Clinical Law Prof Blog

UW Law: Prof. Robinson-Dorn Promoted to Associate Professor

UW Clinical Program Director Prof. Deborah Maranville has announced:

I’m thrilled to report that the University of Washington Law School faculty has voted to promote Michael Robinson-Dorn to Associate Professor WOT.  (That’s a “tenure-in-position” status that  is evaluated under the same standards as our regular tenure lines.) 

For those of you who don’t know him, Mike directs our Berman Environmental Law Clinic.  He is a tireless advocate on environmental issues, the executive producer of a film The Third Trustee on  the effect of the Exxon Valdez spill on the Alaska Native communities  (a copy of the law school version of the film for educational use should be arriving in your mailboxes shortly), and a member of the CLEA board. Congratulations, Mike!

-jl

UT Knoxville: Prof. Quinn Wins Outstanding Teacher Award and Granted Tenure

Belated posting of good news recently delivered by UT Knoxville's Director of Clinical Programs, Prof. Ben Barton:

Two pieces of excellent news for Mae Quinn.  First, at last Friday's [2/13/09] law school awards dinner Mae was the winner of the Harold C. Warner Outstanding Teacher Award.  The students choose one winner each year and the award is the highest honor for teaching at the law school.  Having taught with Mae since she's been here I can say it was richly deserved. Second, the faculty voted this week to grant Mae tenure!  It was a unanimous vote, and also well earned.  So, it's been a banner week for Mae and our clinical programs! 

-jl

Syracuse Law: Professors Roberts and Swartz Promoted to Associate Professor

Professor Mary McNeal, Clinical Director at Syracuse Law, recently shared good news with the clinical law community:

I am happy to announce the promotions of Jenny Roberts, Director of our Criminal  Defense Clinic, and Michael Schwartz, Director of our Disability Rights Clinic, to the rank of Associate Professor.  Syracuse has a unitary tenure track, and both are well on their way. Congratulations, Jenny and Michael.

-jl

Soliciting Nominations for the Shanara Gilbert Award

The Awards Committee of the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education is now accepting nominations for the Shanara Gilbert Award, which will be given out during the AALS’s Workshop on Clinical Legal Education in Cleveland, Ohio, from May 6 – May 9, 2009.  The deadline for submitting nominations is March 6, 2009.

Designed to honor an "emerging clinician," the award is for a recent entrant (10 years or fewer) into clinical legal education who has demonstrated some or all of the following qualities:

1) a commitment to teaching and achieving social justice, particularly in the areas of race and the criminal justice system;

2) a passion for providing legal services and access to justice to individuals and groups most in need;

3) service to the cause of clinical legal education or to the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education;

4) an interest in international clinical legal education; and

5) an interest in the beauty of nature (desirable, but not required).

Nominations for the Gilbert Award must be received no later than March 6, 2009.

Past recipients include:

2001 Adele Bernhard (Pace University)

2002 Grady Jessup (North Carolina Central University)

2003 Beth Lyon (Villanova University)

2004 Esther Canty-Barnes (Rutgers School of Law — Newark)

2005 Melissa Breger (Albany)

2006 Michael Pinard (University of Maryland)

2007 Pam Metzger (Tulane)

2008 Kris Henning (Georgetown)

NOMINATIONS GUIDELINES: To ensure that the Awards Committee has uniformity in what it is considering in support of each candidate, the Committee requests that nominations adhere to the following guidelines:

1)  To nominate someone, send the name of the nominee and a nominating statement setting forth why the Section should honor the individual, specifically referencing the award criteria outlined above where relevant.  The Committee strongly encourages nominators to obtain some supporting letters for the candidate, given that its deliberations are assisted immensely by a variety of voices speaking about a particular nominee.  Please note that there is a limit on the amount of supporting material that will be considered. Supporting materials for  nominations include: nominating statement of no more than five  pages in length (required); a copy of the nominee's resume (required); a list of any scholarship, but not copies of the scholarship (required, but do not duplicate this if it is in the nominee's resume); no more than five letters or e-mails in support (no letter or e-mail should be more than four single-spaced pages long, exclusive of signatures, which may be multiple); and no more than five pages of any other materials. The nomination and documentary support must be submitted via e-mail either in Word or pdf files. Any nominators who want to submit supporting materials that they have in hard copy are responsible for converting them into portable document format or scanning them and cleaning and submitting them via pdf files attached to e-mail. 

