The Informant
October 20, 2009
ANNOUNCEMENTS
UT alumnus to lecture at Baker Center Oct. 20
As a follow-up to the recent program on the Electoral College, the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy will present a lecture by a UT alumnus who is serving on a national committee looking at the problem of “renegade presidential electors.”
Jess O. Hale, Jr., a senior legislative attorney with the Office of Legal Services of the Tennessee General Assembly, will speak at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 20, in Toyota Auditorium at the Baker Center. The event is free and open to the public.
His lecture, titled “Reining in Renegade Presidential Electors: A Uniform State Approach," will describe the problem posed by renegade presidential electors -- electors who disregard their party’s preferred candidates when voting for U.S. presidential or vice presidential candidates during the Electoral College. He also will talk about the developing response to that problem proposed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and its Drafting Committee on Faithful Presidential Electors.
A draft of the committee’s report can be found here.
Law Women Announcements and Upcoming events:
Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure
This year's Race takes place Saturday, Oct. 24, and is a great way to get involved in the Knoxville community in a very fun and visible way! It's only a 5K so even if you're not a runner, it's an easy distance to walk, and the weather is usually nice and crisp fall weather :) You can register online at http://www.komenknoxville.org. Our team name is UT Law Women, so make sure you get on our team! Let us know if anyone has any questions - it's a TON of fun and a great way to spend a couple hours of your weekend enjoying the outdoors AND raising money for a great cause!
Pet Halloween Costume Contest
On Sunday, Nov. 1 (rain or shine), the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund chapter (along with the Student Bar Association and Law Women) will host the annual Pet Halloween Costume Contest. The contest will take place in Circle Park with free parking available on Circle Park Drive. This year's judges will be Dean Blaze, Dean Parker, Dean Morgan and Sibyl Marshall. Registration will begin at 2 p.m. and the contest will begin at 2:30 p.m. The entry fee is $10 (cash only, please) with all net proceeds going to the Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley, Knoxville's no-kill animal welfare organization.
More than $1000 worth of prizes have been donated by the following very generous establishments: Powell Pet Food & Supply, Pets R People 2, Doggone Pretty, Inc., River Dog Bakery, All Kreatures, Paws & Claws, Concord Pet Grooming, Bark Place Grooming, Pet Care Warehouse, Pet Quarters, Pet Supplies Plus (Kingston Pike), Petz, Etc, UT Bookstore, Paws Pet Supply, Bliss, Bistro at the Bijou, Panera Bread, Vagabondia, Magpies, and Coolato Gelato.
Questions? Email Alicia Teubert (aarmbrus@utk.edu) or visit this website. Summary: Pet Halloween Costume Contest. Nov. 1. Circle Park. Get there at 2 p.m. Entry fee $10. Free parking. Lots of prizes and fun! Bring your pet dressed in his or her best Halloween costume!
Chili Cook Off
We really need all Law Women to help us out with obtaining donations for Chili Cook Off! There is a sign up sheet on the Law Women bulletin board in the Commons. Please review the locations and sign up for a few of them. A forum has been created to address your questions. There will be a donation letter posted that will relay the relevant information about the YWCA Victim's Advocacy Program. This is the organization that all profits of the Chili Cook Off will be donated to! This is a great cause and we need all the help we can get! Please address any questions to Jamey Ayers by email at jayers5@utk.edu OR post your questions on the forum.
Law Students for Reproductive Justice
The organization Law Students for Reproductive Justice is interested in starting a chapter at UT. They provide education on issues such as sex ed; being pro-faith and pro-choice; pregnant prisoners shackled during labor and delivery; toxic exposure and the reproductive health concerns of nail salon workers; and repercussions of the recent SCOTUS ruling on the federal abortion ban.
Please let a Law Women board member know if you are interested in this organization.
March 2- March 6, 2009 - Clothing Drive for the YWCA
March 8, 2009 - Dress For Success & Ann Taylor - West Town Mall - all day - spend $75 to get a 20% discount, spend $150 for a 25% discount
March 26, 2009 - Chili Cook-Off @ Toddy's Back Door Tavern
April 15, 2009 - Luncheon with the East Tennessee's Law Association for Women at Regis - Noon - Cost: $15
FACULTY
From Greg Stein, Associate Dean for Faculty Development
Prof. Robert Blitt will be in Volgograd, Russia, this week, where he has been invited to speak during the opening plenary session of a conference addressing "The Role of Religion in the State." The conference is co-sponsored by the Russian Federal Human Rights Ombudsperson's Office and Brigham Young University Law School. Participants in the two-day conference will include Russia's national association of researchers on religion, local university faculty, government officials of the Volgograd region, and other key policy-makers from south-central Russia. Prof. Blitt's presentation will discuss the breakdown of separation of church and state in Russia, and its implications for Russia's foreign policy.
