Baltimore Briefs – University of Baltimore School of Law Magazine

‘Lawyers as Leaders’ Series Gathers Alumni for Professional Growth

Posted on September 5, 2024September 5, 2024 by Juan Soto in Baltimore Briefs 2024

In an effort to draw on the leadership strengths of our law alumni and share that wisdom and experience with emerging leaders in our alumni community, UBalt Law has created an exciting new lunch-and-learn series, Lawyers as Leaders.

This three-part series, with panels in September, October and November, will cover essential leadership topics such as authentic leadership style, change management, and building a positive and inclusive culture. The series is an initiative launched by Associate Dean for Administration Joy Gaslevic, J.D. ’99.

The first of the three sessions, on Friday, Sept. 13, focuses on Authentic Leadership style. In the demanding legal profession, staying true to who you are is important. Effective leaders show up authentically and inspire others to do their best work.

This session is a call to action for lawyers to lead with vulnerability and authenticity. We’ll explore the power of self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and empathy – the core ingredients of an authentic leadership style that builds trust, inspires teams, improves communication and problem solving, and drives meaningful change.

When we have the courage to embrace our imperfections and lead from a place of authenticity, we unlock a wellspring of potential for ourselves and those we lead.

Attendees will hear from four UBalt Law alumni: Baltimore City Solicitor Ebony Thompson, JD ’13; Kramon & Graham principal David Shuster, JD ’94; former Children’s Defense Fund executive Rexanah Wyse Morrissette, JD ’13; and panel moderator, Johns Hopkins Dean Jill Green, JD ’94.

The second session, on Friday, Oct. 11, focuses on Leading Through Change. We know that change is inevitable, and lawyers often navigate complex transitions. This session will equip legal professionals with strategies for leading teams through change while minimizing disruption. We will discuss change management best practices and how to lead with confidence during times of uncertainty.

Hear from four UBalt Law alumni: GM Cruise public policy chief Henry Greenidge, J.D. ’10; retired CareFirst BCBS general counsel Meryl Burgin, J.D. ’87; Kerry Neal, J.D. ’06, associate commissioner, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; and moderator Laurie Lyte, J.D. ’92, principal, Lytehouse Solutions.

The third session, on Friday, Nov. 15, is on Building a Positive Culture. Climate and culture within an organization matter. Everyone in an organization is responsible for contributing to a positive climate and culture, but leaders are ultimately responsible for assessing, developing and maintaining both.

By establishing and maintaining a positive climate and culture, leaders can increase motivation, job satisfaction, morale, team cohesion, initiative and trust, and ultimately improve team dynamics and overall individual and team performance and results.

Hear from four experts: Imoh Akpan, J.D. ’06, a partner at Goldberg Segalla; retired judge Hon. Barbara Baer Waxman, J.D. ’80; Traci Mundy Jenkins, director of career development at Venable; and moderator Laurie Lyte, J.D. ’92, principal, Lytehouse Solutions.

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UBalt Law Welcomes Four New Faculty

Posted on September 4, 2024September 6, 2024 by Juan Soto in Baltimore Briefs 2024

Four new faculty members joined UBalt Law this academic year. One is a clinical teaching fellow, and three are focused on a newly revamped Introduction to Lawyering Skills curriculum with smaller class sizes and an increased emphasis on writing and legal analysis.

Danielle Burs joined the faculty as a clinical teaching fellow in the Community Development Clinic. Previously, she held a variety of positions at the intersection of law, public policy, and community advocacy. Burs has focused on transactional, legislative, and regulatory work in her career, while also representing clients in administrative and civil cases. Her professional experience includes positions at nonprofit organizations, government offices, and private practice. Burs also maintains roles on volunteer boards focused on community development.

Burs received a Bachelor of Arts in Government Relations and English from Clark University in Worcester, Mass., and a Juris Doctor from The American University Washington College of Law.

Afton Cavanaugh joined the law school as an assistant professor. Prior to joining the faculty, he was a service professor of law and assistant dean at St. Mary’s University School of Law, where he taught a wide range of courses, including Legal Communications, Analysis, and Professionalism; Experiential Legal Analysis; Estate Planning; and Bar Prep for Credit.

