President Donald Trump has nominated Jeffrey Beaverstock (’98) and Terry F. Moorer (’86) for positions as District Judges on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.
Emily Coody Marks (’98) has been nominated to serve as District Judge in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
All three nominees must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
For more, read “Trump Nominates Black Alabama Judge to Federal Bench.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie Adkins, a Medal of Honor recipient, spoke to Alabama Law students and faculty this week about his military training and experience.
Adkins of Opelika, Alabama, was honored in 2014 for his actions in Vietnam’s A Shau Valley. As a 32-year-old sergeant first class, Adkins was among a handful of Americans working with troops of the South Vietnamese Civilian Irregular Defense Group at Camp A Shau when the camp was attacked by a large North Vietnamese and Viet Cong force on March 9, 1966.
The event was sponsored by Alabama Law’s Military Law Society. For more information about Adkins, please visit the Bennie Adkins Foundation.
Professor Alfred Brophy is quoted in FoxNews.com about the removal of Confederate statues.
For more, read “Amid Charlottesville Backlash, Some Are Asking If Statue Removal Push Has Gone Too Far.”
Professor Joyce Vance is quoted in the West Fargo Pioneer about whether federal prosecution should be sought in the kidnapping and death of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind in Fargo, North Dakota.
For more, read “McFeely: String ’em up? Not So fast, Former Federal Prosecutor Says.”
| Dear Alabama Law Alumni:
With a heavy heart, I write to let you know that Tom Jones passed away last night. Tom came to the School of Law in 1962. Since then, he served in virtually every position available to a member of the faculty – from professor (rising through the ranks), to Acting Dean, Associate Dean, Vice Dean, and Professor Emeritus. His impact on the School of Law – and on the students and colleagues he touched – cannot be overstated. I know this because, before I became his colleague, he was my teacher. Tom had a gravelly voice that conveyed a business-like seriousness. But beneath that exterior, he had a wry sense of humor and a sensitive soul, with a heart as tender as they come. He was also a person of enormous integrity. In the dedication ceremony for the Tom Jones Reception Area for the Alabama Law Institute, Othni Lathram described him as “a gentleman of the first order.” When another law school looked at hiring Tom as its Dean in 1978 (one of several schools that tried to lure him from Alabama Law), Dean Thomas Christopher wrote the following: “Professor Jones is a first-class person individually – a person of character, pleasing personality and real depth. He is a fine scholar and has a national reputation in the fields of probate law and tax. He is an efficient and pleasant administrator and is a good classroom teacher. I have no reservation recommending him – except that I don’t want him to leave Alabama.” Countless numbers of alumni and colleagues at Alabama Law are fortunate that he chose not to leave Alabama, but remained here as teacher, guide, mentor, and friend. Our fondest wishes go out to Tom’s wife Shelley and to the members of his extended family. I’ve been informed that a service to honor Tom’s life will be held on Thursday, August 31, at 11:00 a.m., at First Presbyterian Church, 900 Greensboro Avenue, Tuscaloosa. Visitation will follow in the Family Life Center at the church. Respectfully, Mark |
Some of the nation’s leading experts on water law visited Alabama Law today for the symposium on Water Resources Law.
Participants discussed the laws governing ownership of surface water, groundwater, and other water resources in Alabama and throughout the Southeast. They addressed interstate water law conflicts, the types of water policies that have worked in other states, and what may be preventing Alabama from establishing a more comprehensive water law policy.
The symposium also provided an update on the Alabama Water Agencies Working Group and information about legislative and administrative developments in Alabama and at the federal level.
Featured speakers were:
William L. Andreen, Edgar L. Clarkson Professor of Law, The University of Alabama School of Law
Bennett Bearden, Water Policy & Law Institute, The University of Alabama
Heather Elliott, Alumni, Class of ’36 Professor of Law, The University of Alabama School of Law
Blake Hudson, Professor of Law, The University of Houston Law Center
Christine Klein, Chesterfield Smith Professor and University of Florida Research Foundation Professor, University of Florida Levin College of Law
Chip Morgan, Executive Vice President, Delta Council (Mississippi)
Rebecca Wright Pritchett, Pritchett Environmental & Resources Law LLC
Mitchell Reid, Director of External Affairs, The Nature Conservancy in Alabama
Nick Tew, State Geologist, the Geological Survey of Alabama
Professor Al Brophy appears live on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal and discusses the removal of Confederate statues.
For more, read “Al Brophy on the Removal of Confederate Statues.”
Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, will participate in a conversation with Dean Mark E. Brandon and Judge William Harold Albritton III at The University of Alabama School of Law for the Fall 2017 Albritton Lecture Sept. 12.
“We are pleased and honored to be able to welcome Justice Sotomayor to the School of Law. Her professional record is stellar and her life’s story inspiring,” said Brandon, dean of the law school.
Justice Sotomayor was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in 2009. Before joining the Court, she served as a judge for the U.S. District
The Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States
Court for the Southern District of New York and as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
The Albritton Lecture Series was established by Judge Albritton and is supported by The Albritton Fund, created in the 1970s by the Albritton family of Andalusia, which has four generations of Alabama Law graduates.
The lecture series counts 11 United States Supreme Court Justices and three foreign Chief Justices among its past participants. Judge Albritton is a 1960 graduate of Alabama Law and U.S. District Court Judge for the Middle District of Alabama, having been appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush. The first Albritton lecture was delivered by United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy in 1996.
“This unique lecture series has been limited to Supreme Court Justices and Chief Justices, as well as Chief Justices of foreign nations, to give our students and faculty direct exposure to discussions of the judicial process by those involved at the highest levels,” Judge Albritton said.
The event is open to the public and will take place in the McMillian Lecture Hall, room 287/288 at 2 p.m.. No registration is required. Seating is limited and early arrival is recommended.
Note that purses, bags, laptops, umbrellas and large jackets will not be allowed in the lecture hall.
Professor Al Brophy is quoted in FiveThirtyEight, Vox, and CNN about the removal of Confederate statues.
For more, read: “There Are Still More Than 700 Confederate Monuments in the U.S.”
Professor Joyce Vance, a former U.S. Attorney, talks with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow about what can be inferred from the details and the timing of the FBI raid on the home of former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.
For more, watch “Details of FBI Raid on Manafort Home Raise New Questions.”
