The Advocate Vol. 57, 2023

LEADING the NATION in

U.S. News & World Report

2023/24 rankings

TOP 20

Georgia’s highest ranked law school for third straight year

Real-world student outcomes

1 # #4

or #2 FOR 6 YEARS

Best Value Law School

National Jurist, 2017-2022

Nearly 95% of the Class of 2022 in fulltime, long-term, bar pass required jobs

American Bar Association

Hands-on, purpose-driven educational experiences

Creating access

9TH 18

Practical Training

PreLaw, 2023 Clinics and Externships

First-generation college graduates & veterans receive aid 100%

LEGAL EDUCATION

International Law

$7.5 M

OVER

Reduction in annual student borrowing compared to 2013

87%

Georgia bar exam passage

94K+

Students receiving scholarship aid (2021–22)

NEARLY

13TH 15TH Trial Advocacy #1

Ninth straight year to lead (July results for firsttime takers)

94%

99% Student service learning hours logged in 2021-22

Ultimate Bar Passage Rate

Graduates who sat for the bar and passed within two years of graduation (Class of 2020)

Participation in clinics/externships (Class of 2023)

LOWEST TUITIO N 25+ Distinguished Law Fellowships

Among U.S. News Top-20 law schools

26.7%

Diversity enrollment (2022-23)

Marlan B. Wilbanks (J.D.’86)

REDEFINING WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A GREAT NATIONAL PUBLIC LAW SCHOOL

This spring, U.S. News & World Report ranked the School of Law #20 in the nation – its highest ranking in history, #1 in Georgia for the third straight year and the #7 public law school in the country.

Reactions have been effusive. Applicants and yields spiked. Employer interviews rose. Alumni/alumnae support flowed. Student pride surged.

Despite the reactions, I’ve always had an uncomfortable relationship with those rankings (or any other). A mentor once advised me to “let Georgia be Georgia.” Put another way, ignore the rankings at your peril but, at the same time, do not allow them to define the school’s values. Thus, my practice has been to view each ranking as but one proof point.

A generation ago, several public law schools embarked on a strategy to be counted among the upper echelon of law schools in the nation. They raised tuition to be indistinguishable from that typical of an elite private institution. Flush with resources, they poured funding into initiatives, ranging from fancy centers to professors’ salaries. By some measures, they succeeded. Their applicant pools expanded, as did their employer markets. They rose in the national rankings. Their recipe for success: “Charge More. Spend More.”

That model is broken. Most centrally, the addiction to neverending tuition increases created an affordability and accessibility barrier for many applicants and their families. Tuition inflation intersected with restructuring in the legal industry following the Great Recession, eventually leaving a group of graduates over leveraged and underemployed.

Your law school resisted that model thanks to the efforts of strong deans and alumni/alumnae leaders who created a solid foundation: a great education at a good value aimed at well-rounded students with tremendous leadership potential. Over the past decade, with your generous support, the School of Law’s leadership team has built on this foundation.

Our vision – redefining what it means to be a great national public law school – rejects the one pursued a generation ago. We reject the notion that a great education must be a financially inaccessible one. We reject the notion that world-class researchers are incompatible with dedicated teachers. We reject the notion that every new idea must be paid for on the backs of students. We reject the notion that a student’s problem is someone else’s; rather, true to the Bulldog spirit, we never leave a student on the field.

This magazine illustrates our execution of this vision. It begins with holding the line on tuition increases. This provides students the freedom to pursue their professional ambitions based on their passions, not their wallets. Your support, coupled with generous support from President Jere Morehead (J.D.’80) and the UGA Foundation, chaired from 2021-23 by 1987 alum Neal Quirk, has helped make this possible. Today, nearly half of School of Law students obtain

their legal education debt free. Support for summer fellowships, professional development attire, bar preparation and now debt relief (thanks to the LSAC under the leadership of 2022-23 President Brian Cain (J.D.’87)) all help ensure that a great legal education at your law school remains accessible. Graduates can follow in the footsteps of great alumni/alumnae leaders (pages 25-30) or the 20+ judges who visited campus during this past year, including 1987 alum and U.S. District Judge Steve Jones who delivered the commencement address (page 17).

Our vision extends beyond pricing and donations. It includes faculty excellence reflected in world-class thought leadership from scholars like Brumby Distinguished Professor Sonja West and Assistant Professor Adam Orford (pages 23-25). It embraces partnerships with foundations and donors that support initiatives like PAWS (featured on the cover), the First Amendment Clinic, the Wilbanks CEASE Clinic, the Jane W. Wilson Family Justice Clinic, the Veterans Legal Clinic or, our newest addition, the Land Conservation Clinic.

Instructional innovation parallels faculty excellence. Under the leadership of Hosch Professor Logan Sawyer, the law school launched an undergraduate minor, which has rapidly grown to one of the largest minors at UGA. Graduate programs likewise are growing, whether a talented class of foreign-trained lawyers, including three Ukrainian students (page 13), students in our new Graduate Certificate in International Law or students in our new ADR program. These offerings create valuable pipelines to the profession and new ways to harness the school’s strengths.

Graduates embody our success. Approximately 170 J.D. candidates crossed the stage in May. For many, it marked the culmination of professional studies commenced during the height of the pandemic. Despite the challenges, virtually all received their diploma with a job offer in hand and beamed with pride about graduating from a Top-20 law school.

As the Class of 2023 prepared to begin their professional journey, I assured them that we would always be there for them at every step, saying: “It is my sincere wish that we have equipped you with the skills and confidence to conquer the world. In return, you give us an abiding hope for its future.”

Hasn’t this always been the essential covenant of higher education? When worries abound over whether schools are honoring that covenant, yours represents a model of what higher education can (and ought to) be. Together, let’s redefine what it means to be a great national public law school.

Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge Dean and Talmadge Chair of Law

Advocate

Table of contents

VOLUME 57, 2023

ISSN 1557-1025

Editor’s Note: The Advocate is published annually by the University of Georgia School of Law for alumni/alumnae, friends and members of the law school community. Please contact the Office of Communications and Public Relations at (706) 542-5172 or lawcomm@uga.edu if you have any comments or suggestions.

Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Kent Barnett

Associate Dean for Clinical Programs & Experiential Learning Jason A. Cade

Associate Dean for Faculty Development

Andrea L. Dennis

Assistant Dean for Admissions, Diversity and Inclusion & Strategic Initiatives

Xavier R. Brown (J.D.’17)

Assistant Dean for Career Development

Anthony E. “Tony” Waller (J.D.’93)

Email departmental inquiries to:

Admissions – ugajd@uga.edu

Alumni/Alumnae Relations – lawalum@uga.edu

Communications – lawcomm@uga.edu

Development – lawgifts@uga.edu

Dean Rusk International Law Center –ruskintlaw@uga.edu

Law Library – tstriepe@uga.edu

Career Development – cdo@uga.edu

Heidi Murphy, editor and writer; Lona Panter, principal writer; Jordan Ross, student intern; mPrint Design Studio, design; Kaptiv8, website design and hosting.

© 2023 University of Georgia School of Law.

The University of Georgia is a unit of the University System of Georgia. In compliance with federal law, including the provisions of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Sections 503, 504, and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended, the University of Georgia does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex (including sexual harassment and pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity or national origin, religion, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status in its administration of educational policies, programs, or activities; its admissions policies; scholarship and loan programs; athletic or other University-administered programs; or employment. Inquiries or complaints should be directed to the Director of the Equal Opportunity Office (EOO), 278 Brooks Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-1622, (706-542-7912 (V/TDD)).

The University of Georgia Foundation is registered to solicit in states where required and provides state specific registration information at www.ugafoundation.org/charity.

ABOUT THE COVER: Practicum in Animal Welfare Skills Director Lisa Milot and her dogs Indi and Holly on North Campus. Milot was awarded a $1.4 million grant from The Stanton Foundation to create resources for animal control personnel, law enforcement, prosecutors, law students, advocates and the general public. Photo by Dennis McDaniel.

STANTON FOUNDATION PROVIDES RESOURCES TO PREVENT ABUSE OF DOGS

PAWS receives $1.4M grant

Earlier this year, the School of Law was awarded a $1.355 million grant from The Stanton Foundation to help prevent the neglect and abuse of dogs.

The school’s Practicum in Animal Welfare Skills is using this funding to create resources for animal control personnel, law enforcement, prosecutors, law students, advocates and the general public.

Small interventions can make meaningful differences in animal welfare, according to PAWS Director Lisa Milot. “This new grant from The Stanton Foundation will benefit our communities with a multifaceted approach aimed at heading off local conditions that allow for a slide from low-level neglect to life-threatening abuse or cruelty and shelter overcrowding,” she said.

Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge said the school is proud to be pioneering this important work and advancing legal education with the help of The Stanton Foundation.

“I remain grateful for our continued relationship with The Stanton Foundation,” he said. “The organization’s support has been transformational across several areas, and it is helping the School of Law to redefine what it means to be a great national public law school. As a direct result, PAWS is providing our students with a unique hands-on and purpose-driven educational opportunity.”

Among the initiatives being funded by the grant are:

• A series of free, on-demand educational videos covering Milot’s research and data-based techniques to combat various types of neglect and abuse of dogs. Prosecutors, law enforcement officers and animal control officers will receive continuing education credits in connection with the videos. Among other things, the videos will cover a program Milot developed that has reduced the impound of puppies at Athens-Clarke County Animal Services by 50% and another targeted at animal control offenders where participants show only a 3% recidivism rate, compared to 20-30% for similar offenders more generally.

• An on-demand animal welfare class, with knowledge check and assessment mechanisms, for use by jurisdictions throughout Georgia. The course will cover the legal requirements for pet ownership both on the state level and in the relevant jurisdiction, as well as best practices for the physical and social health of pets plus training tips to head off negative behaviors often seen in shelter dogs. Currently, Milot and her students teach a synchronous version of the class monthly in Athens. This grant will enable its use in other jurisdictions throughout the state.

• A one-credit minicourse focusing on animal welfare issues for law and undergraduate students at UGA.

• The continuation of animal welfare team-building workshops throughout Georgia. These sessions bring together professionals working in a specific locality to prevent and prosecute crimes against animals in order to facilitate teamwork on these cases. (Thanks to an earlier grant from The Stanton Foundation, the facilitation of team-building workshops was started in 2020.)

