The Law School is delighted to announce that Kimberly K. Ballard will return to her alma mater as director of academic support. Kimberly will design and implement an academic support program to help students develop the skills necessary for success in law school, on the bar exam, and in practice. She will begin work on June 1.

Kimberly graduated magna cum laude from the Law School in 2004. She also holds a B.S. in biology from the University of Louisville. She joins the Law School after having served as an associate in the law firm of Stites & Harbison. As a member of that firm's torts and insurance service group, Kimberly has represented product manufacturers in mass tort litigation and physicians and hospitals in medical malpractice litigation. She has regularly served as a judge for oral advocacy competitions at the Law School. In addition, she coaches the University of Louisville's mock trial team, which won the regional competition in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2006.

On May 6, 2009, students, staff, faculty, and community members gathered at the Ali Center to recognize students and members of Central High School's Law and Government Magnet Partnership with the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law. Please refer to the attached program for more details.

Click on each photo to view a larger image.

 

Reception in the Muhammad Ali Center's lobby.
Bryant Smith with Central High School Students			Souvenir Mugs
Alumna Robyn Smith and Bryant Smith		UofL Law Students and Staff		Professor Powell Presents the Awards
Professor Tony Arnold and Law School Alumna Liz Edmondson			Harlan Scholar and Law School Alumna, Angela Buckler, and Professor Sam Marcosson
Victor Revill and Noelle Rao			Bryant Smith and Don Rodgers
Amy Jay, Colleen Clemons and Heather Stone			Charles Booker and Forrest Kuhn
Awards Presentation Begins			Ralph Fitzpatrick and Dan Hall from the University Office of Community Engagement
Student Presents Award to Colleen Clemons			Street Law Students Present Awards
Street Law Students Present Awards
Street Law Students Present Awards
Harlan Scholar, Osiah Graham		Co-Valedictorian, Wei Jie (Jack) Chen		Street Law Students are Awarded
Street Law Students are Awarded
Street Law Students are Awarded
Street Law Students are Awarded
Proud Students Pose with their Awards

Simone Beach, the law school's Events Coordinator, is currently featured on the University's homepage. Her unique story is presented in an article by Kevin Hyde, "Living Law School: Full-time Brandeis employee earns her law degree".

The Louisville Bar Association would like to inform members of our law school community about their new Twitter page. Yes, you heard correctly. The LBA is now 'Tweeting' with the goal of improving dialogue between LBA members, law students and other legal professionals in our community.

Also, everyone is invited to attend their press conference scheduled for Monday, April 20 at 10 AM in the Judicial Center (2nd floor Attorneys Room) as they announce the results of this year's Judicial Evaluation of Jefferson Circuit and Family Court judges. Many of whom have sat and ruled on recent highly publicized cases including the Bellarmine student Katie McCoy trial (Judge Susan Shultz Gibson), PRP student Max Gilpin trial (Judge Mitchell Perry) and the recent Eeron Harper murder trial (Judge James Shake).

The conference is open to the public.

Law Librarian Robin Harris has been awarded for having provided 25 years of invaluable service to the University. Prior to her role at the law library, she served as a reference librarian at Ekstrom Library.

 

Left to right: Arbitrators Dr. Prof. Christian Schwartz (Netherlands), Prof. Janet Walker (Canada) and Ziva Filipic (Slovenia), University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law teammates Marshall Casey, Rebecca Simms, UNAM teammates Luis Paz and Angelica Huacuja

The Willem Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot involved 233 teams representing 59 countries and 1,500 students.  Fifty-three United States law schools were represented, although the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law team was the only team representing Kentucky.  There were more than 600 arbitrators from around the world – drawn from law firms and law school faculties – comprised the three-person panels that heard more than 1,000 arbitrations.  

The  University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law team was represented by Marshall Casey and Rebecca Simms. The team acquitted itself extremely well in the first four rounds, receiving very positive comments from the Arbitrators, and actually competed against three teams that went on to the finals.

In the first round the  University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law team went against the top team of three representing the University of Paris, the Sorbonne; in round two they went against the National Autonomous University of Mexico which could be described as the “Harvard of Mexico,” the number one school in the country; they faced Charles University, Czech Republic, in round three, and, finally, the University of Munich, an extremely strong school and one of 24 German (second only to the United States) teams.  As noted, Paris, UNAM and Munich went on to the finals.

Although the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law team did not make the final round of 64 they moved very successfully through the first four rounds, learned a great deal and represented Brandeis in a very important aspect of the gathering, international networking.  It seemed that many participants – from both civil law and common law countries were aware of Louis Brandeis.  There were also opportunities to view the art and history of Vienna. In this the team was aided by alumna, Kristina Huddleston,`97.

