The University of Georgia has announced a new initiative to complete a comprehensive review of staff compensation. Made possible through a partnership with Deloitte Consulting, the Staff Comprehensive Compensation Review initiative will evaluate the university’s current classification and compensation structure, while analyzing job and market salary competitiveness as well as related policies and procedures. The School of Law's Senior Director of Business and Finance Blake Waldrop will serve on the advisory committee.
Assistant Professor Thomas E. Kadri was featured on Gray Television regarding digital device tech abuses and domestic violence. The segment titled "Domestic violence through family phone plans: how lawmakers are stepping up to help tech abuse survivors" was reported by Jacqueline Policastro and aired 7/21/22.
Associate Dean & Hosch Professor Emeritus Paul M. Kurtz published "Tributes to family law scholars who helped us find our path" in 55 Family Law Quarterly 341 (2021-2022) (with co-editor J.T. Oldham).
Summer public interest fellowships provide important hands-on learning opportunities for law students. At the School of Law, financial support for these experiences has been on an upward trajectory since 2017. In fact, funding has significantly grown over the last five years, resulting in a 450% increase in support. During the 2022 summer, 85 students were awarded $305,750 for legal work in nonprofits, state and federal government, legal services and policy/impact organizations in 14 states and the District of Columbia.
Stembler Family Distinguished Professor in Business Law Christopher M. Bruner presented as part of a roundtable discussion titled “Present and Future of Corporations in Society” at the Global Meeting on Law & Society, hosted by ISCTE University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal) in July.
Rogers Chair of Law Emerita Camilla E. Watson was featured on NOLA.com regarding the differences between tax evasion and tax avoidance. The article titled "District Attorney Jason Williams' tax fraud trial begins today. Here's what you need to know." was written by Jillian Kramer and published 7/18/22.
A Community Health Law Partnership Clinic client was recently granted asylum. The clinic's client fled to the United States alone as a 16-year-old after facing death threats and physical violence in Guatemala, requesting asylum at the border. In 2022, the Community HeLP Clinic successfully argued that the Guatemalan government was unable or unwilling to control persecution against its client by private actors. As a result, the client no longer faces deportation. Staff Attorney Kristen Shepherd handled the initial presentation of the case before the Asylum Office. Navroz N. Tharani (J.D.'22) wrote the 2022 brief, supervised by Shepherd and Assoc. Dean & Clinic Director Jason A. Cade, while Eddy Atallah (J.D.'21) assisted with earlier research.
Associate Dean for International Programs & Post Professor Melissa J. "MJ" Durkee presented “Interpretive Entrepreneurship: How firms use international legal interpretation to modify their compliance obligations” as part of a panel titled “Legal Interpretation and Ambiguity” at the ComplianceNet 2022 Conference hosted by the University of Amsterdam during July.
Interim UGA Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, University Professor & Kilpatrick Chair of Corporate Finance and Securities Law Usha Rodrigues was featured on Law360 regarding the special purpose acquisition company Pershing Square Tontine Holdings. The article titled "Ackman To Dissolve Massive $4B SPAC, Refund" was written by Tom Zanki and published 7/12/22.
Stembler Family Distinguished Professor in Business Law Christopher M. Bruner presented his new book, The Corporation as Technology: Re-Calibrating Corporate Governance for a Sustainable Future (Oxford University Press, 2022), at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy, during July.
Interim UGA Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, University Professor & Kilpatrick Chair of Corporate Finance and Securities Law Usha Rodrigues was featured in a Bloomberg article regarding special purpose acquisition companies. The article titled "Richard Branson Reshapes Fortune with SPACs as Investors Torched" was written by Benjamin Stupples and Tom Maloney and was published 7/11/22.
Associate Dean for International Programs & Post Professor Melissa J. "MJ" Durkee virtually presented "The Pledging World Order" (forthcoming in the Yale Journal of International Law) as part of the "International Law, Global and Communities" panel of the hybrid 2022 Annual Conference of ICON•S, the International Society of Public Law, which was held at the University of Wrocław, Poland, during July.
Stembler Family Distinguished Professor in Business Law Christopher M. Bruner presented his new book, The Corporation as Technology: Re-Calibrating Corporate Governance for a Sustainable Future (Oxford University Press, 2022), at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, during July.
Regents' Professor of International Law & Woodruff Chair in International Law Diane Marie Amann published "Ukraine Settlement Options Paper: Children" as part of the Ukraine Settlement Peace Project of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge. The project includes invited articles by experts from around the world on peace-settlement issues ranging from land claims to detainee release. A summary of the article was published on Opinio Juris under the title “Options for a Peace Settlement in Ukraine: Options Paper IX – Children” on 7/1/22.
The Appellate Litigation Clinic recently achieved a partial win for its client from the Georgia Court of Appeals in the case Williams v. DeKalb County. The clinic’s client is challenging the county commission’s ability to give itself a pay increase and the commission’s compliance with the Open Meetings Act when passing the increase. In the ruling, the Court of Appeals remanded the Open Meetings Act claim but found that Williams did not have standing to challenge the pay increase.
Clinical Assistant Professor & First Amendment Clinic Director Clare R. Norins was featured in the Georgia Recorder regarding the clinic's amicus brief in the Georgia Supreme Court case involving Camden County’s spaceport project. The article titled “Georgia Supreme Court’s spaceport case pits 1st Amendment vs. county home rule” was written by Stanley Dunlap and published 7/6/22.
The Jane W. Wilson Family Justice Clinic, which provides survivors of domestic violence with direct representation as well as legal and extra-legal support – is on pace to assist more individuals than ever before in a calendar year. Through June 30, the clinic has taken calls from 209 distinct individuals and has provided representation in 27 protective order cases and 20 other pieces of domestic relations litigation for survivors of domestic violence and stalking.
Congratulations to Associate Professor Laura Phillips Sawyer and Brumby Distinguished Professor in First Amendment Law Sonja R. West for receiving the law school's 2022 Faculty Research Awards, which recognize pathbreaking, innovative faculty scholarship in public and private law. Phillips Sawyer was chosen for her work in the area of private law, while West won for her public law scholarship.
Callaway Chair Elizabeth Chamblee Burch was featured in The New York Times regarding a recent U.S. District Court ruling involving opioid drug distributors. The article titled "Judge Clears Distributors of Blame for Opioid Crisis in Hard Hit County" was written by Jan Hoffman and published 7/5/22.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Hosch Professor Kent Barnett was featured in a Reuters article regarding the implications the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in West Virginia v. EPA may have on federal agencies. The article titled "U.S. Supreme Court just gave federal agencies a big reason to worry" was written by Alison Frankel and published 6/30/22.