Law Student Argues before U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
Forrest Boone (’16) filed an amicus brief and argued in support of the appellant before the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces during oral argument, heard at the Law School.
United States v. Calyx E. Harrell was heard by a panel of five circuit court judges appointed for 15-year terms by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate. The case involves the appeal of a U.S. Air Force officer who contends evidence obtained from a “dog-sniff” and police search of her vehicle was obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment and should have been suppressed. Harrell was found guilty of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
The hearing was part of the court’s judicial outreach program. The court holds arguments at law schools, military bases and other public facilities as part of Project Outreach, a program developed to demonstrate the operation of a federal court of appeals and the military criminal justice system.
Professor Krotoszynski Receives President’s Faculty Research Award
Ronald Krotoszynski, Jr., the John S. Stone Chair in the School of Law, was one of 13 faculty members at The University of Alabama presented with the President’s Faculty Research Award March 31 as part of UA’s annual Faculty Research Day. Dean Mark E. Brandon said he was pleased to offer Krotoszynski as the Law School’s nominee for Faculty Research Day. “He is a nationally and internationally recognized scholar, whose scholarship spans constitutional law and administrative law, both in the United States and abroad,” Brandon said.
Judge Thompson to Deliver Commencement Address
The Honorable Myron H. Thompson, Senior Judge, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, will deliver the University of Alabama School of Law commencement address at 6 p.m. May 7 at Coleman Coliseum.
A native of Alabama, Judge Thompson received his undergraduate and law degrees from Yale. After graduating from Yale Law School, he returned to Alabama, beginning his professional career as Assistant Attorney General. He was the first African-American Assistant Attorney General in Alabama’s history. Judge Thompson was appointed to the federal bench in 1980. He became Chief Judge in February 1991, becoming the first African-American Chief Judge of any U.S. District Court in the State of Alabama.
Law Student Wins National Bankruptcy Writing Competition Award
Christian Pereyda (’17) won first place in the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Eighth Annual Bankruptcy Law Student Writing Competition, a first-ever win for a University of Alabama School of Law student. “His paper furnished a reasoned and independent contribution to the ongoing debate surrounding the standards for discharging student loans in bankruptcy,” Professor Gary Sullivan said. “As a deserving winner, Christian has represented himself and the law school well in a writing competition widely regarded as the pinnacle forum for scholarly contributions by law students in the bankruptcy field.”
Professor Yuri Linetsky, Stephanie Smith (’16), Caleb Christian (’16), and Lindsey Shepard (’15), with the help of volunteer counsel in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, secured a victory in the Indiana Court of Appeals for a Tuscaloosa, Alabama, client who was sued in an Indiana court.
The Clinic’s client, who had never been to Indiana, signed up for on-line classes at an Indiana public university after being awarded a full-tuition scholarship as the daughter of a disabled Indiana veteran. Shortly after beginning on-line classes, the client’s scholarship was revoked by the university and she was sued in an Indiana court for the claimed tuition.
Civil Clinic students argued in written motions and briefs that the Indiana courts did not have jurisdiction over the Clinic’s client. The Indiana Court of Appeals ultimately agreed with the Clinic’s arguments and ordered the trial court to dismiss the claim.
Cameron Smith: Serving the State
Cameron Smith (’07) observes public policy across the country and explores how it could apply to the state of Alabama.
He is a Senior Fellow and State Programs Director for the R Street Institute, a conservative Washington D.C.-based think tank, where he evaluates public policy, including technology, juvenile justice and energy. Smith has been in the position for about a year. “I get to move around the country and see areas for improvement but also best practices,” he said. “I’m a federalist who truly believes that states are laboratories of democracies, and that we can learn from that.”
Two Law School teams won awards at the Sixth Annual L. Edward Bryant, Jr. National Health Law Transactional Moot Court Competition in Chicago. Austin Hagood (’17), Amanda Hamilton (’17), and Jennifer Huddleston (‘17) won third place for the best written submission, and Sheena Delaney (’16), John David Lind (’16), and Shalyn Smith (’16) won second place for oral presentation. Each team prepared a written memorandum for a mock Board of Directors of a public hospital and provided advice about a proposed business transaction. The memo was submitted in advance of the competition. At the competition, the teams analyzed the client’s position and made recommendations on how the client should proceed.
The Jessup International Law Moot Court team traveled to New Orleans and made a strong showing in the super regional competition. After two full days of rounds, Elizabeth Davis (‘16), Taryn Hull (‘16), Amy Miller (‘16), and Nick Theodore (‘16) advanced to the quarterfinal rounds of the competition before being eliminated. The team also won the award for third best memorial (brief) overall in the region, and Theodore won the award for fourth best oralist overall. The team was coached by Professor Dan Joyner and Professor Cameron Fogle.
Michael Stallings (’16), Ethan Wilkinson (’16), Travis Juneau (’17), and Aubrey Wakeley (’17), the Phi Alpha Delta National Mock Trial Competition Team, competed in Washington, D.C. Stallings was awarded runner-up for Best Advocate, and Stallings and Wilkinson were awarded runner-up for Outstanding Defense. The team was coached by attorneys Benjamin Jay Stuck (’06) and Julie Love-Templeton.
The Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Team participated in two competitions in as many weeks. Stephen McKitt (’16), Jessica Zorn (’16), and Fred Clarke (’16) competed in the regional Cristol, Kahn, Paskay Cup at the University of Miami. The team performed well and proceeded the following week to the national competition in New York, but McKitt was unable to accompany the team.
