The
Public Interest Advocates Spring Auction begins on March 21 at 9 a.m. and ends
on March 25 at 5 p.m. Proceeds help pay fellowships for students who work for low-income
and at-risk clients at legal agencies in West Virginia.
Last year’s PIA auction helped fund 15 fellowships for law students to work at organizations
such as Legal Aid of West Virginia, ChildLaw Services, Senior Legal Aid and Mountain
State Justice. It also helped fund two other students working in public defenders' offices.
“Fundamentals of United States Intellectual Property Law” (Wolters Kluwer, 2022,
7th ed.) is a revised and updated comprehensive review of U.S. copyright, patent,
and trademark laws. The book introduces recent amendments to these types of law
and examines their impact.
“Patent law is constantly changing with important topics such as the growing prominence
of the Western District of Texas as a venue for patent lawsuits, changes to Inter
Partes Review procedure, and the use of sovereign immunity to protect patent validity,”
said Tu.
Major themes in the book include registration procedures; scope of exclusive rights;
transfer of interests; fair use; rights in unregistered marks; protection of computer
software, code, and databases; remedies and procedural issues in infringement actions.
UPDATE 3/5/22: Congratulations to Autumn Brehon and Brianka Yzaguirre of the University of Houston Law Center, winners of the 12th annual National Energy and Sustainability Moot Court Competition, arguing for the Appellee. Great effort by the second-place team of Chris Cerny, Eden Faure and John Schwieters from the University of Minnesota Law School!
This year, 39 teams will grapple with legal issues related to the Clean Air Act and
Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The moot court problem involves a fictitious federally
owned electric utility company that operates an aging coal-fired power plant and
a concentrating solar power facility.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Appalachian
communities have long struggled with access to care, hospital closures, gaps in
insurance coverage and higher prevalence rates of chronic disease — and the
global pandemic has only created more challenges.
On February 24 and 25,
the West Virginia Law Review is
hosting a symposium to explore these topics at the intersection of law and
health, seeking to understand their impact on rural Appalachia.
Health care law experts
from across the country will address a wide range of topics, including how
finances affect medicine in rural communities, how technology can improve
medicine in rural communities, how international factors can affect rural
medicine, and how practices in rural medicine specifically impact Appalachia.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Several
West Virginia UniversityCollege of Law students recently spent a week in Wisconsin helping Afghans
resettle in the United States.
Third-year students Tori Bruno, Aliah Hasan, Lauren Knowlden, Matt Regan and Natalia
Watkins are members of the WVU
Immigration Law Clinic. They worked at a U.S. government facility in January,
assisting hundreds of Afghans who had fled their country following the fall of
Kabul last year.
Immigration Law Clinic co-directors Professor
Alison Peck
and Robert Whitehill, a Pittsburgh-based immigration attorney, accompanied
the students on the trip.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A cross-campus collaboration at
West Virginia University will help the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
Natural Resources Conservation Service research and review its Farm and Ranch Lands
Protection Program, which has safeguarded millions of acres of productive farm
and ranchland into perpetuity.
“A grant of this magnitude and scope takes WVU Law’s national service to a new
level,” said
Amelia Rinehart, dean of the College of Law. “The project ultimately benefits
the American people and it provides our students with invaluable work experience
in land use law.”
McDiarmid, the Steptoe
& Johnson Professor of Law and Technology, was recognized for her work in
pro bono and public service law.
For 35 years, McDiarmid directed and helped expand the
clinical law program at WVU until
stepping down in 2021. She continues to teach the law, including evidence
and civil procedure courses.
“Over the course of her career and continuing
today, Professor McDiarmid changed the landscape of clinical legal education
and has trained hundreds of lawyers to carry those same values of service and
leadership to their communities,” said Amelia
Rinehart, dean of the College of Law. “She pioneered using technology to break down barriers to
legal services, and she committed herself and our college to improving the lives of multiple generations of
West Virginians with her vision to provide free legal assistance throughout the
state. We cannot
measure the impact she has had on the state of West Virginia and on the legal
profession.”
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Michael Johnson, a 2003 graduate of the
West Virginia UniversityCollege of Law, is the new chief legal strategist for GLBTQ Legal Advocates
& Defenders.
Known as GLAD, the Boston-based organization uses strategic litigation, public policy
advocacy, and education to fight discrimination based on gender identity and expression,
HIV status and sexual orientation.
“For more than four decades, GLAD’s cutting-edge legal work has driven monumental
advancements in LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination protections, transgender rights, family
equality, the rights of people living with HIV, and more across New England and
nationally,” Johnson said. “But even as we gain increased legal protections, our
efforts are constantly being challenged.”
Johnson joins GLAD after nearly 20 years in leadership roles at Western New England University School of Law, where he most recently served as associate dean for student affairs and enrollment planning. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Second-year law students Alley Jordan, Mattie Shuler and Shelby Turley traveled to Boston for the annual meeting of DRI, where they networked with attorneys
while learning about legal defense practice through presentations and workshops.
DRI, founded in 1960, is an organization of defense attorneys and in-house counsel that aims to build connections, educate members and improve the justice system.
"There were a lot of changes of views that people held about their career and it was really interesting to hear all of those different perspectives," Jordan said.
WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden has announced his nomination of Christopher
J. Williamson for Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health at the U.S. Department
of Labor.
A proud Appalachian and native of the coalfields of southern West Virginia, Williamson
currently serves as Senior Counsel to Chairman Lauren McFerran of the National
Labor Relations Board. Prior to joining the NLRB, he served in the Obama-Biden
Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor as a member of the senior leadership
team at the Mine Safety and Health Administration. In that role, he advised the
Assistant Secretary for MSHA on all aspects of agency policy, operations, and communications.
