Professor Elliott and Judge Colquitt Weigh in on Recusal Questions in Ethics Case Against Former Chief Justice Roy Moore
Professor Heather Elliott and Judge Joseph Colquitt are quoted in a Law.com story about recusal questions in the ethics case against former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.
Elliott said that prior decisions by the justices don’t count against them. “If that’s the basis for the recusal motion, I don’t think that that’s valid for the standard for recusal under the law of Alabama,” she said.
Colquitt, who is also a retired trial court judge, wouldn’t comment on the Moore case specifically—saying that if the judges do recuse, he could end up on the list of jurists asked to sit in their stead.
But Colquitt said he interprets Alabama’s Judicial Ethics Canon as generally steering justices toward recusal if they are asked to rule on a colleague. “I think the rules actually suggest that it would be better that someone else hear the case,” Colquitt said. “It’s not only justice. It’s the appearance of justice.”
Law School Selects Susan Bevill Livingston as 2016 Profile in Service
During her career as an attorney, Susan Bevill Livingston made a positive impact on countless law students and young lawyers in Alabama through her commitment to mentorship.
A partner with Balch & Bingham in Birmingham, Ms. Livingston chaired the firm’s Diversity Committee. In this role, she started the Boot Camp for Success program, which helps to promote diversity in the legal profession by supporting future attorneys from diverse and under-represented backgrounds starting from the beginning of their careers. The annual seminar, led by attorneys and corporate leaders, helps incoming law students learn how to succeed academically and professionally. Attendees experience a mock law school class, receive tips on how to study during the first year of law school, and get advice on the legal job search process. Ms. Livingston also helped to start the firm’s first mentoring program for young lawyers just beginning their legal careers.
Ms. Livingston was an active member of her profession, serving on the boards of the Alabama Law School Foundation, the Alabama Law Institute, and the Women’s Section of the Birmingham Bar Association. She was also a dedicated community leader, and served on the boards for the YWCA of Central Alabama, the Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama and the Legal Aid Society of Birmingham. A former Girl Scout troop leader, she was the recipient of the Girl Scouts’ Women of Distinction award in 2004 and the prestigious Mildred Bell Johnson Award in 2012.
Ms. Livingston graduated from Ithaca College and received her J.D. from the University of Alabama in 1977. She began her career in the Alabama Attorney General’s office and later worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Alabama. She joined Balch & Bingham in 1985.
Her unexpected death in 2014 saddened many in the legal community, who have remembered her as a generous, energetic, devoted and funny colleague. Her work lives on through the many lawyers she mentored during her career, and the University of Alabama School of Law is proud to count her among our graduates.
Professor Carroll Comments on Gag Orders
Professor Jenny Carroll is quoted in The Anniston Star about the use of gag orders to protect the interests of children or victims.
Law School, Peggy Browning Fund Host Regional Workshop on Practicing Labor Law
The Law School and the Peggy Browning Fund hosted a regional workshop to introduce law students to the benefits of practicing labor law and PBF’s Summer Fellowship Program.
The event was attended by law students and Law School staff. The panelists discussed the work that they do as labor lawyers, the professional paths that led them to their current jobs, and how the PBF helps to promote careers. The PBF offers competitive, paid summer fellowships with employment law firms and labor unions.
“It’s great when our students can hear first-hand from lawyers working in unique and inspiring settings, who are passionate about their work and their clients,” said Glory McLaughlin, Assistant Dean for Public Interest. “I think having the PBF sponsor a panel discussion such as this is a real benefit to our students, in that it helps them visualize working in a specific setting and puts them in direct contact with attorneys in the field.”
Panelists were:
Moderator: Charlotte Garden, Visiting Professor of Law, University of Alabama
Belinda Bennett, Resident Officer, National Labor Relations Board, Region 10
Muguel Carpizo-Ituarte, Community Organizer, Greater Birmingham Ministries
Richard Rouco, Partner, Quinn, Connor, Weaver, Davies & Rouco, Alabama Law Alumnus, PBF Development Committee
Jay Smith, Partner, Gilbert & Sackman, Alabama Law Alumnus, PBF Development Committee
Nicolas Stanojevich, Associate, Quinn, Connor, Weaver, Davies & Rouco, PBF’ 14
Law School Selects Judge Bill Bostick as 2016 Profile in Service
Bill Bostick, a Circuit Court Judge for the 18th Judicial Circuit of Alabama (Shelby County), has spent his entire professional life in public service. After earning an undergraduate degree from Birmingham Southern College and a J.D. from The University of Alabama School of Law in 1992, Judge Bostick spent the next 18 years as a prosecutor. Fifteen of those years were with the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, where he was promoted to chief assistant district attorney in 2002. When Circuit Judge Michael Joiner was selected to serve on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals in 2011, Judge Bostick was appointed to fill the vacant seat by Governor Robert Bentley.