Notably, PAWS – which began in 2018 – is the only practicum/clinic in the nation focusing on local animal welfare issues, and it is the only law clinic in Georgia focusing on animals.

Promoting the welfare of dogs and strengthening the human/dog bond are among the core objectives of The Stanton Foundation, which was created by the

late Frank Stanton.

Left: PAWS Director and Professor of Law Lisa Milot (left) works with veterinary assistant Amelia Hammond to greet a patient during a community vet care clinic in Athens during April. The clinics are an expansion of a pilot program previously funded by The Stanton Foundation aimed at keeping people and their pets together.

Above: PAWS Assistant Director Allen Barber (center) reviews animal logs with second-year law students Kendra Hansey and Jinny Park as they prepare to counsel an owner about the local legal requirements for pet ownership. The education modules used for the program derived from the animal welfare class PAWS students teach monthly in Athens.

WILBANKS CEASE CLINIC

$1+ million secured for survivor of child sexual abuse

Eight years after opening its doors in January 2016, the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic – the first of its kind in the nation – has served more than 200 survivors of child sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking.

Founded with the generous support of 1986 alumnus Marlan B. Wilbanks to represent survivors of child sexual abuse during a two-year retroactive civil statute of limitations allowing previously barred claims against perpetrators, the clinic has since expanded its work to represent survivors across the sexual abuse-toprison pipeline.

Under the direction of Emma Hetherington (J.D.’11), the clinic continues to represent survivors in civil lawsuits but also represents survivors in juvenile court foster care dependency cases and postconviction vacatur and record restriction matters.

“Our work highlights the importance of statute of limitations and other legislative reforms that increase survivor access to justice,” Hetherington said.

In April, Staff Attorney Brian Atkinson (J.D.’13) and second-year student Jessica L. Davis secured a $1.1 million verdict for their client after a three-day trial in Rockdale County, Georgia. Filed minutes before the Hidden Predator Act of 2015’s retroactive active window closed on June 30, 2017, the clinic’s representation demonstrates the opportunity that civil lawsuits provide to survivors for justice and healing.

“Despite the fact that the abuse occurred nearly 40 years ago, the trial court found that the defendant, who was the step-parent of the survivor, committed acts of child molestation to, with and in the presence of the client, demonstrating the power of survivor voices and the importance of quality legal representation,” Hetherington said.

As part of its mission to provide training and technical assistance to attorneys and advocates working with survivors, the clinic hosted its

annual conference in the spring, focusing on therapeutic justice. The two-day conference consisted of a full day of training on trustbased relational intervention for those working with survivors in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems as well as a day of discussions centering on the meaning of therapeutic justice in its various forms within the broader justice system. Day one speakers were Daren Jones, Kari Dady and Kimberly Glaudy of the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University, while the second day featured Kathryn Rob of Child USAdvocacy, who presented the keynote address.

In recognition of its work, the Wilbanks CEASE Clinic received funding for the second year in a row from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council under Georgia’s Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children grant. The purpose of the $72,000 award is to strengthen the state’s response against the commercial and sexual exploitation of children.

The clinic was also awarded an additional $75,900 as a subgrantee of CJCC under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Grant Program for Minor Human Trafficking Services and Training to provide community-based follow up and aftercare services for survivors.

As a result of this funding, the clinic has hired a full-time licensed social worker to ensure interdisciplinary representation of survivors and partnered with the state of Georgia’s first and only juvenile treatment court for survivors of the commercial and sexual exploitation of children to provide direct representation to survivors and assist with program development.

Wilbanks CEASE Clinic Staff Attorney Brian Atkinson and secondyear student Jessica Davis secured a $1.1 million verdict for their client earlier this year.

PUBLIC INTEREST FELLOWSHIPS Grants grow to nearly $1.3M over five years

Summer public interest and judicial fellowships provide life-directing, hands-on and purposedriven experiences for law students. As such, the School of Law has placed greater emphasis on growing financial support for students seeking unpaid legal work in nonprofits, federal and state government, judicial clerkships, legal services and policy/impact organizations over the summer months.

Jake Shatzer came to law school knowing he wanted to pursue a public interest career. The Bool Simkins Summer Fellowship he received this year afforded him the opportunity to use both of his law school summers to explore different public interest practice areas.

Since 2019, the school has provided almost $1.3 million in summer fellowship funding to its rising second- and third-year students.

Rising third-year student Jake R. Shatzer, recipient of the Bool Simkins Summer Fellowship – the law school’s largest annual public interest grant – worked in the Georgia Public Defender Council Office of the Appellate Defender this past summer. He said the fellowship allowed him a closer look at what criminal law is like so he could determine if he wanted to pursue it in the future.

“All the hands-on experience I got this summer will make me a better litigator coming out of law school,” Jake added. “It also gave me the opportunity to network with public defenders across the state – providing connections and sources of advice for my career going forward.”

This past summer, more than 75 law students honed their legal skills throughout the state of Georgia and the nation in the courts, prosecutor and public defender offices, legal aid agencies, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Agency for International Development. A few also aided international organizations like eLiberare and No Peace Without Justice.

FIRST-GENERATION STUDENTS Supported by 20+ scholarship funds

The School of Law has continued its focus on transforming the legal education experience and, for the fourth straight year, 100% of its incoming firstgeneration college graduates received aid.

First-generation students are now supported by more than 20 scholarship funds including the First-Start Scholars Program, which was established by 1982 alumna Kathelen V. Amos and the Daniel P. Amos Family Foundation. Notably, the Amos family recently fulfilled their $3 million commitment to this scholarship fund, which was the largest pledge in law school history at the time it was made.

Additionally, new donations to support this cohort of students include the establishment of the Hightower Family, Judge Richard W. (Rick) Story, Martin Devereaux and Woodson Family scholarship funds.

These scholarships will help students at the law school who are the first person in their families to attend college through monetary aid, in addition to financial planning, networking development and professional/bar preparation assistance.

Students can also take part in programming led by Associate Director of Student Services & First Start Coordinator Amanda J. Fox (J.D.’14) and the First Generation Student Association, which provides professional and social opportunities for law students as they learn how to navigate law school as well as foster relationships with fellow students, legal professionals and their communities.

Pictured above are First Generation Student Association leaders and third-year students (l. to r.) Colton Carpenter, Elias Walker and Savannah Orange.

Photo by Dennis McDaniel.

Law school bolsters resources for veterans

The University of Georgia has a strong history of supporting military veterans. Expanding on this foundation, since 2018, the School of Law has been actively growing its programs and support for this important population.

The Veterans Legal Clinic, which assists former Georgia military members with claims before the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, has helped approximately 700 veterans and their family members claim more than $2.5 million during its first five years of operation.

Earlier this year, 1983 alumnus Michael Evert, his wife Angi and their daughters –Emily Evert Scanlon (B.B.A.’09), Georgia Evert O’Donoghue (B.B.A.’11) and Maggie Evert Jones (A.B.’13) – made a major commitment to financially support the operations of the clinic.

Financial aid benefitting military service members studying at the law school is another critical area. Since 2019, 100% of veterans enrolled in the Juris Doctor program have received monetary support courtesy of the Butler Commitment, which was created by 1977 alumnus James E. “Jim” Butler Jr.

A key gift this spring from The John N. Goddard Foundation will allow the School of Law to offer veterans funding for “other” professional development expenses necessary for the successful entry into the legal profession. This includes items

Veterans Legal Clinic Director and Associate Professor

Alex Scherr has led the clinic since it opened in 2018. To date, it has helped veterans claim more than $2.5 million.

Photo by UGA Marketing and Communications.

such as bar preparation expenses, professional attire, summer work grants, books and other special costs.

“All of us are in some way indebted to our country’s military personnel,” Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge said. “I am incredibly proud of the range of support the School of Law provides to those who have served our country and I am so thankful to our alumni/alumnae and friends for making it possible to do so. The Goddard Foundation, which has been a longtime partner; Jim Butler, who has been a steadfast supporter of both our legal clinic and our student veterans; and now the Michael and Angi Evert family, plus countless others, are helping the School of Law to redefine what it means to be a great national public law school, while also strengthening our ongoing commitment to support those who have served our country.”

Distinguished Law Fellowships provide world-class opportunities

The Distinguished Law Fellowship program continues to give some of the School of Law’s brightest students world-class and unparalleled offerings as they pursue their Juris Doctors.

Initially established in 2016 by a gift from The John N. Goddard Foundation, the Distinguished Law Fellowship program has grown to offer more than 25 full-tuition-plus scholarships. In addition to financial aid, students receive an educational experience that may include domestic and international externships, guided research experiences and opportunities to meet some of the country’s top legal, business and government leaders.

Distinguished Law Fellowships are named for the following individuals, funds and foundations:

• Philip H. Alston, Jr.

• James E. “Jim” Butler Jr. (J.D.’77)

• Robert G. Edge

• Kenneth M. Henson (J.D.’47)

• Associate Dean & Hosch Professor Emeritus

Paul M. Kurtz

• Edith M. and Frank G. Lumpkin Jr.

• Aubrey and Marilyn Motz

• Law School Association Professor Emeritus

John B. Rees Jr.

• Frank Stanton

• Carter Chair Emeritus R. Perry Sentell Jr. (LL.B.’58)

• Jane W. Wilson

• Joel Wooten (J.D.’75)

• The AnBryce Foundation

• The International Law Student Development Endowment

• The Dean & Virginia Rusk Fund

• The Richard B. Russell Foundation

• The Veterans Legal Services Clinic Fund

The Distinguished Law Fellowship program is modeled after the university’s prestigious Foundation Fellows initiative, which was established in 1972.

School adds graduate programs in ADR and international law

Recognizing the increasing demand for legal knowledge and credentials, the School of Law now offers a 12-hour Graduate Program in Alternative Dispute Resolution and a 15-hour Graduate Certificate in International Law.

The Graduate Program in ADR is a course of study in mediation, negotiation and ADR systems design resulting in an advanced credential. Participants may complete the ADR program in conjunction with the School of Law’s Master in the Study of Law or Juris Doctor or as a stand-alone qualification.

With a combination of online, in-person and evening classes, the program offers flexibility for working professionals as well as traditional graduate students. Participants who are not yet registered mediators will work toward registration with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution, while experienced registered mediators can enroll in an advanced track that enables them to focus more on skills development and systems design.

