General News

Brian Broughman studies impact of financing arrangements on startups

Oct. 15, 2020—Broughman’s work at the intersection of law and economics explores how lawyers adapt traditional financing contracts to meet the needs of high-value startup companies and how financing influences startups’ futures.

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General News


Worker Advocacy Practicum addresses “access to justice crisis” affecting low-wage workers

Oct. 15, 2020—Assistant Dean for Public Interest Spring Miller launches a new practicum through which students advocate for the employment rights of low-wage workers.

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Alumni Equity, Diversity and Community General News Public Interest News


Rebecca Allenworth’s work on medical licensing boards featured in WBEZ-Chicago’s This American Life

Oct. 6, 2020—When a doctor breaks the law, who decides whether he can keep his medical license? Rebecca Allensworth's work on how medical licensing boards decide whether to revoke a doctor's license to practice medicine is featured in Act One of the This American Life podcast in a segment titled "Trust Me, I'm a Doctor."

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Terry Maroney and other VU faculty navigate new teaching landscape

Sep. 25, 2020—Maroney and her Actual Innocence class are featured in a VU News Service article about the university's successful transition to socially distanced in-person classes and online learning.

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Alumni General News


Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs Susan Kay ’79 elected to ABA Council on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar

Sep. 21, 2020—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.

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Alumni Faculty News General News Public Interest News


Spring Miller receives 2020 B. Riney Green Access to Justice Award from Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services

Sep. 18, 2020—The award recognizes Tennessee advocates who promote state-wide collaboration that supports projects that strengthen access to justice across the state.

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Alumni Faculty News General News Public Interest News


Vanderbilt Law Review members make collective gift to support minority students with ABA diversity scholarship

Sep. 17, 2020—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.

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Michael Vandenbergh discusses how the business sector is making climate progress where government is failing

Sep. 4, 2020—Vandenbergh's Sept. 4 interview with Kristoffer Tique appears in Inside Climate News.

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VLS Steering Committee on Racial Inequities and Injustices issues report

Sep. 4, 2020—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.

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Alumni Equity, Diversity and Community Faculty News General News Home Page News Public Interest News


Michael A. Newton appointed to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission

Aug. 21, 2020—Newton is an expert on transnational justice and treaties. The Arctic Research Commission is an independent agency that advises the President and Congress on domestic and international Arctic research.

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Faculty News General News


Claudia Bonnyman ’74: How my great-grandmother’s bravery helped secure a woman’s right to vote

Aug. 21, 2020—Read an essay adapted from a speech Chancellor Bonnyman delivered at an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment granting women suffrage. Bonnyman served for 15 years as a chancellor for the Davidson County Chancery Court. Before her appointment to the bench in 2003, she served as the chancery court clerk and master starting in 1989. She became the founding president of the Lawyers Association for Women in 1981.

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Alumni Equity, Diversity and Community General News


Should conservatives embrace class actions? A Point/Counterpoint Debate in Judicature between Brian Fitzpatrick and John Beisner

Aug. 21, 2020—Beisner, leader of Skadden's Mass Torts, Insurance and Consumer Litigation group, and Fitzpatrick, who studies complex litigation, discuss the thesis of Fitzpatrick's book "The Conservative Case for Class Actions" in a Q&A published in Judicature, a journal that focuses on the practice of judging and publishes research that aims to improve the administration of justice.

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Alumni Faculty News General News


Yesha Yadav named associate dean for diversity, equity and community

Aug. 18, 2020—As the inaugural appointee, Yadav will work with Dean Chris Guthrie and law faculty, students, and staff to support diversity, equity and inclusion at VLS.

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Equity, Diversity and Community Faculty News General News Home Page News


Consumer financing expert Paige Marta Skiba seeks to prevent a wave of consumer bankruptcies as unemployment aid ends

Aug. 17, 2020—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.

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Corporate law expert Brian Broughman joins Vanderbilt’s Law and Business faculty

Aug. 13, 2020—Broughman previously taught for 11 years at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where he also served as associate dean for research.

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Jennifer Prusak to launch new Housing Law Clinic at Vanderbilt Law

Aug. 13, 2020—Prusak has joined Vanderbilt’s clinical law faculty. She has more than 15 years of experience advocating for low-income tenants and fair housing

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Ganesh Sitaraman named a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States

Aug. 10, 2020—Sitaraman is one of eight new public members appointed to the ACUS, which is an independent federal agency tasks with improving the administrative processes of federal agencies.

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Faculty News General News


Stanton Foundation First Amendment Clinic wins case for Tennesseans for Sensible Election Laws

Aug. 10, 2020—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.

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Alumni First Amendment Clinic News and Events General News Public Interest News


Paul Gilbert ’91 named general counsel and corporate secretary of Rite Aid

Aug. 5, 2020—Gilbert's career focusing on health care law has included private practice with Epstein Becker Green and Waller and service as hieve legal and corporate governance officer at LifePoint Health.

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Alumni General News


Taylor Owings ’13 named acting chief of staff of U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division

Jul. 28, 2020—Owings joined the Justice Department as counsel to the assistant attorney general in February 2018. She had previously practiced antitrust law in San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

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Alumni General News Public Interest News


Blumstein and Yadav appointed to Tennessee Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Jul. 14, 2020—James F. Blumstein, a noted expert in constitutional law and health law and policy, and finincial regulatory expert Yesha Yadav will serve four-year terms on the Tennessee Advisory Committee to the US. Commission on Civil Rights.

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Alumni Equity, Diversity and Community Faculty News General News Public Interest News


Leor Halevi wins the J. Willard Hurst Book Prize for his book Modern Things on Trial

Jul. 14, 2020—Halevi’s book focuses on Islam’s global and material reformation from 1865 to 1935.

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Free Justice, a new book by Sara Mayeux, chronicles the history of public defenders in the U.S.

Jul. 10, 2020—Legal historian Sara Mayeux’s book focuses on the legal struggle for due process in twentieth-century America.

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Immigration Practice Clinic students work pro bono to support communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19

Jul. 8, 2020—Cloe Anderson ’21, Grace Ko ’21 and Sarah Dvorak ’22 help draft resolution passed by the Nashville Metropolitan Council drawing attention to increased harassment and discrimination directed at Asian immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Alumni Equity, Diversity and Community General News Public Interest News


Brian Fitzpatrick proposes “The Right Way to End Qualified Immunity” in The Hill

Jun. 29, 2020—Fitzpatrick, a complex litigation expert, proposes a way to end qualified immunity while still discouraging frivolous lawsuits against police and government officials in a June 25 opinion piece published in The Hill: eliminate qualified immunity for liability, but keep it for attorneys' fees.

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