Juris Magazine - Fall 2010

autumn 2010

The Duquesne law school newsmagazine

Western Pennsylvania:

A Microcosm of a Nation in Flux

Table of Contents Letter from the Editor........................................................ 1 Waiting for Protection: Local Small Businesses Seek Affordable Health Coverage Through State Reform Effort............................................ 2 Education Reform in Pittsburgh’s Public Schools: Will it Make the Grade?..................................................... 4 A Natural Job Creator: Marcellus Shale Drilling Energizes Economic Recovery........................................... 6 Economic Growth at What Cost?: Shale Drilling’s Risk of Disaster Outweighs Its Benefits.................................... 8 In re ESI: Local Rules Enhance the Value of Rule 26(f) “Meet And Confer”........................................10 “OMG! M I Going 2 Jail?”: Pennsylvania Addresses Teen “Sexting”...................................................................16 Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)............17 A Local Take on Prop 8: Pittsburgh’s Domestic Partnership Registry.......................................18 President’s Reception for New Dean: Dean Gormley Outlines Vision for the Future of Duquesne Law ................................................19 Setting Higher Standards for Trial Advocacy: Duquesne Hosts the Tournament of Champions.........20 Striving for Success: Duquesne Law School’s Academic Excellence Program........................................21 A Cultural Rebirth: Duquesne Law Students Assist Native American Organization Returning to Its Roots......................................................22 Introducing Juris Blog, the Official Blog of the Duquesne University School of Law Newsmagazine....25

JURIS STAFF 2010-2011 Editor-in-Chief: Daniel P. Craig Executive Editor: Ashley Owens

Associate Editors: Christian Evans Kiran Patel Justin Witt

Chief Staff Writer: Production Editor: Lexington Wolff Jesse Krueger Staff Writers: Managing Editor: Ashley Bozewski Jessica Gibson Marissa Cocciolone Lisa Dougan Web Editor: Catherine Farrell Tim Miller Stefanie Flick Jeff Fromknecht Brandon Keller Benjamin Knauff Matthew Lambach Jessica LaRosa Juris Magazine is a semiCatherine Spafford annual student publication of the Duquesne University School of Law. The views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of Juris or the Duquesne University School of Law. Juris Magazine can be reached at juris@duq.edu.

administrative support: Assistant Dean Ella Kwisnek Advertising Announcement: If you are interested in advertising in Juris, please contact us at juris@duq.edu.

Letter from the Editor As 2010 comes to a close and we look ahead to the new year, members of the legal community are positioned at the center of many compelling issues directing regional and national discourse. A confluence of influences and events, both nationwide and specific to Western Pennsylvania, has led to a dynamic of uncertainty among voters and poliDaniel P. Craig ticians, Democrats and Republicans, government and corporations, and employers and employees. As policy makers and the public grapple over issues related to the economy, healthcare, energy, education and technology, we enter 2011 as a region and a nation in flux.

In the wake of an economic meltdown and overwhelming electoral success in 2008, Democrats struggled to establish a new direction of action. Republicans fought them every step of the way, anxious to impact the decisions that will guide the nation through these turbulent times and into the future. Voters, apparently hungry for change after the 2008 elections, became disillusioned and skeptical of the politicians that they hoped would navigate the nation toward a brighter future, as unemployment continued to rise despite Congress voting to spend $787 billion in tax revenue to stimulate the economy. The 2010 election reflected this skepticism and uncertainty, as voters largely rejected incumbent candidates, erasing Democratic majorities and, in the process, potentially frustrating the purpose of many of the nation’s governing bodies.

This issue of Juris examines the parallels between the national and local dialogues surrounding the pressing questions of our time. Lawmakers in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania are facing many of the same issues as the nation’s leaders in Washington. In many ways, these parallels are not surprising, as the circumstances comprising them are often inextricably linked. Last year, Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) after months of sharply divided debate. Since many of the statute’s provisions do not take effect until 2014, it is still unclear whether the law will have a substantial effect in reducing the costs of healthcare coverage. In the meantime, many small-business owners in Pittsburgh are finding it nearly impossible to attain care for themselves, their families and their employees and cannot wait until the cost

control provisions of the new federal law take effect in 2014. In fact, at a July public hearing in front of the Pennsylvania House Insurance Committee, which was organized by the Allegheny County Bar Association, some small-business owners suggested that recent increases in health insurance premiums are a result of insurance companies attempting to gouge their customers in an attempt to make up for profits that will be lost when the federal law takes effect.

In other instances, issues unique to Western Pennsylvania often reflect national issues in uncanny ways. This is often evident in questions about environmental policy, as a growing number of voices are calling for a shift away from fossil fuels and toward a more sustainable energy future. The disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill earlier this year prompted President Obama to issue a temporary moratorium on new offshore drilling projects, while Congress passed a law requiring new safety measures and stricter federal oversight of offshore oil drilling. Meanwhile, Western Pennsylvania rests atop what has been described as “the Saudi Arabia of natural gas,” the Marcellus Shale Formation. While drilling for natural gas has the potential to provide thousands of new jobs to Pennsylvania residents, many fear the potentially disastrous environmental impact of the extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing. Small-scale catastrophes like the contamination of private water sources in Dimock, Pa., and generalized uncertainty about drilling effects have led Governor Rendell to order a moratorium on all new drilling projects on public lands as Pennsylvania lawmakers struggle to carve out a new regulatory framework for the booming industry.

These are some of the questions explored in this issue of Juris, though they represent only a few of the timely concerns that affect our lives today. As elections and public debate continue to illustrate the deep divides running through our society, it is important that members of the legal community commit to exploring all the perspectives behind these difficult questions. By examining the influences and opinions that drive divisions on both national and regional levels, we can enter the new year in pursuit of innovative solutions and effective policy that will balance the interests of all.

Daniel Craig is the Editor-in-Chief of Juris. He is also a member of the Public Interest Law Association and the Environmental Law Society and is the President and Co-Founder of Pittsburgh Environmental Action for Kids (PEAK), a youth environmental education organization. Daniel received his undergraduate degree in English from The Ohio State University, graduating cum laude in 2008, and will graduate from Duquesne Law School in June of 2011.

He can be reached at dcraig201@gmail.com.

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WAITING FOR PROTECTION:

Local Small Businesses Seek Affordable Health Coverage Through State Reform Effort

By Jessica LaRosa, Staff Writer On March 23, 2010, after months of heated discussion and debate, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) into law. Despite the information that has bombarded individuals regarding healthcare reform, significant confusion persists as to the meaning of the law and how it affects us as individuals, as a community and as a country.

The general purpose of PPACA is to reform the healthcare industry by working toward a goal of universal healthcare coverage for individuals. The reform will be funded in almost equal measure by decreasing expenses (through programs designed to eliminate medical waste and fraud) and increasing revenue (through various taxing measures such as the Tanning Salon Tax).

To achieve universal coverage, the law uses an individual mandate, an employer mandate and insurance market reform measures. The individual mandate becomes effective in 2014 and functions as a tax penalty on those who do not obtain healthcare coverage, barring some substantial financial hardship. The reform affects employers in a more nuanced way by providing a series of tax credits for small businesses and imposing tax penalties on larger businesses for failing to provide adequate coverage.

Effective in 2010-2013, organizations with 25 or fewer employees and wages less than $50,000 that purchase health insurance for their employees would be eligible to receive a tax credit of up to 30 percent of the employer contribution provided

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that they contribute 50 percent of the premium. From 2014 onward, those businesses would receive a credit of up to 50 percent of the employer contribution. A report by Families USA and Small Business Majority indicates that 160,700 small businesses in Pennsylvania are eligible for this type of tax credit.

The employer mandate penalties depend on the size of the business. Employers with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the penalty provision. Those with 50 or more employees are required to pay a penalty of $2,000 a year per full-time worker if they do not offer healthcare coverage to their employees. Those employers with 200 or more employees are required to automatically enroll employees into healthcare plans from which the employee may opt out.

The law provides for various insurer reforms that are expected to increase coverage as well. Some examples are limiting the amount of annual out-of-pocket costs an individual is required to pay, allowing dependent children to remain on their parents’ insurance plans until their 26th birthdays, eliminating certain underwriting options such as the exclusion of individuals with pre-existing conditions and creating a health insurance exchange. A health insurance exchange functions as a marketplace for the purchase of health insurance.

It regulates the price of insurance through various measures, such as increasing insurers’ compliance with consumer-protection regulations and promoting competition among insurers.

The reform measures have been criticized. Within an hour of President Obama signing PPACA into law, 14 states,

including Pennsylvania, commenced suits seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from the implementation of the new law.

The gravamen of the states’ complaints is that the law, especially the requirement of an individual mandate, represents an unprecedented infringement on individual liberty and is an unconstitutional application of Congress’ power to regulate commerce.

Although several of the federal measures regulating health insurance will become effective in 2014, many Pennsylvania citizens are demanding that the state legislature make more immediate changes in the practices of health insurers. On July 20, several small-business owners, along with members of the Allegheny County Bar Association (ACBA), met with Highmark representatives and the Pennsylvania House Insurance and Democratic Policy Committee members at the William E. Anderson Library in Penn Hills to discuss recent dramatic increases in their insurance premiums, some of which have climbed 79 percent.

