Regent Law News

Associate Director for Law Career Services & Alumni Relations Rosey Mellion has been named Regent University's Employee of the Month for November. Rosey administers professional development programming for the Office of Career & Alumni Services. She consistently introduces innovative ways of providing information to students and alumni, including producing a monthly law alumni newsletter, The Brief Remark . Rosey has even partnered with other departments to create new opportunities for Regent; she assisted with a cybersecurity program that involved participants from Germany — Rosey speaks German!). Her colleagues attest that Rosey's contributions, knowledge, and dedication make a big difference in both the daily details and long-term goals of Regent. She exhibits a spirit of excellence in everything she does, working diligently to help students uncover their strengths and guide them in their career aspirations. Rosey is always offering valuable suggestions to ch

On Wednesday, November 21, students and faculty at Regent gathered to hear Brigitte Gabriel speak at Regent Law’s weekly chapel. In addition to founding ACT, the largest national security grassroots organization in the U.S. – with over one million members – Gabriel is a regular guest analyst on Fox News Channel, CNN and many American and international media outlets worldwide. Despite her accomplishments and accolades, Gabriel’s message to faculty and students alike was humble – “to know what God is asking you to do.” Gabriel shared her life’s story. Born in Lebanon, she survived war in the Middle Eastliving in an 8×10 underground bomb shelter from the age of 10 until 17. These years would shape her passions, career aspirations, and love for the Lord as she witnessed the Lord’s nearness and comfort amidst the terror of a war-torn country. “I look back on my life and I realize that every single thing that God orchestrated happened for a reason – as a preparation for what I’m do

On Monday, November 11, Associate Dean Natt Gantt was interviewed on Lawyers for Jesus Radio,  a weekly show braodcast by attorneys from Mauck & Baker covering a variety of topics relating to the Gospel in law society, culture, politics, and in the marketplace. Natt Gantt is Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs as well as the Co-Director of the Center for Ethical Formation and Legal Education Reform at Regent University School of Law. He regularly writes about professional identity, ethics, and other areas of significance to lawyers and law students. In his interview, Dean Gantt examines lawyers' ethical responsibility when discussing non-legal matters with clients.  Listen to his interview below:

Regent Law is ranked 20th in the nation for Ultimate Bar Passage, a new American Bar Association (ABA) measurement of how many of a school’s graduates pass the bar exam within two years of graduation. The ABA questionnaire tracks the number of graduates by calendar year of graduation who passed the bar examination within one year after graduation and within two years after graduation.  In the most recent questionnaire, law schools reported the number of graduates in calendar year 2016 who took the bar examination within two years of graduation, and the number of graduates in calendar year 2017 who took the bar examination within one year of graduation. Regent Law's most recent Ultimate Bar Passage Rate is 97.18%, ranking Regent Law 20th in the Nation according to a recent ABA report . “I could not be more proud of the students, our faculty, and Regent Law as a whole. This statistic reflects what we tell all prospective and current students—that we are committed to ensur

In law school, a book award is given to the student receiving the highest grade in a class. The book award tradition dates back years ago when the publisher of legal encyclopedia, American Jurisprudence , honored law students who’d received the highest marks in their courses with a book volume of the set. Students today typically receive a certificate or plaque. Spring and Summer 2019 Award Recipients with Dean Mark Martin and Mr. Ronald Fick Regent University School of Law launched its first book awards in January 2014 at the prompting of Mr. Ronald L. Fick, shareholder and attorney at Dunwody White & Landon, P.A. As an employer, Mr. Fick would leaf through a stack of résumés for potential new hires, and candidates who had won several book awards go straight to the top. Mr. Fick believed that Regent Law should honor its students who achieve academic excellence, and saw book awards as a way to further Regent Law's mission. His daughter, Allison Fick ('14) was a p

