Faculty News
W.Va. launches court study; O’Connor honorary chair
Associated Press
June 16, 2009
WVU College of Law Dean Joyce E. McConnell an Associate Dean Caprice Roberts asked to join commission
CHARLESTON—Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will serve as honorary chair of a new study of West Virginia’s judiciary commissioned by Gov. Joe Manchin, the governor announced Monday.
Manchin named O’Connor along with the nine voting members of his Independent Commission on Judicial Reform. The panel will look into establishing new courts, appointing judges instead of electing them and other judicial issues.
The appointees include Mary McQueen, president of the National Center for State Courts; former state Justice John McCuskey; retired Kanawha Circuit Judge Andy MacQueen; and former gubernatorial aides Thomas Heywood and Carte Goodwin.
Goodwin, who will officially chair the commission, was lead general counsel for Manchin from his 2005 election until earlier this year. Heywood had been chief of staff to former Gov. Gaston Caperton. Both now practice law in Charleston.
Rounding out the commission are State Bar President Sandra Chapman, prominent Charleston trial lawyer Marvin Masters, and both Dean Joyce McConnell of West Virginia University’s law school and Associate Dean Caprice Roberts. more...
Jury of One’s Peers’ Defined
Professor Robert Bastress quoted in article
By FRED CONNORS Staff Writer
Wheeling News-Register
POSTED: June 14, 2009
WHEELING-Criminal defendants in West Virginia are entitled to a trial by a jury of their peers -but that does not mean jurors must be of the same race or social status as the accused.
Robert M. Bastress, professor at the West Virginia University College of Law and author of “The West Virginia State Constitution: A Reference Guide,” said criminal trial jurors are comprised of people who are selected at random from a pool of citizens.
“The right to a trial by a jury by one’s peers is an interpretation placed by the U.S. Supreme Court on the Sixth Amendment right to a criminal jury trial,” Bastress said. “It is derived from Anglo-American common law in existence at the time of the Bill of Rights’ adoption (1791) and dating back to the Magna Carta. Derivatively, state constitution guarantees for the right to a jury by one’s peers include the same requirement. As the right has evolved, the state has had a decreased ability to limit who are ‘qualified persons.’” more….
Clinic looking for entrepreneurs
About $250K in free legal services were offered in the first year for individuals who could not otherwise afford them
By John McVey / Journal Staff Writer
POSTED: June 7, 2009
Martinsburg, WV
MARTINSBURG – The first year of the West Virginia University Entrepreneurship Law Clinic was a success by most anyone’s standards.
“We provided about $250,000 worth of legal services for free,” Michael Risch, the clinic’s faculty director, told those attending the monthly meeting of the Eastern Panhandle Entrepreneurs Forum at the Holiday Inn in Martinsburg Thursday evening.
The clinic had clients from all over the state, he said, including one in the Eastern Panhandle. Risch is looking for more clients for the clinic to serve starting in August.
The legal services for entrepreneurs were provided by law students at the WVU College of Law under the strict supervision of the two professors, he said.
“Student lawyers help entrepreneurs with free legal services,” Risch said.
The clinic is part of the Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Law Program at the College of Law, he said. The program gives lawyers training in entrepreneurship law.
Through a Benedum Foundation grant, the pilot clinic included six students divided into three teams of two, and two professors, including Risch. more…
Prof. Anne M. Lofaso speaks at “Class Matters” conference at the University of Pittsburgh
Prof. Anne M. Lofaso will join a panel at the University of Pittsburgh at a conference called Class Matters, sponsored by the Working Class Studies Association.on Sat, June 6, 2009 on a panel called: “Attaining and Retaining Workers’ Rights in the New Administration: Predictions and Strategies” her talk is titled “Dissenter Speech and the Creation of a Robust Industrial Democracy.”
Caprice Roberts presents at Remedies Forum hosted by La Faculté de Droit et de Science Politique, Université Paul Cézanne, Aix -Marseille 111
June 5-6. 2009
Caprice Roberts, Associate Dean of Faculty Research and Development and Profesor of law at the west Virginia University College of Law was invited to present at the “Remedies Forum,” Université Paul Cézanne, Aix -Marseille 111. The scholars invited had to submit a draft in advance. Robert’s paper is titled: Rights, Remedies, & Habeas Corpus ¢€“ Legally Free But Actually Imprisoned. The paper centers on the Uighurs who are wrongfully detained at Guantanamo—a classic right without a remedy case. more...
