Memphis Law | Spring/Summer 2024

President

Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer

Michele Ehrhart

Dean

Katharine T. Schaffzin

Executive Editor Ryan Jones

Photography Wendy Adams Ryan Jones

Art Direction and Design Department of Marketing and Communications

901.678.2421

memphis.edu/law

To submit story ideas, letters to the editor, alumni updates or for other ML-related inquiries, please contact executive editor Ryan Jones at rjones1@memphis.edu.

8 A Memphis Law Rendezvous: John Vergos (’73), Ellen Vergos (’76) and Anna Vergos Blair (’10)

By Ryan Jones

Photography by Wendy Adams

Around Memphis, the Vergos family name is synonymous with BBQ, specifically the world-famous Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous in downtown Memphis. But decades of having local attorneys, judges and members of the legal community as customers must have rubbed off on the family, because three of the esteemed Vergos clan all decided to attend the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law to become attorneys. John, his wife Ellen and their daughter Anna all graced the halls of Memphis Law over the years. Two of them ultimately found their way back to running one of the world’s most famous restaurants, while the other went on to become a legal industry all-star.

16 A Legal Legacy: The Impact of Memphis Law's First Leading

Lady

By Ryan Jones

Photography by Wendy Adams

There may have been no one well-suited and better prepared to assume the mantle of Dean of the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law than Katharine T. Schaffzin. As she ends her deanship to return to teaching, we examine how she came into the role, the unique opportunities that prepared her along the way, how she battled through the pandemic and times of national civic unrest and still found success along the way.

24 Law School Renaissance Man: Tarik J.

Terry, Class of 2024

By Ryan Jones

Photography by Wendy Adams

Tarik Terry is everywhere you look at the law school. He’s the media editor on Vol. 54 of the University of Memphis Law Review; an Associate Justice on the Honor Council; a student-attorney in our Neighborhood Preservation Clinic; a member of the National Semifinalist third place Duberstein Bankruptcy Team; and recently received a prestigious Fellowship with the University of Texas Law Nonprofit Organizations Institute. In short, he’s the modern-day law school renaissance man, a student with a wide variety of interests who excels in all of them.

30 Protecting the Park: When Shelby Farms Was Saved by a Law Student

By Ryan Jones

Photography by Wendy Adams

Fifty years ago, a Memphis Law student named John Vergos, alongside Memphis legal legend Lucius Burch and others, spearheaded the effort to stop the sale of Shelby Farms to private developers.

Years later, it has become one of the greatest urban parks in the country thanks to the efforts of Vergos and his team. The story of the park and its preservation is yet another shining example of the success of grassroots environmental activism in Memphis.

Reimagining the Herff Chair of Excellence By

Ryan Jones

Several years ago, Dean Katharine Schaffzin re-envisioned what the longstanding Herff Chair of Excellence at Memphis Law could become. Since then, the new “visiting Chair” model has seen the law school welcome four different scholars who brought some of the most innovative and energizing ideas to their work at Memphis Law. This is a look at each of our Visiting Herff Chairs of Excellence so far and the work they’ve done while at the law school.

Dear Memphis Law students, faculty, staff and alumni,

As you know, after six years of service as the first woman to hold the office, this will be my last letter as dean to our great community. I hope it has been apparent through my actions and our relationships that every decision I have made as dean was intended in the best interests of Memphis Law students and the law school itself. It has been an honor for me to serve this law school community, of which I have been a member for the past fifteen years. I have done all that I can do to build our academic program within available resources, and I am hopeful that my successor can build on our strong foundation to continue leading Memphis Law into the future.

I am proud of the accomplishments we have achieved together and feel especially honored to be the first woman to serve as dean of Memphis Law. I have consistently focused my work on advancing three overarching themes and believe that we have made great progress toward each: championing student success; fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion; and embracing educational innovation. In the past six years, we have completed the circle of offering academic success programming at every stage of our curriculum, from extended orientation through the bar examination. We have led the University and the legal community in offering educational programming on cultural competence, while rising to the top as a national leader among law schools in graduating African American lawyers. And within the past six years, we have cultivated the professional development of our faculty to increase knowledge and use of educational technology by 100%. Through consistent and intentional admissions practices, the incoming profile of our 1L class has steadily improved in the past six years, returning to a median LSAT not seen since the class entering in 2011.

It has been my great privilege to contribute to the University of Memphis, Memphis Law and the greater Memphis legal community through my

service as dean. I have worked diligently to grow relationships and bring Memphis Law and the University of Memphis closer together. I am hopeful that those relationships will help to advance the interests of the law school.

It is difficult to express the enormity of my thanks to the faculty, previous deans and staff of Memphis Law for their talent and dedication to the success of our students. No other law school can boast a faculty with the gifted and experienced teachers comprising that at Memphis Law. We have challenged each other throughout my term as dean, to the benefit of our students and law school. This amazing faculty is supported by a staff of incomparable dedication. Memphis Law staff go above and beyond to serve our community daily, often without sufficient resources, compensation or recognition. I have been amazed every day for the past six years by the level of education and service Memphis Law provides to constituents within available resources. It has been my pleasure to work alongside them.

I have great confidence in the potential of Memphis Law. I will miss working so closely with our amazing faculty, devoted staff, community partners, enthusiastic alumni, brilliant deans and dedicated leaders. I look forward to again working more closely with the students who inspire everything I do when I return to the classroom to prepare our students for the rigors of practice. I know that bright days are ahead thanks to the work of so many talented people. I hope that you will maintain your commitment to building on the strong foundation of Memphis Law.

Go Tigers!

Dean Katharine T. Schaffzin

News + Events

2024 LAW REVIEW SYMPOSIUM

The University of Memphis Law Review hosted its 2024 Symposium entitled “The Path of Least Resistance: How Marginalized Communities Are Targeted by Harmful Infrastructure and Land Uses,” in February. The event explored a variety of issues, including water access, housing, wastewater and other infrastructure impacting the well-being of communities. Additionally, the group of individuals who worked first-hand to stop the Byhalia Pipeline Project in South Memphis participated in the symposium, highlighting the importance of advocacy in this area of law. The informative and engaging event featured speakers and participants from a variety of law schools, law firms, political and advocacy groups, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Southern Environmental Law Center.

THE NEW VOICES IN CRIMINAL LAW

Memphis Law’s Visiting Herff Chair of Excellence, Professor Stephen Galoob, presented the "New Voices in Criminal Law Symposium" in the Spring. The symposium presented cutting-edge researching regarding criminal law and the criminal legal system. Featured panels presented emerging legal scholars research, with commentary by some of the leading criminal legal scholars in the world.

Emerging Voices

• Jorge Camacho, Clinical Lecturer in Law, Associate Research Scholar in Law, and Policing, Law, and Policy Director of the Justice Collaboratory, Yale Law School

• Justin Brooks, Clerk for Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and PhD candidate in Government Department at Harvard University

• Kat Albrecht, Assistant Professor in Department of Criminal Law and Criminology in Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University and CJARS Fellow

• Alexandra Fay, Richard M. Milanovich Fellow at UCLA Law

• Daniel Friedman, Visiting Assistant Professor at Villanova School of Law and PhD candidate in History Department at University of California-Berkeley

Commentators

• G. Alex Sinha, Associate Professor of Law at Maurice A. Deane School of Law, Hofstra University

• Alice Ristroph, Dean’s Research Scholar and Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School

• Catherine Grosso, Professor of Law, Michigan State University College of Law

• Seth Davis, Professor of Law at University of California, Berkeley School of Law

• Sara Mayeux, Associate Professor of Law and History and FedEx Research Professor at Vanderbilt University

TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT HEARS CASES AT MEMPHIS LAW

The Tennessee Supreme Court heard three cases at Memphis Law in April, giving Memphis Law students an incredible opportunity to witness the state’s highest court in action.

Additionally, the Court held an open discussion with law school students in the school’s Wade Auditorium, which concluded with a brief presentation to retiring Chief Justice Robert Page (JD ’84). Additionally, the University of Memphis Alumni Association’s Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law chapter presented Justice Page with a plaque commemorating his time on the bench and recognizing his years of dedicated service.

TENNESSEE COURT OF APPEALS AT MEMPHIS LAW

The Tennessee Court of Appeals heard three cases in the law school’s Historic Courtroom in February, giving Memphis Law students a valuable and insightful opportunity to attend these hearings and hear oral arguments in-person. A four-judge panel – Judge J. Steven Stafford, Judge Arnold B. Goldin, Judge Carma Dennis McGee and Judge Kenny W. Armstrong – heard three cases in a room filled to capacity with law students and law school community members. The cases were (1) Trezevant v. Trezevant, (2) Franklin v. City of Memphis, and (3) Welch v. Oaktree Health and Rehab Center, LLC.

Memphis Law alumni were representative attorneys in each case, on both the defendant and plaintiff sides, with two of the four Court of Appeals judges also hailing from the University of Memphis School of Law.

MEMPHIS LAW GARNERS PRELAW MAGAZINE ACCOLADES

The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law was once again (for the FIFTH time) ranked No. 1 on PreLaw magazine’s list of BEST Law School Buildings in the nation in their Winter 2024 issue. Memphis Law was also named as one of the Most Diverse Law Schools, with a specific designation as a “Best Law School for Black Law Students,” Top 10 ranking (10th). Even more, the law school was listed as a “Best Law School for Trial Advocacy,” with an A- rating amongst all law schools and placing in the Top 35.

NEW SHOW CAUSE EPISODES

Several new episodes of the law school’s podcast, Show Cause, were released this spring.

Episode 20 - Space Law — Protecting the Final Frontier: This episode focused on Space Tourism, the massive and rapidly growing space industry, and ways to protect & preserve the natural and cultural heritage of space.

Episode 19 – The Community Legal Center Celebrates 30 Years: Celebrating one of Memphis’ most important nonprofit legal services providers, this episode also highlights the long term partnership between CLC and the law school.

Episode 18 – Marginalized Communities & Harmful Infrastructure: A primer for the 2024 Law Review Symposium, this episode features special guests Ashlie Gozikowski, Law Review Symposium Editor, and Sarah Stuart from Burch, Porter, and Johnson.