At UBalt Law, Cavanaugh teaches Introduction to Lawyering Skills (ILS) and Trusts and Estates. Prior to his academic career, Cavanaugh practiced law as co-founder and managing member of Cavanaugh Quintanilla, PLLC in Austin, Tex., where he specialized in real estate, business law, and wills and estates.

Throughout his career, Cavanaugh has displayed a commitment to student success, from the development of courses that implement innovative active learning techniques, to research that focuses on student success both inside and outside of the classroom. He has presented at numerous conferences on topics such as legal education innovation, diversity in law schools, and the use of technology in legal writing instruction. His scholarship focuses on inheritance rights, tax law, and legal education reform. His work has been published in journals such as the UMKC Law Review, Hofstra Law Review, and The Scholar.

He earned a B.A. from St. Edwards University and a J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law.

Richard Luedeman teaches Introduction to Lawyering Skills (ILS) and Federal Civil Rights Claims. Previously, at the University of Connecticut School of Law, Luedeman taught lawyering courses and Advanced Civil Procedure. He is very active in academic service, and currently serves on the programming committee of the AALS Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues. He is also a member of the legal writing community, following pedagogical developments in the field and serving on the awards committee for the AALS Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research.

In addition to his scholarly work and academic service, Luedeman has taken on several pro bono projects while in academia, including successfully appealing the dismissal of a client’s civil rights claims in federal court.

Prior to teaching, Luedeman was a practitioner specializing in complex and appellate litigation. Before private practice, he clerked for judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

He received an A.B. in government from Harvard University and a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was a member of the Yale Law Journal editorial board and the New Haven Legal Assistance housing clinic.

Jessica Lynn Wherry joined the faculty as an associate professor teaching legal analysis and writing to first-year students, and upper-level writing in veterans law. Wherry began her teaching career as associate professor of legal research and writing, associate director of the legal research and writing program, and co-director of the scholarly writing program at The George Washington University Law School. Previously, she taught legal research and writing courses at Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to her career in education, she served as assistant counsel in the U.S. Department of the Navy’s Office of the General Counsel and as a cryptologic technician in the U.S. Navy.

Wherry’s scholarly interests are veterans and military law, legal communication and narrative, and the intersection of the two. She assists veterans with disability compensation claims and discharge upgrades through her pro bono work with the Homeless Persons Representation Project and The Veterans Consortium. Wherry also serves as reporter to the Standing Committee on Maryland Pattern Jury Instructions-Civil and as co-editor-in-chief to Legal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD, the peer-reviewed flagship journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors.

She is also a board member of the National Law School Veterans Clinic Consortium and serves as the editor to the Social Science Research Network’s Veterans & Military Law & Policy eJournal. She earned her B.A. from Lawrence University, an M.S.Sc. from Syracuse University, and her J.D. from The George Washington University Law School.

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UBalt Law Launches Stronger Writing Curriculum to Emphasize Legal Analysis

Posted on September 4, 2024September 4, 2024 by Juan Soto in Baltimore Briefs 2024

By Adam Stone

Good writing doesn’t come naturally to everyone. “To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement,” according to Mark Twain. Yet strong writing is a fundamental skill in the legal profession.

With that in mind, UBalt Law is upgrading its writing curriculum, starting this fall.

“To be a good lawyer, you need to be able to do solid written legal analysis. That’s just fundamental, no matter what kind of law you do,” says Prof. Nancy Modesitt, associate dean of legal analysis and writing.

In addition, the bar exam already demands writing that demonstrate analysis, and it will likely be asking for more. “The Next-Gen bar exam is expected to be even heavier on these legal analysis skills,” Modesitt says. “Students need to be able to do legal analysis effectively, and the more you practice that, the better you’re going to be at it.”

Legal analysis includes “rule-based reasoning, presenting arguments in a coherent fashion, backed by authority,” says Prof. Colin Starger, associate dean for academic affairs. Based on current research, “we now understand with greater clarity that legal analysis is absolutely vital to success in law school, success on the bar exam, and success as a lawyer.”

The best way for students to gain that skill “is through writing and revision, working closely with experts,” he says. With that in mind, UBalt Law has made a number of changes to the writing curriculum.

