Attendees of the Black Law Student Association's (BLSA) annual Oliver White Hill Scholarship Banquet on April 14 were truly in the presence of a living legend: the famous Richmond civil rights attorney himself.
In a rite that began five years ago, the Law School community gathered the afternoon before graduation to celebrate the achievements and to acknowledge the numerous contributions of its soon-to-be graduates. May 25, 2007
Professor James G. Dwyer has been appointed the Class of 2010 Professor of Law by the William & Mary Board of Visitors. The three-year professorship was created by vote of the William & Mary student body in 2004 to recognize outstanding teachers and scholars.
Professor Paul Marcus, appointed to the first Herbert V. Kelly, Sr. Professorship for Excellence in Teaching on Sept. 28, is happy to share the key to his success as a legal educator. "The best lesson I've learned over the years about teaching is to involve students," he said. The numerous ways he encourages students to learn and the enthusiasm he brings to his classes have earned him accolades from many quarters.
As the Michael Vick dog-fighting saga captured the attention of the nation, two professors from William & Mary's Law School provided some of the country's top media outlets with expert insight into the legal proceedings that recently landed the suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback a 23-month prison term.
Last fall, students at William & Mary Law School founded the Students for Innocence Project (SFIP), a student chapter of the Innocence Project organization. SFIP is dedicated to researching and litigating the cases of the wrongly accused, educating the public about the problem of wrongful convictions, and lobbying for laws that make it easier for exonerated defendants to resume normal lives.
The William and Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review is pleased to present its 12th annual spring symposium, an annual event that focuses on timely topics in environmental law, on Saturday, Feb. 2.
On Wednesday, February 6, the William & Mary Federalist Society will host a lecture by Alan Gura, chief counsel for the plaintiffs in D.C. v. Heller, which goes before the U.S. Supreme Court on March 18. The lecture will be held at 1 PM in Room 127. Free and all are welcome.
Judge Eileen A. Olds, a 1982 graduate of the Law School, became the first Virginian to be inaugurated president of the American Judges Association in the group's 49 year history. The ceremony, held during the AJA's annual conference in Vancouver in September, was the largest gathering of judges in North America. Judge Olds currently presides as a judge of the Chesapeake Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, after serving four years as chief judge.
Mitchell Reiss, who served until February 2007 as the President's Special Envoy for the Northern Ireland Peace Process with the rank of Ambassador, will deliver a lecture at the Law School co-sponsored by the Human Rights and National Security Law Program and Students Defending Democracy. Entitled "The Northern Ireland Peace Process: How Pertinent a Model for Other Conflicts?" the talk will be presented on January 31 at 5 p.m. in Room 127 of the Law School, and is free and open to the public.
Mark Drumbl, the Class of 1975 Alumni Professor and Director of the Transnational Law Institute at Washington and Lee University Law School, will deliver a lecture entitled "Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law" at William & Mary Law School on Wednesday, January 23, in Room 127 at 5 pm. Free and open to the public, the talk is part of the Distinguished Lecture Series sponsored by the Human Rights and National Security Law Program.
The Black Law Students Association and the Students for Innocence Project will host a symposium on the death penalty at the Law School on Saturday, Jan. 26, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the McGlothlin Courtroom and room 133. The symposium is free and all are welcome.
Delivering the second annual Stanley H. Mervis Lecture in Intellectual Property on November 13 to a packed room of listeners, Marybeth Peters, the U.S. Register of Copyrights, spoke earnestly about the need for current legislation and public policy to return to the historical underpinnings of American copyright law.
Law Professor Linda Malone urged the William & Mary community to do more to prevent global warming in this year's St. George Tucker Lecture at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law on Nov. 29. Pointing to fledgling efforts to highlight the long term threats posed by global warming, she emphasized that litigation can help but that major changes begin at home.
Gene Nichol, president of the College of William & Mary, will present a talk titled "The Challenge of Equal Justice" on Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 1 o'clock in room 120 of the Law School. The lecture is sponsored by the Law School's George Wythe Society and there is no admission charge. The public is welcome.
Ian Ralby knows the pain of conflict, but he also knows the power of resolution. Now, a scholarship is allowing the former William & Mary Law student to study at the University of Cambridge so that he can bring that healing power to others throughout the world.
Marybeth Peters, the United States Register of Copyrights, will deliver the second annual Stanley H. Mervis Lecture in Intellectual Property on Tuesday, November 13, 2007. The lecture will be held at 1:00 p.m. in Room 127 of the Law School. Admission is free, and the event is open to the public.
With seven published novels, an eighth due out in January, and a ninth in the works, bestselling novelist David Robbins ('76, J.D. '80), has won accolades as an author. As this year's Scott and Vivian Donaldson writer-in-residence at the College, Robbins seeks to inspire aspiring writers.
George Wythe began his tenure as the first law professor at the first law school in America with one goal in mind: "Here we will form such characters as may be useful in the national councils of our country."
The Children/'s Advocacy Law Society is hosting a panel on the issues that affect children in families with domestic violence. These speakers will be discussing their professional positions, the ways in which they address the legal and other issues facing children who come from families with domestic violence, and the types of effective advocacy needed from the legal community and the community at large. The presentation is open to the graduate and undergraduate community, and will be followed by a reception with food and drink.
Construction on The Wolf Law Library was recently completed and the new facility is drawing great reviews from students.
