News

OMAHA, NE—WVU Law professor  Joshua Fershee has been named the 11th dean of Creighton University School of Law. He will officially begin his duties as dean on July 1.

Professor  Kendra Fershee has accepted a tenured faculty position at Creighton School of Law. 

Joshua Fershee has served as professor of law and director of LLM programs in energy and sustainable development law at WVU Law since 2012. He was also the associate dean for faculty research and development from 2015-2018.

Kendra Fershee joined the WVU Law faculty in 2012 and served as the associate dean for academic affairs from 2015-18. She is editor-in-chief of the ABA's Family Law Quarterly.

MORGANTOWN, W. Va.— WVU Law awarded degrees to 101 members of the Class of 2019 at commencement on May 10 in the Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre at the WVU Creative Arts Center.

“As you go forth to live your lives greatly within the law, it is vital that you do so with idealism,” Gregory Bowman , dean of the College of Law, told the graduates.

Vincent Cardi, who was selected Professor of the Year by the Class of 2019, delivered the commencement address. He explored five general characteristics of a good lawyer: show up for work; return phone calls; be honest with your clients; do the work; and get involved in the community.

Cardi also added four more traits of good lawyers: courage, teamwork, organizational skills, and independence.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—WVU Law is about to become the first building at WVU to help offset its reliance on the electrical grid with a solar panel array.

The 48-panel system will be installed this summer on the College's roof. It will put an estimated 18,000-kilowatt-hours per year back into the law school’s electrical system. A single U.S. home uses, on average, about 11,000 kWh per year.

“On the heels of our recent extensive renovation, the College’s Sustainability Committee identified solar as a real and untapped opportunity for not just the law school, but for WVU as a whole,” said Jason Walls, a land conservation attorney with WVU’s Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic.

Siemens Industry, Inc. has made a $43,800 donation to support the project, which will cost $48,000. Additional funds are being provided by WVU Sustainability.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—WVU Law has been named a Top Law School by preLaw Magazine for two programs.

The magazine awarded the college a grade of “A” for trial advocacy and litigation and a grade of “A-” for intellectual property law. PreLaw graded the programs based on curriculum and student experience.

According to preLaw, only four law schools rate higher than WVU for trial advocacy and litigation and just 39 law schools score higher than WVU for intellectual property law. There are 203 law schools in the country approved by the American Bar Association.

“The high rating of our trial advocacy and intellectual property law programs reflects our commitment to preparing students for a broad range of careers in a complex legal market,” said Gregory Bowman , dean of the College of Law.

MORGANTOWN, W. Va.—Professor Alison Peck has won this year’s Significant Scholarship Award from WVU Law for an article that addresses President Trump’s plan to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The in-house award is given each year to a faculty member whose thorough research, clear arguments, and published work directly contribute to our understanding of important public issues.

Peck won the Significant Scholarship Award for her article “Withdrawing from NAFTA,” which was published in The Georgetown Law Journal earlier this year.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – 2L Julie Merow has been elected to an executive position in the American Bar Association Law Student Division.

She is the first WVU Law student to serve in a national-level role for the organization.

The ABA Law Student Division Assembly elected Merow to serve as Delegate of Communications, Publications and Outreach. Her one-year term starts in August 2019.

In her new role, Merow will engage with ABA student members through multiple channels, including social media, “Student Lawyer” magazine, a blog and podcasts. She will also help the ABA House of Delegates develop policy and serve as its recordkeeper during meetings.

MORGANTOWN, W. Va.— 3L Stephen Scott has been selected a Law School Student of the Year finalist by The National Jurist magazine.

The level of Scott’s accomplishments and leadership in law school is dizzying. He is among the top 10 students in his class while balancing commitments to community involvement, student government, tutoring, and countless other activities.

A first-generation college student, Scott grew up in a single-parent household in Shepherdstown, W.Va. His family situation led to his interest in the law.

Scott is president of the WVU Law Student Bar Association and active in the College’s Community Service Council Public Interest Advocates and Black Law School Students Association. He’s an editor for the West Virginia Law Review and a member of U.S. Supreme Court Clinic, which had a case argued at the high court last December. Scott is also a director and secretary-treasurer of the West Virginia Fund for Law in the Public Interest.

MORGANTOWN, W. Va.—The West Virginia Innocence Project is hosting a screening of the award-winning Netflix documentary “13TH" on April 17 from 6-9 p.m. in room 153 at WVU Law.

Following the movie, a panel of WVU faculty and staff will lead a discussion on sociology, prison and race. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

Directed by Ava DuVernay, “13TH” explores the striking racial disparities in the criminal justice system. One-third of African-American men will spend some part of their life in prison, according to the Sentencing Project, which collaborated on the film. In “13TH,” DuVernay pieces together a historic look at race in America starting with slavery and ending with the institutionalized racism of the American criminal justice system.

“Advocating and creating change starts by opening a dialogue about mass incarceration in our communities,” said lawyer Hope DeLap, the current Franklin D. Cleckley Fellow in the West Virginia Innocence Project.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.— The Center for Consumer Law and Education has awarded its inaugural student fellowships to Levi Pellegrin and Brian Bowen at WVU Law. 

Bowen, a second-year student from Greensburg, Penn., and Pellegrin, a third-year student from Phoenix, Az., are helping develop consumer outreach and information programs. They are working this semester with Jonathan Marshall, director of the CCLE at WVU Law.

“Brian and Levi bring a unique perspective to the center’s work,” said Marshall. “Their initiative and enthusiasm for consumer issues are an asset as we lay the groundwork for the center’s future success.”

The CCLE is a joint program between Marshall University and WVU College of Law. Its mission is to educate consumers and partners about consumer law, assist with the development of public policy, and make a meaningful impact on the advancement of consumer law and policy in the state and nation.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.— Sandy Steel, a law professor at Oxford University, will deliver the 2019 Baker Lecture on April 10 at noon in the Event Hall at WVU Law.

Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

Steel will address the right to private law for the 2019 C. Edwin Baker Lecture for Liberty, Equality and Democracy. The branch of law that deals with relations between individuals, private law includes family law, property law and contract law.

Steel is Lee Shau Kee's Sir Man Kam Lo Fellow in Law at Wadham College and associate professor of law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford. He is a prize-winning author of two books on tort law, including "Proof of Causation in Tort Law" (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Steel has been cited by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and the High Court of Australia.