News

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Two teams from WVU Law won first and second place in the 2019 Albert R. Mugel National Tax Moot Court Competition held recently at the University of Buffalo.

Sierra Williams and Emily Cramer, both second-year law students, took first place in the competition. In the final round, Williams was awarded best oral advocate. She also won best oral argument in the preliminary rounds.

Third-year law students Braden Noon and Hannah Williams won second place. They were also recognized for the best respondent brief in the final round.

The WVU Law teams were coached by Elaine Waterhouse Wilson, professor of law and associate dean for academic affairs. Wilson has coached student teams for tax moot court competitions since she joined WVU Law’s faculty in 2012.

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. ­- The Veterans Advocacy Law Clinic at the WVU Law recently secured a discharge upgrade for an Army veteran that qualifies him for benefits.

Clinic client Jerry Severt, a native of McDowell County, West Virginia, was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1968. Traumatized by the death of his seven-year-old brother in 1970, Severt was unfavorably discharged.

From 2010 to 2013, Severt made three requests for a discharge upgrade to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records. His requests were denied and his case was administratively closed.

In 2017, the Veterans Advocacy Law Clinic took Severt’s case. In refiling his claim, law students in the clinic argued that Severt’s discharge was unfair based on the modern understanding of the effects of traumatic events on a person’s mental health. 

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — WVU Law’s 2020 U.S. News & World Report rank is 100. 

The magazine also ranks three WVU Law programs in the top 100 law specialties: Environmental Law (74), Health Care Law (76) and Tax Law (96).

“We are very happy to be in the top 100 law schools,” said Gregory Bowman, dean of the College of Law. “The top 100 is a highly competitive group of schools, and this reflects a national recognition of our excellence. We will continue to work every day to improve our excellent programs and to raise our national reputation even further.”

To compile its 2020 law school rankings, U.S. News looked at information from 192 ABA-approved schools in areas such as peer assessment, LSAT scores, employment rate, bar passage rate and institutional resources. 

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA —The annual Public Interest Advocates Auction and Dinner will be held on March 21 at WVU Law. The public is invited to attend.

This year’s 1950s-themed event, “Hopelessly Devoted to Public Service,” begins at 5:30 p.m. with a buffet dinner in the WVU Law lobby. Tickets for the dinner can be purchased for $10 at the door, and children under 10 eat for free.

The auction will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the College’s Event Hall. Admission to the auction is free. Live and silent auction items will be up for bid, and there will also be raffle items and door prizes.

PIA Auction items include weekend getaways, Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirates tickets, golf packages, signed WVU sports memorabilia, tickets to concerts and theater performances, a Bourbon tasting, electronics and homemade goods. Auctioneering services will be provided by Jared Staggs.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The WVU Law Writing Center recently became the first program affiliated with a law school to earn International Tutor Training Program Certification from the College Reading and Learning Association.

Developed by Melanie Stimeling, director of the Writing Center, the tutor training program supports the professional development of Peer Writing Consultants, who are the upper-level law students who tutor writing in the Center.

The College Reading and Learning Association reviewed WVU Law’s training program as “excellent,” citing its clear objectives, structure and outcomes for assessment. The CRLA also highlighted the Writing Center’s strong hiring process for its Peer Writing Consultants and its support of their professional development through assessment, observation, and feedback opportunities.

“This certification verifies the professional standards set in the Writing Center, and it recognizes the Center’s work and commitment to student success,” said Stimeling. “With this certification, the Writing Center can now certify Peer Writing Consultants who meet the CRLA-approved requirements. The training program emphasizes a learner-centered, collaborative approach to writing consultations and educates our Peer Writing Consultants on best practices used in tutoring writers.”

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — WVU Law has been named a top environmental law school for a second year.

In its current issue, preLaw Magazine gives WVU College of Law a grade of A for the range of its energy and environmental law classes and related opportunities. Just 14 law schools in the nation score higher.

“We are excited to receive this national recognition once again, especially for what it means to our students and alumni,” said Gregory Bowman , dean of the College of Law. “As a leading law school in a region rich in natural resources, we offer a well-rounded program in energy and environmental law and policy that prepares students for their legal careers.”

Students at WVU Law can earn a concentration in energy and sustainable development law or earn a dual degree J.D./LL.M. (Master of Laws) in energy and sustainable development law.

Update (March 9, 2019): William & Mary emerged as the champion of our 9th Annual Energy & Sustainability Moot Court Competition, defeating Yale in the finals in arguments before six federal judges. The other semifinalists were LSU and George Washington.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Law students from across the country are gathering in Morgantown March 7-9 for the ninth annual  National Energy and Sustainability Moot Court Competition, hosted by WVU Law.

This year's problem involves coal ash impoundments and whether there is jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act for pollutants that leak from a coal ash impoundment into navigable waters. The problem also involves a utility company’s ability to recover its costs for repairing environmental damages in rates charged to customers.

Nineteen law schools are sending 30 teams to the moot court competition, which is organized by WVU’s Center for Energy and Sustainable Development.    

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia will convene at WVU Law on March 5 to hear arguments in three cases.

The court convenes at 10 a.m. in the Marlyn E. Lugar Courtroom. Admission is free and the court’s session is open to the public. Seating begins at 9 a.m.

In Heather Humphrey, et al. vs. Westchester Limited Partnership, et al. the justices will hear arguments in a case that involves a wrongful death action filed against the operators of a bar and grill in Fairmont.

The second case before the justices will be Certegy Check Services Inc. vs. Janice Fuller. It is a Motion to Compel Arbitration case involving the payment of a hotel bill with convenience checks and subsequent letters and calls from a collection agency.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Contributors to the new book Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy (WVU Press, 2019) will discuss J.D. Vance’s controversial memoir of life in the region on February 25 from 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. in the Event Hall at WVU Law.

Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

Vance's Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (Harper, 2016), has defined Appalachia for much of the nation. Appalachian Reckoning is a retort — rigorous, critical, angry, and hopeful — to the long shadow Vance's book has cast over the region and its imagining. It also moves beyond Hillbilly Elegy by allowing Appalachians from varied backgrounds to tell their own diverse and complex stories through an imaginative blend of scholarship, prose, poetry, and photography.

For the discussion on Feb. 25, Appalachian Reckoning editors Anthony Harkins of Western Kentucky University and Meredith McCarroll of Bowdoin College will be joined by contributors Crystal Good, an Affrilachian poet, and photographer Roger May. Audra Slocum, WVU assistant professor of English Education, will moderate the conversation.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Two WVU Law students recently competed in the semifinals of an American Bar Association national moot court competition — and one advance to the final round.

Third-year students Karissa Blackburn and Stephen Scott both made it to the last stages of the ABA’s First Amendment and Media Law Diversity Moot Court Competition in Miami, Florida.  

Blackburn and Scott earned one of the four highest brief scores in the competition’s quarterfinal. That put them on the road to Miami, where they competed against law students from Yale, Duke and Michigan State.

“Karissa and I were eager to compete because we wanted to improve our writing and oral argument skills, as well as further increase WVU Law's visibility and participation in the American Bar Association,” said Scott. “Preparing for and performing in the competition went extremely well because we have great synergy between us and we know each other's strengths. In each phase of the competition, we worked tirelessly to make WVU Law proud.”