Gary P. Hunt, president of the ACBA, contends that the recent rate increase was a result of Highmark’s moving smaller insured groups to the for-profit arm of their company, thereby avoiding much of the regulatory scrutiny that these types of rate increases would otherwise be subject to. He warned that this shift allows Highmark to practice “medical underwriting,” which is the practice of evaluating the health-related information of the insured in order to set a premium rate. Hunt called for the Insurance Department and the state legislature to be proactive in remedying this issue and also suggested that a Public Advocate Division be created within the Pennsylvania Insurance Department to protect customers from abusive practices.

Representative Tony DeLuca, chair of the Pennsylvania House Insurance Committee, also called for consumer protection measures to be put in place. Often, because of their size, small businesses are unable to negotiate with insurers and are

given what Hunt calls a “take it or leave it choice” for health insurance coverage. “The worst increases occurred in the small practices and sole medical and legal offices. And small means not powerful,” said DeLuca.

Many small-business owners at the hearings stressed that it was not just the immediate financial burden of the rate increases that caused them concern, but also the uncertainty of when and by how much their costs would increase. Carolyn D. Franks, co-owner of Franks Auto Service, summarized the position of many of the small-business owners in attendance. “The last several years we have been reluctant to reinvest in our business or to expand. We might have moved to a larger location, purchased property or hired employees, but we were apprehensive due to the uncertainty of premium increases.”

Jim Fawcett, the senior vice president of Highmark Inc., and Mike Warfel, Highmark’s vice president of government affairs, countered that, despite the instances of extreme rate increases across the state, 70 percent of small-group members saw only a 10 percent rate increase. They also urged the General Assembly to pass small-group reform legislation banning medical underwriting and creating uniform rules for all insurers that would allow their company to compete fairly against for-profit insurers. Highmark stressed that the change in their operations was necessary or they would have been forced to cease providing insurance to small businesses.

Both locally and nationally, the realm of healthcare has been experiencing rapid and unprecedented changes that affect everyone in different and complex ways, and these changes show no sign of slowing down.

Jessica LaRosa is a Staff Writer of Juris. She graduated from Walsh University with Bachelor of Arts degrees in both English and Psychology. She will graduate from Duquesne Law School in June of 2011. Jessica can be reached at LaRosaj@duq.edu.

“...14 states, including Pennsylvania, commenced suits seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from the implementation of the new law.”

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Education Reform in Pittsburgh’s Public Schools: Will it Make the Grade?

By Jessica Gibson, Managing Editor After a competitive year-long application process, the Pittsburgh Public Schools system received $40 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the city schools in the implementation of reforms designed to improve the methods of recruiting, evaluating and rewarding teachers.

On November 19, 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a $335 million grant to raise teacher effectiveness in three public school systems and five charter school networks. The investment was divided among communities that demonstrated a commitment to raising student achievement by ensuring that all students have access to effective teachers. Specifically, the investment will fund experiments in the areas of teacher compensation, evaluation and tenure.

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The recipients of the grant include the Hillsborough County schools, near Tampa, Florida, receiving $100 million; Memphis, Tennessee, schools, receiving $90 million; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, schools, receiving $40 million; and five charter networks in Los Angeles, California, receiving $60 million.

The grant also included $45 million to study how to measure teacher effectiveness.

For Pittsburgh Public Schools, one of the main focuses of this reform is the implementation of a performancebased compensation model for teachers. Essentially, teachers will qualify for an increased salary depending, in part, upon improved student performance on standardized tests. Teachers will be routinely evaluated in this manner, and ineffective teachers will be terminated. In contrast, effective teachers will receive higher salaries and have more opportunities to advance their careers.

“We have to be concerned about whether this initiative is really for all kids. Whether or not a teacher is effective must be measured by more than just a standardized test.”

— Nancy Hubley, Esq., managing director of the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh

The pay-for-performance compensation model is entirely different from the compensation system currently in place in Pennsylvania’s other school districts, where the common practice is to increase the pay of educators based on their seniority. In its quest to improve teaching effectiveness by restructuring the teacher compensation system, Pittsburgh is the only city in the state, and one of the few cities in the country, to initiate such extensive and fundamental education reforms.

Nancy Hubley, Esq., managing director of the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, is excited about the initiatives taking place in Pittsburgh’s public schools. “Our mission at the Education Law Center is to ensure access to high-quality education for all kids. All children should have an opportunity to learn, and we advocate for laws and policies that will make this a reality.” Hubley agrees that an important piece of the education reform is the pay-for-performance compensation model, which she believes will hold teachers accountable for raising student achievement.

Hubley is concerned, however, that even with the implementation of pay-for-performance and Pittsburgh’s other education reform initiatives, the city’s vulnerable children — specifically, children with disabilities, children of color, homeless children, children living in poverty and English language learners — will still fall behind.

“We have to be concerned about whether this initiative is really for all kids. Whether or not a teacher is effective must be measured by more than just a standardized test. An effective teacher is able to teach to the top of the class, the middle of the class and those students at the bottom of the class who are struggling.” Hubley believes that the city’s vulnerable children must be included in the initiative if it is to be successful.

Superintendent Mark Roosevelt agrees that assessing a teacher merely by how well his or her students perform on

a standardized test may not be an accurate indicator of effectiveness.

Furthermore, although relying on test scores to measure student performance may be plausible for math and English classes, it is more difficult to create a standardized test for a class such as music or art. Everyone involved in pioneering Pittsburgh’s education reform — teachers, administrators and superintendents alike — understands the difficulty in creating a yardstick by which to accurately measure student progress.

In order to best represent a student’s progress, and, consequently, a teacher’s effectiveness, Roosevelt will employ a “value-added model” that reflects a student’s performance before and after taking a class with a certain teacher. Thus, teachers’ pay raises will not be determined by the actual scores students receive on the standardized tests. Instead, teachers’ pay raises will be determined by students’ overall improvement at the end of the year.

Implementing a pay-for-performance compensation model for teachers, and creating good measuring tools for assessing teacher effectiveness, although important components in overhauling the education system in Pittsburgh, are only cogs in the machine of education reform. Although the reform is underway, as the pay-for-performance compensation model went into effect in July 2010, it will likely take years to see the impact that the reform efforts have on the students and the city.

Despite the lag in tangible results, it is undeniable that schools across the country can benefit from implementing programs similar to those initiated by Pittsburgh’s public schools.

Jessica Gibson is a third-year day student and Managing Editor for Juris. Jessica received a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and International Business from the University of Pittsburgh. She can be reached at gibsonj@duq.edu.

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A Natural Job Creator: Marcellus Shale Drilling Energizes Economic Recovery

By Lexington Wolff, Chief Staff Writer While the rest of the nation is struggling under a financial recession, the Pittsburgh area is seeing an economic boom that wasn’t written in the stimulus plan. The discovery of the Marcellus Shale and its energy-producing potential is spurring an economic revitalization that could define our region for decades.

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According to a 2009 study by Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, the Marcellus Shale industry helped create more than 29,000 jobs in Pennsylvania in 2008. In 2009, the industry was estimated to have created 48,000 jobs. By 2020, the study predicted that the Marcellus Shale industry could be generating an estimated 175,000 new jobs annually.

The jobs created from the Marcellus development provide opportunities for people with all types of employment backgrounds. With 1.4 million acres of Marcellus-rich land, industry leader Range Resources has been actively growing all areas of its Southwestern Pennsylvania Marcellus operations, from one person in 2007 to 400 people in 2010.

“We need (all types of employees), from start to finish,” said Range Resources Director of Public Affairs Matt Pitzarella.

To train employees who are new to the industry, Range Resources launched a pilot workforce training program for positions ranging from truck drivers to service company employees.

The eight-week course trained 125 people and had a 100 percent job placement rate.

“Every single person who applied for a job through that program got one,” Pitzarella said. Some of those jobs paid $80,000 per year with full health benefits. Regional community colleges and technical schools are now offering similar programs, funded in part by a $5 million grant from the federal government to develop a standardized training curriculum for Marcellus jobs.

One of the biggest misconceptions about Marcellus jobs is that they are filled by an out-of-state workforce, something Range Resources is quick to correct. “As soon as this became a political issue, it was popular to say, but there are certain rules of reality and economics that indicate that that just doesn’t make sense,” Pitzarella said. “If you could train someone locally … it is simply better business.”

Industry-wide, the Marcellus jobs are filled by approximately 70 percent to 80 percent Pennsylvanians. Pitzarella credits this, in part, to Penn State University having the oldest petroleum engineering program in the world. “They’ve had a huge resource of Pennsylvanians who have gone through that program and then moved all over the world,” Pitzarella said.

“A lot of people aren’t moving here, they’re just coming home,” Pitzarella said.

With the energy development companies significantly invested in Marcellus Shale, the industry is also seeing job

Source: Energy Information Administration based on data from various published studies. Updated: March 10, 2010

opportunities from service companies rooted in the West, which are returning to Pennsylvania. Energy companies such as Range Resources are largely dependent on service companies, which provide the drilling rigs and completion equipment necessary to develop the gas. In fact, the increasing employment opportunities can be seen in any of the approximately 100 companies it takes to complete a well from start to finish.

From an economic standpoint, the discovery of Marcellus Shale positions the region to be a leading national competitor in the energy industry, if the industry is properly nurtured by development-friendly policies.

The Allegheny Conference on Community Development is an economic development and civic policy organization focused on stimulating capital investment to create and retain jobs while improving the region’s quality of life. According to CEO Dennis Yablonsky, ensuring appropriate policy is crucial to ensuring regional growth. “Our high-level goal is to make sure that the business climate and the public policy climate is in place that will allow for the economic development of this natural resource, while, at the same time, protecting and enhancing the environment,” Yablonsky said.

