The Informant
April 14, 2009
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Students litigate immigration cases in Memphis
During the week of April 9, Prof. Karla McKanders and students Katie Southworth and Terry Stevens traveled to Memphis to litigate asylum cases before the Memphis Immigration Court. Over the course of their spring 2009 semester in the Advocacy Clinic, under the direction of Prof. McKanders, Southworth and Stevens engaged in preparing a detailed evidence submission collaborating their client’s asylum claim, drafting their client and out of country witness affidavits, writing a brief on gender asylum claims, obtaining expert witnesses and preparing for client interviews. Both students worked diligently in preparing their clients, witnesses and expert witnesses for their trials.
The culmination of their efforts lead to three hour hearings where they litigated the complex legal issue of whether the U.S. Attorney General should recognize gender based asylum claims. Their cases came on the heals of the December 2008 U.S. Attorney General decision remanding a precedent gender asylum case back to the immigration court, which made the issues in their case even more complex and challenging. “Congratulations to Katie and Terry on all of their hard work and dedication to their clients throughout the semester and on litigating very tough asylum cases,” said Prof. McKanders.
Evidence Moot Court team competes in Brooklyn
The University of Tennessee College of Law Jerome Prince Evidence Moot Court team, comprised of Ashonti Davis, Joshua Dougan, and Dana Neumann, competed against 37 other teams at Brooklyn Law School. The team argued eloquently in two rounds and received high praise from both benches. Please extend your congratulations to the team members for an excellent performance.
Prof. Pierce named interim Baker Center Director
Prof. Carl Pierce will serve as interim director of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, beginning June 1. MORE
Annual Novak Auction set for April 15
The Student Bar Association will be hosting its Annual Allen Novak Auction on Wednesday, April 15, 2009, during the free hour on the front patio of the law school. In addition to the live auction, a silent auction will be set up in the Rotunda from Monday, April 13 until the live auction begins. All students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend and to bid on some wonderful items donated by local businesses and faculty members!
Funds raised by the auction go to support TAPIL, which provides summer stipends for students participating in public service work, and emergency student loans. Members of your SBA Council will be selling pizza during the auction, so come with an appetite. The SBA hopes to see you there!
VITA program nears completion
Tax season is here, and that means it's time for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. VITA is a program, sponsored by both the IRS and UT Pro Bono, whose mission is to provide free tax services for UT students, faculty, and staff, as well as low- to moderate- income individuals and families. This year, VITA will be taking place Monday-Wednesday, 4-7 p.m., in the Student Organization Office on the third floor (Room 302). VITA will also be hosting a special International Night on Tuesdays for international students and friends (U.S. citizens can come on any night). Please be sure to bring a valid photo ID, your Social Security card, and all relevant tax documents (W-2, 1099, etc.). If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Roman Hankins (rhankins@utk.edu) or Rachel Levinson (rlevinso@utk.edu).
FACULTY
From Greg Stein, Associate Dean for Faculty Development:
Prof. Judy Cornett gave a presentation last week at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and Humanities at Suffolk University in Boston. Prof. Cornett presented the result of twenty years of research on the "Old Bachelor" of Polk County: James Pettitt, a man with two families, one white and one Native American. She brought to light a fascinating family story untold by the cases reporting lawsuits between members of that family. Her paper explored ways the legal system sustains cultural myths by erasing people from the official historic record. Congratulations to Prof. Cornett on her continuing work on this fascinating topic.
Faculty members who are considering submitting law review articles to journals this summer may be interested to learn that Washington and Lee Law Review has adopted an expedited review process for summer submissions. Authors who submit to just this one review and agree to accept a publication offer will receive a response within two weeks of submitting their manuscript. For more information, visit http://law.wlu.edu/lawreview/page.asp?pageid=118 and then click on "Summer Submission Program."
Faculty Members: Have you ever wondered whether your colleagues (at other schools of course) are gaming the SSRN system by repeatedly downloading their own articles to increase their own hit counts? If so, you might be interested in downloading the following article, in which two professors reach some surprising conclusions. The abstract is available here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1346397. But download it only once!
Prof. Heminway volunteers for Science Olympiad and presents at Political Science Conference
On Saturday, March 28, Prof. Joan Heminway was the coordinator for the "Write It/Do It" event at the Tennessee Science Olympiad competition here on campus. Prof. Heminway formerly coached this event at Bearden Middle School.
On Friday, April 3, Prof. Heminway delivered a paper at the annual conference of the Midwest Political Science Association. The paper, entitled "Common Roots, Divergent Evolution: Insider Trading Doctrine in the United States, Japan, and Germany," compares insider trading laws in the United States, Japan, and Germany and offers new explanations for notable differences.
STAFF
Karen Britton moderator for Nashville event
Karen Britton is on the program at the Tennessee Bar Association's Law Firm Management Conference in Nashville this week. Britton will moderate a panel of managing partners discussing the topic "Career Paths and Partnership Structures" featuring UT alumnus Melvin Malone (Miller & Martin), Keith Simmons (Bass, Berry & Sims) and Charles Bone (Bone McAllester Norton).
STUDENTS
Judicial Externship accepting applications
The College of Law will again offer its judicial externship program during the Fall Semester 2009. Between two and seven students will be selected to participate in the four-hour judicial externship for the spring semester. The deadline for applications is April 17. MORE
Advocacy Center to hold year's end collaboration
Students who are graduating with a concentration in Advocacy and Dispute Resolution are invited to attend the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution's Year-End Collaboration on April 23 at the Bridgeview Grill, located on Neyland Drive across from the Thompson-Boling Arena. At the Collaboration, which begins at 5:30, concentration students will have an opportunity to thank their adjunct professors and to hear one of Tennessee's most respected lawyers, Robert E. Pryor, talk about why he loves the practice of law. In addition, the Center will announce the 2009 Summers-Wyatt Scholar and will award certificates to concentration graduates
FCBA Student writing competition
The Federal Circuit Bar Association announces the 2009 George Hutchinson Writing Competition on a topic directed to a subject within the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Deadline for submissions is June 26, 2009. MORE
LEWIS CAREER CENTER
-- No events this week.