News
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Speaks at Alabama Law
Professor James Forman, Jr., of Yale Law School, spoke at Alabama Law about his book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America.
Professor Forman said he wrote the book for two reasons. First, he wanted to write a book that was “rooted in black politics, black intellectual history, and black cultural history.”
“I wanted to write something that showed the complexity and the diversity and the variety of perspectives on a range of issues, in particular, the issue of what to do over the last 50 years of our criminal legal system.”
Second, he wanted to draw on his work in the criminal justice system.
Locking Up Our Own won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction. It examines the complex and often conflicted history of African-American leaders and communities advocating for increased levels of incarceration. Professor Forman’s visit was made possible, in part, through the generosity of The Order of the Coif society.
Events
Dean Mark E. Brandon invites you and your family to join us for the Alabama Law School’s Homecoming Tailgate. Visit with old friends and enjoy game-day fare on the front lawn before the Crimson Tide kicks off against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Law Center Front Lawn
Saturday, October 26
3 hours prior to kick-off
Transportation will be provided to the stadium prior to the game.
Law School Seeks Stories about Judge Sam Beatty
The Law School is seeking stories from alumni about Judge Sam Beatty. Please submit written remembrances at http://www.law.ua.edu/resources/tellyourstory/
Career Services Office
Are you looking for a law clerk or an associate? Do you need help with a short-term research assignment? The Career Services Office can place a job advertisement for you on our internal job board or connect you with a student through our STAR Program for help with research. Please contact Assistant Dean Megan Walsh for more information.
Class Notes
Jere Beasley, Sr. (’62) has been selected to receive the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Auburn Alumni Association. He will be honored at a dinner and ceremony on February 29, 2020, at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center.
Danielle Blevins (’12) has joined the Office of General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, D.C.
Chris Dawson (’13) was honored as one of Orlando Business Journal ‘s 40 Under 40. The publication annually recognizes leaders in the region who are younger than 40 and have contributed to the Central Florida community in a meaningful way. Dawson will be profiled in the November 15 weekly edition of the Orlando Business Journal and will be recognized with other 40 Under 40 honorees at an upcoming event.
Leigh Gwathney (’00) has been appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey as the new Chairwoman of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Jake MacKay (’19) has joined Starnes Davis Florie as an Associate in the firm’s Birmingham office. MacKay’s practice is focused on civil litigation, including medical malpractice, complex business litigation, and professional liability.
Cameron Rentschler (’19) has joined Huie, Fernambucq & Stewart as an Associate in the firm’s Birmingham office. He joins the Automotive Litigation, Product Liability, Trucking Litigation, and Insurance Defense practice groups.
John R. Reynolds (’82) has been named executive vice president, chief legal officer of Fluor Corporation. He has served in numerous roles at Fluor since 1985.
Bruce B. Siegal (’86) has joined Taylor English Duma as Counsel in the firm’s Atlanta office. He is a is a member of Taylor English’s Intellectual Property and Entertainment, Sports and Media departments.
Robert Turnipseed (’06 LL.M.) has been elected Council Director of the Tax Section of the American Bar Association as well as elected to the American College of Tax Counsel.
Matthew J. Winne (’19) has joined Lightfoot, Franklin & White as a First-Year Associate in the firm’s Birmingham office. Winne defends clients in a variety of industries, and he has handled matters in a range of practice areas, including product liability, medical malpractice, and First Amendment law.
Faculty Notes
PROFESSOR WILLIAM ANDREEN continues to direct the Law School’s exchange program with the Australian National University (ANU) College of Law. Through this program, now entering its 20th year, 170 Alabama law students have studied at the ANU, and over 180 ANU law students have traveled to Tuscaloosa to study at Alabama Law. In addition, some 30 faculty members from the two schools have taught in the exchange. In July-August of this year, 10 Alabama law students traveled to Canberra to take a course surveying Australian Law taught by the ANU’s faculty and a Comparative Supreme Court course team-taught by Professor Heather Elliott and Dr. Heather Roberts from the ANU faculty. Alabama Law students also visited the Australian High Court, the Australian Parliament, the ACT Supreme Court, the ACT Legislative Assembly, as well as the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. Professor Andreen participated this summer in the 19th Institute for Natural Resource Law Teachers, which was held at the University of Montana Law School, peer reviewed the next volume of the Land Use and Environment Law Review, and revised his chapter on Alabama Water Law (and the Water Wars), which appears in Volume 4 of Waters and Water Rights (LexisNexis).