Judge Bostick was instrumental in starting The University of Alabama School of Law’s externship program, and has served as an adjunct instructor and co-director of the program since 1996. Through the externship program, law students are able to work full-time during the summer or part-time during the school year with public interest, government or judicial offices in exchange for course credit.
According to Professor Pam Pierson, his involvement with the externship program has been invaluable. “Bill has taught the externship course, recruited public interest offices throughout Alabama to serve as placement opportunities for students, interviewed and placed generations of law students in these offices and supervised students in their placements.”
She notes that supervising students “sometimes requires putting out fires,” which he has done “with discretion and diplomacy.”
Judge Bostick has also been a regular visitor and guest speaker at the Law School, often sharing his experiences with students in criminal law and procedure courses. In addition, he has encouraged and welcomed student involvement in the Veterans Court initiative he helped to pilot in Alabama courts.
“In all of these ways and more,” says Pierson, “Bill has shared his time, talent and vision of the law with students. He has touched the future by his guidance and teaching. He has made the world a better place.”
Professor Vars Discusses Study that Supports Voluntary Do Not Sell List
Professor Fredrick Vars is quoted in various news outlets in Alabama about a voluntary Do Not Sell list to prevent gun suicides.
As a Staff Attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, Latasha L. McCrary (’08) works on behalf of more than 24,000 individuals incarcerated in Alabama’s prisons.
The SPLC, a civil rights organization based in Montgomery, filed a federal lawsuit against the Alabama Department of Corrections in 2014, claiming the department doesn’t provide adequate medical and mental health care. The SPLC lawsuit alleges that persons who have been incarcerated in state prisons have received delayed care for medical conditions, and that those who need care for mental illnesses have received little or no treatment.
“When people do not receive preventative care or proper care, then they keep needing more care. The more care they need, the more that care actually costs” McCrary said. “If you treat early and treat appropriately, that’s going to save money in the long run.”
The medical portion of the case is expected to go to trial next year, while the mental health portion is scheduled for trial in December. The Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program joined the case, claiming the prison system discriminates against inmates with disabilities, and the matter has been settled. The department of corrections has agreed to outline steps it will take to ensure its prisons and policies comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“The department had no way of tracking people with disabilities,” McCrary said. “It also had no grievance system, and those are required by the ADA.”
Fighting for those who cannot wage a battle themselves has long been a goal for McCrary. She decided to go to law school after she took constitutional law and civil rights courses at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and couldn’t believe how the rights of individuals were being violated. During her senior year, she took the LSAT and applied to law school. She wanted to stay close to home and remain in Alabama after graduation. When she was accepted to UA, there was no doubt where she would attend.
McCrary said Professors Gene Marsh and Bryan Fair influenced her career. Marsh told his students it was a privilege to be in law school and that they should not take it for granted, while Fair engaged her in conversations about constitutional law and civil rights, as well as encouraging McCrary, the mother of a 2-year-old daughter when she started law school, that she could successfully complete the degree.
McCrary has achieved success despite some challenges as a child and a young adult, which is why the Rev. T. C. Johnson, pastor of St. Luke Christian Church in Huntsville, describes her as the “epitome of perseverance.”
“She‘s the kind of person who walks on trouble really well, and the reason for that is her faith,” Johnson said. “She doesn’t sink down in the storms. They’re there, but she doesn’t let them dictate who she can be, what she can become.”
After she graduated, McCrary worked as a volunteer in Huntsville as an attorney for Legal Services of Alabama and for the Office of Chief Counsel at the Marshall Space Flight Center. In 2009, she opened her own practice, where she focused on general law and criminal defense for five years.
At the SPLC, McCrary is the first UA Law School graduate hired as a staff attorney since the center was founded in 1971. While founders Morris Dees (’60) and Joseph Levin, Jr. (’66) are both graduates of the Law School, no UA Law graduates had been hired to work as staff attorneys at the SPLC before McCrary joined the staff in July 2014, said Maria Morris, Senior Supervising Attorney for the SPLC.
It was McCrary’s extensive experience with the prison system and the criminal justice system in Alabama that helped her land the position.
“When I saw what she had on her resume, and the skill set and knowledge she brought with her, it seemed very clear to me she would add something different than someone who had been doing similar types of work in a different place, and she has,” Morris said.
In January, McCrary delivered the keynote address at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Commemoration Program at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
McCrary was honored to be chosen as the keynote speaker and she used the opportunity to remind those in the audience that Alabama’s constitution, adopted in 1901 as a way to disenfranchise African-Americans and poor whites, continues to affect the state. For example, about 30 percent of the residents of Alabama are people of color, while more than 60 percent of people incarcerated in the state’s prisons are people of color.
“So, we certainly believe that what has happened in the past is having a current impact on the future of our state,” she said.
