The Informant
May 5, 2009
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Lindsay Thompson named to Alumni Council
Congratulations to 3L Lindsay Anne Thompson for being elected to represent the Class of 2009 on the Alumni Council. She will serve on the Council for one year and provide feedback and ideas to the group about being a first-year graduate. The Alumni Council is comprised of UT College of Law alumni who work with Dean Doug Blaze and the Development and Alumni Affairs Office to foster the development and advance the quality of the law school by connecting students with professionals, to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship between the College of Law community and its alumni, and to foster loyalty and financial support for the College of Law’s annual giving program.
Graduates: check your main boxes
To all graduating students, please check your law school mailboxes for information about the 2009 Class Gift and the Tennessee Law Fund. Please consider making a philanthropic investment, no matter what size, in your law school. If you have any questions, please contact Dean Blaze or Lauren Herbstritt at (865) 974-6704 or LKH@utk.edu.
2Ls: check your email!
The entire 2L (rising 3L) class has been sent an email message from Profs. Ben Barton, Joan Heminway, and Penny White inviting them to apply for student membership in the local (Hamilton Burnett) chapter of the American Inns of Court, a national organization "designed to improve the skills, professionalism and ethics of the bench and bar." Applications are due by June 1, 2009, and should be sent to Prof. Barton. Questions about the Inns of Court can be directed to Profs. Barton, Heminway or White.
UT Pro Bono Animal Law recognized
The UT Pro Bono Animal Law Project (Patricia Graves, Tiffany Hagar, Stephanie Swing, and Alicia Tuebert) were honored by the UT Office of the Dean of Students for Outstanding Contributions to Campus Life April 27. They received a certificate at a reception in the Hermitage Room.
TJLP announces new Editorial Board
Congratulations to the 2009-10 Editorial Board of the Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy: Editor-in-Chief: Sally Goade; Managing Editor: Meredith Rambo; Executive Editor: Ashley White; Research Edtiors: Emily Shultz and Shawn Tyrell; Publication Editor: Tiffany Hagar; Articles Editor: Amanda Jordan; Candidacy Process Editor: Dana Neumann; and Symposium Chair: Monica Rice.
Transactions Special report forthcoming
Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of its Special Report issue titled “Teaching Drafting and Transactional Skills: The Basics and Beyond,” a summary of the Emory University Law School conference of the same name held May 30 to 31, in 2008. The journal’s faculty advisor is Prof. George Kuney, who was a member of the conference’s steering committee and a speaker on two of the conference’s panels. Kuney, UT’s Director of the Clayton Center for Entrepreneurial Law, accompanied by Adjunct Professors Mark Jendrek, Brian Krumm, and Douglas Gordon, attended the conference, where Professor Tina Stark, Director of Emory’s Center for Transactional Law and Practice offered Transactions the opportunity to publish the proceedings. The editors and staff of transactions have worked with Prof. Kuney over the last year to produce this Special Report.
If you would like to order a copy of this special edition, please send a check or money order for $20 payable to The Tennessee Journal of Business Law, 1505 W. Cumberland Ave., Suite 202, Knoxville, TN 37996. (Annual subscriptions to Transactions—which include two issues plus any special reports—are available for $20 per year.) Click here for a link to Emory’s webpage featuring the handouts and videos of the conference.
FACULTY
From Greg Stein, Associate Dean for Faculty Development:
Prof. Iris Goodwin was quoted in the New York Times earlier this week. She commented on the difficulties educational institutions face when charitable grants they have received contain restrictions that have become outdated or obsolete. The article is available here. Congratulations to Prof. Goodwin on this recognition of her ongoing important work in this field!
Prof. Michael Higdon of the Boyd School of Law (UNLV ), who will join the UT faculty this summer, was quoted last week on NPR’s All Things Considered. The NPR story profiled Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jay Bybee, a former UNLV law professor, who has come under fire for memos that he wrote while working at the US Department of Justice. These documents argued that certain harsh interrogation practices, such as waterboarding, do not constitute torture. Prof. Higdon, who was a student of Judge Bybee’s, commented on his skills and fairness as a teacher. The full story (text and audio) is available here. Congratulations and welcome to Prof. Higdon!
And my article on “Property Law” has just been published in the Berkshire Encyclopedia of China. This new five-volume encyclopedia includes over 800 articles on Chinese history and culture. My entry provides an overview of Chinese property law, both before and after the introduction of China’s new property code in 2007.
Prof. Plank has mortgage article published by South Carolina Law Review
Prof. Tom Plank just had an article, "Regulation and Reform of the Mortgage Market and the Nature of Mortgage Loans: Lessons from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," published in the South Carolina Law Review as part of a symposium issue, “1.9 Kids and a Foreclosure: Subprime Mortgages, the Credit Crisis, and Restoring the American Dream.” This article argues that any proposals for the regulation of the mortgage market must take into account the nature of mortgage loans as long term assets and facilitate the long term financing of such mortgage loans. The failure to recognize the nature of mortgage loans led to the faulty regulatory design of the savings and loan industry after the Great Depression and the ultimate insolvency of the entire S&L industry in the 1980s. The guaranty of mortgage pass-through certificates by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that could be sold into the capital market solves this problem, and it has been and should continue to be a significant part of the future mortgage market. However, these entities should not be allowed to operate as they have recently as a hedge fund by buying long term mortgage loans and financing them with short term borrowing.
STUDENTS
New law student scholarship seeks female applicants
The American Association for Justice is seeking applicants for a newly created law school scholarship named The Mike Eidson Scholarship Fund. The Fund was established by the AAJ Women for Justice Education Fund in 2008, through the Women's Caucus, in honor of AAJ Past President Mike Eidson, whose vision and generosity inspired it. The Scholarship will be awarded annually to a rising 3L (or rising 4L in a night program) female student who has demonstrated a commitment to a career as a trial lawyer, along with dedication to upholding and defending the principles of the Constitution, and to the concept of a fair trial, the adversary system, and a just result for the injured, the accused, and those whose rights are jeopardized.
The deadline for applications is May 31 and the first Scholarship will be awarded at the AAJ San Francisco convention, July 25-29. The application is available online here. Please contact Angelica Womack at angelica.womack@justice.org if you have any questions.
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 scheduled for the remainder of the semester.