News

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. —The West Virginia University College of Law is ranked a top law school for the third consecutive year by U.S. News & World Report. In its 2015 Best Graduate Schools guide, the magazine ranks WVU Law #83—its highest ranking to date—out of 194 accredited law schools.

Last year, U.S. News ranked WVU Law #91. Two years ago, the magazine ranked the school #101.

“This is exceptional news and we are very happy to see WVU Law continue to rise in these national rankings,” said Joyce McConnell, Dean of the College of Law. “This recognition speaks to the fine work being done by our faculty and staff to ensure a high-quality legal education and it wouldn’t be possible without the support of alumni, friends, university leadership, and the law community.”

U.S. News collects a number of statistics to compile its annual law school rankings, including peer assessment, employment rate, student-faculty ratio, and bar passage rate.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Jackson Kelly PLLC Managing Member Michael D. Foster recently had the honor of presenting the Jackson Kelly PLLC/ John L. McClaugherty Law Scholarship to first-year law student Ben Hogan.

The scholarship fund was founded by Jackson Kelly and John L. McClaugherty in honor of law professor Forest Jackson “Jack” Bowman. This high academic honor is awarded to a first-year student who must have an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.4 (on a 4.0 scale), and rank in the 75th percentile, or higher, on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). Second- and third-year recipients must have at least a “B” average in law school to receive (or renew) the scholarship.

Jackson Kelly’s longstanding relationship with WVU College of Law has included the creation of theWVU Law William T. O’Farrell Conference Room, and of the Jackson Kelly Professorship.

Client Focus, Industry Insight, National Reputation. Jackson Kelly PLLC is a national law firm with more than 200 attorneys located in eleven offices throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Colorado and the District of Columbia. Focusing on clients’ industry-specific needs, the Firm serves a wide variety of corporate and public clients and enjoys a national reputation in business, labor and employment, litigation, government contracts, tax, safety and health, permitting, natural resource and environmental law. The Firm’s clients and peers recognize its commitment to providing superior client service as Jackson Kelly has repeatedly been selected as a Go-To Law Firm for the Top 500 Companies in the U.S. and is regularly named to BTI’s Client Service A-Team.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — One thing law students hope to achieve is an education with a purpose. 

One way the West Virginia University College of Law is ensuring that happens is through its clinical law program, where students are gaining practice-ready experience while serving those in need. 

Third-year students Katie Wilson and Babatunde Adedapo recently experienced the professional and personal success of working on a real-world case. For the past several months, they have been helping a detained Mexican national as part of their work in the WVU Immigration Law Clinic.

Married, with five children, the client has been living with his family in the U.S. for more than a decade. Wilson and Adedapo took on the case last fall after an immigration judge ordered his deportation.

Wilson and Adedapo recently learned that the Board of Immigration Appeals, which is part of the U.S. Department of Justice, has sent their client’s case back to a lower court immigration judge for reconsideration. He is now one step closer to his dream of becoming a U.S. citizen and reuniting with his family.

To win their case, Wilson and Adedapo successfully argued that their client was not properly advised of the specific types of evidence he needed to support his application to stay in the U.S. 
They also proved that he was not made aware of free legal services, such as WVU’s Immigration Law Clinic.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A team of West Virginia University College of Law students is advancing to the international rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition following a successful second-place finish at the Mid-Atlantic Regionals held Feb. 20-23 in Washington, D.C.

They will return to Washington, D.C., April 6-12 to compete in the White & Case International Rounds of the 2014 Jessup competition.

The Jessup Moot Court Competition, which is in its 55th year, simulates disputes before the International Court of Justice and draws participants from more than 550 law schools spanning over 80 countries. This year, the competition is focusing on issues of maritime law.

The WVU Law team of Carrie Waybright, Katie Wilson, Eduardo Villacorta, Hilary Bright and Nicole Annan won all of its preliminary rounds. In the final round, WVU was narrowly edged out by the University of Virginia in a split 2-1 decision. The WVU team is coached by law professor Jim Friedberg and associate deans Gregory Bowman and Amber Brugnoli.

On their way to the final round, the WVU Law team took first place for best brief, and Wilson was named the competition’s third best oralist.

THE WV SUPREME COURT HEARINGS AT WVU LAW HAVE BEEN CANCELED DUE TO THE WEATHER & TRAVEL CONDITIONS.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. —Justices from the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia will convene at the West Virginia University College of Law on Tuesday, March 4 to hear four cases and later judge the final round of the college’s George C. Baker Moot Court Competition.

The hearings will begin at 10 a.m. in the Marlyn E. Lugar Courtroom. Admission is free and open to the public. Seating begins at 9 a.m.

Members of the West Virginia Supreme Court are Chief Justice Robin Jean Davis, Justice Margaret Workman, Justice Menis Ketchum II, Justice Brent D. Benjamin, and Justice Allen H. Loughry II. Davis, Workman, and Ketchum are WVU Law graduates.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—Third-year West Virginia University College of Law student Meghan Starnes has embarked on her latest adventure for personal, academic and professional growth. This spring, she is working at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands.