The new approach

Students will see a big change in how the first-year legal writing class unfolds. Going forward, class size will be pared back from 25 to approximately 15 students. With smaller classes, students will receive more hands-on guidance.

“It’s easier to give better feedback to the students in a smaller class,” Modesitt says. “Reducing the class size allows us to give more time and attention to those students, and it gives the students a chance to get more meaningful feedback.”

In the upper-level curriculum, there will be a new requirement that students produce at least two significant pieces of written legal analysis and receive substantial feedback on that work. It will take several years to fully implement the change, Modesitt says, as the enhanced writing component will need to be woven into a variety of courses.

“We want our existing faculty members to teach written legal analysis in the context in which they’re most comfortable. So we’re taking upper-level elective classes, reducing the class size, and adding the writing component to the requirements for those classes,” she says. “Environmental law is one of the classes that has been proposed as an early adopter of this, but it could be really any upper-level class that currently exists.”

A third change worth noting is the creation of Modesitt’s own position. The newly forged role of associate dean of legal analysis and writing should help to institutionalize this emerging institutional focus.

With the creation of Modesitt’s position, and the hiring of three new faculty in support of the writing program, “We are putting our money where our mouth is,” Starger says. “UB has rightfully had the reputation of producing practice-ready attorneys, and now we’re honing that and getting better at it.”

Stakeholder buy-in

In order to steer this new curricular course, the administration sought extensive stakeholder buy-in from the start.

First, a faculty subcommittee set out to explore the question of what students needed in order to be best equipped to go out and practice law. “That committee produced a lengthy report and some specific recommendations,” Modesitt says. “Then we had multiple hearings among the faculty on the contours of the proposal, and a lot of debate about it. Ultimately, the faculty approved this new approach.”

Some might ask, why now? After all, analysts have been saying for some time that artificial intelligence will be reshaping the way lawyers work in the future, and it could potentially be doing much of their legal writing.

Associate Dean Colin Starger

In fact, AI will at best be augmenting lawyers in their written communications — by producing first drafts, for example. It will be up to the lawyers to make effective use of those machine-generated words, Modesitt says, and they’ll need strong analytic skills in order to do that effectively.

Today’s AI applications “don’t really understand hierarchy of authorities, what cases are relevant, or things like that. AI is not well versed in legal analysis generally,” she says. Going forward, it will be “critically important to be able to assess what AI produces.”

The outputs of AI “can look perfectly fine, but if you know how to do legal analysis, you would see major problems with it,” she says. “It is critically important that our students understand the process of creating solid legal analysis, in part so that they can better assess what they see with generative AI.”

All these changes promise to put students in a better position as they tackle the bar exam and embark upon their legal careers.

“Their foundation will be more solid in their first semester, because they’ll have had more time and attention from a faculty member,” Modesitt says. “And they will build stronger skills with repeated exposure to the process of creating written legal analysis.”

Adam Stone is a writer based in Annapolis.

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FACULTY NOTES

Posted on September 4, 2024September 4, 2024 by Juan Soto in Baltimore Briefs 2024

José Anderson

Article: Commentary: I’ll remember Justice Sandra Day O’Connor for her humility, Balt. Banner (Dec. 6, 2023)

Article: Review of Historic Landmark Designation Application for Loudon County Courthouse in Leesburg, Va., U.S. Department of the Interior (filed Aug. 31, 2023) (solicited submission)

John Bessler

Book chapter: What-Ifs and Missed Opportunities: The U.S. Supreme Court, Death Sentences and Executions, and the 50th Anniversary of Furman v. Georgia, in Death Penalty in Decline?: The Fight Against Capital Punishment in the Decades Since Furman v. Georgia (Austin Sarat, ed.) (May 2024)

Book: The Forgotten Origins of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause (forthcoming)

Fred Brown

Article: Should the Federal Government Help States and Local Governments Pay for Police Misconduct Through Tax-Exempt Bonds?, 42 Va. Tax Rev. 287 (2023)

Anne-Marie Carstens

Book chapter: Heritage Suspension: Law on Public Emergencies, in Routledge Handbook of Heritage and the Law (2024) (with J. Peter Byrne)

Gilda Daniels

Book chapter: Language Assistance Provisions Chapter, in Oxford Handbook of American Election Law (forthcoming 2024)