This article originally appeared in the October 2019 issue of Impact >> On March 5, 2019, President Donald Trump nominated Regent University School of Law alumnus Timothy J. Downing (’10) to serve as United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. Downing passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 9 and was confirmed by the full Senate via voice vote on May 23. He took the oath of office on June 5. Timothy J. Downing ('10), U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma According to the Justice Department’s website, “As the United States Attorney, Mr. Downing is the chief federal law enforcement officer responsible for all federal criminal prosecutions and civil litigation involving the United States in the Western District of Oklahoma.” Prior to becoming a U.S. Attorney, the Oklahoma native served in that state’s House of Representatives from 2016 to 2018. He was an assistant attorney general for the Sooner State from 2011 to 2016 and has

For the second year in a row, the Regent University Trial Advocacy Board has won the Stetson National Pretrial Competition in Gulfport, Florida. L to R : Charlie Morrison, Jessica Sherwood, Professor Drew Page, Coach Arielle Poe, Marcus Mitchell, and Savannah Wallace  The competition, which took place October 10-13, brought 16 invited teams together from law schools around the country, including Texas Tech and Chapman, to argue both sides of a sample problem. Teams wrote two memoranda of law that were scored, made an evidentiary presentation of two witnesses, and made a motion argument based on the evidence presented and arguments made in the memoranda of law. This year’s competition problem focused on inmate rights issues. The Regent Law team consisted of Marcus Mitchell (3L), Charlie Morrison (3L), Savannah Wallace (2L), and Jessica Sherwood (2L). The team was coached by adjunct professor Andrew Page (’10) and assisted by Arielle Poe (’19). In addit

From October 3-6, 2019, nearly 200 guests, including Regent Law alumni, local attorneys, and federal and state judges assembled for the first-ever Legal Learning Festival & Alumni Weekend on Regent’s Virginia Beach campus. In a red-carpet rollout of sorts, the law school fused some of its finest events with a lineup of notable legal scholars and practitioners. Their aim: to provide high-quality continuing legal education courses to the alumni who had gathered for law alumni weekend. Dean of the School of Law and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina Mark Martin called the festival “a historical opportunity” – one in which the law school could celebrate the impact of its alumni while also convening preeminent legal scholars for a series of continuing legal education programs. “Our goal was to provide the best quality educational programming possible — for our alumni, students, and members of the legal profession. We also want to help raise the bar wheneve

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (October 1, 2019) – Bradley J. Lingo, J.D., was named today as associate professor at the Regent University School of Law. The announcement was made by Mark Martin, dean of the School of Law and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. Professor Lingo’s teaching at Regent will focus on constitutional law, appellate advocacy and business law. “Professor Lingo is a nationally prominent attorney who comes to Regent from the partnership of one of the nation’s most prominent law firms, King & Spalding. Our students will benefit from his experience litigating high-stakes matters and work in the areas of civil rights and religious freedom. We are so excited to welcome him to the Regent community and look forward to his vision and leadership,” said Chief Justice Martin. “It’s an honor to join Chief Justice Martin and the other prominent recent additions to the Regent Law faculty. I look forward to working with my new colleagues to ment

On Thursday, September 12, Regent University School of Law commemorated the grand opening of Grace Community Law Clinic in downtown Norfolk. The primary mission of the new branch: to effectively provide pro bono legal aid to the Hampton Roads community. Translated from Latin as “for the public good,” pro bono legal work is accomplished when professionals trained in law provide legal aid without fee. Regent University School of Law aligns its vision with just that – extending legal expertise in certain cases to those unable to pay to help lift our community and represent the underserved. The new branch’s facility enables Regent Law to reach more low-income families who have pending or ongoing cases before domestic courts. Located on St. Paul’s Boulevard, mirroring the City of Norfolk Courthouse, the clinic’s site is ideal for working with members of the community. Grace Community Law Clinic is set to render distinctive aid to family-related disputes, ranging from landlord/tenant i

