News

Alabama Law Names 2022 Alumni Award Honorees

On February 11, the School of Law hosted the annual Alabama Law Alumni Society Banquet at the Haven in Birmingham. Six distinguished alumni, who have made significant contributions to the legal community and the School of Law, were honored this year. Due to the pandemic, this was the first time this event convened in-person since 2020-offering the opportunity for alumni and friends to reunite in numbers that haven’t been possible for quite some time. Read more about and see photos from the banquet here.

Alabama Law Receives Funding to Create Diversity-Focused Summer Scholars Program

Through generous support from The University of Alabama System’s McMahon-Pleiad Prize, the Alabama Civil Justice Foundation, and Derrick (’03) and Tamesha Mills, The University of Alabama School of Law will be launching the Alabama Law Summer Scholars Program beginning this year.

Summer Scholars is a cost-free, four-week program for undergraduate students who want to learn more about the study and practice of law. The Program is focused on serving students who come from backgrounds that are historically or currently underrepresented within the legal profession. Applications are now open through March 27. Read more to learn about the Summer Scholars Program and access additional application information.

Join us for an alumni social in DC at The City Club of Washington on March 1 from 6:00-7:30 pm ET. To learn more and to RSVP follow this link.

Class Notes

Justin Barkley (’05) joined the Alabama Governor’s Legal Office as Deputy General Counsel. Tom Bevill (’48), who passed away in 2005, was featured in an Alabama Public Television documentary about his career and life. Sharonda C. Fancher (‘13) was named a winner in the NextGEN honors by the Birmingham Business Journal. Joe FitzGerald (’16) joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings as an associate in Huntsville. Bradley C. Mayhew (‘94) was reappointed to the Board of Directors of the Alabama Federal Tax Clinic (AFTC). Martha C. Millener (‘13) was elected as a shareholder at Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C. in Chattanooga. Bradley M. Pugh (‘04) joined Dorsey & Whitney LLP as a partner in Dallas. Mason Rollins (’17) joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings as an associate in Birmingham.

Nate Simon (’11) was promoted to Vice President and General Counsel at Gray Construction in Lexington, KY.

Larry Smith (’84) was recognized by the Florida Bar as a “face of change” for pioneering inclusivity in the state. Crystal H. Walls (’04) re-joined Dentons Sirote as a shareholder in Birmingham. Steven M. Wyatt (’96), of Atlanta, was promoted to shareholder at Chamberlain Hrdlicka.

Gifts

The Alabama Civil Justice Foundation contributed $15,000 to the Alabama Law Summer Scholarship Program Fund.

Alabama Power Foundation Inc. matched a $5,000 donation from J. Leigh Davis (’97).

Associate Dean Claude Arrington (’99) pledged $7,500 to the Law School Foundation Unrestricted Fund to support Diversity & Inclusion efforts.

The J.L. Bedsole Foundation contributed $50,329 to the Law School Foundation Building Fund to upgrade technology in the Bedsole Moot Courtroom.

Alan I. Franco contributed $10,000 to the Abraham Franco Memorial Scholarship.

The Honorable and Mrs. Truman M. Hobbs Jr. (’83) contributed $5,000 to the Alabama Law Alumni Society.

Mr. and Mrs. Richard N. Morrison contributed $5,000 to the Ashley Lauren Butterfield Memorial Endowed Law Scholarship Fund.

M. Wayne Wheeler (’66) committed $220,880.51 toward the Judge Robert J. Wheeler Scholarship Fund through a planned estate gift.

Faculty Notes

Color of Change, a national civil rights organization, dedicated an award in Professor Richard Delgado’s honor. The recipient of this year’s award was James Whitfield, an African American school principal in Texas who was fired for speaking favorably of Critical Race Theory. Delgado presented the award virtually to Whitfield and addressed a national audience during the Black History Now Awards commemorating Black History Month.

Additionally, Professor Richard Delgado and Professor Jean Stefancic’s article An Interest-Convergence Explanation of the 2020-2022 Conservative Attack on Critical Race Theory: A Comment on Kyle Campbell’s Material Constructions of Race in the Atlantic World was accepted in the Journal of Law in Society. The piece examines cultural forces that set the stage for the current attention Critical Race Theory is receiving.

Professor Casey Faucon’s article “Living Separate and Apart”: Solving the Problem of Putative Community Property in Louisiana was cited in a recent State of Louisiana Court of Appeal, Second Circuit case.

Professor Tara Leigh Grove recently interviewed on the latest episode of “Common Law,” a podcast of the University of Virginia School of Law. During the episode titled Inside the President’s Supreme Court Commission, she spoke on term limits, court-packing, and other reforms.

Professor Paul Horwitz’s essay, Fame, Infamy, and Canonicity in American Constitutional Law appears as a chapter in the newly published book Law’s Infamy: Understanding the Canon of Bad Law (NYU Press, 2021), edited by Austin Sarat, Lawrence Douglas, and Martha Merrill Umphrey.Professor Amy Kimpel presented a work in progress, Alienating Criminal Procedure, for the Criminal Justice Reform Workshop Series hosted by the Deason Center at SMU Dedman School of Law. Additionally, she spoke on a panel titled Medical Compassionate Release: What’s Working and What’s Not at the Second Chances Symposium hosted by the University of Chicago School of Law. Professor Ronald Krotoszynski, Jr. participated in a symposium on Human Rights and Media Freedom at William and Mary Law School, in Williamsburg, Virginia. He served as a speaker on a panel considering “Comparative Law Perspectives” and spoke on “Transborder Speech, the Media, and Human Rights.” The event was sponsored by William & Mary Law School’s Human Security Law Center and took place on a virtual basis. Professor Anil Mujumdar has been selected as a Fellow of the Alabama Law Foundation. The Fellows program was established to honor members of the Alabama State Bar who have made significant contributions to their profession and their community. No more than 1% of the members of the Bar are selected as Fellows.

Professor Shalini Bhargava Ray published an argument preview and analysis in SCOTUSblog and an essay in Lawfare highlighting key points from her recent Columbia Law Review article .

Professor Joyce Vance published opinion pieces in The New York Times, Time, USA Today and MSNBC. Additionally, she was quoted in The Washington Post and The New York Times, and she appeared on NBC and MSNBC throughout the month to discuss Supreme Court arguments and opinions, as well as the selection of a new SCOTUS justice.