This month, 2021 Alabama Law graduates Robert L. Humphrey, III and Ian R. Ross coauthored an article on the Alabama State Bar website titled “FROM THE ALABAMA LAWYER: Through Their Eyes – Jane Dishuck and Louise Turner.” The piece highlights the experience of two female Alabama Law graduates (from 1947 and 1953) who offered a lifetime of dedicated service in Alabama through their work in the legal profession.
Though masks and social distancing offered a different experience than years before, Alabama Law hosted in-person Commencement at Coleman Coliseum on Sunday, May 2. Because last year’s ceremony was moved to a virtual format, the Law School was delighted to invite members of the class of 2020 to return to campus to celebrate their achievements with the class of 2021.
Each year, students from Alabama Law compete in several moot court competitions covering a variety of topics from environmental to bankruptcy law. Throughout the past semester, these teams performed impressively—including a first-place finish at the National Health Law Transactional Moot Court Competition, an “Elite Eight Finish” at the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition, and several “Best Oralist” awards.
On May 12th, recent Alabama Law graduate, Scott Sloss, was inducted into the 2021 Equal Justice Works Initiative Class of Fellows. Joining a talented group of awardees among an initial pool of more than 450 applicants, Scott is the first law student at The University of Alabama to receive this fellowship. He credits his 20-year military service, faith, and family for this great success.
Recipients of the Equal Justice Works (EJW) Fellowship have a choice between joining an existing EJW program or creating a fellowship of their own that helps an underserved community. Considering his military career and several additional years working with the VA, Scott has decided to design his own fellowship offering legal assistance to Tuscaloosa County veterans. His hope is to create a long-term clinic at Alabama Law.
Read more about Scott and the Equal Justice Works Fellowship here.
William P. Jackson Jr. (’63) contributed $50,000 to the William P. Jackson Jr. and Barbara Seignious Jackson Endowed Scholarship.
The estate of William H. Mills (’56) donated $200,000 to establish the William H. Mills Symposium on Legal Ethics and Professionalism Endowment Fund.
James (’78) and Nancy Richardson gifted $5,000 to the Patrick W. Richardson Memorial Scholarship.
A total of $10,500 was allocated to the Dominic DeSimone Memorial Endowed Book Scholarship by his grandfather James W. Hart, Chevron, and Duke Energy Foundation.
Professor Deepa Das Acevedo was invited to participate in a roundtable for the National Science Foundation-funded series, Buddhism and Constitutional Law, hosted by Professor Tom Ginsburg (The University of Chicago School of Law) and Professor Ben Schonthal (University of Otago Faculty of Law).
Additionally, her recent article, Essentializing Labor Before, During, and After the Coronavirus Pandemic, was reviewed in JOTWELL: The Journal of Things We Like (Lots).
Professor Richard Delgado was notified by the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) that he was in the top 10% of all authors. His ranking actually places him in the top .055% of the 300,000-plus authors on the database, which covers all areas of scholarly activity, not just law.
The Chronicle of Higher Education published an article by Emma Pettit on Delgado’s and Jean Stefancic’s work and the part it has played in developing a theory of race relations. The piece is titled The Academic Concept that Conservative Lawmakers Love to Hate. Similar articles highlighting the work of Delgado and Sefancic were featured on NBC, Axios, Yahoo! News, Education Week, and The Week.
SSRN also notified Professors Sefancic and Delgado that their article, “Rodrigo’s Reappraisal” (B.U. Law Review) made two Top-Ten download lists.
Professor Adam Steinman published Appellate Courts and Civil Juries, which is the lead article in the 2021 volume of the Wisconsin Law Review.
He also published the 2021 update to Chapters 1-3 of the Wright & Miller Federal Practice & Procedure treatise.
In addition, Professor Steinman joined an amicus brief with civil procedure professors Helen Hershkoff, Arthur Miller, Alan Morrison, and John Sexton that was cited favorably by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Douglass v. Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha. Professor Steinman’s blog post about the case is here.
Professor Gary Sullivan served on a panel titled Mezzanine Loan Enforcement in the Era of COVID as part of the ABA Business Law Section Virtual Spring Meeting. During the presentation, Professor Sullivan led a discussion examining the effects of pandemic-related government shutdowns and restrictions on the “commercially reasonable” standard for disposition of mezzanine loan collateral under the Uniform Commercial Code sales process.
In April, Professor Joyce Vance has joined former Southern District of New York US Attorney, Preet Bharara, as the co-host of the weekly Insider Podcast, which takes on the legal issues of the day. Anne Milgram, who Vance replaces, has been nominated to helm the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) at DOJ.
Professor Vance also joined the coverage of the closing argument and verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on NBC & MSNBC TV stations, including appearing on Morning Joe during the week of April 19. In addition, she recently contributed to and Cafe.com and MSNBC (several times), and she interviewed on NPR.
