U. of Virginia Alumna Wins Clerkship at World Court

Najwa Nabti, a 2002 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, is the second recipient of a fellowship that supports UVA graduates while they serve as clerks at the International Court of Justice.

The Orrick International Law Fellowship awards up to $40,000 to selected University of Virginia graduates to cover relocation, housing, and living expenses while they work at the World Court. The program is funded by the international law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

Nabti described the selection process to the University of Virginia campus newspaper as "very competitive...You're competing [for the fellowship] with any law student from U.Va. graduating anywhere from this year to five years ago, and the quality of people is very high. It's a very exciting opportunity and a great honor to represent U.Va. at The Hague."

Nabti is one of nine candidates worldwide to be selected to clerk at the IJC. The Court invites selected law schools to nominate candidates for the positions each year. Deena Hurwitz, director of the Human Rights Program and International Human Rights Law Clinic at the University of Virginia, said,"U.Va. is proud to be one of the law schools in the United States to participate" in the program.

Source: "Law Alumna to Serve as Clerk in World Court," by Stephanie Fees - the Cavalier Daily, April 25, 2006

Penn Law Gets $10M to Aid Grads' Public Interest Careers

A Penn Law School alumnus has donated $10 million to the school to provide financial support to students entering public service careers.

Law School Dean Michael Fitts told the Daily Pennsylvanian that Robert Toll's gift was greatly appreciated. "We desperately need more young lawyers to take on society's challenges," he told the paper. But for too long the path to public service has been impeded by financial obstacles. Fortunately, Bob Toll has removed some of those barriers for years to come, and we are in his debt."

Toll, who graduated from Penn in 1966, is CEO of Toll Brothers Inc., a residential construction company. He designated $5 million of his gift to establish a Toll Public Interests Scholars Program this fall. The program will support funding of full first year scholarships and partial second and third year scholarships for students committed to practicing in the public sector.

Source: "Penn Law Gets $10M Donation," by Ben Marrone - the Daily Pennsylvanian, April 21, 2006

Technorati tags: University of Pennsylvania Law School, Penn Law

U. of Minnesota Law School Dean Steps Down

Alex M. Johnson, who has served as Dean of the University of Minnesota Law School since 2002, announced this week that he will resign his deanship effective May 31. He will return to the University as a faculty member with dean emeritus status after taking a year of sabbatical.

Johnson has been credited with raising the Law School's profile and instituting changes that attracted a more competitive pool of applicants. He said in a 2002 interview that his priorities as dean included reducing the faculty-student ratio, retaining quality faculty members, recruiting more minority students, and improving the Law School Library.

The average GPAs and LSAT scores of Law School applicants increased under Johnson's tenure. The University of Minnesota placed 19th in this year's US News & World Report rankings.

A second-year Minnesota law student told the campus paper that she thought Johnson should have done more to support students interested in public service careers. “He failed to support and fund the public interest program and public interest groups," the student told the Minnesota Daily. "This is something we need for our law school to be one of the top 20 law schools in the nation.”

Source: "Dean of U Law School Resigns," by Jim Hammerand and Vadim Lavrusik - the Minnesota Daily, April 20, 2006

Technorati tags: University of Minnesota Law School, law school rankings, public service

W&L Law Dean Moving to Emory

David Partlett, dean of the School of Law at Washington & Lee University, has been named the new dean of Emory Law School.

Partlett told the Rockbridge Weekly that the decision to leave Washington & Lee was difficult. "Working with the faculty, students and staff has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life," he told the Lexington, Virginia newspaper. "In the last six years, we have all worked to build on W&L's strengths -- its commitment to excellence in teaching and scholarship."

Partlett, who holds his LL.B. from the University of Sydney, established new international exchange programs for W&L and expanded its LL.M. program. He is also credited with expanding the size of W&L's faculty and attracting an increasingly competitive student body. He raised a record amount of funds for projects such as the renovation and technological upgrading of School of Law's classrooms and other academic spaces.

In Atlanta, Ben Johnson, chair of the Emory Board of Trustees and member of the law school dean search committee, called Partlett's appointment "a wonderful addition to both the Emory community and the Atlanta and Georgia legal communities....He brings both a U.S. and global perspective to the law and legal education, and he has experience as a student, faculty member and dean at some of the nation's very best law schools, which will be a substantial asset as he begins his work at Emory."

Partlett will assume his duties at Emory on July 1. Washington & Lee said it would soon begin a search for his replacement.

Sources:

"W&L's David Partlett Named New Law Dean At Emory University," the Rockbridge Weekly (Lexington, VA), April 10, 2006

"Emory Names New Law School Dean." Press release, Emory University, April 7, 2006

ASU Law School Named for Justice O'Connor

"ASU Names College of Law in Honor of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor"
Press Release - Arizona State University, April 5 2006

TEMPE, Ariz., April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Arizona State University is naming the College of Law after retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, in honor of her career-long dedication to public service, her intellectual vigor and her sense of fair-mindedness.

