Make plans to attend the 2014 Farrah Law Alumni Society Banquet, Friday, February 21, at Regions Field in Birmingham. Farrah Law Alumni Society members will receive invitations in the mail.
If you are not yet a member, take a few minutes and join the Farrah Law Alumni Society today.
Justice Gorman Houston, a 1956 graduate of the Law School, has been named the 2014 winner of the Sam W. Pipes Distinguished Alumnus Award. The Pipes Award is given annually to an outstanding alumnus of The University of Alabama School of Law who has distinguished himself or herself through service to the bar, The University of Alabama, and the School of Law.
Justice Houston has practiced law with Lightfoot, Franklin & White, LLC since March of 2005. Prior to joining the firm, he served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama for 20 years, an officer in the Air Force JAG, and a clerk for Justice J. Ed Livingston.
Mike Slive, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, will serve as this year’s featured speaker.
If you have any questions please contact Jami Gates, Events Coordinator, at jgates@law.ua.edu or (205) 348-6775.
Justice Houston and Mike Slive
The Law School is honored to host the following distinguished professors:
Michele Goodwin, Everett Fraser Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota is teaching a two-week mini course, “Biotechnology: Bioethics.”
Francis McGovern, Professor of Law at Duke Law School, is returning in the spring to teach “Advanced Torts: Mass Torts and Special Problems in Civil Procedure: Legal Strategy.”
Robert Pushaw, Associate Dean for Research and James Wilson Endowed Professor of Law, Pepperdine University School of Law, is teaching a two-week mini course, “Special Problems in Constitutional Law: War Powers and Terrorism.”
A World Without Privacy, organized by Austin Sarat – the Hugo L. Black Visiting Senior Faculty Scholar, will be held in the Bedsole Moot Courtroom on Friday, January 17, from 9:00AM-3:30PM. This symposium seeks to examine the meaning of privacy in the contemporary world and ask whether privacy is an outdated, almost romantic, ideal. Click here to read more about the topic of discussion.
Presenters will include:
Kevin Haggerty, Professor of Sociology, University of Alberta
Rebecca Tushnet, Professor of Law, Georgetown University
Neil Richards, Professor of Law, Washington University
Lisa M. Austin, Associate Professor, University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Ronald Krotoszynski, John S. Stone Chairholder of Law, The University of Alabama School of Law
Frank M. Bainbridge (’56) contributed $20,000.00 to the Bainbridge-Mims Professorship.
James Timothy Francis (’84) made a gift of $15,000.00 to the James Timothy Francis Endowed Scholarship.
Joseph G. Gamble, Jr. (’50) donated $7,000.00 to the Farrah Law Alumni Society.
The Honorable Truman M. Hobbs, Sr. contributed $11,000.00 to the Dean’s Discretionary Fund and $7,000.00 to the Farrah Law Alumni through The Hobbs Foundation.
The firm of Jackson Lewis, LLP donated $5,000.00 to The Jackson Lewis, LLP Scholarship. This scholarship will be awarded to a full-time student that shows interest in Labor and Employment Law.
Susan Bevill Livingston (’77) contributed $5,000.00 to the Tom Bevill Endowed Chair of Law fund. This fund is named after her father, Tom Bevill (’43), Alabama’s longest serving congressman.
Daniel L. Mosley (’80), via The Pinkerton Foundation, contributed $10,000.00 to the Dean’s Discretionary Fund.
The members of the Order of the Coif have contributed $10,000.00 to the Order of the Coif Endowed Scholarship. This scholarship was established in May 2013.
James (’84), John (’57), and Laura Proctor (’92) gave $12,000.00 to the Proctor Family Endowed Scholarship. This scholarship was established to honor the four generations of the Proctor family that have been trained at the Law School.
Agilent Technologies donated $9,042.48 to the Patrick W. Richardson (’48) memorial Endowed Scholarship. This was a matching contribution for a gift previously made by Nancy Richardson.
The Albert G. Rives Charitable Trust contributed $8,418.00 to the Albert G. Rives Charitable Trust. This trust is named in honor of Albert G. Rives, a 1924 graduate of the Law School.
Edward M. Rogers, Jr. (’82) gave $10,000.00 to the Law School’s Washington, D.C. Externship program.
Thomas J. Scott, Jr. contributed $6,000.00 to the library fund created in his late mother’s honor, the Judge Irene Feagin Scott (’36) Tax Library Collection Fund.
The Henry G. and Henry U. Sims Foundation contributed $9,000.00 to the Alabama Public Interest Law Association.
The firm of Christian & Small LLP gave $5,000.00 to create The Christian & Small Annual Diversity Scholarship. This scholarship will be given to a full-time student whose enrollment would enhance the diversity of the Law School’s student population.
