A free virtual legal clinic for Georgia veterans will be held Saturday, March 27, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Veterans in the southern part of Georgia will be able to access the clinic through physical locations located near the southeastern and southwestern Georgia/Florida borders, while veterans from across the state can connect for services via webcam or telephone. The Georgia Veterans Outreach Project provides quick advice and brief service on issues with special relevance to former military members, including veterans and military benefits and other civil legal matters, such as consumer, family, housing, shelter and other civil issues, but not criminal legal issues.
For the third year, the Provost's Affordable Course Materials Grant program will help save students money on course materials, enhance the quality of their learning experience in the classroom and increase their opportunities for success. This semester, 13 faculty members in nine schools and colleges - including the law school's Assistant Professor Thomas E. Kadri and Washington, D.C., Semester in Practice Director Jessica L. Heywood - received funding through the program to transition from costly textbooks to open and affordable educational resources. The grant program is expected to save students more than $155,000 in textbook costs per academic year.
The First Amendment Clinic authored an amicus brief on behalf of 18 law professors challenging North Carolina's Property Protection Act, which prohibits speech based on information obtained from the nonpublic premises of any property owner. Written by clinic Director Clare Norins, third-year student Michael Sloman and second-year student Mark L. Bailey, the brief urges the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to declare the law unconstitutional under the First Amendment because it fails to survive heightened scrutiny and is substantially overbroad.
Congratulations to third-year students Shelby J. Bensinger, Grace B. Callanan, Blake A. Reed and Ashton T. Williams who finished as regional semifinalists in the American Association for Justice National Student Trial Advocacy Competition recently. The AAJ sponsors this annual competition to help law students develop and practice their trial advocacy skills before distinguished members of the bar and bench.
Diane Marie Amann, holder of the Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law at the University of Georgia School of Law, was recently elected to the Council on Foreign Relations. The council is an independent, nonpartisan organization and thinktank that is composed of the most prominent foreign policy leaders, including top government officials, renowned scholars, business executives, acclaimed journalists, prominent lawyers and distinguished nonprofit professionals.