Episode 17 – Protecting the Public – Rahimi, Guns, and the Test of History: This episode delves into the recent U.S. Supreme Court Case in U.S. v. Rahimi, the first major Second Amendment case that the Court has taken up since its notorious decision in summer 2023 in the case of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.

ABIGAIL WEISS HIRED AS EVERYTOWN LEGAL FELLOW AT MEMPHIS LAW

Earlier this spring, Abigail Weiss joined Memphis Law as the law school's first ever Everytown Legal Fellow, a result of our new partnership with Everytown Law.

EXPUNGEMENT CLINIC MAKING AN IMPACT IN FIRST YEAR

This academic year saw the launch of a new legal clinic at Memphis Law. The law school proudly started the region’s first Expungement and Restoration of Rights Clinic in the Fall semester. Led by director and adjunct professor Amber Floyd, the clinic is staffed with law students who assist clients with legal needs arising from the collateral consequences of prior arrests and convictions.

In its successful first semester of work, clinic students assisted 18 clients with cost waivers last semester. The total amount of court costs waived was $79,218.08. These court cost waivers helped individuals get their driver's license reinstated as well as allowed them to obtain expungements for criminal cases. Additionally, clinic students prepared and entered over 100 expungement orders for non-conviction and diversion cases.

ADVOCACY TEAMS WINNING AT REGIONAL

AND NATIONAL LEVELS

This year saw Memphis Law’s advocacy teams continue to find success at both the regional and national levels.

The law school’s National Moot Court Competition team were national finalists, winning 2nd place at the 74th Annual National Moot Court Competition held in January in New York City at the New York Bar Association. Coached by Barbara Kritchevsky, the national finalist team was made up of Thomas Fletcher, Kelsey McClain and Derrick Shawver. McClain won the Best Brief Award and was named runner-up Best Oralist in the final round.

The Memphis Law Duberstein Bankruptcy Travel Team found great success at both their respective regional and national competitions.

The Duberstein team secured a Top 3 finish at the 32nd Annual Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition earlier this spring at St. Johns University School of Law. The team of Elizabeth Hunt and Tarik J. Terry beat 50 other law schools and 100 competitors in route to the third place finish nationally.

They were also named regional champions, winning first place in the Sixth Circuit’s Shapero Cup Regional Duberstein Competition in February. The law school fielded two teams in the competition, with the team of Alexandra Nabity, Carson Klepzig and Alton Smith winning first place and the team of Elizabeth Hunt, Tarik Terry and Olivia Cox making it to the semifinal round.

Additionally, Alexadra Nabity won the award for Best Oral Advocate.

The teams were coached by Memphis Law alumna Eliza Jones.

This year’s National Trial Team consisting of Peyton Barrow (3L), Annika Rush (3L), Kelsey McClain (3L), Cody Tolbert (3L), Ciana Charity (2L) and Mary Cano (2L), made it to the final round of regionals in the spring at the National Trial Competition in Birmingham. The team was coached by Brigid Welsh, Ashley Finch Moore and Faith Watson.

The Thurgood Marshall Moot Court Team advanced to the National Finals after finishing third in the southern regional competition. The team also won best brief in the region. The competitors were Iasia Peoples and Derrick Ransom. The team was coached by Jarrett Spence.

The Constance Baker Mottley Mock Trial Team also competed in the regional competition. The team members were Ian Reddick, Imani Bruce, Alfred Dyson and Tony Self. Patrick Hillard was the coach.

EVERYTOWN LAW PARTNERS WITH MEMPHIS LAW

Everytown Law, the largest and most experienced team of litigators in the U.S. working full-time on advancing gun violence prevention in the courts, announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with the University of Memphis School of Law to fund the creation of an innovative clinical position to support pediatric victims of gun violence last fall.

The University of Memphis School of Law, through the support of a grant provided by the Everytown Law Fund, established an Everytown Legal Fellow at the law school who supervises between eight and ten law students working at the law school’s Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) Clinic at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.

The Everytown Legal Fellow and law students enrolled in the MLP clinic serve the immediate civil legal needs of victims and their families. Cases cover a wide range of issues, including housing relocation, domestic violence and firearm surrender matters.

LAW SCHOOL CLASS REUNIONS

Several Memphis Law Classes have plans for Class Reunions in the works. The University of Memphis School of Law 2024 Reunion Weekend is currently being planned for a weekend sometime between mid-September to mid-October. Tentative plans consist of an all-classes cocktail party one night, followed by individual class dinners on the following night. More plans on currently being developed.

Class Reunion Chairs and Committee members of the respective 10-year classes that will be celebrating reunions this year are as follows:

• Class of 1974: David Wade, Chair; John Cannon; Judge Butch Childers; Tim Discenza; Judge Arnold Goldin; Bruce Smith

• Class of 1984: Paul Lawler, Chair; Nan Barlow; Barbaralette Davis; Joe Getz; Judge Gina Higgins; Judge Weber McCraw; Justice Roger Page

• Class of 1994: Jon Lakey, Chair: Lee Blalack; Brad Box; Glynna Christian; Stephen Hall; Lorna McClusky; Mark Messler; Mary Jo Miller; Richard Mincer; Donna Snow; Shea Wellford

• Class of 2004: Erin Shea, Chair; Clay Culpepper; Suzanne Culpepper; Chandley Crawford; Brent Gray; Jennifer Hobson; Angela Hoover; Charles Mitchell

• Class of 2014: Rett Hixson, Chair; Naya Bedini; James Cobb; Wesley Fox; Charles Gilbreath; Michael Kapellas; Emma Redden; Megan Lane Warden

Any law school alumni interested in serving on a committee can reach out to Judge Diana Vescovo at diane.vescovo@gmail.com

LAW REVIEW STUDENTS EXCELLING EXTERNALLY

Several members of the University of Memphis Law Review have achieved notable external accomplishments this academic year.

Alexis Hivner, research editor for Volume 54, recently had her article titled “The Music Industry Sues Internet Archive: Does the Digitization of Vintage Records Provide Access or Induce Infringement?” published in the Winter Edition of Volume 40 of the ABA’s Entertainment & Sports Lawyer publication.

Olivia Cox, Vol. 54 Articles Editor, had her note, "Closing the Bridge from Prescription to Addiction: How a Federal Statute Can Save the Effects of (Un)Controlled Substances amid the Opioid Crisis," published in Vol. 30 of the University of Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law Online.

Additionally, Law Review members Alexis Hivner, Annika Rush and Carson Klepzig, co-authored the article, “Perspectives on Jurisprudence: Law Students on Navigating the Age of Artificial Intelligence in Legal Education and Practice,” which was published in the Memphis Bar Association’s magazine, Memphis Lawyer earlier this spring.

Finally, Tarik Terry, media editor for Volume 54 of the University of Memphis Law Review, received a prestigious Fellowship with the University of Texas Law Nonprofit Organizations Institute in the Spring semester. As part of his student fellowship, he and the other Fellows from around the country were invited to attend the 41st Annual Nonprofit Organizations Institute and Workshop in Austin, Texas, where they were able to receive mentorship and networking opportunities with legal and nonprofit professionals from across the country.

A MEMPHIS LAW

JOHN VERGOS (’73), ELLEN VERGOS (’76) AND ANNA VERGOS BLAIR (’10)

By Ryan Jones

Around Memphis, the Vergos family name is synonymous with BBQ, specifically the world-famous Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous in downtown Memphis. But decades of having local attorneys, judges and members of the legal community as customers must have rubbed off on the family, because three of the esteemed Vergos clan all decided to attend the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law to become attorneys. John, his wife Ellen and their daughter Anna all graced the halls of Memphis Law over the years. Two of them ultimately found their way back to running one of the world’s most famous restaurants, while the other is a Memphis legal industry all-star.

BY

PHOTOS

WENDY ADAMS

JOHN VERGOS (’73)

Aside from his four years in Texas for his undergraduate degree, John has lived in Memphis his entire life.

After law school, he practiced for 14 years before coming back to the family restaurant business at the Rendezvous. But as he tells it, he’s worked on and off at the restaurant since he was old enough to wash dishes and bus tables. He served two terms on the Memphis City Council (19962004) and is former Chairman of the Memphis Area Transit Board of Commissioners, on which he served from 2009-2020. He was also the founding Chairman of the Penal Farm for Public Use Committee, which saved Shelby Farms from being sold for private development in the early 1970s. Today you can find him running things at the Rendezvous alongside his daughters Anna and Katherine, as well as his sister Tina.

ELLEN VERGOS (’76)

An established legal industry all-star, Ellen has practiced law since 1976. She served as a law clerk for District Judge Harry W. Wellford while he presided on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, and then worked as an associate with the Nashville firm of Farris, Warfield & Kanaday. She was also a partner at the law firm of Waring Cox for 15 years and a partner at Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs from 2007-2014. Additionally, she was twice appointed by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to serve as the United States Trustee to oversee the administration of bankruptcy cases in Kentucky and Tennessee. She has served as president of the Tennessee Lawyers' Association for Women, as a board member for the Memphis Bar Association and the Mid-South Commercial Law Institute, as an Assistant Bar Examiner on the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners, and as a member of the Hearing Committee for the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility. She was named a fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation in 1996, served for years as a member of the Shelby County Health Care Board and participates in civic and volunteer work in organizations that promote education and career opportunities for girls and women.

ANNA VERGOS BLAIR (’10)

Anna grew up at the Rendezvous, but she’s carried on the tradition of being an attorney started by her parents. In law school, she served on the University of Memphis Law Review as an Articles Editor; and, upon graduation in 2010, began a federal clerkship with the Hon. S. Thomas Anderson, U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee. She then joined the Memphis law firm of Burch, Porter & Johnson as an associate, where she focused on general civil litigation. But it wasn’t long until the family business came calling again and she returned to the Rendezvous in 2015. Her dad credits the women in the family for pushing the restaurant forward and she’s no exception. She helps handle any business decisions, as well as anything with legal, insurance, marketing, accounting and really anything else that keeps the business running smoothly. She has helped move things forward in other regards too, as she was instrumental in getting the alley cleaned up by the entrance and having murals painted around the alley and outdoor eating area. She’s overseen the addition of vegetarian items and local beers to the menu and adding curbside service as well. Somehow, she and her sister have also found time to open up another local business that’s quickly become an instant classic for the next generation of Memphians in The Art Project, a destination art studio for creative kids and their very thankful families located in Overton Square.

