May 2024

News

Alabama Law Celebrates the Class of 2024

On Sunday, May 5, The University of Alabama School of Law honored 161 graduates at its annual Commencement Ceremony at Coleman Coliseum.  Among the graduates, 153 received Juris Doctor degrees—including one student who also earned a dual degree in Business Administration and six students who earned dual JD/LL.M degrees. An additional eight members of the 2024 Class received standalone LL.M degrees.

Read more about this year’s graduation commencement here.

Alabama Law Students Successful in Criminal Defense Clinic

Simone Hampton, Aleah Brown, and Virginia Willis, students in the Criminal Defense Clinic at The University of Alabama School of Law, recently secured the early release of a woman who was subject to abuse and retaliation by prison staff while incarcerated at FCI Dublin in California.

The prison has been under investigation for some time, and at least eight of its employees have been charged with crimes against inmates who were housed at that facility. Additional prosecutions and lawsuits against the prison for its culture of sexual abuse have led to its recent closure.

Click here to read more about the students’ experiences in the Clinic.

Alabama Law BLSA Chapter Renamed in Honor of Professor Bryan Fair

During its annual spring banquet, the Executive Board of the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) at Alabama Law announced that it has unanimously voted to rename its chapter the Bryan K. Fair Black Law Students Association. Professor Fair, who is the Thomas E. Skinner Professor of Law at Alabama Law, has served (and continues to serve) as the BLSA chapter advisor more than 30 years.

Click here to read more.

Gifts

Recognition of gifts of $5,000+ over the past month

A anonymous $100,000 gift was received to support artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives including legal AI safety research, roundtables, and academic activities related to AI safety.

Badham & Buck LLP contributed $6,250 to the Walker Percy Badham III Scholarship.

Clyde and Summer Anderson and the Clyde and Summer Anderson Foundation contributed $5,000 to the Walker Percy Badham III Scholarship.

Travis M. Bedsole, Jr. (’74) contributed $11,600 to the Judge Travis Jesse Bedsole Endowed Memorial Scholarship.

Thomas W. Bowron II (’83) and Cynthia N. Bowron pledged $50,000 to establish the Judge J. Edgar Bowron Endowed Law Scholarship.

Mr. and Mrs. Michael S. DeCarlo contributed $5,000 to the Walker Percy Badham III Scholarship.

Lorraine Feld contributed $35,000 to establish the L.B. Feld (’72) Endowed Memorial Support Fund.

Fournier J. Gale (’69) and Louise S. Gale contributed $5,000 to the Fournier J. Gale III Endowed Scholarship.

The estate of Joanne Scott Hodgkins contributed $1,758,000 to the Robert W. Hodgkins Endowed Chair of Law.

Hon. Hardie B. Kimbrough Sr. (’68) contributed $5,000 to the Judge Hardie B. Kimbrough Endowed Scholarship.

Mr. and Mrs. C. Richard Moore (’76) pledged $300,000 to the Ann and Rufus Bealle Endowed Law Faculty Fellowship.

The estate of Gordon Rosen (’49) contributed $397,000 to the Gordon Rosen Endowed Professorship of Law and Scholarship of Law.

Irving Silver (’65) and Frances Silver contributed $62,500 to the Silver Annual Faculty Scholar Gift.

Jon Sundock contributed $11,000 to the Annual Moot Court Team Support Fund.

Vulcan Materials Company Foundation matched Mr. and Mrs. Jerry F. Perkins Jr.’s contribution of $10,000 to the Jerry and Suzanne Perkins Endowed Scholarship.

The following alumni and friends (not mentioned above) either made or renewed an annual giving contribution to the Alabama Law Alumni Society this past month.

Class Notes

Ben Baxley (‘89) was appointed to district judge on the 19^th Judicial Circuit for Elmore County, Alabama.  

Alexia B. Borden (‘05) was named executive vice president at Brasfield & Gorrie in Birmingham. 

