On March 1, the School of Law hosted the annual Alabama Law Alumni Society Banquet at The Haven in Birmingham where seven distinguished alumni were honored this year for their significant contributions to the legal community and the Law School. Click here to read more about this year’s event.
This month, 3L students Aleah Brown, Hannah King, Carmen Paige, and Simone Hampton took second place—out of sixty teams—at the Constance Baker Motley Mock Trial Competition during the National Black Law Students Association Conference hosted in Houston, Texas. In addition, both Brown and King received near-perfect scores during the preliminary rounds and were named best advocate and runner-up, respectively.
The team, which is coached by Alabama Law graduates Chenelle Smith (’21) and Justin Jones (’12), qualified for the national competition by placing third at the regional event in North Carolina earlier this semester. While Alabama Law BLSA teams have had strong showings in previous years, this is the first time the team has advanced to compete in the championship round at nationals.
Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Team
Last month, the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Team—coached by Professors Cameron Fogle and Dan Joyner—placed fifth among 48 schools in the east regional competition in New Orleans. This qualified the team of 3Ls Max Bryant, Rachel Dees, Hunter Drake, and Sydney Noordsy to move on to the international rounds hosted in Washington, DC in April. 3L Carolyn Adams was the brief writer and student coach, and 3L Laura Pressman served as a student coach as well. Additionally, Noordsy, Dees, and Drake ranked in the top 20 out of 200 oralists.
The Federalist Society student organization at Alabama Law was recently named Chapter of the Year—the highest honor a Federalist Society chapter can attain—at the 2024 National Student Symposium. The event was hosted by the Federalist Society at Harvard Law School, where the Alabama Law chapter was also recognized as a finalist for the George Washington Award for Innovation.
Recognition of gifts of $5,000+ over the past month
Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Anderson contributed $5,000 to the Walker Percy Badham III Scholarship Fund.
The Alabama Power Foundation pledged $50,000 to the Path Makers Legacy Plaza.
C. Mark Collinsworth (’79) contributed $15,000 to the Class of 1979 in Memoriam Scholarship.
H. Thomas Heflin, Jr. (’79) contributed $5,000 to the Class of 1979 in Memoriam Scholarship.
Frank James (’78) and Jothany James pledged $5,000 to the Path Makers Legacy Plaza.
Robert E. Parsons contributed $5,000 to the Alabama Law Alumni Society.
Shirley W. Turner contributed $5,000 to the Edward P. Turner, Jr. Family Endowed Scholarship Fund.
Stephen Wright Williams (’10) pledged $10,000 to the Path Makers Legacy Plaza.
The following alumni contributions qualified for one-to-one matching gifts through the Mouron Matching Gift Challenge:
Jere L. Beasley, Sr. (’62) contributed $100,000 to the Jere L. Beasley, Sr. Professorship of Law.
Thomas W. Bowron II (’83) pledged $50,000 to the Judge J. Edgar Bowron Endowed Scholarship.
Laura L. Crum (’82) and the Crum Family Charitable Foundation pledged $75,000 to the Crum Family Endowed Lecture for Law and Business and $50,000 to the Class of 1982 Endowed Scholarship.
John Hollis Jackson (’66) and Rebecca Jackson pledged $250,000 to the John Hollis Jackson, Jr. and Rebecca M. Jackson Endowed Scholarship Fund.
William P. Jackson, Jr. (’63) and Barbara Seignious Jackson pledged $50,000 to the William P. Jackson, Jr. and Barbara Seignious Jackson Endowed Scholarship Fund and $25,000 to the John Evans Jackson Endowed Scholarship Fund.
Shelley E. Jones pledged $500,000 to establish the Thomas L. Jones Professorship of Law.
Jerry W. Powell, Jr. (’75) and Carolyn W. Powell pledged $250,000 to the Jerry W. Powell and Carolyn W. Powell Professor of Practice for Law and Business.
Irving Silver (’65) and Frances Grodsky Silver pledged $62,500 to the Silver Annual Faculty Scholars Gift Fund.
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.
Marilia R. de Oliveria Lara
Jini H. Koh (’04)
Ronald H. Strawbridge, Jr. (’00)
Ronald H. Strawbridge, Sr. (’67)
Robin A. Wade III
Jennifer B. Wells (’06)
Richard Calhoun (‘07) has joined Hand Arendall Sale as of counsel in Mobile.
Hon. Sue Bell Cobb (‘81) was one of This is Alabama’s “Women Shaping the State” honorees.
Darius Crayton (‘15) was named partner at Farris, Riley & Pitt in Birmingham.
Jill Deer (‘88) was one of This is Alabama’s “Women Shaping the State” honorees.
Chris H. Ezell (’09) was named partner at Holland & Knight in Miami.
Anna J. Fron (’03) was named chief legal and compliance officer at Dash Solutions in Birmingham.
Jennifer Q. Griffin (’97) was named president of the Alabama Family Trust Board of Trustees in Birmingham.
Grayson D. Miller (‘22) joined Butler Snow as an associate in Huntsville.
Andrew S. Nix (’03) was installed as president elect for the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham’s 2023-2024 year.
David R. Pigue (‘16) joined iHeartMedia as senior director/policy council in Washington, DC.
Russell J. Rutherford (‘11) was named to the board of directors of Girls Inc. of Central Alabama.
Jay Saxon (‘11) joined Baker Donelson as of counsel in Birmingham.
John D. Saxon (’77) was installed as vice president for the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham’s 2023-2024 year.
Caleb Smoke (‘22) joined the Corporate Service practice group of Adams & Reese in Mobile.
Carneil Wilson (‘22) joined Dentons Sirote as an associate in Huntsville.
Dean Mark Brandon just completed a stint as Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. While there, he presented his working paper, “Freedoms of Speech and Their Discontents.”
Professor Bryan Fair gave a lecture at Washington College titled “Free Speech/Hate Speech: Legal and Educational Perspectives.”
Professor Susan Pace Hamill was quoted by several news outlets, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Axios, and the Christian Science Monitor, regarding the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision regarding IVF treatment and the Alabama legislature’s response. She was also interviewed for NPR’s “All Things Considered” regarding the use of LLCs to buy up property in Hawaii and was quoted by Wallet Hub regarding efficient spending of state and local tax revenues.
Professor Clare Ryan’s article, “The Public/Private Home” will be published in Vol. 110 of the Cornell Law Review. She presented the article at the West Coast Gender, Sexuality, and the Law conference at Loyola Law School Los Angeles. She was also quoted in the New York Times regarding the Alabama Supreme Court decision regarding IVF treatment.
Professor Meredith Render accepted a publication offer from the Harvard Law Review for her new article, Waste, Property, and Useless Things. She was also interviewed by the BBC and NPR about the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision regarding IVF treatment.
Professor Frederick Spight conducted a CLE class on the Driver’s License Law (Act 2023-337) with Carla Crowder (‘09) and Leah Nelson of Alabama Appleseed.
Professor Daiquiri Steele was selected as Birmingham Business Journal’s Volunteer of the Year for her work with Girls Inc. of Central Alabama.
Professor Fred Vars recently posted a short essay titled “The Dog That Didn’t Bark is Rewriting the Second Amendment.” It will appear in NYU Law Review Online and relates to the currently pending Supreme Court case, U.S. v. Rahimi.
