) chairholder-level scholarship and teaching. Candidates holding advanced degrees with scholarly interests related to the law and involving interdisciplinary, jurisprudential, empirical, or social science work, or exceptional jurists or practitioners may also receive consideration. The position requires a candidate who can:
THE LAW SCHOOL
The University of Alabama School of Law is a top-ten public law school that offers its students an exciting, challenging educational environment coupled with a high quality of life. An intimate, student-centered institution, the School’s 45 full-time faculty teach approximately 500 students, offering a JD and seven JD joint/dual programs of study, as well as an international LLM, an LLM in taxation, and an LLM concentration in business transactions. The curriculum is traditional but includes a variety of elective classes in business law, criminal law, environmental law, intellectual property, international law, and tax law. The curriculum is also rich in clinical, advocacy, skills, and perspective offerings. The Law School attracts a racially diverse group of students drawn from both Alabama and the larger nation. For the JD Class of 2015, the School received almost 1,700 applications and admitted 423 candidates; the median LSAT of the 2015 class is 165. The School is widely recognized for the value of its education, with current in-state tuition of $20,770 (out-of-state $34,840). In a challenging environment, the School’s graduates have succeeded in the job market: in 2012, within nine months of graduation, 92 percent of graduates were employed in JD-required or preferred positions or were attending graduate school. The Law School is part of the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, a public research university and the flagship of The University of Alabama System. Tuscaloosa is a thriving, affordable city of 100,000 that lies 50 miles southwest of Birmingham. More information about the School and University may be found at http://www.law.ua.edu/and http://www.ua.edu/.
THE SEARCH PROCESS
The University of Alabama is being assisted in this effort by the executive search firm Spencer Stuart. The search committee welcomes comments, questions, and nominations or expressions of interest. To contact the committee, please email alabamalawdean@spencerstuart.com. All submissions will be held in strict confidence.
The University of Alabama School of Law is committed to a policy of equal opportunity and of nondiscrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, handicap or disability, or sexual orientation. It does not discriminate on these factors in administering its educational policies; admission policies; employment, promotion, and compensation policies; financial aid and scholarship programs; and other school-related activities.
The week of October 21 was Pro Bono Week at the Law School. During Pro Bono Week, the Public Interest Institute hosted a panel discussion on “The Nuts & Bolts of Pro Bono for New Lawyers”, held a pro bono clinic to prepare wills for local first responders and hosted a Free Counsel & Advice Clinic for low-income individuals.
During the “Nuts & Bolts of Pro Bono for New Lawyers” experienced panelists provided information and perspective for law students on how and why to incorporate pro bono work into their legal careers. The panel included Professor Pam Pierson, Jessica Powers (’06) and Cooper Shattuck (’90).
The Public Interest Institute and Student Board also partnered with the Tuscaloosa County Bar Association and the Alabama State Bar Volunteer Lawyers Program to host two pro bono clinics. A Wills for Heroes Clinic was held at the Law School, where volunteer attorneys and law students helped prepare wills and other documents for 21 first responders. A Free Counsel & Advice Clinic was held that same day in Tuscaloosa, and 23 low-income individuals received assistance with their legal issues.
Every year as part of the week-long national Pro Bono Celebration, The University of Alabama School of Law selects two alumni to feature in our “Profiles in Service” series. This program was started by the Alabama State Bar as a way to honor Law School graduates in the state for their public service.
This year we honor William J. Baxley (’64) and Elizabeth “Liz” Huntley (’97) for their outstanding service to their state and community. Click on the photos above to read full bios on Mrs. Huntley and Mr. Baxley.
Professor Krotoszynski, John S. Stone Chairholder of Law and Director of Faculty Research, was elected to serve as a member of the American Law Institute (ALI). The ALI is the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and improve the law. The ALI drafts, discusses, revises, and publishes Restatements of the Law, model statutes, and principles of law that are enormously influential in the courts and legislatures, as well as in legal scholarship and education.
Other Alabama Law Faculty ALI members include:
William S. Brewbaker III
Camille W. Cook
Bryan K. Fair
Charles W. Gamble
William H. Henning
Thomas L. Jones
Click here to read the press release.
The Daniel J. Meador Lecture was established in 1994 to honor our former, and late, Professor and Dean. The Meador Lecture Series invites scholars to address a legal theme, selected annually, from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Katharine Bartlett, the A. Kenneth Pye Professor of Law at Duke University, gave the Meador Lecture on Objectivity November 12. A podcast of her presentation, “Feminist Objectives,” is available here.
Tuesday, November 19 the Law School will host a Huntsville Alumni Social. There is still time to RSVP! See below for more information.
