Law School Enrolls First J.S.D. Student
Joey Chbeir enrolled as the first Doctor of Juridical Science student at the Law School this fall.
Chbeir was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and earned his law degree at the Université La Sagesse in 1998. He received an LL.M. from the University of Minnesota in 1999 and a second LL.M. from The University of Alabama School of Law in 2005.
Chbeir began searching for J.S.D. programs several years ago, before Alabama developed its own program. At the time, the closest program was at Duke University and would have required him to move from his Birmingham home.
He applied to the School of Law because the degree will allow him to contribute in a scholarly way to an important practical problem. His dissertation will examine how U.S. constitutional principles could be used to improve nascent democracies in the Middle East.
“It will provide me with the ability to use my multicultural perspective to teach future lawyers in the Middle East,” he said. “I want to use my experience in the U.S., particularly the emphasis on the relationship between the rule of law, fundamental rights, and democracy, to help people understand its importance so that one day they can peacefully coexist.”
Chbeir is an attorney with Maynard Cooper & Gale PC in Birmingham. He focuses on matters involving international law, immigration law, and general litigation. Professor Bryan Fair is supervising Chbeir’s studies in Constitutional Law and International Public Law.
Applicants must submit a plan of study and a description of the topic of a proposed dissertation. For more information on the application process, please contact admissions@law.ua.edu.
Short-Term Assistance in Research (S.T.A.R.) Program Begins
Each school year, the Career Services Office receives phone calls from employers – usually small firms – who are looking for a student to perform research on a single, discrete issue. You’re not looking to hire someone on a long term basis, but you need some quick help. That’s where S.T.A.R. (Short-Term Assistance in Research) comes in. The CSO will take your request, match your firm with a qualified Three-L law student who has signed up for the program, and the work can be completed.
Law School Gifts
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP contributed $7,500 to the Farrah Law Alumni Society on behalf of UA Law Alumni at the firm.
Maynard Cooper & Gale PC contributed $14,050 to the Farrah Law Alumni Society on behalf of UA Law Alumni at the firm.
Rance M. Sanders, ’83, contributed $5,000 to the Farrah Law Alumni Society.
Law School Hosts Law and Lies Symposium
October 10, 2014 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Bedsole Moot Courtroom (140)
A reception will follow at 5 p.m. in the Lobby of the Moot Courtroom.
The symposium is organized by Professor Austin Sarat, the Justice Hugo L. Black Visiting Senior Faculty Scholar at The University of Alabama School of Law and William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science; Associate Dean of the Faculty at Amherst College.
Presenters:
Montré Carodine, The University of Alabama School of Law
William N. Eskridge Jr., Yale Law School (keynote speaker)
Mary Anne Franks, University of Miami School of Law
Stuart Green, Rutgers School of Law-Newark
Helen Norton, University of Colorado School of Law
Norman Spaulding, Stanford Law School
The symposium is approved for seven hours of CLE credit, including one hour of ethics.
Law School Foundation & Farrah Law Alumni Society
Tailgating on the Quad
Again this fall, active members of the Farrah Law Alumni Society are invited to tailgate on the Quad prior to the four 2014 home SEC football games. The Law School Foundation will sponsor a reserved tent, conveniently located on the Quad, in location G-21. Complimentary food and beverages will be provided two hours prior to kickoff. We invite all Farrah Law Alumni Society members to stop by and enjoy this opportunity to engage with other members, faculty, and staff on game day! For additional information regarding the tailgate tent or joining Farrah, contact Jami Gates in the Advancement Office at jgates@law.ua.edu or (205) 348-5752.
Open to all active members of the Farrah Law Alumni Society
October 18, Alabama vs. Texas A&M
November 15, Alabama vs. Mississippi State
November 29, Alabama vs. Auburn
Law School in the News
More than 40,000 low-income residents in Tuscaloosa County need help coping with civil legal challenges, Glory McLaughlin, Assistant Dean for Public Interest, recently told Fox6 WBRC.
Professor Montrè Carodine and Chief Judge Carl E. Stewart say clerking is more than just a job in the September/October 2014 issue of The Bencher. read more about The Judge-Law Clerk Relationship: More Than Just a Job.
After an extensive 11-year investigation, it remains unclear whether Iran sought nuclear weapons, said Yukiya Amano, director general for the International Atomic Energy Agency. Professor Dan Joyner said, “It doesn’t need to conclude that Iran never had a weaponization program, only that there is insufficient evidence to make a finding that they did have.” For more, read “Iran Nuclear Arms Probe May Never Yield Verdict, IAEA Says.”
