MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Students of the West Virginia University College of Law visited the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia on Wednesday, March 26, for the final arguments of the annual George C. Baker Cup Moot Court Competition.
Finalists for the 2014 George C. Baker Cup competition argued in front of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals after the original court date was canceled due to a winter storm earlier this year. Second-year law student Marissa Grace won the competition, with second-year Jeremy Hylton as the runner-up. The Best Brief and Best Oral Advocate awards were won by second-year Andrew C. Robey.
Competition winner Marissa Grace is from Williamson, W.Va. A WVU graduate with a B.A. in Political Science, she became a WVU Law student because of the college’s dedication to energy law.
“Having the opportunity to actually stand in front of the West Virginia Supreme Court and present an argument to the Justices that are helping to shape the legal landscape of West Virginia is something I will never forget,” said Grace.
Upon graduating, Grace hopes to work in the energy law field.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. —Third-year West Virginia University College of Law student Alan Wilson has earned the top average score on the four-part West Virginia Certified Public Accountant exam.
The West Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants will present Wilson with its 2014 Certificate of Merit Award on May 9 in Charleston. He earned an average score of 89.25 out of 99 on the exam.
On May 10, Wilson will graduate from WVU with a law degree. He has accepted a position to start this fall at the law firm WilmerHale in Washington, D.C.
According to Wilson, receiving the CPA award reassures him that he’s on the right career path.
The WVU Foundation established the awards in 1985 as a way to celebrate faculty who’ve established patterns of distinguished teaching and exceptional innovation in teaching methods, course and curriculum design, and instructional tools.
“I believe passionately in the importance of education as a way to better our society,” Bowman said. “And our students at WVU Law come from all walks of life and bring so many amazing and diverse talents and perspectives into the classroom. My job isn’t really to ‘teach’ them by imparting knowledge—my job is to help them discover and unlock their inner potential and take that potential out into the world.”
Bowman’s expertise is in the areas of administrative law, contracts, international law, and international business and trade law. He also helps lead WVU Law’s study abroad program. He joined the law faculty in 2009 as a visiting professor and was named College of Law Professor of the Year in 2011.
Associate Dean Lofaso will present a lecture entitled “The Autonomous Dignified Worker” on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 in Event Hall (room 180) at the WVU College of Law. The lecture will begin at 4:00 p.m. with a reception immediately following.
Lofaso earned the award in the Humanities and the Arts category in recognition of her arguments for the legal protection and empowerment of working-class Americans. Articles she has written on workers’ rights have influenced federal lawmakers.
In “Toward a Foundational Theory of Workers’ Rights: The Autonomous, Dignified Worker,” Lofaso uses existing legal definitions of autonomy and dignity to argue that the possession of these two values are essential rights of all workers, rights that should be present in all workplaces and that the law should protect. It appeared in the University of Missouri at Kansas City Law Review in 2007.
Lofaso also argues several subsequent articles that collective bargaining power, as facilitated by labor organizations and unions, is a key tool to providing works with autonomy and dignity. She has also addressed issues of dignity and autonomy for immigrant workers, as in a February 2013 article, distributed to the U. S. Congress by a progressive think tank, in which she argues that the National Labor Relations Board should have the authority to compel employers to uphold the labor rights of undocumented workers. The Senate version of the most recent immigration law incorporates one of Lofaso’s specific suggestions from this article, that employers who hire undocumented workers and then violate their collective bargaining rights be compelled to pay penalties to the U. S. Treasury.
Lofaso joined the WVU Law faculty in 2007. She earned her B.A. from Harvard, her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania law school, and her Ph.D. from the University of Oxford. In 2013, she was a recipient of the West Virginia University Foundation Award for Outstanding Teaching.
Admission is free and the public is invited to attend. A reception in the College of Law lobby will follow the lecture.
The topic of Heyman’s lecture is “The Conservative-Libertarian Turn in First Amendment Jurisprudence.” The First Amendment protects the right to freedom of religion and freedom of expression from government interference.
Heyman is an award-winning professor of law at the Chicago-Kent College of Law of the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he teaches criminal law, torts, legislation, constitutional law, and the First Amendment. He has written extensively on the foundation and limits of freedom of expression, including “Free Speech and Human Dignity” (Yale University Press, 2008) and “Hate Speech and the Constitution” (Garland/Rutledge, 1996).
The Baker Lecture at WVU Law is presented in honor of C. Edwin Baker, a leading constitutional law scholar who died in 2009. He was the Nicholas F. Gallicchio Professor of Law and Communication at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
In 2011, Baker’s family donated his papers to the West Virginia University College of Law. HHhHoused in the George R. Famer, Jr. Law Library, the C. Edwin Baker Collection is a window into the life and work of one of the 20th century’s foremost experts on constitutional law, free speech, and communication law. Portions of the collection will be on display as part of the Baker Lecture on April 3.
