News for alumni and friends of Indiana Law
February 2020
In this issue:
- 2020 Academy of Law Alumni Fellows announced
- Fromm naming event set for March 27
- Geyh appointed IU Distinguished Professor
- Law School history comes alive in digital recordings
- Faculty news
- Students fare well in competitions
- School mourns losses of student, former faculty member
- Class notes now available on line
- Buy a brick, commemorate your commitment
2020 Academy of Law Alumni Fellows announced
Four distinguished Indiana Law alumni will be inducted into the Academy of Law Alumni Fellows on Friday, April 3:
- Betsy K. Greene, ’82, partner, Greene & Schultz Trial Lawyers, Bloomington;
- Pamela Jones Harbour, ’84, vice president and legal officer, Herbalife Nutrition, Los Angeles;
- Mark S. Wojchiechowski, partner, Morrison & Foerster, New York; and
- Darell E. (Gene) Zink, executive chairman, Strategic Capital Partners LLC, Indianapolis.
Established in 1985, the Academy of Law Alumni Fellows is the highest honor the Law School bestows. It recognizes alumni who have distinguished themselves in their careers through personal achievements and dedication to the highest standards of the profession. With professional roles ranging from U.S. senators to federal judges to managing partners of national law firms, Academy Fellows bring honor to the legal profession and enhance our school’s reputation.
Fromm naming event set for March 27
Please join the Indiana Law community on Friday, March 27, when the Office of Student Affairs will be named in honor of the late Leonard D. Fromm.
Fromm joined the Law School in 1979 as director for student affairs. For the next 33 years, he interacted with nearly 6,000 students—60% of our alumni—and he stayed in touch with a staggering number of them. His continued engagement in their lives and careers was, for many, the glue that kept them close to the school.
The ceremony and reception commemorating the naming of the Leonard D. Fromm Office for Student Affairs will take place at 3:30 p.m. in the Jerome Hall Law Library in Baier Hall. Alumni and friends who are interested in attending can RSVP via the main page of this edition of ergo.
Geyh appointed IU Distinguished Professor
Charles Gardner Geyh, John F. Kimberling Professor of Law, has been awarded the additional title of distinguished professor, Indiana University's highest academic rank for scholars and researchers. His scholarship focuses on the operation of state and federal courts in relation to the political branches of government and the legal profession. His work on judicial independence, accountability, administration and ethics has appeared in more than 80 books, articles, book chapters, reports and other publications. Geyh’s most recent book, Who is to Judge: Judicial Elections, Judicial Appointments, and the Perennial Debate over Judicial Selection in America Oxford University Press 2019), addresses multiple facets of this timely subject.
Law School history comes alive in digital recordings
The Maurer School of Law’s storied past is coming to life through a new project that digitizes all Indiana University audiovisual materials. In conjunction with IU’s Bicentennial, the IU Libraries have begun releasing this content to the public, through IU Media Collections Online.
At the Jerome Hall Law Library, Michael Maben, cataloging librarian, took the helm in contributing Law School audiovisual materials for this project. To date, over a dozen Law School audiovisual recordings are publicly available, with more being added all the time. To view the Law School’s materials, select Jerome Hall Law Library under the Unit heading in the left-hand Browse menu, or use this link. If you have any questions about the school's audiovisual collection, please contact Michael Maben (mmaben@indiana.edu) or Ashley Ahlbrand (aaahlbra@indiana.edu).
Faculty news
Prof. and former Dean Alfred C. Aman, Jr. was presented with an IU Bicentennial Medal. Dean Parrish made the presentation to his predecessor, who served as dean from 1991—2002.
Prof. Jeannine Bell delivered a Ted Talk on January 29 at the IU Center for Research on Race and Ethnicity in Society. Her topic was “Making Racial Progress out of Racial Chaos.”
Prof. and IU Vice President for International Affairs Hannah Buxbaum spoke on “Reasonableness Limits in Extraterritorial Regulation” and hosted a roundtable on extraterritoriality during her visit to the London School of Economics on February 6.
On February 20, Prof. Pamela Foohey spoke at a conference at Emory University School of Law on “Bringing Relevance Back to Consumer Bankruptcy.”
Prof. David Gamage presented “The Political-Instability Benefits of Deferral and the Case for Wealth Tax or Mark-to-Market Style Tax Reform” (with John Brooks) at the Brigham Young University Law School Tax Policy Colloquium on February 3.
Prof. William Henderson participated in a panel on admissions tests hosted by the IU School of Education; spoke on the future of legal services at a conference sponsored by the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law; and co-presented a webinar, “Law Firm Strategy for the Next Decade,” at the Indianapolis Bar Association Law Firm Management Committee.
Prof. Joseph Hoffmann hosted the annual Bradley-Wolter Colloquium at the Law School, in which students from both the Law School and Jagiellonian University, Krakow, worked together on criminal cases.
