News
The Thomas L. Jones Reception Area Nears Completion
The Thomas L. Jones Reception Area of the Alabama Law Institute is nearing completion.
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.
Professor Jones was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama School of Law in 1962. Since then, he has served in virtually every position available to a member of the UA Law faculty, including 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.
The Thomas L. Jones Reception Area will be dedicated at 4:30 p.m., January 18, in Room 326 at the Law School.
Law School Announces Call for Entries for 2017 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction
The University of Alabama School of Law and the ABA Journal are now accepting submissions for the 2017 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction.
The Prize, authorized by Ms. Lee, is given annually to a book-length work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change. Past winners include “Sycamore Row” by John Grisham, “The Secret of Magic” by Deborah Johnson and “Pleasantville” by Attica Locke.
The work must be:
- A published book-length work of fiction.
- Published originally in 2016.
- Readily available to readers via commercial sources (retail or online bookstores such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or iTunes).
An electronically published work with an ISBN may be submitted but unpublished manuscripts may not. All entries must be submitted by Friday, March 31. There is no entry fee.
Law School Launches Diverse Experts Directory
The Law School invites all alumni to register for its Diverse Experts Directory.
The Diverse Experts Directory is a clearinghouse of University of Alabama School of Law’s alumni and friends who have expertise in various fields. The purpose of the Directory is to provide the Law School’s students, student organizations, faculty, and staff with a resource for finding potential speakers and authors for programs, publications, and other initiatives.
One goal is to have a directory that includes individuals of different races, ethnicities, genders, disability statuses, sexual orientations, practice areas, practice settings, and experience levels.
Participants are encouraged to create a complete profile with detailed information about their legal and professional expertise, as well as demographic data. This will help program organizers identify and include panelists and authors who are representative of the constituencies the Law School serves, as well as the legal profession.
Should you have questions or comments about the directory, please send an email to Daiquiri J. Steele, Director of Diversity & Inclusion and Assistant Professor of Law in Residence, at dsteele@law.ua.edu, call (205) 348-4541 or visit law.ua.edu/diversity.
Nic Carlisle: Serving the State
Nic Carlisle (’06) is using his appointment to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS to tell the story about how the disease is affecting Alabama and the South.
Carlisle said he was honored to receive the three-year appointment in 2016 and wants to make sure Alabama and other southern states are well represented on the council. While the majority of the funding for HIV and AIDS has been directed to California and New York, the majority of the new infections have occurred in the South.
“It’s a constant battle to make sure we get our fair share of attention and resources,” Carlisle said.
Office of Diversity & Inclusion Announces Online Giving Page
The Law School announces a new program to support the work of The Office of Diversity & Inclusion.
The Office of Diversity & Inclusion hosts numerous academic, cultural, and celebratory events throughout the academic year aimed at broadening participants’ understanding and appreciation of diversity. The ODI works closely with students and student organizations on programs that are focused on ensuring a welcoming and inclusive environment. The ODI activities include, but are not limited to, educating the community, coordinating support for diverse constituencies, facilitating compliance with nondiscrimination policies, helping recruit students and faculty, and serving as an institutional liaison for addressing issues that may arise from time to time.
The ODI sponsored several programs during the fall semester, including a “First in my Family to Go to Law School” program and an LGBTQ+ issues forum. In the spring, the ODI will celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the Law School’s first African-American graduates.
For more information on the Law School’s Diversity & Inclusion initiatives, please visit law.ua.edu/diversity or its giving page.
Faculty, staff and students donate to Toys for Tots
Faculty, staff and students donated two boxes full of toys to the Toys for Tots campaign. Each year, the Law School provides new, unwrapped toys to the program administered by the Alabama Marines Foundation. “This year, Toys for Tots served about 1,000 families including about 3,000 children in the Tuscaloosa and West Alabama area,” said James E. McLean, Executive Director for UA’s Center for Community-Based Partnerships. “Benefactors like the UA School of Law provided the bulk of these toys.”