As a regional marketing organization, one of the objectives of the Allegheny Conference is to attract industries to do business in the Pittsburgh area. According to Yablonsky, Marcellus Shale has been a strong incentive for industries around the world. And while the region is seeing an influx of out-of-state

business, local industries already rooted in Pennsylvania have also seen a spike in their corporate growth. Both Pitzarella and Yablonsky noted that there is an increase in demand of the local steel industry to produce the pipe necessary for the transmission and distribution of the natural gas. “This Marcellus Shale is having an impact on a lot of existing companies in the regional area,” Yablonsky said.

Whether the jobs are directly related to the energy development or created by an indirect impact, the increasing employment opportunities from Marcellus Shale are largely welcomed by recession-weary locals. Researchers estimate there is more energy potential in Marcellus Shale than in all of the oil fields in Saudi Arabia. The enormity of the Marcellus Shale formation is expected to prolong the economic boom through multiple generations, positioning Pittsburgh as one of the top regions to make an economic comeback. As far as the job estimations that seem too good to be true, Yablonsky optimistically defends them.

“Those numbers are real,” Yablonsky said, “and we are really only in the first third of the impact that (the Marcellus Shale industry) will have … on jobs.”

Lexington Wolff is the Chief Staff Writer of Juris. She is also a member of the Federalist Society and the Women’s Law Association.

Lexington is a 2008 graduate of Duquesne University with a B.A. in Journalism and a minor in Political Science. She will graduate from Duquesne Law School in June of 2011. Lexington can be reached at Wolffl@duq.edu. autumn 2010

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Economic Growth at What Cost?: Shale Drilling’s Risk of Disaster Outweighs Its Benefits

By Marissa Cocciolone, Staff Writer

While driving at night near the Washington, Pa., Meadowlands last December, Genevieve Pecharka noticed something odd — a bright orange glow lit the sky just over the hill from where she sat. After driving toward it, she found that the light was emanating from a drill pad, harvesting natural gas around the clock.

“I couldn’t believe how bright it was,” she remembers. “I wondered how the residents of the (nearby) house could ever get any sleep.”

The residents were faced with this light and a strident noise all day, accompanied by vibrations that not only affected the foundations of their houses, but also made them mildly ill.

While certain Pennsylvania landowners and legislators welcome the potential income from gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, a closer look at industry practices reveals problems in both the long and short run.

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Harvesting natural gas poses potential legal problems for the land proprietors. Attorney Mark Gesk represents those executing the drilling. Gesk reaffirms what every proprietor should know: It behooves landowners to contact an attorney prior to entering any agreement.

It’s not a problem of legality — even the most legally sound agreement may pose problems for the unassuming landowner.

“It just all comes down to the question of knowledge,” he said, referring to the ability to properly decipher and negotiate an oil and gas lease — a complicated feat even for those with an understanding of contracts.

Gesk contends that many landowners fail to understand the contracts they are signing. Owners of property on the Marcellus Shale are giving permission to use their land without a thorough understanding of their role or rights in the process. Amy Vanderveen, an associate at Gesk’s firm, suggests that many bargainers may be seduced by the potential income while underestimating the ramifications.

Dr. John F. Stolz, Director for the Center of Environmental Research and Education at Duquesne University, details the environmental problems associated with drilling, specifically the adverse effects that hydraulicfracturing, or “hydrofracking,” could have on natural resources.

Hydrofracking involves forcing water down a drilled hole at high pressure to break open the rock and release the natural gas. Stolz explains that while the nature of any type of drilling is disruptive, hydrofracking in particular poses different types of environmental issues because of what is being put in the ground.

The crucial problem, Stolz explains, is “the flowback water that’s coming back to the surface after being shot into the ground.” After the water has been used, its salinity, chemical content and radioactivity render it useless and harmful.

Stolz emphasized that although companies are required to provide environmental agencies with a list of every chemical being used, the list does not provide a clear concept of the compounds. “It’s like showing someone a spice rack, but not telling them what’s going into the sauce,” he said. “We don’t know the specific combinations or amounts, so it’s hard to figure out what to test for.”

Stolz believes even accurate water testing would be in vain, however. “We just do not have the capability or chemical technology of treating all that water at this point.”

While recent advancements have been made with neutralizing chemicals, there is still no panacea. Even for companies reusing the same flowback water to drill multiple holes, every time the water returns to the surface, it is more toxic. Eventually the process of dilution ends, and the water must go to waste.

This problem raises another issue — once water has been severely contaminated, where does it go? Recent developments demonstrate potential problems, such as recorded increases in the salinity of local rivers, including the Monongahela and Allegheny.

On a smaller scale, rural landowners who have signed gas leases are experiencing unexpected changes in their personal water supplies. “The drilling impacts a lot of people who have well water,” Stolz explains, “and there is little recourse for landowners claiming that drilling has contaminated their water supply.”

In response to such complaints, oil and gas companies insist that 90 percent of Pennsylvania well water is already contaminated independent of drilling. Many companies point to the fact that certain landowners who have leased their gas rights have experienced no adverse health effects.

Stolz objects to this defense, responding, “This is the same as stating that not all smokers get cancer — it doesn’t prove that tobacco is harmless.”

While a solution to these environmental problems is not out of reach, Stolz explains, oil and gas companies are not likely to

voluntarily employ environmentally healthy options, as safer chemicals are “just not as appealing from the economic standpoint of the drilling companies.”

“What we really need,” Stolz concludes, “is more regulation.”

Kent Moors, director of the Energy Policy Research Group at Duquesne’s Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy, agrees. “Current legislation from the EPA demands a water usage plan,” he says, “but they just don’t always crack down on how companies report that.”

There is also the problem of supervision. Moors reports that while water authorities generally have a grasp of where the companies plan to tap the water source, stricter vigilance is necessary.

“We had a situation down in the Barnett Shale in Texas,” he said, “where they had a fire, and they brought out the fire trucks, and the (water) pressure was so low they couldn’t do anything.

The fire department didn’t know that water was being taken out,” he said, “much less how much water was being taken out.”

In the battle between harvesting domestic sources of energy and the protection of water resources, Moors laments a bleak outlook on the prioritization of clean water. He argues that legislators’ fears of chasing drilling companies out of the state are unfounded. “This is the biggest magnet for big gas companies in North America right now,” he said. “The Marcellus Shale formation has more volume, higher pressure and deeper pay zones than any other discovery in the country.” He insists that Pennsylvanians have the bargaining power to set strict regulations.

Moors offers basic guidelines to be followed by policy drafters. “We need a strategy that is realistic, meaning we have the technology; reasonable, in that it makes sense, and consistent, so it can be applied evenly across the state on more than a case-by-case basis.”

Moors also stresses that the current level of fines is too manageable for oil companies, negating the fines’ purpose entirely.

“Most oil companies already have them calculated into their operating expenses,” he said.

Moors forewarns that if such policies are not implemented in the prevention stage, they will surely be put into practice once a natural disaster inevitably occurs.

“All we need is one big accident, and it’s all over.”

Marissa Cocciolone is a Staff Writer for Juris. She is a senator of the Student Bar Association and a representative for BarBri. Marissa is a 2009 graduate of Washington & Jefferson College with a B.A. in English and Professional Writing.

She will graduate from Duquesne Law School in the spring of 2012.

Marissa can be reached at cocciolonem@duq.edu.

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In re ESI

Local Rules Enhance the Value of Rule 26(f)

“Meet and Confer”

By Judge Joy Flowers Conti and Richard N. Lettieri As society’s reliance on technology increases, and with the immense amounts of electronically stored data dwarfing the amount of data still stored on paper, electronic discovery and the issues surrounding it have assumed an increasingly important role in many litigations. In some cases, disputes Judge Joy Flowers Conti over electronic discovery have eclipsed the original cause of action and have resulted in the awarding of adverse inferences, massive monetary sanctions and, in rare cases, default judgments. Accordingly, lawyers practicing in federal court are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of preserving electronically stored information (ESI) and utilizing e-discovery to Richard N. Lettieri their clients’ benefit. Many of their clients, however, remain unaware of the significance of their duty to preserve ESI and how to handle it when litigation is threatened or pending.

In order to provide a structure for lawyers to address e-discovery issues at an early stage of litigation, and to avoid later problems arising from a failure to communicate the importance of retention and production of ESI, members of an advisory committee to the judges in the Western District of Pennsylvania drafted new local rules for the district court

that became effective on September 1, 2009. The members of the local bar who worked on the revisions to the rules numbered over 20 in all and included members of small and large firms, the plaintiffs’ bar and the defense bar, and are to be commended for their efforts. The goal of the committee was to fashion local rules that would supplement in a positive way the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and assist lawyers in fulfilling their duties with respect to ESI matters. The local rules are also meant to help lawyers educate their clients about the steps their lawyer is obligated to undertake with respect to ESI. The purpose of this article is to outline the changes made to the local rules, offer them as an example for other jurisdictions, and provide practical “how to” advice for lawyers and their clients in satisfying the “duty to investigate” in federal jurisdictions and in implementing a more effective, less costly Rule 26(f) “meet and confer” meeting between counsel.