A LEGAL

LEGACY

The Impact of Memphis Law’s First Leading Lady

BY RYAN JONES

Outgoing Dean Katharine T. Schaffzin purposefully set herself on the path to leadership years ago and knocked down every barrier on her way to becoming the first woman to serve as Dean of Memphis Law.

She came into the position in 2018 with a clear, three-fold vision. First, to support and advance student success; second, to foster an inclusive environment and help diversify the legal profession; and third, to embrace educational innovations.

As she steps down from her deanship to dedicate herself back to the classroom and her academic work at the law school, it’s an opportune time to take an in-depth look at her path to the deanship and the many ways that Memphis Law is poised for success going forward.

See It To Be It

“I always knew that I would be an attorney.”

That’s a bold statement from someone who was a first-generation college graduate from a proud, blue-collar upbringing in Philadelphia.

True to her word, Schaffzin attended Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia for her JD and LLM and went straight into private practice, specializing in construction litigation.

“I went into construction litigation because my father was a pipefitter,” Schaffzin noted.

“And as a woman in that field, I knew I could use being underestimated to my advantage. And I was able to do that successfully.”

But one of those fortuitous things that you never see coming happened while she was finding success in private practice.

Like many young professionals, she started thinking about how she could help younger generations succeed. That’s how she came to coach a high school mock trial team in Philadelphia.

It was a real example, and probably my first exposure to the idea, of ‘You’ve got to see it to be it. ’” “

“While I was still in practice, I started coaching the trial team at Franklin Learning Center in Philadelphia and we went on to win several city championships and made it to the state competition,” she said. “It was such an amazing experience.”

“There were kids on our team who were signed up only to get a free after-school meal. They were not there because they had any interest in becoming lawyers.”

“And yet, every year we consistently turned them into mock attorneys who performed amazingly and argued evidentiary objections very well,” Schaffzin noted.

But mock performances aside, one other thing made a transformational impact on her.

“On Saturday mornings, we would meet at my law firm on the 28th floor of a building in downtown Philadelphia,” Schaffzin recalled. “It was just transformational to help them see their home in a new light and watch them grasp that there were opportunities available to them in places they never thought they’d be.”

“It was wonderfully inspirational to have kids that were not even thinking about going to college eventually ask me to write letters of recommendation for them,” she said.

“It was a real example, and probably my first exposure to the idea, of ‘You’ve got to see it to be it,’” Schaffzin recalled.

That was the spark she needed to start developing a plan to become a law professor.

“I didn’t know how to become a law professor as a lawyer, so the first thing I did was apply for federal clerkships,” she noted.

After completing her clerkship with the Honorable James Knoll Gardner in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, she enrolled in an LLM program on legal education at Temple University, which was specifically designed to transform legal practitioners into law professors. After completing the program, she accepted a job as an assistant professor at the University of North Dakota Law School in Grand Forks, North Dakota in 2006.

Quite the lifestyle and location change.

“That’s what it takes to become a law professor,” she said. “You have to be willing to go anywhere in the country, wherever the job may be.”

Walking In(To) Memphis (Law)

After three years in North Dakota, Schaffzin and her family moved to Memphis for an assistant professor position at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

She quickly moved up the ranks, going from assistant professor to a tenured associate professor of law, and then onto a full professor of law, all while raising her two children with her husband in their newly adopted hometown.

After several years, she learned that the University had begun offering a “Provost Fellowship,” intended to give a faculty member a taste of what higher education administration entailed.

That was the first step along an intentional road to leadership.

Not long after the Provost’s Fellowship concluded, she saw another opportunity to serve in an esteemed administrative leadership position and seized it. The University of Memphis Board of Trustees had just been formed. She was elected by the University faculty to serve on the inaugural board.

“That was a tremendous honor and I learned so much about higher education in that experience,” Schaffzin said.

“It was the growth that I needed for my next steps,” she said. “The fire for academic administration had been lit in me.”

And she took that fire right back to the law school, placing herself in a position to use all she’d learned to the law school’s advantage.

The opportunity soon arose to become Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the law school. In that position she was charged with administering the academic program, including putting together the curriculum and scheduling and staffing it accordingly.

“It was really great for building a foundation to become Dean because I came to understand the educational

pedagogy that each of my fellow faculty members really ascribed to,” she noted.

Then in 2018, she stepped into the Dean's Office asfirst woman to lead the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

Leading The Law School

Dean Schaffzin knew very well the challenges facing her as the new Dean. It was a unique time for Memphis Law but there was perhaps no one better prepared to lead it through the rough seas than her.

Law schools were coming up with new policies, and sharing them with one another, quicker than their larger universities were able to.”

By defining the groundwork for her tenure as dean, she felt the law school could fulfill its potential.

Things had lined up well for a successful start. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived.

The Pandemic Shutdown

While it did not seem like a positive at the time, this crisis presented an opportunity to gain a lot of ground on one of the key components of her vision. Educational and technological innovations were about to get kicked into high gear because of the pandemic, and the law school was better prepared than most.

“I thought that the embrace of educational innovations would be where I received the most pushback,” Schaffzin said. “I assumed it would be the most challenging area, but it was the one we made the most immediate progress on because COVID gave us no other options.”

The American Bar Association (ABA) has always had many requirements for law schools, when it comes to educating students, many of which are different than those of their larger Universities. Law schools across the nation were scrambling at the beginning of COVID to ensure they were keeping students and employees safe, while also adhering to in-person requirements and other regulations set forth by the ABA.

Law school deans, including Dean Schaffzin, across the country met remotely on a weekly basis to discuss how to navigate things.

“Law schools were coming up with new policies, and sharing them with one another, quicker than their larger universities were able to,” she said. “I really think that law schools were helping to drive overall COVID policies because we were comparing notes with one another and developing sharper policies and sharing them in real time.”

In another fortuitous twist, Dean Schaffzin had begun in 2018 the conversation with faculty members about online coursework and had brought in instructional design experts to illustrate the technology already available to the law school to show what a class might look like online.

Pre-COVID, she developed her own hybrid course that she launched that same pandemic-affected semester, that she planned to use as a demonstration to faculty as to what an online hybrid law class would look like.

So, when the shutdown began, her class’ transition was seamless. It provided the perfect template, already in place and practice, for other law classes to follow.

And her work in bringing in experts to show Memphis Law faculty the basics of online class preparation were now being implemented in the real world. With the additional expertise of Associate Dean Jodi Wilson, Memphis Law faculty had already become familiar with the

online classroom components well in advance of the shutdown, making the transition here much smoother than other institutions.

Bar Passage

Heading into the job, Schaffzin knew that bar passage rates were an issue she was going to have to tackle.

“Beginning in 2014, every law school in America was put on notice that they had to figure out new ways to support students and find success on the Bar,” Schaffzin explained.

In the Fall 2018 semester, one of her immediate priorities was to work with and support Director of Bar Preparation, DeShun Harris on the creation and adoption of a Five-Year Bar Pass Strategic Plan.

Additionally, the law school hired a Director of Academic Success, and developed a weeklong, intensive orientation program focused on foundational skills students need before beginning their 1L year.

The school also developed a new Academic Success Program throughout the first year of law school. Two years ago, that program was rolled out as an official class for 1Ls and this year it is finally a required, credit-bearing first-year class.

“The incoming class profile and median LSAT score has improved by four points over the past six years and is now back to where it was prior to the Class of 2014’s arrival,” she pointed out.

The pandemic did present challenges with the measurement of success related to these efforts. However, this year’s graduating class, which was not disrupted by COVID, will provide

“I taught in TIP for many years, so I knew the power of the program,” she said.

“With the insight and coordination of Associate Dean Demetria Frank, we created two more standalone programs, and reached all the way to the high school level in building that diversity pipeline,” Schaffzin said.

We continue to prepare practiceready attorneys.

That is why students come here and we continue to excel at that. ”

In addition, Dean Schaffzin became a founding Board member of the Center for Excellence in Decision-Making, which brought rich partnerships and programming into the law school.

Partnering with Fulbright Canada, she also established a Chair of Race & Health Policy. Additionally, two of the law school’s recent Visiting Herff Chairs of Excellence have focused on diversity-related matters, with symposia on Critical Race Theory and Implicit Bias, Racism, and Cultural Competency in Law Schools being conducted as part of those efforts.

Lessons Learned

After six years overseeing Memphis Law, there are some invaluable lessons that Dean Schaffzin has learned.

myriad of issues related to the law school, the data is there to be utilized.

The Road Ahead

Enormous strides have been made during her deanship and though many challenges remain, there is no question that the law school is positioned well for the future.

“We continue to prepare practice-ready attorneys,” she said. “That is why students come here and we continue to excel at that. That will be reflected even more on the new bar exam. But we have already prepared for that by investing in a bar pass strategy and implementing it. We have improved the incoming class profile in a way that we can carry forward with the promise that we are developing practice-ready attorneys. We have successfully moved that bar passage strategy from infancy to full implementation at this point.”

That is key to ensuring future success.

Additionally, building upon the success of the many technological innovations that came out of the pandemic, the law school is well prepared to embrace new teaching techniques, tools and technology.

The law school finds itself with a faculty that is extremely committed to the curricular adjustments they need to implement in their own classes to ensure student success and many other tools that will lead to more successful outcomes for students.

One of the ever-present concerns for the law school has always been funding.

“That area will be a large challenge for the next dean,” Schaffzin pointed out. “They will have to grow revenues beyond the levels to which we’ve reached in the last six years. They will have to raise them far beyond traditional amounts in order to better invest in the law school.”