2)  Members of the clinical community who have nominated a person previously are encouraged to re-nominate that person for this year’s award, provided that the person is still a recent entrant (10 years or fewer) into clinical legal education. The selection of one nominee over another should not be viewed as a statement against those not selected. The Committee can select only one person and someone not selected one year might be selected the next.

3) The Committee’s deliberations are assisted immensely by a variety of voices speaking about a particular nominee. Nominators are strongly encouraged to seek letters in support of the nominee from colleagues. Such letters may also include letters of support from students whom the candidate has supervised in a clinical setting.

Please send your nominations by e-mail no later than March 6, 2009 to BOTH of the following emails:

clinicawards@yahoo.com

joy@wulaw.wustl.edu

Gordon Beggs, Cleveland State University

Deborah Epstein, Georgetown University

Zelda Harris, University of Arizona

Peter Joy, Awards Committee Chair, Washington University in St. Louis

2009 Bellow Scholars Announced

The Clinical Section's Lawyering in the Public Interest Bellow Scholar Commitee has announced this year's Bellow Scholars:

Michael Gregory and Susan Cole, Evaluating Advocacy in Trauma-Sensitive Schools (Harvard)

Faith Mullen, Access to Justice and Community Involvement in the DC Office of Administrative Hearings (Catholic)

David Santacroce, The Consequences of Institutionalization for the Teaching-Service Mission of Clinics (Michigan)

Mary Spector, The Impact of Debt Collection Litigation on Consumers and Courts (Southern Methodist)

The recipients will be acknowledged at the clinical section luncheon in San Diego, and will present their work in a concurrent session at the May clinical conference in Cleveland. Our third annual Bellow Scholar Workshop to support the scholars will be held next fall at Penn Law School in Philadelphia.

The recipients were chosen from among an exemplary group of applicants. The committee looks forward to working with them in the coming years and especially to seeing the outcome of the important projects on which they've embarked. In the mean time, please join us in congratulating them!

Happy New Year,
Bellow Scholar Committee

Dean Rivkin, Co-Chair
Jeff Selbin, Co-Chair
Sameer Ashar
Brenda Bratton Blom
Juliet Brodie
Jeanne Charn
Alan Lerner
Joe Tulman

-jl

AALS Section on Pro Bono and Public Service - 2009 Rhode and Drinan Awards

Loyola Clinical Professor and Director of the Public Interest Law Department, Sande Buhai, has announced:

The 2009 Deborah L. Rhode Award goes to Katherine “Shelley” Broderick of the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC-DCSL), in honor of her 10 years as Dean and 30 years of service to building the country’s quintessential public interest law school. Beginning as a junior clinical faculty member in 1979 at Antioch School of Law and working her way up through the full range of faculty and administrative positions at its daughter law schools, Dean Broderick has fought tirelessly for an institution that integrates theory and practice, mind and soul, nurturing the public spirit of all her students. UDC-DCSL is founded on the principle that all students benefit from providing substantial hands-on public service; each student provides a minimum of 740 clinical and public service hours – and quite often much more. Dean Broderick’s success in saving, protecting, improving and expanding the service opportunities of UDC-DCSL has resulted in literally hundreds of thousands of hours of student public service – 85,000 this year alone. All of her many nominators spoke of her “visionary leadership and unwavering commitment” in keeping her public interest law school alive during multiple times of crisis. Moreover, through her example, leadership, and scholarship, she has been a powerful proponent of a new model for American legal education in the 21st century. In the greater community, Dean Broderick has been the initiator and the catalyst for a mesmerizing number of public interest law achievements in every imaginable arena, several of which have significantly increased financial support for public service lawyering in the District. She has done all this while taking a keen interest in mentoring her own students, devoting countless hours to counseling and working with them as individuals.

