The law school community joined together on January 31^st at Northwestern Law’s Lincoln Hall in order to recognize CWC’s contributions to the innocence movement.  At the event, four exonerees, Juan Rivera, Terrill Swift, Robert Taylor and Jacques Rivera, expressed their appreciation for the center’s involvement in proving their innocence. Most of these individuals were wrongly convicted due to fabricated confessions and false witnesses.

At the end of the event, all of the exonerees in attendance were invited to the stage and over twenty men shared their name and how many years they have been in prison for crimes they did not commit.

One of the exonerees, Terrill Swift stated: “I knew I was in great hands with Northwestern. “The students who worked on my case are great, great people.”

For the full press release, go here.

IU Maurer School of Law student and one of the school’s VITA program coordinators, Daniel Huntley stated: “The VITA program helps low- to moderate-income taxpayers avoid the fees charged by commercial tax preparers while assuring that they receive any tax benefits for which they qualify, particularly the Earned Income Tax Credit. In addition, VITA offers free e-filing, which promptly sends any refund to the taxpayer without need of a high-interest tax anticipation loan.”

Further, Professor of Law Ajay Mehrotra offered that: “The VITA program is an excellent opportunity for our students to give back to the Bloomington community by using their knowledge to assist low-income taxpayers. It is also a good way for students to learn more about the federal income tax system and how it touches so many aspects of everyday life.”

The program will take place at the law school and will continue throughout the beginning of March.

For the full press release, go here.

Washington University School of Law Dean Kent Syverud stated that these additions complement the “extraordinary array of international assets and programs, including our international LLM program and Transnational Law Program, faculty teaching and scholarly exchanges, student externship and summer abroad programs, and the work of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute.”

For the full press release, go here.

The event will host panels on issues such as food justice, sexual and reproductive rights, race and voting, education reform, developing the public interest sector as well as the repercussions of mass incarceration.  The keynote speakers featured will be Lisa Daugaard, the deputy director and supervisor of the Racial Disparity Project at the Defender Association in Seattle and Gerald López, a UCLA Law professor and founder of the Center for Community Problem Solving in New York City. In addition, co-founder and co-executive director of Make the Road New York, Andrew Friedman will also be a keynote presenter, along with Andrea Ritchie, a police misconduct attorney and coordinator of Streetwise and Safe.

The conference’s co-director, Megan Wulff ’13, states that “RebLaw is one of the rare opportunities for rebellious students and activists to reach beyond their microcosm and engage in a conversation with the greater social justice community. We leave at the end of the weekend with a sense of connectedness and purpose that gives our work renewed meaning.”

For the full press release, go here.

Duke Law Professor Donald Beskind ’77 stated that Wintersession “is one of the most important things Duke Law School does for students in preparing them for the actual practice of law.” Beskind joined the Duke Law Faculty in 2010 after working in private practice for over 30 years.

Furthermore, the skills offered to students are essential in their development as legal professionals. Senior lecturing fellow at Duke and partner at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice in Raleigh, Marilyn Forbes led the Deposition Practice course and commented on the importance of being able to conduct a deposition “It’s a critical skill for law students to have. Jury trials, especially on the civil side, are really disappearing. I think most litigators, in the course of their careers, will take hundreds of depositions and only have ten to 15 big trials.”

Overall, Duke Law students felt that Wintersession provided them with a chance to gain practical skills that would help them immensely in the future.

For the full press release, go here.

Director of the College and a George Washington University Law School professor, Stephen A. Saltzburg states:  ”It’s a bit like spring training for lawyers. Trial lawyers get together and they remind themselves what makes them good. And they share that with other lawyers and law students. There’s an incredible amount of learning and energy that takes place.”

The Trial Advocacy College was co-founded by Saltzburg and Herbert J. Stern, a former federal judge, in 1981. They worked together with the Law School and Virginia Continuing Legal Education. The college continues to attract trial lawyers from all over the country and serves as an invaluable resource year after year.

For the full press release, go here.

The imitative, sponsored by Bank of America, has held one-day workshops at UCLA and Berkeley focused on climate change issues in the California region since 2009. Ethan Elkind, a research fellow working at Both Berkeley and UCLA law, used these conferences as a starting point for white reports focused on how climate change can benefit business sectors. Elkin feels that climate change will actually create opportunities for growth and includes recommendations for how policy can foster these initiatives.

Elkind remarked that “We turned these discussions into targeted recommendations for California’s decision-makers in business and government. Along the way, we worked closely with key stakeholders and became a kind of clearinghouse for the latest research on climate change policies.”

The initiative plans to continue its work by meeting with policy makers, developing a new white paper and hosting informational sessions in 2012.

For the full press release, go here. 

Director of judicial clerkships at UVA Law School, Ruth Payne ’02 states that “What I’ve found is that once we’ve put a UVA student in a clerkship, the judge will frequently come back and hire from us every year. Our students are known for just going in and getting the job done — being workmanlike, taking the work seriously, putting their nose to the grindstone, doing the research and producing high-quality writing. I hear from judges all the time who say, ‘I’m really glad I hired this student. Can you make sure applicants are looking at me next year from Virginia?’”

Although there are many factors behind the raise in numbers, one being more graduates being interested in becoming public defenders, UVA Law School’s reputation should serve it well for future students interested in clerking after graduation.
For the original press release, go here.

A third year student, Tom Stasi, commented on the value of the clinic: “You’re going to be working as a lawyer pretty quickly after getting your diploma, so you want some experience working first-hand with clients.” Stasi felt that although soon-to-be graduates often hold summer internships, they do not get a lot of face time with clients.  He elaborated stating, “It’s like playing varsity versus playing JV. Summer associates are on the varsity team, but they’re not on the field. When you’re in a clinic, it’s like playing on the JV—you get a lot more playing time.”

For the full press release, go here. 

Usually it takes law schools years to establish a standing where clerkships would be offered to graduates at such a high rate, so UC Irvine School of Law’s success is particularly striking. The class of 2012, although a small group, was a top-notch one. The school offered the incoming students full scholarships and thanks to this incentive, received many applications. This allowed the admissions committee to be very selective, and law students at the school share the same high test scores and grades as their peers at top ranked institutions. In addition,UC Irvine School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, a Harvard graduate, focused on clerkships and reached out to judges throughout the year. For such a young school, these early statistics may serve as an indicator of its future success, as  UC  Irvine School of Law works to build its reputation.

For the full press release, go here.