News
James Forman, Jr. to Speak at Alabama Law
James Forman, Jr. is scheduled to speak at noon Friday, September 20 in the Bedsole Moot Court Room.
Professor Forman, of Yale Law School, won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction for his book, “Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America.”
“Locking Up Our Own” examines the complex and often conflicted history of African-American leaders and communities advocating for increased levels of incarceration. Professor Forman’s visit is made possible, in part, through the generosity of The Order of the Coif society. Box lunches will be provided.
Copies of Professor Forman’s book will be available for purchase, and signing, immediately following the presentation.
Please RSVP through the following link: law.ua.edu/forman.
Women Make Up Majority of First-Year Law Students for First Time
For the first time, women make up a majority of JD students in the entering class at The University of Alabama School of Law.
Of the 137 first-year law students who enrolled this week, 53 percent are women.
Enrollment at UA’s School of Law mirrors a national trend, as women have outnumbered men in law school classrooms across the country since 2016, according to the American Bar Association.
“On the eve of the 100th anniversary of ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, it seems appropriate that women are now attending law schools in numbers commensurate with their presence in the larger population,” said Dr. Mark E. Brandon, dean of UA’s School of Law. “Women in law school are achieving at the highest levels, and it’s important that we as a society are beginning to benefit more fully from the talents and contributions of all members, regardless of sex,” he said.
Sharon Bala Wins Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction
The University of Alabama School of Law and the ABA Journal awarded the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction to Sharon Bala, author of “The Boat People.” She received the award at an Aug. 29 ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Bala is the ninth winner of the Prize. The award, authorized by Lee, is given to a book-length work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.
“Writing this novel was a meditation on empathy,” Bala said. “My greatest hope is that it has the same effect on readers.”
Law School Seeks Stories about Judge Sam Beatty
The Law School is seeking stories from alumni about Judge Sam Beatty. Please submit written remembrances at http://www.law.ua.edu/resources/tellyourstory/
Career Services Office
Are you looking for a law clerk or an associate? Do you need help with a short-term research assignment? Fall 2019 On-Campus Interview Registration is ongoing. The Career Services Office can also place a job advertisement for you on our internal job board or connect you with a student through our STAR Program for help with research. Please contact Assistant Dean Megan Walsh for more information.
Class Notes
Walker Percy Badham, III (’82) received the J. Anthony “Tony” McLain Professionalism Award at the 2019 Alabama State Bar Annual Meeting. This award recognizes members for distinguished service in the advancement of professionalism.
David M. Benck (’93), who serves as General Counsel for Hibbett Sports, has been appointed to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s inaugural Independent Resolution Panel. The panel will be the new adjudicator in the Division 1 infractions review process for complex cases. It will conduct hearings, decide whether violations occurred, and hand down applicable penalties.
Mack B. Binion (’72) received the Jeanne Marie Leslie Service Award at the 2019 Alabama State Bar Annual Meeting. This award recognizes exemplary service to lawyers in need in the areas of substance abuse and mental health. It is presented by the Alabama Lawyer Assistance Program Committee.
Felicia Brooks (’94) was appointed as General Counsel of the Alabama Department of Human Resources.
Jean Brown (’77) was appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey to be the new commissioner of the Alabama Department of Senior Services.
Bobby Click (’11) recently accepted the position of Associate Legal Counsel with the U.S. Center for SafeSport in Denver, Colorado.
William D. Dillon (’87) has joined Taylor English Duma as Partner in the firm’s Atlanta office.
McKinley Dunn (’16) has joined Lightfoot, Franklin & White as an associate in the firm’s Birmingham office.
Charles Grimes (’98) has joined Wilson Elser as Of Counsel in the firm’s Birmingham office.
Nicole Hampton (’15) received the Top 40 Young Lawyers award from the American Bar Association. This annual award recognizes the top 40 ABA young lawyers who exemplify a broad range of high achievement, innovation, vision, leadership, and legal and community service.
Austin Huffaker (’99) has been nominated by President Donald Trump to be a District Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
John Hundscheid (’16) has joined Wilson Elser as Of Counsel in the firm’s Birmingham office.
Kimberly Jones (’17) has joined Huie, Fernambucq & Stewart as an Associate in the firm’s Birmingham office.