The 2009 Father Robert Drinan Award goes to Eve Biskind Klothen, Assistant Dean for Pro Bono and Public Interest Programs at Rutgers School of Law – Camden. Eve’s distinguished and visionary career has included service as a legal services lawyer in Georgia, director of the Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program, and director of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation. In al these roles Eve has created programs; mentored students, public interest professionals, and lawyers; and served the public with dedication. In her tenure at Rutgers, Eve has both dramatically expanded opportunities for students to engage in an array of pro bono activities and has been instrumental in building a broad Law School culture that values and rewards public service and makes it possible for more students to pursue careers in public service. Her efforts have resulted in numerous new and expanded programs, such as the Pro Bono Research Project, new pro bono projects in specialized areas such as tax assistance and immigration, and annual leadership training for student leaders at nearby law schools. In her work at Rutgers and throughout her career, Eve has always been guided by the dual goals of inculcating the pro bono ethic into the next generation of lawyers and serving more low income clients in South Jersey and Philadelphia. Now, at the Law School and indeed at all of the area law schools, she nurtures the next generation of public interest attorneys. The many people who supported Eve’s nomination noted that the central theme of her work at Rutgers and throughout her professional career is one of building partnerships. Eve’s unique contribution lies in how she promotes cooperation and collaboration to multiply the efforts of students, faculty, administration and community partners; she puts her own ego aside and shows various constituencies how they can work together.

The awards will be presented during the AALS meeting in San Diego on Thursday, January 8, 2009, immediately following the 4:00 p.m. program, Opportunities for Collaboration and Interdisciplinary Learning: Medical-Legal Partnerships. -jl

Suffolk Law Prof Kenneth King Nominated to Juvenile Court

From Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's Press Release:

Kenneth J. King, a Newton resident and graduate of the University of Illinois and Northeastern University School of Law, is an Associate Professor of Clinical Law with Suffolk University Law School’s Juvenile Justice Center. Prior to joining the JJC, King worked as both a private practitioner and government lawyer representing youth in a variety of matters including youthful offender and delinquency, care and protection, and termination of parental rights cases. “Over the course of his career, Ken King has demonstrated an unflagging commitment to juvenile justice,” Governor Patrick said. “There are few as qualified and well-suited to adjudicating these most sensitive and important of matters.” King would fill the vacancy on the Middlesex Juvenile Court created by the retirement of the Honorable Gail Garinger.

Professor King joins former Suffolk Law Prof Maureen Monk, whose appointment to the Probate and Family Court was confirmed earlier this year. -jl

University of Washington Professor Scott Schumacher Promoted

University of Washington Professsor Deborah Maranville, Director of the Clinical Law Program, has announced the promotion of Federal Tax Clinic Director Scott Schumacher. Prof. Maranville stated "I’m delighted to share the news that the faculty of the University of Washington Law School has voted unanimously to promote Scott Schumacher, Director of our Federal Tax Clinic to Associate Professor (WOT), tenure in position. Congratulations are also due Scott for the publication of his co-authored book, Tax Crimes, aimed at LLM tax students." Hearty congratulations to Prof. Schumacher and U Dub! -jl

Professor Barry Named 2008 Pincus Award Recipient for Outstanding Service and Commitment to Clinical Legal Education

Catholic University Law Professor Margaret M. Barry has been selected as this year's William Pincus Award recipient. The Awards Committee for the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education will present the award at the January AALS Annual Meeting. Professor Barry will be honored for her service, scholarship, and contribution to clinical education and the advancement of justice. Congratulations Professor Barry!

Law School Professor Steven Bender Wins Oregon Book Award

The University of Oregon School of Law has announced Professor Steven Bender has won the 2008 Oregon Book Award:

Professor Bender's book, One Night in America: Robert Kennedy, Cesar Chavez, and the Dream of Dignity (Paradigm Publishers 2008), was among five nominees for the Frances Fuller Victor Award for General Nonfiction.  This is the second year in a row that an Oregon Law professor has garnered top honors in this category. The award was presented by Literary Arts, an organization that supports and celebrates Oregon writers and publishers.  One Night in America chronicles the warm, and unlikely, friendship between Robert Kennedy and Cesar Chavez and embraces their bold political vision for making the American dream a reality for all.

Steven Bender is the James and Ilene Hershner Professor of Law and Director of Portland Programs. He is the coauthor of a casebook on real estate transactions, a national treatise on real estate financing, and a book on Latino stereotypes titled Greasers and Gringos: Latinos, Law, and the American Imagination (NYU Press 2003). He is an elected member of the American Law Institute and the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. He most recently was named co-president elect of the Society of American Law Teachers.

