News for alumni and friends of Indiana Law
February 2021
In this issue:
- From the Dean
- Black History Month observed; Law School BLSA chapter receives award
- Valentine's Day greetings!
- Indiana Law Journal plans symposium featuring Harris Lecture
- Coming events
- Student achievements
- Jim Fitzpatrick, '59, alumni leader, dies at 88
- Class notes
- Faculty news
From the Dean
The Law School has begun a condensed 11-week semester, with slightly over half of our students choosing online instruction. Despite the restrictions of the pandemic, students, faculty, and staff have planned a wide range of activities, including conferences, lectures, and competitions. Many of these are open to alumni and friends, and I hope you'll consult the Law School's website and calendar and join us via Zoom.
February is Black History Month, and I invite you to participate in a lecture organized by our award-winning Black Law Students Association chapter. I also invite you to read the school's Diversity and Inclusion Report for 2019–20, where we summarize our initiatives in this important field.
We are at the height of the recruiting season, with several events planned for admitted students, all of them virtual. Our first Admitted Students Day on January first welcomed more than 90 prospective members of the Class of 2024, and we have planned eight weeks of back-to-back events covering everything from practice specialties to life in Bloomington. In addition, Kendra Abercrombie, our associate director for admissions and diversity intiatives, has designed a Diversity in Law series, which introduces the legal profession to high school and college students. I encourage you to read more about this innovative series.
I look forward to seeing you at our nationwide virtual alumni reception this week and at our virtual Washington, DC reception on March 3. As always, thank you for your interest and support.
Austen Parrish
Dean and James H. Rudy Professor of Law
Black History Month observed; Law School BLSA chapter receives award
The Law School's Black Law Students Association is observing Black History Month with a Zoom conversation titled "Celebrating Black Women in the Legal Profession: The Roadmap and the Legacy." A moderated panel will provide a forum for a school-wide discussion with Black women who are trailblazers in the legal profession. The panel features Hon. Doris L. Pryor, '03, US magistrate judge for the Southern District of Indiana, and Prof. Ursula T. Doyle, Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University. The event will take place on Wednesday, February 24 from noon to 1:00 p.m. EST. RSVP via this link.
Earlier this month, the school's BLSA chapter was named Chapter of the Year for the Midwest Region of the National Black Law Students Association. The award honors chapters whose outstanding community service, educational outreach, and minority retention activities exemplify the mission of the NBLSA.
Valentine's Day greetings!
Did you and your spouse meet each other while you were in law school? If so, we'd like to hear about it! Share the story of how you met—along with photos if you have them—and we'll include it in the summer print issue of ergo. Submit your info to lawalum@indiana.edu by April 1.
Indiana Law Journal plans symposium featuring Harris Lecture
The doctrine of compelled speech receives less attention than the First Amendment protection of free speech, but it is equally important and deserves close analysis. Join a distinguished panel of First Amendment scholars from throughout the country in a symposium sponsored by the Indiana Law Journal and featuring the Addison C. Harris Lecture. Articles based on the symposium will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal.
Indiana continuing legal education credit is available: one hour for the Harris Lecture, and up to 4.5 hours for the remaining sessions, which may be joined in individual, 1.5 hour blocks.
Reservations are required; To attend the Harris Lecture or the entire symposium, please register here. This registration is for both the daylong symposium, which begins on Friday, March 5 at 9:45 a.m. EST, and the keynote lecture by Robert Post (Sterling Professor of Law, Yale Law School), who will deliver the Addison C. Harris Lecture, “NIFLA and the Construction of Compelled Speech Doctrine,” at noon EST. Registrants will be able to attend all or part of the day’s events with one Zoom link.
Student achievements
The spring rounds of internal and external competitions shifted to Zoom this year, but that didn't prevent Indiana Law students from achieving strong results:
- Madalyn Clary, '21, was a runner-up in The Closer, a national transaction competition held each January at Baylor Law School.
- Rita Xia, Justin Snyder, and Jonathan Sussler, all 3Ls, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Global Antitrust Institute Invitational Moot Court Competition at George Mason University Law School.
- Liam Williams, '21, took top oralist honors at the Chicago rounds of the International Trademark Association Moot Court Competition.
- 3Ls Natalia Rivera and Willow Thomas won the school's internal trial competition on January 30.
Coming events (all times Eastern)
- Thursday, February 18, noon-1:00 pm: Virtual alumni reception. Register here.
- Beginning Tuesday, February 23, 6:00-7:00 p.m., and continuing weekly through April 20: Big 10 Law School Speaker Series: "New Court, New Administration, New Congress." Visit the Law School events calendar to register.
- Friday, February 19, noon-1:00 pm: William R. Stewart Lecture. Prof. Catherine L. Fisk, University of California–Berkeley, presents “Movement Lawyers and the Taming of Social Movements.” One hour Indiana CLE credit available. Register here.
- Wednesday, March 3, noon-1:00 pm: Washington, DC–area virtual alumni reception. Register here.