Prof. Michael Risch to Speak at Conference at George Washington University Patents and Entrepreneurship in Business and Information Technologies
Friday and Saturday, June 12 and 13, 2009
George Washington University Law School,
2000 H St. NW, Washington, DC 20052
Prof. Risch will be appear on the Friday 1:45pm – 3:15pm panel titled on Business Methods and Patentable Subject Matter with speakers Michael Abramowicz, Gerard Magliocca, and Kristen Osenga. Prof Risch will provide commentary. more...
Dean Joyce McConnell cited in Constitutional Law Professors Blog
Dean Joyce McConnell’s seminal article, Beyond Metaphor: Battered Women, Involuntary Servitude and the Thirteenth Amendment, 4 Yale J.L. & Feminism 207, was prominently featured on the Constitutional Law Professors Blog, Saturday, April 11, 2009. more...
Bastress named a 2009 West Virginia Bar Foundation Fellow:
Professor Robert Bastress has been named a West Virginia Bar Foundation Fellow for 2009. According to the WV Bar Foundation web site, ten years ago the “Bar Foundation initiated a Fellows Program to honor those lawyers and members of the judiciary whose professional, public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and honorable service to the legal profession.” Dean Joyce McConnell states, “To each of his roles, lawyer and law professor, Bob brings dedication to justice and to the profession. He is therefore, a perfect candidate to be a Foundation Fellow.
Each year the Fellows are honored by the WV Bar Foundation at a dinner in Charleston. This year’s dinner is Thursday, April 30, 2009, more...
Visiting WVU College of Law chair Michael Blumenthal presents poetry reading
Not only is Michael Blumenthal the Visiting John D. Copenhaver Chair of West Virginia University’s College of Law, but he is also an accomplished writer of poetry, novels, essays and periodicals.
Blumenthal will present his seventh book of poems, entitled “And,” at a reading on April 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the WVU Library Robinson Reading Room. The event is free and open to the public, and a book signing will follow.
“Michael Blumenthal can address the vast complexities of history and the intimate specifics of everyday life beautifully in just about any genre,” said James Harms, interim director of WVU’s creative writing program, who has been reading Blumenthal’s work for more than 20 years.” more…
David Hardesty Inducted into 2008 West Virginia Business Hall of Fame
The WVU College of Business & Economics has selected David C. Hardesty as one of the inductees for the West Virginia Business Hall of Fame. Initiated in 2001, this award recognizes people with strong West Virginia ties who have made a significant impact on the landscape of business. The 2008 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place on Wednesday, November 12 at the Waterfront Place Hotel in Morgantown with a reception: 6:30 p.m. and the induction at 7:30 p.m. more...
Caprice Roberts Elected to the American Law Institute
Associate dean for faculty research and development, Caprice Roberts has been elected to the American Law Institute (ALI) on October 17, 2008. The ALI is a prized institution and its members are elected through a highly selective process. more...
Prof. Valorie K. Vojdik shares her views at symposium on Race, Gender and the Media
Prof. Vojdik attended a two-day symposium at St. John’s University titled MAKING HISTORY: Race, Gender and the Media in the 2008 Elections, held September 26-27 at St. John’s School of Law.
The MAKING HISTORY symposium investigated issues of race, gender, media, election law and policy through a series of engaging and expert panel discussions, featured dialogues, and addresses, including a keynote address by Donna Brazile, the first African American to lead a major presidential campaign, a frequent CNN contributor, and Chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute (VRI). more...
College of Law will host a panel discussion titled “Understanding the Financial Market Crisis”
As Congress debates a compromise $700 billion bill to shore up the nation’s beleaguered economy, West Virginia University legal and economic scholars will discuss the nation’s financial crisis Wednesday, Oct. 1, at the College of Law.
The panel discussion Understanding the Financial Market Crisis will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the Marlyn E. Lugar Courtroom. The event is free and open to the public.
Panelists include:
- Michael V. Risch, associate professor of law at WVU. His areas of expertise include patent and copyright law and entrepreneurship.
- andre douglas pond cummings, professor of law at WVU. His background is in business organizations, international intellectual property and securities regulation.
- George Selgin, the BB&T Chair in Free Market Thought in WVU’s College of Business and Economics. His areas of expertise include economic history, monetary economics, banking and macroeconomics. more...
The American Constitution Society Publishes Prof. Anne Lofaso’s
Issue Brief on the Destruction of Union Rights
The American Constitution Society just published an important Issue Brief by Anne Marie Lofaso about the destruction of union rights. The Brief, “September Massacre: The Latest Battle in the War on Workers? Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act,” describes, and then puts into historical context, a collection of National Labor Relations Board case decisions issued in September 2007 that weaken the ability of unions to organize, further undermine the already limited right to strike, and exclude workers from the rights and protections of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which governs bargaining rights and unionization in the private sector. more...
