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October 2023

News

Alabama Law Dedicates the Alex W. Newton Fountain and Courtyard

Alex W. Newton Fountain at The University of Alabama School of Law

Last month, the University of Alabama School of Law dedicated the Alex W. Newton Fountain and Courtyard-honoring the late Alex Worthy Newton (’57). Mr. Newton, who received the Sam W. Pipes Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Law School in 1982, was a trial lawyer with Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton, LLP for more than 60 years. In 2007, he was named Lawyer of the Year by the Birmingham Bar Association. The fountain was designed by Caleb O’Connor. Learn more about the ceremony on the Law School’s website.

Photos from Homecoming at the Law School

Vs. Arkansas (October 14, 2023)

Homecoming Tailgate 2023 at The University of Alabama School of Law

On Saturday, October 14, Alabama Law hosted a tailgate on the front lawn of the Law School ahead of the Crimson Tide kickoff against Arkansas. View/download photos from the event here.

Alabama Law Criminal Defense Clinic Hosts Expungement Clinic

Yui Linetski fingerprinting at the expungement clinic co-hosted by The University of Alabama School of Law

Last month, the Alabama Law Criminal Defense Clinic, led by Professor Amy Kimpel and students Hannah King and Bachittar Singh, partnered with Outside the Walls to host an Expungement Clinic at Shelton State Community College. There they held the first of a two-part session to help individuals navigate the process of cleaning up their criminal record. The Clinic provided free legal services to over 40 members of the community. Read more about the program here.

Gifts

Laura L. Crum (’82) and the Crum Family Charitable Foundation pledged $15,000 to the Crum Family Endowed Lecture Series for Law and Business.

Henry McGovern pledged $25,000 to establish the Margaret A. and Francis E. McGovern II Endowed Support Fund.

Kim Bessiere Martin (’94) and Clay Martin (’95) pledged a gift to establish the Martin Family Endowed Scholarship.

Irving Silver (’65) & Frances Grodsky Silver contributed $62,500, through the Community Foundation of South Alabama, to the Silver Annual Faculty Scholar Gift Fund.

The following alumni and friends either made or renewed an annual giving contribution to the Alabama Law Alumni Society this past month:

Heather Brock (’93) Richard G. Brock (’93) Cynthia Canada (’86) Larry G. Canada (’86) L. Peyton Chapman III. (’96) Fournier J. Gale III (’69) Jini Koh (’04) Matthew B. LeDuke (’06) Gail L. Mills (’85) Elizabeth Dale Nellums (’82) Vader A. Pennington (’74) Dixie M. Quinn-Nelson (’16) Hon. Schuyler H. Richardson III (’77) Kimberly K. Rucker (’08) Hon. Scott E. Stevens (LL.M. ’17) Gregory M. Taube (’93) Robert W. Williams (’23)

Class Notes

Carla C. Crowder (09) received the Friend of Cumberland School of Law award at Samford University.

Colin Dean (11) joined the McGlinchey Firm in Birmingham, Alabama.

Bruce P. Ely (80) was appointed senior fellow and special consultant to Bloomberg Tax & Accounting.

Don Heflin (83) was included in Marquis Who’s Who.

The Honorable Eddie Hardaway, Jr. (77) was honored with the 2023 Judicial Award of Merit.

Meredith Moore (23) has joined Dentons Sirote as an associate in Birmingham.

Samantha Reiersen (23) has joined Dentons Sirote as an associate in Birmingham.

Faculty Notes

Professor Mirit Eyal-Cohen recently presented and provided comments on Chris Buccafusco (Duke) and Sam Weinstein’s (Cardozo) paper Antisocial Innovation at the Law and Entrepreneurship Association Conference.

Professor Julie Hill is part of the national conversation on payment systems innovation. In early September, she spoke on a panel considering Stable Coins, the Dollar and Regulation at a Cato Institute conference in Washington, DC. At the Wyoming Blockchain Stampede, she spoke about Wyoming’s new stable token law and concerns about central bank digital currencies. Most recently, Professor Hill was featured on a panel discussion about New Upgrades for Traditional Payments at a conference sponsored by Cornell Law School, Vanderbilt Law School, and the Brookings Institution. Professor Hill also shared her expertise on banking for the cannabis industry in an NPR Marketplace story about proposed federal legislation.

Professor Amy Kimpel presented her work-in-progress Lone Star Lessons on October 6 at the 4th Emerging Immigration Scholars Conference hosted by the Center for the Study of Law and Immigration Policy at UCLA in a panel with Matthew Boaz (Washington & Lee University) and Tania Valdez (George Washington University) where Ahilan Arulanantham (UCLA) was the commentator. She presented the same work again on October 14 at the Clinical Law Review Writer’s Workshop hosted at NYU Law. 

Professor Ben McMichael’s Minnesota Law Review article, Fetal Personhood as Violence, coauthored by Professor Meghan Boone of Wake Forest Law was reviewed on JOTWELL by Professor Rachel Rebouché of Temple University School of Law.

Professor Shalini Bhargava Ray published an article in the American Journal of Law and Equality titled Citizenship and Racial Subordination. You can read the full piece here.

Professor Joyce Vance participated in two panels at the Texas Tribune Festival, one on current legal events and one on the role of women in the 2024 election. She also did a podcast episode with Preet Bharara and Dahlia Lithwick on this coming term in the Supreme Court. You can listen to the podcast here.

Professor Fred Vars was recently interviewed for the “Excited Utterance” podcast discussing Taylor Swift and the law of inheritance. You can listen to the podcast here.