But despite some challenges, she thinks the environment at Memphis Law is primed for exciting changes.

“I am really hopeful that the next dean will be at a place where they can add some fun back to law school,” she noted. “COVID really drained a lot out of the law school experience and our students are at the point where they are building back traditions and starting new ones. They are ready for some of the fun to come back again.”

She concludes her deanship on a firm foundation for the future and can look back to a specific point that brought her here.

Years ago, she unexpectedly fell in love with teaching while coaching a mock trial team in Philadelphia.

Now she will return to the classroom at Memphis Law to fully devote herself to her students and teaching once again.

Law School

RENAISSANCE MAN

Tarik J. Terry – Class of 2024

Tarik J. Terry - Class of 2024

Media Editor, Vol. 54 of The University of Memphis Law Review Associate Justice, 2023-24 Honor Council

Judicial Extern, Chambers of the Honorable Judge Bernice B. Donald, U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals 2024 Student Fellow to University of Texas Law School’s Nonprofit Organizations Institute

Tarik Terry is everywhere you look at the law school. He’s the media editor on Vol. 54 of the University of Memphis Law Review, an Associate Justice on the Honor Council, a student-attorney in our Neighborhood Preservation

Clinic, a member of the National Semifinalist Third Place Duberstein Bankruptcy Team, and recently received a prestigious Fellowship with the University of Texas Law Nonprofit Organizations Institute. In short, he’s the modern-day law school Renaissance Man, a student with a wide variety of interests who excels in all of them.

Memphis Law (ML): What drew you to Memphis and Memphis Law in particular?

Tarik Terry: Basically, it was because of my involvement with my fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha, where I served as the undergraduate representative for the national board of directors and had the occasion to visit their headquarters here in Memphis. I ended up getting a job after graduating from college as a consultant for the fraternity and it was based out of Memphis. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, all of my work travel ceased, and I decided to apply to law school. I was living downtown right down the street from the law school, so Memphis Law was the most obvious choice! Slowly but surely, Memphis just drew me in with the amazing facilities and the value of the degree, as well as the proximity of all the courts nearby. Then I took the tour of the law school, and that was it. I was totally sold!

ML: You have had a wide range of experiences since you’ve been in law school here, do you think being enrolled in law school in a city like Memphis has helped you gain more knowledge, experience and unique perspectives?

Tarik: I feel incredibly ready to step out into the legal world to practice after my time here. I have met so many law students from other law schools across the country and they are definitely not being required to perform some of the experiential learning things the same way we are here that help prepare you so much for the real world, or they may not be required to perform as many pro bono hours in order to graduate, which has been another great avenue that I’ve gotten some unique experiences over the years here.

It really is practical work that you’re doing here.

ML: Public service seems to be an important component of your journey, whether in undergrad or in law school. Why are you so drawn to these types of work and projects and why is it so important to you?

*While in law school, Tarik has served as a volunteer with the law school’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Clinic and done meaningful work with fair housingrelated matters as part of our Alternative Spring Break program. His undergraduate resume is also filled with public service projects with his fraternity and beyond.

Tarik: I think that I’m drawn to this public service sphere because there is more face-to-face interaction with people, and you get to help real people. I think that a lot of times in the legal industry, real people get lost in complex legal issues, but

oftentimes what it boils down to for me is actually helping someone. And the public service aspect of things is where I think you get to do that the most. I think there is a unique opportunity in the public service realm to just really help people move in the right direction through whatever legal services they may need. It may be some vital piece of assistance that helps them with their day, their week, their month or even some piece of legal assistance that helps them for the rest of their life.

ML: You were enrolled in our Neighborhood Preservation Clinic this semester. Tell us a bit about the experience and why it has been such a unique opportunity for you as a law student.

Tarik: Within the clinic, working with Professor Schaffzin and the whole team in the clinic has been incredible. They have so much knowledge and they know exactly how to work with the various opposing parties that are the owners of the blighted properties and how the city and the court system function and can really show you, in an expert way, how the entire system works.

One of the most unique things to me is the fact that the clinic itself is a real, practicing law firm. As a student enrolled in it, I am a practicing (student) attorney, and I have been able to already have the practical experience of standing in front of the judge in Environmental Court every single week, building upon the knowledge gained from different the cases I’m working on.

It’s also made me understand how busy the real world really is. I think it just prepares you for how busy your life is going to be as a young attorney

”I think I’ve done a solid job laying the foundation for the future of the position with showing how a lot of things should be done and how they can be done better and presenting some new ideas for taking it even further.”

and gives you the confidence to look back and say, “I feel busy now, but a year ago I had a full load of classwork and all these extracurricular activities AND I had all of these REAL cases in Environmental Court on top of all of that, and I did not drop the ball on those cases.”

I have worked at a couple of different law firms and oftentimes you are researching things for the various associates or partners

and that experience is great, but when you are in a clinic here, YOU are filing motions, YOU are standing in front of the judge, and this is YOUR case. It’s a completely different experience.

ML: You were the recipient of a prestigious fellowship position earlier this year through the University of Texas Law Nonprofit Organization Institute. What did that entail and where will that lead you?

Tarik: I was one of only 12 students from the entire country accepted as a fellow this year. Basically, it was something the institute created to encourage participation and engagement in the tax-exempt organizations practice of law by introducing 2Ls and 3Ls to the practice area, providing opportunities for mentorship and creating a network of law students interested in pursuing the practice.

One of the largest parts of the fellowship was being invited to attend this prestigious conference that the institute hosts where nationally recognized experts from private foundations, public charities, law, finance, and government discuss the latest tax, legislative and governance issues affecting nonprofit organizations.

It’s several days of in-depth discussion with presentations, targeted tracks and opportunities to attend small-group "master classes" for a deeper dive on key topics.

It also provided me with a mentor at the conference who I have been in touch with several times since the conference as well, and hopefully I will be able to return as a licensed attorney at a future event and become a mentor myself to a 2L or 3L student fellow.

ML: You are on The University of Memphis Law Review’s Editorial Board, serving in a brand-new position as Media Editor. Tell me about your vision for this role, its various duties and why it’s important.

Tarik: I was really drawn to the position because of the vision behind it and what the Editorial Board and our faculty advisor really had in mind for it. This role could ultimately have an impact on how the publication is viewed externally and among academics. If the media editor can better publicize the amazing work being done by our writers and our students in our journal, I think it can really get other professional academics’ attention and bring them to Memphis Law to submit their articles. Then we’ll have the chance to publish some more amazing authors that might not have thought about us before.

I think I’ve done a solid job laying the foundation for the future of the position by showing how a lot of things should be done and how they can be done better and presenting some new ideas for taking it even further.

ML: What would you tell a current or future law student now that your time here is coming to a close?

Tarik: I have two things. The first is be intentional. If students can be intentional while they are here, whether it is taking certain classes or connecting with certain people, just being intentional about creating a wide array of experiences has led me into some really cool opportunities. Even if I have stumbled into something cool, there was always intentionality behind the early steps to get there.

The second thing is what I call “figureout-edness.” I think that a lot of people don’t try to figure something out initially. Their first step is to wonder who they can ask for help, and I think a lot of people appreciate if you take some initiative to try and figure it out first. At least taking the first step yourself in trying to solve a problem will be greatly appreciated.

protecting park park park

When Shelby Farms Was Saved by a Law Student

How John Vergos (’73) led the effort to save Shelby Farms from private development

By Ryan Jones

ne of the greatest urban parks in the country unfolds across the eastern reaches of Memphis and Shelby County.

Showcasing the region's often forgotten history of natural beauty, Shelby Farms Park is a tranquil oasis filled with wetlands, running trails, rolling hills, forest-lined bike paths, award-winning playgrounds, an abundance of rowing and paddling opportunities and an overall reflective embrace of nature and the environment.

It is nearly five times the size of Central Park in New York City and, at more than 4,500 acres, it is one of the largest urban parks in the country and one of the top 50 largest in the entire world.

It is in large part why Memphis’ old reputation as a city of concrete, sprawling suburbs and neglected outdoor recreational opportunities evolved in the last decade to now being recognized as a city with innovative parks and outdoor community spaces, as well as progressive rails to trails projects and greatly improved cycling, running and nature-focused opportunities.

But what seems like a brilliant and obvious decision to embrace this beautiful rolling landscape of scenic vistas and lush parkland was not always so widely supported.

In fact, it took the efforts of a former Memphis Law student to stop the private development

of the land and preserve it so that it could eventually be transformed into the jewel of natural preservation that we know today.

HISTORY OF THE LAND

The property that Memphians recognize as Shelby Farms began its first recorded use not as lush parkland but rather a multi-racial educational center for emancipated slaves. In 1825, feminist and abolitionist Frances Wright founded the Nashoba Commune on nearly 700 acres of land north of the Wolf River, which is now the eastern tip of Shelby Farms. Throughout most of the 1800s, the Nashoba Commune provided practical and cultural education to former slaves after they worked off the costs of their indentured servitude.

In a sadly ironic twist, the use of the land went from freedom to imprisonment when Shelby County itself took over ownership of the land close to 100 years later. Memphis political boss and longtime controlling political entity, E.H. Crump, came up with the idea to turn the land into a working prison farm for the Shelby County Penitentiary and was ultimately successful in creating what became known locally as the “Penal Farm.” This self-contained,

self-sufficient prison farm was nationally known for its rehabilitation, agricultural job training, sustainable agricultural practices; but most notably for its prize-winning cattle and pigs, and the many acres of crops that fed the inmates and helped the county government turn a tidy profit.

But the Penal Farm shut down in 1964. Because the land was technically “unprotected,” there was immediately speculation about selling parcels of the land off to for-profit developers. Rumors ranged from a planned industrial park to “model community” types of corporate planned developments.

HERE COME THE DEVELOPERS

A few years before the 1964 shutdown of the Penal Farms, the county was already trying to market some of its unused eastern acreage (some 2,500 acres) as an industrial park. Shelby County government put in substantial work into marketing the land as the Cedar Grove Industrial Park, which they touted as “at the crossroads of materials and markets,” according to their marketing materials at the time. Not only would the industrial park bring in new roadways and railroad lines through the land and along its borders, it would have also rezoned a sizable portion of the land to industrial usage, forever blighting the natural landscape that existed in abundance throughout the property.