The Hon. David Kimberley (’85) has rejoined Cusimano, Roberts & Mills, a Gadsden-based law firm that specializes in personal injury and consumer litigation.
Douglas McElvy (’71) received the J. Anthony “Tony” McLain Professionalism Award at the 2019 Alabama State Bar Annual Meeting. This award recognizes members for distinguished service in the advancement of professionalism.
Jeanne Dowdle Rasco (’89) received the Commissioners’ Award at the 2019 Alabama State Bar Annual Meeting. This award was created in 1998 by the Board of Bar Commissioners to recognize individuals who have had a long-standing commitment to the improvement of the administration of justice in Alabama.
Montrece M. Ransom (’01) was honored by the American Bar Association Health Law Section with its Champion of Diversity and Inclusion Award during the section’s Emerging Issues in Health Law conference on March 13 in Orlando, Florida.
The Honorable Holbrook E. Reid (’06) was sworn in as a Circuit Judge for Alabama’s Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. Governor Kay Ivey appointed Judge Reid to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Montgomery County Circuit Judge Truman Hobbs, Jr. (’83).
Taylor Rouse (’14) recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. The case involved a man who was seriously injured in a boating accident and whether a government-owned corporation supplying electric power to millions of customers is immune from a lawsuit.
Russell Rutherford (’11) joined Burr & Forman as Partner in the firm’s Birmingham office.
Jim Sanders (’17) has joined Maynard Cooper Gale as an Associate in the Real Estate and Finance Practice Group.
Tazewell T. Shepard, III (’79) received the Albert Vreeland Pro Bono Award at the 2019 Alabama State Bar Annual Meeting. This award is presented to an individual who demonstrates outstanding pro bono efforts through the active donation of time to the civil representation of those who cannot otherwise afford legal counsel and by encouraging greater legal representation in, and acceptance of, pro bono cases.
Allison O. Skinner (’94) received the Susan B. Livingston Award at the 2019 Alabama State Bar Annual Meeting. The recipient of this award must demonstrate a continual commitment to those around her as a mentor, a sustained level of leadership throughout her career, and a commitment to her community in which she practices, such as, but not limited to, bar-related activities, community service and/or activities which benefit women in the legal field.
Davis H. Smith (’00) has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings as Partner in the Corporate and Securities and Tax practice groups in the firm’s Montgomery office.
Neena Speer (’17) was featured in The Birmingham Times about her time in law school. Her book, “Dear Future Lawyer: An Intimate Survival Guide for the Minority Female Law Student,” is available on Amazon.
Stephen W. Still, Jr. (’05) has been named Chief Strategy Partner for Starnes Davis Florie.
The following alumni were named Best of the Bar by the Birmingham Business Journal. The magazine recognizes attorneys who have distinguished themselves in their field or specific practice areas and are shaping the Birmingham economy.
- Jenna Bedsole (’97)
- Emily Bonds (’90)
- Tom Brinkley (’89)
- Chad Godwin (’02)
- Alex Leath (’87)
- E. Martenson (’71)
- Murphy McMillan (’95)
- Tyler Novak (’04)
- Virginia Patterson (’86)
- Atkins Roberts (’98)
- Andy Rotenstreich (’93)
- Mary Samuels (’07)
- Connie Ray Stockham (’79)
- Stephen D. Wadsworth (’09)
Events
Dean Mark E. Brandon invites you and your family to join us for the Alabama Law School Homecoming Tailgate. Visit with old friends and enjoy game-day fare on the front lawn before the Crimson Tide kicks off against the Razorbacks.
Law Center Front Lawn
Saturday, October 26
3 hours prior to kick-off
Transportation will be provided to the stadium prior to the game.
Gifts
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings donated $13,000 to the Bradley Arant Boult Cummings Endowed Scholarship.
Gregg Brogden pledged $27,000 to the Doreen S. Brogden Endowed Scholarship.
Campbell Partners, facilitated by Andrew P. Campbell (’78), pledged $50,000 to establish the Dean Mark E. Brandon Endowed Scholarship.
Thomas H. Christopher (’76) pledged $5,000 to The Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. Memorial Endowed Lecture Fund on Constitutional Rights & Liberties.
Alice and Greg Cusimano (’68) contributed $5,000 to the Gregory S. Cusimano Endowed Scholarship.
