Regent Law News

Bruce Cameron , the Reed Larson Professor of Labor Law, was interviewed by Phil Walzer of The Virginian-Pilot about a settlement reached between Smithfield Foods and the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Smithfield had brought a lawsuit against the union, accusing it of using extortion to bring down the company. Read the full story here . Law Professor Bradley Jacob was quoted in this article on Morningstar.com, a fund-rating website, about how the next president's appointments to the Supreme Court will impact constitutional rights. Fortune Small Business will be publishing a response from Law Professor Thomas Folsom to a reader’s question regarding trademark issues in the December-January issue.

Regent Law School Wins Attorney General's Cup Two Years Running From left to right: Virginia Atty. General Bob McDonnell, Dean and Professor Jeffrey Brauch, 3L Mykell Messman. Working to bring greater attention to the issue of hunger in America, Regent Law responded to a nationwide call-to-action to fill local foodbanks. Over the summer students, administration, and faculty worked together to donate over 16,000 pounds of food to Virginia’s Second Annual Legal Food Frenzy, which benefits the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia (FSEVA). Against a backdrop of Hunger Action Month, the school’s efforts were rewarded in September with the Law School Attorney General’s Cup for collecting the most total pounds and most pounds per capita of food. Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell honored Regent Law with the Cup at an awards ceremony that celebrated law firms, organizations and law schools that together raised 1,366,401 pounds of food. The ceremony was also a celebration of...

Steve Forbes answering audience question as other debaters look on. While the country has had the past 18 months to ponder the question, the six panelists at Regent University's sixth annual Clash of the Titans® had just two hours to debate which party is best suited to lead America.  No election in recent memory has been talked about, parsed, debated or written about as much as this one: the first African-American running as candidate of a major political party; the first woman to run as a Republican candidate for vice president; and the sheer volume of newly registered voters have made this political fascinating to watch—particularly as both parties are running vigorously on platforms of change. An increasingly unpopular war, an unstable economy, and the very real threat of a world-wide recession are bringing unprecedented numbers of people to the polls—to the extent that citizens are allowed and even encouraged to vote early, to avoid long lines and frustration on November 4. Ra...

Internship brings opportunity to advocate for Ethiopian immigrant For 3L JoRae Bishop, issues of immigration are nothing new. “I grew up as a minority in El Paso, Texas, a community of immigrants. I’ve always been aware of immigration issues.” So, a summer internship at an immigration agency was simply the natural progression in her legal career. El Paso’s Las Americas, an immigrant advocacy center, handles three types of immigration cases: unaccompanied minors, woman who are victims of abuse, and asylum seekers. As an intern, JoRae was able to engage cases that fell within each category, but her summer centered on a particular contested asylum case. “The client that I spent the most time with was a young Ethiopian man, persecuted because of his membership in a minority tribe in that country,” JoRae said. “He was forced with the choice of staying in Ethiopia and facing death or fleeing to the United States.” Her client chose the risky path of fleeing. Having no promises once he arrived...

Regent Law professor, Eleanor Brown has been named one of the “Best Lawyers in Virginia” for the 4th year in a row by Virginia Business Magazine. Brown is a tax law expert and has been a professor at Regent Law since 2003. “The selection is of course a great honor,” said Regent Law Dean and fellow professor Jeffrey Brauch. “But here is why it matters so much to our students. Sadly, many law school faculties today are filled with brilliant scholars who have never really practiced law. I think it is a real strength of Regent that our students learn from exceptionally bright people who are also great lawyers. Indeed, the vast majority of my colleagues had substantial practice experience before coming to teach. And it’s is our students who benefit most.” One of Brown’s recent articles on conservation easement tax credits is being included as a chapter in a forthcoming book to be published Oxford Press.

Regent University law students know how to take knowledge from the classroom and put it into practice. In their latest endeavor, the school's Trial Advocacy Board was awarded Best Brief at the National Pretrial Competition, hosted by Stetson University School of Law in Gulfport, Fla., on Oct. 2. This is the Trial Advocacy Board's first award. Regent's team was composed of Brandon Carr, Jessica Coulter, Roberta Gantea and Carmelou Aloupas, all second- and third-year law students. The students prepared the briefs and presented arguments at competition. And Professor David Velloney coached them. "Our students excelled because of their meticulous attention to detail and tireless commitment to ensuring that they addressed every significant facet of the law in a clear and concise manner," said Velloney.  The group members are quick to direct the credit for their success beyond themselves. "We owe a great deal of our brief writing skill to Professor Kimberly Van Ess...

Regent University Law School is one of the nation's most outstanding law schools, according to The Princeton Review—a company that assesses school districts across the United States and networks prospective students with college and career resources. Regent Law ranked second for "Candidates for Heritage Foundation Fellowships" and seventh for "Best Student Life" in Princeton Review's latest book Best 174 Law Schools: 2009 Edition. "We select schools for this book based on our high regard for their academic programs and offerings, institutional data we collect from the schools, and the candid opinions of students attending them who rate and report on their campus experiences at the schools," said Robert Franek, vice president of publishing for The Princeton Review. "We are pleased to recommend Regent to readers of our book and users of our website as one of the best institutions they could attend to earn a law degree." The Princeton Re...

Regent Law School Alumnus Tony Leibert (‘87) has spent the last three years successfully prosecuting sex-crimes committed against children. His track record of courtroom success recently earned him the 2008 Ernest F. Hollings Award for Excellence in Prosecution. The award was presented this past Monday night at a statewide meeting of prosecutors in Hilton Head, S.C. Read the full story here . Regent Law celebrates the success of alums like Tony Leibert, recognizing that law is much more than a profession. It’s a calling.

Georgetown University Law Center Professor Viet Dinh was the featured keynote speaker at the National Security Symposium 2008, presented by the Regent University Law Review and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. Dinh delivered a stirring lecture on the separation of powers in the three branches of government, in light of the War on Terror. He identified four defining legal cases with respect to the war, and he spoke specifically of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that affect rights of enemy combatant detainees in Iraq and Guantanamo. He noted how since September 11, the branches of power in government have struggled with each other to assert their own role within the constitutional structure in responding to the attack of terrorists. Of the Constitutional conversation going on between the branches, he called attention to the court's triumphalism. "What started as a dialogue is now a monologue," he said. He spoke of the dangers of constitut...