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In Fisher v. University of Texas, the United States Supreme Court decided by a 7-1 vote to send the case back to the Fifth Circuit to reconsider its decision. The Court held that the Fifth Circuit applied the wrong standard in evaluating the University of Texas’s affirmative action program. The Court held that the “strict scrutiny” standard for Equal Protection cases applies to how to judge such programs.

This case stems from the efforts of Abigail Fisher, a Caucasian female, to have the affirmative action programs at the University of Texas declared unconstitutional. Fisher alleged that she was denied admission to the undergraduate program at the University of Texas because of its affirmative action program. The lower courts upheld the University of Texas program. The Fifth Circuit stated that some deference was due to the judgment of the University of Texas in evaluating whether its affirmative action programs were constitutional.

Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy held that this element of deference to the university’s judgment was incorrect. Kennedy analyzed the strict scrutiny analysis applicable to these equal protection cases. Under that analysis, Kennedy first reaffirmed the basic proposition that seeking racial diversity may constitute a compelling governmental interest that the government may pursue. Kennedy also stated settled law in finding that once a compelling governmental interest is demonstrated, the state must narrowly tailor its policies to achieve that interest.

MORGANTOWN, WV – Los Angeles-based Scrappy Cat Productions will screen their new film, “Angel’s Perch,” on Tuesday, July 2 at 7:30 p.m. at Carmike Morgantown Mall 12.

“Angel’s Perch” was filmed in West Virginia, showcasing the state’s people and natural beauty in partnership with the WV Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. The project has also provided members of the West Virginia University College of Law community with a unique opportunity to assist in the production of a feature-length film. WVU College of Law students, alumni and faculty have provided legal services to the film, making the production a uniquely West Virginian project.

Set in the historic logging town of Cass, WV, “Angel’s Perch” is the story of a Pittsburgh architect who returns home to help his grandmother, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The film deals with the relationship between past and present, memory and loss. It stars Ally Walker (“The Protector,” “Sons of Anarchy,” “Moon Over Miami”); Joyce Van Patten (“Marley and Me,” “Grown Ups”); Ashley Jones (“The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Trueblood”); and Ellen Crawford (“ER,” “Desperate Housewives”).

The filmmakers are using an innovative screening tool called Tugg that allows communities to request screenings in their towns. Admission to the screening is $10, and can be reserved by visitingwww.tugg.com/events/4407.

Greensboro, NC—Womble Carlyle attorney and 1983 WVU College of Law graduate Jim Vaughan ‘83 has been recognized in the 2013 Chambers USA report for his work in intellectual property law. Chambers USA annually ranks the leading firms and lawyers in an extensive range of practice areas.

Vaughan is co-chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group at Womble Carlyle. He has practiced intellectual property law in Atlanta since 1983, devoting his legal career to patent litigation, serving as lead counsel in trials, appeals and in specialty proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Vaughan now concentrates his practice on working with corporate clients in matters involving patent litigation, and on analyzing patents to develop corporate strategies involving patents and patent litigation. He also continues his interference, reissue, reexamination, and patent appellate practices.

Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP is one of the largest and most technologically advanced business law firms in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast. The firm’s roots run more than a century deep in North Carolina and its growth mirrors the evolving economy of the State and the region. Established in Winston-Salem in 1876, the firm now comprises more than 550 lawyers in fourteen offices, including Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Greensboro, Research Triangle Park and Raleigh, NC; and Atlanta; Charleston, Columbia and Greenville, SC; Tysons Corner, VA; Washington, DC; Baltimore, MD; Wilmington, DE; and Cupertino, CA.

ATLANTA, June 3, 2013 – Boyd Collar Nolen & Tuggle, LLC is pleased to announce the appointment of founding partner Robert D. Boyd as president of the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. A fellow of the national organization for 20 years, Boyd assumed his leadership role in January 2013, overseeing the 37-member state chapter. 

