| Originally published in Student
Lawyer magazine, December 2004 (Vol. 33, No. 4). All rights
reserved.
CIRCUIT BOARD
To find out which ABA Law Student Division circuit your school
is in, click
here.
To report on news from your school, e-mail your circuit governor
and studentlawyer@abanet.org.
First Circuit. The Asylum & Human Rights Clinic
at the University of Connecticut School of Law has completed its
second year. Forty students who have participated in the clinic
have handled 19 asylum hearings in the U.S. Immigration Court and
the Department of Homeland Security’s Asylum Office. In 13
of the 19 cases, the client was granted asylum—a 68 percent
success rate, which was more than 2.5 times the national average
of 25 percent.
Second Circuit. The University at Buffalo Law
School held an evening lecture series on a variety of topics of
interest to senior citizens, including the new Medicare prescription
drug law, paying for long-term care, and planning for death or disability.
Third Circuit. Tanya Bridges, a 3L at Widener
University-Delaware, was selected for the Sony Entertainment Law
Internship program. Bridges worked in Sony’s New York office
this past summer.
Fourth Circuit. U.S. Sen. George Allen hosted a
town hall meeting in Regent University School of Law’s moot
courtroom. Allen spoke about the government’s role in energy
policy.
Fifth Circuit. The People’s Law School,
a series of free programs for the public at Stetson University College
of Law, presented “Basic Criminal Law: What to Do If You’re
Arrested.” The session taught the public what to do during
encounters with police, Miranda rights fundamentals, breathalyzer
issues, and when it’s necessary to hire a lawyer.
Sixth Circuit. Dennis Greene, a performer in the
1970s rock ‘n’ roll group Sha Na Na, joined the University
of Dayton School of Law as a full-time, tenured professor of constitutional
law and torts. He also has expertise in contracts, business planning,
and entertainment law.
Seventh Circuit. The University of Wisconsin Law
School Economic Justice Institute started the Divorce Court Assistance
Project. The project is a response to the fact that 60 percent of
family law litigants are unrepresented in court—more than
in any other area of law. Students will work with self-represented
parties as facilitators to help them prepare their divorce cases
and guide them through the process.
Eighth Circuit. Scott Schatzman, a 2004 graduate
of the University of Missouri–Columbia School of Law and three-time
NCAA All-American wrestler, chased his Olympic dream while finishing
law school. In April, he participated in the U.S. National Freestyle
Wrestling Championships, where he placed eighth. The top eight wrestlers
from the U.S. Nationals proceeded to the U.S. Olympic Trials in
Indianapolis, where Schatzman was eliminated.
Ninth Circuit. The Charles R. Williams Project
on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the University of
California at Los Angeles School of Law received a $100,000 gift
from John McDonald and Rob Wright to match a similar gift from the
Gill Foundation. The donation will support training for state and
federal judges about current issues in sexual orientation law.
Tenth Circuit. Andrea Walker of Washburn University
School of Law, Joel Bannister and Kristen Van Saun of the University
of Kansas School of Law, and Chris McLemore and Caroline Walling
of Notre Dame Law School have been named the five inaugural recipients
of the J.L. Weigand Jr. Notre Dame Legal Education Scholarship for
the 2004-05 school year. The scholarships, named for Kansas lawyer
and Notre Dame alumnus John Weigand Jr., provide tuition, room,
and board for students who have been legal residents of Kansas for
at least 10 years prior to their admission to law school.
Eleventh Circuit. George Washington University
Law School graduate Ann O’Connell was selected to clerk for
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. O’Connell
graduated with highest honors in May. Her clerkship will begin after
she completes her assignment with Judge Frank Magill of the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Twelfth Circuit. Washington State Supreme Court
Justice Mary Fairhurst gave Gonzaga University School of Law’s
2004 William O. Douglas Lecture. A 1984 Gonzaga law alumna, Fairhurst
began her legal career in the state Supreme Court as a judicial
clerk and returned in 2003 as a justice.
Thirteenth Circuit. Representatives of Loyola
University New Orleans School of Law, the Louisiana Supreme Court,
and the French Ministry of Justice met in September in New Orleans
to celebrate the bicentennial of the French Civil Code. Scholars
and jurists had historical discussions and took a tour of the newly
restored Louisiana Supreme Court in the French Quarter.
Fourteenth Circuit. The University of Nevada,
Las Vegas, School of Law joined Educational Outreach and State of
Nevada GEAR UP representatives as part of several teams of UNLV
faculty, staff, and students offering free weeklong summer camps
for entering high school freshmen. The GEAR UP program’s purpose
is to change the culture of economically disadvantaged students
so they are prepared academically and have the resources to attend
and succeed in college.
Fifteenth Circuit. Third-year University of Wyoming
College of Law student Traci Garrett worked this past summer for
the Philadelphia Death Penalty Project conducting a study looking
at racial and ethnic disparities in the imposition of the death
penalty. She was one of 15 students across the country to receive
the National Lawyers Guild’s Haywood Burns Memorial Fellowship
for Social and Economic Justice.
Compiled by Katherine Licup
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