News

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. —  For more than 40 years, West Virginia Continuing Legal Education (WVCLE) has been dedicated to the professional development of thousands of lawyers. It has proudly served the state’s attorneys by delivering premier, affordable, relevant and creative programming.

Recently, the WVU College of Law has implemented some strategic organizational changes regarding WVCLE. In the midst of changes to the landscape of continuing legal education services throughout the state and beyond, the WVU College of Law has decided to pause the business operations of WVCLE as a standalone unit.

As a result, WVCLE cannot provide ongoing continuing legal education opportunities throughout the year. However, WVU College of Law will be working alongside other entities to support their continuing legal education programs and, looking toward the future, we are exploring the ever-changing professional continuing legal education needs of attorneys and how the College might best meet those needs. 

WVU Law plans to rethink how to continue our commitment to serving the legal community by providing service-based continuing legal education programs through different centers and departments within the College and through strategic partnerships with organizations outside the law school.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A grant to the West Virginia University College of Law from the Internal Revenue Service is going to help more low-income taxpayers in the Mountain State.

The IRS has awarded $100,000 to convert the college’s Taxpayer Advocacy Law Clinic into the only Low Income Taxpayer Clinic in the state. The grant will help fund a new full-time program director and the clinic will be renamed the WVU College of Law Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic.

“We will now be able to serve more clients through statewide legal representation and community outreach,” said Nicole McConlogue, associate professor of law and clinic director. “It also means that the clinic can enroll more student attorneys interested in hands-on work experience in taxpayer advocacy.”

LITCs assist low-income individuals who have a tax dispute with the IRS and provide education and outreach to individuals who speak English as a second language. LITCs are independent from the IRS and from the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent organization within the IRS that ensures taxpayers are treated fairly.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After more than 14 years, Nathaniel Barnett has walked away from the Cabell County Courthouse in Huntington, West Virginia, a completely free man.

On October 5, the state dismissed murder charges against him because DNA testing identified the actual perpetrator. Barnett is a client of the West Virginia Innocence Project Law Clinic at the West Virginia University College of Law.

“It feels great to finally put this behind me,” he said. “Even though I was out of jail, having the charge and another trial hanging over me was extremely stressful. Now I feel like I can finally move on with my life.”

Charges were also dismissed for Barnett’s brother, Philip, and Justin Black. The Barnetts, Black and a fourth man, Brian Dement, were all convicted in 2008 of charges related to the murder of Deanna Crawford in 2002 despite the lack of physical evidence connecting them to the crime scene.

Morgantown, W.Va. —  WVU Law and West Virginia Executive magazine recently inducted the Lawyers & Leaders Class of 2021. 

Founded in 2017, the Lawyers & Leaders program recognizes the accomplishments of exceptional legal professionals who have made a positive impact on the state and the nation and have dedicated their careers to serving others and their communities. Nominees are required to either be practicing law in West Virginia or be a graduate of WVU Law. 

The 2021 Lawyers and Leaders are:

MORGANTOWN, W.Va — The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has placed a renewed focus on the human right to health, a protection provided by numerous international declarations. 

To address health as a human right and the legal obligation it creates, the West Virginia University School of Public Health and College of Law are hosting an international human rights and law scholar for two online lectures. 

David H. Moore, professor of law at Brigham Young University, will present “Interpreting Human Rights” and “The International Human Right to Health” from noon to 1 p.m. on October 6 and October 13, respectively.

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia is teaming up with the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, the FBI, and West Virginia University to hold a symposium discussing the cutting-edge methods used to convict a serial killer who preyed on veterans at a VA hospital.

“The Medicolegal Symposium on the Serial Murder Case of Reta Mays” will be webcast from the WVU College of Law on October 14 from 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Registration is free and required by October 12. For more information or to register, go to justice.gov/usao-ndwv.

In May 2021, Reta Mays, a former nursing assistant at the VA hospital in Clarksburg, West Virginia, was sentenced to seven life terms in prison plus 20 years for murdering seven patients with insulin and attempting to murder an eighth veteran. The two-year investigation that preceded the July 2020 guilty pleas was highly complex.

The symposium will examine the clinical, forensic, psychiatry, and legal prosecution techniques used to ensure justice for Mays’ victims and their families. The prosecution team, investigators, and experts from around the globe will be presenting.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Consumers in West Virginia and nationally are concerned about their digital data privacy, and there are few and often inconsistent laws to protect them — these are the findings of new research funded by the Center for Consumer Law and Education, a joint program between the West Virginia University College of Law and Marshall University.

WVU law professor Jena Martin is the author of “Data Privacy Issues in West Virginia and Beyond,” which is available online at SSRN. Martin has also adapted her paper for an article on the West Virginia Law Review Online that focuses primarily on how these issues affect West Virginians.

As a result of Martin’s research, the CCLE is calling for new data privacy laws that include:

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University College of Law professor S. Sean Tu has been named a scholar at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University.

The O’Neill Institute brings together experts from public health and legal fields to help create innovative solutions to the most pressing global health concerns. It works to end pandemics, ensure human rights and build the right to health for people across the globe.

Tu is currently working on several research papers dealing with the intersection of patent law and FDA law, with the goal of finding solutions to provide better access to cheaper life-changing medicine.

“I am excited and honored to be named a scholar at the O’Neill Institute because it gets my patent law work in front of health law scholars,” he said.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — An innovative program at the West Virginia University College of Law exposes students to real-world experiences in the court system while earning course credit.

Elizabeth Walker, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, is one of several female judges across the state who helped develop the summer externship program.

“We came up with this idea to expose students directly to the important work in state courts and to pair our state’s female judges with law students,” she said. “We were thrilled with the opportunity to work with the College of Law on this initiative and look forward to offering similar programs in the future.”  

Professor  Jessica Haught is the director of WVU Law’s Fitzsimmons Center for Litigation and Advocacy, which facilitated the externship program.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The West Virginia University College of Law is one of the best schools in the country for students interested in public service, according to preLaw Magazine.

The national magazine places WVU Law at no. 11 for public interest law and no. 23 for federal clerkships.

“Public service is a cornerstone of WVU’s land-grant mission and our legal program,” said Amelia Rinehart, dean of the College of Law. “It’s exceptionally rewarding to be recognized at the highest levels for providing students with fulfilling opportunities in public service.”

The preLaw ranking is based on graduate employment rate, courses, clinics, externships, faculty, student groups, and student debt. The magazine analyzed data from the American Bar Association, U.S. News & World Report and the individual law schools.