It's (Barely) Legal (Glen Ashman's Blog)

Guess who argues the best?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:52:48 GMT

Congrats to my Alma Mater!

PRESS RELEASE

February 9, 2010

For Immediate Release

Contact

David N. Hefner

Office of Communications and Marketing

Walter F. George School of Law

Mercer University

478.301.5000

hefner_dn@law.mercer.edu

www.law.mercer.edu

Mercer Law moot court team sweeps national advocacy competition

CHARLESTON, S.C. - A moot court team at Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law swept the Charleston School of Law "National Moot Court Competition" last week, winning the coveted team championship and both "Best Respondent's Brief" and "Best Oralist." In the closing rounds, the team, comprised of third-year law students Falen Cox and Emily Macheski-Preston, defeated law school teams from the University of Florida (quarterfinals), DePaul University (semifinals) and Florida Coastal (finals).

"This victory is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our student competitors and the student coaches," said Mercer Law School Associate Professor Suzianne Painter-Thorne, the team's faculty coach, referring to student coaches Joan McCallum and Kevin Stroberg.

"Our students showed amazing dedication in developing their arguments and a seriousness of purpose in presenting their arguments throughout the competition."

Moot court teams from 19 law schools participated in the national competition, including teams from Duke University, Florida State University, New York University, the University of South Carolina, and Yeshiva University.

In the championship round, when Mercer Law School squared off against Florida Coastal, the teams argued an issue concerning the scope of the Second Amendment right to bear arms. The problem is based on McDonald v. Chicago, which is currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Testing students' mastery of brief writing and oral advocacy, moot court competitions are critical components of Mercer Law School's training of future lawyers who are uniquely prepared to practice law immediately after graduation. Mercer Law School's moot court program is consistently ranked among the top 20 in the nation, and its national success is due to Mercer's talented faculty and leading legal writing program.

"We could not have won without the tremendous support we received from the Mercer Moot Court Board and the help of the faculty," said Macheski-Preston, who won "Best Oralist."

"Our win is simply tangible evidence of the first-class education we receive at Mercer Law," Cox said.

In separate but related news, four other Mercer Law School students recently earned awards in three separate competitions:

§ Mercer Law students Louise Smith and Christy Thornton won the "Best Brief Award" in the regional BLSA Douglass Competition held in January. The southern region is home to over 1,500 members from 44 law schools in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Puerto Rico. The students were coached by third-year Mercer Law student Amanda Heath and advised by Associate Professor Monica Armstrong and alumna Hannah Williams '09.

§ Third-year Mercer Law student Kathryn Seabolt won the 'Hot Seat' Corporate Counseling Tournament sponsored by the national Association of Corporate Counsel, Georgia Chapter. The tournament, held Nov. 11 in Atlanta, included a representative from each Georgia law school who was asked to play a new in-house general counsel facing a "difficult" corporate board. After being given a fictitious problem involving a large global corporation being faced with federal corrupt practices, and employment and governance problems, participants were asked to advise a fictitious corporate board on how best to handle the difficult situation. The competition was judged by four ACC attorneys and some 100 Georgia in-house attorneys, who served as the tournament audience during the "hot seat" sessions.

§ Third-year Mercer Law student Michael Lyles was named the first-place winner in the 2009 Keenan's Kids Foundation's 7^th Annual Law Student Closing Argument Competition held Nov. 7. The Keenan's Kids Foundation was established 1993 by the Keenan Law Firm to raise awareness about child safety. Students applied to compete from all five state law schools. Each student was given 15 minutes to give an argument while being judged by a panel composed of members of the local media, experienced plaintiff and defense lawyers, and parents of an injured child who had gone through the civil litigation process.

About Mercer Law School

Founded in 1873, the Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law is one of the oldest law schools in the United States and the first one in the state of Georgia accredited by the American Bar Association. Mercer Law School's educational philosophy is based on a broadly shared commitment to prepare students for the high-quality, general practice of law in a day-to-day learning environment that is both strongly supportive and consistently professional. Its innovative Woodruff Curriculum - which focuses on ethics and practical skills amid small class sizes - earned the Gambrell Professionalism Award from the ABA for its "depth of excellence." With an enrollment of about 430 students, Mercer Law School is nationally recognized for its exceptional programs in legal writing, moot court, public service, and ethics and professionalism. For more information about Mercer Law School, visit www.law.mercer.edu or call 478.301.5000.

Is Kennedy on your side?

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:26:40 GMT

5-4 split is the rule in high court's big cases

AP – Sat Jan 23, 10:37 am ET

WASHINGTON - It comes down to this at the Supreme Court: If you've got Justice Anthony Kennedy on your side, you can pretty much do what you want. Without him, you're the author of an angry dissent. Thursday's decision to strike down restrictions on corporate campaign spending more than 60 years old was the third time in nine days that the court divided 5-4, with liberals on one side and conservatives on the other. The other cases involved an appeal from a death row inmate in Georgia and the prospect of broadcasting a gay marriage trial in California. As in dozens of earlier cases, Kennedy was in the majority each time. He was the author of the campaign finance decision. The rulings demonstrate the extent to which ideology — not fidelity to precedent or a particular interpretation of the Constitution — is the driving force on the court...

Obama Scorecard

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:25:54 GMT

Rule Reversal

National Law Journal

Candidate Barack Obama promised to patch up the regulatory state. Twelve months into his presidency, he's lived up to his promise at some agencies and not made much progress at others. A look at the enforcers of environmental, securities, food and drug, employment, antitrust and telecom rules.