Frank S. James III (’78) and Jothany W. James have designated the Law School as a beneficiary in their estate plans. Their generous contribution will benefit the Judge Virgil Pittman Endowed Scholarship fund. This fund was created in honor of Judge Virgil Pittman (’40), a distinguished lawyer and jurist.
The Honorable Gordon Barry Kahn (’58) contributed $5,295.04 to the Judge Gordon B. Kahn Library Support Fund.
The National Christian Foundation of Alabama, on behalf of Jerry W. Powell (’75), donated $15,000.00 to the Jerry Powell Technology Fund.
Dan Joyner:
Bloomberg News: “Iran Nuclear Talks Pit UN Demands Against Atomic Treaty”
Andrew Morriss:
The Economist:“The new American capitalism: Rise of the distorporation”
SSRN Top 10 Download List:
“Enduring Hierarchies in American Legal Education”
Robert R. Baugh (’82) was named Lawyer of the Year by the Birmingham Legal Secretaries Association.
Paul S. Bell (’13) has joined the law firm of Mountain and Mountain as an associate attorney. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law and was admitted to bar in September 2013.
Judge John H. England, Jr. (’74) will receive the Albert P. Brewer Public Service Award. The Albert Brewer Award, established in 1999 in honor of “one of our state’s most progressive governors,” goes to an elected official who has served in state, county or city governments. The award honors those who have dedicated their lives to a visionary mission of building a better state for all Alabamians.
House Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, has hired attorney Jim Entrekin, Jr. (’05) to work as legal counsel for the speaker’s office.
Fournier “Boots” Gale (’69) was inducted into Alabama Academy of Honor. Each person elected to membership in the Alabama Academy of Honor is a distinguished citizen of Alabama, chosen for accomplishment or service greatly benefitting or reflecting great credit on the State.
Richard Jaffe (’76) was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers. The American College of Trial Lawyers is composed of the best of the trial bar from the United States and Canada. Fellowship in the College is extended by invitation only and only after careful investigation, to those experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. Lawyers must have a minimum of fifteen years trial experience before they can be considered for Fellowship.
Alyce Spruell (’86) won the 2013 Judge W. Harold Albritton Award presented by the state bar to recognize an individual for leadership in making free civil legal services available to the poor and disadvantaged.
Martin To (’09), assistant to partner Dan Erlij at United Talent, was ranked in Hollywood’s New Leaders: 10 Assistants to Watch by Variety magazine.
Reilly K. Ward (’13) joined the Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C.’s Mobile office as an Associate.
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP recently announced that 19 new attorneys have joined the firm as first-year associates.
Brooke Bates (’13) will serve as a member of the corporate and securities practice group.
Ashley Burkett (’12) joined the appellate and litigation practice groups.
Jessica Kramer Givens (’13) joined the litigation practice group.
Blair Graffeo (’13) joined the litigation practice group.
Ambria L. Lankford (’12) will serve as a member of the litigation practice group.
Michele Polk Marron, Ph.D (’13) joined the intellectual property practice group.
PROFESSOR TANYA ASIM COOPER appeared on WVUA-TV to discuss the Domestic Violence Law Clinic and the free civil legal services offered during October’s National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The three minute interview can be seen in its entirety here.
Professor Cooper met with students from The University of Alabama’s Master in Social Work Program to create a short video about domestic violence. She also joined the Board of Directors of Turning Point, a Tuscaloosa domestic violence shelter and agency, at the invitation of Professor Susan Hamill, who is also a board member.
Professor Cooper, along with Susan Donovan, Director of the Mediation Clinic, presented “Teaching Collaborative Lawyering as a Culturally-Competent, Practice-Ready Legal Skill” at the opening plenary panel of the Central States Law Schools Association Annual Conference in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
PROFESSOR RICHARD DELGADO gave a plenary talk at the 2013 annual conference on Latino-Critical Studies in Chicago, Illinois, discussing the Trayvon Martin case. He delivered a second talk, at the same conference, to a panel on corporate reform. He also spoke at a conference on internet privacy at Wake Forest School of Law.
Professor Delgado submitted a short reply article to the University of Massachusetts Law Review, which will be published in the spring of 2014.
PROFESSOR TONY FREYER and Professor Andrew Morriss co-authored an article entitled “Creating the Cayman Offshore Financial Center: Structure and Strategy since 1960” (forthcoming Arizona State Law Journal). Professor Freyer also researched German immigrants in the New Orleans Historic Collection in connection with the Supreme Court’s North German Lloyd decision (1875), for inclusion in his book manuscript, Immigrants, Blacks, and the Commerce Power: the Passenger Cases (1849).
