MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Continuing a long-running tradition, law students at
West Virginia University are spending this summer helping those in need.
More than a dozen WVU
College of Law students are working as
Public Interest Advocates
Summer Fellows. They are helping at regional organizations that provide legal services
to low-income clients, the elderly, children, victims of domestic violence, veterans
and others. The program began in 1988.
Being a PIA Summer Fellow gives these students valuable legal work experience in
areas such as children’s advocacy, civil rights, consumer matters, disability rights,
and land use and conservation. At the same time, they are increasing access to
justice for many people who cannot afford a lawyer.
“PIA Fellowships allow students to gain practical, real-world legal experience while
they provide important support and staffing in busy public interest law offices,”
said
Jennifer Powell, director of the
Center for Law and Public Service. “The fellowships have also inspired many
students to provide pro bono legal services once they become lawyers and have launched
hundreds of students’ careers in public interest law.”
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Kirsha Trychta, a teaching professor at the West Virginia UniversityCollege of Law, has been recognized by a national organization for helping law
students succeed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trychta, who directs the WVU Law Academic Excellence Center, recently received the
2021 Impact Award from the Association of Academic Support Educators. She was recognized
for her approach to teaching students and connecting AASE members in the face of
COVID-19.
“The last year has been extraordinarily challenging for the law school academic support
community,” said Trychta. “To be individually recognized as having a substantial
impact on the academic support profession during any year, let alone this year,
is humbling and exceptionally meaningful. I am truly honored.”
Trychta is chair of the AASE Online Presence Committee. The national organization
is made up of academic success professionals who work to make legal education accessible
to all students. Members collaborate to develop and implement research-based teaching
methods and design programs that help students succeed in law school, on the bar
exam and in their legal careers.
Jim Friedberg, the Hale J. and Roscoe P. Poston Professor of Law at WVU, discusses the
political situation in Israel that culminated on June 2, 2021, with the formation
of an unlikely coalition to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Friedberg's expertise includes international law.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Marilyn McClure-Demers, a 1991
West Virginia UniversityCollege of Law
graduate, has been named to the Board of Directors of the Lawyers’ Committee for
Civil Rights Under Law.
“As a leader in the private bar and corporate America committed to this work throughout
my career, it’s truly my honor to join the board at this time in our country to
help advance the mission of the Lawyers’ Committee — working to eliminate racial
discrimination and advance social justice, " McClure-Demers said. “I challenge
each of us to take an active role in this work and to make a difference every day.”
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization,
was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private
bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. The principal
mission of the Lawyers’ Committee is to secure, through the rule of law, equal
justice for all, particularly in the areas of voting rights, criminal justice,
fair housing and community development, economic justice, educational opportunities,
and hate crimes.
McClure-Demers is vice president and associate general counsel
at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, a fortune 100 financial services company
located in Columbus, Ohio. In addition to her law degree from WVU, she earned a B.A.
in Political Science from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences in 1988.
Peck won for her recent book, "The Accidental History of the U.S. Immigration Courts: War, Fear, and the Roots
of Dysfunction,"
published earlier this year by the University of California Press.
In her book, Peck uses unstudied legal decisions from the Franklin Roosevelt and
George W. Bush administrations to outline humanitarian crises that led to the modern
immigration court system. She also argues that the fundamental flaw of the immigration
courts is that they are under the U.S. Department of Justice — and she proposes that
the courts become independent.
WVU Law’s Significant Scholarship Award is presented annually by the faculty to a
fellow professor whose written work addresses an important public issue while demonstrating
thorough research and clear and concise writing.
Caroline Osborne and Stephanie Miller recently won the Outstanding Article Award from the Academic Law Libraries Special Interest Section of the AALL for their analysis of citation metrics.
Their article, “The Scholarly Impact Matrix: An Empirical Study of How Multiple Metrics Create an Informed Story of a Scholar's Work," was published in volume 39 of Legal Reference Service Quarterly.
The paper is based on citation data for 282 scholars from 57 U.S. law schools collected in in early 2019. The dataset also captures individual characteristics of the scholar such years in legal education, gender identity, and discipline in order to measure whether any of these characteristics impact either exposure or citation.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic prevented the
West Virginia UniversityCollege of Law Class of 2021 from having a traditional Commencement ceremony. Still, each member of the graduating class is being honored on the law school’s
website.
This virtual celebration includes photos of the graduates and recognition of their
accomplishments. Students also submitted personal photos, favorite law school memories,
their inspiration for becoming a lawyer and messages of thanks to those who helped
them along the way.
Interim Dean
John Taylor, who was selected Professor of the Year by the Class of 2021, delivered
his traditional commencement address in a video that is posted online. In his remarks,
Taylor discussed the “value of embracing risk” and the opportunities that come
with taking chances. Risk-taking, he said, is an admirable trait that often comes
with great rewards. Discomfort, he said, comes with growth.
“I’ve always admired people who do not back away from fear, who do not back away
from risk, who are not afraid to fail,” he said. “People who see only possibilities
where others see only limitations… Trying things that make you uncomfortable or
trying things that are new where you know that you might fail – these are difficult
things to do.”
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In his inaugural book,
West Virginia University law librarian
Nick Stump offers ways to create systemic legal change in Appalachia to
help the region rebuild from centuries of industrial exploitation.
“I wrote this book because, in my view, more traditional approaches to law and social
change are not up to the task of our current contemporary crises,” said Stump,
who is head of reference and access services in the
George R. Farmer, Jr. Law Library
at the WVU
College of Law.
“This is perhaps especially true in our home region of Appalachia, which is often
characterized as an energy ‘sacrifice zone’,” he said.
The Justitia Officium is the highest honor bestowed by the law faculty in
recognition of outstanding contributions and service to the legal profession.
Hicks received his award at WVU Law’s Commencement in Milan
Puskar Stadium on May 16.
Hicks was inspired to become an attorney by the lawyers who led the Civil Rights Movement. He spent
his first two years of college at Washington and Lee University, where he was the
first African American elected to the Executive Committee of the Student Body.
He later transferred to West Virginia University, earning his B.A. in 1978 and his J.D.
in 1981.
After three years of solo practice, Hicks joined Kay Casto & Chaney
in 1984, becoming only the second lawyer of color in West Virginia to be hired
by a large firm. Fourteen years later, he became the first African American President
of the West Virginia State Bar.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A law clinic at West Virginia University has earned an Honorable
Mention Award for Excellence in a Public Interest Case or Project from the Clinical Legal
Education Association.
CLEA recently presented the award to the Immigration Law Clinic at the WVU College of Law for its efforts to represent and empower the state’s underserved immigrant
population. In West Virginia, there are fewer than five full-time immigration lawyers for
a statewide community of 30,000 foreign-born residents and their families.
“This recognition by the Clinical Legal Education Association highlights the important
role that the WVU Immigration Law Clinic plays in providing and expanding legal
services to immigrants in our state,” said law professor Alison Peck, director
of the clinic.
The Immigration Law Clinic serves the state’s immigrant community through legal practice,
community education and resources, and advocacy. The clinic is also working to
build a local immigration bar from by facilitating attorney mentorship, developing
a continuing legal education program and recruiting law students who will commit
to local immigration practice.