“The world needs professionals who are trained to manage conflict, to structure difficult conversations and to show the way to reconciliation,” Daniel S. Servianksy, faculty director of the ADR Graduate Program, said. “The negotiation and dispute resolution skills that participants develop will be invaluable in a diverse range of fields from corporate careers to healthcare, from community organizations to law firms, and from public service to private enterprise.”

Overseen by the Dean Rusk International Law Center, the Graduate Certificate in International Law is designed for UGA graduate students who seek to add an internationally focused legal dimension to their academic resume. Students from all academic disciplines are invited to apply to the certification program every fall semester for enrollment the following spring. Cohorts of up to 10 students are admitted.

The field of international law is inherently interdisciplinary, functioning as a space where subject matter experts, policymakers and lawyers work together to address the major policy and legal challenges of our time, according to Dean Rusk Center Interim Director Sarah Quinn.

“This certificate program provides aspiring subject matter experts and policymakers with the knowledge and skills to understand the laws, systems and actors within international law,” she added.

UGA FOUNDATION PARTNERSHIP Ten new funds to benefit students/faculty

The School of Law was pleased to join forces with individual donors and the UGA Foundation to create 10 new funds to benefit students and professors. These nine scholarships and one named professorship are helping the School of Law to redefine what it means to be a great national public law school – offering a world-class, hands-on, purpose-driven educational experience while never surrendering its commitment to accessibility.

School of Law graduates associated with the scholarship funds are:

• The late Judge Clarence D. Blount (LL.B.’50)

• Jonathan S. Hightower (J.D.’04) and his wife, Devon

• The late David E. Ralston (J.D.’80)

• Eric L. Roden (J.D.’12)

• F. Chase Simmons (J.D.’97)

• Reginald R. “Reggie” and Leigh M. Smith, both members of the Class of 1987

• Jason M. Tate (J.D.’04) and his wife, Amanda

• Valinda Barrett Wolfert (J.D.’84) and her husband, Steve

• Laura E. Woodson (J.D.’90)

The Jane W. Wilson Professorship in Business Law was initiated by an anonymous donor. It is designed to support scholars who are leaders in business law and who are engaged in a combination of teaching, research and public service.

“I want to thank the school’s graduates and friends for their support of these endowed funds that will make a legal education more affordable for scores of students well into the future as well as help attract and retain talented professors,” Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge said.

“I also want express gratitude to the UGA Foundation, under the leadership of Trustee Chair Neal J. Quirk Sr. (J.D.’87), and UGA President Jere W. Morehead (J.D.’80) for their support of these new funds and the law school’s vision,” he added.

Other key donations received this past academic year include:

• David G. Perryman (J.D.’86) and his wife, Kirsti, created a scholarship for students with a degree or background in biology, genetics, chemistry, neuroscience or similar area.

• Thomas J. “Tom” Harrold Jr. (J.D.’69) contributed to the International Law Student Development Endowment, which provides grants for international law summer experiences/fellowships.

• W. Pope Langdale III (J.D.’92) established a scholarship to benefit students from South Georgia.

• A U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia cy pres settlement paved the way for the creation of a Civics Education and Business Ethics Support Fund to help teach practical legal skills and topics to vulnerable community members.

APPELLATE LITIGATION CLINIC

Students argue before four federal courts

Throughout the 2022-23 academic year, the Appellate Litigation Clinic had oral argument five times before four appellate courts. Led by Director Thomas V. Burch, current students and recent graduates received several victories in their cases. Among them:

The clinic won its case Jordan v. State of Georgia before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Third-year student Roby A. Jernigan presented oral argument, and 2022 graduates Tinsley J. Stokes and Mark L. Bailey helped write the briefs The clinic’s client was stabbed 11 times by his cellmate while two officers watched from outside his door. The question raised was whether the officers violated Jordan’s Eighth Amendment rights by failing to prevent the attack and by failing to intervene once it started. The Eleventh Circuit Court remanded because the District Court granted summary judgment to the officers before they produced the incident reports. The Appellate Litigation Clinic obtained those reports on appeal, and they contained information that would have helped their client defend against the officers’ summary judgment motion.

A second win came from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Third-year student Noah C. Nix presented oral argument in Santiaguez v. Garland, a case in which the clinic’s client won deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture to prevent being sent back to his home country, where his brother was recently killed due to his sexual orientation. Assisting in writing the briefs were 2021 graduates Jared R. Allen and Olivia B. Hunter.

Additionally, the clinic secured a win for its client from the Georgia Court of Appeals and Georgia Supreme Court in the case Williams v. DeKalb County. The clinic’s client was challenging the county commission’s ability to give itself a pay increase and the commission’s compliance with the Open Meetings Act when passing the increase. The Court of Appeals remanded the Open Meetings Act claim but found that Williams did not have standing to challenge the pay increase. The clinic petitioned the Supreme Court to review

the standing ruling, and the Supreme Court granted its petition, vacated the Court of Appeals’ ruling, and remanded the case for reconsideration. The case was argued by 2022 graduate Roya Naghepour, with fellow graduate Dylan L. Maudlin co-writing the briefs. Notably, when Naghepour argued the case in February 2022, she became the first law student to present oral argument before the Georgia Court of Appeals.

The clinic also won one of its cases before the Board of Immigration Appeals. The clinic argued that their client received ineffective assistance of counsel by her original attorney, who did not share pertinent information regarding her case to the immigration judge. Now, with her proceedings reopened, she will be able to present the merits of her Convention Against Torture application and U-visa claim. Thirdyear students James C. “Caleb” Grant, Sarah Grace McCord, Miranda F. Rhodes and Akash P. Shaw helped write the brief.

Members of the clinic also argued before the Fourth, Fifth and Eleventh Circuits in other cases.

Grant argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in U.S. v. Andra Green. McCord helped write the briefs and assisted Grant in preparation for the argument.

Third-year student Jack K. Mahon presented oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The clinic’s clients were class action plaintiffs suing multiple law enforcement agencies. Nix and Jernigan helped him prepare, and second-year students Sian A. Mason and Anna E. Von Spakovsky provided research for the briefs.

Nix also argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Harris v. The Public Health Trust of Miami-Dade County. Courtney M. Hogan and Kirstiana A. Perryman, who graduated in 2022, helped prepare the briefs.

Editor’s note: The case before the Eleventh Circuit Court was pending at press time.

Third-year students Caleb Grant and Sarah Grace McCord at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit earlier this year.

Three national titles & key victory

National Title: Hunton Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship

Third-year students Nick Lewis (left), Courtney Robinson and Akash Shah (right) were named “best of the best” in the 2023 Hunton Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship. This invitation-only tournament is reserved for the top 16 moot court programs from law schools across the country based on performances from the previous academic year. With this victory, the School of Law now has three championship trophies at this prestigious courtroom competition. The other championship years were 2014 and 2019.

Back-to-Back National Titles: Top Gun National Mock Trial Competition

2023 graduate Nick Lewis won the Top Gun XIV National Mock Trial Competition and made history as no school has won this courtroom battle two times in a row. Fellow graduate Emily Johnson (sitting) served as Lewis’ co-chair/technical advisor in the invitation-only event for law schools that have excelled at mock trial competitions during the past year or otherwise distinguished themselves in their dedication to trial advocacy training.

National Title: LL.M. International Commercial & Investment Arbitration Moot Competition

UGA fielded two teams in the 10th LL.M. International Commercial & Investment Arbitration Moot Competition. Alexandra Lampe (left), John Omotunde and Tatyana Popovkina (right center) joined together to bring home the top trophy. Additionally, Olia Kaliuzhna (right), who competed on the second team representing the university, was selected the competition’s best oralist and Lampe was named as an honorable mention. Notably, this was the first year UGA competed in this tournament.

Regional Champions: American Association for Justice National Student Trial Advocacy Competition

Third-year student Marcus Lee (second from left) and second-year students Delaney Davis (left), Erika Love (right) and Shepherd Bridges won a regional title at the American Association for Justice National Student Trial Advocacy Competition.

Law School Life

Pin Point scholars meet with former U.S. deputy attorney general

Third-year student Tanner Huff (left), second-year student Hunter Payne and first-year student Ikram Ali Mohammed (right) spent some time with Sibley Professor in Corporate and Business Law Larry Thompson. Thompson has held positions in both the public and private sectors, including service as deputy attorney general of the United States as well as leadership roles with Pepsi and Volkswagen. All three students are Pin Point Scholarship recipients.

Students enjoy holiday with Judge Batten

Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Tim Batten (J.D.’84) hosted several students for the Thanksgiving holiday. Pictured together are (l. to r.) LL.M. students Jasur Ziyautdinov, Khatia Zukhubaia, Sasha Iordanova, Batten, Paige Batten, first-year student Sierra Hamilton and LL.M. students Tatyana Popovkina, Olia Kaliuzhna and Vlad Rudzinskyi.

UGA wins Legal Food Frenzy

The School of Law won the 2023 Law School Legal Food Frenzy this year, raising $10,064 (the equivalent of 40,246 meals), which was donated to the Northeast Georgia Food Bank to assist vulnerable individuals in Athens and its surrounding communities. This is the second time UGA has won this annual contest, which is championed by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (J.D.’99).

Above, Carr presents 2L Class President Jansen Killian (right) with the Attorney General’s Cup.

MASTER OF LAWS

Ukrainian lawyers find a home away from home

The Master of Laws degree offers an invaluable opportunity for foreigntrained lawyers to gain a deeper understanding of the U.S. legal system through a one-year program of study.

Oleksandra “Sasha” Iordanova, Olha “Olia” Kaliuzhna and Vladyslav “Vlad” Rudzinskyi – all from the country of Ukraine – found a home away from home in Athens as members of the 2022-23 LL.M. class.

“The Americans’ kindness and hospitality struck me as the most notable feature of this nation,” Rudzinskyi said, specifically pointing out the willingness of Americans to invite international students to their homes for holidays.

Kaliuzhna added, “It is hard to be a foreigner, you do not know how things work … I am grateful that I met people who were there every step of the way to help me figure things out.”

All three students were grateful for the warm welcome from the Athens community, as they agreed there is an aspect of loneliness to overcome when moving to a new country.

Iordanova noted that making American friends and connecting with professors helped her with adjusting to her new environment. “The LL.M. is definitely an international experience, during which you

don’t just study the law,” she said. “You learn a lot about the cultures, traditions, customs and legal systems of your colleagues.”

In addition to attending classes, the three students became a team and put their skills to the test at the LL.M. International Commercial & Investment Arbitration Moot Competition in March.