Outline of New Local Rules: Purpose and Expected Results Two aspects of the new local rules merit comment. The first aspect is the implementation of Local Rule of Civil Procedure 26.2, and the second is a revised Rule 26(f) report that is required to be filed by the parties. The form for the Rule 26(f) report is attached to the Local Rules as Appendix 16.1.A. The appendix is numbered to refer to Local Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1.A because that rule requires the filing of the Rule 26(f) report.

The first aspect — Local Rule 26.2 — encompasses three topics. The first topic explicitly refers to the duty to investigate.

Local Rule 26.2 provides that counsel, before the Rule 26(f)

*Originally published in The Judges’ Journal, Volume 49, Number 2, Spring 2010, by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.

This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.

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conference, are to “investigate the client’s (ESI)” in order to discuss how the ESI “can be preserved, accessed, retrieved and produced.” Also, counsel are directed to “identify a person or persons with knowledge about the client’s ESI ...”

The second topic covered in Local Rule 26.2 is the ability of the parties, by agreement or order of court, to designate a resource person. The resource person will be the individual “through whom issues relating to preservation and production of (a client’s) ESI should be addressed.”

The third topic covered in the new Local Rule is the duty to meet and confer about ESI at the Rule 26(f) conference between counsel. Included among the topics to be discussed are “[t]he steps taken to preserve ESI,” “(t)he scope of the ESI discovery and an ESI search protocol,” “(p)rocedures to deal with inadvertent production of privileged information,” “(a)ccessibility of ESI,” “(t)he media format and procedures for preserving and producing ESI,” “(a)llocation of costs” related to ESI discovery matters and the need for a resource person. These topics are not meant to be exclusive but will set the framework for what the lawyers are expected to address at the Rule 16 initial scheduling conference with the court.

The topics also can be used to inform the client about what the lawyer must do in order to be adequately prepared for the scheduling conference.

The members of the committee who drafted the rule changes also included various comments about the changes in order to assist lawyers in understanding the new Local Rules. The comments make it clear that Local Rule 26.2 does not alter any legal obligations with respect to preservation but does require counsel to discuss ESI with their client. The comments recognize that the attorney can be the resource person and that there is an ongoing obligation to supplement the disclosures. The comments also note the possibility that relevant ESI may need to be segregated from the greater body of the client’s ESI as a whole in order for effective preservation.

The form for the Rule 26(f) report, Appendix 16.1.A to the Local Rules, complements the new Local Rule 26.2. The proposed form includes a specific section that reviews the topics that are required to be addressed by counsel at the Rule 26(f) conference concerning ESI. Eight matters require specific answers on the form.

4. The parties need to advise the court whether they are going to be using the default inadvertent production provision specified in the new Local Rules that deals with the ability to claw back inadvertent disclosure of privileged materials, and if the parties are not going to use the default provision, whether there is an alternative provision.

5. The parties need to advise the court whether there is an agreed-upon protocol for review of electronic data, and if so, to describe the protocol, or if not, to identify any outstanding issues.

6. The parties need to report whether there is an agreement with respect to what ESI is “reasonably accessible,” and if not, to identify the dispute.

7. The parties need to advise the court whether there are any outstanding issues relating to preservation of ESI. 8. The parties need to address whether there are any other issues or disputes concerning ESI. The new Local Rule 26.2 and the new form for the Rule 26(f) report are designed to assist the attorney in discussions with the client so that the client is aware of what is expected by the court and also so that the client might assist in identifying problems early in the litigation. If problems are identified and resolved early, the costs and expenses of later disputes can be avoided. The court expects that the new Local Rule 26.2 will assist lawyers in meeting their obligations under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in a positive and efficient manner.

1. The parties must identify whether there will be ESI discovery, and if there is a dispute, the nature of the dispute.

2. The parties are directed to address whether metadata is going to be relevant and whether there is a dispute concerning metadata.

3. The parties must indicate whether the format for production of ESI has been agreed upon, and if not, what format disputes remain.

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Using the New Local Rules to Add Structure and Educate Clients: 10 Crucial Areas of Preparation In litigation with large e-discovery elements, attorneys must address e-discovery issues early on, educate their clients about the steps their lawyer is obligated to take under the duty to investigate and provide their client with practical advice regarding how to successfully achieve these objectives with the help of an e-discovery resource person.

In order to best fulfill these duties, attorneys should focus their attention on 10 specific areas dealing with electronic discovery. The first step in approaching these 10 focus areas is to create an e-discovery response team. E-discovery response teams generally consist of an interdisciplinary group of professionals, often including lawyers, management and information technology (IT) professionals, who create procedures and policies to manage the corporation’s e-discovery efforts. The response team’s responsibilities include overseeing efforts to search, retrieve and organize the data relevant to the litigation. In order to be effective, an e-discovery response team must synthesize aspects of law, information science and data technology. Once a client has created an e-discovery response team, the team is in position to address the 10 important focus areas.

Counsel should designate a knowledgeable IT person as the e-discovery resource person and member of the e-discovery response team.

While the e-discovery resource person may be an attorney, the size and complexity of the client’s information systems often mean that this position will be best filled by a member of the client’s IT staff. A member of the IT staff will have the in-depth knowledge of the client’s information system and the ability to effectively communicate with other IT people within the organization that the position requires. As soon as practicable after the e-discovery resource person has been selected, counsel should meet with him or her to address three important issues.

First, in order to prevent spoliation of evidence, document preservation procedures will need to be created if they do not already exist, revised if necessary, and their consistent implementation throughout the organization needs to be ensured.

Second, data collection procedures need to be reviewed to ensure that forensically sound collection procedures are being used to collect data from custodians so that spoliation of evidence is not taking place, metadata is not altered during the collection process and proper chain of custody procedures are being maintained. The use of outside collection services should be considered unless and until internal staff has been properly trained to accomplish these functions to counsel’s satisfaction.

Finally, litigation hold procedures need to be examined to ensure that they are implemented in a timely fashion with instructions outlining the specific responsibilities of selected custodians. Procedures need to be in place to permit consistent and repeated follow-up to ensure compliance. Depending on the amount of recurring litigation, some corporations have provided instruction on “the responsibilities of a custodian in a litigation hold.” A few have gone a step further and provided this instruction online, requiring the satisfactory completion of a course through passing a test at its completion.

Counsel needs to communicate early and effectively with the designated e-discovery/IT resource person on these three issues. This will demonstrate to opposing counsel and the court at the Rule 26(f) conference and in the subsequent report that preservation of data began at the appropriate time, using proper procedures consistently applied and that the data were preserved correctly, avoiding evidence spoliation.

The e-discovery resource person and IT staff should immediately begin work to prepare “data maps” and “application inventories” of current corporate data.

Data maps are schematic diagrams of corporate information systems, and they can be very complex or quite simple.

“While the e-discovery resource person may be an attorney, the size and complexity of the client’s information systems often mean that this position will be best filled by a member of the client’s IT staff.”

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“Data maps are schematic diagrams of corporate information systems, and they can be very complex or quite simple.”

Two versions of these maps are commonly used in litigation.

The first version involves a complex map depicting an overall layout of a corporate-wide IT system, while the second version is a less complex schematic of the systems and storage devices where data for a particular matter and custodians are described. Application inventories list all the applications used in the corporation’s IT system. After custodians for a particular matter have been identified, it is important to determine which specific applications contain data used by these custodians.

By identifying and locating the applications and media where potentially relevant custodian data reside, counsel can make determinations regarding the accessibility of the data. Once created, attorneys can use these data maps and inventories at the Rule 26(f) conference to explain to opposing counsel, and at the Rule 16 conference to explain to the court, how these accessibility determinations were made.

While other complexity issues are sometimes considered, the determination of accessibility is primarily based on the media upon which the data reside. Data on PCs and active servers are generally considered easily accessible, while data that have been deleted or are located on backup tapes are usually considered inaccessible due to undue burden and cost.

This designation is based upon data having been deleted or being on backup tapes that must be restored to a readily searchable format to be useful, greatly adding to the cost of production. By having the corporate IT staff identify where custodian data reside, counsel can determine their potential relevance and come to the Rule 26(f) “meet and confer” ready to outline the accessible data that it is prepared to produce and the other potentially relevant data that it does not plan to produce due to undue burden and cost.

It is often helpful for counsel to have an estimate of the costs associated with producing inaccessible data in order to support their contention. This contention may be overcome if opposing counsel can show “good cause,” which usually involves asserting that the “inaccessible” data are highly

relevant and are unlikely to be found in accessible data already being produced. If the “good cause” burden is met, the court may consider a sampling of the inaccessible data, shifting the costs of production, or it may apply the principle of proportionality and conclude that the costs outweigh the possible benefits and deny a motion to produce the data.

Counsel must meet with and question IT personnel to thoroughly understand the corporate IT systems as the data maps and application inventories are being created.

The driving principle behind this effort is to understand the IT systems well enough to be able to verify through personal investigation that there is no place where data may reside that is not known and understood by investigating counsel.

There are two separate phases of this process. First, counsel must review the IT documentation provided by the e-discovery resource person and other IT personnel that describes the IT environment. Second, counsel must question IT personnel and determine whether, from a legal perspective, reasonable efforts have been made to satisfy the legal requirements. For example, a discussion with the IT person responsible for e-mail servers may indicate that there have been recent e-mail hardware and software upgrades and that data from custodians may be on prior versions of software that have not been collected, or that a recent acquisition of a division using a different e-mail system may have resulted in relevant data being omitted from the collection. These facts are crucial to the duty to preserve and may only be discovered via a thorough investigation.

