Posted by David
Logan
02/09/2011 at 11:33 AM
RWU Law has many strengths, as any reader of this blog knows, and two are officially recognized in our Feinstein Institute for Legal Service and our Marine Affairs Institute. Both centers of excellence are staffed by superb lawyers, sponsor important programs, and provide our students with excellent, and unique, opportunities for experiential learning.
Feinstein is the institutional home for our public interest and judicial externship programs, our nationally-recognized Pro Bono Collaborative, and our mandatory public service program. One of the Feinstein stars is Liz Tobin Tyler, who...
Posted by David
Logan
02/04/2011 at 02:54 PM
RWU Law has a tradition of celebrating the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday with a series of events and activities consistent with his dream of inclusiveness, and 2011 was no exception.
The week began with a “Day On,” where members of the RWU Law community are encouraged to celebrate the King Holiday by engaging in community services projects. This year’s service opportunity was a project with City Year, where over 400 volunteers participated in projects throughout Providence.
Tuesday featured a keynote address delivered by dynamic RI lawyer, Michael Evora, who has for almost a decade...
Posted by David
Logan
01/28/2011 at 03:07 PM
I am very proud of the terrific faculty we have assembled at RWU Law, and this year’s hiring cycle has again yielded gold.
Next year Susan Heyman will join us to teach Business Law courses and her specialty, White Collar Crime. Susan is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Cardozo Law School in NYC. Susan graduated from Brandeis summa cum laude/Phi Beta Kappa, and from Cardozo Law magna cum laude/Order of the Coif, where she won the Felix Frankfurter and Samuel Belkin Awards, and served as Executive Editor of the law review.
After graduation, Susan clerked for both the Federal District...
Posted by David
Logan
01/28/2011 at 01:31 PM
RWU Law Prof Michael Yelnosky has had a long interest in open government and judicial selection. These two interests coincided recently in the decision of the office of the Rhode Island Attorney General to refuse a request by a Providence Journal reporter to review the materials submitted by candidates for judicial appointments. Defending the position was Special Assistant Attorney General Mike Field (RWU Law ‘97), the AG’s expert on open government law, who concluded in an advisory opinion that the submissions did not constitute “public records.” Yelnosky demurred,...
Posted by David
Logan
01/24/2011 at 03:44 PM
One of the great things about being the only law school in a state is the unique opportunities it presents for bringing leaders from the bench and bar to campus. Besides the annual visit of the RI Supreme Court to hear the final rounds of our flagship (Clark) Moot Court Competition and the courses taught by a distinguished Adjunct Faculty, programs often feature leaders discussing top issues facing the state, like the symposium on judicial selection.
One recent example: the top law enforcement officials in the state discussed the challenges of prosecuting white collar crime. ...
Posted by David
Logan
01/19/2011 at 01:14 PM
Sargent Shriver passed away yesterday at 95 and the media has been right to lionize a life of remarkable public service, especially his visionary work founding the Peace Corps and Head Start programs.
And, of course, there remains great interest in the Kennedy legacy almost two generations after “Camelot” in Washington (Sarge was married to Eunice Kennedy, JFK’s—and RFK’s--sister, and founder of the Special Olympics), which continued with the glamorous life of daughter Maria Shriver.
For a number of years Sarge was a partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Kampelman, my Washington DC...
Posted by David
Logan
01/18/2011 at 10:24 AM
I am always glad to report fun news about our alums and today I want to provide an update on Hala Furst, who graduated last May (and who is a former Torts student of mine). Hala, who attended the University of Minnesota undergerad, was a member of our Honors Program, and who had a great run at the School of Law, including success as a moot court advocate (not surprising given her background in theater); she even had an essay published in another law school's law review.
The latest on Hala: by special arrangement, she was recently sworn in to the Massachusetts bar by a federal judge in her...
Posted by David
Logan
01/10/2011 at 12:48 PM
Matt Jerzyk (class of 2008) arrived at RWU with impressive academic credentials (a magna cum laude graduate of Brown) and a track record of leadership in progressive politics: he had advised the Governor's Commission on Race, Police and Community Relations, co-authored legislation creating a police civilian review board in Providence, and was the founding executive director of Rhode Island Jobs with Justice, a labor and community coalition with over forty organizational members. Matt was a terrific student at RWU Law (by chance, he was assigned to my Torts class and boy did he display smarts...
Posted by David
Logan
12/21/2010 at 02:20 PM
The numbers are in and – I am very pleased to report – the news is very good indeed: 2010 was another banner year for bar-pass results. Nearly 85 percent of our May graduates sat for the bar in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, or some combination thereof. Of those, 89 percent passed in at least one state.
In Massachusetts – which is by far the number-one state in which our students sit for the bar exam – our May graduates enjoyed a 92 percent pass rate. That’s a top-shelf number that puts us solidly in the company of Boston University and Boston College Law.
The...
Posted by David
Logan
12/21/2010 at 10:46 AM
I am sad to announce the death of a close friend of the School of Law, Joe Fernandez. Joe was well-known in the RI legal community as the City Solicitor under Providence Mayor David Cicilline and most recently as a candidate for RI Attorney General. Joe also ran President Obama’s primary and general election efforts in Rhode Island (Joe was a classmate at Harvard Law School). Besides the impressive professional resume, he was well-known in the Roger Williams community for providing our upper-level students with valuable hands on legal experience as externs in his Solicitor’s Office.
But it...