Not all law degree programs will land you in a courtroom. You can apply a law degree to a wide spectrum of careers, whether you want to work in the nonprofit sector, for a corporation, a municipality or civil works center, even a ministry. Here are three ways a law degree could help make a big difference for you. A Sounder Grasp The laws that govern our land affect every individual, business, organization, and entity in some way, whether directly or indirectly. A law degree offers a foundation in how law impacts society and in what ways it helps society function. Understanding legal principles allows you to provide a relevant, fuller scope of information and expertise in your organization. It can help you see things in a way others do not, give you an edge in functions from human resources to contract negotiations, and make you stronger at what you do, not to mention help others be better in their work, too. Enhanced Understanding Means Enhanced Value Understanding le

Serving as a judicial clerk upon graduation is an aim for many law students. For a remarkable 26% of Regent University 2019 Law graduates who landed Judicial Clerkships, that aim has become a reality. “Regent students are prepared to secure competitive clerkships because of our professional support and counseling, our unique resources, and the School’s reputation with judges that has been solidified over the years,” said Dean of the law school, Chief Justice Mark Martin (Ret.). “This reflects the hard work of our students and the rigor of the program.” “Over the course of my career as director of Career & Alumni Services I’ve found that having a dean that is a retired jurist that has clerked and hired clerks is instrumental in placing exceptional students in extraordinary positions,” said LAW’s Director of Career & Alumni Services, Kathy Stull. “With our new dean, Chief Justice Mark Martin (2014-2019), we hit that exact balance of jurist/administrator.” Rebecca Garcia

Regent University School of Law graduate Timothy J. Downing (JD '10) has been sworn in as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma after receiving his commission from the President this past Tuesday. He is now the top U.S. law enforcement official presiding over forty-four of the state's seventy counties. Downing most recently served as counselor to Oklahoma's secretary of state, and was previously a member of Oklahoma's House of Representatives and Assistant Attorney General of Oklahoma. Read more here >>

Regent University School of Law faculty received two of the University's top awards on Thursday. Professor Gloria Whittico, JD received the Chancellor's Award for her work as a Regent Law School faculty member, including with the Academic Success Program and her scholarship in the area of freedom suits. Law Library Director Marie Summerlin Hamm, JD, MLS received the Univeristy's Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship. Congratulations to both these outstanding law faculty members! Gloria Whittico bio and publications Marie S. Hamm bio and publications Pictured left to right: Associate Professor Gloria Whittico, Chief Justice Mark Martin (NC, Ret.), Dean of Regent University School of Law, and Professor Marie Summerlin Hamm, Director, Regent University Law Library.

Regent University School of Law Professor Caleb Griffin was recently interviewed by the Institutional Investor regarding recommendations he made in a forthcoming paper for enhancing the role of individual index fund investors in the proxy voting process. "The single largest investor in almost 9 out of 10 publicly-traded companies is one of the [three largest index funds]," Professor Griffin explained. "As it currently stands, individual index fund investors are utterly unable to express their preferences in how voting decisions are made." Read more here: Can the Proxy Voting Process Become More Democratic for Individual Investors? . You can view the original paper, We Three Kings: Disintermediating Voting at the Index Fund Giants (forthcoming Maryland Law Review) and other works by Professor Griffin on his SSRN author page .

Regent University School of Law Professor Bruce N. Cameron has filed an amicus brief in Patterson v. Walgreen Co. in support of the employee. He and alumnus Blaine Hutchinson (JD '18) published an article about the case last year, Thinking Slow About Abercrombie & Fitch: Straightening Out the Judicial Confusion in the Lower Courts (forthcoming Pepperdine Law Review). "In Abercrombie & Fitch, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the way that Title VII religious accommodation cases are litigated and evaluated." Their article explains these changes and suggests an altered proof framework for plaintiffs seeking an accommodation. Professor Cameron is the Reed Larson Professor of Labor Law at Regent University School of Law and a staff attorney at the National Right to Work Foundation. Blaine Hutchinson currently works as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Robert Jones of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Nevada. You can read mo

Regent University School of Law Alumnus Kim Shaftner, MD, JD, was recently elected elected as a Fellow in the American College of Legal Medicine. Dr. Shaftner has had a truly amazing career. He practiced medicine for twenty-four years, including in the Navy and in private practice, before enrolling in the JD program at Regent. He has held the position of Physician Attorney at Knott & Boyle, PLLC in Raleigh-Durham since 2009. Dr. Shaftner also serves as an adjunct professor of law at Regent, where he teaches Health Care Law. You can read more about Dr. Shaftner here: http://www.knottboyle.com/ourfirm/shaftner/. Congratulations, Dr. Shaftner! We continue to be extremely proud of the outstanding achievements of our alumni as they continue to change the world for Christ.

