The Law School honored Justice R. Bernard Harwood, Jr. (’63) with the 2020 Sam W. Pipes Distinguished Alumnus Award at the Alabama Law Alumni Society Banquet in Mountain Brook on Friday.
The Law School Foundation gives the award to an outstanding alumnus who has distinguished himself or herself through service to the bar, The University of Alabama, and the School of Law. The award is named for the late Samuel Wesley Pipes (’38), who was a partner in the Mobile law firm of Lyons, Pipes & Cook until his death in 1982.
After Justice Harwood graduated in 1963, he had many occasions to encounter Mr. Pipes in Mobile.
“I really enjoyed those opportunities,” Justice Harwood said, “so it is doubly meaningful to me to think that I have some connection with his legacy by virtue of this honor you’re giving me tonight.”
Justice Harwood said he was grateful for attending the School of Law and that it shaped his life. He was a member of the last class of graduates that did not have to take the Alabama State Bar exam.
In 1967, Justice Harwood joined with Gordon Rosen to form the law firm of Rosen and Harwood in Tuscaloosa. During his years in private practice, he served in many roles, including Deputy City Judge of Tuscaloosa, Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Alabama, and as a Lecturer in Law at the Law School. For more than 40 years, Justice Harwood has taught courses as an adjunct professor at Alabama Law, teaching trial advocacy, evidence, and advanced evidence.
“I really am so happy to have an opportunity to be of service to the Law School in the various ways that I have,” Justice Harwood said. “I certainly learned the truism that for every hour you teach in the classroom, you’ve got six, seven, eight hours that you have to prepare outside of the classroom.”
Researchers, scholars, and practicing attorneys examined the recent trend of state-enacted “red flag” laws during a symposium at the Law School on Friday.
The symposium, Seeing Red: Risk-based Gun Regulation, addressed many of the most prominent issues and concerns with extreme risk protection order legislation. These laws help prevent a person in crisis from harming themselves or others by temporarily removing guns and prohibiting the purchase of firearms.
Participants discussed constitutional and due process concerns, the importance of language when discussing mental health and red flags, the success and efficacy of red-flag laws, the differences among reporting standards in different states, and current proposed red-flag legislation in Alabama.
Carolyn Reinach Wolf explored the stigma of mental illness and emphasized prevention and intervention during her session titled, “Beyond Gun Law: Mental Health and Legal Strategies for Treatment and Support.”
“It reinforces the long-standing, unfounded negative stereotypes linking mental illness with violence,” said Wolf, the Director of Mental Health at Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara, Wolf & Carone in New York. “Most people with serious mental illness are never violent toward others and are more often victims of violence than perpetrators.”
So far, seventeen states and the District of Columbia have adopted some form of law allowing the courts to issue protection orders which permit law enforcement officers to temporarily confiscate firearms or otherwise limit firearm ownership and access by persons deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. Many other state legislatures are currently considering similar bills.
The symposium was sponsored by the Law & Psychology Review.
Professor Fred Vars is quoted extensively in The Roanoke Times about his proposal for a do-not-sell list for firearms. A proposed bill would allow Virginia residents to voluntarily suspend their ability to purchase a gun.
For more, read “Bill Advances to Create a ‘Do Not Sell’ list to Prevent Gun Suicides.”
Professor Joyce White Vance weighs in on the sentencing request for Roger Stone in an op-ed for Time magazine.
For more, read “If Trump Is Allowed to Turn the Justice Department Into a Political Weapon, No One Is Safe.”
Professor Deepa Das Acevedo appeared as a guest on Professor Liz Tippett’s Youtube channel, “Oregon Law Lab.” She discussed her work on invisible bosses in the gig economy.
Alex Bruening, 3L, Clayton Carter, 3L, Chris Leah, 3L, and Hugh Warren, 3L, competed in the Southern Regional of the Saul Lefkowitz Trademark Law Moot Court Competition. In spite of a first-round marred by some off-topic questions, the team hung in there and took third place in a field of 14 teams, including Emory, University of North Carolina, and William & Mary.
Lindsey Barber, 3L, Cory Church, 3L, and Anne Miles Golson, 3L, turned in an outstanding performance at the Hunton Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship in Houston, Texas. The team advanced to the quarterfinals, only to be narrowly eliminated by the defending champions from the University of Georgia. While arguing two complicated issues of Supremacy Clause Immunity, the team received high praise from their judges and fellow competitors.
This invitation-only tournament matches teams from elite moot court programs across the country. Alabama Law earned its invitation based on the overall performance of all of our external-competition teams in the Moot Court Program during the previous academic year, which garnered two national championships, impressive victories at regional competitions, and multiple best brief and best speaker awards. Based on the collective success of these teams, the Alabama Law Moot Court Program ranked fourth in the nation for 2018-19. The team is grateful to Professor Kimberly Boone, Director of Legal Writing Program and Professor of Legal Writing, for her leadership of the Moot Court program.
The team also wishes to thank everyone who helped them prepare, especially student coach and manager, Josh Kravec, 3L.
Karmen Gaines, 3L, and Stephanie Avant, 3L, recently competed at BLSA’s Southern Regional Thurgood Marshall Moot Court Competition. Gaines and Avant wrote and won an award for the Best Petitioner Brief, and they advanced to the knockout rounds of the competition, ultimately coming in Second Place and advancing to the National Competition rounds.
Anil Mujumdar, Visiting Lecturer in Law, and Anita Kay Head, Associate Professor of Legal Writing, coached the team. The team is grateful to Professors Boone, Fair, Ksobiech, Ray, and Rosen, along with Tempe Smith (’10) and Devan Byrd (’17), for judging practice rounds. The team also thanks Cameron Tipton, 3L, who assisted with scheduling rounds and compiling the bench brief.
Gaines and Avant will compete in the national rounds in Cincinnati in March.
Maya Hoyt, 3L, Alex Williams, 3L, Chenelle Jones, 2L, and Gavin Baum-Blake, 2L, recently competed against eight other teams from across the southern region in the Constance Baker Motley Mock Trial Southern Regional Competition during the Southern Regional Black Law Students’ Association’s Convention held in Charleston, South Carolina. The students finished 2nd in the region after a hard-fought championship round. The team defeated the top-ranked team in a decisive victory. Veteran team members, Maya Hoyt and Alex Williams performed as co-captains on this year’s team, and thanks to their dedication and hard work, they will be taking a second consecutive trip to the national competition. Chenelle Jones and Gavin Baum-Blake prepared tirelessly and were major contributors to the team’s success.
The team now will compete in the National Tournament from March 3 – March 8 in Cincinnati, Ohio. All four advocates showed tremendous skill at the tournament and will begin preparing to compete upon the release of the amended problem.
Professor Deepa Das Acevedo published an op-ed for the Hindustan Times about the 70th Anniversary of India’s constitution.
For more read, “Republic at 70: The Unique Goals and Challenges of Indian Secularism.”
