The Informant
June, 2011
FACULTY
From Greg Stein, Associate Dean for Faculty Development
A big congratulations to Professor Karla McKanders, who has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Morocco for the upcoming academic year. McKanders is in the process of working out the final details of this prestigious award. She will be teaching at the University of Mohamed V-Souissi, in the capital city of Rabat, in the school's new Migration, Human Rights, and Development program. The focus of the program is on the training of advocates in representing migrants who are victims of human rights abuses. In addition to Moroccan students, the program will be marketed to students in the European Union interested in immigrants' rights. McKanders will be teaching two courses (in French): Comparative International Refugee Law and Forced Migration of Africans in the Diaspora.
The UT Department of Sociology and the Center for the Study of Social Justice recently held a conference on "Social Justice and the University." The conference showcased keynote addresses from Frances Fox Piven and others, and sought to explore the challenges universities face in meeting the economic, social and global pressures of the 21st century. Three College of Law professors were among the panelists featured at the event.
— Professor Rob Blitt participated in the opening panel discussion, offering his views on "The Promise of International Law in Developing a Global Foundation for Social Justice."
— Professor Ben Barton spoke on "The Role of Law School Clinics in University Social Justice Work."
— Professor Emeritus Fran Ansley's talk — "Universities and Activism for Social Justice: What's Power Got To Do With It?" — explored how public universities have a responsibility to address issues of social justice in the larger community even though such issues sometimes become contentious.
Blitt recently traveled to Israel, where he gave two presentations. His talks, delivered at Haifa University Law School and the Israel Democracy Institute, addressed the impact of NGO regulation on respect for international human rights norms.
Blitt's most recent article, "The Bottom Up Journey of 'Defamation of Religion' from Muslim States to the United Nations: A Case Study of the Migration of Anti-Constitutional Ideas," will appear in the forthcoming volume of "Studies in Law, Politics and Society (Special Issue: Human Rights: New Possibilities/New Problems)."
In recognition of the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," Professor Judy Cornett was the featured speaker at a recent presentation examining whether Atticus Finch acted ethically according to the Rules of Professional Conduct. The program, entitled "The Ethics of Atticus Finch," provided one hour of CLE and included clips from the 1962 movie. The Knoxville Bar Association sponsored the event.
In addition, Cornett recently participated in a Nashville webcast sponsored by the Tennessee Bar Association. The panelists discussed the impact of the Tennessee Supreme Court's decision in Gossett v. Tractor Supply Co., along with recently passed legislation that purports to overrule both Gossett and Hannan v. Alltel. The program, entitled "After Tractor Supply: From the Experts on Summary Judgment," featured Wade Cowan and Doug Pierce (the two opposing attorneys in the case), Cornett and moderator Harold Pinkley.
Professor Joan Heminway was recently an invited participant in a roundtable on teaching corporate finance at The Conglomerate, a weblog focusing on legal issues involving business law topics. Read MORE.
In addition, Heminway presented a paper at the Law and Society Association's recent annual meeting and conference. The paper, "Proceed at Your Peril: Crowdfunding and the Securities Act of 1933," analyzes legal issues relating to a novel internet-based venture finance model.
Heminway also was quoted in a recent Knoxville News-Sentinel article discussing possible pay raises for UT employees. Read MORE.
Professor Becky Jacobs has recently published an article entitled "Volunteers: The Power of Community Mediation," in the Nevada Law Journal. The article is part of a symposium on "Conflict Resolution and the Economic Crisis."
Professor George Kuney has recently published the third edition of his book, "The Elements of Contract Drafting." The new edition features, among other things, an expanded and revised discussion of representations and warranties as well as events of default and remedies based upon his work over the last few years with those matters.
Robert Siegel interviewed Professor Alex Long on NPR’s All Things Considered in connection with Long's study of judicial citations to lyrics of popular songs. Siegel asked, "How many times can a judge cite Bob Dylan songs?" The answer, my friend, is 186 times. Read or listen HERE.
And read more HERE.