Thankfully the concept was uniformly unpopular, and the county government abandoned their efforts for the industrial park around 1964.

But the real private development battle was just beginning.

Fifty years ago this February, Shelby Farms was within a hair's breadth of being sold to a group of private developers. Fortunately for all Memphians past, present and future, a young University of Memphis Law School student named John Vergos stepped in to help lead the charge to preserve Shelby Farms and stop what would have been a tragic loss to Shelby County and its citizens.

Vergos recognized the beauty and importance of the massive natural area even before he knew there was a controversy.

“Walnut Grove used to just stop at White Station Road. Nobody really knew the entire Shelby Farms property very well and there were

only a few little entrances to it,” said Vergos. “I remember when they finally built Walnut Grove all the way through, and I drove out that way for the first time. I was just in shock at how spectacularly beautiful this property was.”

“It was just sitting there as a hidden gem,” he recalled.

But Vergos soon went away to college for his undergraduate degree and while he was gone, the wheels of commerce had started to turn. Private development was moving full steam ahead for Shelby Farms. By the time he moved back to Memphis to attend law school at the University of Memphis, things had progressed to a point he was immediately taken aback by.

“I went away to college and when I got back, I started hearing these rumors about the county selling the property and I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “All of a sudden out of the blue I look in the newspaper and there was something about a meeting to sell the property and I was just so pissed off that they would even think about selling it.”

That meeting was just the public-facing portion of the potential sale though. Behind the scenes, the County had commissioned a report in 1970 from the city planning firm of Harland Bartholomew and Associates, which resulted in a plan for a proposed development at Shelby Farms

focused on it being a residential town center and job-focused hub, home to roughly 65,000 residents and providing jobs to around 19,000.

That “Bartholomew Plan” quickly grabbed the attention and interest of Maryland-based shopping mall and community development firm, the Rouse Company. Memphis developer Boyle Investment Co. came on board as Rouse’s local partner, with First Tennessee Bank being the third entity in the joint venture.

Making the planned sale and development even more likely to succeed was the fact that it was wildly supported by the Chamber of Commerce, Future Memphis, the local newspapers at the time, the local Catholic diocese, the Mayor of Memphis and a long list of local businessmen and influential citizens.

So, when Vergos, still a 1L law student at the time, saw that announcement in the newspaper he knew he had to act fast. His first move was to show up at the Shelby County Quarterly Court (now known as the Shelby County Commission) meeting to protest the vote to sell the property, alongside other concerned citizens, including prominent environmental attorney Charlie Newman of Burch, Porter, & Johnson.

Their efforts helped successfully postpone the vote.

After that, Vergos organized the Penal Farm for Public Use Committee and became its first chairman.

“Our group spent the two weeks following the meeting gathering petitions, going on local talk radio and pressuring members of the Quarterly Court,” noted Vergos in an op-ed in the Daily Memphian newspaper. “We were certainly

naïve to think we could stop the sale, since Boyle was the biggest developer in town, First Tennessee was the biggest bank and Rouse had a national reputation as a developer.”

GROWING SUPPORT

But Memphis has a history of successful grassroots movements, especially ones centered around environmental causes (just look to the U.S. Supreme Court case, Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, for an impactful example), and that same groundswell of support was becoming evident in this effort as well.

“We made a lot of noise, received some television and newspaper coverage, and were able to get the vote postponed a second time,” Vergos said.

That noise was heard loud and clear. The message was even positively embraced by some of Memphis’ most progressive businessmen who, on the surface, were surprising allies to the cause.

That support was key to taking the committee’s work to the next level.

“About a month after we got the vote delayed again, I received a phone call one afternoon asking for me to come to a meeting in the office of William B. Clark, the developer of Clark Tower,” Vergos recalled. “I arrived by myself to his office and it stretched across an entire floor of the building, had big game trophy animal heads lining the walls and a huge table with some of the city’s bigshots sitting around it.”

Vergos recalled a group of some of Memphis’ most prominent citizens being present at that table, including Robert Fogelman, William Lowenburg, Mike McDonnell, Joe Orgill, Cary Whitehead, William L. Reid, Frank Pigeon, John Porter and several others.

It’s a list of people whose names adorn buildings, businesses and philanthropic efforts throughout the region to this day.

“Mr. Clark said to me, ‘Son, I understand you have an organization that is fighting the sale of the Penal Farm.

We are also opposed, but due to our situation with loans at First Tennessee and zoning matters before the Quarterly Court, we would prefer not to be out in front on this issue,’” Vergos said.

Vergos recalls that Mr. Clark then went around the table and asked if everyone wanted to join the Penal Farm for Public Use Committee. They did and then by acclimation made him chairman.

“They then asked if I had any money for the campaign,” Vergos said. “I told him that I was just a law student and the next thing I know I was walking out the door with twenty-five grand from them to help fight the development.”

That ratcheted the campaign up a few notches. And the local press paid attention accordingly.

“There were allegations in the newspaper that these folks wanted to stop the planned sale so that they could come back and develop it themselves,” Vergos recalled. “But they committed to me that that was not the case and I trusted and believed them. And they were telling the truth. They all truly wanted to stop it for the right reasons.”

The campaign kept rolling and growing, eventually hiring an advertising firm, renting an official headquarters, running full-page ads in the newspapers, printing up bumper stickers and even coming up with the official slogan, “Stop the Penal Farm Land Grab,” which they put on merchandise and helped distribute throughout the city.

Vergos knew he was getting in slightly over his head after a while though. So, it was very timely when he received a phone call from a living legend of the Memphis legal community.

Lucius Burch was in New Zealand while all of this was going on. But his law partner Charlie Newman was keeping him abreast of the situation through his involvement with the Committee. And so, it came to be that one afternoon Vergos got a phone call from Mr. Burch himself inquiring about his work and his involvement on the matter.

Vergos still remembers their conversation.

“Young man,” Burch said, “I understand you are chairman of the committee trying to prevent the sale of the Penal Farm. It looks like this issue is pretty big. Are you intent on being chairman?”

“No sir,” Vergos replied. “I just want to stop the sale.”

“Then why don’t we do this? Let me be chairman and I promise you will attend every meeting I attend, will be copied in on all of my correspondence, and no decision will be made without you and me conferring.”

Vergos knew it was the right call to accept Burch’s offer. In addition to being a full-time law student at the time, he was also working full-time at the Rendezvous (his family’s restaurant), and he

knew Burch was critical to the success of the committee’s mission. He couldn’t have asked for a better local partner than Lucius Burch.

“Needless to say, for a young law student to be tutored by Lucius Burch was like getting a master’s degree in politics and political persuasion,” Vergos wrote in the Daily Memphian op-ed.

As an astutely shrewd lawyer of social standing and a veteran of a number of major crusades, Burch knew how to enlist the support of the people with the power to impact the cause. That fall he began writing multiple letters a day to those he deemed the “opinion formers” and doing radio spots, speaking with citizens and winning back allies that had become scattered in the face of opposition.

With Burch on board to help Vergos take things to the next level, things began to slowly move in their favor. Months of publicity, political persuasion and pressure began to pay off as the public opinion and momentum started to shift. Of course, the Rouse development partnership rolled out their own media campaign and touted their high-level endorsements as well, but by then it was too late.

By January 1974, with Vergos having finished law school and now studying for the bar exam, a poll of registered voters found that 68 percent wanted to keep the Penal Farm land for public use, with 21 percent being undecided and only 10 percent favoring a sale to the private developers.

A final piece of the puzzle came from local philanthropist Abe Plough, who stepped forward to announce that he would pay $1 million to the county “to remove some of the financial obligations that exist toward the public development of the property.”

After three years of battle, it was time for a final decision.

On January 29, 1974, the news leaked that the sale would be voted down at the following week’s scheduled court meeting. On hearing the news, the Rouse development team immediately withdrew their proposal so no negative vote would be on the record. At the next week’s meeting in February, it became official.

“I remember the date vividly because I was in Knoxville studying for the bar when Lucius Burch called me to say the Quarterly Court finally withdrew the contract for the sale, thereby preserving the Shelby Farms we all know and love in perpetuity,” said Vergos.

“We shared a good drink when I returned home,” he recalled.

THE PARKS NEXT NEW PLAN

The battle was over, but there was still work to be done to transform Shelby Farms into something to be enjoyed by all.

With more financial assistance from Abe Plough, a feasibility study was undertaken. Vergos and his committee narrowed down their list of proposals for public development of the land to six finalists, ultimately deciding on hiring the firm of Garrett Eckbo and Associates from San Francisco to develop a master plan for the former Penal Farm property.

Eckbo conducted several workshops with the public in communities throughout Memphis and his openness to citizen input was a relief to many. He was acutely aware of Memphis’ African American community and the importance of

involving them in the planning phases. After his first workshop, he expressed disappointment that there were only five African Americans in the 150-person crowd that attended the first workshop. He proposed three more firstphase neighborhood meetings, which were successfully hosted and enthusiastically attended in South Memphis at LeMoyneOwen College, the Baron-Hirsch Synagogue and at the Whitehaven Community Center.

After several months of meetings and planning, Eckbo presented his final plans to Vergos, Burch and the committee in October 1975. That nearly 150-page report contained detailed maps, charts and a very straight-forward description of three tiers of options, which would ultimately create a pastoral park that would include “incomeproducing facilities adequate to meet operating costs while retaining pastoral qualities.” The report specifically presented an equestrian center expansion and a World Agriculture Center as some viable options that have since come to pass in some way. The proposal also called for no land to be sold off for private development and suggested a number of new road plans or modifications to the thoroughfares surrounding the park; as well as a monorail, open animal ranges and an ecological study center.