University of Michigan Law Professor Margaret Jane Radin was awarded the 2007 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize at a dinner in her honor at the College of William & Mary's historic Wren Building on Oct. 5. The dinner was part of the Fourth Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference sponsored by the William & Mary Property Rights Project and the Institute of Bill of Rights Law.
The Center for Legal and Court Technology, formerly known as the Courtroom 21 Project, and the American Foundation for the Blind Consulting Group recently announced a joint initiative aimed at eliminating "the barriers between people with disabilities and the nation's state and federal courts and administrative agencies." Click here to visit the Initiative's website.
Junaid Ahmad '10 was recently elected president of the National Muslim Law Students Association (NMLSA). The national organization brings together Muslim law students for job, networking, and mentoring opportunities in the legal community.
The William & Mary Board of Visitors approved on Sept. 28 the appointment of Paul Marcus as the first Kelly Professor for Excellence in Teaching. The new professorship was made possible by a gift of $500,000 from the late Herbert V. Kelly, Sr., and will be held for a two-year term by a member of the Law School faculty. Kelly received his undergraduate and law degrees from William & Mary and was the senior partner at Jones, Blechman, Woltz & Kelly in Newport News, Va., until his death earlier this year.
Students at William & Mary Law School are set to launch the W&M VOTEline, a voter assistance hotline aimed at responding to difficulties students face at the voting polls locally and nationally. This non-partisan voter assistance hotline will be operated by student members of the school's Election Law Society (ELS).
The Class of 2010 joined us August 19. The Class had a median undergraduate GPA of 3.68, the highest in our history, and a median LSAT of 164 (91st percentile).
With construction completed during the summer, our new state-of-the art library was on-line and ready for the start of the school year.
Dean Taylor Reveley presented the 2007-08 St. George Tucker Adjunct Professorship Award to Judge Wilford Taylor, Jr., J.D. '78, at a luncheon at the College's historic Wren Building on Sept. 6. The award, created in 1995, is given each year to a member of the adjunct faculty for outstanding service.
On Friday, Sept. 7, for the second year in a row, William & Mary law students competed against Australian counterparts in the International Virtual Moot Court competition. This year, four W&M law students, Sarah Fulton '08, Laura Hopkins '08, Dan Kruger '08, and Amy Markopoulos '08 won the competition, beating out students from five Australian law schools.
For the third year in a row, new students from William & Mary toured Colonial Williamsburg to learn about the history of their new town and school. And this year, the weather held.
The Law School welcomed Associate Professor Vivian E. Hamilton to the faculty in August. Professor Hamilton will teach Family Law, Federal Civil Procedure, and Advanced Family Law Advocacy (a simulation-based course that introduces students to domestic relations practice). Her scholarship centers on theories of family law, marriage, and the socioeconomic implications of family policy.
The Law School community was greatly saddened by the death of Dick Williamson on June 22 in Williamsburg.
An article by Assistant Law Professor Erin Ryan was among twenty selected as finalists for publication in the 2006 edition of the LAND USE AND ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REVIEW, published annually by Thomson West to recognize the best land use and environmental law articles published each year.
An April conference sponsored by the Law School's Therapeutic Jurisprudence Program on the legal system's response to domestic violence in Virginia drew nearly 90 attendees from across the state.
The Oliver Hill Scholarship and summer public service fellowships were the beneficiaries of the spring 2007 "Moliterno Shave Campaign."
The Law School recognized Christopher J. Honenberger with the Citizen Lawyer Award at graduation on May 20. The award recognizes a graduate or friend of the Law School who stands squarely in the Jeffersonian tradition of outstanding citizenship and leadership.
Judge D. Brooks Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals addressed about 200 graduates at the Law School's commencement on Sunday, May 20. His message: "The role of citizen lawyer ... should include being a teacher."
Fellowships help support students' summer work at public interest organizations in 8 nations.
Class of 2007 Law School graduate Alexis McLeod has been awarded one of fifty Equal Justice Works Fellowships. She also was awarded the Law School's Thurgood Marshall Award, given to a member of the graduating class who exhibits the ideals of distinguished public service.
National War Powers Commission names Dean Reveley as Co-Director.
Members of the U.S. and Canadian justice systems have much in common and can benefit from engaging in an exchange of ideas, said William & Mary Chancellor and former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor during a Law School panel April 19.
Students taking Professor Christie Warren's seminar this semester are making a real impact in the development of legal systems around the world.
Lee Professor of Law William W. Van Alstyne has signed two collaborative briefs for cases pending in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ryan Igbanol, who will graduate from the Law School in May, will study at Queen Mary College of the University of London in the fall thanks to a scholarship sponsored by the Drapers' Company. The scholarship is awarded to a member of the graduating class each year.
Maryann Nolan, who will graduate from the Law School in May, will receive the Virginia State Bar's Oliver White Hill Pro Bono Award on May 17.
In a new book titled Guilty Pleas in International Criminal Law (Stanford University Press), Professor Nancy Combs explores the use of plea bargaining to bring to justice perpetrators of international crimes, such as genocide and other crimes against humanity.
The Loan Repayment Assistance Program selection committee announced in February that six members of the Class of 2006 will receive loan repayment assistance, and, in addition, three graduates (two from the Class of 2005 and one from the Class of 2004) have had their awards from 2006 renewed.
Ian Ralby JD '05 will study international relations at St. John's College Cambridge thanks to a Gates Cambridge scholarship. He is the first William & Mary graduate to be chosen for the program.
Michael A. Stein played an integral part in the committee that drafted the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and is also active on several other international projects promoting the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities.
