Mar. 25, 2014—Three new faculty members have joined the Law School. Christopher Serkin, Energy, Environment and Land Use Program Robert S. Reder ’78, Law and Business Program James H. Cheek III ’67, Law and Business Program
Mar. 24, 2014—By James F. Blumstein University Professor of Constitutional Law and Health Law and Policy When it agreed to hear Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, the Supreme Court signaled its willingness to re-engage the issue of racial preferences in the context of university admissions. The Court’s decision last June did not revisit the core...
Mar. 24, 2014—The Vanderbilt Appellate Litigation Clinic established an important precedent in the Sixth Circuit through its representation of a Michigan prisoner in LaFountain v. Harry—that people too poor to pay the filing fee in federal court have the same procedural rights as those who can pay. Four members of the Class of 2013—Hunter Branstetter, James P. Danly,...
Mar. 24, 2014—Former Senators Jim Sasser ’61 (BA’58) and Fred Thompson ’67 recall their years on the Hill and offer a strategy for navigating the partisan gulf. By Jennifer Johnston Long before they represented Tennessee in the U.S. Senate, Jim Sasser and Fred Thompson were freshly minted Vanderbilt Law School graduates who met regularly for coffee at...
Mar. 24, 2014—The Vanderbilt Law School Board of Advisors plays a crucial role in carrying out the school’s mission of providing an unparalleled legal education to students and an intellectually vibrant community in which faculty can pursue teaching and scholarly excellence. The Board of Advisors meets at the law school each fall during Reunion Weekend and each...
Mar. 24, 2014—Stephanie Parker ’84 wants to get down to business. As the incoming president of Vanderbilt Law School’s Board of Advisors, she is eager to apply the work ethic that has made her a top litigator at Jones Day to her work on behalf of the law school. “I want the board to stay focused and...
Mar. 24, 2014—Taylor Owings ’13 won the 2013 Gellhorn-Sargentich Law Student Essay Competition, which is sponsored by the American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. The award recognizes students who write on administrative law topics. Owings’ winning entry, “Identifying a Maverick: When Antitrust Law Should Protect a Low-Cost Competitor,” her Vanderbilt Law Review Note,...
Mar. 24, 2014—Vanderbilt Law School has received a major endowment gift to establish a new fund to promote the career development of promising young scholars. The Enterprise Faculty Fund was created through a gift from Robert S. Reder ’78, a retired partner of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy who teaches courses in Vanderbilt’s Law and Business Program as...
Mar. 24, 2014—Landing a summer law internship overseas frequently requires fluency in a foreign language. Thanks to Professor Daniel Gervais, students concerned about keeping up their language skills during law school now have an opportunity for regular conversation at monthly language lunches. Gervais, an expert in intellectual property law and faculty director of the LL.M. program, started...
Mar. 24, 2014—Vanderbilt Law faculty members maintain or contribute to these blogs: International intellectual property expert Daniel Gervais founded and maintains The TRIPS Agreement, which is devoted to commentary on the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known as the TRIPS Agreement. Gervais is the author of The TRIPS Agreement: Drafting History and Analysis. Owen Jones...
Mar. 24, 2014—Scott Goldman ’09, seen here on a C-130 with some Afghan partners, has been providing support and leadership as a captain in the U.S. Army JAG Corps to Afghan judges and prosecutors as they build the country’s criminal justice system. His posting has taken him to Kabul, meetings at an Afghan castle in Khost City...
Mar. 24, 2014—Professor Michael A. Newton, who developed and teaches Vanderbilt’s International Practice Lab, was part of the panel that publicly released last fall a draft blueprint for a Syrian war crimes tribunal that would bring to justice those guilty of human rights violations in the country’s civil war. Newton and other members of the panel, which...
Mar. 24, 2014—Johnny Carson, a memoir by Henry Bushkin ’66 about his years as Johnny Carson’s lawyer, is full of juicy anecdotes Henry Bushkin ’66 was just four years out of law school when he was tapped by Johnny Carson, already the established star of The Tonight Show, to be his personal attorney. Dubbed “Bombastic Bushkin” by...