Duke Energy and Chevron matched gifts totaling $8,000 given by James W. Hart Jr. to the Dominic DeSimone Memorial Endowed Book Scholarship.
Ralph D. Gaines, III (’83) donated $5,000 to the Ralph D. Gaines, Jr. Endowed Scholarship.
The Jean Fargason Gordon Estate contributed $25,000 to the Paul E. Skidmore Award.
David J. Hodge (’00) and Laura Hodge (’00) have pledged $30,000 to the Class Composite Preservation Fund for the Law School to fully fund the project. Their gift will allow the Law School to begin the process of saving our aging class composites. The Law School plans to make each year’s composite electronically available via kiosks and will reframe the restored photos for display throughout the Law Center building.
William P. Jackson (’63) donated $50,000 to the William P. Jackson Jr. and Barbara Seignious Jackson Endowed Scholarship.
The Miller Charitable Foundation, Inc. donated $10,000 to The William D. Melton Endowed Scholarship.
Michael Royce Mills (’85) contributed $5,000 to the Alabama Law Alumni Society.
Jerry W. (’75) and Carolyn W. Powell pledged $500,000 to the Jerry W. Powell and Carolyn W. Powell Professor of Practice for Law and Business.
James (’78) and Nancy Richardson donated $5,229 to the Patrick W. Richardson Memorial Endowed Scholarship.
The Albert G. Rives Charitable Trust contributed $11,083 to the Albert G. and Hester Rives Fund.
Ann M. Rutland contributed $5,000 to the W. T. Goodloe Rutland Endowed Scholarship in memory of W. T. Goodloe Rutland and $5,000 to the Frank J. Martin Endowed Scholarship in memory of Frank J. Martin.
The Scholarship Foundation, Inc., facilitated by H. Thomas Heflin, Jr. (’79), contributed $2,500 to the Howell T. Heflin Fund and donated $2,500 to the Class of 1979 In Memoriam Endowed Scholarship.
Thomas J. Scott (’74) donated $5,000 to the Judge Irene Feagin Scott Tax Library Collection Fund.
John Q. Somerville (’91) contributed $10,000 in the memory of William Glassell Somerville to the Dean’s Discretionary Fund.
The University of Alabama Federal Tax Clinic contributed $30,000 to the Federal Tax Clinic Scholarship.
Wayne Wheeler (’66) donated $100,000 to the Judge Robert J. Wheeler Scholarship Fund.
Faculty Notes
PROFESSOR JOHN ACEVEDO presented an article draft, Bounded Universalism: Toward a Theory of Legal Relativism at the Law and Society Annual Meeting, May 31 – June 2. He served as chair for the panel, “Contested Urban Property Rights.” In July, he presented an article draft, Crime Fantasies, at CrimFest!, which was held at Brooklyn Law School. Professor Acevedo published in June, The People v. Donald J. Trump? An Inquire into President Trump facing Criminal Charges, on Jurist, available at https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2019/06/john-acevedo-trump-criminal-charges/
PROFESSOR YONATHAN ARBEL presented empirical work, co-authored with Andrew Toler (’20), at the national American Law and Economics Conference on the effects of conspicuous language in consumer contracts. He was selected to participate in the Clifford Symposium for Rising Stars in Legal Academia, where he presented work on consumer activism in the marketplace. Professor Arbel’s work also was selected for presentation at the Harvard/Stanford/Yale Faculty forum, where he presented new work on the limits of defamation law.
PROFESSOR RICHARD DELGADO published articles in UC-Davis, University of Florida, and Case Western law reviews and had others accepted in Alabama, SMU, and Case Western. He was interviewed for a video archive at Cal Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Law & Society. Professor Delgado’s recent article, Metamorphosis: A Law Professor’s Life, (UC-Davis law review) made two SSRN Top Ten download lists within days of being published. He and Professor Jean Stefancic published “Can a Nation Control Presidential Hate Speech?” in the blog From the Square (NYU Press). Delgado and Stefancic’s paper, “Images of the Outsider in American Law and Culture: Can Free Expression Remedy Systemic Social Ills?” was listed on two SSRN Top Ten download lists with 63 downloads in a recent period. A second paper, by Delgado, “Campus Antiracism Rules: Constitutional Narratives in Collision,” made two other lists, with over 220 downloads.