Professor Ronald Krotoszynski published his latest opinion article titled “Laws against teaching critical race theory in college are unconstitutional” in The Washington Post. You can view the full article here.
On May 12th, recent Alabama Law graduate, Scott Sloss, was inducted into the 2021 Equal Justice Works Initiative Class of Fellows. Joining a talented group of awardees among an initial pool of more than 450 applicants, Scott was one of a limited number of highly talented students from across the nation to receive this award. He credits his 20-year military service, faith, and family for this great success.
Recipients of the Equal Justice Works (EJW) Fellowship have a choice between joining an existing EJW program or creating a fellowship of their own that helps an underserved community. Considering his military career and several additional years working with the VA, Scott has decided to design his own fellowship offering legal assistance to Tuscaloosa County veterans. His hope is to create a long-term clinic at Alabama Law.
“This clinic will be different from any other clinic because it will focus on the veterans and any legal challenges they may face. I understand firsthand what they are going through, and I feel that my years of service have prepared me to be an effective advocate for their community,” Scott explained.
Through the life of the fellowship, Scott will be sponsored by global companies Shearman and Sterling LLP and Thompson Reuters as he serves the nearly 10,000 veterans that live in Tuscaloosa County. He will offer direct representation and legal advice for these individuals and their families, host legal clinics in the Tuscaloosa County area, and attend veterans’ organization meetings
Scott discovered his passion for helping fellow veterans in his first year of law school at the Cumberland School of Law after his professor, Judge John Carroll invited him to come volunteer at the Pro Hops Vino clinic in Birmingham. Following that year, Scott transferred to Alabama Law where professors Yuri Linetsky and Glory McLaughlin encouraged him to apply for the EJW Fellowship.
As Scott begins the fellowship, in addition to serving the legal needs of local veterans, he has a particular interest in educating and advocating for the receipt of equal benefits for service women in Tuscaloosa County. Scott was introduced to the need after meeting his wife Beth in the Army more than a decade ago.
“For many years the military has been centered around men. But now, women are in combat—which is great—but both the veteran benefits and healthcare systems were designed for men. Both in the service and after leaving, many women veterans struggle to receive the medical benefits they’re owed.”
Scott recognizes that the challenges women face in and after military service go even deeper than receiving equal benefits—though it is a good place to start. He recalled, “When people see my wife and me in public, they thank me for my service, but they never thank her. When I tell them that Beth is also a veteran, they act shocked, but they still don’t express their gratitude to her. It bothers me that the expectation for a veteran is some old guy—I want to change that.”
As Scott prepares to begin his service through the fellowship, he expressed his appreciation to Alabama Law for helping prepare him to take on this new role. He explained that his hands-on law clinic experience with the Law School’s Civil Law Clinic, paired with volunteer opportunities he engaged with at the Tuscaloosa VA help desk, have given him immense confidence, and that he knows he has a team of great Alabama Law professionals behind him for guidance and mentorship.
When asked about Scott and his pending fellowship project, Kristen Uhler-Mckeown, vice president of fellowships at Equal Justice Works, shared, “Scott’s unwavering passion for service and his commitment to supporting veterans and their loved ones is inspiring. His experience as an Army veteran will be invaluable in his work as an Equal Justice Works Fellow advocating for the veteran community.”
Scott is eager to begin his fellowship in the fall. Looking to the future, he shared a piece of wisdom that he and his wife often recount.
“We always say ‘Be You’—meaning be genuine. Be genuine to who you are and with how you treat other people. Everything always comes back to that,” Scott explained.
Scott is confident that with his passion, his family, and the support from Alabama Law and its clinical programs, the future of the veteran’s clinic is bright.
This week, Professor Fredrick Vars coauthored an opinion piece featured on The Hill.com titled “The right lessons about ‘red flag’ laws from the Indianapolis mass shooting” with Yale Law professor Ian Ayres.
Professor Jenny Carroll was quoted in a recently published article titled “What’s a judge’s moral standard? Allegations of racism, sexism spotlight judicial misconduct” on NBCNews.com
This week, Professor Joyce Vance joined the editorial board of Just Security, a leading online forum for the rigorous analysis of national and international security. She is joined by law professors Monica C. Bell of Yale Law and Rebecca Hamilton of American University Washington College of Law.
Professor Tara Leigh Grove discussed the Supreme Court’s agreement to take up a Mississippi abortion case with David Westin on Bloomberg Radio. The full interview can be found here.
Professor Ronald Krotoszynski recently published an opinion piece in The Atlantic titled “The War on Trans Kids Is Totally Unconstitutional.” The full article can be read here.
Professor Rebecca Zietlow of The University of Toledo College of Law recently wrote a review on JOTWELL of Professor Deepa Das Acevedo’s article titled Essentializing Labor Before, During, and After the Coronavirus Epidemic, 52 Ariz. St. L.J.1091 (2020). The full review can be found on the JOTWELL site.
