Public Interest News

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 More

James P. Danly ’13 has been named chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Danly has served as one of five FERC commissioners, who are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, since March 2020. Before being appointed to the FERC commission, Danly had served since 2017 as… Read More

Assistant Dean for Public Interest Spring Miller launches a new practicum through which students advocate for the employment rights of low-wage workers. Read More

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 More

The award recognizes Tennessee advocates who promote state-wide collaboration that supports projects that strengthen access to justice across the state. Read More

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 More

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 More

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 More

Prusak has joined Vanderbilt’s clinical law faculty. She has more than 15 years of experience advocating for low-income tenants and fair housing Read More

Students in the clinic, directed by Gautam Hans, worked with Daniel Horwitz ’13 to defend a nonprofit group’s satirical mailer criticizing a Tennessee state representative. Read More