On Saturday, May 9, members of the law school's Class of 2009 were awarded their Juris Doctor degrees at a ceremony that was held at the Brown Theater in Louisville, KY. Senator Mitch McConnell delivered the convocation address.

On the previous evening, Friday, May 8, members of the law school's graduating class came together with family and friends to be recognized for their work in law school and to celebrate the completion of this phase in their education.

The law school has a rich history of both academic excellence and service to the community. Our graduates exemplify these characteristics. We are proud to honor them at the close of their education.

Programs & Photo Galleries

• 2009 Graduation Ceremony
• Black Law Students Association Convocation
• Graduation Reception
• Graduates' Awards Program

 

On May 26, Rob Shetterly presented his portrait of Louis D. Brandeis at both Central High School and the law school. This recent addition to the Maine artist’s collection of “Americans Who Tell the Truth” was suggested by Laura Rothstein who became inspired after having attended a reception and display of his collection at the Louisville Visual Art Association last year. The portraits are of Americans whose words and works demonstrate the importance of the First Amendment in American life.

The quote on the portrait reads:

Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher.  Crime is contagious.  If government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.

 Photo credits: Leslie Friesen and Michael Ben-Avraham | Click on each photograph to view a larger image.

Rob Shetterly with his portrait of Justice Brandeis.
Rob Shetterly shares images from his collection "Americans Who Tell the Truth".			Rob Shetterly answers questions from the audience; looking on are Provost Shirley Willihnganz and Professor Laura Rothstein.
Rob Shetterly signs a copy of his book, "Americans Who Tell the Truth" for Brandeis Law School professor Cedric Merlin Powell and his son, Coleman.			Rob Shetterly talks to television reporter; audience members Doug Farnsley, Owsley Brown (who with his wife, Christy, provided underwriting for the event), and Carl Bensinger (Brandeis Law School alum).

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.

The School of Law's IT department and University IT have partnered to offer law students laptop computer deals from Apple and Dell.  The Apple Macbook, which features a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB of RAM, a 250 GB hard drive, an Apple SuperDrive recordable DVD drive, and Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard), sells for $1,590.  The Dell Latitude E5500 includes a 15.4" display, a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 processor, 3 GB of RAM, a 250 GB hard drive, a recordable DVD drive, and Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic (Service Pack 1), and is priced at $1,039.

Check the new Brandeis School of Law page on UofL IT's Web site for more information and to purchase.

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".

This afternoon (Wednesday, April 29), dozens of students at the end of the Civil Procedure finals had difficulty with the wireless network.  Most could connect, but not authenticate.  That is, their logon credentials were rejected.  When asked, campus IT reported no known problems or outages at that time.

For the remainder of the final exam period, students are reminded and strongly urged to bring a USB flash drive with them to every exam as a backup submission method if wireless submission fails.

Students who take exams using Exam4 may now confirm online that their exams have been successfully submitted and received.  ExamTracker 3000 is available at www.law.louisville.edu/it/exam-tracker.

Check ExamTracker 3000 after every exam.  Each course will be listed as soon as the first student finishes and submits his/her exam electronically.  If your exam number is listed, you know your exam made it home.

ExamTracker 3000 will also be available in the Mosaic Lobby during finals.

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.

By the beginning of Spring 2009 final exams on Wednesday, April 22, the IT staff plans to deploy ExamTracker 3000™, an amazing, new, high-tech program that will display students' exam numbers in real time as they complete and submit Exam4 exams.  ExamTracker 3000 ™will be set up in a prominent place on the first floor of the classroom wing.  Using ExamTracker 3000™, students will know with absolute certainty that their electronic exams have been successfully submitted and received.