In addition, Prof. Blitt was interviewed by the Australian Broadcasting Company during his recent trip to Canberra, and the interview aired in Australia last weekend. The interview with Prof. Blitt was broadcast on The Spirit of Things, an hour-long radio program that focuses on contemporary religion and spirituality issues. The show’s host, Dr. Rachael Kohn, is a three-time World Gold Medal winner of the New York Festival’s International Radio Competition. The interview with Professor Blitt focuses on freedom of religion or belief and covers the history and function of a variety of international and regional human rights instruments, US foreign policy, and developments related to “defamation of religion.” The entire interview can be streamed, and a portion of the interview can be downloaded here.
Prof. Tom Davies has had an extremely productive fall semester and will be equally busy this coming spring. His article, addressing the issue of “selective originalism” in the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Giles v. California, has just appeared in a symposium issue of the Lewis and Clark Law Review. Prof. Davies is nearing completion of a manuscript for a symposium issue of the Duke Journal of Law and Contemporary Problems, addressing the history of the probable cause standard. The Northwestern Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology has invited Prof. Davies to prepare a short article — addressing the last 100 years of search and seizure — for a 100th anniversary symposium issue, to appear in January 2010. Fordham Law School has invited Prof. Davies to participate in a February 2010 symposium on the future of the exclusionary rule. Finally, Prof. Davies will participate in a symposium this spring at Texas Tech Law School, on the topic of the historical understanding of the Fourth Amendment.
On October 10, Prof. Joan Heminway presented a work in progress entitled “Reframing and Reforming the Securities and Exchange Commission: Lessons from the Literature on Change Leadership” at Villanova Law School. Her talk was part of the “Symposium on Financial Regulatory Reform: Genesis, Progress, and Impact.” In her presentation, Prof. Heminway outlined four aspects of the literature on corporate leadership in times of change that she believes are important to positive and successful reform in the structure and operation of the Securities and Exchange Commission, an independent federal agency that has been under public scrutiny for its role in both the current financial crisis and the Bernard Madoff affair. Prof. Heminway’s paper was selected from a call for papers and will be published in a symposium issue of the Villanova Law Review.
Prof. Jennifer Hendricks has just posted two new manuscripts to the SSRN database. The first, entitled Body and Soul: Equality, Pregnancy, and the Unitary Right to Abortion, is available here. The second, entitled Contingent Equal Protection: Reaching for Equality After Ricci and PICS, is available here.
Prof. Glenn Reynolds co-authored an article in Forbes magazine, entitled, “Bombing the Moon.” The article discusses the rocket that NASA recently crashed into the surface of the moon. It also examines the need for a new international treaty to protect communications satellites. The article, which is available here, is co-authored by Prof. Kenneth Anderson of American University.
Faculty Senate President Toby Boulet and Provost Susan Martin invite faculty to join them for brown-bag lunch discussions each month during the fall semester. The next two discussions will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 20, and Wednesday, Nov. 18, in 227 University Center. These discussions provide a great opportunity to sit down with the Provost in a small group environment to talk about campus issues.
STUDENTS
Research Assistant Needed
Professor Amy Morris Hess is looking for a research assistant to work 10-15 hours per week on updates to a multi-volume treatise on the law of trusts. The work will begin immediately and will continue into the Spring semester. Students who have had or are taking Gratuitous Transfers will be given preference for this position. Compensation will be at the standard hourly rate for research assistants at the College of Law. You may apply by sending a resume to ahess@utk.edu or by stopping by Prof. Hess’s office (Room 371) to discuss the position.
Student Papers Sought
The Association of Securities and Exchange Commission Alumni (ASECA) is seeking law student papers for its annual writing competition. Qualifying papers may address any subject in the field of securities law. Cash prizes will be awarded and the deadline for entries is Nov. 13. MORE
Environmental writing competition underway
The TBA Environmental Law Section has announced the 2010 Jon E. Hastings Memorial Award writing competition for law student members of the section. The competition is held each year in memory of one of the section's most outstanding founding members and has a cash prize pool of $1,200. It is a juried competition for the best legal writing on a topic related to Tennessee or federal environmental law. Entries are due March 27.
Learn more about the contest.
"Law Stories" competition announced
The University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review devotes part of one issue each year to a collection of “Law Stories” – short tales about various aspects of the legal world. For the next edition, the theme will be 1L Revisited. An introduction by Scott Turow, author of the classic account of the 1L experience, will lead off this collection of true stories about being a new law student. Current law students and recent graduates (2006 or later) are invited to submit stories. Winning submission(s) will be published in the Spring 2010 issue of the UMKC Law Review, and the first place winner will receive a $500 prize.
Details:
· Non-fiction stories about the first year experience
· 1,000 - 5,000 words, including footnotes
· Footnotes are discouraged—we are looking for stories, not conventional law review articles or notes
· Open to current law student s and recently graduated law students (2006 or after)
· Send to lawstories@umkc.edu with “Law Stories Submission” in subject line
· MS Word or PDF formats only
· Submission deadline October 23, 2009
UMKC School of Law
5100 Rockhill Road, Law 1-200
Kansas City, MO 64110
lawstories@umkc.edu
Lynn Herdon, Editor-In-Chief
lynn.herndon@umkc.edu
CAREER SERVICES
Upcoming programs offered through the Bettye B. Lewis Career Center:
-- Symplicity Training for 1Ls, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 12-12:50 p.m., Room 135.