Dayton Lawyer - Summer 2008

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DAYTON LAWYER

U n i v e r s i t y o f D a y t o n S c h o o l o f LA W • S U M M ER 2 0 0 8

‘Illegals’ have faces

immigration and social justice

foreclosure crisis


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2 News & Notes What surveyed School of Law alumni saw them- selves as least prepared in are cornerstones of the new Lawyer as Problem Solver curriculum. Professor Fran Conte’s Fulbright award headlines recent faculty achievement. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program has expanded. Starting salaries for 2007 grads were up from the previous year.

18 Roundtable One grad has prosecuted a former prime minister accused of genocide and now defends a former president accused of war crimes. Another took her engineering technology degree and her UD law degree to Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Features 8 Graduation Graduation 2008 included the school’s first two-year grads and its first LL.M. grad.

10 Immigration dilemmas At the 2008 Gilvary Symposium on Law, Religion and Social Justice (“Justice for strangers? Legal assistance and the foreign born”), participants saw how lawyers can be part of the solution.

14 Foreclosures Foreclosures trouble both individuals and corporations. UD School of Law alumni use their professional talent to ease the pain.

The Dayton Lawyer is published twice each school year by the University of Dayton School of Law in cooperation with the office of University communications. What do you think? Send feedback, letters to the editor and alumni updates to: Dayton Lawyer University of Dayton 300 College Park Dayton, OH 45469-2963 Fax: 937-229-3063 E-mail: lawyer@udayton.edu Editor: Thomas M. Columbus   columbus@udayton.edu Art director: Lisa Coffey Photographer: Larry Burgess Cover: Illustration by MB Hopkins

Scot Ganow Ganow spent spent this this summer summer clerking clerking and and externing externing with with the Play ball! Scot

Cincinnati Reds. Reds. “It’s “It’s aa very very exciting exciting work work environment,” environment,” he he said, said, “but “but it’s it’s still still Cincinnati very much much aa lawyer’s lawyer’s job. job. I’m I’m practicing practicing business business negotiation, negotiation, drafting drafting contracts, contracts, very research and and licensing licensing — — but but with with one one exceptional exceptional client.” client.” Photo Photo by by Skip Skip Peterson. Peterson research SPRING 2008

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N O T E S New program offers support to all students

More jobs, more money

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Problem solving in action After a summer of visiting with alumni around the country and speaking at the ABA conference in New York City about the School of Law’s innovative Lawyer as Problem Solver curriculum, I am grateful to be home in Dayton to welcome a new set of eager law students to our marvelous profession. This issue showcases some inspiring accomplishments of our alumni, faculty members and students. Within the article about alumni grappling with foreclosure crisis ramifications, professor Jim Durham asserts that lawyers should be attuned to the emotional toll on their clients from legal situations. “Good lawyers go beyond the law, recognize the human side and ask themselves what they can do to stop or minimize [a] problem.” As you can see from the following pages, many Dayton students and alumni are following this advice to be problem solvers. Our students advocated for the homeless in New Orleans and taught middle schoolers in Dayton skills to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence. Our professors worked on a broad range of issues, from voting rights to criminal law reform. Dayton alumni are leaders in the issues affecting clients’ security and basic needs, from immigration and human rights to issues of foreclosure, intellectual property and a wide array of pressing problems. As our students learn about the legal profession at the University of Dayton and our alumni use the skills they honed here to transform lives around the globe, I pray that they will always respond to God’s call to be problem-solving leaders for their clients and communities.

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Lisa A. Kloppenberg Dean, School of Law D AY T O N L AW Y E R

60,516

Average starting salary of 2007 UD School of Law grads

The School has a new program (the Academic Success Program) and another first: a full-time director of academic support, Staci Rucker. The comprehensive new program provides support to all students from the time they enter law school until they transition to the Road to Bar Passage Program. (The Academic Excellence Program, targeted to nontraditional and minority students, still serves the needs of first-year students.) Rucker, who practiced commercial litigation after graduating from Howard University and Harvard Law School, served as interim director of academic support at North Carolina Central University School of Law.

8,705 Dollars raised

by the Volunteer Student Law Project in the Alumni Weekend auction; money will fund living stipends for law students giving back to the community by devoting the summer to pro bono work

8,000

Matching dollars for that project from the provost’s office

3,000

Additional dollars from an individual donor

500

Dollars awarded annually to each of two students who excel in the Walter H. Rice Moot Court Competition, thereby winning the Janice M. Paulus Prize, funded by the firm of Coolidge Wall

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Students in this year’s entering summer class

1 Best advocate awards

in the 26-team regional round of the National Trial Competition held on campus this spring (That one award went to Kate Bowling, law school Honor Council president.)

Julie Reiter supervised other student volunteers aiding clients at the Hispanic Volunteer Tax Clinic.

Taxes and beyond

On Tuesday nights in tax season, there’s a very popular location in East Dayton. Next to Holy Family Church, which offers a Spanish Mass, is the School of Law’s Hispanic Volunteer Tax Clinic. The clinic, with its commitment to pro bono community work, is so popular that sometimes it has to turn away potential clients or direct them to the on-campus Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program and Spanish-speaking students also volunteering there. The Hispanic clinic, begun as a branch of VITA three years ago, accomplishes more than helping to get taxes paid. Students experience working with a diverse group of clients and navigating complicated laws — sometimes for undocumented workers, sometimes for parents whose families are split across multiple countries, and often for residents who hope to one day become U.S. citizens. The tax process at the clinic is time-consuming, in part, because law student volunteers not only produce tax returns for their clients but also perform advocacy work, help to explain the U.S. tax system and advise clients on practices to help them in the future. For example, independent contractors are not always aware that they can deduct things like supplies or mileage, said Julie Reiter, who supervises seven other student volunteers working with the support of professor Dale Searcy and adjunct professor Chris Epley. Each Tuesday at the clinic from 6 p.m. to approximately 11 p.m., the students worked as a team. “We have a policy,” Reiter explained, “that everyone stays until everyone else is done.”

Students experience a diverse group of clients — families split across countries, undocumented workers and those who hope to become U.S. citizens.

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The overall employment rate for the Class of 2007 nine months after graduation (the point at which accredited law schools are mandated to collect and report data) was 91.6 percent. The rate for those in the top half of the class was 95.5 percent. The average starting salary for members of this class was $60,516, an 8.3 percent increase from the previous year. Three factors may contribute to the increase. First, starting salaries of associates at the largest firms nationally increased sizably; of UD’s 2007 grads, 17 accepted positions at firms with 100 or more attorneys. Second, a higher number of graduates than usual received jobs in markets with higher salaries than in the DaytonColumbus-Cincinnati triangle, markets such as Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Nashville and St. Louis. Third, an unprecedented number of students in the class sought counsel from the Career Services Office regarding benefits and salary information to negotiate better starting packages. More than half of the class (57.1 percent) accepted positions with private law firms; 15.3 percent took government jobs; 13.5 percent took jobs in business settings; 8.6 percent are working for public interest employers; and 3.7 percent accepted judicial clerkships — a distribution similar to previous classes.

Sept. 26 19th Annual Honorable Carl D. Kessler Scholarship Golf Tournament, The Golf Course at YankeeTrace. Contact Lee Ann Ross at 937-229-3793.