Book: The Cambridge Companions Series, The History of Voting Rights In The United States (forthcoming 2025)

Michele Gilman

Article: Participation Versus Scale: Tensions in the Practical Demands on Participatory AI, 29 First Monday (April 2024)

Article: Democratizing AI: Principles for Meaningful Public Participation, Data & Soc’y (2023)

Valeria Gomez

Article: Geography as Due Process in Immigration Court, Bender’s Immigr. Bull. (forthcoming

Sarah Gottlieb

Article: Progressive Facade: How Bail Reforms Expose the Limitations of the Progressive Prosecutor Movement, 81 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1 (2024).

Nienke Grossman

Book: Oxford Handbook on Women and International Law (Nienke Grossman, J. Jarpa Dawuni, Jaya Ramji-Nogales, & Hélène Ruiz-Fabri, eds.), (forthcoming 2025)

Book chapter: The ‘Invisible Court’: A First Look at Gender and Nationality in Registries and Secretariats, in Oxford Handbook on Women and International Law (Nienke Grossman, J. Jarpa Dawuni, Jaya Ramji-Nogales & Hélène Ruiz-Fabri, eds.) (forthcoming 2025

Margaret Johnson

Article: Title IX and “Menstruation or Related Conditions”, 30 Mich. J. Gender & L. 25 (2023) (with Marcy L. Karin, Naomi Cahn, Elizabeth B. Cooper, Bridget J. Crawford, & Emily Gold Waldman)

Book: Lawyers, Clients & Narrative: A Framework for Law Students and Practitioners (2d ed.) (2023) (with Carolyn Grose)

Geraldine Kalim

Article: How We Can Best Support Neurodivergent Patrons, AALL Spectrum Mag., (March/April 2024)

Elizabeth Keyes

Article: Clinics and Emergencies, Clinical L. Rev. (Fall 2024) (co-authored with Sabrina Balgamwalla)

Dionne Koller

Book chapter: Deterring Regulation Through the Threat of Sportspocalypse, in The Routledge Handbook of Sports Law and Governance, (Annette Greenhow and John Wolohan, eds.) (forthcoming)

Senate Testimony: Testimony and Participation in the March 20 Hearing Before the Senate Committee on Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection on Promoting a Safe Environment in U.S. Athletics (March 20, 2024)

Katie Kronick

Article: Intellectual Disability, Categorical Mitigation, and Punishment, Bos. Coll. L. Rev. (May 2024)

Neha Lall

Article: CLEA Externship Committee Report: 2023 Survey of Law Schools on Student Compensation in For-Credit Externships, CLEA (April 18, 2024) (with Kate Devlin Joyce and June Tai)

Matthew Lindsay

Article: An Unreasonable Presumption: The National Security/Foreign Affairs Nexus in Immigration Law, 88 Brook. L. Rev. 747 (2023) (co-authored with Hallie Ludsin and Anthony DeMattee)

Article: The Right to Migrate, 27 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 95 (2023)

Zina Makar

Article: The Absence of Dignity in Prison Law, 84 Md. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2025)

Article: Per Curiam Signals in the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket, 98 Wash. L. Rev. 427 (2023)

Hugh McClean

Article: Review of Veterans Law Decisions of the Federal Circuit, 2022-2023 Edition, 73 Am. U. L. Rev. 101 (Summer 2024) (with Yelena Duterte and Stacey-Rae Simcox)

Article: Dred Scott, Military Enslavement, and the Case for Reparations, 113 Kentucky L. Rev. (Fall 2024)

Audrey McFarlane

Book chapter: Zoning’s Racial Innocence and the Imperatives of Segregation, in Intransigence and Hope: The Long Journey towards Racial Justice in American Land Use (Craig Anthony Arnold, Cedric Merlin Powell, Catherine Fosl, and Laura Rothstein, Eds., forthcoming 2025)

Book chapter: Chapter on Race, Property and Power, in Race, Racism and American Law (Derrick Bell, Cheryl Harris, Justin Hansford, Atiba Ellis, Amna Akbar, & Audrey McFarlane, 7th Ed., forthcoming 2025)