Events
Dr. King Celebration
The Law School will celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at noon, January 19, in the Moot Court Room. The program will feature a reading of the address, “A Realistic Look at the Question of Progress in the Area of Race Relations,” which was delivered at the St. Louis Freedom Rally on April 10, 1957. Farrah Banquet
The 2017 annual Farrah Law Alumni Society Banquet is scheduled for Friday, February 10, at Haven in downtown Birmingham. The banquet will honor Judge Patrick Higginbotham (’61), the 2017 Sam W. Pipes Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient.
The Law School will celebrate the permanent endowment of the following funds:
- Carey J. Chitwood Endowed Scholarship Fund
- Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. and Mrs. Ruth Jenkins Johnson Memorial Endowed Scholarship
- Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. Memorial Endowed Lecture on Constitutional Rights and Liberties
- John C. H. Miller Endowed Scholarship
- Proctor Family Endowed Scholarship
- Edward P. Turner, Jr. Family Endowed Scholarship
- Wilmer & Lee, P.A. Endowed Scholarship
Alumni Weekend and Class Reunions
Please join Dean Mark E. Brandon and UA Law faculty and staff April 22 for an Alumni Picnic. The picnic is open to all graduates and their families, but will provide special opportunities to celebrate Class Reunions honoring the classes of 1967, 1977, 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2007.
Class Notes
Mateo Forero (’16) has joined Balch & Bingham as an associate in the Environmental and Natural Resources Practice.
Evan Glover (’01) has been selected to Georgia Trend’s 2016 40 Under 40 List. The list honors the state’s best and brightest in business, government, nonprofits, science, healthcare and education.
David Vance Lucas (’87) has rejoined Bradley as a partner in the firm’s Huntsville office.
Andrew S. Nix (’03) has joined Bradley as a partner in the firm’s Birmingham office.
Craig Parker (’94) has joined Maynard Cooper & Gale in the firm’s Birmingham office as its first Entrepreneur-in-Residence. He will focus on helping young lawyers develop the skills and insight needed to represent and add value to entrepreneurs and start-up companies.
David W. Proctor (’84) has joined Hall Booth Smith as a partner in the firm’s new Birmingham office.
Emilee Hellums Scheeff (’13) has joined Rosen Harwood as an associate in the Business and Taxation Practice.
Martin D. Smith (’16) has joined Webster, Henry, Lyons, Bradwell, Cohan & Speagle as an associate in the firm’s Montgomery office.
Allison Taylor (’95) has joined Maynard Cooper & Gale as a shareholder in the firm’s Birmingham office.
Nick Theodore (’16) has joined Balch & Bingham as an associate in the firm’s Energy Practice.
Gifts
Joyce C. Hobbs contributed $8,500 to the Law School’s unrestricted fund and $1,000 to the Farrah Law Alumni Society through The Hobbs Foundation.
The Honorable and Mrs. Truman M. Hobbs, Jr. donated $5,000 to the Farrah Law Alumni Society through The Hobbs Foundation.
An anonymous gift of $25,000 was donated to the Joseph L. Fine Endowed Scholarship.
Louise P. Hairston donated $20,000 to the Law School Foundation in memory of her late husband William B. Hairston, Jr. (’50).
Lane Heard pledged $10,000 to the Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. and Mrs. Ruth Jenkins Johnson Memorial Endowed Scholarship.
The Honorable Hardie B. Kimbrough contributed $5,000 to the Farrah Law Alumni Society.
Jerry W. Powell contributed $15,000 to the Jerry W. Powell Law School Computer Center.
Mr. and Mrs. Irving Silver pledged $250,000 to the Irving Silver and Frances Grodsky Silver Faculty Scholarship Enhancement Fund and donated $50,000 to establish that fund.
The Henry G. and Henry U. Sims Foundation donated $8,500 to the Public Interest Law Fellowship.
Michael S. Stutts contributed $5,000 to the Farrah Law Alumni Society.
Jefferson and Dr. Julie Utsey pledged $10,000 to The William L. Utsey, William D. Melton and E. Tedford Taylor Endowed Scholarship.
Warren O. Wheeler donated $10,896 to the Judge Robert J. Wheeler Scholarship.