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Sept. 27 & 28 30th Annual Dean’s Classic Softball Tournament, NCR Fields. Contact Jessica Jasper at jasperjl@notes.udayton.edu or Casey Krill casey.krill@gmail.com or call 937-229-3793. Sept. 28 Red Mass, St. Joseph Church, noon. Nov. 6 Cincinnati alumni lunch. Call Lee Ann Ross at 937-229-3793. Dec. 19 Alumni, free CLE. Call Lee Ann Ross at 937-229-3793. SUMMER 2008

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Romeo, war and the law

Junior high students were filling out surveys on their conflict management skills. Two of them, however, started swinging at each other. An ultimate teaching moment. So thought UD law students Ryan Beck and Megan Rehberg, who were among six UD law students in a partnership between the Dayton Public Schools and the UD School of Law to teach conflict management skills. And after teaching those skills began, the students did show less conflict. “We’ve been pleasantly surprised how the seventh- and eighth-graders have responded to lessons. There has been a big change of heart from when the students filled out the survey. They didn’t want to listen and take things to heart,” Rehberg said. The program incorporates 25 lessons developed by the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management. The program works conflict management skills into lessons about Romeo and Juliet and historical events such as World War I. The pilot project was funded and coordinated by a team that included participants from — in addition to the Ohio Commission and the School of Law — the United Way of the Greater Dayton Area; the law firm of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur; NCR Corp.; the Dayton Foundation; and the city of Dayton. n

Filling out surveys on conflict management skills two of them started swinging at each other.

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Law and Technology Symposium

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Law and technology symposium set for Oct. 7

Speaking at the Scholarly Symposium of the School’s Program in Law and Technology on Oct. 7 will be professor Gary E. Marchant of the Arizona State University College of Law. Marchant is executive director of ASU’s Center for the Study of Law, Science and Technology as well as Lincoln Professor of Emerging Technologies, Law & Ethics. He has edited both the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology and the Harvard Environmental Law Review. His current interests include the use of genetic information in environmental regulation and toxic torts, the precautionary principle and legal issues related to genetically modified foods.

What is war? Is it a crime? Such are the questions law professors talk about over lunch. A lunchtime discussion of a book on the Nuremberg trials led professors Susan Brenner and Thaddeus Hoffmeister to raise such issues in an intrasession course this February on Nuremberg, Aggressive War & Other Issues. One of the counts of the Nuremberg indictments concerned planning and waging wars of aggression, which represented “crimes against peace.” This was an unprecedented charge. The course discussed its implications, including 4

Beware the buyer Caveat emptor is becoming passé. Companies that allow user-generated content in marketing should understand the changing relationships between retailers and consumers. “In the old days, the brand controlled the content of the message, the media in which the message would run and how often the message would run. That’s less true today,” said New York City attorney Brian Murphy. On June 6 Murphy, a partner at Frankfurt Klein Kurnit & Selz, presented “The Wonderful World of User-Generated Content” during the School’s 18th annual Seminar on Significant Development in Computer and Cyberspace Law. Attendees from across the country, including a large contingent from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, heard Murphy and a number of other speakers on campus. The 19th annual Seminar on Significant Developments in Computer and Cyberspace Law will be held on June 12, 2009. n

c r e d i t Nuremberg Trials. Defendants in their dock. Image from the National Archives and Records Administration.

Beyond Nuremberg

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whether or not the United States committed a crime when it invaded Iraq in 2003 and how far such a charge can stretch into the civilian population. Hoffmeister said he believes that the International Military Tribunal (which, with the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, conducted the Nuremberg trials in the late 1940s) “while settling some issues did open a sort of Pandora’s Box with

Left: The University of New Orleans one year after being badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Hundreds of FEMA trailers house displaced New Orleanians. Photo by Ed Edahl/FEMA

regards to crimes committed during war time.” Questions that arose in the 1940s about the definition of war are compounded in today’s world of “alternative warfare.” Brenner, citing al-Qaida and cybercrime organizations as examples, said, “People cross borders. We can apply our law to our patch of land, but it’s a much more complicated world now.” Intrasessions are usually offered as one-credit, weeklong, intensive courses held during a midsemester break. n

No march, no meeting, but advocacy and hope

“You might as well be from Mars.” That’s what one victim of Hurricane Katrina said of the disparity between the perspectives of the educated middle class, such as the nearly 30 UD law students spending a pro bono spring break in New Orleans, and the perspectives of those like himself caught in a bureaucratic limbo for two and a half years. Among the problems were the Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers that have housed tens of thousands of hurricane victims and have been found to have toxic levels of formaldehyde. “FEMA’s solution,” said student Kennedy Gates, “is to force individuals out of the only shelter they have with no plan for transition or long-term housing. Many individuals already forced out of their FEMA trailers have been living under a highway bridge.” Local residents had come up with a plan to transition individuals to permanent affordable housing. The plan included financial education for the victims as well as case management. A group with which Gates was volunteering — the Student Hurricane Network — was trying to get attention for the victims. “Our initial plan was to have a march at the state capital to get the legislatures’ attention and the rest of the country’s attention,” Gates said. But lack of time and resources proved that plan too ambitious. So they decided to focus on New Orleans itself. “A city ordinance criminalizing homelessness was set to be introduced to the city council,” Gates said. “Instead of creating a plan of action, the city would be jailing these individuals living under the bridge. We decided to get as many individuals to the city council meeting to testify in opposition of the ordinance.” The council postponed discussion of the ordinance. “I walked away feeling defeated,” Gates said. “I felt guilty for giving individuals hope and leaving them with nothing.” Then he remembered being told he might as well be from Mars. “I may be from Mars,” he decided, “but so too are the legislators and FEMA decision makers. I can use my experience to inform friends and pressure policymakers. We wrote legislators letters and produced a video. … It might not be a march, but it is progress.” n

Alumni lawyers offer many opinions When asked in a mail survey distributed last summer what professional skills and abilities they find most useful in their law careers, alumni had a variety of answers — which emerged into patterns by decade of graduation. Alumni graduating in the 1970s found trial advocacy and problem solving most important. Those in the 1980s, problem solving, legal research and trial advocacy. In the 1990s, legal reasoning and problem solving. And in the 2000s, legal writing, legal reasoning and trial advocacy. Alumni from all years said that legal writing and reasoning were strengths of UD’s program. They felt least prepared in negotiation and alternative dispute resolution, now cornerstones of the new Lawyer as Problem Solver curriculum. Roughly two-thirds of graduates surveyed said they consider the quality of the UD legal education to be very good or excellent, naming faculty as the number one highlight of their experience. n

You think you’re busy? The School is seeing a legal first of sorts — the first time that the title of editor-in-chief of the Dayton Law Review has passed from one mother to another. Taking a moment away from legal matters are Casie Hollis ’08 (left) with daughter Allison and third-year student Manon Newell with son Jackson.