They said they were thankful for their time spent preparing with their coach Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge. The trio reached the semifinals, and Kaliuzhna was named best oralist of the tournament.

As for their plans after completing their LL.M. degrees, Kaliuzhna intends to transfer to the J.D. program to stay at UGA for two more years before practicing international arbitration law.

Iordanova is planning to work in the field of international commercial and investment arbitration. “It is my dream to work in a big law firm, handling complex international investment and commercial disputes, involving parties from different jurisdictions,” she said.

Rudzinskyi is also planning to transfer to the J.D. program after spending his summer working in the school’s Appellate Litigation Clinic. He looks forward to utilizing his new global connections. He said he has “met a lot of different people with different views” who will help him in his future legal career.

—Jordan Ross

Left: Dean Bo Rutledge (left) coaches Sasha Iordanova (left center), Olia Kaliuzhna and Vlad Rudzinskyi (right) for the LL.M. International Commercial & Investment Arbitration Moot Competition.

Above: Over winter break, (l. to r.) Olia Kaliuzhna, Vlad Rudzinskyi and Sasha Iordanova visited Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

Millie Price

MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE

Recent graduate Emily M. “Millie” Price was inspired to embark on a legal career after witnessing firsthand what life is like for incarcerated individuals.

While pursuing her undergraduate degree at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Price taught creative writing classes at the Arlington County Jail.

Price had many meaningful interactions while tutoring at the facility, but she was particularly moved by one participant in the program. One day during class, one of her students presented a 20-page business plan based on his future dreams to Price, who was studying finance and marketing at the time.

“I found that to be really motivating that – even here in these terrible conditions – he was thinking forward and wanting to get advice from me to be able to start something when he got out,” she said. “I always noticed the disparity between the warmth and happiness of our [incarcerated] students and the conditions they lived in, and it made me want to pursue law school.”

After earning her bachelor’s degree, Price moved to Providence, Rhode Island, to participate in a program for recent college graduates at Venture for America, a nonprofit focused on training young people to work for startups. After three years with the organization, she felt it was time to begin her legal education.

An Alpharetta, Georgia, native, Price returned to her home state to pursue her dream of helping people who were in similar situations to her former students at the Arlington County Jail. She was accepted to the School of Law and dove into the wealth of opportunities for aspiring public defenders at the law school.

Noah Nix

FINDING SUCCESS IN THE COURTROOM

Recent graduate Noah C. Nix was deeply involved in the School of Law’s varied offerings as he worked toward his dream of becoming a lawyer.

After graduating from Fordham University in 2018, Nix decided he wanted to attend law school to learn how to make a difference in civil rights issues that troubled him. He found the right fit at UGA and began his legal education in the fall of 2020.

Once in Athens, Nix sought involvement in activities around the law school and won the law school’s first-year closing argument competition. He also competed in the first-year moot court competition and completed the tournament as one of the top eight students. Due to this success, Nix was invited to join the moot court

For two semesters, Price was able to build relationships with individuals in Athens-Clarke County as she participated in the Criminal Defense Practicum. Led by former public defender and current Clinical Assistant Professor Elizabeth Taxel (J.D.’09), the program gave Price the chance to work directly with attorneys, visit clients in local jails and sit in on trials.

Price said it was invaluable to be taught by someone with experience in her desired career. She added that she has learned many essential skills from Taxel, such as how to perform a cross examination and conduct a preliminary hearing.

During her second-year summer, Price held the inaugural Bool Simkins Summer Fellowship, which is the law school’s largest annual public interest fellowship. She used the funding to work for the Eastern District of Virginia Office of the Federal Public Defender.

When back on campus, Price sharpened her skill set serving as the editor in chief of the Georgia Law Review, where she focused on creating a welcoming community.

“We’ve been working really hard to make [the Georgia Law Review] more accessible to new law students, especially for those who don’t come from a family background of lawyers,” Price said.

These experiences helped Price build connections with members of the law school and the Athens area. After a mainly virtual first year of law school due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these interactive opportunities were a meaningful part of Price’s experience. This engagement also solidified her career choice as she gained tactical practice in arguing in court and leading others.

Price is now serving as an assistant public defender in Seattle, Washington. “I wanted to be a public defender to fight a system that is broken,” she said, “and I think the most meaningful way to do that is by forging connections with clients.”

team during his second year.

As an upper-level law student, Nix continued to participate in advocacy competitions. In his third year, he and his classmate Nicholas R. “Nick” Lewis won the regional title at the National Trial Competition and earned a trip to the national championship, where the pair finished as a top10 team in the nation.

While participating in moot court was time consuming, Nix did not stop there. In fact, he said he was inspired to explore more opportunities and enrolled in the school’s Appellate Litigation Clinic, which quickly became a standout activity for him.

Michael Reynolds

TAKING A NEW PATH

As a military veteran, recent law school graduate and father, Michael S. Reynolds is motivated by his desire to be a positive role model to his children.

Reynolds, who served 13 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, said he was drawn to the School of Law because of its exceptional support for student veterans. His decision was further solidified by the receipt of a Veterans Distinguished Law Fellowship and a Weathersby Family Scholarship.

Reynolds medically retired from military service in 2017 and began to pursue a new chapter in his life with higher education. After earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston, he began law school in 2020.

While his family remained in Texas, Reynolds came to Athens and began balancing school with his personal life. A significant part of Reynolds’ law school experience has been the assistance provided by his service dog, Olive.

“Olive comes with me everywhere,” he said. “She comes to class with me, as well as to my jobs and even to negotiation competitions.”

Reynolds joked that Olive may have attended more classes than some law students.

Even though he traveled to see his family regularly, Reynolds was able to participate in a variety of experiences in Athens and Atlanta while earning his degree. During his first summer of law school, Reynolds worked as a fellow for the Veterans Legal Clinic.

“Being able to have a paying job while helping other veterans at the

[Veterans Legal Clinic] was an amazing experience,” he said. “It was an eye-opening [moment] in terms of how to intake clients and hear their stories.”

Reynolds said he also learned essential legal skills through his participation on the law school’s negotiation competition team. Although he did not possess much extra time as a “non-traditional student,” he said the negotiation team was a valuable addition to his education as he learned about a variety of legal issues and traveled to tournaments, including the Tulane Professional Basketball Negotiation Competition in New Orleans.

In his second year of law school, Reynolds had an externship at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough in Atlanta.

“Through that externship and the hard work, I was able to land a job,” Reynolds said. “Having the position at Nelson Mullins gave me that foot in the door needed for a huge opportunity I may not have gotten without my externship.”

While he is proud of earning his law degree and securing a full-time position as a mergers and acquisitions associate at Nelson Mullins, Reynolds said his proudest accomplishment will always be serving as a father of four. He said it was very special to be able to relate to his daughter as they applied to attend college at the same time. They talked to each other about their experiences and worked together on ways to be successful in their respective academic programs.

“Going back to school has been a great way for me to set a really positive example for my children,” he said. “I wish I could tell you I earned some huge award but, really, helping my kids understand that if you set goals you can achieve them [was the award]. By allowing them to see their dad do just that has been a huge part of my educational journey.”

Editor’s note: A photo of Reynolds with his dog, Olive, can be seen at advocate.law.uga.edu.

“The [Appellate Litigation] Clinic represents real clients in real appeals around the country,” he said. “It has been my favorite and most rewarding experience in law school.”

Nix argued before two federal courts while participating in the clinic. The first argument occurred in September 2022 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the case Santiaguez v. Garland. The second case, Harris v. The Public Health Trust of Miami-Dade County, was argued in January 2023 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He won the first case and said the clinic’s client was “released instead of being deported to a life-threatening situation.” Note: The outcome in the second case was pending at press time.

Nix’s advocacy experience also earned him an invite to the Order of the Barristers during his final semester of law school.

Through his participation in the law school’s advocacy program as well as his work with the Appellate Litigation Clinic, Nix said he wants to pursue a career in appellate litigation.

“I love the process of preparing for and arguing appeals. I enjoy talking about the law with incredibly smart people with different perspectives from my own while brainstorming arguments,” he said. “What excites me about appellate litigation is the prospect of correcting a wrong from the trial court and, perhaps most of all, the opportunity to develop or reshape the law.”

His first steps toward that goal are his judicial clerkships, both in appellate courts. He is currently clerking for the Colorado Supreme Court. The following year, Nix will clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Nix said he is excited about these new judicial experiences and how they will help him achieve his ultimate career goal of becoming a household name in the appellate space. “I will do a lot of legal research and legal writing [in the clerkships],” he said. “These skills are an appellate lawyer’s bread and butter, so it will be great training.”

—All profiles by Jordan Ross

CLASS OF

2023 COMMENCEMENT

Classmates (l. to r.) Samantha Luzader, Megan Tappan, Alina Salgado and Emily Crowell are excited for the big day. Photo by Grad Images.

Jonah Chadwick Griego celebrates after crossing the stage.

1987 alumnus Brian Cain (right) and his wife, Kim, are all smiles with Cain Family Scholar Raymond Molina. Cain, who served as the 2022–23 Law School Association president, delivered an inspirational message to graduates during the ceremony. Photo by Dennis McDaniel.

During the ceremony, Class of 2023 Student Bar Association President Alex Hammock paid tribute to four classmates – Katelyn M. Brooks, Sam Davis Bergsagel, Ellen Elizabeth Scott and Caleb William Thompson – who had passed away. Photo by Dennis McDaniel.

Jones encourages navigating careers with care

The School of Law’s 2023 commencement ceremony featured U.S. District Judge for the Northern District Steve C. Jones as its keynote speaker, and he encouraged the new graduates to navigate their legal careers with caring hearts.

“About 100 years ago I attended and graduated from this law school,” joked Jones, a 1987 graduate, adding more seriously that “I consider that one of the greatest opportunities I’ve had in my life.”

He congratulated the graduates on finishing their legal journey and noted their futures are bright.

“You will be the future justices, judges, great lawyers, law deans, law professors and teachers, administrators, as well as appointed and elected officials,” he said. “You will be successful … you will find that being an attorney is an honor. It will fulfill your dreams and bring a lot of joy to you.”

However, being a lawyer will come with challenges, Jones noted. He recounted the struggles of lawyers through the years and asked why lawyers would sometimes subject themselves to abuse and hostility.

“It was because they cared about people and the effect [the law] would have on them,” Jones said. “They cared about helping people.”

