Professor Adam Steinman is quoted in The Wall Street Journal about President Trump’s immigration order.
For more, read “What the Appeals Court Must Consider on President Trump’s Immigration Order.”
Professor Ronald Krotoszynski is quoted in Mother Jones about whether the U.S. is in a constitutional crisis.
For more, read “We Are This Close to a Constitutional Crisis.”
Professor Paul Horwitz explains executive orders to a WVUA-TV reporter.
For more, view “Professor Horwitz Explains Executive Orders.“
Catie Malone (’17) and Devan Byrd (’17) competed this weekend in the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition in Atlanta.
They won the best brief award, making this the third year in a row that a UA team has won this award. Although they did not advance through the oral argument segment of the competition, they argued both sides of the problem well, demonstrating expertise about the law and poise in their presentation.
Bridget Harris (’17), Kristen Campbell (’17), Steven Arango (’19) and Cameron Rentschler (’19) competed this weekend in the Southeast Region of the National Trial Competition in Tampa, Florida.
After five trials in three days, the team advanced to the national finals in Fort Worth, Texas, where the team will face the winners of other regional competitions. The competition started with nearly 200 trial teams, and 24 teams advanced to the final competition.
Kyle McDonald (’18), Tim Caiello (’18), Will Hoffman (’18) and Christina Jackson (’18) also competed well but did not advance past the preliminary rounds.
Law School alumni have been named fellows of the Alabama Law Foundation, which recognizes Alabama State Bar members who have demonstrated outstanding dedication to their profession and their community.
The Fellows program was established in 1995 to honor Alabama Bar members for outstanding service and commitment. Since no more than 1 percent of bar members are invited into fellowship, the selection committee chooses new members from an exceptional group of lawyers.
“The Fellows of the Alabama Law Foundation are selected from the ranks of the Alabama State Bar and represent our brightest and best,” said Joe Fawal, President Board of Trustees of the Alabama Law Foundation. “The fact that they are selected is in and of itself an honor. But the contribution that they make in defense of the poor in civil matters in Alabama is a much greater honor.”
Fellows are given the opportunity, as leaders in the legal community, to provide financial and personal support for the Alabama Law Foundation, the charitable arm of the Alabama State Bar.
Alabama Law alumni named as fellows were:
Professor Dan Joyner is quoted in the Cato Institute’s blog about Iran’s ballistic missile tests.
For more, read “Trump Administration Begins Threat Inflation on Iran.”
Monet McCorvey Gaines (‘01), an Assistant Attorney General, serves within the Opinion’s Section of the Attorney General’s Office where she answers complex questions from elected officials and state agencies about Alabama law.
She has addressed questions about whether a deceased candidate could remain on a general election ballot, whether a county commission has authority to change district boundaries for an election and how many elector signatures are required to qualify a candidate for office. In each case, she researched and analyzed The Code of Alabama and drafted an opinion that was reviewed by a committee of attorneys.
“It’s a privilege to help the state in this manner,” Gaines said. “I’ve always seen it as an opportunity to help elected officials and governing officials understand their authority and their roles better. I can’t think of a better way of giving back.”
Since 2005, she has written more than 370 legal opinions. Some of the most complex questions she has received were about the state’s Omnibus Pay Raise Bill, an act that regulates the compensation received by certain county officials.
“She became the expert on how that law would be interpreted,” said Brenda Smith (’85), who retired as Chief of the Opinions Division in 2016. “Every time a question came in, she would get that opinion because she had already studied it.”
Smith said Gaines wouldn’t hesitate to call probate judges, mayors and county attorneys to request additional information. As a result, she has worked with elected officials across the state.
“She’s straight-forward and outgoing,” said Joi Scott (’01), Assistant General Counsel at Alabama State University, who has known Gaines since they attended law school together. “She assesses the situation and then goes in.”
In 2016, J. Cole Portis (’90), President of the Alabama State Bar, asked her to serve as his Vice President of the Alabama State Bar and also Chair the bar’s Diversity Committee and Disciplinary Commission. Gaines’s latest project is planning and developing a minority pre-law conference for Alabama college students.
She wants to make sure the bar is welcoming diverse candidates by introducing these students to the practice of law and how it can lead to a rewarding career.
“I would love it if the pre-law conference could become a mini pipeline for the legal profession,” Gaines said.
She discovered law while attending boarding school in Massachusetts. During a winter break, she interned at what was then the law firm of Thomas, Means and Gillis in Montgomery. She was so impressed by what she learned while shadowing attorneys that she returned a few months later for a summer internship.
After graduating from law school and clerking for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Board of Contract Appeal, she returned to Thomas, Means and Gillis as a civil defense attorney.
Gaines, who is the daughter of a physician, was similarly drawn into a profession that helps others. She saw how lives could be changed as a result of the law and how lawyers could obtain justice for those who had been harmed.
Gaines embraces the bar’s mantra: lawyers render service.
The University of Alabama School of Law is pleased to announce the presenters for the symposium on The Legacy of To Kill a Mockingbird: Advocacy in an Unjust Society. Join us as the nation’s foremost experts on the intersection of law and literature discuss the moral significance of Lee’s work. The symposium, sponsored by the Alabama Law Review, will be held 8:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m. Friday, March 3, in the Bedsole Moot Court Room.
Confirmed Presenters
Robert Atkinson, Florida State University College of Law
Devon Carbado, UCLA School of Law
Judy Cornett, University of Tennessee College of Law
Wayne Flynt, Author, Historian, and Professor Emeritus at Auburn University
John Grisham, Author and Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction Winner
Paul Horwitz, The University of Alabama School of Law
Richard McAdams, University of Chicago Law School
Anil Mujumdar, Partner, Zarzaur, Mujumdar & Debrosse
The Law School celebrated the renovation of the reception area of the Alabama Law Institute and named it the Thomas L. Jones Reception Area.
During the ceremony, Dean Mark E. Brandon expressed his gratitude for Professor Jones and for the profound effect he has had on the Law School.
“As a teacher and as an administrator, he has had an enormous impact on more than three generations of students,” he said. “I know. I was in his classroom, and I was his student.”
Othni Lathram, Director of the Alabama Law Institute, also was a student in Professor Jones’s classroom.
“He demonstrates to all those watching that a lawyer should be prepared, knowledgeable, thorough, persuasive and firm — but all the while, most importantly, being gentle, calm and compassionate. He is a gentleman of the first order.”
Alumni, friends and family donated nearly $165,000 to the project, and a portion of the funds was used to create the Thomas L. Jones Endowed Scholarship.
The reception area has a suspended drop ceiling with LED work lights and LED spot lights. The workflow for the area was improved with office furniture and guest seating. The renovations include a glass door, campus art and a portrait of Professor Jones. New carpet was installed in the entire suite, which has three offices, a conference room and a reception area.
Professor Jones was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama School of Law in 1962. He served in virtually every position available to a member of the UA Law faculty, including Acting Dean and Vice Dean. He was an integral part of the Alabama Law Institute, serving as the Acting Director from 1972 to 1974. He was on numerous ALI committees, both as a reporter and a member, from 1980 to 2013.