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Alumni Weekend 2008 Alumni Weekend 2008 Alumni Weekend 2008 Alu

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A c c o l a d e s Saphire aids ACLU in voting rights case In January, the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Ohio, with the help of UD law professor Richard Saphire, filed a lawsuit against Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Cuyahoga County, Ohio’s most populous county, to enjoin a change in voting equipment for the state’s March 4 primary. Saphire said the change would make Cuyahoga “the only county in the nation to move from a more reliable system to a less reliable one.” The motion was denied for the primary, allowing the county to use Central Count Optical Scan voting machines on March 4. Votes cast on these machines must be filled in with a pen. Ballots are optically scanned at a central location. If a voter makes a mistake (such as two votes where one is called for), it is not discovered until the ballot is scanned — too late for the voter to make a correction. But electronic touch-screen machines notify the voter of an error before the final ballot can be submitted. “Every voter should have access to error notification, or second-chance voting,” Saphire said. His research shows there is more error in minority districts, and that not providing a chance to correct voter error is an unequal application of law. Although the motion was denied for the primary, Saphire helped to negotiate a stipulated dismissal without prejudice in ACLU of Ohio v. Bruner in April. The Ohio General Assembly had passed and Gov. Ted Strickland signed a bill that prohibits Ohio counties from using non-notice voting equipment in the November general elections. The state and Cuyahoga County provided assurance to the court that they would comply with the statute.

his work in bringing about the conviction of a contract interrogator who, while working for the CIA, beat an Afghan man, resulting in his death 72 hours later. The Afghan sheepherder volunteered to be questioned after learning his name was on a list of possible suspects for rocket attacks. The interrogator kicked, punched and beat the man and deprived him of water. The prosecution made use in its case of the Patriot Act, which extends the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the United States “with respect to offenses committed by or against a national of the United States.” Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s office in 2000, Candelmo handled espionage investigations for the Department of Justice and spent seven years in the office of the Navy’s Judge Advocate General. “The majority of service men and women I’ve encountered,” Candlemo said, “are well-trained and professional. It’s like the one bad lawyer you hear about in the news; it makes all the good lawyers look bad.”

Faculty notes The Cleveland Association of Phi Beta Kappa elected professor Eric Chaffee its president. Professor Fran Conte has received a Fulbright award to teach and consult at the University of Warsaw during the 200809 year. He will teach European Union

’It makes all the good lawyers look bad.‘

CIA, Department of Justice honor grad

Jim Candelmo ’87, assistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, received honors from the Department of Justice and the CIA for 6

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law, constitutional law, comparative constitutional law, international law and human rights. Tom Brokaw for his book Boom! Voices of the Sixties interviewed professor Tom Hagel about his brother, Chuck, and their Vietnam War experiences. Professor Jim Durham was one of four UD professors profiled in the December 2007 Excellence in Education issue of Ohio Magazine. The International Herald Tribune reprinted an op-ed (“South Korea Signs On”) by professor Thaddeus Hoffmeister that was first published in the National Law Journal. This fall the Journal of Criminal Law and

Criminology will publish his “Resurrecting the Grand Jury’s Shield: The Grand Jury Legal Advisor.” Professor Vernellia Randall has a Web site on race and racism in the 2008 Presidential Election, (http://academic. udayton.edu/race/2008ElectionandRacism/ index.htm). Professor Dennis Turner’s article “Why Can’t Law Schools Be More Like Med Schools?”, highlighting the real-life experiences of the School, was published the online journal The Complete Lawyer. Turner retired in May.

Classes of graduates gathered and talked and dined at Alumni Weekend 2008, May 16-17. And they served at a homeless shelter. And honored others who serve their profession, their school and their community. Photos by Julie Walling ’83.

other UDSL award winners • Terry Ali, who has brought a business perspective to the School of Law Advisory Council, received the Francis J. Conte Special Service Award. Ali, a 1986 UD School of Business Administration graduate, last year, with his wife, Jeannie, established the Ali Family Scholarship in honor of Terry’s parents, Frank and Viola. • Dave Barnette ’79, who received a Francis J. Conte Special Service Award, practices business law as well as working with intellectual property and copyright law. He also has a “legal hobby” that began in 1981 when an associate asked for legal legwork regarding a child he was adopting. Although he had no experience in adoption law, Barnette said yes. “I was young and arrogant,” he said, “and thought I could do anything.” He is now a fellow of the “UD took a chance on me,” said Walter American Academy of Adoption Reynolds’78 as he accepted the School of Attorneys and has helped more Law’s Distinguished Alumni Award. “It’s a debt than 1,000 children through the I don’t think I can ever repay.” adoption process. On the other hand, as Dean Lisa Kloppenberg • Lisa Kloppenberg, dean of pointed out, “When Walter came to the the School since 2001, received the University of Dayton for his legal education, Honorable Walter H. Rice Honorary Alumni Award. Before coming to the law school was in just its second year of UD, she directed the Appropriate existence. More than 30 years later, we’re glad Dispute Resolution Program at Walter took a chance on our new endeavor.” the University of Oregon School of In January, Reynolds was named managing Law. She has also been recognized partner of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur’s for her scholarly work on the Dayton office. He has represented brokerage avoidance doctrine, a collection of firms, banks, insurance companies, and savings rules instructing judges to resolve and loan associations and has handled many constitutional questions only when construction disputes representing owners, absolutely necessary and in narrow contractors, subcontractors and material ways. suppliers. He is a past president of the Dayton • Mary Brennan Payne ’30, Bar Association. one of the first three women to graduate from the School, received Reynolds received the award in May as part the Women’s Caucus Award. When of this year’s Alumni Weekend, at which five she told her brother Charles, “since other members of the School’s community were you’re going to law school, I’ll go, also honored. too,” he said he didn’t think the School would accept a woman. She replied, “They’ll accept me.” After graduation, she passed the bar, ranking in the top quarter in the state. Bright as ever, she continues to be an avid reader at 101 years old. • Jeff Winwood, who received a Francis J. Conte Special Service Award, has been an adjunct at the School since 1980. An attorney at Winwood Rutledge Co. LLC, he practices estate planning, probate administration, corporate law and real estate law. For many years, he has supported the School’s Moot Court program. He and his wife, Veronica Zimmerman Winwood ’83, live in Dayton.

Taking a chance and winning

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tion 2008 Graduation 2008 Graduation 2008 Graduation 2008 Graduation 2008 Graduation 2008 Something old, something new Some followed traditional paths. Some were part of something new. All 127 became on May 10 graduates of the University of Dayton School of Law. The School’s first two-year graduates — 33 students who had taken the accelerated option in the Lawyer as Problem Solver program — got an early start on their careers. (In January, 14 students who took the five-semester accelerated option graduated.) One of the two-year grads, David Treadway, pointed to a significant financial benefit of taking two rather than three years to complete law school. “I’ll be earning income a year earlier,” he said, “plus I won’t have a year’s worth of living expenses while not working full time. If your living expenses are $20,000 and the average first-year salary is $60,000-$80,000, give or take, you are right around $100,000.” Course requirements for two-year and three-year students are the same. “We haven’t seen any real differences in academic performance. We have great students in both groups,” said Lori Shaw, dean of students. “It’s a question of preference and priorities. Some students truly savor the traditional law school experience with its time for reflection, clerkships and lots of extracurricular activities. Others, particularly those with families or for whom law is a second career, cannot wait to become part of the justice system.” Casie Hollis chose the traditional route. She served as editor-in-chief of the Dayton Law Review and clerked with Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, for whom she will work after taking the bar exam. “Choosing UD was the best option for my family and me; the six-semester option allowed me to get the most of my work experience, education and extracurricular activities,” she said. “I also think having two summers to work different jobs was, for someone like me who did not know what type of law she wanted to practice, a great opportunity to try on different legal hats.” Another first at the May graduation was the awarding of UD’s first Master of Laws degree in intellectual property law — to Aziz Ahmad ’06 ’08. (See accompanying story.)

Five semesters and graduated Fourteen students graduated in January having earned their JDs in five semesters, the first students to benefit from the fivesemester option. “A lot of law students at other schools that I’ve Some of of UDSL’s UDSL’s “fab “fab five”. five”. Some talked to felt they were wasting their time (in their sixth semester),” said Tommie Culpepper ’08. “Plus, we aren’t competing for jobs with the big group that graduates in May. My guess is that employers will perceive someone who graduated in two or two-and-a-half years as more competent and motivated.” For Shahrzad Allen ’08, finishing early meant she could study for the Ohio bar exam while her children were in school during the day rather than at home for summer vacation.