Jones encouraged the new graduates to give their best to their clients.

“Today as new lawyers you must care about people and helping them. Your success will not necessarily hinge on what of kind car you drive or whether you get the corner office in the building but whether you made a positive difference in someone’s life,” he said.

He said that, as lawyers, each graduate would have to make tough decisions throughout his or her career but choosing to care about others would always be the right answer.

“The public depends on us to be lighthouses to provide the light to guide them to safe ports. You’ll never find a lighthouse down in a valley,” he said. “It always stands tall on a hill. As lawyers, we stand tall. A good lighthouse lets its light shine all the time, in good times, in bad times. It weathers the storm. As lawyers, people will come to you at the darkest times in their lives. They will need you to be that lighthouse to guide them to the justice that America offers.”

In closing he reminded the audience of the importance of the law and lawyers.

“The law is the foundation on which America is built. As judges and lawyers, we are the protectors of that foundation,” he said. “It is a privilege that you must respect, and be thankful to have the opportunity to be a lawyer.”

Top: Master in the Study of Law candidates (l. to r.) Nhi Hylton, Eunsik Kang, Chana Martin, Tiara McRae and Jaquarius Raglin are ready for the ceremony to begin. Photo by Grad Images.

Above: Celebrating the end of law school are (l. to r.) Blake Heyer, Brian Subin, Michael Lehmann and Ben Marcus. Photo by Grad Images.

Below: Husband and wife, Joshua Allen (at piano) and Nasreena Ali-Allen, performed the national anthem for their classmates during Commencement. Photo by Grad Images.

Photo by Grad Images.

Former federal judge gives Sibley Lecture

Former Judge J. Michael Luttig delivered the 121st Sibley Lecture, which focused on the topic “American Democracy in Peril.”

During the lecture, Luttig encouraged a revival for the Constitution and the rule of law.

“To whom do we turn, when our political leaders have failed us?” he asked. “Well, the answer lies in the first seven words of the Constitution, written by the prophets of our nation – we turn to ourselves, to we the people of the United States. Perhaps it is fitting that we ourselves must come to the aid of our struggling America.”

He encouraged members of the audience to “begin talking with each other again as allies and friends, not as mortal enemies” and to “refocus more on the much that matters that we have agreed upon and [that] unites us and focus less on the comparatively little of importance that we disagree upon and [that] disunites us today.”

Luttig served as a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006. Prior to his service on the bench, he was assistant counsel to President Ronald Reagan, served as assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice under President George H.W. Bush and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger and then-Judge Antonin Scalia.

Since stepping down from the bench, he has held private sector positions with Boeing and Coca-Cola.

The Sibley Lecture Series, established in 1964 by the Charles Loridans Foundation of Atlanta in tribute to the late John A. Sibley, is designed to attract outstanding legal scholars of national prominence to the School of Law. Sibley was a 1911 graduate of the law school.

Deputy attorney general serves as Edith House Lecturer

Lisa O. Monaco, the deputy attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice, served as the School of Law’s 2022 Edith House Lecturer.

This virtual event was moderated by second-year student Madison D. Tucker and third-year student Kate J. Grier, the president and vice president of the law school’s chapter of the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers, respectively.

During the conversation, Monaco touched on several topics ranging from her current role to working in the federal government, and she encouraged attendees to expose themselves to different types of people and different types of work.

“I think it’s great if you have an interest or a passion in a particular area of the law … but I also think you shouldn’t limit your horizons,” she said. “Don’t artificially narrow what you’re looking at in potential goals and potential opportunities. … Right now I think for folks who are in law school or who are graduating soon – and early on in your career – I think it’s much more important who you’re working with and for than what you are working on.”

Monaco is the 39th deputy attorney general of the United States. In this role, she is the department’s second-ranking official and is responsible for the overall supervision of the department. She serves as the chief operating officer, and the department’s litigating and policy components, law enforcement agencies and more than 90 U.S. attorneys report to her. She also advises and assists the attorney general in formulating and implementing the department’s policies and programs.

The Edith House Lecture is sponsored by the UGA Chapter of the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers in honor of one of the first female graduates of the School of Law. House, a native of Winder, Georgia, was co-valedictorian of the law class of 1925, the first to graduate women.

Two dozen jurists connect with students in and out of the classroom

Connecting students with jurists provides a unique and valuable learning experience for School of Law students. During the 2022–23 academic year, 24 members of the judiciary visited Athens for a variety of events.

The School of Law hosted the Georgia Court of Appeals in September, during which time the court heard oral arguments in four cases involving ineffective assistance of counsel, the scope of discovery, the TV Act and service of process by substituted service. Making the trip to Athens were law school graduates Presiding Judge Christopher J. McFadden (J.D.’85), Judge Elizabeth Gobeil (J.D.’95) and Judge Benjamin A. Land (J.D.’92).

Additionally, Harold D. Melton (J.D.’91), who was previously the chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, continued to serve as the law school’s Carl E. Sanders Scholar in Political Leadership. He taught a spring 2023 seminar titled Representing the State.

Several other judges visited the UGA campus to participate in events, judge moot or mock trial competitions or serve as guest speakers for classes.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit: Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit: Judge Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. and former Judge J. Michael Luttig

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit: Judge Elizabeth L. “Lisa” Branch and Judge Jill A. Pryor

U.S. District Court of New Jersey: Judge Zahid N. Quraishi

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia: Chief Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. (J.D.’84), Judge Steve C. Jones (J.D.’87), Senior Judge Richard W. “Rick” Story (J.D.’78) and Magistrate Judge Christopher C. Bly

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia: Tilman E. “Tripp” Self (J.D.’97)

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia: Magistrate Judge Benjamin W. Cheesbro (J.D.’10)

Supreme Court of Georgia: Presiding Justice Nels S.D. Peterson, Justice Andrew A. Pinson (J.D.’08), Justice Sarah Hawkins Warren and former Chief Justice David S. Nahmias

Athens Clarke-County Superior Court: Chief Judge Eric Norris

Three serve as jurists in residence

During the 2022–23 academic year, three members of the judiciary served as visiting instructors through the law school’s jurists in residence programs.

U.S. Court of Appeals Judge for the Eleventh Circuit Britt C. Grant and U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Georgia William M. “Billy” Ray III (J.D.’90) both served as Edenfield Jurists in Residence. Grant taught a course titled Standing and Ray instructed students on Judges and Politics.

The B. Avant Edenfield Jurist in Residence program gives law students an opportunity to learn from federal judges in a series of mini-courses. Made possible by a contribution from Allen W. Yee (J.D.’03), a former clerk of the late Edenfield, the initiative enables one or more Article III judges to spend some time at the School of Law each year. Edenfield was a longtime federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia who earned both his bachelor’s and Juris Doctor degrees from UGA.

Additionally, Georgia Supreme Court Justice Verda M. Colvin (J.D.’90) served as the 2023 Hines Jurist in Residence. She taught a course titled Persuading the Judge and the Jury, and she presented a lecture titled “Leadership

in the 21st Century and Beyond: Where are the Lawyers?”

The law school established The Be Kind Fund, in memory of the late Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice P. Harris Hines, in 2019. The fund’s title is based on a frequent mantra of the late justice – “Be Kind” – and annually sponsors the Hines Jurist in Residence, as well as funds scholarships and provides semester/summer fellowship grants for law students.

Colvin also presented UGA’s 2023 Hunter-Holmes Lecture, which is named in honor of Hamilton Holmes Sr. and Charlayne Hunter-Gault, the first African American students to attend the University of Georgia. The lecture is sponsored by the Office of the President and focuses on race relations, civil rights and education.

Georgia Supreme Court Justice Verda Colvin (J.D.’90) presents UGA’s 2023 HunterHolmes Lecture. Photo by UGA Marketing and Communications.

DEAN RUSK INTERNATIONAL LAW CENTER

Programming drives school’s highest international law ranking

Earlier this year, the School of Law was counted among the top 15 international law programs in the country by U.S. News & World Report This is a high mark previously achieved in 2019.

The school’s influence in international law can be traced to the center’s 2022-23 leadership team of Melissa J. “MJ” Durkee – associate dean for international programs, Post Professor and director of the center; Diane Marie Amann – Regents’ Professor of International Law, holder of the Woodruff Chair and faculty co-director of the Rusk Center; and Harlan Grant Cohen – Wilner/UGA Foundation Professor and faculty co-director of the center.

Chief among the Rusk Center’s activities this past academic year was The Law of Global Economic Statecraft conference held during October. Organized by Cohen, with the assistance of the Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law and the International Law Society, this full-day symposium brought together subject matter experts to discuss the weaponization of economic sanctions and to explore this practice in historical, political and legal contexts.

The center also hosted a series of space law speakers who shared their insights on space law fundamentals, contemporary space governance, space law’s past and future, and the regulation of space junk. As a follow on to the series, the school held a Space Junk Hackathon, in which five teams of J.D., LL.M., M.S.L. and Graduate Certificate in International Law students spent a Saturday seeking solutions for the debris that litters outer space.

The school furthered its partnerships with the American Society of International, the International Law Association and the Atlanta International Arbitration Society. Durkee, Amann and Cohen were active participants in the 117th ASIL Annual Meeting, which was also attended by four law students thanks to the school’s Louis B. Sohn professional development grants. International Law Weekend, celebrating ILA’s centennial last fall, was chaired by Durkee. And, in the spring, UGA hosted AtlAS’ annual lecture titled “The Psychology of Persuasion in

International Arbitration,” which was delivered by King & Spalding Partner R. Doak Bishop.

Representing the largest class in more than one decade, 23 foreigntrained lawyers came to Athens for the 2022-23 academic year to earn a Master of Laws. These legal professionals hailed from 15 countries, including Ukraine. More than half of the group possessed two-plus years of practice experience, eight already held advanced law degrees and two were Fulbright Scholars.

UGA Law students remain excited about international experiences. A hallmark offering is the law school’s ongoing partnership with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In the fall of 2022, third-year student Collin Douglas worked in the Supreme Allied Command Transformation Office of the Legal Advisor located in Virginia. Presently, the school is scheduled to send another student to NATO during the spring 2024 semester.

This past summer, 15 students secured Global Externships in public and private law placements in Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bermuda, Estonia, Germany, India, New Zealand, Romania and Tunisia. And, 13 law students and four Graduate Certificate in International Law students traveled to Belgium and The Netherlands to participate in the Global Governance Summer School, which will provide them with three academic credit hours toward their degrees. This program is done in partnership with KU Leuven’s Centre for Global Governance Studies.