Michael Stephen Stutts (’80) made a contribution of $5,000.00 to the Farrah Law Alumni Society.
Michael Allen (’00) published Blinking Red: Crisis and Compromise in American Intelligence after 9/11. This book is Allen’s, a former senior White House and Congressional official, account of the complete revamping of America’s national security structure.
Glenda Bumpus (’98) has been named the next Tuscaloosa City Attorney.
Maynard Cooper & Gale P.C. named Brad Cherry (’06) a shareholder of the firm.
Samuel N. Crosby (’78) received the 2013 Howell T. Heflin Award from the Mobile and Baldwin County, Alabama Bar Associations. The award is given annually at the Bench and Bar Conference of the associations to recognize an Alabama judge or attorney who has brought honor and integrity to the legal profession during his or her years of service to the citizens of Mobile and Baldwin Counties.
Ross Cohen (’78) joined Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC as of counsel and a member of the firm’s Tax Department and Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions Group.
Jessica Kirk Drennan (’95) published Divorce in Alabama, a consumer self-help book dedicated to Alabama divorce law.
New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies named Bruce Ely (’80) as recipient of this year’s Paul H. Frankel Award for Outstanding Achievement in State and Local Taxation.
Tanner & Guin named J. Harris Hagood (’13) as its newest attorney working in their Tuscaloosa, Alabama office. Harris practices in the areas of real estate and corporate law as well as commercial litigation.
Sirote & Permutt attorney Crystal H. Holmes (’04) has been installed as President of Birmingham CREW. CREW is a commercial real estate association in Birmingham for women and men who work in the commercial real estate industry.
Kevin R. Johnson (’11) has been elected as an American Bar Association Business Law Section Fellow.
Shane P. Morris (’03) was named a partner in the firm of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP.
Sirote & Permutt attorney Barry Ragsdale (’85) spoke at the Alabama Association of Matrimonial Lawyers’ seminar “Advanced Litigation Techniques: More than Just the Nuts and Bolts,” Dec. 6, 2013, at Pine Tree Country Club in Birmingham, Ala. Ragsdale’s speech covered “Preservation of Issues for Appeal.”
Charles A. Ray, IV (’97) joined Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne P.C. as a shareholder.
P. Maxwell Smith (’07) has been named an associate at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP.
Catherine Simon Spann (’13) is now an associate attorney at Wills and Simon, P.C. in Bay Minette.
The Honorable William Thompson (’76) was named one of the most influential people in the field of state and local taxation for 2013 by Tax Notes, a national tax publication.
AL.com featured Judge Stephen Wallace (’01) as one of the “Birmingham leaders you should know.”
The Birmingham Business Journal recently released its annual “CEO Awards” edition. Josh Wright (’98) is a finalist in the Small Business CEO (1-25 employees) category.
The following UA Law alumni were listed in Mobile Bay magazine’s “Class of 40 under Forty” edition:
ABA Journal: “7th Annual Blawg 100”
The Cayman Islands Business Journal: Analysis of Cayman’s Labor Market
Gazette Xtra: “Congress should not move quickly to pass comprehensive climate change legislation”
Faculty Notes
PROFESSOR TANYA ASIM COOPER presented “Stories of Bias in American Foster Care” at the 11th Circuit Legal Scholarship Forum at Stetson University College of Law in November. She was also invited to present this current work-in-progress at an upcoming symposium by Pitt Law Review honoring the late Derrick Bell. Professor Cooper met with members of the UA student group, Alabama Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Justice, concerning Domestic Violence issues and the Domestic Violence Law Clinic.
Professor Cooper conducted a DV training session for new UAPD officers. She is also Editor of the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) newsletter. The latest edition of this newsletter is published here.
PROFESSOR RICHARD DELGADO and PROFESSOR JEAN STEFANCIC wrote an amicus brief in a Ninth Circuit case stemming from an Arizona book ban.
Professor Delgado submitted final drafts of articles for Michigan Law Review, Michigan Law Review First Impressions, Wake Forest Law Review, and Massachusetts Law Review. A second article was accepted by Wake Forest Law Review. He is currently drafting two articles for Pittsburgh Law Review, two articles for a Lat-Crit symposium, and another article on spec.
PROFESSOR SHAHAR DILLBARY’S new article, “Tortfest,” was published December, 2013 in 80 U. Chi. L. Rev. 953 (2013) and is available here.
The article explores situations in which mass torts can be welfare enhancing. Using simple examples, the article shows that an activity that is socially undesirable, and should give rise to liability, can become desirable as the number of tortfeasors increases. Put differently, it shows that in some situations an activity that would, and should, be condemned if conducted by one tortfeasor may become socially desirable if done by many. The article analyzes the conditions under which “tortfests” occur and, it investigates mechanisms that may impact such group-wrongdoing.