Long and Professor Paula Schaefer attended the 37th annual American Bar Association National Conference on Professional Responsibility, which was held recently in Memphis. The conference brings together leading experts, scholars and practitioners in the field of attorney professional conduct. The conference included sessions on current issues in attorney discipline, malpractice and proposed revisions to professional conduct rules. For a photo of Long and Schaefer with a Memphis resident by the name of Presley, see the first photo HERE.
A manuscript by Professor Glenn Reynolds, entitled "Divine Operating Systems" which is scheduled for publication in an upcoming symposium issue of the Tennessee Law Review, is currently the fourth most-cited recent article on the entire SSRN website. Reynolds is not even the highest-ranked UT person on the list, however; that honor is reserved for alumna Morgan Manning '10, whose article from the same TLR symposium, entitled "Less than Picture Perfect: The Legal Relationship Between Photographers' Rights and Law Enforcement," is number two on the list. See the current list HERE (and note that the numbers are updated daily).
Professor Reynolds's article, "Five Takes on McDonald v. Chicago," coauthored with Brannon Denning, has been published in the University of Virginia's Journal of Law & Politics. Read MORE.
In addition, Reynolds recently published a column on the Apple iPhone privacy controversy in the New York Post. Read MORE.
Professor Otis Stephens' new book, "In Touch with Learning: A History of the Georgia Academy for the Blind," has just been published. The book traces the history of the Academy from 1851 through the present day and describes the many challenges it has overcome throughout that history.
An article by Professor Maurice Stucke about the huge AT&T/T-Mobile transaction, co-authored with Allen P. Grunes, has been accepted for publication by the Federal Communications Law Journal. Read MORE.
Stucke's earlier chapter, entitled "Am I a Price-Fixer? A Behavioral Economics Analysis of Cartels," was recently reviewed on the Antitrust & Competition Policy Blog. The chapter is available HERE and the blog post is available HERE.
The Swedish Competition Authority has invited Prof. Stucke to speak at its annual conference this November. The seminar will include competition officials from other European countries and the European Commission.
Clayton Visiting Professor CJ Vachon recently published an opinion piece in the San Jose Mercury-News. The article is entitled "Bin Laden Compound Is Ordinary By Pakistan Standards." Read MORE.
Professor Penny White recently delivered the first Judge Polly Shelton endowed lecture for the Missouri Municipal and Associate Circuit Judges Association at the association's annual meeting at Lake of the Ozarks. The lecture was entitled "Judge Polly's Passion: Promoting Fair and Independent Courts."
White and third-year student Brennan Wingerter recently presented a program entitled "A Journey Through the Rules of Evidence" to the Louisiana Judicial College and Louisiana State Bar Association Summer School held in Destin, Fla. The two speakers used a hypothetical case to illustrate the application of various evidentiary rules in a trial setting.
White also presented a program at the annual Tennessee Association for Justice meeting on the topic of "Evidence Cases for Every Trial Lawyer's Toolkit."
In addition, White presented a program to Oklahoma trial judges as part of the Capital Litigation Improvement Initiative of the National Judicial College. She spoke on the topic "Capital Cases and Federal Constitutional Issues." The CLII is a program designed to assist judges trying capital cases. White is one of the founding faculty members in CLII.
STUDENTS
Student interest sought on possible Commercial Leasing seminar
Professor George Kuney is considering offering a seminar on Commercial Leasing in the Spring 2012 semester, which would cover the substantive law involved in such transactions as well as analysis and drafting of complex commercial leases and related documents. The seminar as currently envisioned would be a small one, for 3 credit hours, open to 2Ls and 3Ls, if there is sufficient interest. The seminar would focus primarily on office leases, but will touch on retail and industrial leases to examine some of the unique issues that these present. In order to gauge possible participation, Kuney requests that students that might be interested in taking such a class send him an e-mail expressing their non-binding interest.
Professor Kuney seeks research assistant for 2011-12
Professor George Kuney is looking for a law review or journal trained research assistant for the 2011-12 academic year to work on a variety of projects involving research, writing, proof reading and manuscript preparation. Work schedule flexible consistent with agreed upon deadlines for deliverables. Interested students should e-mail Kuney with an expression of interest, current resume and any other relevant and appropriate materials.
CAREER SERVICES
Upcoming program offered through the Bettye B. Lewis Career Center:
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No programs scheduled.