PROFESSOR RICHARD DELGADO had articles accepted by UC-Davis Law Review, U. Pittsburgh Law Review, and UC-Davis Journal of Social Justice. Professor Delgado’s paper titled, “Metamorphosis: A Minority Professor’s Life,” was recently listed on 14 SSRN Top Ten download lists. The website notified him that he is in the top ten percent of professors in the network.
PROFESSOR SHAHAR DILLBARY‘s article, “Multiple Causes and Stacked Inferences,” will be published by the Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (forthcoming 2020). The article examines the economic effects of third-party liability doctrines (e.g. vicarious liability) and legal presumptions. It was presented at a conference organized by the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods. In September 2019, Professor Dillbary presented his new tort scholarship at the European Law and Economics Conference. At that conference, he also chaired one of the two tort panels. Professor Dillbary is currently scheduled to present his experimental piece titled, “Collusions,” at the Southern Economics Association (SEA). The article, co-authored with Kip Viscusi (Vanderbilt) and Stephan Kroll (Colorado), tests the ability of actors to collude to bypass legal prohibitions using a powerful signaling device offered by the law. Professor Dillbary has been invited to present his scholarship on tort law and strategic behavior at the University of Hamburg’s Economics Department. Most recently, Professor Dillbary received an invitation to present a new article at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Israel. This unique workshop titled, “Private Law Theory in a Globalized Work,” brings “leading researchers from around the world” to present cutting edge scholarship “using a range of methodologies.” The workshop will take place in the summer.
PROFESSOR ANITA KAY HEAD presented at a CLE hosted by the Supreme Court of Alabama. Her presentation, titled “Persuading the Legal Reader,” focused on persuasion in briefs through structure, narrative, and presentation.
PROFESSOR PAUL HORWITZ published an article titled, “The Coxford Lecture: Honour, Oaths, and the Rule of Law,” in the Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence.
PROFESSOR ADAM STEINMAN is scheduled to speak at the American Bar Association’s National Institute on Class Actions in Nashville, Tennessee, in October. Professor Steinman is also scheduled to speak at the symposium on Class Actions, Mass Torts, and MDLs: The Next 50 Years, which is co-sponsored by the Pound Civil Justice Institute and Lewis & Clark Law School, in Portland, Oregon, in November.
PROFESSOR GARY SULLIVAN was appointed as a panelist to serve on the Alabama Bankruptcy Assistance Project, an access-to-justice initiative sponsored by the Alabama State Bar. The panelists will produce written materials and instructional videos that will educate and encourage attorneys who do not routinely handle bankruptcy matters to provide pro bono legal assistance to indigent debtors seeking to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases.
PROFESSOR JOYCE VANCE published an op-ed, “Prosecutors Pick their Battles. I Chose Not to Pursue an ICE raid in Alabama,” August 9, 2019, in The Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/08/09/prosecutors-pick-their-battles-i-chose-not-pursue-an-ice-raid-alabama/
She wrote another op-ed, “William Barr is the Wrong Person to Lead the Jeffrey Epstein Investigation,” August 14, 2019, in TIME magazine. Available at: https://time.com/5650974/william-barr-jeffrey-epstein/
Professor Vance was interviewed on NPR’s “All Things Considered” on August 12, 2019, regarding ICE raids in Mississippi and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2019/08/12/750577759/former-federal-prosecutor-discusses-the-logistics-of-conducting-ice-raids
And she joined a group of professors and legal experts and helped produce a summary of the Mueller Report, “Summaries of the Mueller Report: A Collection,” on August 20, 2019. Available at: https://www.justsecurity.org/65863/expert-summaries-of-mueller-report-a-collection-of-short-essays/
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.