Bending Truth Can Break Legal Career

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:08:46 GMT

Bending Truth Can Break Legal Career

The Connecticut Law Tribune
January 08, 2010

...Consider the case of Mark Villeneuve, a Connecticut-licensed lawyer who lives in Augusta, Maine. His professional standing is under attack because Connecticut grievance officials believe he lied multiple times when he e-mailed his resume and application for a staff attorney position to the state Workers' Compensation Commission. Villeneuve did far more than embellish a job title or try to cover up a period of unemployment. He claimed to have graduated cum laude from Western New England College School of Law in 2004 and to have served as the law review's assistant note editor. Yes, he was a WNEC grad. But he was neither cum laude nor a law review editor. Villeneuve also stated that he was employed at the Law Offices of Jean Smith in Meriden, Conn., a firm that Villeneuve said handled all types of workers' comp matters. Turns out that no such firm exists. State officials say the inconsistencies on the job application were revealed after Villeneuve had interviewed in person for the Workers' Compensation Commission position. But Villeneuve is claiming that he never applied for the job and never appeared for that interview in February 2008; he says someone must have stolen his identity and pretended to be him.

http://www.law.com/jsp/law/careercenter/lawArticleCareerCenter.jsp?id=1202437750210&pos=ataglance&src=EMC-Email&et=editorial&bu=Law.com&pt=LAWCOM%20Newswire&cn=NW_20100108&kw=Bending%20the%20Truth%20Can%20Break%20a%20Legal%20Career

Ex-Bush Atty. Charged w/Attempted Murder

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:52:44 GMT

Former Bush Lawyer Charged With Attempted Murder

National Law Journal

The Associated Press is reporting today that a onetime top official in both Bush presidencies is accused of trying to kill his wife at their Connecticut home. The lawyer, John Michael Farren, was once considered a rising Republican star in Washington.

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Former Bush counsel charged in Conn. with trying to kill wife after she sought ...

Los Angeles Times

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — An attorney who worked in both Bush administrations was charged Thursday with trying to kill his wife by beating her with a flashlight and choking her two days after she delivered divorce papers.

Fill 'er up

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:16:53 GMT

Bad moves thwart Washington truck heist

AP – Tue Dec 29, 10:31 pm ET

RENTON, Wash. - Truck theft diary: — Take silver 1985 Chevy truck from City Transfer yard in Sumner, Wash., early Monday morning. Helpfully fill it with unleaded gasoline. Fail to notice it requires diesel.

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:28:24 GMT

This is the annual Christmas message I have posted in each of my forums since 1996.

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

[Francis P. Church's editorial, "Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" was an immediate sensation, and became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in 1897, almost a hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper went out of business.]

Editorial Page, New York Sun, 1897

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus? Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus?Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

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Every year since 1996 I have shared the Christmas story online with my friends. It is a story that no matter how often we hear it, remains as wonderful as when Luke first wrote it:

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed...

And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

[St. Luke, Chapter 2, verses 1-17. King James Version - public domain and not copyrighted]

Merry Christmas - Here's Your Divorce

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 04:33:34 GMT

Happy Christmas honey - here's a divorce voucher

Reuters – Thu Dec 17, 3:11 pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Stuck for Christmas gift ideas? Is your marriage or a friend's going through a rocky patch? How about a divorce voucher? In an unusual take on the season of giving, a London law firm is offering Christmas gift vouchers for divorce advice. The firm, Lloyd Platt & Company, which normally charges 325 pounds ($530) an hour, said it had been swamped with enquiries since it launched the vouchers early last week. So far, more than 60 have been sold -- a snip at 125 pounds for a half hour session with a divorce lawyer.

98 yr old murders 100 yr old roommate

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:56:22 GMT

Mass. woman, 98, accused of killing roommate, 100

AP – Fri Dec 11, 7:19 pm ET

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. - A 98-year-old woman was indicted Friday on a second-degree murder charge that alleges she strangled her 100-year-old nursing home roommate after making the victim's life "a living hell" because she thought the woman was "taking over the room." Laura Lundquist was sent to a state mental hospital for a competency evaluation before her arraignment... She is believed to be the oldest murder defendant in state history, but might never go to trial because of her mental health issues. Her roommate at the Brandon Woods nursing home in Dartmouth, Elizabeth Barrow, was found dead in her bed Sept. 24 with a plastic bag tied around her head

Judges,lawyers must unfriend on Facebook

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:09:15 GMT

Judges, lawyers must 'unfriend' on Facebook

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – Florida's judges and lawyers should no longer "friend" each other on Facebook, the popular social networking site, according to a ruling from the state's Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee. At least one South Florida judge warned her pals with a Facebook status update that they could be "unfriended," and the ruling has prompted others to do the same. The committee ruled Nov. 17 that online "friendships" could create the impression that lawyers are in a special position to influence their judge friends. The committee did conclude that a judge can post comments on another judge's site and that during judicial elections, a judge's campaign can have "fans" that include lawyers. And the ruling doesn't single out Facebook...Although only the Florida Supreme Court can actually mandate what judges can do, most will likely follow the ruling out of an abundance of caution

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The Florida panel is just plain wrong on this one.

From the NY Times:

Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics expert at New York University, said the Florida rule went too far. “In my view, they are being hypersensitive,” Professor Gillers said. He noted that the differences within the committee probably indicated a generational gap, which Judge Jones said was not the case. In the case of a truly close friendship between a judge and a lawyer involved in a case, the other side can simply seek to disqualify the judge, Professor Gillers said. Judges do not “drop out of society when they become judges,” he said. “The people who were their friends before they went on the bench remained their friends, and many of them were lawyers.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/us/11judges.html