News
Preserving Class Composites: A Window to Our Past
In 2019, David (’00) and Laura Drinkard Hodge (’00) committed $30,000 to the Law School Foundation to create the Class Composite Preservation Project Fund. The goal of this fund is to digitize and preserve composite photos from graduating classes throughout the years, making them accessible for future generations to view. Read more about the Class Composite Preservation Project online.
Join Us on October 22 for Homecoming
Our Annual Homecoming Tailgate will begin three hours prior to kickoff. We hope to see you there! Kindly RSVP by Tuesday, October 11.
Resources Available for Federal Student Debt Relief Plan
In late August, the Biden Administration announced a student debt relief plan that provides a one-time cancelation of select student loan debt for applicable borrowers, an extension of the pause on repayment of student loans, and changes to the income-driven repayment plan.
The Department of Education has published a website with helpful information and FAQs to help individuals understand this plan. Additionally, the Law School contracts with the AccessLex Institute, which offers webinars and webpages on student debt relief, as well as one-on-one confidential counseling with an Accredited Financial Counselor.
While there are still many details to be provided by the Administration and the Department of Education, the links above are available resources for any Alabama Law alumni who may be navigating student debt.
Class Notes
Tiffanie Agee (’16 LL.M) was selected as the Interim Dean of Miles Law School.
Theresa Bradley (’93) was inducted into the 2022-2023 Birmingham Momentum Executive Leadership Class.
Clayton Carter (’20) joined Hallett & Perrin in Dallas, TX as the firm’s construction and litigation attorney.
Jackson Colburn (’22) joined the Alabama Law Institute in Tuscaloosa as a staff attorney.
Steve R. Forehand, Sr. (’85) has been installed as President of the Alabama Wildlife Federation.
Jessica Medeiros Garrison (’00) was appointed President of the Land Betterment Exchange.
Xeris Gregory (’19) joined Maynard Cooper in Birmingham as an associate in Cybersecurity & Privacy and Litigation.
Samuel “Sam” S. Grimes, Jr. (’16) was named Chief Legal Officer of Storyteller Overland in Birmingham.
Jennifer Harris Henderson (’04) was appointed the Chief Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama by The United States District for the Northern District of Alabama.
Stewart Andrew Kelly (’99) was appointed the Chief Legal Officer of Great Southern Wood.
Michael A. Kirtland (’99 LL.M.) was awarded the Colorado Bar Association’s John Campbell Award for Outstanding Contributions to Elder Law.
Jini Koh (’04) joined Artsy as an Associate General Counsel in New York City.
Kelsi Long (’21) joined Balch & Bingham LLP in Birmingham as a Corporate & Energy Associate.
Dale Marsh (’74) was featured in a CBS Sunday Morning News story about his hometown Enterprise, Ala.
Kim Memmesheimer (’98) opened a law firm, Rivers Law Office in Barrington, NH.
Shalyn Smith McKitt (’16) joined Vedder Price in Chicago as an associate.
Leroy Nix (’09) of Washington D.C., was named vice president of strategic policy and stakeholder engagement at Entergy.
Richard Raleigh, Jr. (’95) joined Womble Bond Dickinson’s Government Contracts team in Huntsville.
Catessa Malone Robinson (’14) was inducted into the 2022 class of the Bob Jones High School Hall of Fame.
Shontel Stewart (’20) joined the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Shreveport, LA as a Judicial Law Clerk.
Gabriela “Bella” Thoren (’22) joined Gardner Skelton PLLC in Charlotte, NC as an Associate Attorney.
Zachary R. Walden (’16) was elected as Criminal Court Judge for the Eighth Judicial District of Tennessee.
Earlisha S. Williams (’13) was inducted into the 2022-2023 Birmingham Momentum Executive Leadership Class.
Lynn Ridgeway Zehrt (’98) was appointed the new reporter to the advisory commission on the rules and practice and procedure by the Tennessee Supreme Court.
Gifts
Albert G. Rives Charitable Trust contributed $11,000 to the Albert G. and Hester Rives Fund.
Anna (’98) and Steven Grizzle contributed $50,000 to establish the Anna and Steven Grizzle Endowed Law Scholarship.
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP contributed $13,000 to the Bradley Arant Boult Cummings Endowed Scholarship Fund.
Mr. and Mrs. James “Jim” H. Richardson (’78) contributed $5,133.60 to the Patrick W. Richardson Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund.
The Honorable Sonja F. Bivins (’88) contributed $7,500 to the Diversity and Inclusion Support Fund.
Travis M. Bedsole, Jr. (’74) contributed $8,086.50 to the Judge Travis Jessie Bedsole Endowed Memorial Scholarship.
Quentin Q. Brown contributed $5,000 to the James Timothy Francis Endowed Scholarship.
Wilmer & Lee, P.A. contributed $45,000 to the Wilmer & Lee, P.A. Endowed Scholarship.
Faculty Notes
Professor Deepa Das Acevedo edited a special collection on legal anthropology that appeared in Volume 73, Iss. 4 of the Alabama Law Review. Her introduction to the special collection, Sweet Old-Fashioned Notions: Legal Engagement With Anthropological Scholarship, appeared in the same issue.
Professor Clare Ryan will serve as chair of the Scholarship Advisory Group for the American Society of Comparative Law’s Younger Comparativists Conference in Boston on October 7-8th, where she will also present her paper titled: Are Children’s Rights Enough?
Professor Joyce Vance has been doing commentary for MSNBC and NBC on the search of Mar-a-Lago, and wrote two articles in Café’: Razing the Kraken: The Importance of Witnesses andThe Magistrate Judge Doesn’t Have The Final Say.
Professor Fredrick Vars’s suicide prevention proposal was introduced this summer as a bipartisan federal bill (HR 8361). Vars published a series of short pieces in the past several months regarding gun laws in JURIST, L.A Times, Harv. L. Rev. Blog, and The Washington Post. He also published an op-ed in USA Today with Professor Heather Elliott.