March 2014

Farrah Banquet Recap

The 2014 Farrah Law Alumni Banquet took place on February 21 at Regions Field in Birmingham. The night was a huge success, with over 250 alumni in attendance. The night’s featured speaker was commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, Mike Slive. This year’s recipient of the Sam W. Pipes Distinguished Alumnus Award was Justice J. Gorman Houston, Jr. (’56), who was introduced by his friend, Justice Drayton Nabers, Jr.

Click here to see more photos from the event.

Civil Rights Symposium

The Alabama Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Law Review will host a one day symposium, “The Legacy of 1964: Race and Gender Inequity Fifty Years Later,” on Friday, April 4 from 8:45-4:45 at the Law School.

The symposium is a commemoration of the 50^th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The passage of the Act marked the beginning of a new era of American public life. At the time it was enacted, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was perceived by many to be the codified culmination of decades of sustained effort to provide equal opportunity for women and racial minorities. To its supporters, the Act embodied a promise to end systemic, institutional, and private barriers to women and racial minorities’ full and fair inclusion in the public and economic life of the nation.

The symposium will offer an examination of that promise from the vantage point of 2014. Calling together luminaries in the study of race and sex equality, the symposium will explore the legacy of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, utilizing a diverse set of perspectives and methodologies.

Symposium Participants:

Moot Court Update:

Bruce Siegal Intellectual Property Moot Court Team

The Bruce Siegal IP Moot Court Team, coached by Professor Alan Durham, competed in the Southern Regional Saul Lefkowitz Trademark Law Moot Court Competition on February 8 at Emory University. The team, composed of David Beasley (’14), Joshua Davenport (’14), JD/MBA candidate Matt Donze and Tiffany Palmer (’14), swept the awards for Best Brief, Best Oral Advocates and first place overall. The Intellectual Property team is sponsored by Bruce Siegal, a 1986 graduate of the Law School.

Karen LaMoreaux Bryan National Environmental Law Moot Court Team

The National Environmental Law Moot Court Team, coached by Professor William Andreen, competed at Pace University Law School in New York City February 20-22. With 75 teams in attendance, Alabama Law advanced to the competition’s quarter-final round. The team was composed of Doug Centeno (’14), Jacob Harper (’14), Shellie Street (’14), and student coach Noah Mery (’14). Doug Centeno won Best Oralist during the preliminary rounds, and Shellie Street won Best Oralist during the preliminary rounds as well as for the entire competition. This team is named in memory of Karen LaMoreaux Bryan, a 1977 graduate of the Law School.

ABA Moot Court Sponsored by Protective Life Moot Court Teams

Two UA Law teams, coached by Professor Carol Andrews, competed in the regional ABA Moot Court competition in Washington, DC the last week in February. This elite national competition included more than 200 teams. Sponsorship for both teams is provided by Protective Life, facilitated by Debbie Long (’80).

The team of Allen King (’14), Caitlin Looney (’15) and Robert Windsor (’14) won the second place brief award. They also won every round in the preliminaries and were ranked first. The team lost in a tie-breaker round and will not advance to the national finals.

The team of Zach Guyse (’14), Daniel Harris (’14) and Katie Sanders (’14) won their first round, but lost in a very close second round competition.

Admissions Update

As part of student recruitment, the Law School is hosting a second open house for admitted students on March 7. During the open house, students will have the opportunity to visit a first-year class, attend faculty and alumni panels, and hear information from Career Services, the Clinical Program, and the Public Interest Institute.

The Law School appreciates the support of the following alumni who will participate in the open house:

In partnership with the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), the Law School hosted an open house for prospective law school applicants–an informational open house with a focus on diversity on February 21. About 60 students from the following undergraduate schools attended: Stillman College, Oakwood University, Athens State University, The University of Alabama, University of West Alabama, Wesleyan College, Morehouse College, Samford University, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Georgia State University, Eckerd College, and Tuskegee University.

Meador Lectures on Equality

The Daniel J. Meador Lecture was established in 1994 to honor our late Professor and Dean. The Meador Lecture Series invites scholars to address a legal theme, selected annually, from an interdisciplinary perspective.

The 2014 Meador Lectures on Equality will explore the topic of equality and its relationship to moral, legal and political values from different scholarly disciplines and perspectives. The lectures will be held Friday, April 11 from 8:00-3:45 in the Moot Courtroom (140).