Likewise, in a discussion with the IT person responsible for the tape subsystems containing backup data, counsel may discover that there are nonindexed or catalogued tapes that have accumulated over time that were separate from and not included in the collection because IT was unsure of their contents. In all three of the above instances, it is the responsibility of counsel to question the IT personnel responsible for various

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IT subsystems to ensure that reasonable steps have been taken to locate, preserve and designate as accessible or inaccessible all potentially relevant data. Counsel’s thorough knowledge of the client’s IT systems, including a questioning of IT personnel in advance of the Rule 26(f) conference, will prevent IT personnel from making embarrassing disclosures during Rule 30(b)(6) depositions by opposing counsel or, worse yet, in testimony during trial.

The e-discovery resource person and IT staff should provide or develop the corporate policies and procedures for records management retention and deletion.

In many cases, records management retention and deletion procedures already exist. If they do not, they need to be created as quickly as possible. Sometimes existing procedures need to be updated by adding an electronic document component. Counsel also need to ensure that records management policies have been consistently implemented.

If a document outlives its useful business life, it can be destroyed, unless a duty to preserve that document exists due to likely or impending litigation. It is necessary to understand automated deletion policies and procedures to ensure that these procedures are suspended when the duty to preserve attaches. It is also important to understand corporate deletion policies: where and for how long delete cache files exist and how they can be restored, if required. Understanding these policies and verifying that they conform to the legal requirements and have been consistently applied are two of counsel’s key responsibilities prior to the Rule 26(f) conference.

“If records management retention and deletion procedures do not exist, they need to be created as quickly as possible.”

The e-discovery resource person or IT staff should provide or develop policies and procedures for tape disaster recovery.

Backup tape procedures, usually implemented daily or weekly to protect data for disaster-recovery purposes, may provide the only source of relevant data in some instances. In these circumstances, data on tape, which are generally inaccessible due to undue burden and cost, may be sought by opposing counsel. If good cause can be shown why these data must be made available, the court may order sampling of the tape data to test relevancy and reduce cost, or the court may consider cost shifting. Counsel will want to understand tape backup procedures to support the contention that relevant data are already being produced on accessible media, and that opposing counsel’s discovery requests for information on backup tapes would be redundant and costly. Counsel also will want to have estimates of the costs associated with restoring the data provided by an independent third-party source to overcome any of the opposing counsel’s objections or motions to compel.

The e-discovery resource person and IT staff should provide or develop written policies and procedures for automated deletion and suspension of automated deletion procedures.

Counsel needs to become thoroughly familiar with their client’s automated deletion policy, as well as with their procedures for the suspension of that policy. Many corporate IT operations use automated deletion policies designed to delete electronic data after a certain period of time has elapsed (e.g., e-mails older than 90 days) or after the size of a file or folder reaches a certain threshold (e.g., when a mailbox hits 1 or 2 GB of data). Counsel must be aware if the client uses these types of automated deletion policies and must ensure that when the duty to preserve attaches, notice is given to the proper IT manager to suspend these policies and keep them suspended for the duration of the litigation hold to avoid evidence spoliation. Copies of these policies, proof that notification was given and verification that deletion was suspended will be useful information to have at the Rule 26(f) conference to support counsel’s contention that appropriate preservation practices are in place.

Counsel should confer with opposing counsel prior to or at the Rule 26(f) “meet and confer” regarding the issues and scope of the case; discussion and agreement on the number and names of key custodians, relevant time frame and search methodology (i.e., keyword approach and terms) should be discussed and agreed to by counsel.

Like so many other issues, agreement on the use of the keyword search approach ought to be discussed and agreed upon in writing during the Rule 26(f) conference. Since keyword search has recently come under judicial scrutiny,

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“The new Local Rules will assist lawyers and their clients in addressing e-discovery issues early in litigation, allowing them to reduce costs and keep unnecessary e-discovery issues from becoming a distraction later in the proceedings.”

agreement by the parties in advance and in writing on the keyword search approach, as well as agreement on the actual keywords being used, may prevent costly disagreements from arising later. Determining the scope, whether to include the number of custodians (which directly impacts the amount of data that need to be filtered, processed, reviewed and produced), as well as the time frame (which also directly impacts the amount of data) can all have a significant impact on the cost of discovery. If opposing counsel’s initial e-discovery requests seem overbroad, knowledge gained through the thorough execution of the strategies discussed above will provide a factual basis for arguments to reduce scope and may help defeat a motion to compel made by opposing counsel.

Counsel should come to the Rule 26(f) “meet and confer” with a clear idea of how to address the issue of inadvertent disclosure of privileged information.

Due to the vast amounts of data associated with electronic discovery, the costs of privileged review and the lack of time to review for privilege, an agreement between the parties on how inadvertent disclosure will be addressed is a key element of the “meet and confer” conference. Most courts will encourage the parties to agree on a “quick peek” or “clawback” agreement to resolve this issue early in the discovery process. Under the new Local Rules, if consensus is not reached, a clawback agreement is the default. Nevertheless, counsel should seek a written agreement on this issue at the Rule 26(f) conference.

Agreement on production format at the Rule 26(f) “meet and confer” will prevent the possibility of an expensive second production.

After counsel decide what relevant nonprivileged data will be produced, they need to know the format in which the data currently reside and determine the format in which to produce the data. This decision has a significant impact on the cost of production. The format decision usually revolves around whether or not metadata will be produced. Metadata refers to, among other things, the data about the data being produced, and it indicates when the file was created, who created it and when, and by whom it was modified. Counsel may want to produce the data in TIFF, a format that excludes the metadata, but opposing counsel may want a native rendering with metadata intact. The question of format can sometimes

be decided if the requesting party can demonstrate to opposing counsel that one or several of the 15 to 20 most useful fields of metadata are highly relevant to this particular litigation. Agreement on production format at the Rule 26(f) conference is expected by the court and will prevent the possibility of having to produce the data twice.

Throughout all these discussions, counsel need to assess the costs associated with each of these focus areas and attempt to control costs; agreement should be reached with opposing counsel regarding who will pay for the cost of discovery.

Almost every element discussed above has cost implications. Counsel need to understand the implications of each focus area and provide cost estimates from e-discovery providers when possible. These estimates will be helpful when presenting their position to opposing counsel and the court.

While the presumption remains that each side will pay for its own cost of discovery, any cost-sharing discussions and resulting agreements should be put in writing.

Conclusion Many judges still express the view that ESI is a significant issue in very few cases. Recent experience, however, shows that when a dispute about ESI arises, it usually happens later in the litigation and is likely to be the result of a failure of the parties to have adequate discussions early in the case about the costs and methods of ESI preservation, the format in which the ESI will be produced, the protocols for searching it and how to resolve inadvertent disclosure of privileged materials. The new Local Rules and the requirement to fill out the revised form for the Rule 26(f) report with specificity regarding ESI should direct the attention of counsel and their clients at an early stage of the litigation to these very important issues.

It is expected that the new Local Rules and the information gained by counsel as they fulfill their “duty to investigate” with the help of their e-discovery resource person and the approach outlined above will assist lawyers and their clients in addressing e-discovery issues early in the litigation, allowing them to reduce costs and keep unnecessary e-discovery issues from becoming a distraction later in the proceedings.

The new Local Rules for the Western District of Pennsylvania are posted on the court’s website, www.pawd.uscourts.gov.

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“OMG! M I Going 2 Jail?”: Pennsylvania Addresses Teen “Sexting”

By Jesse Krueger, Production Editor What do zippers, television and automobiles have in common? All were initially criticized as promoting the burgeoning sex life of America’s teenagers. The zipper provided a more efficient and speedy way to fasten and unfasten garments, television brought sexual activity into our living rooms, and the automobile provided ready seclusion for sexual activity.

Federal legislators have now added cell phones to that list as they consider statutorily restricting teen “sexting” — the sending of sexually explicit messages or pictures over wireless networks.

A recent study by The Associated Press revealed that over 30 percent of teenagers have admitted to engaging in sexting practices. In countries with strict anti-child pornography laws, like the United States, this means that more than 30 percent of today’s youth could be subject to prosecution up to and including felony charges. Horror stories abound of teenagers who have taken a private, provocative photo of themselves and later faced prosecution and lifetime inclusion on a sex offenders list.

The recent trend among state legislatures has been toward establishing sexting legislation that distinguishes the practice from possession or distribution of child pornography. Such proposed legislation has ignited a national controversy over how to appropriately handle the phenomenon and is now being considered by the federal government.

The response by states has been inconsistent to say the least. While some states have proposed or adopted legislation

sexting: the sending of sexually explicit messages or pictures over wireless networks. ;)

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that reduces sexting to a misdemeanor, and Vermont is even considering entirely decriminalizing sexting between consenting teenagers, many other states have continued to prosecute sexting offenses as felonies.

The American Civil Liberties Union has become actively involved in the debate at the national level and recently filed suit on behalf of a group of Pennsylvania girls being threatened with child pornography charges after pictures of them partially undressed were distributed around their high school.

Andy Hoover, Legislative Director for the Pennsylvania ACLU, has stated that the ACLU’s position is that absent any abuse or exploitation, teens sending explicit pictures of themselves are legally protected and should not be subjected to prosecution. Furthermore, he argues, any abuse of such images is already covered by existing laws.