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Graduation notes • Noble. “The law remains a noble profession so long as its members continue to uphold its high standards,” Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain told the graduates. O’Scannlain, who is U.S. Circuit Judge for the 9th Circuit, said to them, “The ideals and standards of the profession must be more than academic for you; they must guide your everyday decisions.”

Sister’s paralysis motivated UD’s first LL.M. graduate

• Pro bono. Twenty-one graduates (17 percent of the class) received Pro Bono Commitment to Community Awards for a cumulative 2,864 hours of service to the community. • No joke. One of the graduates, Melinda Warthman, received an e-mail apparently from the White House. After talking to some of the women with whom she works on spousebuzz.com, a blog for military spouses, she decided it wasn’t a joke. So, on May 6, she was one of the military spouses on the White House South Lawn for Military Spouse Recognition Day. Warthman, an instructor in the UD communications department, also was active in pro bono and community leadership activities during law school. • Fitz Award. Brandy Tolley Simpson ’08 received the Raymond L. Fitz, S.M., Award for Community Service. During her first semester she became a court-appointed guardian ad litem for Montgomery County, Ohio. The two-year grad served as treasurer and president of the St. Thomas More Society, volunteered with the admission committee, was a member of Phi Delta Theta, and was treasurer of the Parent and Family Association. • Gratitude. “I have had some of my best memories while I’ve been here at the law school, and I’ve also had some of my worst. But no matter what, the UDSL community has been

Aziz Ahmad

there for me.” So said Conrad Dillon ’08, recipient of the Roger B. Turrell Memorial Scholarship. At a scholarship lunch he expressed gratitude for the financial support that gave him “the privilege of getting legal experience based on the type of work offered and not just for the amount of money it pays.” • A calling. “As these graduates leave the School of Law, we cannot know what wonderful careers await them; into what service to our profession, to our courts and to our society God will lead them,” said professor emeritus Kelvin Dickinson, who did the benediction. “Yet, we, the faculty and staff of the University of Dayton School of Law, ask our God to bless their calling and to ever remind them that the practice of law is a profession of service and a privilege.”

Aziz Ahmad was 15 when a car accident left his sister Shazia paralyzed from the waist down. Ahmad spent the next six months in the hospital, watching doctors and physical therapists rotate in and out of Shazia’s room. “At that point I kind of realized that it’s not so much the doctors that are experts in the field,” Ahmad said. “They’re simply applying what the researchers discover.” While he didn’t know it at the time, it was his sister’s accident that would lead Ahmad to becoming a patent lawyer to help medical researchers. This spring, Ahmad was the first student to graduate from the School with an LL.M. degree in intellectual property law. When he graduated from college with a degree in biology and a minor in political science, he faced a decision: follow in the direction of his father and his eldest sister, Asma — both doctors — and enroll in medical school; or follow in the footsteps of Shazia and go to law school. Ahmad chose law school, and with that decision, he chose UD. Ahmad followed UD’s intellectual property track and graduated in 2006. But he knew he needed more schooling to gain the expertise necessary to help medical researchers. That’s when he enrolled in UD’s LL.M. program. The program was flexible, Ahmad said, in that it allowed him to create an interdisciplinary course load and graduate in nine months. His first semester, Ahmad took a cancer biology course, which connected him with UD professor Yiling Hong, who helped him gain insight into stem cells and medical research. His second semester, Ahmad earned an externship at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, D.C., where he worked with stem cell applications and general patent policies. Ahmad now is looking forward to patent law work that will touch on both his passions: biotechnology and policy. “Being a patent attorney allows me to interact with researchers and really understand where they’re coming from,” Ahmad said. “I think it’s kind of a unique role to make sure change is done in the right way. It’s not just about the invention, but it’s about how that invention impacts society that is important.” Ahmad’s long-term career goal takes him back to memories of being 15: He wants to advocate for researchers and organizations trying to overcome spinal cord injuries. —Yvonne Teems ’09

‘It’s not just about the invention, but about how it impacts society.‘

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Immigration Policy

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Social Justice

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Immigration

is not best represented by a fence but by a

human face. It’s not an issue centered on foreigners “stealing” jobs or siphoning public funds. Immigration isn’t about aliens. It’s about human beings — about how all humans, regardless of where they were born or what language they first learned to speak, should be treated with dignity and kindness.

Such were the messages presented during the 2008 Honorable James J. Gilvary Symposium on Law, Religion and Social Justice, which focused on how lawyers can help not only reshape the debate about immigration but also assist immigrants in need of legal services. Held Feb. 27-28, this year’s symposium was aptly titled, “Justice for strangers? Legal assistance and the foreign born.” It was held in conjunction with the first Miami Valley Forum on Immigration, which examined challenges and achievements of Dayton-area immigrants in such issues as gaining access to health care and education. “The law is so significant in terms of what is happening with immigration today,” said the Rev. Daniel Groody, C.S.C., professor of theology and director of the Center for Latino Spirituality and Culture at the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

“There’s a tension between human rights and sovereign rights, a conflict between a nation’s right to secure its borders and the right of people to seek a better quality of life. Which law is more important?” The majority of people who illegally cross the U.S. border do so because of economic realities, according to a number of symposium speakers. “Immigration exists because of the need in the U.S. for cheap, easily exploitable labor,” said Victoria Gavito, legal director at Centro de los Derechos del Migrante in Zacatecas, Mexico. “Only 1 percent of people are going across the U.S.-Mexico border because of narcotics or human trafficking — 99 percent are crossing to find work.” Mexican immigrants send billions of dollars in remittances, money earned in the United States, to family in their homeland, Gavito said. This makes remittances one of the largest industries

in Mexico — larger, even, than tourism. Yet immigrants hail from many countries. Indeed, throughout U.S. history, many immigrants have come from Asian nations and the Caribbean, said Lolita Buckner Inniss, a professor at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law who has researched black immigrants. “We’re constantly changing the way we think of immigrants in this nation,” she said. Groody, who has produced five documentary films and written two books on immigration, said approximately 200 million people worldwide — or one in every 35 — are considered migrants. Of those, approximately 10 million are in the United States, he added. “It’s not true that migrants have few skills; they come from a spectrum of the work force,” he said. “The economic push for migrants to leave their families and communities is great. People do not want to migrate; it’s not their first choice. It’s a complicated issue. But unless we get the human face right, nothing else is going to fall together.” Regardless of country of origin, many immigrants aren’t treated well even before they begin their journey to the United States. “There’s no government oversight of recruitment, which makes it rife with abuse,” said Gavito of her experiences in Mexico. “We hear lots of stories about recruiters having too much power — even asking people to deed their houses to them and paying them lots of money.” In addition, such treatment often continues once undocumented workers have entered the United States. For example, many industries that rely on undocumented workers at times don’t comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act, said Jed Untereker, staff attorney with the Working Hands Legal Clinic in Chicago. The attorneys at the clinic often see such

