News

HOUSTON, TEXAS — Arthur L. Bryan II, a 2009 WVU Law graduate who works for Bechtel Oil, Gas and Chemicals, Inc., has been elected to membership in the Fellows of the Texas Bar Foundation.

Bryan is a transactional attorney for the Pennsylvania Chemicals project (aka Project Franklin), a polyethylene and ethane cracker facility to be constructed in western Pennsylvania. 

In his current role, Bryan negotiates and advises on engineering, procurement and construction agreements, subcontract agreements, technical services and purchasing agreements. He also advises senior management on intellectual property, joint-venture and non-disclosure matters, and contractual and compliance obligations. 

In previous positions at Bechtel, Bryan was the Prime Contract Administrator for Pennsylvania Chemicals and a Subcontract Formation Specialist for a large complex liquefied natural gas (LNG) Front-End Engineering and Design project for Anadarko Petrochemical Company’s Mozambique Gas Development Project. He was also the Contract Specialist on the Angola LNG Project in Houston and on site in Soyo, Angola. Bryan joined Bechtel in 2010.

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA — Student inventors and entrepreneurs in the state will soon benefit from a $105,000 grant to a law clinic at WVU Law.

The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation awarded the grant to the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Law Clinic (EILC).

The funds will provide legal services for copyright, trademark and patent protection for work by students enrolled in higher education institutions in West Virginia.

“We will also provide general business services,” said Priya Baskaran, director of the EILC, “like helping student entrepreneurs select the correct business entity for future growth and creating contracts to ensure inventors and collaborators are protected when courting investors.”

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA – The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia will convene at WVU Law on February 28 to hear arguments in three cases.

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

Morgantown, West Virginia — Elaine Wilson, associate professor of law, is the 2016-17 president of the West Virginia Tax Institute.

The West Virginia Tax Institute is the state’s largest collection of attorneys and accountants and educators. Its goals are to improve the level of tax knowledge and practice in West Virginia and to promote cooperation among attorneys, accountants and other groups.

“The institute works with state revenue agencies, so it serves as a way to bring together government regulators, the State Bar and the accounting community,” Wilson said. “It’s great for educators to continue to be in touch with both the government and practicing tax community so we stay up-to-date on relevant topics and can provide updated, quality education for our students.”

As president, Wilson will organize the 2017 West Virginia Tax Institute meeting, a continuing legal education event for attorneys and accountants. She will also lead board meetings and handle administrative duties for the Board of Directors.

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA — Health care legal scholar Mary Crossley will deliver the annual  John W. Fisher II Lecture in Law and Medicine at WVU Law on February 10 at 12 p.m. in the college’s Event Hall.

A law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Crossley will discuss “Ending-Life Medical Decisions: Some Disability Perspectives and Parallels to Black Lives Matter.”

Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

Crossley’s legal scholarship focuses on issues of inequality in health care financing and delivery. Her teaching includes courses in health care law and policy and family law.

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA — A WVU Law clinic received $843,500 to support affordable housing and community revitalization efforts in the state.

The Land Use and Sustainable Development (LUSD) Law Clinic was awarded the grant by the West Virginia State Bar’s Interest On Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Legal Assistance Grants Committee. 

The IOLTA funds come from a $16.6 billion settlement in 2014 between Bank of America and the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve claims of toxic mortgage practices. A portion of the settlement provides funds for civil legal services.

The LUSD Law Clinic will use the grant to help non-profit organizations and local governments provide affordable housing, fight poverty, and rebuild communities, according to Katherine Garvey, director of the clinic. 

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA —An ineffective “top-down patchwork” of regulations will not save the United States economy from the next big and inevitable financial crisis.

That’s the premise of a new book by West Virginia University professors Karen Kunz and Jena Martin.

Kunz is a public administration professor who specializes in financial market regulation and fiscal policy. Martin is a law professor with expertise in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where she has worked, and business and securities regulation.

In “ When the Levees Break: Re-Visioning Regulation of the Securities Markets” (Lexington Books, 2017), Kunz and Martin call for building an entirely new, mostly automated, system to govern the stock market and prevent future crashes.

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA — Criminal justice system expert Ann Jacobs will deliver the 24th annual Charles L. Ihlenfeld Lecture on Public Policy and Ethics on February 3 at 12 p.m. in the Marilyn E. Lugar Courtroom at the WVU College of Law.

Jacobs will examine prisoner reentry into society through the lens of justice and poverty. 

Admission is free and the public is invited to attend. A reception will follow the lecture.

Jacobs is the director of the Prisoner Reentry Institute (PRI) at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Founded in 2005, PRI aims to improve prisoner reintegration into society through policy advocacy, direct service practice, and collaborative partnerships.

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA — The National Jurist has given special recognition to the WVU College of Law for its work in public service. 

In its winter issue, the magazine awarded WVU Law second place on a national honor roll of law schools with the greatest community impact. The honor roll is based on data of the free legal services provided by law school clinics in 2015-16.

Last year, WVU Law’s nine clinics provided 40,200 hours of pro bono legal services for more than 500 clients throughout the state.

Legal work in the clinics is conducted by law students and supervised by law professors. The students gain valuable lawyering experience while providing a service to those in need.