PROFESSOR SHAHAR DILLBARY was engaged in a number of empirical, experimental, and theoretical projects, and gave a number of presentations in the U.S., Europe, and Israel during the summer.
In May Professor Dillbary presented his new article titled, Incentivized Torts: An Experimental Analysis, at the American Law and Economics Annual Conference (ALEA). The article investigates and provides an empirical analysis of the deterrent effect of tort law in cases involving multiple tortfeasors.
Professor Dillbary was invited in June to present a second article titled, “Stacked Inferences,” which examines the economic effects of third-party liability doctrines (e.g. vicarious liability) and legal presumptions. The presentation took place in Porto, Portugal, and was made at the invitation of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods. Later that month Professor Dillbary visited Hebrew University (Jerusalem, Israel), where he presented a model based on game theory and industrial organization economics, analyzing the ability of actors to collude post-accidents in order to withhold and suppress information.
Professor Dillbary is currently scheduled to present his new experimental piece, titled Collusions, at the Southern Economics Association (SEA). The article, co-authored with Kip Viscusi (Vanderbilt) and Stephan Kroll (Colorado), tests the ability of actors to collude and bypass legal prohibition using a simple yet powerful signaling device. He is also scheduled to present his new tort scholarship at the European Law and Economic Conference (EALE). Most recently, Professor Dillbary was invited to present his scholarship at the University of Hamburg’s Economics Department.
PROFESSOR MIRIT EYAL-COHEN presented her paper titled, “Path Dependence in Temporary Legislation,” at the Women in Law Teaching Workshop held at the University of Minnesota School of Law in June. She presented her article titled, Nothing is More Permanent than the Temporary: The Birth and Incessant Growth of the Research Credit, at the American Tax Professor Association Workshop, which was held at University of San Diego’s School of Law. Professor Eyal-Cohen was an Invited Commentator at the Tax and Public Finance Workshop, which was held at Columbia University School of Law in May. She presented her article titled, Identifying the Causal Impact of Taxation on Innovation Efforts, at the Law & Society Association conference in Washington, D.C. in May.
PROFESSOR SUSAN HAMILL was quoted in May in The Washington Post for the article, Alabama Senate Passes Nation’s Most Restrictive Abortion Ban, which makes no exceptions for victims of rape and incest. She was interviewed on live radio by Stephen Quinn, a reporter for the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, about Alabama’s abortion ban legislation. In July, Professor Hamill was interviewed on camera by Cynthia Gould of ABC 33/40. She discussed Alabama ethics issues. That interview aired on August 5.
PROFESSOR RONALD KROTOSZYNSKI, JR. presented “Free Speech as Civic Structure: A Comparative Analysis of How Courts and Culture – Not Constitutional Text – Shape the Freedom of Speech,” at a workshop hosted by the law faculty at the Seattle University School of Law, in Seattle, Washington, on July 24, 2019. On June 19, 2019, Professor Krotoszynski presented “Privacy, Remedies, and Comity: The Emerging Problem of Global Injunctions and Some Preliminary Thoughts on How Best to Address It,” at the Global Privacy Scholars Forum. The program was hosted by the University of Stockholm School of Law, in Stockholm, Sweden. This work will appear as a chapter in a forthcoming book, Research Handbook on Comparative Defamation and Privacy Law (Andras Koltay & Paul Wragg eds., Edward Elgar 2020).
Professor Krotoszynski presented in June “Some Thoughts on the Relevance of Comparative Public Law and Why It Can Enhance and Improve Domestic Public Law Pedagogy,” at a panel on Comparative Law Pedagogy in the Domestic Law School Curriculum, which took place at the Law & Society Association’s Annual Meeting, in Washington, D.C. Professor Krotoszynski, an elected member of the American Law Institute, attended the organization’s 96th annual meeting, in Washington, D.C., from May 19-22, 2019.
Finally, he has published op-ed pieces: By Censoring Arthur’s Same-Sex Wedding, Alabama Public Television Betrayed Mr. Rogers’ Legacy, Slate, May 23, 2019, and The Bigger Reason Steven Mnuchin Should Turn Over Trump’s Tax Returns, The Chicago Tribune, May 14, 2019, at C12.