It’s just one of the reasons McCrary is dedicated to serving Alabama. She keeps the needs of the most vulnerable population in mind as she works to protect it. As the only Alabama native working on the case against the Alabama Department of Corrections, McCrary has given a lot of thought and consideration to how her work will affect the state’s residents.
“This is my home,” she said. “These are my neighbors.”
Law School Graduates Named Rising Stars of Law for 2016
The Birmingham Business Journal has named its Rising Stars of Law for 2016, and nearly half of those listed are graduates of the University of Alabama School of Law. The list takes a look at 30 up-and-coming attorney’s in Birmingham.
Study Supports Do Not Sell Voluntary Waiting Period for Gun Sales to Reduce Suicide
A new study, led by UA School of Law Professor Fredrick Vars, suggests many patients at risk for suicide would voluntarily place their name on a Do Not Sell list, prohibiting gun shops from immediately selling them a firearm.
Fredrick Vars
The study, published today in Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, says nearly half of the 200 people surveyed would willingly place their name on such a list.
“There is evidence that suicide, in particular suicide-by-gun, is often impulsive — that once an individual decides to take their own life they are, in many cases, able to quickly obtain a firearm and use it,” Vars said. “The concept of a Do Not Sell list, similar to the national Do Not Call list, would be to eliminate such impulsive transactions. Restricting access to firearms, even temporarily, could save many lives.”
The authors report that previous studies of survivors of firearm suicide attempts found a majority had suicidal thoughts for less than a day, while another found that, of nearly lethal suicide attempts among people 13-34 years of age, about one-fourth of attempters spent less than five minutes between the decision to attempt suicide and the actual attempt.
“People with mental illness are more likely to commit suicide,” said Richard Shelton, M.D., vice chair of Research for the UAB Department of Psychiatry and a study co-author. “Studies indicate the vast majority of suicide attempt survivors end up eventually dying of something other than suicide, so a means of preventing someone from making future gun purchases during a suicidal crisis might reduce suicide rates.”
The researchers surveyed 200 patients at an inpatient psychiatric unit and two outpatient psychiatry clinics at UAB. The most commonly reported conditions of those surveyed were mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders or substance abuse.
The survey presented two options to study participants. In the first, respondents would voluntarily place their name on the Do Not Sell list, which would feature a seven-day waiting period following a request for removal from the list to avoid an impulse buy. The second option would require a judicial hearing to remove a name from the list and allow a gun sale. A total of 46 percent of respondents indicated willingness to participate in one of the two methods, with a slight preference for the seven-day waiting period.
“Nearly one-half of participants indicated they would like to be able to restrict their own future gun purchases,” Vars said. “This approach wouldn’t stop all suicides, but any dent we could make in the estimated 20,000 people who use a gun to commit suicide every year in the United States would be significant.”
“Waiting periods to purchase firearms have been shown to reduce gun suicide, most likely due to the impulsive nature of suicide attempts,” said Karen L. Cropsey, Psy.D., associate professor of psychiatry at UAB and a study co-author. “The Do Not Sell list is a new type of means restriction, and means restriction generally has been shown to be one of the most effective suicide prevention strategies.”
Cheryl B. McCullumsmith, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor, University of Cincinnati, was also a co-author of the study.
UA Law Alumnus Establishes Undergraduate Scholarship
Tyrell F. Jordan (’04) has created a $25,000 endowed undergraduate scholarship to support students from underrepresented urban communities.
Jordan, a product of the Birmingham City Schools, earned an undergraduate degree in accounting from UA in 2001.
The scholarship was announced Sept. 26 during “Coming Back, Giving Back,” a dinner gathering hosted by the Division of Community Affairs advisory board at the Bryant Conference Center.
“I always dreamed of serving my community through the practice of law,” said Jordan, a Community Affairs board member. “The University of Alabama’s commitment to helping all of its students reach their full potential provided me with an opportunity to fulfill that dream. I want to do my part to ensure that others have that same opportunity.”
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During her career as an attorney, Susan Bevill Livingston made a positive impact on countless law students and young lawyers in Alabama through her commitment to mentorship.
Bill Bostick, a Circuit Court Judge for the 18th Judicial Circuit of Alabama (Shelby County), has spent his entire professional life in public service. After earning an undergraduate degree from Birmingham Southern College and a J.D. from The University of Alabama School of Law in 1992, Judge Bostick spent the next 18 years as a prosecutor. Fifteen of those years were with the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, where he was promoted to chief assistant district attorney in 2002. When Circuit Judge Michael Joiner was selected to serve on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals in 2011, Judge Bostick was appointed to fill the vacant seat by Governor Robert Bentley.
As a Staff Attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, Latasha L. McCrary (’08) works on behalf of more than 24,000 individuals incarcerated in Alabama’s prisons.
