--- title: 'January 2023' date: '2023-01-28T18:11:51-06:00' type: post word_count: 1455 char_count: 10745 tokens: 1892 categories: - 'Alumni News' --- # January 2023 News ---- [Come Celebrate the 2023 Alabama Law Alumni Awardees](https://www.law.ua.edu/blog/news/come-celebrate-the-2023-alabama-law-alumni-award-winners/) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ![2023 Alabama Law Alumni Awardees](https://www.law.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/archive/main/2023-Alumni-Award-Winners.jpg)On Friday, March 3, the School of Law will host the [annual Alabama Law Alumni Society Banquet at the Florentine in Birmingham](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/alabama-law-alumni-society-banquet-2023-tickets-469378883877). Six distinguished alumni will be honored this year for their significant contributions to the legal community and the School of Law. [Learn about the awardees and register to attend the banquet here.](https://www.law.ua.edu/blog/news/come-celebrate-the-2023-alabama-law-alumni-award-winners/) [Capstone Lawyer: Anniversary Edition Now Available](https://www.law.ua.edu/alumni/capstone-lawyer/) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [![2022 Capstone Lawyer Cover: The 50 | 150 Anniversaries](https://www.law.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/archive/main/UALaw2022-Capstone-Lawyer-cover.jpg)](https://www.law.ua.edu/alumni/capstone-lawyer/) The 50 | 150 Anniversaries special edition of Capstone Lawyer has been mailed out, and it is [also viewable online](https://www.law.ua.edu/alumni/capstone-lawyer/). If your address has recently changed and you did not receive a physical copy, please reach out to with your new address and we will update our mailing list accordingly. [Professor Steinman Named the Robert W. Hodgkins Endowed Chairholder in Law](https://www.law.ua.edu/blog/news/professor-steinman-named-the-robert-w-hodgkins-endowed-chairholder-in-law/) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ![Professor Steinman, Robert W. Hodgkins Endowed Chairholder in Law at The University of Alabama School of Law, poses in front of the Law School.](https://www.law.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/archive/main/Adam-Steinman-Preferred-image-scaled-e1674948473596.jpg)The University of Alabama School of Law has named Professor Adam Steinman as the Robert W. Hodgkins Endowed Chairholder in Law. This endowed position offers distinction and meaningful support to aid Professor Steinman in his research, teaching, and service to the School of Law. [Learn more about Professor Steinman and his new position here.](https://www.law.ua.edu/blog/news/professor-steinman-named-the-robert-w-hodgkins-endowed-chairholder-in-law/) [New Dean Search: Share Your Insights](https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AlabamaLawDean) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ![The University of Alabama School of Law](https://www.law.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/archive/main/008_LawSchool_09_2022-1-scaled.jpg)After Dean Brandon announced that he will step down as dean at the end of this academic year, the University announced a [search](https://www.law.ua.edu/blog/news/ua-begins-search-for-new-law-dean/) for his successor. As a valued Alabama Law alum, your input in this process is important to the Search Committee. Please complete [this survey](https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.surveymonkey.com%2Fr%2FAlabamaLawDean&data=05%7C01%7Cjbird%40law.ua.edu%7C1225591e424d4a8c30e708dafb3b830c%7C2a00728ef0d040b4a4e8ce433f3fbca7%7C0%7C0%7C638098530260194522%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=GnECcl4o6Zpf4Qgp19OdvupxiGSWpXjuvx0pQm6Cg3g%3D&reserved=0) to provide insights about your priorities for the next dean. Class Notes ----------- **Mark Adams Jr. (’14)** was promoted to partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP in Birmingham. **Joseph Michael Allen (’00)** joined Gillian Turner on Fox News Sunday to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine. **Tom Anderson (’03)** was given supernumerary status by Governor Kay Ivey and joined Cherry and Irwin Law Firm in Dothan, AL. **Stanley E. Blackmon (’15)** was named the 2023 president of the Birmingham Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section and promoted to partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP. **Cortlin L. Bond (’19)** was chosen for Momentum’s fifth Upward class program in Birmingham. **Joshua B. Christensen (’11)** was appointed as Circuit Judge for the 31st Judicial Circuit in Missouri. **Rochelle A. Conley (’06)** was named as general counsel at Alabama A&M University. **Alana C. Frederick (’13)** was chosen for Momentum’s fifth Upward class program in Birmingham. **Jake M. Gipson (’14)** was promoted to partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP in Birmingham. **Roy “Trey” W. Granger, III (’91)** was promoted to Clerk of Court in the Alabama Middle District. **Carolyne Jones Hess (’14)** was promoted to partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP in Birmingham. **Jared R. Johnson (’10)** was named Shareholder at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, P.C. in Philadelphia, PA. **Emily C. Killion (’13)** was named one of Mobile Bay’s Class of 40 Under 40. **Leah A. Morrison (’17)** was promoted