The University of Alabama Chapter of the Order of the Coif donated $15,000 to the Order of the Coif Endowed Scholarship.
Faculty Notes
GAINES BRAKE, Interim Director, Elder Law Clinic, collaborated with faculty in the UA department of psychology to write a book chapter, “Assessment and Restoration of Competency to be Executed: Issues Related to Dementia and Cognitive Disability,” in Bush & Heck’s Forensic Geropsychology: Practice Essentials (Am. Psych. Assoc., forthcoming 2017).
PROFESSOR RICHARD DELGADO and PROFESSOR JEAN STEFANCIC published “Alto, Cabron. A Ver Las Manos: A Police Officer’s Expectations of Instant Obedience When a Civilian Does Not Speak English”“A Comment on United States v. Parker,” (The Indian Grandfather Case), in 68 Alabama Law Review Online 7 (2016).
Their article, “Critical Perspectives on Police, Policing, and Mass Incarceration,” in Georgetown Law Journal was recently listed on SSRN’s Top Ten download lists for a number of subject areas: LSN: Law Enforcement (e.g., Criminal Investigations, Police Conduct, etc.) (Topic), PSN: Security & Safety (Topic) with 41 downloads as of December 10, 2016: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2876702; and Political Economy – Development: Public Service Delivery eJournal, with 54 downloads as of December 14, 2016: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2876702.
A second article, “Hate Speech in Cyberspace,” was also recently listed on the same top-ten download list for: LSN: Procedural Issues (Topic), with 438 downloads as of 21 December 2016: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2517406
Minnesota Law Review and Alabama Law Review accepted new articles by the two of them or Delgado solely.
PROFESSOR HEATHER ELLIOTT spoke at the American Bar Association’s Administrative Law Conference in Washington, D.C., on December 8. Her talk on the Supreme Court case Spokeo v. Robins was part of a panel called “Evolving Justiciability.”
PROFESSOR MIRIT EYAL-COHEN presented her paper titled, “Entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship, and the Law: A New Look at the Taxonomy of Innovation Incentives,” at the Annual Conference of the National Tax Association in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1907, The National Tax Association (NTA) is the leading association of tax professionals and is dedicated to advancing the understanding of the theory and practice of public finance. Professor Eyal-Cohen’s article holds that innovative advances may also be achieved through Intrapreneurship, or innovations discovered by employees via internal entrepreneurship in large, established conglomerates. Her article explores the taxonomy of spending programs and the kind of innovation each spending program facilitates. By exploring the complexity, administration, structure (changes over time), and timing (ex post, ex ante) of each program, the paper demonstrates that, opposed to common perception, while direct spending indeed promotes entrepreneurship, tax incentives, are primarily useful (if at all) in promoting intrapreneurship in large and established firms.
PROFESSOR PAUL HORWITZ’S chapter, “Of Mirrors and Media: The Blogger as Public Intellectual,” has been published in a new book, Professors or Pundits?: Public Intellectuals in the Global Arena (Michael C. Desch, ed.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2016).
PROFESSOR PAM PIERSON was appointed to serve on the Task Force for Long Range Strategic Planning of the Alabama State Bar and met in December with the committee. Professor Pierson also was appointed to serve on the Senior Lawyer-New Lawyer Task Force of the Alabama State Bar, and will meet with the Task Force in January. Professor Pierson, along with UA Law ’16 graduates Michael Pepper, Ashley Hamilton and Megan Root, completed an article discussing empirical data gathered in a four-year IRB study of lawyers, law students and stress. Lastly, Professor Pierson, along with her son, Ben Bucy, UA Law and MBA ’16 graduate, completed work on an article discussing use of the civil False Claims Act to combat trade fraud. Both articles will be submitted to law reviews in February.
PROFESSOR FRED VARS published in the Washington & Lee Law Review Online an essay titled, “Prosecutorial Misconduct: The Best Defense Is a Good Defense.”
The views, opinions, and conclusions expressed by faculty in their publications or research activities are those of the author and not necessarily those of The University of Alabama or its officers and trustees. The content of faculty publications has not been approved by the University of Alabama, and the author is solely responsible for that content.