In January, the School of Law proudly announced a new exchange program with O.P. Jindal Global University’s law school, a top-ranked school in India and South Asia. UGA will host its first two Jindal students this fall, and the school intends to send one to two students to Sonipat for the 2024 spring semester.

Quinn named interim leader

On June 1, Sarah Quinn became the interim director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center due to the departure of Melissa J. “MJ” Durkee, former associate dean for international programs and Post Professor. Quinn, who joined the School of Law in 2019, had been serving as the associate director for global practice preparation. She was instrumental in developing the school’s partnership with India’s Jindal Global University and establishing the Graduate Certificate in International Law. Prior to joining the law school, Quinn worked with the UGA Office of Global Engagement and the U.S. Peace Corps in addition to serving as a director for the American School Language Institute in Morocco.

She earned her B.A., B.F.A. and M.I.P. from UGA and her ED.M. from Harvard University.

Waller becomes president of NALP

During April, Assistant Dean for Career Development Anthony E. “Tony” Waller (J.D.’93) (right) became the president of NALP (the National Association for Law Placement), an international association of over 3,000 legal career professionals who advise law students, lawyers, law offices and law schools. Of note, he is the first person from the state of Georgia to serve in this leadership capacity in more than two decades. Handing him the presidential gavel is 2022–23 NALP President Karl Riehl of Epstein Becker and Green’s New York City office. Photo by

Students organize four conferences

This academic year, student-run conferences brought a variety of scholars and legal professionals to campus to examine a range of timely issues.

The Georgia Criminal Law Review symposium titled “Confronting Contemporary Criminal Justice in Georgia: A Dialogue Addressing Conviction Integrity, Domestic Violence, and the Death Penalty” featured an opening presentation by Associate Professor Sarah Shannon and fiscal analyst Holly Lynde, who both work at UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government, as well as three panels.

The Georgia Law Review’s annual conference focused on the intersection of law and technology and offered three panel discussions as well as a joint keynote address delivered by Roy Hadley (J.D.’88), board chair of the Technology Association of Georgia Information Security Society, and Matthew Grocoff (J.D.’92), founder of THRIVE Collaborative and a member of the Salient Energy Advisory Board. “Art with a Capital A(i)” was the topic discussed at the Journal of Intellectual Property Law symposium. The event featured the law school’s Associate Professor Jonathan Peters and Associate Director for Research and Copyright Services Stephen Wolfson in addition to Seyfarth Shaw Partner Lauren Gregory Leipold and Georgia Museum of Art Curator Jeffrey Richmond-Moll.

The Red Clay Conference, which is organized annually by the Environmental Law Association student group, was titled “Climate Change Innovation: Stakeholders and Tools.” The Peter Appel Honorary Keynote Lecturer was Regents’ Professor Marilyn A. Brown from the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Public Policy.

Brown appointed assistant dean

Xavier R. Brown was appointed assistant dean for admissions, diversity and inclusion & strategic initiatives during the 2022–23 academic year. A member of the School of Law’s admissions team for six years, he now oversees the law school’s entire admissions process for the Juris Doctor and Master in the Study of Law programs. His diversity and inclusion portfolio involves work with faculty, staff, students and alumni/alumnae relating to academic support, recruitment and community outreach.

Previously, he was the law school’s chief architect of institutional recruitment strategies and played a valuable role in managing progress toward annual enrollment objectives, developing marketing strategies and working on diversity and inclusion programming.

Brown earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Georgia Southern University before coming to UGA and earning his law degree in 2017.

Headrick named leader of advancement

Jeremy Headrick assumed leadership of the School of Law’s advancement office last fall. As senior director, he oversees the school’s efforts for growing private support that will ensure a strong future for the law school.

He joined the School of Law in 2014 and previously served as the school’s director of major gifts, prospect management & strategic planning. Before coming to the law school, Headrick served as the associate director of development for UGA’s College of Pharmacy, where he managed the college’s annual fund and all aspects of working with constituents to secure major gifts and other financial support.

Headrick earned both his Bachelor of Arts in English and Master of Education from UGA, where he was a First Honor Graduate and Presidential Scholar, respectively.

Richard Mitchell at Richard Mitchell Photography.

NEW PROFESSORS

Serviansky creates ADR graduate program

Daniel S. Serviansky serves as the faculty director of the law school’s new Graduate Program in Alternative Dispute Resolution, which offers opportunities to specialize in ADR through the school’s Master in the Study of Law as well as through a graduate certificate. He also teaches Business Negotiations and coaches the school’s negotiation team.

He came to UGA last fall from Columbia Law School, where he taught the Negotiation Workshop as an adjunct lecturer-in-law and served as a coach, and as a coaches’ coach, in the Mediation Clinic.

His ADR experience ranges from work involving court-annexed mediations in trial and family courts to private disputes among business partners and conflicts in the workplace. He has successfully mediated cases in both English and Spanish.

He also negotiated deals and resolved disputes for more than one decade as a partner in a real estate investment and consulting group.

Serviansky earned his B.A. in history, with distinction, from Yale University and his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

Thompson to lead Land Conservation Clinic

Steffney R. Thompson joined the School of Law faculty in the spring. She will lead the new Land Conservation Clinic (a refocused version of the Environmental Practicum). The clinic will be an interdisciplinary collaboration between the law school and UGA’s Odum School of Ecology working at the nexus of law, science and policy to support and expand conservation efforts across Georgia and the Southeast.

Thompson brings a wealth of experience in conservation law to campus. She worked for the Oconee River Land Trust for approximately 25 years, initially as the land conservation coordinator before becoming the executive director in 2003. Under her leadership, the Oconee River Land Trust expanded the land conservation and stewardship program to more than 43,000 acres and negotiated over 200 conservation easements.

She has also taught classes at the law school and in UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources and served three years as a research assistant at UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government.

Thompson earned her bachelor’s degree with high distinction and her law degree magna cum laude from the University of Arizona.

Murphy becomes instructor

Coming to UGA in the fall of 2022, Patricia M. “Trish” Murphy serves as an instructor leading the courses Georgia Family Law, ADR in the Workplace and 1L Lawyering.

Previously she worked at the Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire in Savannah for eight years, most recently serving as director of family law services. In 2022, she served as an assistant Juvenile Court judge and a Superior Court hearing officer for Chatham County, Georgia.

Murphy is a registered civil and domestic mediator and is registered in specialized domestic violence. She is also a lead trainer with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution for civil and domestic mediation training.

From 2008 to 2015, Murphy operated her own law firm, specializing in high profile, large asset, long-term marriages and family law case mediation. Her other legal experience includes work in Savannah at Howard & Whatley; McCorkle, Pedigo & Johnson and the McCallar Law Firm.

Murphy obtained her bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Central Florida and her law degree from Mercer University.

FACULTY LEADERS

Phillips-Sawyer named inaugural holder of the Wilson Professorship

Associate Professor Laura Phillips-Sawyer has been named the inaugural holder of the Jane W. Wilson Professorship in Business Law. Phillips-Sawyer, who joined the UGA faculty in 2020, is an expert in U.S. antitrust law and policy. Broadly, she is interested in how and why economic regulation changes over time. Before joining UGA, she was an assistant professor at the Harvard Business School.

Chapman promoted to full professor

Holder of the Pope F. Brock Professorship, Nathan S. Chapman has been awarded the rank of full professor.

Chapman, who joined the School of Law faculty in 2013, teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, federal courts, religious liberty and ethics.

His scholarship focuses on the historical and theoretical underpinnings of constitutional law, especially the law of religious liberty and due process. He is the coauthor of Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Promotes Religious Pluralism and Protects Freedom of Conscience, which is forthcoming from the Oxford University Press (with M.W. McConnell). Since 2020, he has published articles in the Journal of Law and Religion, the Florida Law Review, the Pepperdine Law Review and the Notre Dame Law Review. He has also written several chapters and essays on Christianity and the law.

Chapman delivered recent presentations as part of the Oxford University Faculty of Law’s Programme on Foundations of Law and Constitutional Government and at the University of Notre Dame and St. John’s University.

He also holds a McDonald Distinguished Fellowship of Law and Religion at the Emory Center for Law and Religion. Previously, he was a Nootbaar Fellow in Law and Religion at the Pepperdine School of Law.

Recognized by law students on several occasions, Chapman has received both the Ellington Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Brown Professionalism Award and has served as a graduation faculty marshal.

She is the author of American Fair Trade: Proprietary Capitalism, Corporatism, and the ‘New Competition,’ 1890–1940 (Cambridge University Press, 2018). More recently, she has published in two leading journals: “Restructuring American Antitrust Law: Institutionalist Economics and the Antitrust Labor Immunity, 1890–1940s” in the University of Chicago Law Review (2022) and “Voting Trusts and Antitrust: Rethinking the Role of Shareholder Rights and Private Litigation in Public Regulation, 1880s to 1930s” in the Law & History Review (2021) (with N. Lamoreaux). Phillips-Sawyer has published in other top journals, including the Business History Review, the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia on American History

She teaches Antitrust Law as well as a new course, Antimonopoly and American Democracy, in the school’s undergraduate minor – Law, Jurisprudence, and the State. This new class, which is also offered as an Economics major elective, was made possible by a generous grant from the Stanton Foundation.

Phillips-Sawyer holds courtesy appointments in UGA’s Economics Department and History Department. She has also taught courses offered by UGA’s Honors College, Terry College of Business and Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

The Wilson Professorship in Business Law was established by an anonymous donor in memory of Jane W. Wilson, a domestic violence victim.

Evans awarded promotion

Rachel Evans, who serves as the Alexander Campbell King Law Library’s metadata services and special collections librarian, has been promoted to librarian III.

She is responsible for the discoverability of library resources, maintenance of the library’s information platforms, and management of the archives and special collections. Since her last promotion she has overseen the library’s transition of electronic resources to OpenAthens authentication. She has also managed multiple grants to digitize the library’s historical treatise, photograph and audio-visual collections. In 2022, she spearheaded a metadata harvesting partnership with the Digital Library of Georgia that is ongoing.

Evans has published in nationally recognized professional magazines and journals, including Computers in Libraries, Library Journal, the Journal of New Librarianship and the AALL Spectrum. She also presents frequently at state, regional and national conferences. In the last two years she has been invited to speak on leadership panels for the Digital Commons, Teaching the Teacher and Computers in Libraries conferences.

