Two students participating in the law school's Veterans Legal Clinic, L. Andrew "Andy" Bastone and Michael R. "Mike" O'Brien, have helped a veteran recover over $8,600 in incorrectly withheld U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs benefits. The veteran, John Rivers, retired from the service in 2014 and started receiving disability compensation. In 2016, the VA reduced these benefits, stating that he could not receive both compensation and military drill pay at the same time. Bastone and O'Brien, both veterans themselves, successfully persuaded the VA that this decision constituted administrative error. Working under the supervision of clinic attorney Kelly A. Parker, they got the VA to repay Rivers the full amount of benefits it had mistakenly withheld.
In 2019, five law students - Christopher J. Bertrand, Maria Mercedes Carruthers Ferrero, Ashley L. Henson, C. Joshua "Josh" Rewis and Amelia C. Stevens - participated in the Georgia Sea Grant Legal Fellowship Program conducting research to address critical environmental, economic and social concerns primarily affecting coastal Georgia. Bertrand and Rewis completed their fellowships this past summer along with Ferrero who continued her work through the fall semester. Stevens and Henson completed their projects this fall.
The University of Georgia School of Law will once again be represented in the 12th Annual Hunton Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship, a competition which includes the "best of the best" moot court teams from law schools across the country based on performances in the previous academic year. UGA won this competition last year.
Congratulations to Brandi Saunders, winner of the 2019 Emma Terrell Distinguished Employee Award. Presented annually by the Law School Staff Representative Group, the award recognizes staff members who have demonstrated "a strong work ethic, commitment to service, and exceptional job performance as well as the cooperation needed ... to ensure the School of Law meets and exceeds its goals."
Justice Robert Benham, the longest serving and first African American member of the Supreme Court of Georgia, will present the 2020 UGA Holmes-Hunter Lecture Feb. 3 in the Chapel. Named in honor of Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Hamilton Holmes, the first African American students to attend the University of Georgia, the lecture is sponsored by the Office of the President and focuses on race relations, civil rights and education.