With only a few days to prepare, Zorn and Clarke did a splendid job of picking up two new arguments and competing among the nearly 60 teams in the national rounds in New York. Although Zorn and Clarke turned in strong performances against opposing teams from Syracuse, the University of Florida and Loyola, none of the teams in the bracket advanced to the octofinals. The team was coached by Professor Gary Sullivan and Mark Williams.
Forrest Boone (’16), Mateo Forero (’16), and Irene Motles (’16) traveled to Las Vegas to represent the Law School in the Hispanic National Bar Association Moot Court Competition. The team was the first Alabama Law team to participate in the HNBA competition, and the team performed exceptionally well. From a field of 31 teams, the UA team made the final 8, advancing to the quarterfinals. In addition, Motles won a second place overall oralist award and a $1,000 cash prize.
Hiring?
On Campus Interviews
Registration is now open for Fall 2016 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.
S.T.A.R.
Employer registration for the University of Alabama School of Law’s STAR (Short-Term Assistance in Research) Program is now open.
The STAR program provides legal research assistants for solo practitioners, small law firms, and other legal employers from a pool of third-year law students. Once the Career Services Offices receives your research request, the CSO will connect you with a third-year law student with a minimum 3.0 GPA who has signed up to accept research assignments through the STAR program. You and the student can then correspond directly for more specific details about your assignment. The assignments can be large or small, depending upon your need, and in accordance with the rules of the program detailed here: http://www.law.ua.edu/resources/CSOstar/employer/. No advance sign-up is required. When a research need arises, complete and submit the online form, and the CSO will connect you with a student.
If you have questions about the STAR Program, please contact Todd Engelhardt, Assistant Director for Career Services.
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.
CLE Alabama
Alumni are invited to participate in training opportunities throughout the state.
May 6
Legal Issues Facing City and County Governments Orange Beach
May 13
Mandatory Professionalism Seminar for New Admittees Tuscaloosa
Send Class Notes to Alumni News.
Gifts
PROFESSOR RICHARD DELGADO and PROFESSOR JEAN STEFANCIC published “Southern Dreams and a New Theory of First Amendment Legal Realism” in the Emory Law Journal. They gave a faculty colloquium and a teaching workshop at Texas A&M University, where Professor Stefancic is spending the spring semester as visiting professor at the law school in Fort Worth, Texas. Professor Delgado is a Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study (main campus, College Station) with duties on both campuses. Delgado’s paper, “Why Obama: An Interest Convergence Explanation of the Nation’s First Black President,” made SSRN Top Ten download lists for PSN: Political Behavior, Politics of Race and PSN: Voters and Elections.
PROFESSOR SHAHAR DILLBARY gave a talk to the Law and Economics Society on actual causation in February. He also gave a guest-lecture in PROFESSOR GRACE LEE’s Contracts class on the unconscionability doctrine and the effects of anti-price gouging laws. Professor Dillbary has been recently invited and is currently scheduled to present his scholarship on actual causation at the Society for Institutional & Organizational Economics (Paris), and the Society for Environmental Law and Economics (University of Texas School of Law). A draft of his recent article, “Causation Actually,” is now available on SSRN.
LEGAL WRITING INSTRUCTOR ANITA KAY HEAD was a panelist at the inaugural University of Alabama LeadHERShip Forum, which was designed to inspire young women to advance their careers and education. The forum was sponsored by the Black Law Students Association, in conjunction with the Society of Women Engineers and the University’s EcoCAR 3 team.
PROFESSOR KEN ROSEN made a presentation on the intersection of law and business at UA’s Culverhouse College of Commerce. As Co-Chair of the Teaching International Law Interest Group, he travelled to Washington, D.C., for the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law to speak at the group’s meeting. As a member of the Committee on the federal regulation of securities, he will travel to Montreal, Canada, for the American Bar Association’s Section of Business Law Meeting.
PROFESSOR STEPHEN RUSHIN had two law review articles accepted for publication. His article titled “From Selma to Ferguson: The Voting Rights Act as a Blueprint for Police Reform,” co-authored with Jason Mazzone (University of Illinois), was accepted for publication in the California Law Review. The article illustrates parallels between the federal response to voter suppression in the mid-twentieth century and the current battle against local police misconduct. His article titled “De-Policing,” co-authored with Griffin Edwards (UAB), was accepted for publication in the Cornell Law Review. The article uses statistical methods to demonstrate the introduction of external police regulation is associated with a temporary uptick in crime rates. Additionally, his essay, titled “Competing Case Studies of Structural Reform Litigation in American Police Departments,” is forthcoming in the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law as part of a symposium titled, “The Civil Side of Criminal Procedure.” Professor Rushin was interviewed by Georgia’s NPR affiliate on police officers moonlighting as private security officers, and he is scheduled to speak at the MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago as part of a conference on “De-Incarceration through Civil Rights Litigation.”
PROFESSOR ADAM STEINMAN‘s article, "The Rise and Fall of Plausibility Pleading?," was published in the Vanderbilt Law Review. He authored an amicus curiae brief on behalf of law professors in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in support of the plaintiffs in Wikimedia Foundation v. National Security Agency. Link: https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/wikimedia-v-nsa-amicus-brief-law-professors