Boyd has practiced exclusively in family law since 1988. He was recently named Atlanta Family Law Lawyer of the Year for 2013 by Best Lawyers in America, the oldest and most respected lawyer rating publication in the U.S., in which he has been listed annually since 2001. He has also earned accolades from his peers and clients with inclusion among lists published by Super Lawyers and Georgia Trend. He is actively involved in the State Bar of Georgia’s Family Law Section, of which he has previously served as chair, as well as a member of the West Virginia State Bar.

Boyd is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the Army for seven years as an Infantry officer. He received his law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1983. While attending law school, he served as editor-in-chief of the West Virginia Law Review.

Morgantown, W.Va. – The West Virginia University College of Law conferred degrees on 119 graduates at its Hooding and Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 18, in the WVU Creative Arts Center. The keynote address was delivered by Robert Bastress, who was voted Professor of the Year by the Class of 2013. Lawyers Susan Brewer and Lloyd Jackson II were honored for their outstanding service to the legal profession. >>>VIDEO

In a speech that included references to the late Robert F. Kennedy and John Rosenberg, founder of the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky, Bastress urged the Class of 2013 to find ways to nurture their compassion while thriving as lawyers.

“It’s okay to care,” he told the graduates. “Law is a helping profession. We don’t all have the wherewithal of a Kennedy or the chance to lead movements, but we do get to serve and to demonstrate that we care – whether we are serving a client, the public, a constituency, an ideal, or some other noble purpose.”

West Virginia University College of Law students David Estep and Ashley Joseph recently attended the national Innocence Network Conference in Charlotte, NC.

The conference gave the two 3L students the opportunity to meet exonerees and share strategies and gain advice from attorneys practicing in the field.

Estep and Joseph have been working in the West Virginia Innocence Project (WVIP) law clinic this year. They were joined at the conference by law professor and WVIP director Valena Beety and Kristen McKeon, WVIP legal fellow. The trip was funded by a generous donation to the law clinic.

“We worked on cases all year, so it was amazing to actually meet men and women who have been exonerated and are now free,” said Joseph. “That’s what we’re working toward.”

West Virginia’s share of the Marcellus shale natural gas play could lead to a bright, job-filled, environmentally responsible future if appropriate policies are in place and investment in a multi-billion dollar “cracking” plant occurs, according to an impressive array of energy experts who added their input to a well-attended policy exploration event at West Virginia University.

The WVU College of Law’s Center for Energy and Sustainable Development, with support from the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson, sponsored an energy conference called Natural Gas as the Bridge to Sustainability and Economic Growth.

The conference explored policies aimed at stimulating the use of shale gas resources and focused on transportation issues, use of cogeneration for industrial electricity customers, exporting of natural gas and the potential for revitalization of the region’s chemical industry.

“WVU was founded with a goal of providing access to information and applying that knowledge to make a better society,” President Jim Clements. “WVU is on the cutting edge of research on alternative fuels, fuel cells, nanotechnology, water resource management, biomass conversions and increased energy efficiency. WVU will position the region as a global leader in safe and environmentally safe energy production. That is our responsibility and our privilege.”

Franklin D. Cleckley, the Arthur B. Hodges Professor of Law at West Virginia University’s College of Law, has been honored with the 2013 Neil S. Bucklew Award for Social Justice, given by the University’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in conjunction with the Social Justice Council.

Morgantown, W.Va. – Judge Stephanie D. Thacker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit will deliver the annual Charles L. Ihlenfeld Lecture on Public Policy and Ethics at the West Virginia University College of Law on Wednesday, April 17, at 12 p.m. in the Marlyn E. Lugar Courtroom. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend. 

Thacker, a 1990 graduate of the WVU College of Law, will discuss the codes of conduct across her career as a lawyer, prosecutor, and now judge. She will also address her path to the federal bench and the importance of public service.

Over the course of more than 20 years of practicing law, Thacker has worked in the civil and criminal litigation arenas, in private practice, and in public service. She began her career at a law firm in Pittsburgh and later served as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia and in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

Following her tenure with the Department of Justice, Thacker was a member of Guthrie & Thomas,PLLC in Charleston, W.Va. In September 2011, she was nominated by President Obama to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 16, 2012.