Keith Sealing, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs

The UofL Law Clinic Open House and Reception showcases the UofL Law Clinic, an initiative that enables the law school to refocus legal education as a primarily (or even exclusively) classroom-based endeavor into an active, hands-on enterprise of learning by doing.

 

We'd like to thank all the members of the Louisville legal community, alumni, faculty, staff and students who shared in this celebration.

University of Louisville Law Clinic students, from left: Dustin Thacker, Becca O'Neill, Chad Reid, Christopher McDavid, Caroline Pieroni, Amy Jay. Photo credit: Robert Pieroni
Professor Lars Smith, Dean Jim Chen and the incoming Clinic Director Shelley Santry enjoy the reception.
Becca O'Neill and her classmates present gifts to their instructors Stewart Pope, Legal Aid Advocacy Director, and Lars Smith, University of Louisville Professor and Samuel J. Stallings Chair in Law.
Guests enjoy the conversation and live music, compliments of Middleton Reutlinger and Stites & Harbison.
Law Clinic Reception Guests	Law students, Cheri Jones and Simone Beach
Wine, beer, and soft drinks were provided by Middleton Reutlinger and Stites & Harbison.	Bourbon tasting provided by Woodford Reserve.
Hors d'oeuvres provided by Carrabba's Italian Grill.	Vickie Tencer (Unit Business Manager), Kathy Urbach (Assistant Dean for Career Services and Public Service) and Jina Scinta (Program Assistant)
Professor Susan Duncan, Justice Elisabeth Hughes Abramson, Judge Paula Sherlock, Professor Laura Rothstein, and Maria Fernandez, '89	Third year student and Law Clinic member Caroline Pieroni and family, from left: Jennifer Lynch Nickel, Mark Nickel, David Lynch, Julia Lynch, Caroline Lynch Pieroni, Robert Pieroni
Law student, Amy Jay	University of Louisville Law Students

Four students from Central High School competed at the inaugural Marshall-Brennan National Civil Liberties Moot Court Competition in Philadelphia on March 21-22.  Kimberly Albritton, Jack Chen, Osiah Graham, and Sasha Richmond represented their school, the Law & Government Magnet, and the University of Louisville’s Central High Partnership and achieved incredible success in the tournament.
 
Osiah Graham, a senior at Central who plans to attend the University of Louisville as a Harlan Scholar in the fall, reached the semi-final round of the competition, which meant he was among the 16 most outstanding competitors in the entire nation.  His classmates Kim Albritton and Sasha Richmond both advanced to the quarter-finals, making the Central students by far the most successful team at the entire tournament.  Teams came from all over the country, representing Marshall-Brennan programs from Washington, D.C., to Phoenix, and from Boston to Baton Rouge.  No other contingent came close to doing what Central did by having three-quarters of its students reach the quarter-final round.
 
The team was coached by Brandeis School of Law students Colleen Clemons (who accompanied the team to Philadelphia), Amy Jay, Jason Schwalm, and Heather Stone.  All are third-year students who have taught at Central in the Marshall-Brennan program this year, working with the Law & Government program’s long-time teacher, Joe Gutmann.  Colleen was joined in Philadelphia by law school professor and Marshall-Brennan faculty supervisor Sam Marcosson, who also helped coach the students as they prepared for the competition.
 

“Their performances were terrific,” Marcosson said.  “They proved that our Central students can compete with the very best students from around the country, and excel on the academic side just as they have on the football field and basketball court this year.  They worked hard to prepare, and impressed the judges with their knowledge of the law, the facts of the cases, and ability to deal with tough questions.”

Diversity Forum Series: From Prop 8 to SB 68: Legislative Attacks on LGBT Families - April 7, 2009

Dean Chen opens the program.			Moderator, Christopher McDavid introduces the panel.
Bryan Gatewood		Chris Hartman		Reverend Vernon S. Broyles, III
The panelists engage in a discussion while a clip of an interview with Chris Hartman on “Kentucky Tonight” appears on the screen.
Nancy Baker and Miriam Schusler-Williams serve lunch.			Diversity Committee Members

			On April 8, attorney Gregory Belzley presented "Civil Rights of the Incarcerated." This first event of the University's recently formed, American Constitution Society chapter, was well attended.   Pictured at left:  Sean Donaldson, ACS Program Director, Gregory Belzley, and James Ficher, ACS President *Click on each of the photos for a larger image.
Sean Donaldson introduces Mr. Belzley.		Mr. Belzley takes questions from the audience.		Mr. Belzley meets with the founding members of the law school's ACS chapter.