Michael Meyerson

Article: When One Door Closes: Legal Education and Racial Justice after Students for Fair Admissions, 103 Neb. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2025)

Jennifer Mitchell

Article: Using the Least Populous State Solution, 44.2 Pace L. Rev. (2024)

Article: Why Not More Seats? Increasing the House of Representative’s Size, 44.2 Pace L. Rev. (2024)

Max Oppenheimer

Article: The Artificial Intelligence Solution to Patent Obviousness, Harv. Sports & Ent. L. J. (Fall 2024)

Article: The Perks of Being Human, 80 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1 (2023)

Walter Schwidetzky

Article: What is in a name: Who Qualifies as a Limited Partner for Self-Employment Tax Purposes, 41 J. of Tax’n of Inv. 3 (Winter 2024)

Article: The Worthlessness Deduction for Partnership Interests: An Unguided Missile, Tax Notes (Apr. 17, 2024)

Tim Sellers

Book: Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (Mortimer Sellers & Stephan Kirste, eds., 2024)

Book: Handbook of the History of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (Mortimer Sellers, Gianfrancesco Zanetti, & Stephan Kirste, eds., 2023)

Matthew Sipe

Article: Patent Law 101: I Know It When I See It, Harv. J. L. & Tech. (2024)

Article: Covering Prying Eyes with an Invisible Hand: Privacy, Antitrust, and the New Brandeis Movement, 36 Harv. J. L. & Tech. 359 (2023)

Amy E. Sloan

Book: Using Generative AI for Legal Research, (1st ed. Mar. 2024)

Book: Basic Legal Research: Tools & Strategies, (Rev. 8th ed. 2024)

Ioanna Tourkochoriti

Article: The Digital Services Act and the EU as the Global Regulator of the Internet, 24 Chi. J. Int’l L. 129 (2023)

Article: Is Neutrality Possible? A Critique of the Court of Justice of the European Union on Headscarves in the Workplace from a Comparative Perspective”, 71 Am. J. Of Comp. L. 1 (2023)

Shanta Trivedi

Book chapter: Surviving the “Child Welfare System”, in Policing Not Protecting Families: The Child Welfare System as Poverty Governance (forthcoming 2025)

Article: Caring for Children by Punishing Parents, The Yale L. & Pol. Econ. Blog (July 24, 2023)

Angela Vallario

Article: Don’t Let Death Be Your Deadline: Get A Will Before It’s Too Late: Expand Holographic-Wills Law to Incentivize Will-Making, 30 The Elder L. J. 349 (2023)

Kim Wehle

Article: Kimberly L. Wehle, The Ninth Amendment Post-Dobbs: Could Federalism Swallow Unenumerated Rights?, 83 Md. L. Rev. 867 (2024).

Sonya Ziaja

Article: Amoral Water Markets, 111.6 Geo. L. J. 1335 (2023) (with Karrigan Bork).

Article: Sonya Ziaja, How Algorithm Assisted Decision Making Is Influencing Climate Adaptation and Environmental Law, 53 Env’t L. & Pol’y Ann. Rev. 10652 (2023)

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Prof. Kim Wehle Named a Fulbright Scholar

Posted on September 4, 2024September 4, 2024 by Juan Soto in Baltimore Briefs 2024

UBalt Law Prof. Kim Wehle has been named a Fulbright Scholar for 2024-2025. The Fulbright Program’s stated mission is to increase mutual understanding between people of the United States and people of other countries.

Wehle’s Fulbright project, which will be conducted in conjunction with scholars in The Netherlands and the University of Virginia, entails empirical research, analysis, and public-facing discussion regarding how citizens actually internalize constitutional norms and use them, to varying degrees, to reinforce constitutional structures through voting, civic participation, financial support, and other means. 

She will visit The Netherlands during the Spring 2025 semester, following a speaking tour for her fourth book, Pardon Power: How the Pardon System Works — and Why, which was published in September 2024.

Wehle says she will work with Prof. W.J.M. Voermans, of the University of Leiden, and other scholars to study how social constructivism informs constitutional law and, in turn, how courts and government actors should consider the public’s internalized values in shaping the rule of law. It will continue their three-year collaboration comparing the two oldest constitutions in the world: the U.S. and Dutch Constitutions.