Critics of the ACLU’s position argue that sexting is much more serious than just consensual messaging between teenagers. Images and sexually explicit messages transmitted via text messages are easily distributed and have the potential to ruin lives and reputations, according to supporters of stricter laws. Studies suggest that more than 60 percent of those teens who have received provocative photos of a classmate have redistributed the photo or shown it to friends. In light of recent events regarding cyber-bullying and its effects on teenagers, the argument for stricter laws has been gaining traction in many jurisdictions, including Pennsylvania.

The state House of Representatives passed legislation in June that proposed a tiered system for sexting offenses. First offenses would constitute a summary charge, and subsequent offenses could be charged as anywhere from second-degree misdemeanors to felonies. The legislation, authored by York County Republican Rep. Seth Grove, is currently under consideration in the Senate. Grove believes that the proposed legislation will help prosecutors curb sexting and prosecute teens without the drastic impact on their futures that accompanies a child pornography conviction. Furthermore, forces outside of the legal arena have begun to involve themselves in the debate. Many companies now provide applications similar to those available for computers and televisions that allow parents to place restrictions on their teenagers’ cell phones. The most notable of these outside forces is Apple, which has recently

patented a technology that will prevent users from sending or receiving objectionable content.

Parry Aftab, a lawyer and noted expert on internet crimes and “cyberlaw,” has already begun demanding federal legislation to standardize sexting penalties. In the course of representing an Ohio couple whose daughter hanged herself after nude photographs she had shared with a boy were distributed throughout her school, Aftab called for standardization, because current laws are “too hot or too cold” and penalties are too inconsistent to be effective.

The ACLU argues that any criminalization of sexting, even with reduced penalties, is a violation of constitutional rights.

The organization believes that the best recourse to reduce the negative effects of sexting is education about the potential consequences of the act rather than the criminalization of a

third of America’s youth. Other supporters of legalized sexting believe that the practice is a natural way for teens to explore their sexuality. Regardless of whether it is a smart decision, such groups argue that it is a teenager’s decision to make.

Pennsylvania is only the 21st state to consider sexting legislation, but as the issue becomes ever more newsworthy, other states are soon to follow. The sharp divide among states over how to deal with the issue makes it one that may be necessarily decided by federal courts or the introduction of federal legislation, but until then it remains a source of concern for all parties.

Jesse Krueger is a second-year student at Duquesne Law School and the Production Editor for Juris. He can be reached at kruegerjj0330@ gmail.com.

Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)

By Catherine Farrell, Staff Writer Duquesne Law graduates who want to pursue public service careers are often prevented from doing so because of high student loan payments. A series of new loan repayment assistance programs (LRAPs) change that equation. Federal, state and local LRAPs make public service legal employment a viable career option for Duquesne Law alumni.

Federal On the federal level, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA) provides for Income Based Repayment (IBR). IBR, which is available to all borrowers who have a high debt-toincome ratio (regardless of type of employment), caps payments for federal loans at 15 percent of the borrower’s “discretionary” income. If payments are made for 25 years, the remaining principal and interest are forgiven by the federal government.

In addition to IBR, the CCRAA includes a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Under this program, borrowers who make qualifying payments have the balance of their eligible loans forgiven after 10 years of full-time public service employment.

In addition to the CCRAA, the John R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Program (JRJ) provides loan repayment assistance for state and federal public defenders and state prosecutors who agree to remain employed as public defenders and prosecutors for at least three years.

The most recent legislation is the Civil Legal Assistance Attorney Student Loan Repayment Program (CLAAP), which will repay a portion of eligible federal student loan debt for civil legal assistance attorneys who are employed full-time.

For more information on the above programs, visit www. equaljusticeworks.org/resources/student-debt-relief/default and www.abanet.org/legalservices/sclaid/lrap/federallrap.html.

State In addition to federal assistance, Pennsylvania Bar Foundation and the Pennsylvania Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Board in June 2010 established a program that provides for one-year loans, payable to qualified attorneys quarterly, with a 12-month employment requirement at IOLTA-funded legal services organizations. An attorney who maintains eligibility can apply for and receive up to 10 one-year loans over the course of his or her qualified employment. The loans will be used to repay loans incurred for undergraduate and law school education costs and will be forgiven at the end of each year if eligibility requirements have been met. More information on this program is available online at www.pabarfoundation.org/lrap/lrap.aspx.

Local The Allegheny County Bar Association recently ended its Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), which had assisted a total of 33 public service attorneys in paying off their law school debt. However, in September 2009, the Allegheny County Bar Foundation established the Public Interest Law Fellowship Program (PILFP) to provide stipends to public service attorneys who have shown exemplary performance and commitment in their fields of law, and demonstrate financial need. For more information on this program visit www.acbf.org/ Attorney_Services/Law_Fellowship_Program.asp.

Duquesne University School of Law offers the William B. Billock Loan Repayment Assistance Program, which is open to Duquesne School of Law graduates from the Class of 2000 to present. To be eligible, graduates must have a qualified public interest law position, a total projected adjusted gross income below $45,000 and an outstanding law school student loan debt.

The maximum amount that a graduate may receive per year is $5,000, and the maximum time a graduate may receive funding is 10 years. More information on this program is online at www. sites.duq.edu/law/alumni/_pdf/LRAP-application09.doc.

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A Local Take on Prop 8:

Pittsburgh’s Domestic Partnership Registry

By Brandon Keller, Staff Writer

As the constitutional challenge to Proposition 8 progresses through the Ninth Circuit, same-sex couples in Pittsburgh make use of the domestic partner registry, which provides unmarried couples, both same- and opposite-sex, with recognition as domestic partners within the city. If employers so choose, they may use the registry as verification to provide their employees with domestic partner benefits.

California is home to what may be the benchmark social debate of our time. Not only is this a confrontation between two camps faced with a moral, social and religious divide, but it is also a compelling study of the political tug-of-war between campaign-driven public opinion and the federal judiciary.

In 2000, Californians added the following language to the California Family Code through a ballot initiative known as Proposition 22: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Eight years later, the Supreme Court of California granted review of various suits brought by same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses in In re Marriage Cases. In a 4-3 decision, the court struck down the statutory language, declaring it violative of the equal protection provision of the state constitution.

Opponents of same-sex marriage, knowing that recourse through state statute was exhausted, launched a movement to amend the California state constitution, which exploded into the most expensive political campaign on a social issue in United States history. After five months and approximately 18,000 same-sex marriages in the wake of the In re Marriage Cases decision, California voters put an end to gay marriages in California with Proposition 8, which includes the same language utilized in Proposition 22.

The question now is whether the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution will result in the changes resulting from Proposition 8 being reversed. In August, Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California handed down a 136-page decision in Perry v.

Schwarzenegger, in which he declared the ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional on equal protection and due process grounds. The Ninth Circuit granted a stay on the decision and was set to hear arguments in December.

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Although Pennsylvania is not undergoing such a debate in the courtroom, the underlying social issue of whether homosexuality is accepted has been carried to the forefront by recent events in states like California.

In its third year of existence, Pittsburgh’s domestic partner registry allows unmarried couples to register as recognized partners with the city, regardless of whether they are a heterosexual or a same-sex couple. The registry was created in order to provide city employees with domestic partner benefits, as the state of Pennsylvania does not currently recognize common law marriage; however, City of Pittsburgh residents may also use the registry. For a $25 fee, proof of relationship and other criteria, the couple’s names are entered into the database, and they are given a notarized copy of a “mutual commitment affidavit.” A local employer can, if it so chooses, use this affidavit or the registry itself in order to ascertain eligibility for domestic partnership benefits.

“This registry allows all domestic partners to say ‘Yes, I’ve met a certain criterion,’” says Councilman Bruce Kraus, coauthor of the legislation that created the registry. According to the Group Benefits Supervisor for the City of Pittsburgh, 26 city employees and 27 citizens have registered their domestic partnerships with the city since the registry’s creation in August 2008. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) also extends employee benefits to domestic partners, and includes same-sex couples in their definition of “domestic partner.”

The debate in California over the past 10 years may soon come to conclusion via the Ninth Circuit and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court. Depending on the outcome of these court decisions, many states, including Pennsylvania, may have to address this issue.

Brandon Keller is a second-year student at Duquesne University School of Law and a Staff Writer for Juris. He graduated in 2009 from John Carroll University, where he majored in Political Science and Communication & Theatre Arts. He currently is enrolled in the Bill of Rights Clinic through Duquesne, and is a law clerk for Edgar Snyder & Associates. Brandon can be reached at brandon.r.keller@ gmail.com.

President’s Reception for New Dean Dean Gormley Outlines Vision for the Future of Duquesne Law “This is truly a great time in the life of a great law school,” Dean Ken Gormley declared to a packed house of alumni, faculty, students and staff on September 2, 2010, during the President’s Reception held at the Duquesne Club.

This historical year also marks Dean Gormley’s first as dean of the Law School, and his vision for the future of the school promises to contribute to its rich legacy. “Do not be afraid to dream big,” he said, as he made it clear that 2010 has been a year of transition and change.

Keeping with the theme of dreaming big, Dean Gormley announced his goal of establishing a free-standing legal clinic on Fifth Avenue. Acting Director of Clinic Programs Tracey McCants Lewis is excited about this possibility. “The dean’s announcement of a free-standing law clinic would be wonderful,” she said, “not only for the students but also for the members of the community we serve.”