Trey H. Bundrick III (‘19) joined Wallace Jordan Ratliff & Brandt as an associate in Birmingham.  

L. Justin Burney (‘04) was named to The Legal 500’s Private Practice 2024 M&A Powerlist.  

Shelby Calambokidis (’17) served as a member of the respondents’ counsel in the Grants Pass, Oregon Supreme Court case regarding homelessness.  

Carla C. Crowder (‘09) was named 2024 USA Today Woman of the Year for Alabama.  

Ambassador Don Heflin (‘83) retired from the Foreign Service in April 2023 and joined the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University as a senior fellow in July 2023.  

David Hymer (‘85) was named to the Birmingham Business Journal’s Best of the Bar 2024.  

Brock J. Jones (‘89) was announced as the 2024 United Way of West Alabama Campaign Chair.  

John Joseph IV (‘06) received the 2024 Miss Athelyne C. Banks Citizen of the Year award from the Decatur-Morgan Chamber of Commerce.  

Joanna “Christy” B. Kuklinski (‘17) was named commissioner of the Alabama Securities Commission.  

Justin L. Ladner (‘10) was selected as a 2024 Henry Crown Fellow by the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.  

Wesley L. Laird (‘86) was named Lurleen B. Wallace Community College’s 2024 Outstanding Alumnus. 

Meredith J. Lees (’01) was appointed to administrative partner at Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell in Birmingham.  

Walton Liles (’07) was named to The Washingtonian’s Washington DC’s 500 Most Influential People of 2024 in banking and finance.  

Matthew A. Mantle (‘02) joined Dentons Sirote’s tax practice as a shareholder in Birmingham.  

Julie Mediamolle (‘06) was named to the board of directors of Girls on the Run of NOVA in Virginia.  

Evan P. Moltz (‘10) joined Thompson Coburn as a partner in the firm’s higher education practice.  

Richard A. Powers (‘09) was named partner at Kressin Meador Powers LLC.  

Emily D. Robinson (‘22) has joined Swift Currie McGhee & Hiers as an associate in Birmingham. 

Leigh Veillette (‘15) was appointed as director of the Utah Division of Real Estate.  

The following alumni were honored as the Tuscaloosa Bar Associations 2024 Pillars of the Bar: 
Gary Blume (‘78) 
Penny Davis (‘78) 
Steve Ford (‘78) 

The following alumni were included in Birmingham Business Journal’s NextGen Law honorees list: 
Joel T. Caldwell (‘13)  
Darius A. Crayton (‘15)  
Laura Pizzitola (‘15) 

Faculty Notes

Professor Russell Gold received the Student Bar Association Outstanding Faculty Award during Law Week. His article, Exoneration Finance (co-authored with Kay Levine), was accepted for publication in the N.Y.U. Law Review Online. He was also chosen as the Chair-Elect of the AALS Criminal Procedure Section.  

Assistant Dean Anita Kay Head was selected, along with three other faculty members from across campus, to represent the University in the 2024-2025 Class of the SEC Academic Leadership Development Program. She was also selected by the Law School’s 2024 graduating class as a member of the Commencement Hooding Team. 

Professor Paul Horwitz participated in a roundtable in Washington, D.C. with scholars and major practitioners to discuss the future of the Press Clause as part of a project on that subject that is being conducted by the Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School. He also published a “jot,” ‘The Wise Know When Not to Talk:’ Revisiting the Kalven Report,’ on Jotwell, reviewing forthcoming book chapters by Professors Tom Ginsburg and Robert Post. Horwitz is co-editor of Jotwell’s Constitutional Law section.  

Professor Shalini Bhargava Ray received UA’s President’s Faculty Research Award as an emerging scholar in art and humanities.  

Professor Daiquiri Steele was quoted in a New York Times article about employment discrimination in the application process.  

Professor Joyce Vance has joined the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law as a senior fellow.