- Thursday, March 11, 6:00-7:00 pm: Singing for Summer Salaries. This annual fundraiser supports summer funding for students in public interest internships. This year we invite all alumni to join this entertaining event, in which faculty members perform musical selections before the Law School community. Watch for details in the next issue of ergo and on social media.
- Beginning Thursday, February 18, 10:00-noon: Tax Policy Colloquium, featuring a series of scholars from throughout the country every other week through April 22. Two hours' Indiana CLE available. Visit the Law School events calendar to register.
- Be sure to check the Law School events calendar for other CLE events as they're planned this semester.
Jim Fitzpatrick, '59, alumni leader, dies at 88
James F. (Jim) Fitzpatrick, '59, died on February 7 at his home in Washington, DC. A longtime litigator and partner at Arnold & Porter, Jim served on the Law School's Board of Visitors for more than 25 years, hiring many of the school's graduates. He was also a dedicated class agent whose classmates often contacted the alumni office to make sure that their gift supported his efforts.
During law school, Jim was named to Order of the Coif and served on the Indiana Law Journal. He was inducted into the Academy of Law Alumni Fellows in 1993. In 1996, Jim returned to the Law School to serve as a prosecutor in the mock trial of Richard III for the murder of the princes in the tower. The trial was held before a three-judge panel chaired by then U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
"Jim loved the Law School," his wife, Sandy, wrote. "He gave it all credit for what kind of lawyer he was. One of the things he was most proud of: Soon after he was hired by Arnold, Fortas & Porter, he went to the Recruitment Committee and asked them to add IU Law School to the list of six law schools that they visited. They did, and each year, Jim would take the 'IU people' to The Palm for a very expensive lunch. There were 13 at the last lunch!"
More information about Jim's distinguished career can be found in his obituary in the Class Notes section of the school's website. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Class notes
Be sure to follow the Law School on Facebook and Twitter for the most up-to-date news on the Law School community. Here is a special class note for fans of Jeopardy!: Nicole Kozdron, '09, was named champion on February 3. Congratulations!
For more information about your classmates, and to submit your own news, visit our class notes page.
Faculty news
Read In the mediafor faculty quotes and op-eds in state and national media.
In January, Prof. Pamela Foohey joined Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law as a visiting professor. She was also named to the Association of American Law Schools Executive Committee for Financial Institutions and Consumer Financial Services.
Profs. Pamela Foohey, Asaf Lubin, Donna Nagy, and Victor Quintanilla participated in panels and meetings during the 2021 Association of American Law Schools annual meeting, January 5–9. Presentations included "Creditors’ and Debtors’ Rights—Bankruptcy Law and the Problems of Democracy" (Foohey); "International Human Rights—New Voices in International Human Rights" and "National Security Law—Works-in-Progress" (Lubin); and "Disrupted Gatekeeping—An Empirical Look at Influences on Access to Legal Education and Legal Profession" and "Civil Procedure—Integrating Critical Legal Perspectives" (Quintanilla). Prof. Nagy participated in the planning meeting for 2021–22 section officers.
Profs. Laura B. Daghe, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, Steve Sanders, and Carwina Weng were recognized as 2020 Teachers of the Year at the Association of American Law Schools Awards Ceremony on January 5, 2021.
On January 12, Dean Austen Parrish and 157 other law school deans across the U.S. issued a joint statement condemning the January 6 events at the U.S. Capitol.
Prof. Dawn Johnsen was sworn in as Senior Counselor to the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel on January 20.
On January 25, Prof. Jessica Eaglin presented research in the first installment of the 2021 Artificial Intelligence & Law Colloquium Series hosted by University of California-Irvine School of Law. Her topic: “Technologically Distorted Conceptions of Punishment.” On January 28, she presented on “The Promise and Perils of Technology” at Howard University School of Law’s Sixth Annual Clyde Ferguson Symposium.
Prof. David Gamage participated in the University of Minnesota Law School’s Perspectives on Taxation Lecture Series on January 29. His topic: “On the Why and How of Wealth Tax and Accrual Income Tax Reforms.” In addition, he co-authored an issue brief for the Roosevelt Institute entitled “Why a Federal Wealth Tax Is Constitutional.”
On January 29, Prof. Donna Nagy presented “The SEC and Ideological Blind Spots” at the Texas Law Review Governance Wars: Contesting Power and Purpose in the 21st Century Corporation Symposium.
Prof. Asaf Lubin delivered the keynote address at the opening ceremonies of the 20th Session of Vancouver Model United Nations on January 29.
Prof. Victor Quintanilla participated in a panel entitled, “Examining the Bar Examination,” at the Brigham Young University Law School Law and Leadership Conference on January 29.
Prof. Leandra Lederman’s work, “The Fraud Triangle and Tax Evasion,” was selected by the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) Call for Papers Committee to be presented at the 2021 annual meeting. She has also co-created a YouTube channel called “Break Into Tax.”
On February 16, Prof. Feisal Amin Rasoul al-Istrabadi moderated a discussion entitled “Iraq: A Roadmap for Recovery,” in an event hosted by Atlantic Council Middle East Initiatives.