Minority recruitment is another priority on Dean Gormley’s agenda. To encourage minority scholarship, the dean, with the help of Eric Springer, the first African American to lead the Allegheny County Bar Association (1994), created the Charles Hamilton Houston Scholarship.

Simoné Delerme is the first recipient of the minority scholarship award. Delerme graduated at the top of her class at The Ohio State University and was initially drawn to Duquesne because her grandfather is a Law School alumnus. “Duquesne has always been an important part of my life. I am honored to have the opportunity to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps,” Delerme said.

Overall, students top the list of Dean Gormley’s priorities.

“We’re initiating major changes to enhance the reputation and stature of Duquesne University School of Law,” he said.

Some of these changes will affect students immediately, such as adjustments to the grading policy. Dean Gormley explained, “This was needed so that our students’ performance is not undervalued.”

Dean Gormley went on to explain that in light of the financial reality most law students face, Duquesne owes a “fiduciary duty to students to make sure they succeed.” To aid in this effort, the Law School has created the Academic Excellence Program. Dean Gormley thanked distinguished alumnus Senator Jay Costa Jr. and the Pennsylvania Department of Education for making the program possible. He explained that the program will “provide one-on-one assistance to students who do not perform as well as expected after their first year.”

By Jeff Fromknecht, Staff Writer

Dean Gormley also announced the decision to name Assistant Dean Ella Kwisnek the first vice dean of the Evening Division. Dean Kwisnek remarked that she is honored to have been selected. “I find it especially poignant that the position was created on the eve of the Law School’s centennial because the school began 100 years ago as an evening program,” she said. Dean Kwisnek will serve as the point person for evening students. “My goal is to be readily accessible to and maintain open lines of communication with the evening students to help ensure their concerns are being addressed,” she said.

Concluding the evening, Dean Gormley issued a call to action to the alumni. “Pick up the phone and let me know if you can help,” he said as he invited alumni to get involved in any way. From mentoring students to contributing financially, Dean Gormley said, “There are a host of major initiatives that require our attention.”

For more information on Duquesne Law School’s Centennial Celebration, including a copy of Dean Gormley’s speech, log on to www.duq.edu/law/centennial/index.cfm.

Jeffrey Fromknecht is a third-year evening student graduating in 2012.

He is a Staff Writer for Juris, and serves as a Junior Staff Member of the Duquesne Law Review, the Secretary for Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity and as a research assistant for Professor Mark Yochum. He is also a member of the Public Interest Law Association. Jeff received his undergraduate degree in Psychology cum laude from Allegheny College in 2004, and a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh in 2007. He can be reached at fromknecht@gmail.com.

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Setting Higher Standards for Trial Advocacy:

Duquesne Hosts the Tournament of Champions

By Stefanie Flick, Staff Writer On October 27, 2010, Duquesne University School of Law hosted the “Super Bowl” of trial advocacy competitions.

The top trial advocacy teams from across the nation arrived in Pittsburgh to compete in the most prestigious competition on the national circuit: the National Institute of Trial Advocacy’s annual Tournament of Champions.

In anticipation of the event, the excitement at Duquesne was at an all-time high. As Professor Amelia Joiner stated, “When professors get published, you hear their names. When the trial team competes, all you know is here comes Duquesne.

They do not represent themselves as individuals. They represent this university and the alumni.”

Only 16 teams from across the nation are invited to compete in the Tournament of Champions. Teams earn an invitation based on an assessment of points for wins or placements over a three-year period in various trial competitions. Professor Joiner clarified, “If a school performs well, consistently, the school may earn an invitation to the Tournament of Champions. The team that wins has the honor of hosting the tournament two years later.”

Duquesne earned the opportunity to host the event as a result of the mock trial team taking home the championship trophy two years ago from the University of Maryland.

It was the first time that Duquesne was invited to participate in the event. The 2008 team included Brock McCandless, Lisa Barnett, Megan Lehman and Linda Obioha, who also won best advocate. Duquesne’s 2010 team, coached by Peter Giglione (L’02), Professor Joiner, Professor S. Michael Streib and Michelle Mantine (L’05), included team members Katie Chengery, David Brown, Keaton Carr and Cassidy Neal.

Duquesne alum Michael Gianantonio (L’02) spent a full year singlehandedly writing the vehicle that was used by the competitors, which was based on a products liability case that he tried as a young lawyer. Writing the vehicle is very time consuming because, as Joiner explained, “(It) is written so that no team has a hands down win.”

The mock trials were held in the United States Federal Courthouse on Grant Street, thanks to the assistance of alumna Judge Donetta W. Ambrose from the U.S. District Court, Professor Joiner and Dean Ken Gormley. More than 150 members of the legal community volunteered their time to preside as judges and jurors, including Judge Thomas Hardiman from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third

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Back row (left to right): Peter Giglione, Esq., Professor S. Michael Streib, Dean Ken Gormley, Professor Amelia M. Joiner, Michelle Mantine, Esq. Front row (left to right): Keaton Carr, Cassidy Neal, Michael Gianantonio, Esq., Katie Chengery, David Brown.

Circuit. Gianantonio professed, “We have been fortunate to have the best help from the staff, the Bar and the bench.”

The grueling competition lasted for three days, consisting of four preliminary rounds and two final rounds, in which “every student is evaluated individually and as a team based upon, for example, openings, directs, cross examinations and closings,” Gianantonio explained. ChicagoKent College of Law defeated the University of Maryland School of Law in the sixth and final round to earn the title of National Champion.

Duquesne put forth a solid performance, defeating the University of New Mexico and Temple University during the first two days of competition. Professor Streib expressed pride in the victories, stating, “There are no better teams in the nation than are here now. There are no easy wins.”

Ultimately, Duquesne finished sixth in the nation, and team member Keaton Carr took home the award for best advocate in the preliminary rounds. Duquesne’s team comprised “wonderful people who worked extraordinarily hard and did a great job,” according to Professor Streib. Juris Magazine would like to congratulate the team, coaches and staff for all of their hard work and tremendous success.

Stefanie Flick is a fourth-year evening student and a Staff Writer for Juris. She is a member of the Family Law Society and participates in the Family Law and Justice Clinic Pro Se Motions Program. Stefanie earned her undergraduate degree cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh. She can be reached at flick1533@duq.edu.

Striving for Success: Duquesne Law School’s Academic Excellence Program

By Ashley Bozewski, Staff Writer At the start of the Fall 2010 semester, Dean Ken Gormley announced the creation of a new Academic Excellence Program at Duquesne Law School. The two primary goals of the Program are to help first-year students build the independent learning skills necessary for success in law school and on the bar exam, and to provide one-on-one support to students who struggle academically.

Although the Duquesne Law School faculty has long offered academic support to struggling first-year students, current law students requested that an academic support program be made available on a full-time basis. In response, Dean Gormley labored to secure a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to develop, staff and implement the newly unveiled Academic Excellence Program.

The Program will present skill-building workshops to first-year students throughout the academic year. Fall semester workshops will assist students in honing their critical reading, analytic and time-management skills, while the spring semester workshops, which will be integrated with a doctrinal course such as Property or Civil Procedure, will focus more narrowly on legal analysis and exam-writing skills. Significantly, the spring workshops will increase the number of opportunities available to students to practice and receive feedback on their legal analysis and writing.

The Program will also offer one-on-one support to students who struggle academically. The Program Director, along with highly successful upper-division law students selected to serve as Academic Excellence Fellows, will work closely with the students to identify potential reasons for their underperformance, and to design and implement a systematic approach to improving it.

Dean Gormley recently announced that Robert Perkins would be the first director of the Academic Excellence Program. Mr. Perkins is a magna cum laude graduate of Duquesne Law School, where he served as an editor for the Duquesne Law Review. He is responsible for the development of the Program, which includes creating presentations on law school study skills and designing the curriculum for the spring workshops.

Mr. Perkins has been researching similar programs at other universities in an effort to develop the best program possible. He also intends to solicit information from students, faculty, and alumni regarding expectations for the program.

In addition to Mr. Perkins and the Academic Excellence Fellows, students will also be able to request writing assistance from Justin Kishbaugh, a Ph.D. candidate in English Literature at Duquesne University. Mr. Kishbaugh will provide one-onone tutorial assistance as a legal writing specialist.

Leaders of Duquesne Law School believe that the Academic Excellence Program will have a profound impact on the success of its students. As Assistant Dean of Students Ella Kwisnek said, “Learning effective preparation, study and examtaking techniques will enable students to have a more thorough understanding of the law. This will make them better prepared for the bar exam and the practice of law.”

Ashley Bozewski is a third-year evening student and a Staff Writer for Juris. She is a 2008 graduate of the Pennsylvania State University with degrees in Anthropology and Classics. Ashley can be reached at bozewskia@duq.edu.

Congratulations to Professor Samuel J. Astorino, who was honored with the Student Bar Association Excellence in Teaching Award at the annual Graduation Dinner on June 4, 2010.

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A Cultural Rebirth:

Duquesne Law Students Assist Native American Organization Returning to Its Roots

By Daniel Craig, Editor-in-Chief

The Mound Society of Western Pennsylvania, a local Native American historical society, held a ceremonial march in McKees Rocks on Tuesday, September 21, 2010, to celebrate the autumnal equinox and to honor the Native American people who were once laid to rest in the McKees Rocks Mound centuries ago. The group was incorporated with the assistance of the Duquesne Law School Community Enterprise Clinic earlier this year, and was advised by the Law School’s Bill of Rights Clinic as it worked to gain a permit from the borough for the ceremonial march.