A number of ideas presented in the original proposal ultimately did not come to pass. Indeed, Shelby County did not formally adopt it due to internal government squabbling and funding issues; and some land was eventually leased out to Agricenter International, Ducks Unlimited, the Humane Society, and some governmental entities. But despite these facts, the Eckbo master plan laid the foundation for the worldclass park that Shelby Farms has become.

It seemed that the long journey undertaken by Vergos and others had finally resulted in the preservation of the scenic beauty that he fell in love with years before.

But some challenges still remained.

THE WINDING ROADS TO PRESERVATION

While much of the talk of development was halted with the publication of the Eckbo plan, one large point of contention that kept arising dealt with connecting many of the roads that came to a stop at the borders of Shelby Farms. The Eckbo Plan itself envisioned Riverdale being connected through the park; but Vergos and many others felt that, along with the many other new road suggestions that would bisect the park that have come along over the years, was a bad idea.

“I take the position that great parks deserve great boulevards around them,” said Vergos recently. “And if you look at the best parts of Memphis itself from the original city plans, you had these great boulevards connecting our original signature parks.”

“And Shelby Farms deserves that same treatment.”

For years discussions about expanded road access, new connections, widening of existing roads, all seemed to crop up around Shelby Farms on a regular basis. In addition to the Riverdale connection in the Eckbo Plan, the connection of Kirby-Whitten to Walnut Grove, essentially bisecting the park, was a continual that has had various stages of proposals and momentum for years. The major proposals regarding the KirbyWhitten expansion were spearheaded by the administration of former Shelby County Mayor Jim Rout and the Tennessee Department of Transportation, respectively. Both were ultimately cast aside after years of public opposition, much of which was led by Vergos himself.

“I keep thinking my days of activism for Shelby Farms are over, but diligence must continue,” he wrote. “I’ve personally had to work to stop two major roads through the park and have helped hold up Wolf River Boulevard until it became the beautiful parkway that we use today.”

Even as recently as the last six months has the final chapter on another decades-long roadway expansion effort through Shelby Farms finally been closed. The extension of Kirby Parkway through the park had been discussed for years, with the most recent proposal calling for a two-and-a-halfmile extension beginning at Kirby Parkway and Walnut Gove and ending at Whitten and Macon. The aim was supposedly to move traffic off of Farm Road and ease congestion on Walnut Grove, and called for an elevated traffic interchange at Walnut Grove and Farm Road. But last November, the Memphis City Council and Memphis Metropolitan Planning organization voted the project down. In the last months of his final term, Mayor Jim Strickland permanently withdrew the project from the City/County road plans as well, effectively putting the issue to rest for good.

THE URBAN PARK OF TODAY

Even though the Eckbo Plan was highly regarded on most all sides, and most importantly it did stop all conversations about private development and sale of Shelby Farms, the plan itself was never formally adopted by the county due to the objections of traffic engineers and lack of funding at the time.

However, it remained the groundwork for the redevelopment of the park in recent years.

When it was clear that Shelby County could not fund the full plan, Abe Plough once again stepped up and donated enough money for a 333-acre park within the greater property between Walnut Grove and Mullins Station, and though Shelby Farms was a recreational destination for many years, this was the only official park in the larger 4,500 acres of pastoral space.

For many years it looked like it would remain that way, until former First Tennessee CEO Ron Terry stepped forward and presented a proposal for a conservancy to be put together to develop and manage a new world-class park at Shelby Farms. His proposal involved a promise to raise $20 million, which would pay for a new park with ambitious potential, and to help put together a top-tier board to lead the conservancy and the parks development.

The idea hit a temporary dead-end when Shelby County Government couldn’t agree to it.

But in 2007, then Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton revived the ambitious idea, and a successful new vote took place, paving the way for the formation of the conservancy after years of doubt.

Once it was officially Shelby Farms Park, the conservancy moved swiftly to bolster philanthropic support and partnerships, most importantly bringing on the support of Barbara and Pitt Hyde, as well as the leadership of Laura Morris. Together, the Hyde’s made enormous donations to the project, helping form what would eventually be a $70 million budget for the park. Barbara Hyde became the Conservancy’s first chair and publicly spoke out against the prevalent idea that they should just develop something that was “good enough for Memphis.”

“Our job,” she said at the time, “Is to unlock the incredible potential of Shelby Farms Park, and to demonstrate that the park can inspire a great city.”

The Hydes, Morris, and the Conservancy insisted that Shelby Farms Park could become what they called “America’s great twenty-first century urban park.”

Their efforts embraced many of the ideas in the original Eckbo plan and brought in an international team of park experts to weigh in on how to build this unabashedly ambitious redefinition of an urban park. Their work culminated in 2016, when Shelby Farms Park officially opened and re-introduced Memphians to what John Vergos once called “a hidden gem.”

“I think it has become what we always hoped it would be,” Vergos reflected. “It is in the geographic center of the county, it’s pretty much preserved in its natural state and people all over the city can easily get to it and feel like they are out in nature. It’s become an incredible urban park and one that will continue to be one of the great parks of the world.”

’79

Pauline Weaver has been elected as a council member of the American Bar Association’s Civil Rights and Social Justice Section and appointed as a special advisor to the ABA’s Criminal Justice Section. ’80

Judge Timothy Dwyer was awarded The Lifetime Achievement Award by the Tennessee General Sessions Judges Conference.

’81

Beth Enos’ book, “Your Breath is Your Guru,” was recently published under her pen name of Galen Pearl. ’85

Greg Duckett was recently named, by unanimous vote, as the 2024 chairman of the board of the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce.

Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells recently made history in early February, becoming the very first woman and the first African American ever elected as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi.

’87

G. Clay Morris has been honored with the prestigious “AV rating” by Martindale-Hubbell, the preeminent national publication in the legal field. ’93

Michael T. Evangelisti recently joined the law firm of Glankler Brown, PLLC as a member.

Mr. Evangelisti concentrates his practice in the areas of general corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, securities, commercial transactions, contracts, intellectual property, estate planning and probate.

John S. Penton, Jr. was recently awarded his PhD from Louisiana State University in Environmental Science, minoring in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences. He was also awarded the Kuniko Fujisaki Honor by the Department of Environmental Sciences. ’95

Todd Presnell recently co-authored the book, “Privileges and Protections: Tennessee and Sixth Circuit Law,” published by LexisNexis. The book contains 16 chapters and over 700 pages addressing over 40 evidentiary privileges and related protections plus an extensive examination of conflict-of-laws issues and the historical origins and development of evidentiary privileges. The book satisfies a void in current legal resources by addressing distinctions between state and federal law, providing important historical privilege development and recommending appropriate solutions to open or underdeveloped privilege issues.

Wells

Presnell

Weaver

The law firm of Allen, Summers & Gresham, PLLC is pleased to announce that Partner Kirk Caraway has been selected by his peers as one of the Best Lawyers in America in the fields of Employment Law-Management and Personal Injury LitigationDefendants for 2024. This is the ninth straight year that he has been selected for this award. ’03

Jennifer Harrison, managing partner of Hall Booth Smith, P.C. – Memphis, was selected among America’s Top 100 Medical Malpractice Litigators for Tennessee in 2023. Additionally, she has been re-selected among America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators for Tennessee in 2023. She recently received her certifications as Rule 31 Mediator in Tennessee and Mississippi.

Judge Rachel L. Bell was honored as the First Openly LGBTQAI specifically Bi-Sexual Judge in Nashville, Davidson County and the State of Tennessee at the Nashville Sounds x Pride Night in 2023. She was able to throw the Ceremonial First Pitch.

Last year, Judge Bell swore TN State Representative Justin Pearson back into office in the Historic Old Supreme Court Chambers in the TN State Capitol.

She also recently served on the Justice Facilities Review (JFR) Awards Jury Panel of five jurors for the 2023-2024 Architecture for Justice an American Institute for Architecture (AIA) Knowledge Community.

Chandley Hayes-Crawford recently joined the City of Houston as a Senior Assistant City Attorney III working with Houston Airport Systems as legal counsel in Aviation Risk and Regulatory Compliance. She also completed her LL.M in Corporate Law with honors at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in November 2022.

Elizabeth Gentzler was recently promoted to the rank of Major in the U.S. Army Reserve JAG Corps. She spent most of 2022 deployed overseas supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, where she was awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, among others.

John Holton recently began working as Assistant District Counsel with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Memphis District and in December of 2023 was named Team Lead for the Contracts and Litigation section for the Memphis District.

Caraway Bell

Gentzler

Holton

Lisa Gill has been selected as a 2023 fellow of the Memphis Bar Foundation.

Laura Kessler Mason a member with Harkavy Shainberg Kaplan PLC has been inducted into the Memphis Bar Foundation in honor of her service to the legal profession and greater Memphis community.

Ross V. Smith recently joined the law firm of Bass, Berry & Sims as senior public policy attorney, Nashville. He advises clients before the Tennessee General Assembly and the various branches, departments, agencies and commissions of state government. In this role, he represents companies, organizations and associations related to regulatory issues and to advocate for their business interests within the state of Tennessee.

Josh Sudbury was named chief legal officer (CLO) for Ascend Federal Credit Union. He is responsible for providing strategic legal and risk management advice to Ascend senior management on corporate, regulatory and compliance matters.

William J. "Bill" Aubel was recently elected as a member of the law firm of Flaherty Sensabaugh Bonasso PLLC in Charleston, West Virginia.

Will Patterson was promoted to partner at the law firm of Patterson Bray PLLC in early 2024.

Austin Rainey was promoted to partner at the law firm of Patterson Bray PLLC in early 2024. ’13

Carlisle Dale was promoted to partner at the law firm of Patterson Bray PLLC in early 2024.

Hunter Yoches recently joined the Labor and Employment section of the law firm of Bass, Berry & Sims in their Nashville office, where he represents management in all aspects of labor and employment law and related litigation.