FACULTY LEADERS

Dennis remains authority on raps lyrics as evidence

Andrea L. Dennis, the coauthor of Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America (The New Press, 2019) continues to be an authority on the use of rap music evidence in criminal cases.

Rap on Trial, written with University of Richmond Professor Erik Nielson, has received national and international attention. Courts and media nationwide have cited their research. Also, their work has spurred legislative proposals in several states and Congress.

In 2022, Dennis published “Schoolhouse Rap” addressing K-12 student discipline for rap music in the peer-reviewed journal Popular Music

She participated last fall in the “Narrating Rap/Narrating Law” conference, a two-day symposium hosted by the University of Virginia Sound Justice Lab and inspired by Rap on Trial. The event featured academics, lawyers, artists and journalists reflecting on the issue of rap music being used as evidence. Locally, in February 2023, she presented on an ACLU of Georgia and Inner-City Muslim Action Network panel titled “Rap on Trial: A Discussion on Free Speech and Racial Justice.”

Dennis currently serves as the law school’s associate dean for faculty development and holds its Martin Chair of Law. A member of the law school faculty since 2010, the student body honored her in 2021 with the O’Byrne Memorial Award for Significant Contributions Furthering Student-Faculty Relations and selection as a graduation faculty marshal.

West selected as Knight Institute visiting scholar

Brumby Distinguished Professor in First Amendment Law Sonja R. West will join the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University as a visiting senior research scholar for the 2023–24 academic year.

She will work with the University of Utah’s RonNell Andersen Jones to “explore how law and policy can better protect journalism and core press functions in the United States.” The pair will engage scholars and practitioners in law, media studies, technology, history and political science in a series of regional workshops and blog posts, leading up to a major symposium on the “contours and future of press freedom” to be held spring 2024.

West was also recognized with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Harry W. Stonecipher Award for Distinguished Research on Media Law and Policy for her article titled “The U.S. Supreme Court’s Characterizations of the Press: An Empirical Study.” The article was co-authored with Andersen Jones and published in the North Carolina Law Review. Notably, this is West’s second time to receive the Stonecipher Award. The first was in 2017.

Specializing in constitutional law, media law and the U.S. Supreme Court, West’s scholarship has been published in numerous law reviews and journals including the Harvard Law Review, the California Law Review, the UCLA Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, the Northwestern Law Review and the Washington & Lee Law Review.

A former judicial clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, West joined the School of Law faculty in 2006. Her Brumby Professorship is a faculty position that is shared by the law school and UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Students recognize faculty and staff

Kent Barnett – Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Hosch Professor – Graduation Faculty Marshal

Nathan S. Chapman – Brock Professor – C. Ronald Ellington Award for Excellence in Teaching, Lonnie T. Brown, Jr. Professionalism Award and Graduation Faculty Marshal

Jean Goetz Mangan (J.D.’11) – Legal Writing Instructor – Carol A. Watson Award for Outstanding Legal Research or Writing Instructor

Christine M. Scartz (J.D.’94) – Clinical Associate Professor & Jane W. Wilson Family Justice Clinic Director – Eleanor C. Lanier Award for Excellence in Clinical Education

David E. Shipley – Georgia Athletic Association Professor –John C. O’Byrne Memorial Award for Significant Contributions Furthering Student-Faculty Relations

Amanda J. Fox (J.D.’14) – Associate Director of Student Services & First Start Coordinator – Student Bar Association Award for Outstanding Staff Member

Orford secures grantrelated projects

Assistant Professor Adam D. Orford – who came to UGA in 2021 and teaches in the areas of environmental law, climate change law, and renewable energy law and policy – is an active contributor to a number of grant-related projects.

He is the lead principal investigator of the Georgia element of the National Zoning Atlas project, which is a nationwide undertaking that aims to depict key aspects of all U.S. zoning codes in an online, user-friendly map. It will enable comparisons across jurisdictions, illuminate regional and statewide trends, and strengthen national planning for housing production, transportation infrastructure and climate response. The national project has received financial support from multiple organizations.

In coordination with the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium and UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government, Orford organized and hosted a Blue Carbon Law Symposium this spring that examined the emerging legal and policy issues in coastal and marine carbon sequestration and management, with funding courtesy of the National Sea Grant Law Foundation and private donors.

Orford, as a co-principal investigator, has joined several ongoing grant proposal teams with collaborators across campus, including an initiative to assess legal and policy barriers to transport electrification in the Southeast, a group seeking digital humanities support for the National Zoning Atlas, and a multi-university initiative to create a center to study emerging negative emissions technologies.

His scholarship has appeared in the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, the Georgetown Environmental Law Review, the Georgia State University Law Review, the UC Law SF Environmental Law Journal and the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. He was also selected to present forthcoming work at the 2023 Sabin Colloquium for Innovative Climate Law Scholarship at Columbia Law School.

School unveils portrait memorializing first Black graduate

In October, the School of Law unveiled the portrait of its first Black graduate, the late Chester C. Davenport, and the painting now hangs in the law school’s iconic rotunda that bears his name.

“Today we honor the first,” Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge said at the event. “When future students following in Chester’s footsteps enter these halls for the first time, they [will] forever see Chester’s name. They [will] forever see Chester’s portrait. They [will] forever know that they belong here just like Chester did and just like Chester does now.”

In addition to the law school community, members of the Davenport family, including Chester’s daughter, CeCe, attended the unveiling.

“It’s very interesting to think about, not only the legacy that he left from his life and his professional career, but just thinking about him as a father,” CeCe Davenport said. “I was so fortunate to have not only a trailblazer but to have someone who was … my toughest critic and my fiercest advocate.”

She encouraged those in attendance to continue her father’s legacy. “Stand up for yourself and stand up for others,” she said. “Keep being trailblazers in your own way.”

Davenport, who passed away in 2020, graduated from the School of Law in 1966 after remaining its only Black student during his three years at UGA. A native of Athens, he finished in the top 5% of his class and served as a founding member of the editorial board of the Georgia Law Review

After graduation he became an attorney in the tax division of the U.S. Department of Justice, served as a legislative assistant for California Sen. Alan Cranston and went on to be a part of President Jimmy Carter’s transition team before receiving an appointment as an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Davenport’s 50-year-plus career included key roles in the banking, finance, telecommunications, transportation and energy sectors.

Law students Tia Brown, Celina Cotton, Jessica Davis, David Howell, Jordan Jackson, Erika Love, Garfield McIntyre, Natalya Moody, Justin Nixon, Akilah Parker, Julian Rheams and Cori Robinson pose with Chester Davenport’s daughter CeCe (center in burgundy) and her uncle, Reginald Willis, in front of the portrait.

Law school recognizes four for their service

The School of Law honored four of its graduates for their service during the school’s Awards Dinner at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia this spring.

Nancy E. Rafuse, Gregory L. “Greg” Roseboro and Marlan B. Wilbanks received the law school alumni/alumnae association’s highest honor – the Distinguished Service Scroll Award – for their outstanding dedication and service to the legal profession and the law school. Additionally, David B. Dove was presented with the Young Alumni/ Alumnae of Excellence Award.

Rafuse, a 1991 alumna, currently serves as a counselor in residence at the School of Law teaching the courses Employment Discrimination, and Wage-and-Hour Law and Litigation. She is also a member of the law school’s Board of Visitors.

She practiced employment law for approximately 30 years, most recently as an equity partner at Seyfarth Shaw in Atlanta, where her national labor and employment practice included Fortune 100 clients and large private employers. She also worked at the law firm Polsinelli from 2014 to 2019, during which time she opened the firm’s Atlanta office in 2014 and managed it for three years. In her last two years at Polsinelli, she served as the firm’s labor and employment department chair and represented clients in high profile class and collective actions.

Her award was presented to her by her sister, Patty Urban.

Roseboro is a former assistant dean and currently an adjunct professor at the School of Law, where he continues to teach the course Race and the Law.

A 1987 graduate, Roseboro worked for nearly 30 years in admissions at the law school, most recently serving as assistant dean for admissions, diversity and inclusion & strategic initiatives. His work in the area of diversity and inclusion involved liaising with faculty, staff, students and alumni/alumnae. He also served as an adviser for student organizations including the Davenport-Benham Black Law Students Association, the Asian Law Students Association, the Hispanic Law Students Association and OUTLaw. Roseboro joined the law school’s staff in 1994 as assistant director of admissions, student affairs and

legal career services. He managed the entire J.D. admissions operation from 2015 to 2022.

Roseboro’s award was presented by law school 1987 classmate Sherry L. Jackson-Ellison.

Wilbanks, a 1986 alumnus, has for more than 25 years specialized in representing whistleblowers who file lawsuits when taxpayers have been defrauded by individuals or large corporations. As a practicing attorney in Atlanta with Wilbanks & Gouinlock, he has recovered more than $2 billion. In recognition of this work, he has been named National Lawyer of the Year and, in 2022, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Taxpayers Against Fraud, which is the largest body of its kind in the United States.

Wilbanks is very active in numerous organizations dedicated to protecting and representing abused children. He founded the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic at the School of Law – the first of its kind in the nation – in 2016. He also currently serves as the chairman of the law school’s Board of Visitors.

His award was presented by law school 1986 classmate Dan H. Willoughby Jr.

Dove, a 2014 graduate of the law school, currently serves as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s executive counsel. In this role, he has worked with the attorney general’s office to secure landmark victories in the TriState Water Wars and has marshaled Kemp’s nominations, resulting in the most diverse group of judicial appointments in Georgia history. He also has worked with Kemp to increase the representation of women and minorities on executive branch boards and commissions. Additionally, he serves as one of four Georgia commissioners on the Uniform Law Commission. He is also vice chair of the UGA School of Public & International Affairs Alumni Board and a member of the Law School Alumni Council.

Previously, Dove was the director of Kemp’s gubernatorial transition committee and worked as an attorney with Robbins Alloy Belinfante Littlefield.

Dove’s award was presented by Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge.

Dean Bo Rutledge (center) poses with award winners (l. to r.) David Dove (J.D.’14), Greg Roseboro (J.D.’87), Nancy Rafuse (J.D.’91) and Marlan Wilbanks (J.D.’86). Photo by Justin Evans.