-jl

CLEPR 40th Anniversary Tickets On Sale Now

Some 40 years ago the Council on Legal Education and Professional Responsibility (CLEPR) began making nearly 11 million dollars in grants to law schools across the country to establish live-client clinics, effectively starting modern clinical legal education. A committee composed of delegates from the AALS Clinical Section, CLEA and the ABA Section on Legal Education will host a dinner celebrating CLEPR’S 40th anniversary on Wednesday January 7, 2009, during the AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego. At the Celebration William Pincus, CLEPR's President, will be honored, along with early CLEPR pioneer, the Honorable Dorothy W. Nelson of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The evening’s program will include a keynote address from Erwin Chemerinsky, founding dean of University of California Irvine School of Law, and a short film on CLEPR by Prof. Sandy Ogilvy. The Celebration is made possible by the financial support of over 30 law schools and is tied to that afternoon’s Annual Meeting session by the AALS Clinical Legal Education and Professional Responsibility Sections entitled Celebrating and Reflecting on CLEPR: What Have We Learned About Legal Education and Where are We Headed.

The Celebration is being held just a short walk away from the Annual Meeting in the heart of San Diego’s Gaslamp District. Admission is $27.50 for a multi-course dinner, a complimentary drink, and dancing in downtown San Diego. Seating is limited and seats are expected to sell out quickly. Click here for more details on CLEPR, the Celebration, and how to purchase your tickets.

William Pincus Award - Last Call for Nominations

The Awards Committee for the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education is accepting nominations through Friday, October 24, 2008, for the 2008 William Pincus Award for Outstanding Service and Commitment to Clinical Legal Education. The Award, which the Section presents at the January AALS annual meeting, honors one or more individuals or institutions of clinical legal education for their: (1) service, (2) scholarship, (3) program design and implementation, or (4) other activity beneficial to clinical education or to the advancement of justice.

A list of past recipients is availabe here. To submit your nomination(s) no later than Friday, October 24, 2008, please email committee chair Peter Joy at both of the following email addresses (email to BOTH to ensure receipt): joy@wulaw.wustl.edu  and clinicawards@yahoo.com   

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: 2008 William Pincus Award for Outstanding Service and Commitment to Clinical Legal Education

Washington-St. Louis Professor Peter Joy has issued a reminder that the deadline to submit nominations is October 24, 2008.  A copy of the original announcement follows:

The Awards Committee for the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education is now accepting nominations through Friday, October 24, 2008, for the 2008 William Pincus Award for Outstanding Service and Commitment to Clinical Legal Education. The Award, which the Section presents at the January AALS annual meeting, honors one or more individuals or institutions of clinical legal education for his/her/their/its (1) service, (2) scholarship, (3) program design and implementation, or (4) other activity beneficial to clinical education or to the advancement of justice.

Past recipients include:

1981 David Barnhizer (Cleveland State)
1982 Hon. Neil Smith (D. IA)
1983 William Greenhalgh (Georgetown)
1984 Robert McKay
1985 Dean Hill Rivkin (Tenn.)
1986 Tony Amsterdam (NYU)
1987 Gary Bellow (Harvard)
1988 William Pincus
1989 Gary Palm (Chicago)
1990 Bea Moulton (Hastings)
1991 Sue Bryant (CUNY)
1992 Elliott Milstein (American)
1993 Roy Stuckey (S. Carolina)
1994 Harriet Rabb (Columbia)
1995 Clinical Law Review
1996 Wally Mlyniec (Georgetown)
1997 Edgar Cahn (DC School of Law) and Jean Cahn (Antioch, posthumously)
1998 Steve Wizner (Yale)
1999 Katherine Shelton Broderick (U.D.C. School of Law)
2000 E. Clinton Bamberger (U. of Maryland, Emeritus)
2001 Peter A. Joy (Washington U. at St. Louis)
2002 Louise Trubek (Wisconsin) and Bernida Reagan (East Bay Community Law Center/Boalt Hall)
2003 Sandy Ogilvy (Catholic)
2004 Randy Hertz (NYU)
2005 J. Michael Norwood (New Mexico)
2006 David Binder (UCLA)
2007 Anthony V. Alfieri (Miami)
2008 John Elson (Northwestern

To nominate a person or an institution, send the name of the nominee and a nominating statement setting forth why the Section should honor the individual or institution, specifically referencing the award criteria outlined  above where relevant.  The Committee strongly encourages nominators to obtain some supporting letters for the candidate, given that its deliberations are assisted immensely by a variety of voices speaking about a particular nominee.  Please note that there is a limit on the amount of supporting material that will be considered. Supporting materials for  nominations include: nominating statement of no more than five  pages in length (required); a copy of the nominee's resume (required); a list of any scholarship, but not copies of the scholarship (required, but do not duplicate this if it is in the nominee's resume); no more than five letters or e-mails in support (no letter or e-mail should be more than four single-spaced pages long, exclusive of signatures, which may be multiple); and no more than five pages of any other materials.

