The Informant
November 17, 2009
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Mediation visionary Grayfred Gray to speak here November 17
Retired University of Tennessee College of Law Professor Grayfred Gray will speak in Room 241 during the Free Hour (12 - 1 p.m.) on Tuesday, Nov. 17. Professor Gray is a mediation pioneer and one of the most venerated mediators in Tennessee. During his 28 years as a member of the law school faculty, Prof. Gray founded the Mediation Clinic and was involved in the practice of mediation and in programs in which law students mediated cases before Tennessee courts and federal, state, and local government agencies. He also was one of the founding members of the Community Mediation Center, a local non-profit agency that provides mediation services to the local courts and community. Prof. Gray served as a draftsman for the Tennessee Title 33 Revision Commission, and the code on services to mentally ill and developmentally disabled people which he authored was enacted as Tennessee Public Chapter 947 in 2000. Numerous honors and awards have been bestowed upon Professor Gray, including the Loevinger Prize from Jurimetrics Journal, the Bass, Berry & Sims Faculty Award for Service to the Bench and Bar, and a Chancellor's Citation for Extraordinary Community Service. He also received the first Public Mediation Service award from the Tennessee Coalition for Mediation Awareness, an annual award that now bears his name. Professor Gray now is active in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania mediation community. His talk will focus on the history and practice of mediation.
Education reform panel discussion Wednesday
On Wednesday, November 18, the Child Law Society and Speaker Series will present a panel discussion entitled "From the State House to the School House: Education Reform and the Future of Tennessee Schools." The panelists will include Indya Kincannon, Chair of the Knox County Board of Education, and Elisa Luna, principal of Inskip Elementary School. As education reform moves to the center of both the federal and state legislative agendas, the panelists will speak to past reform efforts and their efficacy and look to the future at approaches legislators should adopt that will work best for students, teachers, administrators, and parents. The discussion will be held during the free hour in Room 136. Lunch will be provided.
Invitation to "Celebration of Fletcher's Life and Work"
Barb Dyer invites you to a "Celebration of Fletcher's Life and Work" on
Sunday, Nov. 22, from 4 until 7 p.m. at the Nelson Fine Art, 324 East Main Street, Johnson City, Tenn. For more details and RSVP.
Flyer.
Nominations sought for 2009 Student and Staff Awards
Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to submit nominations for several student and staff awards to be presented at the College of Law's Annual Honors Banquet and Awards Program on Friday evening, February 19, 2010, at The Foundry on the World's Fair Site.
Nominations should be submitted by Thursday, December 31, 2009 to either the Dean's Office (Suite 278) or the Student Records Office (Suite 166). Nominations also may be submitted by e-mail to Mary Ann James at mjames1@utk.edu.
Descriptions of awards and nomination forms:
General Information
Student Awards
Susan B. Anthony Award
Library Staff Award
College Staff Award
FACULTY
From Greg Stein, Associate Dean for Faculty Development
Prof. Robert Blitt recently gave a series of presentations in Volgograd, Russia; Miami, FL; and Chicago, IL. In Russia, Prof. Blitt presented a paper entitled “Tolerance and International Law: The View From Outside,” during a two-day conference addressing The Role of Religion in the State. The conference was co-sponsored by the Russian Federal Human Rights Ombudsperson’s Office and Brigham Young University Law School. Conference proceedings, including Prof. Blitt’s paper, will be published in Russian.
In Miami, Prof. Blitt participated in a panel on NGO regulation during the ABA Section of International Law’s annual Fall Meeting. Prof. Blitt’s presentation addressed “NGO Regulation & the Migration of Anti-Democratic Ideas,” and was based on an article in progress. Finally, in Chicago, Prof. Blitt presented another work in progress entitled “The Migration of Anti-Constitutional Ideas: The Bottom Up Journey of Defamation of Religion from Muslim States to the United Nations” as part of John Marshall Law School’s Faculty Scholarship Roundtable Series.
Prof. Blitt’s hour-long interview with Rachael Kohn from the Australia Broadcasting Company, in which they discuss international human rights and freedom of religion issues, is now available as a free podcast from the iTunes store. You can find it here. A transcript of the interview also has been made available here.
Prof. George Kuney is appearing as part of a panel entitled “The Present and Future of ‘One Size Fits All’: Do We Need a Chapter for Those ‘Too Big to Fail?’” at the American Bankruptcy Institute’s 2009 Legislative Symposium – Chapter 11 at the Crossroads: Does Reorganization Need Reform? A Symposium on the Past, Present and Future of U.S. Corporate Restructuring, November 16 and 17, at Georgetown University Law Center, in Washington, DC. Prof. Kuney’s work in this area has suggested the need for a separate reorganization chapter to assist too big to fail companies without causing rippling defaults among their suppliers and to avoid the erosion of proper Chapter 11 standards when the statute is applied in mega-cases.
Prof. Paula Schaefer recently participated in a workshop held by the National Institute for Teaching Ethics and Professionalism. Prof. Schaefer serves as one of this year’s NIFTEP fellows, a group that includes professors, practicing lawyers, disciplinary counsel, and one judge. In addition to the fellows, fifteen discussants also participated in the workshop. Prof. Schaefer contributed a teaching demonstration from her seminar “Smart Lawyers, Stupid Decisions.” The workshop program is available here.
STUDENTS
Summer Fellowship in Antitrust Law
The ABA Section of Antitrust Law is sponsoring a summer fellowship program, whereby selected students will serve for a minimum of eight weeks in the consumer protection department of one of the participating State Attorneys General during the summer of 2010. Each selected student will receive a $5,000 stipend for the summer and a supplemental housing/travel allowance of up to $2,000. The application period is until February 5, 2010. MORE
Business Internship and Writing competition
The Center for Entrepreneurial Law notes that the American Bar Association is promoting a business internship program for the Summer of 2010 and a writing competition featuring cash prizes. For more information click here. Prof. George Kuney is willing to assist students in preparing an internship application or discuss the writing competition if desired.
Roscoe Hogan Environmental Law essay contest
The Public Justice Foundation is sponsoring the 2010 Roscoe Hogan Environmental Law Essay Contest. The topic is Can "Coal Be Clean? Litigation Remedies for Coal Contamination from Mining to Combustion to Sequestration." The intent-to-enter form submission deadline is Jan. 29, 2010, and the essay submission deadline is March 31, 2010. Below is the link for additional information about the contest. If you have any questions, please call 202-797-8600 or email cgoings@publicjustice.net. Details
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.
CAREER SERVICES
Upcoming programs offered through the Bettye B. Lewis Career Center:
-- 1L Career Advising Sessions continue all week, sign up for a session through Symplicity.
--
Job Search Tool Kit for 1Ls, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 12-12:50 p.m., Room 135.
-- Job Search Tool Kit for 1Ls, Wedsday, Nov. 18, 12-12:50 p.m., Room 135.