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (March 1, 2019) ― Hundreds gathered inside Robertson Hall’s Moot Courtroom for the installation service of Regent University’s new dean of the School of Law, the Honorable Mark Martin. Having stepped down as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina a day earlier, Martin brings a wealth of judicial and leadership experience to his new position. Martin served North Carolina for more than 26 years as a judge, including 20-plus years on the state’s Supreme Court. In 1992, at age 29, Martin became the youngest superior court judge in the modern era. Just two years later, at 31 years old, Martin became the youngest judge in the history of the N.C. Court of Appeals. In 1998, as a 35-year-old, Martin was elected as the youngest Justice in the history of the Supreme Court of N.C., becoming Chief Justice on September 1, 2014. Regent’s Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Gerson Moreno-Riaño, served as host for the installation service. He call

Regent University School of Law continues to forge ahead in its mission to produce practice-ready graduates and superior bar passage rates. Thanks especially to the efforts of Professor Ben Madison, Director of Bar Passage Initiatives and Co-Director of the Center for Ethical Formation & Legal Education Reform, the Law School continues to develop and implement student-centered initiatives to help students optimize their Bar Exam preparation. Recently, Regent University School of Law invited several recent law graduates to address current students on “How to Pass the Bar.” The panelists described their experience preparing for the Bar Exam. A common theme emphasized by the speakers was that bar prep should be treated like a full-time job. They recommended avoiding working at home, instead watching the lectures at school (if offered at Regent by the course provider). They suggested studying at the law library, which has a variety of study areas and reserves certain study rooms fo

Interim Dean Cook and a number of our faculty and staff attended the First Annual Virginia Law Student Wellness Summit at the University of Virginia, organized by the Virginia State Bar and co-sponsored by the The Virginia Bar Association, and Virginia Lawyers Helping Lawyers, among others. The event was attended by the deans of each Virginia law school, who were introduced by the Honorable William C. Mims, Justice, Supreme Court of Virginia. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to engage with our colleagues and counterparts in the Virginia legal community about this important topic! Pictured, left to right: Associate Director of Career & Alumni Services Rosey Mellion, Interim Dean Doug Cook, Associate Dean L.O. Natt Gantt, and VSB President Len Heath. Regent representatives not pictured: Diane Hess Hernandez (‘19) and Lisa Kieser (‘17).

Congratulations to Regent University School of Law graduate Bradley L. Knox on being named Senior Vice President and Counsel, Federal Relations of Aflac Inc.! According to Audrey Boone Tillman, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Aflac, "Brad has a proven track record of strong leadership and results, and I have no doubt that he will continue to represent Aflac with the same degree of integrity, dedication and excellence he has shown throughout his accomplished career, both before and since joining our company more than a decade ago." We are so proud that Brad has continued to reflect these core values of the Law School while achieving such extraordinary professional success. Read more at https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/aflac-names-bradley-l-knox-as-svp-and-counsel-federal-relations/.

In December, Regent University School of Law M.A. in Law graduate Ian Lawrence passed the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) exam, becoming the first with a concentration in Wealth Management & Financial Planning to do so. Ian was attracted to the program because of the curriculum's strong practical application to his career goals: "This program is focused on preparing a person to take the CFP exam and it is easy to see how each course relates to that goal. The curriculum covers many practical areas that are easy to use in my life." The M.A. program also offered him, as a non-traditional student, the flexibility he needed to balance work and family with additional education. Ian was able to take several courses online and set aside time in the evenings and on weekends to focus on school. "I have a wife and two young kids and I work full-time so [it was] definitely a challenge," Ian said. "I was aware that school would require a good bit of my time, but