News
UA Names Residence Hall for Law School Alumnus Judge John England, Jr.
The University of Alabama’s newest student residence hall has been named for one of the University’s and state’s greatest civic leaders, the Honorable John H. England Jr., a member of the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama System and Circuit Judge in Tuscaloosa. Judge England is also a member of the Law School’s class of 1974.
UA President Stuart R. Bell made the surprise announcement at the Board of Trustees meeting in Birmingham on Friday, February 8.
“It is a privilege to announce the naming of our newest freshman residence hall in tribute to the Honorable Judge John England Jr., whose life of influence has made a lasting impact on this community, The University of Alabama and citizens of the entire state,” Bell said. “Judge England serves as a wonderful example to others, and his insights, experience and untiring compassion for UA students, faculty, staff and the citizens of Alabama reflect the mission of the UA System to impact others through excellence in teaching, research, and service.”
Dean Brandon Unveils Portraits of Four Professors
Alabama’s Culverhouse Law celebrated the careers of four professors on Monday, February 25.
One by one, Dean Mark E. Brandon unveiled the portraits of Professors William Andreen, James Bryce, Martha Morgan, and Pamela Pierson. The occasion, held in the Bounds Law Library, honored professors who have taught at least 25 years at the Law School.
The portraits, which will be displayed around the Law School, have captured some of the personality or values of their subjects, said Brandon. Portraits, he said, also serve as historical markers of the institution.
“As a bridge between the present and the past, each portrait helps to promote memory for the institution,” he said. “Long after the persons captured in a portrait retire from the scene, the portrait remains as a reminder of who the person was, a reminder also that this person mattered, left a mark, helped to make the institution what it is.”
Faculty, staff, and students congratulated the professors after the unveiling.
Moot Court Team Wins Second Best Brief Award at Jessup Competition
Cortlin Bond, Trey Bundrick, Tyler Foster, Florence Thompson, and Morgan Thompson Shelton, all 3Ls, recently competed in the Southeastern Regional Rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in New Orleans.
The Law School’s team was a perfect 4-0 in the preliminary rounds and had a resounding victory against Emory in the quarterfinals. The team faced Yale in the semifinals and gave a flawless performance. After an excruciatingly long deliberation and high praise for both teams, the judges announced that Yale would advance to the finals. Although the close loss was heartbreaking, it did not overshadow the UA team’s overall success, which also included the award for the second best memorial (brief) and an individual oralist award for Bond.
The Jessup competition involves a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice. Teams brief both sides of an intricate and complicated problem of international law and present oral arguments for both sides.
Professors Cameron Fogle and Dan Joyner coached the team.
Environmental Law Moot Court Team Named Finalist in National Competition
Sydney Schaefer, Joseph Latham, and Abby Fox, all 3Ls, recently competed in the Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition held in New York.
Schaefer and Latham, the oralists for the Law School’s team, faced teams from Georgetown, U.C. Davis, Tulane, Florida, Baylor, Tennessee, West Virginia, Roger Williams, and Appalachian State as they progressed through three preliminary rounds, the quarter-final round, and the semi-finals. Schaefer received two Best Oralist Awards during the preliminary rounds. During the competition, Schaefer and Latham had to argue at least once for each of the three parties to the appeal.
In the final round, they argued in front of Judge John Bush, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; Judge Dennis Jacobs, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; Judge Kermit Lipez, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit; and Judge Mal Mannion, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Professors William Andreen and Heather Elliott coached the team. AnnaCarrol Jones, 2L, served as a student coach.
Mock Trial Team Named Best Plaintiff’s Team
Drew Hertel, Mary Parrish Cobb, Emily Raines, and Noah Caldwell, all 2Ls, performed well at the 56th Annual Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County Mock Trial Tournament held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In the Law School’s second year participating in this tournament, the team was named best Plaintiff’s team in the competition. Hertel and Cobb received individual awards as the No. 1 and No. 2 best advocates in the tournament. Raines and Caldwell served as witnesses and helped the team advance to the final round against the competition’s best Defense team.
The competition problem is based on the record from an actual case. It includes real pleadings, discovery responses, deposition transcripts, and medical records. The team members examined and cross-examined medical doctors who played the roles of a treating physician and a defense expert. Participants tried the case before a mock jury of high school students, and a federal judge presided over the case.
While the team won the jury verdict in the final round, it was edged out in the scoring.
Professor Yuri Linetsky coached the team, while Ben Edwards, 3L, served as student coach.
Law School Hosts Public Interest Career Fair
Alabama’s Culverhouse Law hosted 30 nonprofit and government employers at its sixth annual Public Interest Career Fair on Wednesday, February 27. About half of the participating organizations conducted interviews with law students who are seeking summer internships.
“This is a great opportunity for our students to meet practicing public interest lawyers and learn more about this area of law,” said Glory McLaughlin, Assistant Dean for Public Interest Law. “It’s also good for students to see a room full of people who have chosen this type of career. It sends the message that public interest law is a viable career option and that opportunities exist to seek a career serving the greater good.”
Participating employers included public defenders and prosecutors at both the state and federal level and several of Legal Services Alabama’s eight statewide offices. Nonprofit organizations, including the YWCA of Central Alabama, Southern Environmental Law Center, and the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Center, attended the event.
The Public Interest Career Fair is sponsored by the Law School’s Public Interest Institute and the Career Services Office.
Class Notes
Jay Ezelle (‘99) has been named Managing Partner of Starnes Davis Florie in Birmingham.