People not problems By Kristen Wicker • Illustrations by MB Hopkins

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The 2008 Gilvar y Symposium

SUMMER 2008

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For second-year law student Julie Reiter, serving as an assistant for the 2008 Gilvary Symposium was a natural fit. She certainly was familiar with the issues being explored in the symposium: During the summer of 2007, Reiter served as an intern with the migrant farm worker program run by Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, or ABLE, a nonprofit legal organization serving low-income people in western Ohio. Reiter and ABLE staff visited migrant farm worker camps, checking on the migrants’ working and living conditions. The ABLE team was able to resolve a wage violation issue, in which workers on H2A temporary agricultural visas were being paid the rate mandated in Kentucky, which is lower than that in Ohio. They also resolved a housing issue in which workers’ beds were infested with fleas. “The workers couldn’t explain some of their concerns to their boss, but they could explain them to us,” said Reiter, who earned her bachelor’s degree in international studies from UD and speaks Spanish. The team from ABLE, which assists people with civil cases, also spent a lot of time educating the migrant farm workers. “The work was less about litigation and more about empowering people to know their rights,” Reiter said. These experiences served as a framework for Reiter as she helped plan the Gilvary symposium, making speakers’ travel arrangements and more. Reiter had seen firsthand the human side of immigration that was explored in the symposium. “Immigration affects so many facets of life, and it’s such an expansive issue,” she said. “There’s no easy answer, but I don’t think we’ll find any answers unless we look at the human side of immigration. “People have built roots here, and they’re raising families here. They want a better life for their families, and (if families were deported) kids would be taken from the only culture they know. Some of these kids can speak Spanish but can’t read the language.” Reiter, who will graduate in 2009, still hasn’t decided whether she’ll specialize in immigration law although she said it’s a possibility. In addition to her experience with ABLE, Reiter completed an immersion program in Colombia during her undergraduate years and worked in Washington, D.C., for Ayuda, another nonprofit legal organization serving low-income immigrants. “Immigration is something I’ve always been interested in,” Reiter said. “I definitely want to do public work with immigrant or other low-income populations.”

violations as unpaid wages, shorted hours, additional deductions and a lack of overtime pay. “It’s remarkable how many times a worker isn’t getting paid the minimum wage,” Untereker said, adding that 50 percent of day laborers are victims of wage theft — and the numbers are even higher at such job sites as meat processing plants and restaurants. “But if they’re getting shorted hours, it’s difficult to show and prove.” Employers sometimes use scare tactics to keep an upper hand on undocumented workers, a number of Gilvary Symposium presenters said. 12

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Gavito told the story of a group of Mexican immigrants who were on their way to work on an orange farm when they noticed white packages being loaded into the side panels of the bus. “They found out when they arrived that drugs were being smuggled and women were being forced to work as prostitutes on the farm,” she said. “When they got to the fields, they were shown coffins and told that’s how they’ll go back to Mexico if they tell anyone. So one of the big barriers to justice is fear.” The law and legislators often haven’t favored such workers, either. Victor Romero, associate dean for

academic affairs and Maureen B. Cavanaugh Distinguished Faculty Scholar at the Penn State Dickinson School of Law, discussed a century’s worth of U.S. Supreme Court cases related to immigration law. Two cases from the 1880s “formed the foundation of the plenary power of Congress to have the right to create laws that exclude,” he said. “What we learn from these cases is that, by and large, the Court is going to defer to Congress and the executive branch in ways that seem contrary to what we think of when we think of human rights law,” Romero said. “Once you think of someone as being ‘undocumented’ and ‘illegal,’ that person is therefore a nonperson, and it becomes difficult to think of them as a human being.” Still, while the immigration story includes plenty of conflict, symposium presenters noted that law professionals can be part of the solution. “We have the most success when we approach the rights of immigrant workers from a community and legal angle,” Untereker said. “There’s not just one way to address this issue.” For example, case law strongly supports wage and overtime protections, while the Fair Labor Standards Act provides a broad definition of employment. “According to the U.S. Department of Labor, you’re obligated to pay wages whether an employee is documented or not, and you may be violating the law by threatening to turn someone in,” he said. “Know your clients’ status, their employers’ names and aggressively defend them.” Lawyers also can be part of the solution by helping communities fight anti-immigration laws, which have been “cropping up” in the past two years in such states as Arizona and Oklahoma and “put a bullseye on the head of every Hispanic,” Romero said. Indeed, law

professionals can help advocate proimmigrant legislation, now the law in such places as New York City and San Francisco. “New Haven, Conn., issues ID cards for all residents regardless of their status,” Romero said. “Texas and California are providing in-state tuition for residents regardless of status. We need to refocus on these positive stories.” One potential solution to the challenges of immigration that was dis-

cussed by a number of symposium presenters is the creation of guest worker programs, which give foreign workers access to the U.S. labor market but don’t provide them with access to public benefits. Yet this solution comes with its own set of challenges, said Howard Chang, Earle Hepburn professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. For example, how do other noncitizens, such as students, fit into this

picture? At a more philosophical level, how does a society that declares all humans are created equal justify denying some humans health care and education? “The concern with unauthorized immigrants is ironic because it’s clear they have a positive financial impact,” said Chang, citing the work of the National Research Council. “Legal immigrants

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Empowering people

Faith and the Immigration Debate How might people of faith — and an institution grounded in Catholic social teaching, such as the University of Dayton School of Law — respond to the immigration issue? “The challenge to those who profess faith in Christ is to respond to the inclusive demands of the Gospel,” said the Rev. Daniel Groody, C.S.C., professor of theology and director of the Center for Latino Spirituality and Culture at the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame, during the Gilvary Symposium’s opening session. Four laws give us “ways of looking at the immigration debate beyond the current policy,” he said. “First is the eternal law that governs the universe. Next is divine law or what we know through Scripture. Civil law refers to human codes for social order, and natural law defines ethical norms and behaviors,” Groody said. “In terms of natural law, we are called to respond to (the immigration issue) as children of God,” he added. “Under divine law, there are moral imperatives to respond to those in need, and eternal law calls for the will of a provident God for all creatures.” Pope John Paul II often said the foundation on which all human rights exist is the divine image of man, and that the Church must address the immigration issue from the standpoint of Christ, said Michael Scaperlanda, associate dean for scholarship and research, professor of law, and Gene and Elaine Edwards Family Chair in Law at the University of Oklahoma School of Law. However, maintaining such a standpoint is difficult given the prevalent “enforcement-only model,” which includes beefed up border patrols and sanctions for employers who hire undocumented

workers. “A generation after the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was supposed to solve the problem, it’s still a concern,” Scaperlanda said. “Given the current political situation, what is a just solution?” Scaperlanda presented his ideas for a solution, which he said are rooted in his understanding of Catholic social thought. He believes the United States should close the “back door,” which often involves a dangerous border crossing, while opening the “front door” for undocumented workers through such policies as guest worker programs. In addition, Scaperlanda said the United States should “devote the human and capital resources needed to ease the economic and social pressures in other countries that cause people to immigrate in the first place.” Groody also shared his thoughts from his Catholic perspective, noting that theology can contribute to the immigration debate in the following “four core dimensions”: • “The Imago Dei,” or crossing the problem/ person divide. We are not just problems to be solved but people created by God, and we must repeatedly affirm the humanity of the migrant. • “The Verbum Dei,” crossing the divine/human divide. Jesus himself was a refugee, so the ability to cross borders is at the heart of the Christian faith. • “The Mission Dei,” crossing the human/human divide. To bring people into new relationships and create new communities, we cross social boundaries, but the law of compassion cannot be contained in such narrow boundaries. We must go beyond humanly constructed laws that divide and exclude. • “The Visio Dei,” crossing the country/kingdom divide. What matters in the end is the kingdom of God, characterized by justice, love and peace. “In crossing these borders, we begin to see our interconnectedness,” Groody said. “We know the value of laws — even as we deal with these issues of immigration, we testify to a larger God and to solidarity.”


are the ones who may have a negative financial impact because they would have access to the benefits of citizenship.” Symposium presenters agreed the United States must do a better job addressing these issues — from a more socially just, human rights perspective. After all, it is not an issue that will disappear. “The way society organizes should

While their day-to-day work varies widely, lawyers are connected by what they see on the horizon: more credit and foreclosure troubles ahead. By Janet Filips ’77

be questioned when people are crossing borders and risking their lives just to find work,” Groody said. “When we look at global inequalities, these can’t help but cause people to move seeking better opportunities.” Kristen Wicker ’98 is a freelance writer in Dayton who is pursuing a master’s degree at UD.