The McKees Rocks Mound, located along the Ohio River adjacent to Ranger Field in the area of the borough known as “the bottoms,” is the largest Native American burial mound in Western Pennsylvania.

According to a placard posted in Ranger Field, the mound “was hand built by the Adena people between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D. and later was used by the Hopewell people.” It also states that “late 19th century excavations uncovered 33 skeletons and artifacts made of stone, copper, and shells.”

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According to Eugene Strong, a descendant of the Potawatomi people and founder of the Mound Society, earthen material was once extracted from the mound and used to construct many of the roads that run through McKees Rocks today. The march’s route followed many of the roads that the organization’s members believe include remains of their Native American ancestors. While the borough denied the group’s request to march on the road during business hours, it did agree to allow the group to march on the sidewalk along the roads that contain the remains of ancient Native Americans.

Roughly 30 of the Mound Society’s members and supporters congregated at Ranger Field around 11 a.m. to prepare for the procession. Mr. Strong, with his face adorned in red and black ceremonial paint, addressed the group before the march commenced in order to articulate the purpose of the event. He made clear that they were gathered for a solemn occasion, to honor their Native American ancestors on the equinox, and that the march was not a protest of any kind. He did acknowledge, however, that the

“What Eugene and others are doing here is important because it increases the humanity of all people, not just native people. It is important because the same scenario that is occurring here is taking place worldwide,” he said. “People need to understand that we are people, and we can’t just be run over for the sake of development.” group has much to protest at future gatherings — a fact that became apparent later in the day.

Mr. Strong and his son, Thor Strong, led the group in chanting while a woman steadily beat a large drum as they all walked slowly along the sidewalks through the borough. The reactions of those they passed were varied. Some mocked the group, some simply stared, and others danced or nodded their heads to the beat of the ongoing chant. Mr. Strong said that any reaction was a good reaction. “At least they know that we are here, and that our ancestors were here long before us,” he said.

Upon returning to Ranger Park, the group rested and prepared to ascend the mound to build a fire and make a ceremonial offering to their ancestors. Mr. Strong warned newcomers that the climb to the top of the mound is an arduous one. Many of the Mound Society’s members are older individuals who can no longer reach the top of the mound.

This unfortunate circumstance is a recent development. The side of the mound opposite Ranger Park, situated between the mound and the Ohio River, is far more accessible and was the group’s preferred route for some time. However, two different industrial corporations — Gordon Terminal Service, an oil lubricating company, and Lane Construction, a concrete plant — own the land on which the easiest path to the top of the mound lies. The companies refuse to allow the Mound Society to traverse the property as a means of reaching the top of the mound.

Atop the burial mound runs a fence that prevents access to the mound from the side facing the Ohio River. Piles of gravel and coal and barrels of oil line the river bank along the burial mound. A crane pulls gravel from the river bottom.

Mr. Strong contends that the companies have also removed material from the mound and that, if one were to examine the piles of earth heaped upon the companies’ property, the amount of artifacts that would be uncovered would be astounding. He said that the industrial development along the mound was modest until he and his organization began gaining some recognition. “As soon as we appeared in the

newspapers and made our intentions known,” he said, “the companies began developing the land full tilt.”

Mr. Strong asked everyone ascending the mound with him to collect a piece of dry, dead wood as they walked to the site where they would hold the equinox ceremony. Upon reaching the designated location, he gathered the wood and built a small fire. Those in attendance then took turns placing a pinch of tobacco and small branch of cedar into the fire as an offering to the ancestors.

Mike Sallows, whose Native American name, Waoka Hetchtualoh, means “good hunter, indeed it is true,” is a descendant of an Iroquois tribe, and was born and raised in Pittsburgh. He took a moment while atop the mound to reflect on its importance to the Mound Society and to the preservation of Native American culture. “Eugene and I and a core group of us come here regularly,” he said. “This is our place of worship.” He continued, “What Eugene and others are doing here is important because it increases the humanity of all people, not just native people. It is important because the same scenario that is occurring here is taking place worldwide,” he said. “People need to understand that we are people, and we can’t just be run over for the sake of development.”

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Sallows’ mother was raised on an old Pennsylvania Seneca reservation along the Allegheny River in Warren.

However, in 1960, the federal government began construction of the Kinzua Dam, which led to the flooding of the reservation. Most of the tribe relocated to Salamanca, New York, but Sallows’ mother ended up settling near Pittsburgh. Sallows recalls a time when his mother brought him to visit Kinzua Lake, which is also known as the Allegheny Reservoir.

“There was a look in her eyes that I had never seen before,” he said. “She pointed to the center of the lake and said, ‘That is where our home used to be.’”

The most striking aspect of the day’s events was the strong sense of community shared by all of the Mound Society’s members, even those unfamiliar with one another.

Shortly after speaking about his mother’s struggle, Sallows was approached by a man who wore his hair long and was dressed in a fringed poncho. The man recognized Sallows from a prior event, but the two had not formally met. When they discovered that they were both descendants of tribes from the Iroquois Nation, they embraced and said to one another, quietly, “Brother.”

“There are a lot of us here in this region,” the man said, “but fewer of us who see the world through native eyes and truly understand the culture — the way of life.”

“It’s the only way there is to live,” responded Sallows.

“If you don’t, you aren’t really living.”

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When the ceremony concluded, those in attendance descended the mound and gathered at its base to form a drum circle. They chanted to the beat of the drums while the afternoon wore on, as they had done during the march.

A celebration of the changing of the season is fitting for the members of this young organization seeking to revive the culture of their ancestors. As they enter the fall season and prepare for the death that comes with the winter, they remember the dead that came before them and lament the destruction of their rich cultural tradition. However, they look forward to the rebirth of spring, and the cultural resurgence that they hope will grow from their efforts during these early years of the Mound Society’s existence.

Daniel Craig is the Editor-in-Chief of Juris. He is also a member of the Public Interest Law Association and the Environmental Law Society and is the President and Co-Founder of Pittsburgh Environmental Action for Kids (PEAK), a youth environmental education organization. Daniel received his undergraduate degree in English from The Ohio State University, graduating cum laude in 2008, and will graduate from Duquesne Law School in June of 2011. He can be reached at dcraig201@gmail.com.

Introducing Juris Blog, the Official Blog of the Duquesne University School of Law Newsmagazine The following excerpts are from articles that can be found in their entirety on Juris’ new blog.

Read them and many others at http://duquesnejurismagazine.blogspot.com.

Federal Appeals Court Rejects Hazelton, PA’s Effort to Restrict Immigration

By Kiran K. Patel, Associate Editor

The Reforming American Financial Stability Act: A Missed Opportunity to Rein In Big Banks

By Christian Evans, Associate Editor In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, President Roosevelt called on Congress to overhaul the financial sector. He wanted the regulatory loopholes that contributed to the crisis to be sealed off. In response, Congress assembled a bill that was designed to cure a defective banking system and prevent a future financial catastrophe of that magnitude. It was referred to as the Glass-Steagall Act. Over the next 60 years, the financial services industry operated smoothly, free from any serious threats to its stability. However, in 1999, under intense pressure from bank lobbyists, Congress repealed the Glass-Steagall Act. Almost instantaneously, banks began to consolidate and form huge bank holding companies. Nine years later, the United States suffered its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression . . .

The Americas and Beyond: Duquesne Law School and Prof. Robert Barker Host International Constitutional Law Seminar

By Lisa Dougan, Staff Writer On Friday, November 5, and Saturday, November 6, 2010, the Law School hosted an international law seminar titled “Constitutional Litigation: Procedural Protections of Constitutionalism in the Americas … and Beyond.” The seminar was held in conjunction with the Inter-American Bar Association and the Inter-American Academy of International and Comparative Law. Professor Robert S. Barker acted as chairman for the seminar and George R. Harper, Esquire, the Immediate Past President of the Inter-American Bar Association, presented the keynote speech . . .

On September 9, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling striking down a local ordinance put in place by the City of Hazelton, Pennsylvania, that, in part, prohibited illegal immigrants from renting property or being employed within the city.

The local ordinance was passed in 2006 and had been upheld in the state courts. However, in 2007 a federal district judge struck down the Hazelton ordinance, which specifically sought to punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and employers who hire them, ruling that immigration law is the authority of the federal government alone. Many other state and local governments have used Hazelton’s immigration model to create their own laws. Among other powers this law provided, the local government could revoke business licenses from those employers who employed illegal aliens . . .

Duquesne Law School Re-Launches Its Alumni Mentor Program

By Benjamin Knauff, Staff Writer Students at the Duquesne University School of Law are about to get an extra boost as they continue their studies and prepare to enter the job market. The Duquesne Law Career Services Office, in conjunction with the Law School Alumni Relations Office, recently announced that they are re-launching the Alumni Mentor Program. The program will enable law students with interests in a particular area to be matched with an alumnus practicing in that area, whereby the student can gain more information on his or her specific field of interest, as well as the practice of law in general . . .

A Run to Remember Katie Westbrook

By Catherine Spafford, Staff Writer Compassion, Conviction, Courage: Three characteristics that law students often possess. These words could also be used to describe the inherent traits of cancer victims. However, it is rare when these adjectives pertain to a person who belongs to both categories. While these are powerful words, they only begin to scratch the surface of emotions that were present on any given day in the life of Katie Westbrook . . . autumn 2010

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