News

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Three students at the West Virginia University College of Law are learning firsthand how to provide quality legal representation for children in abuse and neglect cases.

Rachael Mullins, Carrie Miller and Christian LaParne are participating in a new externship program through the West Virginia Court Improvement Program Board. The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia has designated the CIP with improving the state’s foster care and judicial processes.

The students, all 2Ls, are conducting 100 hours of fieldwork in addition to their semester-long externship course. They attend hearings and multi-disciplinary team meetings, tour group homes and juvenile centers, make home visits, conduct legal research and prepare legal documents.

Mullins, Miller and LaParne are supervised by attorneys from Lyons Phillips Legal Group, PLLC, and Jessica Haught, director of the Fitzsimmons Center for Litigation and Advocacy at WVU Law.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Graduate student Hannah Jack is making her mark as the first social work intern in the law clinics at the West Virginia University College of Law.

While earning her Master of Social Work from the WVU School of Social Work, Jack is helping the law clinics serve clients holistically, including connecting them to resources to improve their quality of life. She also consults with law students working in the clinics on topics such as communication and stressors in their relationships with clients.

“I hope to pave the way for this kind of partnership to continue in the future and to demonstrate the role a social worker can play in helping the law clinics provide legal resources,” Jack said. “This role holds opportunities to collaborate with a variety of people: lawyers, clients and even other social workers.”

Jack is supervised by Nicole McConlogue, associate professor of law and clinic director. She sees the potential for social work graduate students to enhance the legal representation the clinics already provide.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia veterans and their families will have access to free legal services during a one-day event hosted by the West Virginia University Veterans Advocacy Law Clinic.    

Student attorneys in the Clinic will offer free legal advice and services related to Veterans Affairs claims, wills and other issues on November 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the second floor of The Equities House, 900 Virginia St East, Charleston, WV, 25301.  

The legal services day is open to all veterans living in the Mountain State, their spouses and children. Walk-ins will be accepted throughout the day or guests can register in advance by calling 304-460-1476 or emailing jnolan3@mail.wvu.edu.  

Veterans must bring with them identification, medical records, prior wills, DD214 forms, service records and any other relevant paperwork.  

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Caroline Toler, a 1L at WVU Law, is a recipient of the 11th annual Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship from the law firm Frost Brown Todd.

Toler earned her bachelor’s degrees in English and Spanish from WVU with minors in philosophy and law and legal studies. She was named an Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Senior and earned a Fulbright U.S. Student Grant to travel to Spain where she worked as an English teaching assistant at the University of Málaga and volunteered with La Voz de Los Adoptados.

A first-generation college student and former foster youth, Toler has worked as a Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteer. After law school, she plans to practice family law, advocating for foster children and transforming how children are treated within the U.S. foster care system.

Frost Brown Todd awarded its 2021 Diversity and Inclusion Scholarships to just five graduate and law school students nationally. Winners were selected from 140 applicants for demonstrating the highest level of academic excellence and a commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in their communities.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. —  For more than 40 years, West Virginia Continuing Legal Education (WVCLE) has been dedicated to the professional development of thousands of lawyers. It has proudly served the state’s attorneys by delivering premier, affordable, relevant and creative programming.

Recently, the WVU College of Law has implemented some strategic organizational changes regarding WVCLE. In the midst of changes to the landscape of continuing legal education services throughout the state and beyond, the WVU College of Law has decided to pause the business operations of WVCLE as a standalone unit.

As a result, WVCLE cannot provide ongoing continuing legal education opportunities throughout the year. However, WVU College of Law will be working alongside other entities to support their continuing legal education programs and, looking toward the future, we are exploring the ever-changing professional continuing legal education needs of attorneys and how the College might best meet those needs. 

WVU Law plans to rethink how to continue our commitment to serving the legal community by providing service-based continuing legal education programs through different centers and departments within the College and through strategic partnerships with organizations outside the law school.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A grant to the West Virginia University College of Law from the Internal Revenue Service is going to help more low-income taxpayers in the Mountain State.

The IRS has awarded $100,000 to convert the college’s Taxpayer Advocacy Law Clinic into the only Low Income Taxpayer Clinic in the state. The grant will help fund a new full-time program director and the clinic will be renamed the WVU College of Law Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic.

“We will now be able to serve more clients through statewide legal representation and community outreach,” said Nicole McConlogue, associate professor of law and clinic director. “It also means that the clinic can enroll more student attorneys interested in hands-on work experience in taxpayer advocacy.”

LITCs assist low-income individuals who have a tax dispute with the IRS and provide education and outreach to individuals who speak English as a second language. LITCs are independent from the IRS and from the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent organization within the IRS that ensures taxpayers are treated fairly.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After more than 14 years, Nathaniel Barnett has walked away from the Cabell County Courthouse in Huntington, West Virginia, a completely free man.

On October 5, the state dismissed murder charges against him because DNA testing identified the actual perpetrator. Barnett is a client of the West Virginia Innocence Project Law Clinic at the West Virginia University College of Law.

“It feels great to finally put this behind me,” he said. “Even though I was out of jail, having the charge and another trial hanging over me was extremely stressful. Now I feel like I can finally move on with my life.”

Charges were also dismissed for Barnett’s brother, Philip, and Justin Black. The Barnetts, Black and a fourth man, Brian Dement, were all convicted in 2008 of charges related to the murder of Deanna Crawford in 2002 despite the lack of physical evidence connecting them to the crime scene.

Morgantown, W.Va. —  WVU Law and West Virginia Executive magazine recently inducted the Lawyers & Leaders Class of 2021. 

Founded in 2017, the Lawyers & Leaders program recognizes the accomplishments of exceptional legal professionals who have made a positive impact on the state and the nation and have dedicated their careers to serving others and their communities. Nominees are required to either be practicing law in West Virginia or be a graduate of WVU Law. 

The 2021 Lawyers and Leaders are:

MORGANTOWN, W.Va — The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has placed a renewed focus on the human right to health, a protection provided by numerous international declarations. 

To address health as a human right and the legal obligation it creates, the West Virginia University School of Public Health and College of Law are hosting an international human rights and law scholar for two online lectures. 

David H. Moore, professor of law at Brigham Young University, will present “Interpreting Human Rights” and “The International Human Right to Health” from noon to 1 p.m. on October 6 and October 13, respectively.

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia is teaming up with the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, the FBI, and West Virginia University to hold a symposium discussing the cutting-edge methods used to convict a serial killer who preyed on veterans at a VA hospital.

“The Medicolegal Symposium on the Serial Murder Case of Reta Mays” will be webcast from the WVU College of Law on October 14 from 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Registration is free and required by October 12. For more information or to register, go to justice.gov/usao-ndwv.

In May 2021, Reta Mays, a former nursing assistant at the VA hospital in Clarksburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to seven life terms in prison plus 20 years for murdering seven patients with insulin and attempting to murder an eighth veteran. The two-year investigation that preceded the July 2020 guilty pleas was highly complex.

The symposium will examine the clinical, forensic, psychiatry, and legal prosecution techniques used to ensure justice for Mays’ victims and their families. The prosecution team, investigators, and experts from around the globe will be presenting.