Regent Law Faculty Achievements – Week of September 3, 2016

Regent University’s School of Law Faculty members willingly share their knowledge and expertise beyond the classroom to spark scholarly debate and advance the practice of law. They have been busy this past summer. Here’s a brief update on some of their scholarly activities.

Associate Professor Gloria Whittico was part of a panel in May with the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in Courts. She also presented her freedom suits talk at the National Underground Railroad conference held in Hilton Head, SC. Her work was very well-received. That talk was largely derived from her work at “‘A Woman’s Pride and a Mother’s Love’ the Missouri Freedom Suits and the Lengths and Limits of Justice” and “‘If Past Is Prologue’: Toward the Development of a New ‘Freedom Suit’ for the Remediation of Foster Care Disproportionalities Among African-American Children.”

Associate Professor Whittico also traveled to Drake Law School in early July to conduct a four-day workshop for 20 students who will be starting law school this fall at Drake, Mitchell-Hamlin, Idaho, and Vermont law schools. They are a part of a new Council on Education Opportunity, Inc., an initiative designed to assist under-represented students succeed in law school.

Associate Professor Jim Davids received an offer from the Journal of Church & State for publication of his article entitled “Are Religious Institutions that Resist Obergefell and Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity Laws in Danger of Losing Their Tax Exempt Status? Bob Jones University Revisited.” He accepted that offer for fall publication.

Assistant Professor Tessa Dysart traveled to Charlotte, NC and Montgomery, AL to speak to two Federalist Society Lawyers Chapters on human trafficking. Her presentations there were largely derived from “The Protected Innocence Initiative: Building Protective State Law Regimes for America’s Sex-Trafficked Children” and “Child, Victim, or Prostitute? Justice Through Immunity for Prostituted Children.” During these travels she met with several alumni and judges, making some great connections for law student internships and other employment. Many were also interested in her assistance with improving their state’s trafficking law. Assistant Professor Dysart also participated in several panels at SEALS in August. Additionally, she is now the managing editor of the Appellate Advocacy Blog on the Law Prof Blog network.

Professor James Duane will present on September 29 a book forum at the Cato Institute on his new book You Have the Right to Remain Innocent. He’ll be addressing university students, faculty, staffers from Capitol Hill, attorneys, journalists, and analysts from other think tanks. C-Span may live stream the event. Then he’ll fly back to Virginia Beach to present the next day at the RALS conference his latest scholarship entitled “The Day the Supreme Court Almost Outlawed Religious Discrimination in Jury Selection.” Professor Duane also participated in several panels at SEALS in August.

Professor Ben Madison completed a new chapter in “Appellate Practice — Virginia and Federal Courts” by Virginia CLE Publications. His chapter is entitled “Appeals to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Virginia at page 2.0.” Professor Madison also made several important presentations at SEALS in August and will be presenting “Is There a Paradox between Ethics & Happiness? Moral Formation for Lawyers” at the RALS Conference here on Sept. 30.

Law Library Assistant Director Marie Hamm wrote and published the following book reviews over the summer:

• 108 LAW LIBRARY JOURNAL (Summer 2016) (reviewing Alexa Z. Chew & Katie Rose Guest Pryal, The Complete Legal Writer (2015).
• Stop Telling and Start Showing, 13 Legal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD (Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors) (Winter 2016) (reviewing Adam Lamparello and Megan E. Boyd, Show, Don’t Tell: Legal Writing for the Real World (2014).

She is also writing a book chapter for the next edition of “A Guide to Legal Research in Virginia.” Publication is scheduled for March 2017.

Over the summer many Regent Law faculty experienced numerous downloads of their work, and had several publications listed on SSRN Top Ten lists. View the scholarship of all Regent Law faculty authors.

• Professor Craig Stern has had nearly 400 downloads this year.
• Professor Ben Madison has had nearly 500 downloads this year.
• Associate Dean Lynne Marie Kohm has had more than 1,000 downloads this year.
• Professor James Duane has had more than 1,200 downloads this year.

That’s a lot of influence in the direction of the law!

Regent Law has a great line-up of guests, speakers, panelists, and attendees for our hosting of the 2016 Conference of Religiously Affiliated Law Schools (RALS) on September 29-30 here on campus. The focus of the conference will be the challenges and opportunities facing faith-based law schools, and many of our Regent Law faculty are participating in important ways in that conference. There is still time for faculty members from other law schools to register.