“In 2019, Professor Voermans and I met when we both spoke at the John Adams Institute in Amsterdam about our recent books, How to Read the Constitution—and Why (Wehle), and The Story of Constitutions (Voermans),” Wehle says. “Thus began a collaboration around Professor Voermans’ ongoing research on how constitutions live in the ‘hearts and minds’ of ordinary people.

Wehle, who has been on the faculty at Baltimore Law since 2009, teaches administrative law, constitutional law, civil procedure and federal courts. She is the author of How to Read the Constitution — and Why (2019), What You Need to Know About Voting — and Why (2020), and How to Think Like a Lawyer and Why: A Common-Sense Guide to Everyday Dilemmas (2022).

“I am truly honored to have been selected as a Fulbright Scholar, one of the world’s most prestigious organizations for fostering intercultural scholarship and community,” she says. “I’m thrilled to continue my research at the University of Leiden on how citizens internalize constitutional norms –and its impact on the interaction among politicians, civil servants, and the voting public.”

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Janet Lord Named CICL Executive Director

Posted on September 3, 2024September 4, 2024 by Juan Soto in Baltimore Briefs 2024

Janet Lord joined the Center for International and Comparative Law (CICL) as executive director in November 2023. Prior to coming to the University of Baltimore, she served as chief legal counsel to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Lord holds a senior research fellowship at the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, where she works to address gaps in international law, policy and practice on the rights of persons with disabilities. She has spent her career as an international human rights lawyer, working globally to advance the rights of persons with disabilities.

A lead drafter of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, she provided legal counsel during the treaty negotiations to governments, the United Nations and civil society organizations throughout the five-year drafting process.

She continues to provide legal counsel on international human rights law and inclusive development to the World Bank, the United Nations Office of Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protection, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Programme, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States Department of State, organizations of persons with disabilities and numerous other stakeholders.

Lord began her career working for the World Bank Group, where she served as legal counsel to the Bank’s International Administrative Tribunal and legal secretary to the Bank’s Appeals Committee. Thereafter, she served as legal advisor and advocacy director for an international non-governmental landmine survivor organization, where she worked to monitor the Mine Ban Treaty and led advocacy efforts on the rights of landmine survivors across the UN system. 

Lord’s pro bono work and service to the community includes support to litigants appearing before national courts and international human rights courts and mechanisms. She was appointed for two consecutive terms to the board of Amnesty International USA where, in her final two years of service, she was vice chair and chair of the board. She is currently serving on the board of the US International Council on Disabilities and on an expert advisory panel on political participation at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

She has published books, journal articles, book chapters and monographs on a variety of international public law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law and disability law issues. Her recent scholarship appears in the American Journal of International Law, the Harvard Journal of International Law, the Virginia Journal of International Law, the International Review of the Red Cross, and the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law.

Lord holds degrees from Kenyon College, the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), and the George Washington University Law School. In 2022, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Kenyon College for her work in advancing international disability rights and disability inclusive development. She is a member of the New York Bar.

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96th Law Commencement Held on May 15, 2024

Posted on September 3, 2024September 4, 2024 by Juan Soto in Baltimore Briefs 2024

On May 15, 2024, graduates, loved ones, faculty and staff gathered at Towson University’s TU Arena to celebrate the School of Law’s 96th Commencement.  

Recipients of the Juris Doctor degree, Master of Laws in Taxation, and Master of Laws in the Law of the United States had their degrees conferred upon them by University of Baltimore Provost Ralph O. Mueller.  

Heartfelt and encouraging remarks were given by 2024 class representative, Devante Jones, and commencement speaker, State of Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman. Other speakers included University of Baltimore President Kurt L. Schmoke, University System of Maryland Regent William Wood, and University of Baltimore Law Alumni Association (UBLAA) president Jasmine Pope, J.D. ’18. In one of his last acts as dean of the School of Law, Dean Ronald Weich opened and closed the ceremony with gratitude and best wishes.

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2024 Distinguished Alumni Award Winners Feted at April 11 Law School Event

Posted on September 3, 2024September 4, 2024 by Juan Soto in Baltimore Briefs 2024

The 2024 Distinguished Alumni Awards were held the evening of April 11, 2024. Alumni and esteemed guests celebrated the deserving honorees and thanked Dean Ronald Weich for his 12 years of leadership at UBalt Law.