Professor Montrè Carodine recently provided insight for two stories featured on NPR’s Morning Edition after a federal judge ruled BP is the responsible party for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. For more on the ruling and its effects, listen to: Federal Judge Rules BP Primary Culprit in Gulf Oil Spill and As BP Pays For Oil Spill Impact, Some People Aren’t Seeing The Cash.
Mini-Course on Election Law
Kareem Crayton, Associate Professor of law at The University of North Carolina, will teach a mini-course Oct. 13-17.
Crayton led a group of scholars who submitted a widely cited amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Shelby County v. Holder. He was contributing amicus counsel in the U.S. Supreme Court for the Congressional Black Caucus in the Voting Rights Act lawsuit Bartlett v. Strickland as well as co-counsel to the Congressional Tri-Caucus (Congressional Black, Hispanic, and Asian Pacific American Caucuses) in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One (NAMUDNO) v. Holder.
Looking to hire?
Registration is now open for Fall On-Campus Interviews. The Career Services Office is happy to help you locate 2Ls for summer positions or 3Ls and alumni for post-graduation employment. If you are interested in hiring an Alabama law student for summer or permanent employment, please contact the Assistant Dean for Career Services, Tom Ksobiech (tksobiech@law.ua.edu). The CSO can arrange an on campus interview, collect resumes, or post a position on its electronic job board. All CSO services are free of charge.
Alumni News
| Hansen Babington, ’14, has joined the Corporate and Finance Sections of Balch & Bingham LLP in Birmingham. David R. Beasley, ’14, has joined the General Litigation Practice Group of Maynard Cooper & Gale in Huntsville. Sharonda Childs, ’13, has joined the Labor and Employment Practice Group of Burr & Forman LLP in Birmingham. Michael Dodson, ’13, has joined the Commercial Litigation practice group of Burr & Forman LLP in Birmingham.Greg W. Foster, ’07, has joined Stewart & Stewart, P.C. Jeremiah M. Glassford, ’14, has joined the Litigation Section of Balch & Bingham LLP in Birmingham. Brent Grainger, ’04, has joined the Jefferson County law department. Jacob Harper, ’14, has joined the Litigation Section of Balch & Bingham in Montgomery. Tripp Haston, ’93, was elected president of the International Association of Defense Council. Haston has served the IADC as a member of the its Board of Directors since 2010 and was President-Elect for 2013-2014. Joshua Hess, ’14, has joined the Insurance and Financial Services Litigation Practice Group of Maynard Cooper & Gale in Birmingham. | Mitchell Moorer, ’14, accepted a position with the Philadelphia Eagles in the football administration department. Anil Mujumdar, ’00, has joined Gregory M. Zarzaur, ’00, in the law firm of Zarzaur Law LLC in Birmingham. Edward A. O’Neal, ’14, has joined the Governmental Affairs Practice Group of the Maynard Cooper & Gale in Birmingham. T. Dylan Reeves, ’09, has joined Stewart & Stewart, P.C. H. Harold Stephens, ’80, was appointed to the Alabama Supreme Court Pattern Jury Instruction Committee and reappointed to the Alabama Supreme Court Rules of Evidence Committee. Terms for both committees are effective until October 2017. Michael P. Windom, ’86, has been appointed by Gov. Robert Bentley to the Board of Trustees for the University of South Alabama. Joseph Woodruff, ’81, has been elected Circuit Judge for Division I of the 21st Judicial District in Tennessee for Williamson, Hickman, Lewis, and Perry counties. |
Faculty Notes
PROFESSOR WILLIAM ANDREEN completed a book chapter titled “Federalism, Delegated Permitting, and Enforcement,” which will be published in Environmental Decision Making (Robert Glicksman and Lee Paddock eds., Edward Elgar Publishing). Professor Andreen also participated, by invitation, in the J.B. and Maurice Shapiro Adaptive Management Workshop that was held at the George Washington University Law School on September 19, 2014.
DEAN MARK E. BRANDON delivered The Judge Harry J. Wilters Jr. Endowed Lecture entitled Marriage and Constitutional Change at the University of South Alabama on September 16, 2014.
PROFESSOR RICHARD DELGADO’S article titled “Delgado’s Darkroom: Critical Reflections on Land Titles and Mexican American Legal Education” was accepted by the New Mexico Law Review. The article, which analyzes the role of minority lawyers in law reform cases, grows out of an endowed lecture that he delivered at that law school last spring. A second article from Professor Delgado was accepted by Alabama Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Law Review analyzing the 1964 Civil Rights Act in interest-convergence terms. He also edited two additional articles, growing out of a symposium on contemporary civil rights issues for the John Marshall Law Review to be published in early 2015.