The ICTY is a United Nations court of law dealing with war crimes that took place during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s. Established in 1993, the ICTY has changed the landscape of international humanitarian law and established precedent for conflict resolution and post-conflict justice.

Starnes will be working for the ICTY Appeals Division of the Office of the Prosecutor, gaining valuable experience in international law.

“I’ll be handling the technicalities and legalities of some of the cases that have already gone through and are now in the appeals process,” said Starnes, who is pursuing her J.D./Executive Master of Business Administration through WVU Law’s joint degree program.

The prestigious internship aligns with Starnes’ personal interests and career goals.

“International human rights law is kind of my thing,” she said. “It’s what I really enjoy learning about, it’s what I really enjoy writing about, and it’s what I enjoy studying.”

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—On the 42nd anniversary of one of the worst tragedies in coal mining history, the West Virginia University College of Law is bringing together original attorneys and other experts to explore the legal and environmental legacy of the infamous Buffalo Creek Disaster.

On February 26, 1972, there was no warning when the Pittston Company dam burst at Buffalo Creek in Logan County, W.Va. It sent a 130-million-gallon, 30-foot wall of water, coal sludge and waste materials through the Buffalo Valley, killing 125 people and injuring more than 1,000. Nearly 1,500 houses and mobile homes were destroyed or damaged, leaving 4,000 people homeless.

The Buffalo Creek Symposium at the WVU College of Law starts on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. in the Marlyn E. Lugar Courtroom with a screening of two documentaries on the disaster by filmmaker and community media activist Mimi Pickering.

The symposium continues on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 9 a.m. in Lugar Courtroom with opening remarks by Joyce E. McConnell, dean of the WVU College of Law, and a video message by Senator John “Jay” Rockefeller (D-W.Va.).

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—The third annual national energy conference at West Virginia University will focus on new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Featuring experts from government, the private sector and environmental organizations, the conference will explore how these new laws will be navigated and affect the power industry, states and communities.

The conference, sponsored by the law firm Steptoe & Johnson PLLC, takes place on Monday, Feb. 24 at the Erickson Alumni Center. It is being hosted by the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development at the WVU College of Law.

U.S. Senator Joseph Manchin III (D-W.Va.) will deliver the opening keynote address. A member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Manchin recently sponsored legislation that addresses the EPA’s regulation of power plant emissions.

The following Op-Ed by WVU Law students Katherine O. Wilson & Dustin S. Blankenship appeared in The Dominion Post (Morgantown) on Feb. 9, 2014. Dustin and Katherine are student attorneys with the West Virginia University Immigration Law Clinic

Importantly, under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) a non-citizen may be removable (commonly referred to as deportable) from the U.S. for committing certain criminal offenses. These crimes range the gamut, from aggravated felonies like rape, sexual abuse of a minor, and theft, to misdemeanor offenses under state law, or any regulation relating to possession of a controlled substance. In FY 2011, the United States deported 188,382 people on criminal grounds alone. While Mr. Bieber has not been convicted (he posted bond), the elephant in the room still stands: if we strip away the celebrity, forget the fame, should Justin Bieber [or a similarly situated individual] be deported?

The answer is not so obvious- it depends on how the crime of DUI is classified. The Supreme Court of the United States has determined that a non-citizen convicted of DUI under a state statute that does not define the offense to include a mens rea element- a “guilty mind”-and only allows for negligent conduct, may not be deported. Leocal v. Ashcoft, 543 U.S. 1 (2004). Leocal is especially effective here because the underlying statute was the very same Florida law that Mr. Bieber is charged with violating. Lucky for him, the Florida statute does not contain such a mens rea element, per Leocal; thus Bieber, as well as similarly situated individuals, would likely not be removed for violating this statute.

However, he is not out of hot water yet. Under the INA, a crime of moral turpitude may also result in removal. Recall, Bieber is currently facing DUI, resisting arrest, and driving on a suspended license charges. However, he also is under investigation for misuse of a police escort, egging a house and causing $20,000 in property damage, as well as previous (now abandoned) charges for speeding and spitting on a police officer in L.A. Under some jurisdictions,[i] resisting arrest constitutes a crime of moral turpitude under laws similar to those of Florida. Additionally, if a second crime of moral turpitude were to be introduced (and a conviction found for both), Bieber would certainly be removable.

WASHINGTON, DC – On Feb. 5, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Judge Carlos Eduardo Mendoza to serve on the United States District Courts. Mendoza is a 1997 graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law. 

Mendoza has served as a Circuit Judge in the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Florida since 2011. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Mendoza served as an Assistant City Attorney for St. Augustine, Florida from 2008 to 2011. From 2005 to 2008, he was an Assistant State Attorney in the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Florida. He began his legal career by serving as a Judge Advocate in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the United States Navy from 1997 to 2005. He earned his J.D. in 1997 from West Virginia University College of Law, his B.A. magna cum laude in 1993 from West Virginia University, and his A.A. in 1991 from Central Florida Community College. Judge Mendoza enlisted in the United States Marine Corps upon graduating from high school and participated in combat operations during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.

The full news release detailing Mendoza’s nomination can be found here.

News release: The White House Office of the Press Secretary (edited)