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Jordan “Alex” Anderson recently completed the Air Force’s Judge Advocate General’s School (AFJAGS) eight-plus (8+) week Judge Advocate Staff Officer Course (JASOC) in December 2023. The course curriculum covers four core domains - Military Justice, Civil Law, Operations Law, and Leadership. Jordan graduated with distinction, as he received the Outstanding Legal Assistance Student (LAMP) award which is sponsored by the American Bar Association. Jordan is currently assigned as the deputy staff judge advocate at the 164th Airlift Wing with the Tennessee Air National Guard in Memphis. In his civilian career, he is an associate general counsel with the Tennessee State Board of Education. ’21

Heather Bornstein recently joined the Memphis office of the Adelman Law Firm as an attorney, where she primarily practices in the area of insurance defense.

Taylor Sorilla recently joined the Dallas office of DLA Piper in the litigation, arbitration and investigations group.

Alexander Gilbert recently accepted a position as an Assistant Prosecutor in the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office in Trenton, New Jersey.

Daniel J. Riley has joined the law firm of Bass, Berry & Sims as an Associate where he focuses his litigation practice on environmental and construction disputes.

Hallie Robison recently joined the law firm of Lewis Thomason, where she focuses her practice on general civil law, health care law and transportation.

Briana Butler, an Associate in Baker Donelson’s Memphis office, was recently named in the Memphis Flyer’s Top 20 Under 30.

Ryan Rosenkrantz recently joined the law firm of Lewis Thomason, where he focuses his practice in the areas of education law, health care liability defense and general civil litigation.

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FACULTY Accomplishments

Lynda Black

Professor Black continues to serve on the University of Memphis President’s Council. She is also the law school faculty senator and chairs the faculty policies committee. She is the vice president of 1A FAR which is the national board of faculty athletics representatives for Division 1. In that role, she recently coordinated and moderated a session on legal and policy updates for Collegiate Athletics at the annual meeting of FARA in Indianapolis in fall 2023. She also serves on the finance committee for the American Athletics Committee and on the planning committee for the AAC Academic Symposium, which was hosted this spring.

Jennifer Brobst

Professor Brobst was elected to the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Technology, Law and Legal Education for a two-year term in 2024.

The latest edition of her state practice treatise, “Admissibility of Evidence in North Carolina,” was recently published by Thompson Reuters. Additionally, her chapter, “Legal Strategies to Preserve the Natural and Cultural Heritage of Space,” in the book “Space Tourism: Legal and Policy Aspects,” saw its international release.

Professor Brobst also served as an invited peer reviewer for Lex ad Coelum, an online publication of the National University of Juridical Sciences' Centre for Aviation and Space Laws in Kolkata, India. She has also served as a designated peer reviewer for two other international journals: Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, published by the Australian & New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law (ANZAPPL) and Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, published by the American Psychological Association.

She also presented her paper, “Trouble in the Land of Or: Statutory Construction and Declining Literacy in America,” at the 2023 Annual Scholarship Conference, Central States Law School Association, at the University of Oklahoma School of Law in fall 2023.

Sonya Garza

Professor Garza recently had her article, “Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization: Constitutional Fallacy and Revisionist History,” published in the Albany Law Review

Ronnie Gipson

Michigan State University’s International Law Review accepted Professor Gipson’s article, “Taiwan’s Democracy, Peace, and Security Can Be Secured by Purchasing the State’s Independence from China,” for publication in the Spring 2024 volume of the journal.

In October 2023, Professor Gipson’s first book, Tennessee Personal Injury 2023-2024 Edition was published by LEXIS.

The Federal Lawyer Magazine invited Professor Gipson to submit his article titled, “The Renewed Push to Decriminalize Pilot Error,” for publication in the Spring 2024 edition. Professor Gipson served as a deputy editor for articles submitted by practicing lawyers for publication to the 2023 International Law Year in Review, published by the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law.

Finally, he chaired the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Legal Advisory Council’s activities at AirVenture 2023, which experienced record breaking attendance of 677,000. The Legal Advisory Council presented daily forums on aviation legal issues to attendees as well as a continuing legal education forum for attorneys.

Professor Gipson received the 2023 Memphis Law Professor of the Year Award.

Regina Hillman

Professor Hillman’s article, “The Battle Over Bostock: Dueling Presidential Administrations & the Need for Consistent and Reliable LGBT Rights,” was recently published as the lead article in American University’s Journal of Gender, Social Policy & Law this Spring.

Professor Hillman delivered the 7th annual Stonewall Lecture at Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island. Her talk, “The Battle for Pride: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” is a part of the school’s efforts to honor individuals who have fought for LGBTQ equality and justice.

She also served on the, “Supreme Court Case Update - 2022-2023 Term,” as part of the FedEx Free CLE Day last fall.

D.R. Jones

Professor Jones presented her latest scholarship at the annual meeting of the Mid-America Association of Law Libraries (MAALL). She was also a panelist on a program entitled, “Shaping Collection Development for the Future.”

Daniel Kiel

In March, Professor Kiel was invited to give the keynote address at Boston University School of Law’s Congresswoman Barbara Jordan Speaker Series on Race, Law & Inequality. The title of his lecture was “The Contrasting Views of Black Citizenship that have Transformed the Supreme Court.”

He also continued to speak in support of his recently published book, “The Transition: Interpreting Justice from Thurgood Marshall to Clarence Thomas,” with presentations at Vanderbilt Law School, LoyolaChicago School of Law, The University of Missouri School of Law, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law. Additionally, he hosted a conversation at the University of Memphis School of Law with Judge Bernice Donald, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. And he appeared on the podcast, “The Last Negroes at Harvard,” hosted by Kent Garrett, as well as on the “Show Cause” podcast from the University of Memphis School of Law, and the “On the Docket” podcast from Touro Law School.

He also gave a presentation on the U.S. Supreme Court at the Federal Bar Association’s National Meeting.

He co-authored the essay, “Mythologized Impartiality,” with Lori Ringhand from the University of Georgia Law School.

Katherine Ramsey Mason

Professor Mason received an offer of publication for her piece, “Civil Means to Criminal Ends,” in the Washington and Lee Law Review

David Romantz

Professor Romantz saw the 4th edition of his book, “Legal Analysis: The Fundamental Skill (CAP 2024),” published. Additionally, he appeared on a podcast hosted by Carolina Academic Press to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the book's initial publication.

Faith Watson

Professor Watson was elected vice president to the Association of Women Attorneys (with a term to serve as president in 2026). Additionally, she was selected to serve as the Western Tennessee Bar Governor by the Tennessee Bar Association –Young Lawyers Division for 2024. She also wrote and published her article, “Beyond the Bar Exam: Resources & Opportunities for those Who Do Not Pass,” in the Tennessee Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division group.

Additionally, she was elected a 2024 board member for the Memphis Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and served as a coordinator for the District 14 High School Mock Trial hosted by the MBA. She also served as the social and CLE coordinator for the MBA’s 2024 Bench Bar Conference.

REIMAGINING THE HERFF CHAIR OF EXCELLENCE

By Ryan Jones

“Getting there is half the battle,” as the old saying goes.

That regularly holds true when you are talking about Memphis as well. It is often said that once you get someone to visit Memphis, they unexpectedly fall in love with it. After that, they become evangelists for the city, speaking highly about it both near and far after they’ve left.

That was, in part, what sparked the idea in Dean Katharine Schaffzin when she re-envisioned what the law school’s Herff Chair of

Excellence could be. Instead of the traditional academic chair model that had funded this endowed position for years, she laid out a plan to have this be a fully funded, rotating “Visiting Chair” that brought some of the most innovative and energizing scholars in legal education to the University of Memphis School of Law for a temporary stay; where they would engage in exciting, and often groundbreaking, scholarship. These scholars would not only visit and work at Memphis Law, they would leave with refreshing new scholarship

and a message about the law school and our city to share with their home institutions and academic peers.

The idea has taken root and blossomed into an innovative new avenue of academic excellence.

In the past two and a half years, the law school has welcomed four incredible legal scholars as Visiting Herff Chairs of Excellence. Each one specialized in a unique aspect of the law and producing some incredible work while at Memphis Law.

Dr. Darrell Jackson - Director, Prosecution Assistance Program and Winston Howard Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Wyoming College of Law

Dr. Jackson served as the first Visiting Herff Chair of Excellence in the Spring semester of 2022. While here, Dr. Jackson focused his work on Critical Race Theory in an immersive academic environment with a combination of

From successful symposia and published scholarship to the development of important relationships and partnerships, the fruits of this innovative new approach have yielded a bountiful harvest, both locally and nationally.

What better way to bring nationally renowned scholars to our law school while simultaneously enhancing the academic community’s perception of Memphis and the University?

courses, faculty scholarship workshops, community partnerships and collaborations, and a Critical Race Theory symposium.

His symposium, entitled, “Critical Race Theory: Truth, Lies, & the Law,” was immensely successful. Featuring national experts from across the spectrum, it focused on critical race theory throughout a variety of disciplines, the educational academy and broader community, with topics ranging from voting, healthcare, housing, education and criminal justice.

Professor Demetria Frank – Former Associate Dean for Diversity & Inclusion and Associate Professor of Law at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law

Professor Frank served as the Visiting Herff Chair of Excellence in spring 2023, where she focused her work on cultural competence, teaching bias and associated challenges. She

hosted a related symposium, entitled, “Teaching Bias, Cultural Competency, and Racism in Law Schools,” in February 2023, which examined how law programs planned to implement new ABA standards focused on how law schools were required to provide education regarding bias, cross-cultural competency and racism to students. The symposium also looked at teaching challenges, diversity in the legal academy, political climates, re-examined Critical Race Theory in divisive times. She engaged nationally-known scholars from the prior year’s symposium on CRT to discuss their innovative related work conducted since the initial Herff Symposium.