Christopher D. Gunnels (’02) is the founding member of The Gunnels Law Firm, LLC, a personal injury law firm in Atlanta.
Kasee S. Heisterhagen (’09)has been appointed as Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Alabama.
David Holt (’10) was named a Distinguished Fellow of the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department of The University of Alabama.
Phil Hutcheson (‘84) was appointed to the Hoover Library Board.
Zach Ross (’10) was appointed by Governor Kay Ivey as a District Judge in Marshall County.
Events
Brown’s Promise of Equality: 65 Years in the Making
The Alabama Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Law Review is sponsoring a symposium on Brown‘s Promise of Equality: 65 Years in the Making. The event is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, March 29, in the Bedsole Moot Court Room.
Alumni Weekend
Save the date for the Alumni Weekend: The Law School is planning activities for class years 1969, 1979, 1989, 1994, 1999, and 2009. Reunion cocktail receptions are scheduled for Friday, April 5 at the Law School. All alumni classes are invited to a pre-game tailgate at the Law School on Saturday, April 6, for the Alabama v. South Carolina baseball game.
Gifts
Laura Crum (’82)donated $69,098 to The Crum Family Endowed Lecture Series for Law and Business.
Mr. and Mrs. James W. Hart contributed $5,000 to the Dominic DeSimone Memorial Book Scholarship.
Faculty Notes
The views, opinions, and conclusions expressed by faculty in their publications or research activities are those of the author and not necessarily those of The University of Alabama or its officers and trustees. The content of faculty publications has not been approved by The University of Alabama, and the author is solely responsible for that content.
PROFESSOR DEEPA DAS ACEVEDO signed a contract with Cambridge University Press to be the editor of a forthcoming book on the gig economy. The volume will bring together academics from several law schools and social science departments as well as industry experts and policy analysts, all of whom have used qualitative research methods to improve our understanding of gig work regulation.
PROFESSOR BILL BREWBAKER presented a paper titled, “The Holy Spirit and the Law,” at a conference at Pepperdine University School of Law. The event honored the work of Professor Robert F. Cochran, Jr.
JUDGE JOSEPH COLQUITT has been appointed to a new term as Chair of the Alabama Sentencing Commission. He is a co-author of “The Effects of Voluntary and Presumptive Sentencing Guidelines,” an article accepted for publication in volume 98 of the Texas Law Review.
PROFESSOR HEATHER ELLIOTT spoke on February 7 on a panel at the University of Texas School of Law. The panel on Unilateral Presidential Lawmaking was part of a symposium titled, “Reclaiming – and Restoring – Constitutional Norms.”
PROFESSOR PAUL HORWITZ presented a talk, “A Few Grains of Incense: Law and Religion, Politics and Power from the Perspective of the ‘Christian’ and ‘Pagan’ Dispensations,” at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory Law School; he is currently serving as a visiting scholar at the Center. He presented the same talk as part of a symposium at St. John’s University Law School on Steven D. Smith’s recently published book, Pagans and Christians in the City: Culture Wars from the Tiber to the Potomac. Professor Horwitz’s paper is scheduled for publication in the Journal of Catholic Legal Studies.
PROFESSOR RON KROTOSZYNSKI, JR. has published “‘The Devil Is in the Details’: On the Central Importance of Distinguishing the Truly Public from the Truly Private in Reconciling Equality and Religious Liberty in Religious Freedom, LGBT Rights, and the Prospects for Common Ground,” 82-101 (Cambridge University Press 2018) (William N. Eskridge, Jr. & Robin Fretwell Wilson eds.). He also has published “Transborder Speech,” 94 Notre Dame Law Review 473 (2018) and “Whistleblowing Speech and the First Amendment,” 93 Indiana Law Journal 267 (2018). Professor Krotoszynski introduced the Hon. Guido Calabresi, the inaugural Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. Lecturer, on January 25, 2019, at the Law School. Judge Calabresi’s lecture served as the keynote address of the Frank M. Johnson, Jr. Centennial Symposium and Law Clerks’ Reunion.
PROFESSOR ADAM STEINMAN is scheduled to speak at Cardozo Law School – Yeshiva University, “Ten Years After Iqbal: Perspectives on Policy, Procedure, and Substance” in March.
PROFESSOR JOYCE VANCE published an op-ed in USA Today, “Here’s Why You Should Have Faith in Robert Mueller,” on January 29. Link: https://bit.ly/2CQfSP3.
Professor Vance published an op-ed with Mimi Rocah (Pace Law School) for NBC Think, “No (Trump) Collusion? Rudy Giuliani’s Defense Strategy Doubles Down as Evidence Mounts in Mueller Probe.” Link: https://nbcnews.to/2AMflgX.
She also published an op-ed with Chuck Rosenberg (former DEA Administrator & FBI Chief of Staff), for NBC Think, “Trump’s Firing of Comey Triggered an FBI Counterintelligence Investigation. Here’s What ‘Counterintelligence’ Entails” on January 12. Link: https://nbcnews.to/2tv7JeK.
Professor Vance recently appeared on Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick, “Mueller Investigation Update,” on February 2. Link: https://bit.ly/2EqMzEN.
She also appeared on On Topic with Renato Mariotti, “Answering Your Questions: What Happened This Year and What Is to Come?” on December 28, 2018. Link: https://ontopicpodcast.simplecast.fm/.
PROFESSOR FRED VARS presented two different papers on gun regulation at symposia at Emory and Yale law schools.