Amb. Feisal al-Istrabadi lectured at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Cal, on January 30. His lecture, “Iraq Betwixt and Between,” addressed the constitutional crisis there.
Prof. Mark D. Janis attended the invitation-only Patent Scholars Roundtable at Vanderbilt University, where he commented on a paper by Prof. Mark Lemley (Stanford) analyzing patent eligibility decisions post-Alice.
The University of Alabama Law School hosted Prof. Jayanth Krishnan on January 28, where he presented his paper, “Bhopal in the Federal Courts: How Indian Victims Failed to Get Justice in the United States.”
Prof. Jody Madeira presented a talk on fertility fraud and illicit insemination at the University of Texas Law School on January 31.
Prof. Michael Mattioli participated in the third annual Three Rivers IP and Technology Law Colloquium on January 31, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and presented with the Duquesne School of Law.
Prof. Steve Sanders spoke on January 26 at the University of Chicago Law School on “Title VII, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity,” with Prof. Mary Anne Case (Chicago) and Kara Ingelhart (Lambda Legal).
Faculty, staff, and friends gathered on January 30 to salute Keith Buckley, ’89, and Ralph Gaebler, ’84, who are retiring as director and international services librarian, respectively, of the Jerome Hall Law Library. W. William Weeks III, ’79, was also saluted for his years of service to the Conservation Law Center.
Read The Docket for faculty quotes and op-eds in state and national media.
Students bring home honors in competitions
The Indiana Law Entrepreneurship Clinic team brought home the Entrepreneur’s Choice award at the Venture Capital Investment Competition South Regional at Rice University in Houston on February 7. The team comprised 3Ls Steven Marino, Stephanie Atallah, David Saylor, and Douglas Sutton, along with Ashley Emerole, a second-year student at the Kelley School of Business. In the competition, the IU team sat as venture capitalists, hearing funding pitches from three real entrepreneurs, conducting due diligence, and then valuing the businesses, choosing a pitch, and drafting a term sheet for and negotiating with their chosen entrepreneur. The team chose to work with SOTAog, an oil-and-gas analytics business based in Houston.
Carolyn Griffith, ’20, was one of two winners at Baylor Law School’s fourth annual The Closer competition. The Closer is a highly selective competition with invitations extended to law schools whose programming demonstrates a commitment to excellence in practical transactional law training. The deal that the participants negotiate is disclosed to the competitors less than 24 hours before the first round of negotiations. The tight timeline forces competitors to identify the most important legal issues and devise and negotiate solutions that best serve their client’s needs with the efficiency required of lawyers under realistic time constraints. “These are two highly competitive and prestigious competitions, the kinds of real-world opportunities that we are happy to offer to students,” said Mark E. Need, ’94, clinical professor of law and director of the school’s MBA program. “Our students worked hard to pull apart and analyze the underlying transactions.”
3Ls Betsy Astrup, Amanda Vaughn, and Alyssa Gerstner were runners-up in the Global Antitrust Institute Moot Competition at the E. Barrett Prettyman court house in Washington, DC on February 22. This is the second year in a row the school fielded a team for the competition. “The team was amazing and put in untold hours over the past 2 ½ months,” said Prof. Shana Wallace, coach. “They earned this well-deserved honor.”
School mourns losses of student, former faculty member
The Law School community was shocked on February 8 by the death of Purva Sethi, ’20, who was struck and killed by a vehicle while crossing a street in downtown Bloomington. A native of India, Purva was just weeks away from completing her degree. Purva was a popular and closely connected member of the Indiana Law community. Among other activities, she was a member of the Indiana Law Journal, the Moot Court Board, the Dean’s Advisory Council, and the International Law Students Association. She worked in the Jerome Hall Law Library, where she was a desk attendant, and she externed on the Indiana Supreme Court. She knew many students, and her death has been felt deeply in our community. Purva's fiancé, Jordan Saner, is also a 3L student.
A memorial service was held for Purva at the Law School on February 13. Faculty and students shared memories of her, and Dean Parrish posthumously conferred her JD degree.
Maurice J. Holland, Jr. died on January 5 at the age of 83. He served on the Law School faculty from 1973–1986, including as acting dean in 1984–1985 and in 1986. During his time as acting dean, he supervised the renovation of the Law School and temporary relocation of students and faculty into Maxwell Hall and the Student Building. From 1986–1991, Holland was dean of the University of Oregon School of Law. He retired in 2008. IU faculty and alumni remember his kind temperament, his tolerance of wide-ranging points of view, and his wry sense of humor.
Class notes now available on line
Keep in touch with your friends and classmates by visiting our new online Class Notes feature. You can also submit your own class notes on line. A semi-annual compilation of all class notes will continue to be published in the print editions of ergo.
Buy a brick, commemorate your commitment
The Law School continues its 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 50 alumni and friends have already signed up. Join them! To reserve your brick, contact Stephanie Coffey, director of annual giving, at stcoffey@indiana.edu.