Professor Delgado, along with Jean Stefancic, reviewed page proofs for a new edition of their West Group casebook,Race and Races: Cases and Resources for a Diverse America, and sent them to the publisher. West hopes to publish the book in time for the spring 2015 course market.
Richard Delgado gave a faculty colloquium at Texas A & M Law School entitled Food Deserts and Book Bans: The Role of Analogy in Legal Argument and Law Reform. His talk was co-delivered with Jean Stefancic and grew out of their previous work on legal reasoning.
PROFESSOR MIRIT EYAL-COHEN presented a paper titled “Downscaling Regulatory Barriers” at the Canadian Law and Economics Conference on Saturday, September 20, 2014, at a panel on Regulation.
JUDGE JOSEPH COLQUITT participated in a Uniform Law Commission Drafting Workshop for Committee Chairs and Reporters in September. The workshop was conducted in Chicago. Judge Colquitt was invited to participate because he is serving as the Reporter for the Uniform Unsworn Domestic Declarations Act. This is his third ULC role as a reporter. Previously he served as the Reporter for the Uniform Unsworn Foreign Declarations Act and as Associate Reporter for the Uniform Act on Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking. Judge Colquitt also served the ULC as a Commissioner.
PROFESSOR JULIE A. HILL presented her article “Marijuana, Banks, and Federalism“ at a conference on Marijuana, Federal Power, and the States which was held at Case Western Reserve School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio. The paper will be published in the Case Western Reserve Law Review.
Professor Hill’s article “When Bank Examiners Get It Wrong: Financial Institution Appeals of Material Supervisory Determinations“ was selected through a competitive call for papers for a conference on Community Banking in the 21st Century at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. At the conference, Professor Hill’s presentation received a warm reception from researchers, community bankers, and state and federal bank regulators. The paper will be published in the Washington University Law Review.
PROFESSOR PAUL HORWITZ published “A Troublesome Right”: The ‘Law’ in Dworkin’s Treatment of Law and Religion,” 94 Boston University Law Review 1225 (2014). This contribution was part of a print symposium that Professor Horwitz helped organize on Ronald Dworkin’s posthumous book Religion Without God. He also presented his paper “The Hobby Lobby Problem” at the Columbia Law School Legal Theory Workshop.
VICE DEAN JAMES B. LEONARD gave a presentation on Labor and Employment Law for the Institute of City Clerks and Administrators on August 28, 2014, at the Bryant Conference Center.
PROFESSOR PAMELA PIERSON is enjoying serving as co-sponsor of the Lawyers Achieving Sophisticated Tastes (LAST) Society along with Dena Prince, (UA Law ’80). The LAST Society, a new student organization created this year by UA 3Ls, Miller Exantus and Darius Crayton, focuses on issues of social etiquette, professional protocol, and professionalism. Ninety law students joined the organization on the first day membership became available. Dena Prince, Pam Pierson, and Josh Hayes (Prince, Glover & Hayes), spoke at the September 16 meeting on tips for meeting people, networking, being a good guest, and awkward situations law students and new lawyers may encounter in the work place. Justice Bernard Harwood (UA Law ’63), and Cynthia Almond, (UA Law ’90), will speak at the October 2 meeting on professional protocols in court and in the law office. Bobby Prince (UA Law ’74), will speak at the November meeting on wine parings.
PROFESSOR JEAN STEFANCIC continued working on the endless last stages of publishing production of a new edition of Race and Races: Cases and Resources for a Diverse America, forthcoming from West in early 2015. She and Professor Richard Delgado co-delivered a faculty colloquium at the new law school at Texas A & M on food deserts, banned books, and the role of analogy in legal reasoning.
PROFESSOR ADAM STEINMAN spoke at the Hastings Law Journal symposium on Friday, September 19 in San Francisco. Link: http://www.hastingslawjournal.org/symposium/
PROFESSOR FREDRICK VAR’S article, “Symptom-Based Gun Control,” appeared in the Capstone Lawyer. He posted on SSRN a new article, “Putting Arms at Arm’s Length: Precommitment Against Suicide” (http://ssrn.com/abstract=2500291).
CLE Alabama Training Opportunities
October 10: Business Law – Birmingham
October 17: Real Estate Law – Location TBA
October 31 – November 1: 21st Annual Family Law Retreat to the Beach – Orange Beach
November 7: Healthcare Law – Birmingham
November 14: Bankruptcy Law Update – Birmingham
November 21: Estate Planning – Birmingham
December 11: Tort Law Update – Birmingham
December 12: Taking and Defending Depositions – Birmingham
December 17: Employment Law – Birmingham
December 18: Alabama Update – Birmingham – Birmingham