More laws?

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F

Failed and flailing mortgages have shaken a broad swath of America: marquee-famous entertainers; everyday workers caught in an economic squeeze; confused borrowers who fell for predatory lending schemes and are now in a world of hurt. Home foreclosures are one dimension of the broad, complex credit crisis crashing through the economy — and the halls of Congress. A number of UD law graduates are involved in the maelstrom’s myriad legal aspects: They might represent lenders and defendants in residential and commercial foreclosures; advise multibillion-dollar corporations on restructuring their debt obligations; or serve on the

board of a nonprofit that helps struggling homeowners. Among the handful of graduates profiled on these pages, the day-to-day work varies widely. They are connected, however, by what they see on the horizon: more credit and foreclosure troubles ahead. Professor Jim Durham agrees. Durham has concentrated on real estate transactions law since the late 1970s; he practiced real estate law in San Francisco and taught a year at University of California at Davis before joining the UD School of Law faculty in 1980. For more than 30 years, Durham has observed and studied overall and annual cycles in real estate. “And I don’t see the bottom of the market,” he said. “And I don’t see the bottom of the mortgage crisis. The mortgage crisis will continue because there will be huge numbers of loans that will reset in 2009 and ’10.” When the loans reset, some owners will be priced out of their mortgages — and forced to try selling, likely at depressed prices, in a generally glutted market. If mortgages exceed their homes’ declining values — a situation called “underwater” or “upside down” — owners may be tempted to walk away, he said. However, owners who are underwater but able to make reasonable payments may discover their lenders are willing to renegotiate terms, in particular the interest rate, said Durham, who has held various positions in the American Bar Association’s Real Property, Trust and Estates section. “The average foreclosure costs $50,000 in legal fees, lost income, lost value and real estate commissions,” he said. “That becomes a very powerful tool in negotiating with the lender.” At the same time, lawyers should be attuned to the emotional toll on their clients, Durham said. For this and other legal situations, good lawyers go beyond the law, recognize the human side and ask themselves what they can do to stop or minimize this problem, he said: “What can I do where, ideally, I can make a win-win for both sides?” That can amount to the lawyer approaching a lender and asking, “What do you want here? A foreclosure or a performing loan?”

“To lenders, a portfolio of performing loans is really important now,” Durham pointed out. Sometimes the lawyer must convince the other side that the proposal is a good result for all, he said; sometimes, the other side recognizes it immediately. In hazarding a guess about the future, Durham is decidedly nervous about spring 2009. But he also notes that today’s overall market activity has not fallen catastrophically. While home sales volume is less, people are still buying and selling residences, which continues to ripple related economic activity through the economy. “When someone says home sales are down 20 percent from last year, I say, ‘Yes, but there’s still 80 percent.’ If they say home sales are the worst in seven years, I think seven years is viable for looking at it as part of a normal economic cycle,” he said. “If they say it’s the worst in 30 years, I’ll start being really worried.”

People in trouble

Subprime mortgages? They’re not the culprits in the hundreds of residential foreclosures that Charlie Palmeri ’77 has handled on behalf of his major clients, which are regional commercial banks in Cleveland. But back in 2000, Palmeri saw a big spike in foreclosures. The debtors, who fit the traditional loan criteria, weren’t bad risks, he says. Their problems stemmed from personal issues or northeast Ohio’s economy: job loss, illness, divorce, death, medical costs, misuse of credit, incarceration. “I find that most of the customers I deal with are very decent people,” Palmeri said. “I would not call them deadbeats. They’re just people in trouble.” About two years ago, Palmeri shifted from residential to commercial foreclosures. But during a decade of handling residential foreclosures, “the lenders that I represent were very, very anxious to work out arrangements. They were not interested in the real estate. That was just a last resort.” In addition to not wanting more property on their hands, the banks had a stake in maintaining a community reputation, Palmeri said, as a good place to do business. So, whether the homeowner was represented by a lawyer (as about 25 percent were) or speaking directly with him, Palmeri continually invited ideas for how the owner and bank could avoid foreclosure. “That was a refreshing part of

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There just aren’t enough laws for this lawyer. “The most pressing issue in immigration law is the lack of employment visa options,” said Sherry Neal ’94, an immigration attorney with the Cincinnati-based Hammond Law Group since 1995. “Our immigration laws in the U.S. are pretty limited.” Neal currently practices employment-based immigration law. She works with a range of companies — from Fortune 500s to small businesses, engineering firms to health care providers — who hope to sponsor a foreign employee as well as with the individuals seeking those work authorizations. Neal discusses possible visa options with her clients and then, if a match is found, prepares and submits all the necessary paperwork. Yet that’s where the problem comes in: Too often, a match is not found. One type of visa is available only to multinational companies. Applications for another are accepted only once a year — and all the available visas are gone within a week. Such limits also affect employees seeking green cards. The process takes from two to five years to complete — and during much of this time, employees must stay in the position for which they were hired, prohibiting businesses from promoting or transferring these employees. This in turn can limit business growth. Indeed, most businesses don’t try to hire foreign workers unless they’re certain they can’t find an American, who is much easier and less expensive to hire, for the job, Neal said. “Positions go unfilled, which means something that should be done is not being done in that company,” Neal said. “Sometimes, companies just decide to start outsourcing. Essentially, because our immigration laws are so limited, there’s really not an issue about protecting U.S. jobs — we’re essentially sending jobs overseas. Some companies decide to take their business elsewhere because they can’t get past all the hurdles.” These issues are closely tied with the challenges related to undocumented workers that were discussed at length during the 2008 Gilvary Symposium. Again, the lack of employment visa options — especially for low-skill jobs — feeds the problem, Neal said. “If the number (of undocumented workers) really is 12 million, there’s no way we can feasibly deport that many people,” she said. “Besides, there are tangential issues. These workers are doing a needed job, their employers are now dependent on them, and they may even have children who were born here and are U.S. citizens. “Lawyers can help the public see this from a broader perspective,” Neal added. “It’s likely sometime next year Congress will tackle immigration reform. The issue will be whether this reform deals only with the enforcement piece or if we try to solve some of these other issues and make it a more comprehensive reform.”

SUMMER 2008

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my practice, that the clients I represented are not hard-core, ‘Pay up, or you’re out,’” he said. “My clients were always pushing for a solution.” To any lawyer who represents homeowners, Palmeri advises strong communication with the lender’s counsel. “Keep him or her advised about efforts being made to save the situation,” he said. “Communication, and being able to pay some amount of money, go a long way.” His clients bent over backward in allowing him to grant owners extra time to gather resources, to set up repayment plans, to work through a bankruptcy or to entertain other options. When owners had made a strong, longtime effort to sell a house but could not get an offer high enough to pay off the first mortgage, banks increasingly agreed to a short payoff, or accepting less than the full balance on the mortgage. Avoiding foreclosure is nice for the owner. And for the bank? “There’s certainly no guarantee anything is going to be better at the sheriff’s sale,” said Palmeri, “and often, it’s worse.”

