Regent Law News

Joshua Bachman, Regent University joint degree-seeker in Law and Government (2009), was honored by The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) as January’s “Volunteer of The Month” for his accomplishments in founding The Webster-Calhoun Debate Society. Initially a book club and now a noted forum for discussion, debate, and consensus on complex socio-political issues, Bachman describes the Society’s mission as “encouraging proactive observation of life.” When forming the Society Bachman chose to partner with ISI, a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization, because according to Bachman they “promote the transcendent questions and answers of Western Civilization where it matters most: the academy.” After ISI provides the Society with an academic text for analysis, participants draw a resolution from the reading and then begin debate. To foster a fun community that “cuts below chit chat to raise the level of discourse,” in addition to debate, a typical symposium includes dinner an...

The Mitchell Report today focuses on the controversy over performance-enhancing drugs. At the behest of Congress, and the request of Major League Baseball, former Senator George Mitchell released his report “exposing a serious drug culture within baseball, from top to bottom.” Sports World Poised for Drug Report, Virginian Pilot at A1, Dec. 13, 2007. (See http://www.pilotonline.com/ ) for the complete report. At a candid discourse with local baseball players, coaches, agents and executives during the recent Virginia Beach Sports Club annual Hot Stove Night event, a Regent Law alum served as the keynote address. Highlighting the positive forward look on baseball having everything to do with the kind of person who plays and does business in the game, “Keynote speaker, local baseball agent and Regent University alum Joe Kohm spoke of the struggle between the major league players’ union and team ownership, how salaries skyrocketed due to free agency, and the relationship between competitiv...

The Regent University Law Review recently hosted a symposium in conjunction with the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies on Regent’s campus with more than 100 people in attendance. The theme was “Justiciability After Hein and Massachusetts : Where is the Court Standing?” The symposium convened to examine recent changes in the contours of Article III of the Constitution following the cases of Massachusetts v. EPA and Hein v. Freedom From Religions Foundation, Inc. "We were excited that our symposium could provide a forum for in-depth debate on standing, as it is a cornerstone of our legal system that is often misunderstood and overlooked,” said Jodi Foss, a third year law student and Symposium Editor for the Law Review. “I personally enjoyed that Adler and Eastman took very opposite stands on the issues and both articulated such convincing and entertaining arguments.” John Legg, a third year law student and Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, commented that stude...

The Regent Journal of International Law (RJIL) recently hosted the 2007 Fall Symposium on campus themed "Islam, Democracy, and Post-9/11 Nation Building." More than 100 people were in attendance at the event held in the Regent University Library Atrium. According to RJIL's Symposium Director Zack Hofstad , a third year law student, this year's symposium was a historic event bringing three practicing Muslims to campus to debate with other noted scholars on Islam and democracy. The speakers shared their views on reforming Islam in a thought-provoking panel, which also featured spirited debated with a former Muslim who is now a Christian. "We had an overwhelming response from both our attendees and the speakers," said Hofstad. "One of the main goals of this symposium was to get people talking about these issues and I believe we succeeded in doing so." Hofstad also noted that in the days following the event a number of students have remarked about thei...

The Regent University Law Review will host its upcoming symposium in conjunction with the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies on the weekend of November 30, 2007. The symposium will consist of a banquet and keynote address on Friday followed by a lecture and panel discussion on Saturday. The topic for this year’s symposium will be the doctrines of justiciability and standing after the recent Supreme Court decisions of Massachusetts v. EPA and Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc. The keynote speaker will be Professor Jonathan H. Adler. Other speakers include Dr. John C. Eastman, and Professor David Wagner. The banquet and keynote address will be held on Friday, November 30, 2007 at 6:30 p.m. in the Library Atrium. On Saturday, December 1, 2007 the symposium will continue with a continental breakfast at 8:30 a.m. in the Robertson Hall atrium, followed by a lecture by Dr. Eastman at 9:30 a.m. and a panel discussion beginning at 10:30 a.m. in the Robertson H...

Regent Law School Professor Charles Oates and Regent’s Center for Teaching and Learning were recently selected as a winner of the Silver Davey Award by the International Academy of the Visual Arts for their collaboration in a video titled the Missing Persons Dilemma. The goal of the video case study was to enhance the classroom experience among Regent Law students studying legal ethics. The Missing Persons Dilemma is a dramatic reenactment based partially on an actual case. The video illustrates the conflict two defense lawyers face when confronted with a difficult ethical issue. The lawyers must choose between protecting their client’s confidence or acceding to the public's right to know the status of missing persons. The Missing Persons Dilemma video and Professor Oates’s presentation can be viewed by visiting, Regent Showcase Webpage . The video was created to highlight the benefits of video in the classroom. Video provides an additional dimension that taps into emotions which s...

This past weekend a group of Regent law students competed at the Fourteenth Annual Burton D. Wechsler First Amendment Moot Court Competition at American University in Washington D. C. Third-year law students Ashleigh Kingery, Rich Wenner, and Heath Sabin took first place after six rounds of oral argument. Additionally, Rich Wenner received honors for "Third Best Oralist." The Wechsler Competition brought various national and international law schools together to argue a specially formulated problem concerning the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and the right of expressive association. Competitors were required to write an appellate brief that was submitted about a month prior to the competition. Each team was also required to participate in two preliminary rounds of oral argument. The brief score was then calculated into the total score and helped determine which teams would advance. Competitors showcased their oral advocacy skills before venerable judges, promine...