The Committee encourages re-nominations of persons whom or institutions that have been previously nominated but not selected for the Award. Nominations and supporting materials will be accepted in electronic format only. Please send your nominations by e-mail to committee chair Peter Joy at BOTH of the following email addresses (email to BOTH to ensure receipt): joy@wulaw.wustl.edu  AND clinicawards@yahoo.com   -jl

UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law Promotes and Grants Tenure to Professor Leticia Saucedo

On Friday, September 26, 2008, UNLV Law Professor and Associate Dean for Clinical Studies David Thronson announced that the tenured faculty of the law school voted unanimously to recommend the tenure and promotion of Leticia Saucedo. Professor Saucedo has been at UNLV Law since 2003 and teaches Torts, Immigration Law, and co-directs the Immigration Law Clinic. A hearty congratulations (¡felicitaciones!) go out to Leticia and UNLV! -jl

Latest Edition of CLEA Newsletter Now Available

The September 2008 issue of the CLEA Newsletter is now available by going to the CLEA website http://www.cleaweb.org and clicking on the link for CLEA Newsletters. - jl (Hat Tip: Larry Spain)

Georgetown Prof. Honored With D.C. Bar's Brennan Award

Georgetown Law Professor Peter Edelman has been awarded the District of Columbia Bar Association's prestigious William J. Brennan Jr. Award. Edelman, who has an extensive public interest background, was commended for his service as chair of the newly established District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission, which is charged with addressing the increasing unmet legal needs of city residents. Under Edelman’s leadership, the commission has launched a coordinated planning process aimed at ensuring that all of the District’s residents have equal access to justice. Among other courses, Prof. Edelman has taught Georgetown's Federal Legislation Clinic, Public Interest Lawyering, and the Social Welfare Law and Policy Seminar, a year-long program in which seminar students do extensive field work and produce a paper based on their experiences.

Clinic Prof. Wins ACLU Award

University of Miami law professor Bernard P. Perlmutter is the 2005 recipient of Miami ACLU’s C. Clyde Atkins Civil Liberties Award. Perlmutter, who is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Legal Education and Director of the Children and Youth Law Clinic, received the award for his extensive work regarding legal protection for juveniles.

In making the award, the ACLU issued the following statement:  "As a litigator and professor, Bernard Perlmutter has been an unsung hero providing front-line protection of the civil liberties of children. Bernie represented the child M.W. before the Florida Supreme Court in the landmark case of M.W. v. Davis & DCF, which resulted in the Court's adoption of Florida Rule of Juvenile Procedure 8.350, which establishes due process protections for foster children committed to state psychiatric facilities. Bernie has litigated numerous federal and state class action lawsuits seeking to reform Florida's foster care system, and submitted amicus curiae briefs in a number of cases of national significance. Whether arguing a case on behalf of an individual child, training law students, or fighting for institutional reform, Bernie Perlmutter has been a powerful advocate for children's rights. The Miami ACLU is indeed proud to honor Bernard Perlmutter with the 2005 C. Clyde Atkins Civil Liberties Award."

You can see Perlmutter's bio here.

Clinic Professor Wins Excellence-in-Teaching Award

Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor Harry Gruener received the Student Bar Association (SBA) Excellence-in-Teaching Award at the May 28 Pitt law commencement ceremony.  Gruener served as an adjunct professor at Pitt, teaching the Family Law course in 1998, and now serves as the associate director of the Family Law curriculum, designing and teaching additional courses within that area. Gruener achieved full-time faculty status this year, which made him eligible for the Excellence-in-Teaching award. Upon receiving the award, Gruener told the graduates and their families, “No greater honor can come to a teacher than the respect of his or her students.”