LEGAL WRITING INSTRUCTOR ANITA KAY HEAD was selected to participate in Class Ten of the Alabama State Bar Leadership Forum which focuses on leadership, professionalism, and service. The program will span five months, including monthly sessions throughout the state during spring 2014.
PROFESSOR WILLIAM HENNING is currently serving on the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), which is preparing a model law on secured transactions for developing countries. He attended a meeting at the UNCITRAL headquarters, located in Vienna, December 2-9.
Professor Henning is also a member of the Permanent Editorial Board for the Uniform Commercial Code (PEB) and will chair a working group to develop model legislation dealing with the increasing problem of bogus Article 9 financing statements filed for the purpose of harassing the named debtor. He has worked on the development of a draft of the law, and he chaired a conference call of the working group on December 13 to discuss the draft.
Professor Henning is a Julian Simon Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) and conducted research at PERC headquarters in Bozeman, Montana, November 18-22. His research examines the similarities and differences between the international movement to develop secured transactions laws for developing nations and the domestic movement among tribes to adopt the Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act (MTSTA). He was one of the principal drafters of the MTSTA, which has been adopted by over 30 tribes.
Professor Henning and Professor R. Wilson Freyermuth co-authored and submitted the final edit of their law review article, “Article 9 and the Characterization and Treatment of Tenant Security Deposits.” The article was published by the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Law Review and will appear in a symposium issue on residential landlord/tenant law.
Professor Henning is serving as chair of a Uniform Law Commission (ULC) drafting committee that is developing a uniform law on the topic of wage garnishment. In that capacity, he submitted a major report on the progress of the committee to the ULC’s executive committee. He and the project’s Reporter, Professor Steven Willborn, are developing material for the first in-person meeting of the drafting committee which will be held in March 2014.
Professor Henning is a member of a special ULC committee that is studying methods to increase the flow of project proposals to the organization and attended a committee meeting in Chicago on November 10.
PROFESSOR JULIE A. HILL participated in the Property and Environment Research Center’s two-day forum titled “Energy Policy: Political, Legal, and Economic Issues”.
PROFESSOR PAUL HORWITZ’S article “Churches as First Amendment Institutions: Of Sovereignty and Spheres,” 44 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 79 (2009), was cited by the majority opinion in Korte v. Sebelius, 735 F.3d 654 (7th Cir. Nov. 8, 2013). The case involves the religious liberty questions raised by the “contraceptive mandate”, which will be reviewed by the Supreme Court later this year.
PROFESSOR DAN JOYNER’S online blog “Arms Control Law” (www.armscontrollaw.com) was chosen as one of the top 100 best blogs for a legal audience by the ABA Journal’s 2013 Blawg 100 list. The official announcement can be viewed here.
PROFESSOR HUGH M. LEE, Director of the Elder Law Clinic, attended the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys’ Advanced Elder Law Review and National Aging and the Law Institute in Washington, D.C. in November. He was also a guest lecturer in the Center for Mental Health and Aging’s Clinical Aging Seminar. Finally, Mr. Lee completed teaching the first semester of the law school’s new Foreclosure Relief Clinic.
PROFESSOR ANDREW MORRISS served as a discussion leader for a Fund for American Studies conference in Washington, D.C. on “Civilization and Liberty” in November. He spoke to the Denver lawyers’ chapter of the Federalist Society and the University of Colorado chapter on “Why the Cayman Islands are Good for the United States” in November and co-organized a conference on property rights and energy issues for the Property and Environment Research Center in Big Sky, Montana in December. During this conference he presented his paper with Roy Brandys and Mike Baron, “Involuntary Cotenants: Eminent Domain & Energy and Communications Infrastructure Growth”.
PROFESSOR MICHAEL S. PARDO’S book, Minds, Brains, and Law: The Conceptual Foundations of Law and Neuroscience, co-authored with Dennis Patterson, was published in November by Oxford University Press.
PROFESSOR GARY E. SULLIVAN became the faculty adviser for a newly formed student organization, the Law and Golf Society, in November 2013. This student group seeks to foster interest in and education about the game of golf,with an organizational goal of attracting non-golfers to learn about and enjoy the sport that plays such an important role in business and the community.
CLE Alabama Training Opportunities
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)
February 7: Banking Law Update (Birmingham)
February 20: Banking Law Update (Birmingham)
February 28: Elder Law (Tuscaloosa)
March 14: Law Office Practice: How to Prepare Documents (Tuscaloosa)
April 25: State, Federal and International Adoption Law (Tuscaloosa)
April 25-26: Legal Issues Facing City and County Governments (Orange Beach)
May 9: Mandatory Professionalism Seminar for New Admittees (Tuscaloosa)
May 9: BRIDGE THE GAP: The Must Know, Practical Information About Practicing Law That No One Ever Told You (Tuscaloosa)
