News for alumni and friends of Indiana Law
ergo, September 2019
In this issue:
- Faculty news
- Hoffmann receives national, local honors
- Law School launches first family office program in U.S.
- Students fare well in July bar exam
- Moot Court judges needed
- Student in Federal Habeas Project argues, wins case before Indiana Supreme Court
- Buy a brick, commemorate your commitment
Faculty news
Prof. Hannah Buxbaum, IU Vice President for International Affairs, appeared in a panel discussion at The Hague titled “World Politics: International Law First?” She is working this semester at the Hague Academy with scholars at the Centre for Studies and Research and with Prof. Thibaut Fleury Graff on issues of extraterritoriality. Her latest work, “Public Regulation and Private Enforcement in a Global Economy: Strategies for Managing Conflict,” has just been published in the Academy’s Recueil des cours.
Visiting Professor Paul Craig recently posted on the Oxford Human Rights Hub: “Prorogation: Constitutional Principle and Law, Fact and Causation.”
Prof. Gina-Gail Fletcher previewed her forthcoming New York Law Review article, “Engineered Credit Default Swaps: Innovative or Manipulative?” in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. Her latest work, “Foreign Corruption as Market Manipulation,” will appear in the University of Chicago Law Review.
Prof. David Gamage’s recent article, “Five Key Research Findings on Wealth Taxation for the Super Rich,” has moved into the top position among recent downloads on the Social Science Research Network.
The Corporate Counsel Business Journal has identified Prof. William Henderson’s blog, Legal Evolution, as “required reading.”
Prof. Jayanth Krishnan’s latest work. “Bhopal in the Federal Courts: How Indian Victims Failed to Get Justice in the United States,” will be published in Rutgers University Law Review.
Prof. Tim Lovelace will present later this month at a legal history seminar at the American Bar Foundation.
Prof. Steve Sanders spoke on Sept. 12 at the University of Michigan Law School on “‘Emerging Recognition’: Title VII, the Supreme Court, and the Next State of LGBTQ Equality.”
Hoffmann receives national, local honors
Prof. Joseph Hoffmann has been selected to receive the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section Raeder-Taslitz Award for excellence in scholarship and teaching and for his significant contribution to promoting public understanding of criminal justice, justice and fairness in the criminal justice system. Hoffmann was also honored by the City of Bloomington Plan Commission for his 32 years of service with a proclamation from Mayor John Hamilton, ’86, naming September 9 Joe Hoffmann Day.
Law school launches first family office program in U.S.
The Law School has launched a program that trains students interested in working for family offices and firms with family office service practices. The Law School will be the first in the United States with a program focused specifically on this growing area.
Family offices are estimated to hold assets exceeding $4 trillion, and a significant number of the most prestigious law firms have established family office practices, Dean Parrish said.
Students admitted to the program will benefit from a range of other opportunities, including taking courses at the Kelley School of Business and participating in the school's Business Law Society, Tax Law Society and transaction drafting competitions.
The Law School plans to admit about five highly credentialed students to the new program beginning in the fall of 2020. Qualified candidates will either have experience in the business or investment field or an interest in earning a JD/MBA. Students admitted to the program will receive the following:
• A scholarship equal to at least 50 percent of tuition, up to full-tuition scholarships.
• A mentor from the program's advisory council.
• A second-year research assistantship with the school's business or tax law faculty.
• A third-year clinical position with one of the school's business-related clinics.
The school expects to be able to offer students in the program summer placements and other positions with family offices, law firms and other organizations with family-office service practices. The school also plans to develop a one-week intensive course during fall break in Chicago focused on family office practice and services.
Michael Flannery, ’83, a member of the law school's Board of Visitors and CEO of Duchossois Capital Management, a family investment firm in Chicago, will serve as a member of an advisory council for the program.
Professor Brian Broughman, an expert on corporate law, corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions, will serve as director of the program. He will be supported by Professor Mark Need, who oversees the Elmore Entrepreneurship Clinic and the school's JD/MBA program. The school is in the process of naming affiliated faculty to design and teach family office-related courses. An advisory council will also be appointed to support the school and serve as mentors to students.
Students fare well in July bar exam
Indiana Law’s first-time test-takers passed the July bar at a preliminary rate of 88%, compared with 74% for the state as a whole. These results are on par with those from July 2018, with an 87% pass rate for the school and 75% pass rate for the state.
The school has stepped up its efforts to prepare students for the bar over the past few years, including a series of short courses over the semester and coaching from the Office of Student Affairs.
Moot Court judges needed
Alumni and friends of Indiana Law are invited to serve as judges in the school's annual Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition. Judging begins on Tuesday, October 23 and runs through Saturday, November 16. To sign up, or for more information, visit the judges' information page.
Student in Federal Habeas Project argues, wins case before Indiana Supreme Court
Under the supervision of Prof. Michael Ausbrook, ’93, Michael Smyth, ’20, successfully argued before the Indiana Supreme Court that his client could proceed in his second pursuit of post-conviction relief. In Shaw v. State of Indiana, the court concluded that because Shaw’s petition addressed only the ground arising from his second appeal, it was not a “second” or “successive” petition as defined by Indiana Post Conviction Rule 1(12).
Smyth participated in Indiana Law’s Federal Habeas Project, which works on active federal habeas corpus cases in the United States district court, the Seventh Circuit, and the Indiana appellate courts on remand. Read more about the decision in The Indiana Lawyer.
Buy a brick, commemorate your commitment
The Law School is launching a campaign to attract additional pledges to our Partners in Excellence program in conjunction with the final months of the Bicentennial Campaign.
Partners in Excellence — donors who pledge at least $2,500 per year for five years to the Law School’s Dean’s Incentive Fund or Fund for Excellence — will be honored with a commemorative brick on the back patio of the Law School. The brick will be installed upon receipt of the first pledge (one brick per pledge). Existing Partners in Excellence will receive a brick when they renew their pledge.
Your commitment as a Partner in Excellence is especially important because it gives the dean flexibility to support the school’s key initiatives, including our five law journals, more than 30 student organizations, pro bono programs and clinics, student scholarships, faculty research, the Jerome Hall Law Library, financial assistance for travel to students’ job interviews, and unexpected needs that arise throughout the year.
More than 30 alumni and friends have already signed up. Join them! To reserve your brick, contact Stephanie Coffey, director of annual giving, at stcoffey@indiana.edu.