November 2009
UALR Bowen School of Law was elected to membership in the American Society for Comparative Law (ASCL). The ASCL promotes the comparative study of law and the understanding of foreign legal systems and private international law. Professor Kenneth S. Gallant and Charles C. Baum Distinguished Professor Sarah Howard Hobbs attended the ACSL’s 2009 Annual Meeting Oct. 1-3 at Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island as Bowen’s initial delegate and journal editor.
This year is the 10th year of publication for The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process. The library now houses a 10-year anniversary exhibit celebrating the faculty-edited magazine.
Adrienne D. Davis, William M. Cleve Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis and Professor Adjoa A. Aiyetoro were asked to co-keynote the luncheon session at the Texas Wesleyan Law School law review symposium, “The Role of Lawyers of Color: Past, Present & Future,” held Oct. 9. Their talk was on the legal history of reparations with a focus on the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. Unfortunately, Davis had a medical problem and was unable to attend. A summary of Davis’ comments were read before Aiyetoro spoke as the keynoter. Their presentation will become the basis of an article to be published in the Texas Wesleyan Law Review.
Oct. 7, Professor Coleen Barger was one of the featured speakers in a national webinar hosted by Stetson University College of Law, “Strategies for Coaching Moot Court Teams,” along with Professor Michael Allen of Stetson and Professor Mary Beth Beazley of The Ohio State University. The webinar is available in Stetson's Advocacy Resource Center for replay to members of non-profit, government, and educational institutions. To access the Advocacy Resource Center, go to Stetson's homepage, law.stetson.edu, and choose "Advocacy" from the "Centers" pull down menu. From there, click on the "Advocacy Resource Center" link and register (free). Once you have registered, you may enter the Advocacy Resource Center by logging in on the right side of the page. You will find this webinar under the link "Project for Excellence in Legal Communication: Virtual Legal Writing Conference Webinars."
Sept. 9, Nadine Baum Distinguished Professor of Law Terri Beiner spoke at the monthly meeting of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Association of Legal Administrators on diversity in the legal workforce.
Professor Felecia Epps participated in the fifth annual Fred Gray Sr. Civil Rights Symposium at Faulkner University Jones Law School held Oct. 21. The symposium explored the impact that President Obama’s election will have on the legal profession. Epps made a presentation about how the election of the first African American president will impact the number of people of color who pursue a legal education and become law professors.
Lynn Foster, Arkansas Bar Foundation Professor of Law, has been appointed to serve on the Uniform Laws Commission Study Committee on a Mortgage Subrogation Act. The Uniform Laws Commission, formed in 1892 as the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, seeks to study the laws of the states to determine which laws should be uniform, and to recommend uniform laws for adoption. The Study Committee will examine whether a uniform law subrogating a refinancing mortgage lender to the position of the initial lender. Foster has also been named to the UALR History Institute Board of Directors. The UALR History Institute showcases selected UALR history faculty members who present their current research in evening programs occurring twice a semester.
Professor of Law Librarianship Susan Goldner gave two presentations during the Mid-America Association of Law Libraries in Columbia, Mo., Oct. 15-17. During a session called “Collection Decisions in Times of Shrinking Budgets,” her topic was the MALLCO Collection & Technology Practices Survey. During a session called “The Next Big Thing: Empirical Legal Research?” her topic was “What Is the IRB and Why Should You Care?”
Visiting Professor Wendell Griffen delivered the closing address Oct. 10 for the Annual Meeting of the Defense Research Institute in Chicago. The subject of the address, which concluded a morning-long program on leadership that was kicked off by remarks from former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, was "Nobility of Being a Lawyer and Professionalism."
Associate Professor of Law Ranko Shiraki Oliver presented at the first meeting of the year for the Young Democrats student organization. She spoke on the work of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in Washington, D.C., and, more specifically, the work of the Arkansas State Advisory Committee (SAC) to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, of which she has been a member since October 2008. The Arkansas SAC is studying the need for, and feasibility of, establishing a state agency, such as an Arkansas Civil Rights Commission, that would oversee the enforcement of civil rights in the State of Arkansas.
Professor Rick Peltz presented a draft of his paper "Penumbral Academic Freedom: Interpreting the Tenure Contract in a Time of Constitutional Impotence" at the American Association of University Professors’ national conference in June 2009. The paper is also listed on the Social Science Research Network Top Ten download list for the topic of Education Law: College & Graduate Education.
Peltz also authored two articles – “Copyright/Intellectual Property" and "Freedom of Information Act" – for the Encyclopedia of Journalism edited by Christopher H. Sterling and published by SAGE Reference.