The Brandeis School of Law Moot Court Board is now accepting applications for the 2013-2014 academic year.

MCB plans and manages external and internal moot court, mock trial, and professional skills competitions at the Brandeis School of Law. MCB members organize and administer the Pirtle-Washer Competition, First-Year BLS Oral Arguments, First-Year Oral Advocacy Competition, and any moot court competitions the Brandeis School of Law hosts during the year. In addition, each MCB member acts as a facilitator for a moot court team or competition.

Any interested persons should submit their completed application, resume, and Waiver and Release form by Monday, April 22nd at 5pm. Please see the attached application for more information. Note that the completed Waiver and Relase should be submitted to the folder on the MCB door, or electronically (Waiver must be signed, scanned, and e-mailed).

Interviews will be conducted Saturday, May 11th and Sunday, May 12th. Decisions will be released no later than June 1st.

For any further questions or information, please contact any of the Executive Board members: Lacey Gullett, Mia Walters, Kaitlyn Jones, Jamie Hafley, or Lindsey Howard. 

Several new 2013 student writing competitions will become available that you can work on during the summer.  Remember to check the Writing Competitions page regularly for new posts, like the one below.  

2013 James E. Beckley Securities Arbitration and Law Competition

Sponsor: The PIABA Foundation

Criteria: This is a writing contest for students interested in Securities Arbitration and Securities Law.  The submission may address any aspect of Securities law; Securities arbitration; The Federal Abritration Act, Title 9, US Code, Section 1-14; or FINRA Code of Arbitration.  The writing can be based in theory or practice, but should ultimately advocate a position on the topic area chosen.

Deadline: September 20, 2013

Amount of award: First prize is $1,000; Second prize is $750; and Third prize is $500.

Submission information: www.piabafoundation.org

Ambassador Tom Graham will speak this evening (Tuesday, April 16) at 6:30 p.m. in the Allen Courtroom on Arms Control.  Ambassador Graham will give a lecture on nuclear non-proliferation and North Korea and Iran.  Graham is a former senior U.S. diplomat involved in the negotiation of every major international arms control and non-proliferation agreement during the period from 1970 to 1997.

The event is free and is open to law students, faculty, and staff.  See flyer for more details. 

Pursuant to law school policy, ordinarily, a course or seminar which does not have an enrollment of at least five (5) students will not be offered.  As of Tuesday, April 16, 2013, the following courses  have fewer than five enrollees, and thus may be canceled due to lack of enrollment.  If you are interested in taking these courses, please enroll as soon as possible so that we may make an informed decision about whether to offer them.  In particular, students on the waitlist for Dispute Resolution may want to consider enrolling in Arbitration Practice and Procedure instead.

LAW 908-08 - Arbitration Practice and Procedure
LAW 999-15 - Law Practice Management

If you are currently enrolled in either of these courses, please maintain your enrollment so that we may accurately gauge the level of student demand.  A decision about whether to cancel a course will be made after consultation with the professor, and affected students will be notified personally via email.

In response to student demand for a one-week intensive skills course during the Summer term, the law school will be offering a two-hour skills course in Domestic Violence during the week of May 20-24, taught by Professor Shelley Santry.  The course will meet from 10:30am - 4:30pm from Monday to Friday at the School of Law Clinic, 416 W Muhammad Ali Blvd.  There will be a written final exam as part of the last day of class.  In addition, students taking this course will prepare for and complete a mock hearing in a domestic violence case, under the supervision of Professor Santry. The mock hearing will be scheduled at a time convenient to the student and professor after the conclusion of the class meetings.   This is not a live-client clinic course; students therefore will not need to qualify for or apply for a limited license to practice law.  The course description is below.

Please be aware that Summer 2013 registration will be closed from April 17-21.  This is a University schedule and is not under the control of the law school.  You will be able to register for this course, and make any needed changes to your other course registrations, when the system re-opens on April 21.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Associate Dean Tim Hall or Director of Student Records Barbara Thompson.

Domestic Violence

Course Number: LAW 842-05 (University ID 3099)

Prerequisites: All first year required courses, unless waived by the professor teaching the course and the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.

