Regent Law News

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). ...

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...