The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at ASU was announced at a press conference held today at ASU. Dignitaries attending the press conference included Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor and ASU President Michael M. Crow.

"We are establishing a permanent and living tribute to Justice O'Connor, one that will honor a native daughter who has provided extraordinary service to her state and country," said ASU President Michael M. Crow. "This will be a living tribute, because it will continue over generations of students."

"Justice O'Connor is a quintessential Arizonan, and we want to celebrate that," Crow added. "We want to associate ourselves and our school with the values that Justice O'Connor stands for, including integrity, public service, personal independence, the willingness to take risks, wonderful curiosity, high intellectual standards, and an abiding commitment to justice and the rule of law."...

NY Law School's Law Review Marks 50th Anniversary

"United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Addresses New York Law School Law Review’s 50th Anniversary Banquet" - press release, New York Law School (New York, NY), March 28 2006

NEW YORK, March 28, 2006 -- Student members of the New York Law School Law Review were treated to two once-in-a-lifetime experiences on Friday night, March 24: They celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Law Review, and their celebration was attended by a United States Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, who also gave the keynote speech....

The banquet, held in the glittering ballroom of SoHo’s Puck Building, was attended by legal luminaries including renowned First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams and Arthur Abbey '59, president of New York Law School’s Board of Trustees. Justice Scalia was introduced by longtime friend Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union. Despite their ideological differences, Strossen, a New York Law School professor, described Justice Scalia as a “genuine hero” for civil libertarians.

New this year, a video documentary, Insight & Substance: Fifty Years of the New York Law School Law Review, featured interviews with past law review editors, including the Honorable Roger J. Miner ’56, senior judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and managing editor of the law review, 1955–1956. The documentary was written, produced, and edited by Carra Greenberg 3L....

The New York Law School Law Review is edited and published entirely by students at New York Law School approximately four times a year. The Law Review publishes articles and notes by professors, judges, practitioners, and students on many areas of legal scholarship, including constitutional law, criminal law, international law, corporate law, legal education, and legal history. It serves not only as an academic forum for legal scholarship, but is designed to be an effective research tool for practicing attorneys and students of the law. The Law Review provides opportunities for members to develop their own editing and writing skills, with each issue containing pieces by student editors as well as outside authors.

Founded in 1891, New York Law School is the second oldest independent law school in the United States. Drawing on its location near the centers of law, government, and finance in New York City, its faculty of noted and prolific scholars has built the school’s curricular strength in the areas of tax law, labor and employment law, civil and human rights law, media and information law, urban legal studies, international and comparative law, and interdisciplinary fields such as legal history and legal ethics. New York Law School has more than 11,000 graduates and enrolls some 1500 students in its full- and part-time J.D. program. It is one of only two law schools in the metropolitan area to offer the Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Tax Law.

Liman Program Announces 2006 Yale Law School Fellows

"Liman Public Interest Program at Yale Law School Expands"
Press release - Yale University, 30 March 2006

The Arthur Liman Public Interest Program at Yale Law School will hold its ninth annual colloquium on March 30 and 31.

The colloquium takes place in a period of expansion, growing diversity and a weaving together of Yale Law School not only with its undergraduate counterpart, Yale College, but also with several other leading universities and colleges, including Brown, Harvard, Princeton, Barnard and Spelman.

With fellowships to undergraduates for summer work in public interest and funding to Yale Law graduates to work for underserved populations, the Liman Program is a unique, intergenerational effort to build a community of concerned advocates focused on public service....

The seven new Yale Law School Fellows, to serve in 2006–2007:
Alice Chapman, a 2003 graduate, will serve her fellowship at the Immigrants’ Rights Project of the ACLU in New York.

Sameera Fazili, to graduate in 2006, will spend her fellowship year at Shorebank in Chicago, working with their affiliate Northern Initiatives to create a consortium of community development financial institutions in an innovative effort to raise investment capital for people with limited access to such funds.

Paige Herwig, also graduating in 2006, will work at the National Women’s Law Center in Washington, DC, where she will focus on state regulation of pharmacies, exploring ways to improve access to contraception.

Anna Rich, a 2003 graduate, will spend her fellowship year at the National Senior Citizens’ Law Center in Oakland, CA, to advocate for individuals with disabilities and for low-income seniors affected by Medicare’s new prescription drug plan.

Larry Schwartztol, a 2005 graduate, will hold the Program’s first joint fellowship, co-sponsored by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School; he will be a part of its Democracy Program and direct his efforts towards reform of state felony disenfranchisement laws and the enforcement of state voting rights for individuals with criminal convictions.

Marc Silverman, graduating in 2006, will spend his fellowship year at Advocates for Children in New York, where he will work on behalf of older youth with disabilities as they make the transition from schools to employment, post-secondary education, training programs and independent living.

Charisa Smith, a 2005 graduate, will begin a new project at JustChildren in Richmond, VA, where her focus will be on juvenile parolees in need of legal assistance to obtain housing, education, health care, mentoring and vocational training. She hopes to establish centers that will provide a range of services for this population.