Global implications

From her office in midtown Manhattan, Lisa Gonsior Laukitis ’99 feels the billion-dollar sized rumbles of the current credit crisis. The credit crunch has squeezed the multinational corporations that she represents in connection with restructuring their debt obligations. As a partner in Kirkland & Ellis’ restructuring group, during the past several years Laukitis has seen the rapid acceleration of what had been a gradual change in the credit market related to hedge funds entering banks’ traditional territory. Nine years ago, banks held companies’ debt with more of a long-term view. Long-term customers paid interest on their loans and other fees. Banks supported corporate reorganizations because the strategy was good for their bottom line, too. A bank, she said, was “willing to hang in with a company while it went through a difficult time in order to secure a greater return on its

Keeping neighborhoods intact

Fifty years ago, Eugene Kettering started the Dayton Fund for Home Rehabilitation with a one-time donation, which local corporations matched. Kettering wanted the fund to provide nointerest loans to low-income homeowners in Montgomery County who needed major home repairs but could not qualify for bank loans. “This is the sort of thing that keeps people in their home, and neighborhoods intact,” said David Gonsior ’85, vice president and client relationship manager with National City Bank in Miamisburg, Ohio. Gonsior, whose legal work at National City does not involve foreclosures, has sat on the fund’s board for five years. During that time, he’s seen a change. Initially, most requests came from elderly residents who had lived in their houses for 40 years, owned them outright, and desperately needed to fix broken pipes, replace a water heater or repair a leaky roof. But two years ago, requests to the board started coming from younger applicants, often with children at home. Their financial paperwork painted a sad picture: The families had repeatedly refinanced their houses, enticed by low-interest introductory loans advertised as a means to consolidate debt. Now the house was falling apart, and the families owed more than the houses were worth. Problems piled up: Many had lost jobs and were juggling car payments, utility bills, medical bills and other family struggles. Many were classic victims of predatory lenders, said Gonsior, who considers himself a conservative person. “Yes,” he said, “you could say it’s a situation of their own doing because they borrowed the money. Yet on the other hand, they were getting so many offers, from so many companies. A lot of these people are not very financially savvy, so it’s hard for me to say, ‘It’s too bad and you’re on your own.’” Gonsior and his fellow fund trustees sort through applications that are double or triple the few dozen that they have money to support. As Montgomery County’s need has increased, the fund’s traditional supporters — corporations such as Mead and NCR — have cut back on their giving, redirected it elsewhere or left Dayton. “We’ve tended to focus locally on fundraising,” he said, “and that might be something that should change.”

Instead of viewing restructuring as a company’s best option, banks are focused on getting whatever return they can. investment and foster a long-term relationship.” Lisa Gonsior But as hedge funds have played Laukitis ’99 a bigger role in investing and in buying bank and bond debt, Laukitis has seen the dynamics change. Typically, a hedge fund has a shorter timetable for maximizing its investment. This shift has affected her clients, who are from the energy, shipping, telecommunications, automotive and manufacturing industries. On top of that, because banks themselves are experiencing significant liquidity issues, the banking culture has also changed. Instead of viewing restructuring and continuing operations as a healthy company’s best option, “some banks are focused on get16

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condominium fees after being new owners,” he said. “I could speculate it’s probably because they got their loans too easily.”

ting whatever return they can get, as quickly as possible,” Laukitis said. “There are many quick sales of companies that are being forced by lenders.” The banks are primarily concerned with their need for liquidity, she said, rather than the potential for a higher recovery or in continuing a long-term relationship. For the near term, Laukitis expects companies to enjoy only limited access to credit markets, which means limited options for restructuring and a greater tendency for companies to be sold — either to financial buyers looking for an investment or to strategic buyers looking for a greater presence in that industry. Restructuring is complicated work that involves both corporate work and ligitation. The complexity and dual role attract Laukitis. “In restructuring, you have to get to know every aspect of a company’s business to help them restructure,” she said, “so you get to act as a businessperson as well as a lawyer, to help them figure out the way forward.”

Practitioners have seen appraisers who highly inflated property values and banks that didn’t keep a close eye on their appraisers. Clogged courts

Mike Columbus ’03

Associated fees

When you’re out hunting for a property, you crunch numbers: mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities. But condominium buyers need to add in another number: the monthly condo association fee. And if they fall behind on the fee — generally $100 to $200 per month in the Dayton area — they are subject to a foreclosure lawsuit. As a shareholder in the Dayton firm Altick & Corwin, Scott Liberman ’91 spends much of his time filing foreclosure lawsuits on behalf of condominium associations attempting to collect pastdue condo assessments. Liberman joined the firm in 1992, and for years, the ability to foreclose was mainly a strategy to get the unit owners’ attention and prompt them into paying up. No more. “Now I’m seeing if they’re not paying their condo fees,” he said, “they’re not paying their mortgages.” An Ohio law enacted several years ago requires that condominium associations be named in the lawsuit when a mortgage company or anyone else initiates a foreclosure. So Liberman — who represents about 50 condominium associations and management companies — advises them to place liens on the property as soon as condo owners become delinquent, assuring the association a place as a secured creditor if the owner sells or files for bankruptcy. Lately, in a major change, Liberman often takes the foreclosure process all the way to the end. (He handled about 200 in 2007.) The foreclosed property generally goes entirely toward paying off the mortgage, with nothing left for the condo association. “The reason the association is OK with this is because they get rid of a nonpaying owner,” he said.” I feel bad for the association because they are out the condo fees and my fees, but as I explain to them, they stop the bleeding.” (And for these actions, he charges a lower hourly fee than his usual real estate litigation rate.) Liberman is also struck by the numbers of recent condo buyers who seem unaware that they are responsible for monthly assessments to support common needs such as snow removal in winter. “It just seems that, too quickly, people have fallen behind on

Mike Columbus ’03 views the crippled housing market from multiple vantage points. He represents homeowners who are trying to stall the foreclosure process or, if they have reasonable credit, negotiate with their lenders. He does contract work for a central Ohio bank, handling paperwork and court hearings for the bank’s defaulted loans in Montgomery, Warren, Butler and Miami counties in Ohio. And he is a trained volunteer with Save the Dream, the state of Ohio’s foreclosure prevention effort that provides legal help to homeowners in trouble. “The courts are absolutely clogged with these things,” Columbus said. In the past two or three years, the Dayton solo practitioner has seen appraisers who were overly friendly with loan originators, highly inflated property values, and banks that didn’t keep a close eye on their appraisers. “They should have looked into that,” he said. “Everybody should have looked into everything. People were riding a wave, and it fell.” He has seen defaults related to divorce, job loss, subprime loans, borrowers’ lack of understanding, victimization of the elderly and strong sales pitches by loan originators who have no fiduciary duty to the client. Some clients got tripped by adjustable rate mortgages, balloon payments and an income that didn’t keep up in Dayton’s tough economy. Representing the bank is a matter of taking statutory steps and following local rules, he said. Many times, homeowners do not appear at the hearings, and a default judgment results. “Eventually we get the property back for the bank,” he said, “and they do whatever they do with it, but the process takes about a year.” It’s different with homeowners. For those destined to foreclose, he can sometimes buy them time by making sure the banks have followed the technicalities of statutes favorable to debtors. For example, Ohio requires that the paper promissory note be attached to the complaint. But as the securities industry traded mortgage paper around the country, banks sometimes lost track of the whereabouts of the underlying note. Moving to postpone until the foreclosing party had possession of the promissory note afforded one client 18 more months in his house. “Then the proceedings continued,” Columbus said, “and eventually the bank foreclosed on the property. And after they foreclosed, the bank offered him a lease as a tenant.” Janet Filips is an editor for The Oregonian. She and her husband, James ’77, live in Portland, Ore. SUMMER 2008