YVETTE K. DANIELS

Known for a passion for policy, mentorship and relationshipbuilding, Yvette K. Daniels (J.D.’89) recently completed her term as the leader of the University of Georgia Alumni Association Board of Directors. She became the organization’s first Black woman president in July 2021 when she began her two-year term.

Her vision for the association included three actions for every member of the Bulldog Nation. “I hope we get to do more connecting, more engaging, and let’s create that legacy that each of us wants for our alma mater – this great school, the University of Georgia,” she said in a video at the beginning of her presidency.

At a time when the world was starting to emerge from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she invited folks to come back to campus, to engage with students and to help alumni/alumnae who felt disconnected. She also asked fellow Bulldogs to share their UGA stories with her, and she was richly rewarded during her 24 months of service.

One of her last acts as the 77th president of the association was speaking at the spring 2023 UGA undergraduate commencement ceremony, where she said it had been her greatest honor to serve the university.

As she welcomed the newest graduates to the UGA alumni/ alumnae family she said, “This family is 350,000 strong and no matter the road you took to Athens, the path you forged on campus or where your journey takes you, we are here for you –year-round, worldwide and lifelong. …. Your alumni association honors and celebrates [key moments like the back-to-back winning of the College Football Playoff National Championship and others] every day as we bring alumni together.”

She concluded by stating: “[I]t’s true, when you leave campus you will find that friendships continue and strangers proudly wear the G and greet each other at the airport. … You’ll find more than 80 alumni chapters ready to welcome you back to your hometown or to an entirely new city. There are no dues to be a part of our family, and we are ready to support you in the next chapter you are in. … Go Dawgs!”

During the ceremony, UGA President Jere W. Morehead (J.D.’80) recognized Daniels as a constant supporter of the university as well as her membership on the Alumni Association Board of Directors since 2015. “We appreciate her outstanding service and her unwavering commitment to her alma mater,” he said, adding that the “support and assistance of alumni are essential to the continued quest for excellence at the University of Georgia.”

Daniels, a Double Dawg and native Atlantan, currently serves as the deputy director of workforce management at the Georgia Department of Public Health. Her work involves overseeing university relations, employee engagement, worksite wellness and other special projects.

Previously she was a division director of health promotion at the GDPH and held lobbying and leadership positions at the Georgia Department of Community Health and the Georgia Department of Human Resources. After graduating from the School of Law, she worked as an assistant state attorney in Florida for more than six years.

Encouraging UGA connections GRADUATE PROFILES

Daniels has said that some of the best advice she has ever received includes: Always do your best, be excellent and be kind.

Last fall she was the recipient of a UGA Blue Key Service Award, which is reserved for distinguished individuals who have made a major contribution to UGA, the state and nation.

Sources: UGA Marketing and Communications and UGA Development and Alumni Relations

Photo by UGA Development and Alumni Relations

THE ANONYMOUS DONOR Changing lives behind the scenes

Each year, the Advocate publishes profiles of members of the School of Law community, sharing who they are and how they have made an impact in their communities as legal leaders. One type of individual is often left out of the spotlight – the Anonymous Donor.

Who is the Anonymous Donor?

The Anonymous Donor works in big law, in small firms or as a solo practitioner. She prosecutes cases in a small town. He is a public defender in a big city. She works in corporate law. He leads a nonprofit agency or works for the government. She lives in Atlanta. He lives in Vidalia or perhaps across the country. She is a third-generation lawyer. He is the first in his family to earn a college degree. The Anonymous Donor is a Double Dawg or someone who earned an undergraduate degree from another SEC school or conference or even a university without a football team.

The Anonymous Donor understands how a gift can change the lives and experiences of those currently in law school or looking to attend UGA Law in the future. She knows that a high-quality, affordable education is a great catalyst for upward economic and social mobility.

The Anonymous Donor makes gifts to support the law school’s First-Generation Scholarship Matching Fund and motivates others to also aid those who are the first in their families to attend college. He recognizes that students in this cohort can benefit not just from financial aid but from access to bar preparation assistance, from networking opportunities and from emotional and community support.

The Anonymous Donor recognizes that a contribution to the Veterans Legal Clinic, which offers assistance to Georgia veterans with claims before the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, can fund more initiatives to benefit those who served in the military. The donor knows that supporting law students who served in the military is just one more way the School of Law ensures a legal education is accessible to all who seek it.

The Anonymous Donor has had a successful business or legal career and honors a life cut short with the establishment of the Jane W. Wilson Professorship in Business Law. The donor

also chooses other ways to memorialize Wilson – a victim of domestic violence – with a $1 million pledge to support the School of Law’s Family Justice Clinic that now bears her name and to create the Jane W. Wilson Distinguished Law Fellowship.

The Anonymous Donor makes a gift to honor a faculty member who served the School of Law for more than 40 years, acknowledging the important role that world-class scholars and professors have on a student’s legal education.

The Anonymous Donor supports the Distinguished Law Fellowships offered at the School of Law, recognizing graduates who have become legal leaders in their respective fields.

The Anonymous Donor makes donations to the law school with a reminder that the most important people in one’s life may not be those who advance legal careers but rather an individual who one meets at a certain time in life who leaves a long-lasting impact on one’s worldview.

The Anonymous Donor makes a planned gift to leave a lasting legacy at the law school.

Most of all, the Anonymous Donor is appreciated and valued. Through relationships like these, the School of Law is able to help produce the next generation of legal leaders as part of its mission to redefine what it means to be a great national public law school.

Thank you, Anonymous Donor.

The Anonymous Donor understands how a gift can change the lives and experiences of those currently in law school or looking to attend UGA Law in the future.

HENRY G. GARRARD III

Doing the right thing

Washington, Georgia, native Henry G. Garrard III learned lessons at the School of Law that he has taken with him throughout his career and strives to share with others.

Garrard, a shareholder with the Athens-based firm Blasingame, Burch, Garrard & Ashley, recalled that one of his professors offered sage advice to the 1970 Double Dawg that still resonates with him today.

“He impressed on me to always protect your integrity and that if you ever, ever lose your integrity or let it be compromised you can’t get it back, and I think that has stayed with me as much as anything else,” Garrard said.

After graduating from the School of Law, Garrard served in the U.S. Air Force from 1971 to 1975. As a judge advocate, he quickly gained experience in the courtroom, trying more than 100 cases — including murders, forgeries, assaults, thefts and AWOLs. One case in particular involved the prosecution of a man who shot multiple people in a base hospital, killing three and seriously wounding four.

“I convicted him,” he said. “That was a pivotal case because it was a big case, but it was also pivotal in that we tried the case for 59 straight days, seven days a week, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The entire time my wife and I were under armed guard, so that gets your attention.”

Ultimately his years in the Air Force were a tremendous learning opportunity for Garrard, and in 1975 he returned to Athens and began his career in the Classic City, continuing to uphold his integrity.

Since then, as a personal injury and plaintiffs’ litigation lawyer, he has handled a wide variety of cases, and several of them are memorable examples of Garrard doing what he felt was right.

Garrard represented the defense in one of the largest class action suits to take place in federal court in Texas – Cinimo v. Raymark Industries – that involved more than 2,000 claimants. While the case did not end the way Garrard hoped, “it was a cutting-edge trial that led me into ultimately doing a lot of litigation with large groups of cases,” he said.

In 2005, he was approached by three women who had been injured after a medical procedure. After reviewing their cases, Garrard said he felt it was not an instance of malpractice but rather a flaw in the mesh medical device being used.

He called the doctor who had performed the procedures on the women and explained he thought the case was a product liability matter, then asked if the doctor would be willing to speak with him. The doctor agreed and offered an interesting reason why – Garrard’s honesty.

Years prior Garrard had sued him, but as the case evolved he had decided the doctor did not belong in it and dismissed him. Garrard noted that if he had treated that doctor differently he may have been unwilling to work with him later. Ultimately the doctor connected Garrard to 32 individuals who had been injured by the faulty product.

Over the course of the case, Garrard began representing women across the United States, serving as co-lead counsel for all of the transvaginal mesh multidistrict litigation mass accumulation, eventually involving more than 100,000 individuals.

“I’m proud to say that through the work I’ve been part of I’ve gotten a significant number of bad devices off the market,” he said. Garrard also recalled representing a woman who worked in the Georgia prison system. She slipped at work and was burned by a harsh cleaning substance on the floor. The woman struggled to find a lawyer who would take her case and with 30 days before her statute of limitations ran out, Garrard agreed to take it on but worried he would be unable to help her.

“I said I probably can’t win your case. I probably can’t do much with it, but I’m going to try,” he said. In the end, he was successful and the woman was awarded more than $1 million.

“I have been so proud of that, that I did something I thought was the right thing to do and really and truly didn’t think I could succeed,” he said.

In each of these cases, Garrard’s sense of right and wrong ultimately led to favorable outcomes.

“It’s an overriding thing in my mind,” he said. “Always protect your integrity. Always treat people the right way and it makes a difference.”

Garrard also pays this lesson forward when speaking to incoming students at the School of Law.

He said he encourages the lawyers-to-be to “seek out mentors who will help you learn how to do things right and never ever forget the difference between right and wrong.

“I hope people watch me and identify that there are right ways to do things and there are wrong ways to do things, and I have always tried to do things the right way and maybe that has some influence on people,” he said.

Editor’s note: This summer, the School of Law honored Garrard and his wife, Carolyn, by naming Hirsch Hall’s second-floor patio after the couple.

Students and alums network at Lunar New Year Banquet

A group of law school students attended the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s Lunar New Year Banquet in February, connecting with alumni/alumnae and other members of the legal community, including judges, elected officials and lawyers from a variety of organizations.

Law School Life

Law school, colleagues honor U.S. District Court judge

In March, the School of Law recognized Senior U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Georgia Rick Story (J.D.’78) for his contributions to the legal field and support of the law school. Story (back row, second from right) posed for a photo with his family after friends and colleagues had an opportunity to share stories about the jurist, who recently had the Judge Richard W. (Rick) Story Scholarship Fund established in his honor.

Graduates recognized at university awards ceremonies

The university’s Alumni Association presented UGA Foundation Chair Neal Quirk (J.D.’87) (left) with the 2023 Alumni Merit Award, which is the group’s oldest and highest honor and recognizes outstanding leadership and service to the university, the community, and his profession. Additionally, UGA Alumni Association President Yvette Daniels (J.D.’89) and U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Georgia Billy Ray (J.D.’90) were honored with Blue Key Service Awards for their major contributions to the university, the state and nation.