PROFESSOR WILLIAM HENNING, a member of the Permanent Editorial Board (PEB) for the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), attended its annual meeting in New York City. The PEB consists of members drawn from the Uniform Law Commission and the American Law Institute, the UCC’s sponsoring organization. The PEB monitors developments related to the UCC and issues commentaries, reports and recommendations for new legislation, as appropriate. At the meeting, Professor Henning was appointed chair of a task force that will work with the National Association of Secretaries of State to draft model legislation that will deal with the increasing problem of bogus filings under UCC Article 9.
PROFESSOR STEVEN HOBBS attended and presented a paper entitled “NAACP v. Button: A Case Study in Lawyer Advocacy in Civil Rights” at the 98th Conference of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History. The theme of the conference was, At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington.
PROFESSOR DAN JOYNER signed a new contract with Oxford University Press to write a monograph entitled “Iran’s Nuclear Program and International Law.” Publication of the monograph is expected in 2015. Professor Joyner presented papers at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and at the Instituto Affari Internazionale in Rome.
PROFESSOR RONALD KROTOSZYNSKI, JR. published “Deconstructing Deem and Pass: A Constitutional Analysis of the Enactment of Bills by Implication,” 90 Washington University Law Review 1071 (2013). He presented remarks entitled “Privacy, Law, and Cultural Salience” incident to a panel dedicated to considering “Privacy, Surveillance and Transparency in the Age of Big Data” on October 12. This panel was held as part of the annual meeting of the American Society of Comparative Law, hosted by the University of Arkansas-Little Rock School of Law, Little Rock, Arkansas, October 10-12, 2013.
PROFESSOR ANDREW MORRISS lectured at the Property & Environment Research Center/Law & Economics Center, a joint workshop on environmental economics for law professors, at Lone Mountain Ranch in Big Sky, Montana. He spoke on the role of markets in environmental policy at a Federalist Society debate at The University of Maryland Law School and on the General Mining Law of 1872 at a University of North Dakota School of Law Federalist Society event.
PROFESSOR PAMELA PIERSON was offered a contract to publish her manuscript, The Business of Being a Lawyer, by West Academic Press. Her book will be published in June 2014. Her article, “RICO Trends: From Gangsters to Class Actions,” will be published in December 2013 by the South Carolina Law Review.
PROFESSOR JEAN STEFANCIC spoke at a panel at the 2013 annual meeting of the Conference on Latino-Critical Studies, in Chicago, Illinois. The subject of her talk was litigation in Tucson, Arizona over the discontinuation of a popular high school program of Mexican American Studies in that city and an associated book ban.
She also co-delivered a paper at a two-day conference at Wake Forest School of Law on internet privacy.
PROFESSOR GARY E. SULLIVAN published a Feature Article in the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal. The title of the article is “Viewing CAPEX Through the ‘Necessary Operating Expenses’ Lens of § 928(b)”. This article examines a feature of Chapter 9 Bankruptcy allowing subordination of bondholder liens to the extent necessary to keep a municipal project or system operating. In the article, he argues that Congress did not intend to preserve the traditional capital expense/operating expense distinction in the context of this subordination rule, and that a bankrupt municipality should have the right to maintain a project or system even when outlays that are properly characterized as capital expenses are required.
Professor Sullivan has continued his involvement with the Uniform Law Commission project to develop a uniform statute on wage garnishment. Having previously served as Observer to the Study Committee, he was appointed as Observer to the Drafting Committee on a Wage Garnishment Act in October.
PROFESSOR FREDRICK VARS’ essay on mental illness negating mens rea was accepted for publication by the California Law Review Circuit. His symposium piece on mental illness and gun control will appear in the Connecticut Law Review. His letter to the editor entitled “Uncertain Testamentary Capacity” was published by the peer-reviewed Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine.
Live Seminars:
November 22: The Business of Being a Lawyer-Session Five (Tuscaloosa)
December 4: Alabama Update (Montgomery)
December 6: Tort Law (Birmingham)
December 13: Estate Planning (Birmingham)
December 18: Employment Law (Birmingham)
December 19: Alabama Update (Birmingham)
December 20: Trial Skills (Birmingham)
January 24: Mandatory Professionalism Seminar for New Admittees (Tuscaloosa)
January 24: BRIDGE THE GAP: The Must Know, Practical Information About Practicing Law That No One Ever Told You (Tuscaloosa)
January 31: iPad/iPhone Foundations (Tuscaloosa)
January 31: iPad Productivity and Law Apps (Tuscaloosa)