Award winners were chosen by the UBalt Law Alumni Association based on nominations submitted by alumni and the public. Congratulations to the 2024 honorees!

The winners were:

Byron L. Warnken Memorial Alumni Award: Sen. Jill P. Carter, J.D. ’92

Dean’s Award: Sayra Wells Meyerhoff, J.D. ’78

Distinguished Judicial Award: Hon. Alex Allman, J.D. ’00

Judge Robert Bell Award: Vicki Schultz, J.D. ’89

Rising Star Award: Dionne Hopkins, J.D. ’19.

Sen. Jill P. Carter, left, Hon. Alex Allman, Vicki Schultz

Hon. Yoland Curtin, left, Hon. Kendra Ausby, Hon. Nicole Pastore

Julian Mack, left, Lawrence Greenberg, Tiana Boardman

Del. Malcolm Ruff, left, Del. Caylin Young

Lisa Sparks, left, Laurence Boylan, Jasmine Pope

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Nienke Grossman Reelected to New Term on Inter-American Juridical Committee

Posted on August 20, 2024September 10, 2024 by Juan Soto in Baltimore Briefs 2024

Prof. Nienke Grossman, co-director of the University of Baltimore’s Center for International and Comparative Law, was reelected to a second term on the Inter-American Juridical Committee (IAJC) at the 54th OAS General Assembly in Asuncion, Paraguay, on June 28, 2024. Grossman is the first woman and the first Latina nominated by the United States and elected to serve on the committee, and one of only eight women to serve on the committee since 1942.

The committee serves the Organization of American States in an advisory capacity and promotes the progressive development and codification of international law. Its members are distinguished international law experts from across the Inter-American region. Grossman was elected to the panel in January 2024 and sought reelection to a full four-year term.

OAS leadership cited Grossman for her knowledge and experience as an international law scholar and advisor on a wide range of international law topics, including her expertise in issues involving women and international law. “I am honored to have been nominated by the United States, and elected by OAS member states, to serve on the IAJC,” says Grossman. “I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on the committee to provide effective and useful advice on juridical matters to the OAS, and to working with States to advance the rule of law in the region.”

The United States’ support for her candidacy and that of many other women elected to international bodies in the past year shows a commitment to advancing policies that promote gender equality and empower women within the OAS and beyond. These efforts to support her election also advance Sustainable Development Goal 5.5, which seeks to ensures women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.

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UBalt Law Team Places First Nationally in Environmental Law Competition

Posted on August 20, 2024September 10, 2024 by Juan Soto in Baltimore Briefs 2024

The University of Baltimore School of Law’s finalist team in the Pace University Elisabeth Haub School of Law Environmental Law and Policy Hack Competition finished first in the nation for its brief and presentation, “Achieving a Circular Economy for Textile Waste in Baltimore City: Improving a Significant Public-Private Partnership Through Targeted Legal Reform.” The virtual competition took place on April 19, 2024.

This national competition challenges law students across the nation to propose innovative legal solutions to environmental and social issues facing our country. This year, the competition prompted students to address the issue of household waste at the regional, subnational or national scale. The UBalt Law team focused on the increasing concerns surrounding household textiles (clothing, durable fabric goods, etc.) and the waste and environmental justice concerns associated with them in Baltimore City and Maryland more broadly, says 3L and team leader James Duffy.

The Pace Competition allows finalist teams to present their proposals to a panel of expert judges and rewards the first-place team with a $2,000 grant to implement proposed solutions.

The Baltimore Law team consisted of students pictured: front row, from left, James Duffy and Jessica Kweon; middle row, from left: Adam Fetian, Hannah Krehely and Cameron Luzarraga; back row, from left: Abby Badro, Carmen Perry, Paige Lauenstein and Spencer Baldacci.

The team was coached by UBalt Law Prof. Sonya Ziaja; Lisa Scianella, chief of staff from Helpsy, for contributing a wealth of knowledge and feedback on proposed solutions; and law alumni Lisa Blitstein, J.D. ’22, and Grant Foehrkolb, J.D. ’14.

Photo by Juan Pablo Soto Médico.