Professor Adam Feibelman, Sumter Davis Marks Professor of Law and Director of the Center on Law and the Economy, Tulane University School of Law

Professor Feibelman also joined the law school in spring 2023 as a Visiting Herff Chair of Excellence. As a renowned international financial and bankruptcy law expert, he pursued two related research projects while with Memphis Law. One took inspiration from an important study and article titled, “Race, Attorney Influence, and Bankruptcy Chapter Choice,” which examined the significant disparity of experience among consumer bankruptcy filers in the United States based on their racial identities. Professor Feibelman examined the unique bankruptcy-related trends found in Memphis and the Western District of Tennessee in order to study the determinants of bankruptcy chapter choice and the possible impact of race on those determinants. Secondly,

Professor Feibelman undertook an historical examination of Walter Chandler and his role in the early origins of Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Chandler represented Memphis in Congress during the 1930’s and sponsored the Chandler Act, which created what eventually became known as Chapter 13. Professor Feibelman’s research will help reveal much about the deep original political economy of Chapter 13 and more about the role of race in promoting its inception and determining its design.

Professor Feibelman also hosted a related symposium that spring, entitled, “Household Finance and Community Development: Assessing Challenges, Inequities, and Opportunities,” which featured scholars from law schools across the nation, as well as a number of experts from the private banking and financial industries and several highly regarded Bankruptcy Judges from the Western District of Tennessee.

Professor Stephen Galoob, Chapman Professor of Law at the University of Tulsa College of Law

Professor Galoob is the law school’s most recent Visting Herff Chair of Excellence. His work focuses on the field of Criminal Law and new avenues of research into related aspects criminal justice and the legal system. He hosted the symposium, “The New Voices in Criminal Law,” earlier this Spring, which featured a wide array of emerging scholars doing cutting-edge research in criminal law and the legal system, combined with critique and commentary from some of the most established and well-known legal scholars from schools across the country.

VISITING HERFF CHAIR EXCELLENCE of

PROFESSOR STEPHEN GALOOB

Stephen Galoob is this year’s Visiting Herff Chair of Excellence at Memphis Law. He joined the law school from the University of Tulsa College of Law. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School and received his PhD from U.C. Berkeley’s Jurisprudence and Social Policy program. He previously practiced law as a commercial litigator in Washington, D.C. His research examines fundamental questions in criminal law, torts, contracts and professional responsibility. His scholarship has appeared in Yale Law Journal, University of Southern California Law Review, Legal Theory, Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy, American Journal of Jurisprudence, Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics and New Criminal Law Review. He is also the co-author of “Oklahoma Criminal Law and Procedure (with forms),” and is currently writing a book applying fiduciary principles to topics in legal and political theory and a series of articles on the significance of injustice to criminal law.

This issue’s faculty spotlight focuses on Professor Galoob and his work as the Visting Herff Chair of Excellence at Memphis Law this semester. In this interview, ML had the opportunity to go into detail with Professor Galoob on what drew him to the University of Memphis School of Law, his thoughts on the city and the criminal justice system here, as well as what he hopes to accomplish through his work as the Visiting Herff Chair.

Memphis Law (ML)

Memphis Law (ML) What drew you to come to Memphis Law as this year’s Visiting Herff Chair and what was attractive about the opportunity?

Professor Stephen Galoob (SG) It just seemed like a wonderful opportunity, to be honest. Dean Schaffzin reached out and I got a really great feeling about everything from my conversation with her. I really enjoy putting together large symposia and academic conferences, so the idea of having incredible institutional support to do things like that, while involving some amazing academic minds and new perspectives, was very appealing. There used to be a lot more opportunities like this and I think it’s a really great environment to be a part of.

ML Speaking of your symposium, how did you arrive at that topic and can you talk a bit about why you decided on the unique format of pairing emerging new voices with established experts?

SG The study of criminal law as a field has undergone a lot of changes over the last 10 years. One of the interesting things that I’ve noticed about it is that things that are very well accepted can become completely upended in a very short period of time. There is a sense of complacency about criminal law that thinkers and practitioners traditionally accept that people that are not as rooted in the system easily question, challenge and overturn in an easier manner. As far as the format, I tried to find the best people out there who were not on most anyone’s radar just yet. I really wanted to get participants who were on track to becoming some of the leading voices in criminal law within the next five to ten years and pair them with established academic veterans who could really critique things in an extremely informed manner. And I leaned heavily into a concept that is fairly commonplace in other disciplines, like philosophy or history, but is rare amongst legal scholars. I wanted to allow the scholars to have sympathetic but rigorous critiques that looked at their arguments and think about what is right and wrong about them from the inside of that argument. A truly internal critique.

I wanted to provide the kind of mentorship to individuals that wanted to be law professors that I received during my time in my graduate program at UC Berkeley, and that many philosophy students receive in their programs.

ML You have been teaching Criminal Law while you have been at Memphis Law. Can you talk a bit about how you teach the class and how you view Criminal Law as a professor?

SG So, I teach my Criminal Law class a little differently than most other professors in this space. The things that I focus on and the feedback that I try to generate are a bit different. I try to focus on the idea of using jury instructions to understand the fundamentals of criminal statutes. In addition to my past practice experience, I really try to incorporate a lot of my philosophy training into how I teach my courses. It’s been very rewarding this semester to see how much my students have changed and advanced in their understanding of these really basic concepts of criminal law. I guess you’d have to ask them how good a job I’ve really done though!

ML One of the interesting things you’ve been a part of during your career has to do with your work with Project Commutation in Oklahoma. What is that and how does it inform your work?

SG Project Commutation brings together criminal justice lawyers, criminal justice policy experts and other advocates for criminal justice reform as part of an effort to reduce Oklahoma’s rate of incarceration. The team’s efforts have assisted more than 500 people in the commutation process and have helped more than 300 people secure actual commutations so far. As a result of our efforts, I think the government in Oklahoma has seen that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to keep people in prison for crimes that were felonies when they were committed but are no longer felonies. We’ve tried to identify individuals in Oklahoma whose sentences are no longer consistent with the law and help them gain commutation or clemency. One of the things that really struck me during the course of my work with this project was just how many of these

imprisoned individuals had significant adverse childhood experiences, untreated mental illnesses and untreated substance abuse issues. It really got me thinking about the connection between those issues in ways I hadn’t before.

ML As someone who teaches and writes about criminal law and after hosting your “New Voices in Criminal Law” symposium this semester, what would you say is one of the biggest problems with today’s criminal justice system?

SG One of the big problems is that we do not adequately consider the social costs of incarceration and the kinds of criminal law interventions that we currently have. From certain people’s perspective, the solution to every situation is just more incarceration. If crime is up, then we need to incarcerate more. If crime is down, that’s because we’re incarcerating more. Part of the problem is that so many people are not able to think about the criminal legal system rationally. They are not thinking about it as a bureaucracy that responds to incentives and consumes resources and often doesn’t generate benefits. It’s very different than the rational way that we view other governmental institutions.

A TAX LAW LEGEND Retires

William P. Kratkze, Cecil C. Humphreys Professor of Law, announced his retirement from the University of Memphis School of Law this semester. He taught his last class this May.

Professor Kratzke has been on the faculty of Memphis Law since 1979 and has served in various roles, including Interim Dean of the Law School.

He received his BA in Political Science and the Far Eastern & Russian Institute from the University of Washington in 1971. He then received his JD from Valparaiso University in 1974 and was a member of the Valparaiso University Law Review’s editorial board. In 1977, he received his LLM from Georgetown University. He went on to serve as an Assistant Professor of Law at Oklahoma City University until he joined Memphis Law in 1979, where he has been an esteemed member of the faculty ever since.

Professor Kratzke was responsible for building the law school’s robust tax law curriculum while a member of the faculty and also established the Tax Law Certificate Program at Memphis Law.

He has taught tax law courses to generations of students at Memphis Law. Additionally, he has taught courses across the curriculum, including trademarks, torts, civil procedure, world trade law, economic analysis and more. In 2021, Professor Kratzke coached the first-place team in the American Bar Association’s 21st Annual Law Student Tax Challenge Competition. Additionally, he was instrumental in helping the law school become an annual site for the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, where he and his students have offered free basic tax return preparation to hundreds of lowincome individuals, persons with disabilities and limited-English speaking taxpayers since 2013.

He is the co-author of three volumes of the nine-volume treatise Federal Antitrust Law, and has published scholarship on trademark law, The Federal Torts Claims Act, Tennessee administrative law, labor law, products liability law and Russian law. He is a member of the American Law Institute and was a Fulbright Scholar in 1997 and again from 2001-2002.

Memphis Law wishes Professor Kratzke the best in his well-earned retirement and genuinely thanks him for all of his years of dedicated service to Memphis Law and most importantly the many students he has helped educated over the years!

Dean Jim Strickland —

THE MAYOR of MEMPHIS LAW

Former City of Memphis Mayor to Serve as the Next Dean of the Law School

Jim Strickland, Memphis Law alumnus and former City of Memphis Mayor, is the new Dean of the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, as of June 1, 2024.

A practicing attorney through 2015, Dean Strickland served on the Memphis City Council from 2008-15 before completing two terms as mayor from 2016-23. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Memphis, where he majored in Finance. He went on to graduate from the University of Memphis School of Law with honors. He taught as an adjunct instructor at the law school from 1989-96.

After completing law school, Dean Strickland went on to clerk for Justice William H.D. Fones on the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Strickland counts the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic among his major

accomplishments as mayor, along with the expansion of the city’s library system and spurring economic development that helped create thousands of jobs, leading to a lower unemployment rate and the lowest poverty rate in the city in decades.

Also under Dean Strickland’s mayoral leadership, the Accelerate Memphis program, part of Strickland’s Memphis 3.0 comprehensive plan to transform Memphis, was launched with the goals of strengthening the city’s core by investing in communities, improving city parks and community centers, revitalizing citywide assets and improving the safety of neighborhoods.

He comes into the role of Dean with goals focused on improving bar-passage rates, increasing enrollment and developing new funding initiatives and philanthropic support for the law school.

"I am honored to be named Dean of the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, my alma mater. We have a very good law school with a strong faculty, a wellrounded student body, great alumni, a supportive University administration and the best facility in the nation. With this solid foundation and the help from all our constituencies, I am confident we will see growth in the areas of enrollment, the bar passage rate and fundraising,” said Strickland.

“I thank President Hardgrave and Provost Russomanno for this opportunity, and Dean Katharine Schaffzin for her six years of upstanding leadership of the law school."