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R O U N D T A B L E

War crimes, genocide — not run-of-the-mill cases

For most Americans, the turmoil in West Africa has been reduced to news broadcasts and TV images. For Morris Anyah ’96, it is as familiar as the courtroom, where he is a co-counsel defending Liberia’s former president, Charles Taylor. Anyah’s career went international in 1999 when he joined the United Nations international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. During his two years with the tribunals he argued in a genocide case against the former prime minister of Rwanda, Jean Kambanda, and worked on the “Siege of Sarajevo” case for alleged crimes against humanity by Major General Stanislav Galic in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Six years later, in 2007, a former United Nations colleague asked him to go international again and to join the team defending Taylor against accusations of fueling a civil war in Sierra Leone. Anyah joined them and found the setting was familiar but the case was different than most. “Mr. Taylor has not been charged with committing any crimes against his own people of Liberia … and it has not been alleged that he personally executed … any victims of the awful conflicts in Sierra Leone,” Anyah said. Because of this, Anyah said, Taylor’s case poses less of a moral dilemma for him than the “run-of-the-mill capital cases.” His biggest challenges will be the ethical and legal disputes arising from the 11-count indictment, involving charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He said he must be careful not to overstep protective measures barring disclosure of witnesses’ identities and promises to nation-states limiting the disclosure of sensitive information. Anyah will continue to split his time between The Hague, in the Netherlands, and his Atlanta criminal defense practice for at least another nine months, until he is home for good. His assessment thus far is that it is “too early to fully appreciate and reflect on all that has happened, all that is still happening, and all that is yet to happen.” —Jennie Szink ’09

Morris Anyah ’96

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Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modsuscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu oloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ad dolese feugiam veliquat. 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consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt

velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos

It’s a smaller world with a bigger IP role

Inger Eckert ’94 entered the intellectual property field holding all she thought she would need: a UD law degree and a bachelor’s in electronic engineering technology from Penn State. She soon realized she’d have to hone one more skill to succeed. After a year in the Office of General Counsel at Ford Motor Company, she was recruited to Owens Corning to be the primary intellectual property counsel to a $1.2 million dollar division. Within her first month with Owen Corning (known for its “spokescat,” the Pink Panther), she was sent on the first of many international travels. “I felt like I had jumped into the deep end of the pool,” she said about working in Norway, and then in Mexico, throughout Europe and Asia. Though it was daunting, Eckert said, “Owens gave me the opportunity to grow professionally.” Within three years, she became the head of intellectual property at Owens Corning and one of the youngest lead IP counsel at a Fortune 500 company. It pushed her to look at her role as a corporate attorney from another perspective. “There’s a need to understand business drivers and advise clients to make practical decisions,” Eckert said. “There’s value in bridging the gap between legal operations and business objectives.” Eckert developed strategic business plans to adapt to all business deals including her most challenging, Owen Corning’s acquisition of a Japanese company. Spending 13 weeks off-and-on in Japan for a year, she was challenged to represent the company and relate to the Japanese businessmen. She had to convince them to look past her gender and their expectations of a lawyer’s role. “In Japan lawyers played a limited role,” Eckert said. “We had to figure out where we could accommodate and still be effective in my role as a lead negotiator – not just legal advisor.” In April, Eckert left Corning after 12 years to join International Paper, a Fortune 100 company, which embarked on a global transformation program in the last few years. Working in Loveland, Ohio, as the chief counsel for intellectual property, she expected to meet other UD graduates. She didn’t expect Tom Ryan ’97 to be on her team of eight. “It’s nice to have that connection,” she said. Eckert is still learning IP’s culture and developing her team. She’s sharing her strategies and learning experiences, including those that began as intimidating. “The thought paradigms that have underpinned traditional corporate intellectual property strategies are changing to meet today’s increasingly complex and global business challenges,” Eckert said. “Innovating innovation, challenging conventional approaches and leading a great team to deliver business results. I love it.” —Jennie Szink ’09

Inger Eckert ’94

SUMMER 2008

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20

D AY T O N L AW Y E R

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Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum

Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate

consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exer Rat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am nos num dit nim endiam, velis numsandipit lute molore do doloreet prat am, conum ing ent ullam zzrit lum ad dolese feugiam veliquat. Na facincipsum iure dunt velenit ut ercip ent ate volorti sissequam ver sit lamet vullamcommy nostrud et alis nibh ex euis nibh et lut praestis nullum zzriustrud tem zzriure modoloreet adigna alisit luptate consequis nonsenibh ex eugueratetum dit ad tincillut acinim vulputat. Aciduis cidunt veliqua mcommy nim dolore et volor ad tionulputpat iure eu facipisl el ut nos del utat, quatem iure commod exeril utatum il dip ent augiat, conse diatum iriustie enis alit praessectem velismo dolendit wisissi exero er suscil ut exerillaor sustion el utet, velenit del eu feum exerat aliquis atet nullandip euismolortis dunt velit aci bla conullut at. Am

When Mike Ganzer ’81 had to choose among several bigname Catholic law schools, Dayton won. As it turns out, so did Ganzer.

Support Dayton’s continued success. Call 888-253-2383 or log on to http://supportud.udayton.edu. Or send a check to: Dean’s Fund for Excellence University of Dayton School of Law 300 College Park Dayton, OH 45469-2961

“I was accepted to other law schools and was on the wait list at some, but Dayton was the one I received the first acceptance from,” he said. “I went there, maybe quite foolishly in retrospect, because they wanted me.” It was a great decision, said Ganzer, a partner with the Milwaukee firm of Hodan, Doster & Ganzer and of counsel to a large Chicago law firm. “Dayton accepted me and turned me into a good lawyer,” he said. “Over the years, I’ve had cases with many big firms, opposing and also acting as local counsel for big firms in Milwaukee. … Dayton had me perfectly prepared for that high level of practice.” Ganzer gives to the Dean’s Fund for Excellence in gratitude. “In many respects, I feel I was someone who was given a chance to succeed by the UD School of Law,” said Ganzer, who served his hometown of Brown Deer, Wis., for 12 years as a municipal judge. “Certainly, I give back in thanks for that, but also to support the quality of legal education there.” He also appreciated UD’s Catholic, Marianist environment, not just for Sunday Mass, but for the peace it gave him in times of struggle. He simply crossed the back lot of Albert Emanuel Hall to the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception. “Going to law school is not easy,” he said. “Everybody who goes to law school has times they wonder whether they should be there, no matter how successful they are. The availability of the chapel I found very beneficial.” He encourages his fellow UD Law alumni to be generous to the Dean’s Fund for Excellence. “Reflect on where you are today and where your degree has taken you,” he said. “You should help the institution that helped you get where you are. I’m very pleased with how my situation turned out and Dayton’s role in it.”

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Challenge. Among the speakers at the 2008 Gilvary Symposium was the Rev. Daniel Groody, C.S.C., a professor from the University of Notre Dame, who said, “The challenge to those who profess faith in Christ is to respond to the inclusive demands of the Gospel.� See page 10.

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