A study of the history, causes and effects, and treatment of domestic violence, and the responses of the legal system: tort suits, civil and criminal actions, roles of the courts and police. Violence between domestic partners will be examined cross-culturally and attention will be given to its effects upon children.  

Exam4 for Spring 2013 final exams is now available to download and install. Students wishing to use their computers for finals must complete and submit a practice test (choose "S13 Practice exam" during start-up) using Exam4 version 12.2A for Windows or 13.1.1 for Mac (all previous versions have expired) no later than 11:59 PM EDT, Friday, April 19, 2013.

New This Semester:

• Exam4 now supports Windows 8.
• You may now submit Exam4 practice tests with off-campus Internet access.
• The IT Department is introducing a new practice test confirmation process.
• Open Laptop mode is available for exams in Civil Procedure I (Abramson), Immigration Law (Trucios-Haynes) and Law and Economics (Smith).

NOTE: The new practice test confirmation app automatically appends "@cardmail.louisville.edu" to whatever one types in the Exam Number field, which is why using one's ULink user name is absolutely critical. The image below illustrates why using something other than one's ULink user name, such as random numbers or a student ID number, will NOT generate a confirmation message: because those aren't valid e-mail addresses. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever use your student ID number to identify yourself in Exam4 -- not for a practice, not for a real exam, not ever, no exceptions, period. We have never asked for student ID numbers and never will.

For complete information, see Exam4 Essentials for Spring 2013.

Reese is a seven-year-old Miniature Australian Shepherd.  She has been a therapy dog for four years.  Reese does READ in the schools, and she visits Kosair Children’s Hospital and Norton’s Pediatric Psychiatric Ward.  She is also a member of the Kentucky Community Crisis Response team and has participated in the de-stress day for Eastern Kentucky University.  

We understand that the next few weeks are going to be a high-pressure period.  To help ease some of your stress, the law school is going to the dogs on the last day of classes - Monday, April 22! 

We've invited some of the cutest, cuddliest, and well-mannered certified therapy dogs from Pawsibilities Unleashed, a non-profit group based in Kentucky, to the law school. 

If you have classes on Monday, or if you are in the building studying for your upcoming final exams, we hope you will take a few minutes to visit and play.  Two sessions will be offered, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.  The dogs will be stationed throughout the school, and weather-permitting, outside for some ball and frisbee fetching.  We hope that the stress of looming exams will be lifted for a couple of hours on Monday! 

The following certified therapy dogs are excited to meet you:

Cutip (Toy Maltese), Bella (Newfoundland), Grendel and Beowulf (American Bulldogs), Jake (Yellow Lab), Ivan (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel), Reese (Aussie Mix), Jade (Plott Hound), Grace (Australian Blue Heeler/Lab mix), Jenny (Australian Shepherd/Heeler mix), Max (Sheltie/Spaniel mix), Phoenix (Sheltie), Ciara (Husky mix), Ziggy (Goldendoodle), and Howdy (Labradoodle).   

Louis D. Brandeis School of Law proudly announces that Justice John Paul Stevens will receive the prestigious Brandeis Medal at a dinner on April 18, 2013.  Justice Stevens served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 until his retirement in 2010.

The law school will host a question and answer session with Justice Stevens in the Allen Courtroom at 1:30 p.m. on April 18. Attendance is free and open to all UofL students. Attendees are asked to please arrive before 1 p.m. and dress appropriately (business-casual attire.)

For more details about the Brandeis Medal Presentation and Dinner, or to make reservations, please visit the Brandeis School of Law Web site.

This is reminder that Robert S. Adler, Commissioner at the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), will be a guest speaker at the law school TODAY in Room 175. Mr. Adler will be presenting a Powerpoint presentation on the topic of "The Emerging New Science of Ethics". Mr. Adler served as a professor of Legal Studies at the University of North Carolina as the Luther Hodges Jr., Scholar in Ethics and Law at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School. Mr. Adler's complete bio is attached.

After his talk, Mr. Adler will have pizza with students and informally speak with them about careers or any topic they would like to discuss. Around 12:30 he will begin preparing for Dean Hall's class, which he will be teaching at 1:00 p.m. in the Allen Courtroom. 

Please contact Jina Scinta, if you have questions.