News

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—Suzanne A. Kim, a nationally recognized expert on family law and LGBTQ rights, will deliver the annual Charles L. Ihlenfeld Lecture on Public Policy and Ethics on October 8 at 10:30 a.m. in the Marilyn E. Lugar Courtroom at the West Virginia University College of Law.

Kim’s lecture, titled “Building Dynamic Equality in an Unequal World,” is free and open to the public.

Kim is a professor and the Judge Denny Chin Scholar at Rutgers Law School. Her research and scholarship addresses intersections of family, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity and culture from legal and socio-legal perspectives.

Kim is the founder and director of the interdisciplinary Rutgers Center for Gender, Sexuality, Law and Policy. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Institute for Research on Women at Rutgers University.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.— When the National Gandhi Museum and the Delhi High Court Bar Association in India recently wanted to stage an exhibit about Mahatma Gandhi’s early years as a lawyer, they drew inspiration from the scholarship of WVU Law professor Charles DiSalvo. 

DiSalvo is the author of “M.K. Gandhi, Attorney at Law: The Man Before the Mahatma"  (University of California Press, 2013).

“The National Gandhi Museum in Delhi contacted me for advice and documents,” DiSalvo said. “I was not sure what to expect, but, as it turned out, I couldn’t have imagined a more gratifying use of my scholarship. More than 500 Delhi High Court lawyers and judges showed up to kick off the exhibit.”

The exhibit, “Gandhi: the Lawyer,” was held on the premises of the Delhi High Court as part of India’s ongoing commemoration of Gandhi’s 150th birthday this year on October 2. It was opened by D.N. Patel, the chief justice of the Delhi High Court.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—The Center for Consumer Law and Education will present a free public workshop on October 7 from 6-8 p.m. at the Kanawha County Public Library in Charleston, West Virginia.

Titled “10 Things You Should Know About Consumer Law and Where to Get Help,” the workshop will be led by Jonathan Marshall, director of the CCLE. Dinner will be provided.

A representative from the West Virginia University Veterans Advocacy Law Clinic will also be present to answer questions from veterans about available resources and services.

This is the first in a series of state-wide consumer workshops that the CCLE is calling the People’s Law School.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—The Honorable John K. Bush of the 6th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals is speaking at WVU Law on September 26 at noon in the Marlyn E. Lugar Courtroom.

Admission is free, and the public is invited to attend

Bush will discuss finding meaning in the law. His lecture is co-sponsored by the Federalist Society at WVU Law.

Bush joined the 6th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017 after a nomination from President Donald Trump. The court hears appeals from federal judicial districts in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Michigan. 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.— Global warming and climate change are having an impact on our health, not just the planet, according to experts gathering at the WVU Law for a free public conference.

“Climate Change and Public Health: Addressing the Growing Crisis” will be held on September 21 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the law school’s Event Hall. Registration is free and includes a buffet luncheon. 

To register, visit energy.law.wvu.edu/ccph

The speakers at the conference will discuss how the climate crisis is causing serious economic, physical, and mental injuries from extreme weather, heatwaves, flooding, drought, and poor air quality. The program is presented by the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development at the WVU College of Law, the West Virginia Center on Climate Change, and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Public Health Training Center.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—A federal judge will discuss the states’ role in protecting individual liberties, such as free speech and equal protection, at West Virginia University’s annual observance of Constitution Day .

The lecture will begin at noon on September 17 in the Marlyn E. Lugar Courtroom at WVU Law. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

The Honorable Jeffrey S. Sutton, who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, argues that much of constitutional law is made at the state level. This includes the bedrock guarantees of equal protection, criminal procedure, privacy, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Sutton is the author of “51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law” (Oxford University Press, 2018).

Constitution Day at WVU Law is co-sponsored by The Federalist Society student organization.

MORGANTOWN, W. Va.—Members of the WVU Law Class of 2022 have begun their legal careers, and the women outnumber the men.   

There are 116 students in the WVU Law Class of 2022, which is an enrollment increase of almost 4.5% over last year. Women make up a majority of the class at 53%, which is the highest rate at the college in at least a decade.

The academic credentials of the incoming class are also higher than last year. The median LSAT score for the Class of 2022 is 154 and the median undergraduate GPA is 3.46. Eight percent of the class self-identify as a minority and the average age is 25, with an age range of 21 to 55. Almost one-third of the class is a first-generation college student

 “This kind of growth is a positive sign for WVU, legal education and the profession,” said Gregory Bowman , dean of the College of Law. “We welcome the class of 2022 to Law School Hill and look forward to the privilege of preparing them for a fulfilling and rewarding career in the law.”

MORGANTOWN, W. Va.—Sixteen legal professionals have been named to the Lawyers & Leaders Class of 2019 by West Virginia Executive magazine and WVU Law. The inductees were honored at a reception at WVU Law on August 22.

The 2019 Lawyers & Leaders inductees are: 

Ola Adekunle, patent counsel for Google LLC; 

WVU Law professor John Taylor believes ‘red flag’ gun laws, if challenged in court, would be upheld. Taylor, the Jackson Kelly Professor of Law, calls the proposals being floated in the wake of the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton “compromise measures.”

Some prominent Republicans are supporting ‘red flag’ laws so that they can be seen as taking some sort of action in response to the tide of mass shootings. 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—Two WVU Law professors helped secure the recent release of data that is shedding light on the national distribution of opioids.

Patrick McGinley and Suzanne Weise represented pro bono the Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette-Mail and its parent company, HD Media, in a year-long federal court legal battle to force the public release of government information identifying the volume of prescription opioid pills that flooded the United States and fueled a national health crisis.

An Ohio federal judge overseeing more than 2000 cases brought by states, counties, and cities, including many in West Virginia, had barred public disclosure of the data, which was also sought by The Washington Post. However, that ruling was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

The data, gathered by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, tracks every pain pill sold in the country, from manufacturers and distributors to pharmacies. On average, 46 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control.