Mar. 24, 2014—Fluent in English, French and Arabic, Rony Yaacoub hopes to return to his native Lebanon to practice international transactional law after earning his LL.M. at Vanderbilt in May 2014. Fellow LL.M. student Maximillian Zahn also speaks three languages—English, French and German—and plans to pursue a career in international transactional practice in his home country, Germany....
Mar. 24, 2014—Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Wildasin ’91 volunteered to be “detailed” for a year to the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. Mark Wildasin ’91 initially thought the Department of Justice’s insistence that he take a break every three months was excessive. But after his first 15 weeks as an attorney-adviser to the Office of the Justice Attaché...
Mar. 24, 2014—Dear alumni and friends: I am continually impressed by the number of Vanderbilt alumni who have made significant contributions in elected office or through their work on the legal or policy staffs of presidents, senators and congressional representatives; federal and state agencies, political parties and advocacy organizations; or firms focusing on campaign finance or election...
Mar. 24, 2014—Professor of the Practice of Law Retired Partner/Consulting Attorney, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy Robert S. “Bob” Reder ’78 always wanted to be a lawyer. Growing up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires, Reder has fond memories of doing his homework in his father’s law office. His experience as an undergraduate at Williams College, where...
Mar. 24, 2014—Professor of the Practice of Law Partner, Bass Berry & Sims After earning his undergraduate degree at Duke, James H. “Jim” Cheek III was wavering between a career in law or finance. A Nashville native, Cheek had spent his college summers working at J.C. Bradford, a storied investment firm in downtown Nashville. He started out...
Mar. 24, 2014—Professor of Law Energy, Environment and Land Use Program Christopher Serkin’s interest in the conflicts between individual property rights and government power has its roots in two very different environments. Serkin grew up in Marlboro, a small town in southern Vermont, where, he noted, “land and property issues are important to people, and a lot...
Mar. 24, 2014—The Supreme Court invalidated part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. What does that tell us about challenges to state laws that ban same-sex marriage? By Suzanna Sherry Herman O. Loewenstein Professor of Law Edith Windsor was legally married to Thea Spyer under New York law. When Spyer died, however, Windsor was not entitled...
Mar. 24, 2014—Mark Brandon’s new book explores the legal history of marriage and family in America. By Jim Patterson As the contentious battle over gay marriage plays out in various states and in two Supreme Court decisions, Vanderbilt Law Professor Mark Brandon asks a question that seems particularly relevant: How and when did the institution of the...
Mar. 24, 2014—By Suzanna Sherry, Herman O. Loewenstein Professor of Law In this piece, Suzanna Sherry summarizes her essay, “Why We Need More Judicial Activism.” The full version of the essay will appear in a collection Sherry has co-edited with Giorgi Areshidze and Paul Carrese to be released in 2014 by SUNY Press. Sherry wrote this summary...
Mar. 24, 2014—The portrait of President John F. Kennedy hanging in Assistant Professor Ganesh Sitaraman’s office at Vanderbilt Law School reflects Sitaraman’s vision of a great political leader—a capable intellectual who is also a dedicated statesman. Sitaraman returned to Vanderbilt last summer after working for another political leader in that mold—Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren—as policy director during...
Mar. 24, 2014—Reunion is about coming back and giving back, and alumni from years ending in “3” and “8” did both last fall. About 340 alumni came to the weekend festivities October 3–5, and 34 percent of Reunion alumni made gifts totaling more than $2.3 million.
Mar. 24, 2014—The following firms made the Firm Giving Honor Roll for fiscal year 2012–13 (July 1, 2012–June 30, 2013). Many thanks to the firm representatives listed below who encouraged their colleagues to give back, and to all the alumni donors! 100 percent giving across all firm locations FIRMS WITH 40+ ALUMNI Alston & Bird Charles H....
