The School of Law was recently awarded a Self Represented Litigant Grant from the Judicial Council of Georgia to support the efforts of the Athens Access to Justice Initiative, which seeks to provide community members, who are unable to afford legal representation, with access to attorneys. The initiative operates through a partnership between the School of Law, the Western Circuit Bar Association and the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, and includes monthly legal pop-up clinics and a Self-Represented Litigant Center and Library.

Notable scholars and national leaders in politics, business, higher education and several other fields will visit the University of Georgia this semester as part of the Signature Lecture series. The law school's 117th Sibley Lecture to be delivered by the University of Chicago's David A. Strauss on the topic of U.S. Supreme Court decisions is included in this special series. Signature Lectures denote campus talks by speakers with broad, multidisciplinary appeal and compelling bodies of work. Many of the lectures are supported by endowments, while others honor notable figures and milestones in the university's history.

Three School of Law third-year students - Danielle Goshen, Julia M. Shelburne and Benjamin "Ben" Wilde - are serving as Georgia Sea Grant Legal Fellows and are conducting research to address critical environmental, economic and social concerns primarily affecting coastal Georgia.

Congratulations to Cyndi Canup, winner of the 2018 Emma Terrell Distinguished Employee Award. Presented annually by the Law School Staff Representative Group, the honor 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."

Congratulations to Professors Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, Andrea L. Dennis and Melissa J. Durkee. These accomplished scholars assumed new titles as of Jan. 1. Burch now holds the Fuller E. Callaway Chair of Law, Dennis occupies the John Byrd Martin Chair of Law and Durkee is a J. Alton Hosch Associate Professor of Law.