Public Interest News
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“They, Them and Theirs,” Harvard Law Review article by Jessica Clarke, wins the Dukeminier Awards Michael Cunningham Prize
Clarke’s article has been reprinted in the UCLA Law Dukeminier Awards Journal, which annually recognizes the best legal scholarship on sexual orientation and gender identity issues. Read MoreJan. 28, 2021
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Daniel J. Sharfstein appointed to the Dick and Martha Lansden Chair in Law
Sharfstein is a legal historian whose work addresses race and citizenship in the United States. He is the author of two award-winning books, “The Invisible Line” and “Thunder in the Mountains,” and received a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship. Read MoreDec. 18, 2020
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Ashlee McFarlane ’09 profiled by Bloomberg Law
McFarlane is now a partner at Gerger Khalil Hennessy & McFarlane in Houston. She represented Maurice Hall, a passenger in the car when George Floyd was stopped by police in Minneapolis who was himself arrested in Houston days after Floyd's death. McFarlane was a trial attorney with the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice before she entered private practice in 2018. She focuses on defending clients in federal procedings. Read MoreNov. 16, 2020
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James Danly ’13 elevated to chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
“They, Them and Theirs” by Jessica Clarke, which was first published by the Harvard Law Review in 2019, has received a 2020 Dukeminier Prize from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. Clarke’s article is one of four articles published in the 2018-19 academic year to… Read MoreNov. 12, 2020
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Worker Advocacy Practicum addresses “access to justice crisis” affecting low-wage workers
Assistant Dean for Public Interest Spring Miller launches a new practicum through which students advocate for the employment rights of low-wage workers. Read MoreOct. 15, 2020
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Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs Susan Kay ’79 elected to ABA Council on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar
The ABA Council on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar is recognized at the national accrediting agency for programs leading to the J.D. Kay has previously served on the Standards Review Committee and Accreditation Committee of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar. Read MoreSep. 21, 2020
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Spring Miller receives 2020 B. Riney Green Access to Justice Award from Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services
The award recognizes Tennessee advocates who promote state-wide collaboration that supports projects that strengthen access to justice across the state. Read MoreSep. 18, 2020
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Vanderbilt Law Review members make collective gift to support minority students with ABA diversity scholarship
All members of the VLR staff donated the fees they would customarily use to pay for meeting space and supplies to the ABA's Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund, which provides $15,000 scholarships to up to 20 diverse law students each year. Read MoreSep. 17, 2020
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VLS Steering Committee on Racial Inequities and Injustices issues report
The report reflects the results of a community-wide survey and input from three anti-racism task forces representing VLS students, faculty and staff. It recommends short- and long-term actions designed to address racial inequities and injustices in the VLS community and beyond. Read MoreSep. 4, 2020
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Consumer financing expert Paige Marta Skiba seeks to prevent a wave of consumer bankruptcies as unemployment aid ends
Skiba cochairs an interdisciplinary group of scholars who recommend interventions to protect households from debt collection, foreclosure, eviction, and bankruptcy, and to position the bankruptcy system to respond to consumer needs during the pandemic. Read MoreAug. 17, 2020