News

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Emerging leaders studying at the West Virginia University College of Law will benefit from a new scholarship established by Steptoe & Johnson PLLC in honor of retiring former CEO Susan S. Brewer, the first woman to lead a major law firm in Appalachia.

Steptoe & Johnson contributed $100,000 to establish the Susan S. Brewer Law Leadership Scholarship, which goes to full-time students at the College of Law who demonstrate leadership in their academic career, community, work and other areas.

“Susan is a brilliant litigator and leader who always carries others as she climbs,” Amelia Rinehart, William J. Maier, Jr. Dean and Professor of Law, said. “Honoring her trailblazing career in the legal profession with a scholarship of this caliber will enable the College of Law to recruit and educate students who reflect those same values of leading through excellence and service to the profession. We are so grateful for Susan’s lasting leadership and impactful commitment to WVU, as well as Steptoe & Johnson’s ongoing partnership with the College of Law to develop West Virginia’s future lawyers and leaders. This scholarship will support WVU students for many years to come, and we can’t think of a more fitting tribute to Susan’s incredible legacy in our profession.”

Brewer joined Steptoe & Johnson in 1980, two weeks after graduating from George Mason University with her law degree. She worked under managing partner Bob Steptoe as a litigator and served on the firm’s Executive Committee for over 20 years before taking the helm as CEO in 2009.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Every summer, a group of law students from West Virginia University spread out across the state to help those in need.

These Public Interest Advocates Summer Fellows work in local organizations that provide legal services to low-income clients, the elderly, children, victims of domestic violence, veterans and others.

“It has been a very rewarding summer for our PIA Fellows, as they get hands-on experience while providing important support and staffing in various public interest law offices,” said Dan Kimble, director of the Center for Law and Public Service at the WVU College of Law. “In many cases, these experiences have launched our students to careers in public interest law or led them to provide pro bono legal services as they grow into the legal profession.”

PIA Summer Fellowships are full-time, paid 10-week appointments sponsored by the non-profit West Virginia Fund for Law in the Public Interest. PIA, one of the most active student organizations at WVU Law, is a fundraiser for WVFLIPI.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A West Virginia University initiative born out of the pandemic is benefiting rural and urban communities across the mid-Atlantic.

In spring 2020, COVID-19 canceled the fifth annual Mountain State Land Use Academy. Founded by the Land Use and Sustainable Development Clinic at the WVU College of Law, the academy informs community leaders about issues in planning, economic development, resiliency and the law.  

The pandemic shutdown did not stop law professor Jesse Richardson and attorney Jared Anderson, who both work in the clinic. They began reaching out to associates and, within weeks, they established what has become the Mid-Atlantic Planning Collaboration. 

"Right after the pandemic started, Jesse reached out because he wanted to create a way that we in the Mid-Atlantic area could teach more people about issues that impact our region," said Alan Feinberg, a representative of the Maryland Chapter of the American Planning Association. "He and everyone in the Land Use clinic take a bird's eye approach to planning, in that they look out to the entire area around them during their efforts so they can do things to benefit everyone."

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — About 40 years ago, Martin Harrell met an environmental law professor who mentored and inspired him.

Now, the successful attorney for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is honoring that professor with a new endowed scholarship at the West Virginia University College of Law.

Harrell graduated from WVU Law in 1982 and has been a lawyer at the EPA regional office in Philadelphia since 1983. He now manages all legal aspects of the agency’s criminal enforcement program in five Mid-Atlantic states. 

As one of the government’s top environmental enforcement lawyers, Harrell is helping protect the land, communities and people from environmental and public health threats.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—While many of his classmates were pondering their future career paths, Luke Yingling was blazing his own trail.

The 2022 graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law is the founding President and CEO of Analytica Legalis, a technology company that uses artificial intelligence to help lawyers win in court.

Analytica Legalis is the first company to quantify jurisprudence and analyze judges’ sentiment, according to Yingling. It was a finalist in the American Bar Association TechShow 2022 Startup Alley competition.

“We measure the philosophy of the law to which judges and courts subscribe, and we analyze the sentiments judges express in their opinions regarding facts, legal arguments, and other factors that are important to the outcome of a case,” Yingling explained.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The  West Virginia University College of Law awarded the Juris Doctor to the Class of 2022 on May 13.

For the first time since the pandemic, the commencement ceremony was held in the Lyell B. Clay Theatre at the  Canady Creative Arts Center. 

Dean Amelia Smith Rinehart presided over her first WVU Law commencement. 

“During the past three years, my colleagues, your professors, have equipped you with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the legal profession,” she told the Class of 2022. “As you leave here and embrace your future, please do so with the aspirations this law school was founded upon in 1878 — that the graduates of our West Virginia law school would do something and be something that impacts our communities and our world.”

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University College of Law is among the best schools in the country for practical training, environmental law and intellectual property law, according to preLaw Magazine.

The national publication ranks WVU Law No. 26 in the country for practical training and gives the college a grade of A for environmental law and a B+ for intellectual property law.

For practical training, preLaw considered WVU Law’s opportunities in clinics, externships, simulation courses, pro bono work and moot court competitions.

For environmental law and intellectual property law, the magazine looked at the range of courses, depth of faculty expertise and programs, such as the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development, the National Energy and Sustainable Moot Court Competition and the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Law Clinic.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Devin Redding, a rising third-year student at the West Virginia University College of Law, has been elected by her peers to serve as the next editor-in-chief of the West Virginia Law Review. 

The WVLR is a professional legal journal that publishes practical and theoretical articles for legal scholars, students, legislators and lawyers. Founded in 1894, it is the fourth oldest student-governed law review in the country.  

Redding will lead the team that will publish three issues of Volume 125 of the WVLR in 2022-23. She will also oversee the law review’s annual symposium, website and online edition. 

Redding’s main goals as editor-in-chief are to expand the law review’s reach and impact while continuing to publish outstanding and innovative legal scholarship.  

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Two West Virginia University College of Law students argued before the state’s highest court on April 12. One of them will now have their name engraved on a cherished trophy.

Second-year students Mattie Shuler and Cameron LeFevre were finalists in WVU Law’s annual George C. Baker Moot Court Competition. They argued before the Justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in Charleston.

In the end, it was Shuler who was awarded the historic Baker Cup by the Justices.

"The Baker Cup finals gave Mattie and Cameron an amazing opportunity to argue in a historic courtroom before the Justices,” said Amy Cyphert, moot court advisor and lecturer in law. “We were transfixed watching their excellent arguments and I know the Justices were very impressed."

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Across the country, the pandemic intensified a growing trend of increased rates of depression, anxiety, substance abuse and serious thoughts of suicide.

In response, the West Virginia University College of Law has hired its first in-house behavioral health counselor, Kathy Servian.

“An embedded counselor is a long-felt need in our student support system,” said Amelia Smith Rinehart, William J. Maier, Jr. Dean of the College of Law. “Law students deal with stress in a competitive and challenging environment and that stress continues even as they graduate and head to future legal careers. Kathy’s exceptional counseling experience makes her the perfect addition to our Student Services and Engagement group. Ultimately, our efforts to destigmatize and address mental health concerns will impact not just students in their daily lives as healthy professionals but the legal community throughout our state and region.”

A Licensed Professional Counselor, Servian has more than 23 years of experience in the mental health field. She has provided individual and group therapy to clients experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and loss, relationship problems, substance use and gambling addiction.