The Informant
June 2009
FACULTY
From Greg Stein, Associate Dean for Faculty Development:
Law faculty members might be interested in a new online article submission service (“LexOpus”) that Washington and Lee is now offering. This service appears to provide direct competition to the Expresso service that many faculty members have used for past work. While LexOpus provides some notable advantages, it may also present some subtle disadvantages, as several members of the faculty have already noted to me. More information about the service is available here. Before using LexOpus, you may want to discuss it with me or with other faculty members, so we can all kick around the pros and cons.
Prof. Colin Miller of John Marshall Law School has posted a Submission Guide for Online Law Review Supplements to SSRN.
Prof. Jeff Hirsch was recently quoted on NPR. NPR asked Prof. Hirsch for his views on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotamayor’s decision in the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike case. The story is available here. Congratulations to Prof. Hirsch!
The film Morristown, for which Prof. Fran Ansley served as a contributor, recently received a favorable review in the Cornell International Law Journal. The reviewer describes how the film “brings to life the human element missing from the political and legal analysis” of globalization issues. The review is available here (for Hein Online subscribers). The full citation is 41 Cornell Int’l L.J. 139 (2008). More information about the film is available here. Congratulations to Prof. Ansley for her continuing work in this important area!
Prof. Glenn Reynolds published an article in the Wall Street Journal online entitled “Tax Audits Are No Laughing Matter.” The article, which is available here, discusses some of President Obama’s remarks during the commencement speech he delivered at Arizona State University. Congratulations to Prof. Reynolds for remaining engaged in this important debate!
Dean Doug Blaze will participate in an upcoming symposium at DePaul Law School entitled “Vanishing Act: Legal Education in a World Without Trials.” Dean Blaze’s panel, “Implications for Traditional Scholarship and Teaching,” will be comprised of distinguished law school deans and will explore the effects within academic precincts of the empirical trend toward fewer and fewer civil trials. Good luck to Dean Blaze on this upcoming presentation!
Several members of the clinical faculty recently played important roles at the 2009 AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education. Profs. Dean Rivkin and Karla McKanders presented a concurrent session entitled “Coaching Millennials: Re-examining the Foundations and Future of Clinical Legal Education in Teaching to a New Generation.” Profs. Ben Barton and Mae Quinn participated in an Affinity Group Meeting on “Clinical Scholarship and Scholarship by Clinicians.” And Prof. Paula Williams helped put the entire conference together by serving on the AALS Planning Committee. Congratulations to all our clinical faculty members who participated for helping to keep UT’s Legal Clinic at the forefront of U.S. clinical education!
In response to a suggestion in a law review article by Prof. George Kuney, the House of Representatives has amended H.R. 1728, the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2009, to include language requiring lenders to advise borrowers of anti-deficiency protections they may enjoy and may lose in a refinancing transaction. This is an important protection for homeowners in times of falling home prices. Prof. Kuney’s article, “What Your Lender and Mortgage Broker Didn't Tell You: A Proposal for Increased Disclosure of Purchase Money Borrower Protections and their Loss on Refinance,” appeared at 4 Hastings Bus. L.J. 209 (2008) and is available here (for Hein Online subscribers). Congratulations to Prof. Kuney for making the argument for this important consumer protection!
Other Faculty News
Prof. Alex Long recently did an on-camera interview with WBIR News concerning Knox County Law Director Bill Lockett. The story can be seen here.
In May, Prof. Joan Heminway led a seminar session for graduate and post-graduate Brazilian law students at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, the public university of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (“UERJ”), on contract drafting for cross-border transactions. She also lectured on the world financial crisis for undergraduate law students at UERJ and undergraduate international relations and business students at Ibmec, a private university that also is in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Prof. Heminway has been told that the Ibmec lecture is being translated into Portuguese for publication as part of a symposium on international relations. The first week in June, Prof. Heminway taught at least two class sessions (one in a Comparative Mergers & Acquisitions course and one in a Corporate Governance course) at Fundaçao Getulio Vargas in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Prof. Paula Schaefer presented "Clawbacks, Quick Peeks, and Confidentiality" at the Scholarship Roundtable at the 35th ABA National Conference on Professional Responsibility in Chicago on May 29, 2009.
Prof. George Kuney's article "Unethical Protection? Model Rule 1.8(h) and Plan Releases of Professional Liability" has been accepted for publication in The American Bankruptcy Journal, the peer reviewed law journal of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. The article examines the ethical ramifications of including third party releases that cover estate counsel's performance during a chapter 11 case in the plan of reorganization and concludes that insufficient attention has been paid to this issue. The suggested solution is for plan release provisions benefitting estate counsel to be included in court approved retention agreements at the inception of the representation, if they are warranted at all.
Prof. Joan Heminway, Penny White, and Becky Jacobs are teaching in the Georgia State University College of Law Summer Legal and Policy Study In Consortium With Seattle University School of Law and The University of Tennessee College of Law. Profs. White and Jacobs will be participating in a Conference at Universidade Candido Mendes, a law school in Rio de Janiero.
In May, Prof. Robert Blitt briefed members of the Knoxville Federal Defender Service on international law issues as part of a day-long seminar held at the law school. Also in May, an op-ed written by Profs. Blitt and Otis Stephens assessing the Obama administration's policies related to terrorism appeared in The Tennessean. It is available here. Newly published Volume 40 of the George Washington University Journal of International Affairs features a lead article by Prof. Blitt entitled "Babushka Said Two Things—It Will Either Rain or Snow; It Either Will or Will Not: An Analysis of the Provisions and Human Rights Implications of Russia's New Law on Non-Governmental Organizations as Told Through Eleven Russian Proverbs." The article is also available through SSRN here. Later this summer, Prof. Blitt will be presenting at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools annual meeting and traveling to Canberra, Australia, to participate in a conference examining the implications for cultural and religious freedom under a proposed Australian bill of rights. Additional information about the conference, sponsored by the University of Adelaide's Research Unit for the Study of Society, Law and Religion, is available here.
Prof. Judy Cornett's article, "The Ethics of Blawging: A Genre Analysis," has been accepted for publication in Vol. 41, issue 1 of the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal. On June 20, Prof. Cornett will be presenting a CLE presentation on "The Ethics of Blawging" at the Home Run CLE at Smokies Park, co-sponsored by the UT College of Law and the Ridenour Law firm. On June 11, she will present a CLE program to the Smoky Mountain Paralegal Association entitled "Tennessee Ethics Update: New and Proposed Rules."
STUDENTS
Prof. George Kuney is considering offering an independent study opportunity to students interested in advanced contract drafting in the context of Commercial Real Estate Leasing. This notice is intended to check for student interest in such an opportunity. The independent study, as presently conceived, would be three credit hours in the Fall 2009 semester and would involve weekly drafting assignments dealing with portions of a typical commercial real property lease culminating in a large scale drafting and negotiation exercise. Student group meetings would be limited to two hours per week and office hours to discuss the material and drafting feedback. If interested, please let Kuney know by e-mail (gkuney@utk.edu). Enrollment would be limited and the independent study opportunity will not be offered if there is insufficient interest. This independent study would be a first step in developing a course covering this material.