Professor Michael V. Risch Speaks at Homeland security Conference
Associate Professor Michael V. Risch, speaks on June 2, 2008 at the 3rd West Virginia Summit on Homeland Security in Morgantown. The two-day summit ? hosted by West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller, West Virginia University, the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, and the Discover the REAL West Virginia Foundation ? will welcome first responders, school officials, scientists, health experts, private sector security experts, and government officials from the Mountain State and beyond. more...
The Idea’s the Thing Prof. Michael V. Risch in Legal Times
From the Legal Times May 12, 2008 online edition:
If the Federal Circuit rules against the inventors on the subject-matter question in In re Bilski, it could rule out not just one weak application, but some—or even all—business method patents, seriously undermining incentives for inventors, entrepreneurs, and investors, writes Michael Risch. more...
McDiarmid wins WVU Buswell Award for women’s advocacy
‘In Marjorie, students see a role model—tough, dignified, committed‘
Marjorie McDiarmid’s hard work and commitment don’t stop on the steps of the West Virginia University College of Law, where sheâ??s taught for the past two decades.
If she isn’t in the classroom, she’s in the community. She gives her time as a volunteer and board member of the Morgantown-based Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center Inc., the organization she joined almost immediately after her arrival at WVU in 1986. more...
WVU College of Law 2008 Professor of the Year
The honor of Professor of the Year goes to andré douglas pond cummings. Prof. cummings is an Associate Professor of Law at the West Virginia University College of Law. Prior to joining the WVU Law faculty, Professor cummings worked as a judicial law clerk for Associate Chief Justice Christine M. Durham of the Utah Supreme Court and for Chief Judge Joseph W. Hatchett of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
In addition, he worked at the Chicago, IL based law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, focusing his practice on complex business transactions including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and securities offerings of publicly traded corporations. Prof. cummings also represented clients in the Sports and Entertainment industries, including athletes in the National Football League, record labels, and a variety of authors, including Hollywood screenwriters and novelists. more...
Professor Patrick McGinley to Speak at University of Tennessee
Energy & Responsibility Conference
Prof. Patrick C. McGinley will speak in April on a panel at an event titled Energy & Responsibility: A Conference on Ethics and the Environment, hosted by the University of Tennessee. Conflicts and controversies about energy have become familiar features of the political and economic landscape around the globe. The environmental consequences of energy production, distribution and consumption and energy policy invite consideration of the ethical implications of both practice and policy. What are our ethical obligations to manage the earth’s resources and natural environment in a “sustainable” manner? How should these obligations be enacted, institutionalized and implemented? more...
Grace Wigal Re-elected as Treasurer of
the Association of Legal Writing Directors
Grace Wigal, Director of the Legal Reasoning, Research, and Writing Program, was recently re-elected to a three-year term as Treasurer of the Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD). ALWD is a national non-profit professional organization that advocates for the improvement of legal writing programs and supports legal writing professionals in scholarship and leadership activities. In December, Grace attended a yearly retreat of officers and board members in Phoenix, Arizona. more...
Tom Patrick to Return as Lead Trainer for Indiana Supreme Court
2008 Pro Bono Domestic Relations Mediation Program
As part of a continuing effort to promote pro bono legal services and increase the availability and affordability of mediation, the Indiana Supreme Court sponsors a Pro Bono Domestic Relations Mediation Training to be held in April and May of this year. Tom Patrick, who previously served as Lead Trainer in 2005 has been invited again by the Indiana Supreme Court to serve in that capacity and provide training for mediators in family law cases. Patrick was instrumental in developing the subsidized family law mediation program used in the West Virginia Courts. more...
Professor Patrick McGinley to Speak at the 2008
Vermont Law Review Climate Change Symposium
Professor Patrick C. McGinley will present on a panel at the 2008 Symposium of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law and the Vermont Law Review entitled Confronting Global Climate Change: Using the Law to Protect Future Generations on February, 22-23, 2008 at the Vermont Law School in South Royalton, VT. more...
Hollee Temple to Deliver Keynote Address
at Legal Writing Institute Conference
Hollee Temple, of the West Virginia University College of Law will serve as one of three keynote speakers delivering the plenary address at the Legal Writing Institutes’s biennial conference in Indianapolis this summer. The Legal Writing Institute’s The 13th Biennial Conference will take place on July 14-17, 2008 in Indianapolis, Indiana, at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis. The Legal Writing Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving legal writing by providing a forum for discussion and scholarship about legal writing, analysis, and research and promotes these activities through its publications and its Summer Conferences, held every two years. more...p.