The Cardinal Lawyer

The Law School openly acknowledges that preparing for a lifetime of economically gainful employment is a prime goal — arguably the prime goal — of legal education. Summer provides the perfect opportunity for exploring potential work settings. The Law School's multimedia site happily presents What I Did over Summer Vacation, a program in which upper-level students discussed their employment experiences during summer 2009 and offered tips and advice to new students just entering the job market:

In addition to earlier postings on The Cardinal Lawyer (Trespasser apprehended and Further observations), these stories summarize Friday's incident at the Law Library:

• UofL Police arrest former employee on campus
• Emergency procedures at the University of Louisville

Once again The Cardinal Lawyer wishes to thank the Law School personnel and University of Louisville Police for their swift and safe resolution of this morning's incident in the Law Library.

In the immediate aftermath of the campus shootings at Virginia Tech in April 2007, the University of Louisville convened a working group on emergency prevention, preparedness, and response. Among many other measures, this group created a student care team and implemented emergency procedures to be followed in the event of an active threat to campus safety.

The University, in short, has been preparing for an incident of this kind. We had hoped never to have been forced to use the protocols designed for these situations. Today the University had to use those protocols. Thanks to the vigilance of Law School personnel and UofL Police, a potentially dangerous situation was defused, and no one was harmed.

A former University of Louisville student and contract employee was apprehended by UofL Police this morning after carrying weapons into the Law Library.

UofL Police have arrested Thomas H. Irwin and charged him with carrying a concealed deadly weapon and with criminal trespass.

According to police, Irwin entered the law library at about 8:30 a.m. with two handguns and ammunition. After receiving a call from an employee, UofL Police arrived on the scene and escorted Irwin from the premises without incident. He was taken to ULPD headquarters for further investigation.

Irwin had been declared persona non grata by the university in December 2008.

UofL officials praised the law school employee who called the police.

“We have systems in place to protect our students, faculty and staff, and in this case the employee acted quickly and appropriately,” said Provost Shirley Willihnganz. “I also want to thank our police for acting quickly.”

The university will provide more details later today.

The University of Louisville proudly welcomes the second annual Conference on Innovation and Communications Law:

August 21, 2009, 8:00am – August 22, 2009, 5:00pm
Louisville Marriott Downtown
Registration cost: $100  ·  Register online

The University of Louisville is proud to host the second annual Conference on Innovation and Communications Law on August 21 and 22, 2009. The Conference, a follow-up to the 2008 conference held in Turku, Finland, is a cooperative effort of the University of Louisville School of Law, University of Turku Faculty of Law, Drake University Law School, Michigan State University College of Law, and the IPR Center in Helsinki, Finland. We also acknowledge and appreciate the support of Middleton Reutlinger and Stoll Keenon Ogden.

This year's conference will focus mainly on the role intellectual property and communications law play in the dissemination of information. As a result, discussion will focus on how the legal system helps (or hinders) the development of knowledge. For example, we anticipate one or more sessions dealing with licensing and franchising issues. Other topics include the role of intellectual property registration, the law governing trade secrets and confidential information, remedies, and the special case of university inventions and works. Many of the participants have come from outside the United States and will make presentations with an international or comparative perspective.

Many have asked about ways to deliver aid to individual victims of the August 4 flood. The University has just announced a benefit concert that addresses this very need:

♫ The final Red Barn SummerFest Concert will be a fundraiser for faculty and staff who suffered losses in last week's flooding. The concert, featuring The Vinyl Kings, is Friday, August 14, 5 p.m.-7 p.m. Doors will open at 4:30 p.m. The Vinyl Kings are one of Louisville's premiere rock/pop bands. They play the sound of the '60s and early '70s. Admission is free, but donations will be taken at the door and contributed to a university fund for faculty and staff flood victims. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Start your weekend off right — "Come Back to the Barn." This Friday, you'll enjoy good music and good friends for a truly good cause: restoring our UofL.

Law School orientation 2009 is in full swing. We began this morning with a special welcome that included two of the Law School's most distinguished alumnae:

1. The Honorable Sara Walter Combs, chief judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals (pictured at right).
2. Bonnie Kittinger, director and general Counsel of the Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions.

The bond between the Law School and its students — past, present, and future — is a lifelong covenant. We were very privileged to welcome Chief Judge Combs and Ms. Kittinger back to campus to lead a special ceremony that introduced our new students into the Law School family on their first day of a life in the law.