Two University of Georgia School of Law teams were named both the champions and finalists in the first ever National Online Moot Court Competition. A team comprised of second-year students Haley Kairab, Hannah Sbaity and Victoria Thornton captured the championship title, while a team of third-year students Alexa Dato, Justin Edge and Cameron Keen were named finalists. Additionally, Kairab was named the Best Oralist of the final round.
Associate Dean and Martin Chair of Law Andrea L. Dennis presented as part of the United Kingdom's Garden Court Chambers' international series titled "Black Lives Matter - How the US and UK state criminalise Rap and how to combat it" during January.
Distinguished Research Professor & Shackelford Distinguished Professor in Taxation Law Emeritus Walter Hellerstein published "State Tax Credit Issues Raised by SALT Cap Workaround Legislation" in 99 Tax Notes State 211 (Jan. 18, 2021) (with A. Appleby).
A record number of University of Georgia School of Law students are participating in the Atlanta Semester in Practice program this semester with full-time externships in judicial, government and corporate counsel offices. The Atlanta program immerses students in real-world law practice while they take other law classes at the school's facility in the state's capital or online. This semester, 21 students will work at 16 offices including for U.S. District Court Judge William M. Ray II, Georgia Business Court Judge Walter W. Davis and Georgia Senator Bo Hatchett and at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney's Office, among other locations.
A free virtual legal clinic for Georgia veterans will be held Saturday, Jan. 23, from 9 to 11 a.m. Veterans in the Columbus and Macon areas will be able to access the clinic through physical locations in each city, 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. Interested veterans need to register in advance for an appointment.
Brumby Distinguished Professor in First Amendment Law Sonja R. West authored "The Court, the Constitution, and the Deplatforming of Trump" in Slate (with G. Lakier) on 1/13/21.
Stembler Family Distinguished Professor in Business Law Christopher M. Bruner published "Leveraging Corporate Law: A Broader Account of Delaware's Competition" in 80 Maryland Law Review 72 (2020) (symposium issue).
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, but the School of Law's Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic works year-round to fight for survivors through scholarship, training and service on area task forces.
Hosch Associate Professor Kent Barnett published "Chevron Abroad" in 96 Notre Dame Law Review 621 (2020) (with Lindsey Vinson (J.D.'20)).
Dean Rusk International Law Center Interim Director & Hosch Professor Lori A. Ringhand presented as part of the "New Voices in Election Law" panel at the Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting held during January. She was also named treasurer of the AALS Section on Constitutional Law.
Distinguished Research Professor & Shackelford Distinguished Professor in Taxation Law Emeritus Walter Hellerstein's treatise State Taxation was quoted by the Oregon Tax Court in Oracle Corp. v. Department of Revenue regarding the treatise's discussion of the unitary business principle and the apportionment of intangible income.
Brumby Distinguished Professor in First Amendment Law Sonja R. West presented "The Supreme Court and the Press: An Empirical Analysis" at the Media Law & Policy Scholars Conference during January (with R. Jones).
To help with the reimagination of local, national and international structures used to respond to global public health emergencies such as the emergence and spread of COVID-19, the School of Law will host a daylong, virtual conference titled "The Future of Global Health Governance" starting at 10 a.m. on January 25. Organized by the Dean Rusk International Law Center and the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, the conference will address three crucial questions: whether and how the ailing global public health infrastructure might be reinvigorated; how the pandemic has threatened and exposed limitations of the social safety net in the United States and other economies around the world; and the phenomenon of vaccine refusal and what national and international legal institutions might do to curb it.
The School of Law regrets to announce former employee Diane Walton Rounds passed away December 28, 2019. She served as an administrative assistant in the school's law placement/career services office from 1979 through 1993. She will be missed by law school faculty, staff and former students.
Two University of Georgia professors have been named Regents' Professors, an honor bestowed by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia for faculty whose scholarship or creative activity is recognized both nationally and internationally as innovative and pace-setting. The School of Law's Diane Marie Amann was selected. Her scholarship focuses on the ways that national, regional and international legal regimes interact as they endeavor to combat atrocity and cross-border crime. Her current research will produce the first-ever book, under contract with Oxford University Press, on the roles of women professionals at the 1945-46 war crimes trial before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.
Brumby Distinguished Professor in First Amendment Law Sonja R. West moderated "The Press and the Separation of Powers: The News Media's Relationships with Public and Private Power" panel as part of the Association of American Law School's Annual Meeting during January. As chair of the AALS Section on Communication, Media & Information Law, she performed this role.
Woodruff Chair in International Law Diane Marie Amann was featured in Vox regarding her thoughts on presidential pardoning power. The article titled "President Trump is considering pardoning himself. I asked 15 experts if that's legal?" was written by Sean Illing and published 1/7/21.
Former Dean Edward D. "Ned" Spurgeon passed away on January 2 at the age of 81, after battling cancer for several years. He served as dean of our law school from 1993 to 1998 and was a member of our faculty for another five years specializing in law, public policy and aging; taxation of gifts, estates and trusts; and estate planning. After leaving Georgia, his connection to the law school remained constant through his support of the Spurgeon Fellowship, which provides funding for law students working in summer public interest positions. Dean Spurgeon was a leader, scholar, teacher and mentor to many. He is survived by his wife, Carol; his sons, Michael and Stephen; his daughters-in-law, Elizabeth and Janie; his sister Joan Brennan and four grandchildren.
Shackelford Distinguished Professor in Taxation Law Gregg D. Polsky published "The Impact of the 2017 Tax Act on Certain Personal Injury Plaintiffs" in 12 Columbia Journal of Tax Law 27 (2020).
Brock Associate Professor in Professional Responsibility Nathan S. Chapman published "Forgotten Federal-Missionary Partnerships: New Light on the Establishment Clause" in 96 Notre Dame Law Review 677 (2020).