to partner at English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley, LLP in Bowling Green, KY. **Danielle Mashburn-Myrick (’13)** was named *2022 40 Under 40* by the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal. **The Honorable Brooke E. Reid (’06)** has been appointed to the board of directors of the Women’s Foundation of Alabama. **James Tarbox (’13)** was named the new Twelfth Judicial Circuit (Coffee-Pike Counties) district attorney by Governor Kay Ivey. **Mary C. Wheeler (’13)** was chosen for Momentum’s fifth Upward class in Birmingham. **Rebecca Wrock (’16)** was named partner at Varnum Attorneys at Law in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Gifts ----- **Robert C. (Mike) Brock (’84)** contributed $10,000 to support the Alabama Law Summer Scholars Program. **Christian & Small LLP** contributed $5,000 to the Christian & Small Annual Diversity Scholarship Fund. **Penny A. Davis (’78)** pledged $25,000 to support the School of Law and the Alabama Law Summer Scholars Program. **Sherri Tucker Freeman (’88)** pledged $36,008.18 to the Michael David Freeman (’88) and Sherri Tucker Freeman Endowed Scholarship **Brigadier General James W. Hart, Jr.** contributed $5,000 to the Dominic DeSimone Memorial Endowed Book Scholarship. **Stephen D. Kane (’69)** contributed $100,000 to support the Alabama Law Program for Law & Business. **The Honorable Hardie B. Kimbrough, Sr. (’68)** contributed $5,011.02 to the Judge Hardie B. Kimbrough Endowed Scholarship. The **Ben May Charitable Trust** contributed $7,500 to the Ben May Endowed Scholarship Fund. **Robert E. Parsons (’57)** contributed $5,000 to the Alabama Law Alumni Society. **Vulcan Materials Company Foundation** matched **Jerry Perkins’ (’97)** $10,000 donation to the Jerry and Suzanne Perkins Endowed Scholarship Fund. **The Hobbs Foundation** contributed $5,000 to the Alabama Law Alumni Society. The donation was facilitated by **The Honorable Truman M. Hobbs, Jr. (’83) and Mrs. Deborah R. Hobbs.** **Shane T. Sears (’99)** contributed $10,000 to support the Alabama Law Summer Scholars Program. **Henry G. and Henry U. Sims Foundation** contributed $9,000 to the Public Interest Law Fellowship. **J. Michael Taylor (’97)** contributed $5,200 to the Mike and Gina House DC Externship Student Support fund. Faculty Notes ------------- In November, Professor **Deepa Das Acevedo** presented a talk on her forthcoming book, The Battle for Sabarimala: Religion, Law, and Gender in Contemporary India, at the Azim Premji University in Bengaluru, India. She also workshopped her draft article, *The Past as a Colonialist Resource*, at the Southeastern Junior-Senior Conference, held at the Florida State University College of Law in December. Additionally, Professor Das Acevedo’s draft article, *Deities’ Rights?*, was one of seven accepted for the American Society of Comparative Law’s annual works-in-progress workshop. This year, the conference is being co-hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law. *Deities’ Rights?* is slated to appear in a special issue of the J.L. & Relig. in 2023. In January, she was invited to join the Editorial Advisory Board of *Law & Society Review.* This is the second time she has been invited to join the Advisory Board; terms are typically for a period of three years. Professor **Ronald Krotoszynski, Jr.** published First Amendment: Cases and Theory (Aspen Publishers, 4th ed. 2022) (co-authored with Professors Lyrissa Lidsky, Caroline Mala Corbin, and Tim Zick). He also published *On the Importance of Being Earnest: Contrasting the Dangers of Makeweights with the Virtues of Judicial Candor in Constitutional Adjudication*, 74 Ala. L. Rev. 243 (2022). On November 8, 2022, Krotoszynski presented *Disinformation, Misinformation, and Democracy*, a draft chapter in a forthcoming Cambridge University Press edited volume, at the University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne Law School, incident to the Sorbonne’s annual IMODEV conference. In September 2022, he shared *Australia: The Constitutional Protection of Political and Governmental Speech as an Implied Freedom Essential to Facilitating Democratic Deliberation, the Electoral Process, and Democracy Itself*, at workshops hosted by the law faculties at the Australian National University School of Law, on September 20, 2022, and at the Melbourne University School of Law, on September 19, 2022. While in Australia, he also met with Justice Michael Kirby, a retired member of the High Court of Australia, to discuss his chapter and larger book project, Free Speech As Civic Structure: A Comparative Analysis of how Courts and Culture – Not Constitutional Text – Shape the Freedom of Speech (forthcoming Oxford University Press 2024). Professor **Adam Steinman** has been named the Robert W. Hodgkins Endowed Chair in Law. Professor **Joyce Vance** has agreed to join the board of the American Constitution Society. She also served as a guest on MSNBC multiple times throughout the month of January. Professor **Fred Vars** and his coauthor Ian Ayres filed an amicus brief in a gun case, *Antonyuk v. Hochul,* in the Second Circuit. His article *Murder and Money: The Dark Side of Taylor Swift* has been accepted for publication in Duke L. J. online. In addition, Professor Vars also recently published opinion pieces in The Hill and New York Daily News.