Congratulations to Duquesne University School of Law, winner of the 2014 National
Energy & Sustainability Moot Court Competition, and the University of North
Dakota School of Law, runner-up. Updated 3/31/14
The moot court competition is designed help students sharpen their legal skills and
network with industry professionals and government regulators. Students also learn
about important business and environmental issues facing the energy sector.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—Management and employees of Antero Resources Corporation, a publicly traded oil and natural gas exploration and production company (NYSE: AR) with assets in the Appalachian Basin, have made a $100,000 pledge to the West Virginia University College of Law.
The gift will help support the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development at the WVU College of Law. Founded in 2011, the center provides students with opportunities to gain the experience necessary to practice law in the energy sector. It also conducts objective, unbiased research and policy analyses on energy issues.
A portion of the Antero Resources gift will also establish the Kevin and Amy Ellis Endowed Scholarship at the College of Law. Kevin Ellis is a 2005 WVU Law graduate and is employed at Antero Resources in its Bridgeport, W.Va. office.
“We are deeply grateful to the leadership at Antero Resources for their significant support,” saidJoyce E. McConnell, Dean of the College of Law. “When a forward-thinking corporation like Antero makes an investment in legal education, it’s an across-the-board success for everyone involved, but it’s especially great for our students.”
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. —The Honorable James G. Carr, Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, will deliver the 22nd annual Charles L. Ihlenfeld Lecture on Public Policy and Ethics on Wednesday, March 26 at 12 p.m. in the Marlyn E. Lugar Courtroom at the West Virginia University College of Law.
Carr’s lecture will focus on the myths and realities of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). FISA outlines the procedures for requesting authorization from the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to use physical and electronic surveillance for national security purposes.
Carr served as a judge for the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 2002 to 2008. He is also co-author of “The Law of Electronic Surveillance” (Thomson-Reuters), a two-volume treatise that analyzes the government’s use of electronic devices to gather evidence.
In 1994, Carr was nominated to be a federal district judge by President Bill Clinton. Prior to that, he had served 16 years as a United States magistrate judge. A graduate of Kenyon College and Harvard Law School, Carr began his law career in private practice in Chicago.
The Charles L. Ihlenfeld (1908-89) Lecture annually brings to the WVU College of Law distinguished speakers in public service and ethics. A prominent lawyer for 56 years and a former mayor of Wheeling, W.Va., Ihlenfeld devoted much of his life to public service. These lectures, established in his memory, honor a life and career marked by significant contributions to the practice of law, to the legal profession, and to civic affairs of his state and community.
The “Great Gatsby” themed event will begin with a buffet-style dinner at 5:30 p.m.
in the College of Law lobby, followed by the auction at 6:30 p.m. The event is
open to the public, and tickets for the dinner can be purchased for $8 at the door.
Some of the items up for bid include gift baskets, Pittsburgh Pirates’ tickets,
designer handbags, a basketball signed by WVU men’s basketball coach
Bob Huggins, weekend get-a-ways, and more.
PIA is a student organization that offers free legal services to clients
in need in the community. The PIA Auction helps fund summer and graduate
fellowships for law students who wish to work in public interest law.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. —Gay rights advocate Evan Wolfson, founder and president of the marriage equality campaign Freedom to Marry, will speak at the West Virginia University College of Law on Tuesday, March 18 at 6 p.m. in the Marlyn E. Lugar Courtroom.
Wolfson will discuss West Virginia and marriage equality with radio talk show host Hoppy Kercheval. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.
As an attorney, Wolfson has been involved in landmark marriage equality cases. He was co-counsel in Baehr v. Miike, one of the first lawsuits to challenge the denial of same-sex marriage. He also contributed to the legal teams in the Vermont case that led to the creation of civil unions, and Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, which led to marriage equality in Massachusetts.
A 1983 Harvard Law School graduate, Wolfson is the author of “Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People’s Right to Marry” (Simon & Schuster, 2004). In 2004, he was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, and in 2012 he was a recipient of the Barnard Medal of Distinction.
In 2000, Wolfson argued before the United States Supreme Court in Boy Scouts of America v. James Dale. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court supported Boy Scouts’ right to expel Dale, a scoutmaster and Eagle Scout, based on his sexual orientation.
Radio talk show host Kercheval has been a broadcaster with the West Virginia Radio Corporation since 1976. He is a founder of West Virginia MetroNews and has been the host of Talkline, the network’s signature program, since 1993. Kercheval is a recipient of the Mel Burka Distinguished Broadcaster Award from the West Virginia Broadcasters Association.