PROFESSOR JEAN STEFANCIC and Professor Richard Delgado published “Can a Nation Control Presidential Hate Speech?” in New York University Press’s blog, From the Square. Professor Richard Delgado and Stefancic’s article, “Images of the Outsider in American Law and Culture: Can Free Expression Remedy Systemic Social Ills?” 77 Cornell L. Rev. 1258 (1992) was listed on two SSRN Top Ten download lists with 63 downloads in a recent period. She published “Law, Religion, and Racial Justice: A Comment on Derrick Bell’s Last Article” in the current issue of Case Western Reserve Law Review, and recently had her 6000th total paper download.
PROFESSOR JOYCE WHITE VANCE participated on a panel, The Wing Brooklyn, and discussed the contents of the Mueller Report on April 23, 2019, with Chris Jansing, Maya Wiley, Berit Berger, and Mimi Rocah. She delivered The Impact Fund Gala Address about “The Impact of Small Funding Grants on Civil Rights Litigation,” on May 7, 2019, in San Francisco. She delivered a speech at the United Fellowship Breakfast on June 9, 2019, on Martin Luther King’s 1967 Speech at Ebeneezer Baptist Church and provided “Thoughts on Where We Go from Here.”
Professor Vance participated on the Rappaport Center for Law & Public Policy’s Panel at Boston College on June 25, 2019. The discussion, After the Mueller Report: The Attorney General, the White House, and the Congress–A Constitutional Crisis?, featured Frank Figliuzzi, Chuck Rosenberg, and Michael Sullivan. It was moderated by Professor and Rappaport Faculty Director Daniel Kanstroom. She contributed to Just Security on July 24, 2019. She and other legal experts provided their views on Mueller hearings. Available at https://www.justsecurity.org/65046/top-law-and-intelligence-experts-views-on-mueller-hearings/
Professor Vance was a witness at a House Judiciary Committee Hearing on the Mueller Report on June 10, 2019. Written testimony is available at: https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/democrats.judiciary.house.gov/files/documents/Joyce%20Vance%20Testimony.pdf
She was listed in UVA Law School’s “A Completely Incomplete List of UVA Lawyers Who Changed the World.” Available at: https://www.law.virginia.edu/uvalawyer/article/100-change-agents Spring 2019
Professor Vance wrote or co-wrote the following op-eds:
Alabama Prison Horrors Show Need for Federal Intervention to Safeguard Inmates in USA Today on April 11, 2019. Available at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/spotlight/2019/04/11/alabama-prison-horrors-need-federal-solution/(343) 919-3002/
Why the Mueller Report Shouldn’t Be the Final Word on Trump, Russia, and Obstruction of Justice, for TIME magazine on April 19, 2019. Available at:
http://time.com/5574575/mueller-report-trump-russia-evidence/
Alabama’s Abortion Bill Is Not about Alabama, in The Washington Post on May 14, 2019. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/05/14/alabamas-abortion-bill-is-not-about-alabama-its-about-tossing-roe-v-wade/?utm_term=.117c3ad3ca1b
If Only We Had Heard from Robert Mueller Before William Barr’s Spin, in USA Today on May 30, 2019. Available at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/05/29/robert-muellers-statement-clarifies-report-president-donald-trumps-wrongdoing-column/(127) 601-6001/ May 30, 2019.
Mueller’s Report May Be Completed, but His Work Isn’t Done. And That’s What We Told Congress in NBC Think on June 18, 2019. Available at: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/mueller-s-report-may-be-completed-his-work-isn-t-ncna1018031
These 11 Myths about the Mueller Report Just Won’t Die. Here’s Why They’re Wrong, in TIME magazine on June 24, 2019. Available at: https://time.com/5610317/mueller-report-myths-breakdown/
We Can’t Let This Happen in the United States in Al.com on July 3, 2019. Available at: https://www.al.com/opinion/2019/07/we-cant-let-this-happen-in-the-united-states.html
Mueller’s a Stickler for Rules. Those Meant to Curb his Testimony Don’t Apply. The Washington Post on July 23, 2019. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/07/23/muellers-stickler-rules-those-meant-curb-his-testimony-dont-apply/?utm_term=.07d4ac8c2138
This Might Be the Most Important Exchange in the Mueller Testimony in TIME magazine on July 25, 2019. Available at: https://time.com/5635276/mueller-testimony-obstruction-conspiracy-analysis/
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.