Speakers include:

Matthew Adler, Richard A Horvitz Professor of Law and Professor of Economics, Philosophy and Public Policy at Duke Law School

Martha Albertson Fineman, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, Emory University Law School

Jerry Kang, Professor of Law and Asian American Studies (by courtesy) Korea Times-Hankook Ilbo Chair, UCLA School of Law

Reva Siegel, Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law, Yale Law School

Gifts to the Law School

The estate of Oakley W. Melton, Jr. (’51) contributed $25,000.00 to the Oakley W. Melton Scholarship.

Alumni News

The following alumni were featured in the Birmingham Business Journal’s “Top 40 under 40” list:

UA Law in the News

Montré Carodine:

Ozymandias ‘Ozy’: “Fix Legal Education: Send Law Profs Back to the “Real World”

Former Professor Gene Marsh:

New York Times: “Test in Northwestern Case: Is College Football a Job?”

Faculty Notes

Professor William Andreen coached the Karen LaMoreaux Bryan National Environmental Law Moot Court Team for the 15th consecutive year. The team competed in the National Environmental Law Moot Competition at Pace University Law School and advanced to the quarter final round, earning two best oralist awards during the preliminary rounds. Seventy-five law schools sent teams to the competition this year. Shellie Strong, a team member, earned the award for best oralist of the entire national competition out of nearly 225 student advocates who argued.

Director of Legal Writing and Legal Writing Lecturer Kimberly Boone continues to advise the John A. Campbell Moot Court Competition and the Moot Court Board. This year, 74 second-year law students are competing for places on our 2014-2015 Moot Court Board and teams. Ms. Boone has also served as a brief grader for the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition at both the regional and national levels.

Professor Tanya Asim Cooper taught a class on Systems Change with Clinic Director Talitha Bailey for her Capital Defense Clinic in February. Professor Cooper will present her work-in-progress, “Stories of Bias in American Foster Care,” at the upcoming AALS Clinical Conference in Chicago in April. She will also serve as a discussant at another Works-In-Progress workshop at the conference.

Professor Richard Delgado was invited by the editors of the Journal of Law and Inequality at the University of Minnesota to a symposium focusing on his contribution to legal scholarship. He will also deliver a keynote address for a program at Michigan State University honoring civil rights pioneer Julian Samora in fall 2014 and the Chavez lecture at the University of New Mexico Law School in April 2014.

Professor Heather Elliott published “Further Standing Lessons” in the Indiana Law Journal Supplement, the online counterpart of the Indiana Law Journal. The piece is a follow up to an article published in the Indiana Law Journal in 2012, “Standing Lessons: What We Can Learn When Conservative Plaintiffs Lose Under Article III Standing Doctrine.” The new essay can be found here.

Professor Paul Horwitz attended a faculty workshop at Lewis & Clark Law School and gave a presentation titled “The Geography of Church and State.”

Professor Andrew Morriss served as discussion leader for a Federalist Society conference on Behavioral Law & Economics in San Francisco on February 7-8. On February 17 he spoke at the University of South Carolina Law School Federalist Society Chapter on Markets and the Environment.

Professor Pam Pierson is working on the manuscript for her book, The Business of Being a Lawyer. West Academic will publish her book in June 2014. The 2014 update of her book, Health Care Fraud: Enforcement and Compliance, was published in January 2014.

Professor Gary Sullivan was interviewed and extensively quoted, along with Professor John Ayer from UC-Davis, in an article that ran in the Decatur Daily on February 26. The article discussed the effects of the last-minute Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of an ambulance company, DEMSI, on the City of Decatur’s efforts to terminate DEMSI’s license to operate ambulance services in the city. The bankruptcy filing highlights the tension between the general treatment of executory contracts in bankruptcy and a municipality’s right to exercise regulatory powers outside the scope of the automatic stay.

CLE Alabama Training Opportunities

March 14: The Practice of Law: A “How To” Course for the General Practitioner – Tuscaloosa

April 25-26: Legal Issues Facing City and County Governments – Orange Beach

May 9: Mandatory Professionalism Seminar for New Admittees – Tuscaloosa

May 9: BRIDGE THE GAP: Criminal Defense Law, Legal Counseling and Interviewing, Discovery and E-Discovery – Tuscaloosa