Friday, March 15, 2013
ASL Kaplan Bar Review
Thursday, March 14, 2013
ASL Student Profile : Dove Powers
Dove Powers is life-long resident of southwest Virginia and
grew up in Haysi, Virginia. Dove's first experience with ASL was during a
spring Open House event in 2008. "It was during the open house that I
started thinking about the possibility of going to law school. The campus was
beautiful, and I was thrilled at the thought of returning home to continue my
education."
After graduating from Virginia Tech in 2010, Dove started
working at ASL as an Admissions Counselor. "Working at the law school was
a great experience for me. I had the opportunity to see what law school was
like before I made the final commitment to start the application process. By
working at the law school, I learned about the development of the school and I
realized that ASL was the perfect fit for me."
After two years as an Admissions Counselor, Dove
transitioned from staff member to student. During her 1L year, Dove has played
an active role in initiating a new organization at ASL, called Pipeline, whose
efforts include outreach to local high school students, promoting legal
education. The Pipeline initiative stems from the American Bar Association's
efforts to increase diversity in the legal field. "I learned about this
during my time as an Admissions Counselor and knew that I wanted to bring that
initiative to ASL." Dove is currently the President of the Pipeline
organization at ASL.
Dove plans to practice law in southwest Virginia and will be
an intern at the Dickenson County Commonwealth Attorney's office this
summer.
Laurie Conrad and Blair Creed bring the Innocence Project to ASL
The Center
for Innocence was founded in 2012 by Laurie Conrad and Blair Creed at the
Appalachian School of Law to assist prisoners who have actual claims of
innocence. There is and remains tremendous support from Dean McGough in making
ASLCI a reality here. The Center for
Innocence’s staff attorney and Appalachian School of Law students provide
direct representation or critical assistance in most of these cases. The
Center’s goal to free innocent people is supported by research indicating there
are a substantial number of individuals who are wrongfully imprisoned. Recently
a study done in Ohio sampling 188 judges, prosecuting attorney’s, public
defenders, sheriffs/police, and 41 State Attorneys Generals estimates that an
average of 10,000 wrongful convictions occur across the nation each year.
Consequently,
according to the Virginia 2011 crime report, of the 20,000 violent crimes
committed in this state in 2011, approximately 5%, 1,000 people, were
wrongfully convicted. The Center for
Innocence is an independent nonprofit organization affiliated with the
Innocence Project at Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University. Our mission is nothing less than to exonerate
the staggering numbers of innocent people who remain incarcerated and to
encourage substantive reform of the criminal justice system.
History of
Innocence Project
The
Innocence Project was started by Professors Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck at
the Cardozo School of Law in New York. They work primarily with DNA cases and
collect data on wrongful convictions. It was through them that the prevalence
of witness misidentification, false confessions, and government misconduct came
to light. Many professionals in the field of psychology were already aware of
the problem, but it was unclear how staggering the numbers were until the
Innocence Project started using DNA to clear people.
The
Innocence Project is a nonprofit organization of national litigation and public
policy organizations dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals.
Most of the Project’s clients are indigent and have exhausted all their legal
avenues for relief. There is an extensive screening process involved in
determining which cases/clients to accept. The Project consults with
legislatures and other government officials in an effort to help correct the causes
of wrongful convictions.
Objectives
Our objectives here at the Appalachian School of Law Center
for Innocence are to join in the efforts at Cardozo, focusing on inmates who
were convicted based on witness misidentification and faulty evidence. We have
developed a system to offer our students various levels of membership within
the organization. We offer associate membership to any student who wants to
join and have the opportunity of assisting in our research. In order for a
student to become an associate they simply have to begin attending meetings. To
become a member engaging in the actual filing of claims and assisting at trial
the student needs to meet a strict set of guidelines. Our reasoning for this
two tier process is the sensitive and critical nature of the organization.
“After I agreed to join this faculty, one of the first
contacts I received was from this most insistent Laurie Conrad. She and Blair
Creed have pushed this Center into existence, and I am delighted to see such
spunky, public spirited law students. I worked with the Innocence Project of
New Orleans and know how important this project is. When citizens lose faith in
their legal system, terrible consequences follow. I am hopeful that ASL
students can play a role in securing justice.”
- Dean Lucy McGough
"Conviction of an innocent person imposes on them a
crime equal to or greater than the one charged. Worse the particular crime of
convicting an innocent person is one committed by the state on behalf of the
people. Therefore it is a sin we all share in and must take responsibility for.
Both the victim of the crime and the victim of a wrongful conviction suffer
irreparable harm as do their families. When a person does time so does their
family. Convicting an innocent person does not only steal the life of the wrongfully
convicted but deprives the victims of justice. Exoneration of the innocent is
the only redemption we have" -
Blair Creed
"To imprison an innocent person offends the sense of
justice we all believe in as justice is only served when the actual perpetrator
is apprehended. Justice should never be only about convictions but always about
seeking the truth." - Laurie Conrad
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
ASL Class of 2007 Classmates Meet in Charleston S.C. Harbor
ASL Class of 2007 Daiva Stankus Bullock , Sarah Reid Kerney,
Pebbles Burgess, Jamie Webb Little, back: Jason Little gathered for Sarah Reids and Todd Kerney's wedding in Charleston S.C. this past weekend.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Candice DuVernois and Sarah Campbell Represent ASL at The University of Richmond Merhige Environmental Negotiation Competition
Congratulations to 3L students Candice DuVernois and Sarah
Campbell for representing ASL extremely well at the University of Richmond
Merhige Environmental Negotiation Competition. As this was our first time
competing in this competition, the format and expectations were new to us and
it was certainly a learning experience. But even without prior experience
with the competition and while representing a less than sympathetic client,
Sarah and Candice negotiated masterfully and represented their client
well. While they unfortunately did not advance to the semi-final round,
we should all be proud of their effort and determination. A huge thank
you also goes to Professor Priscilla Harris for working with the team to help
them understand some complex water law issues, the ADR Society Executive Board,
and particularly ADR Competition Chair Alicia LeClair, for also helping get the
team prepared for the competition, and team coach Professor Isaac for sharing
negotiating techniques and travelling with the team to Richmond. With the
ADR and expanding Natural Resource focus at ASL, I expect that we will be well
positioned to win this competition in the very near future!
Kenneth R. Feinberg to Speak at ASL on March 18, 2013
Nationally
Known Administrator of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, Kenneth R. Feinberg,
to
Speak at ASL on March 18, 2013
Kenneth R. Feinberg, a
nationally recognized attorney and leader in arbitration, mediation, and other
alternative dispute resolution processes will speak with ASL students, faculty,
and staff about the important roles he has played in resolving claims in very
high-profile situations. ASL invites the
public to attend. He will speak, by video-conference, in the
Booth Center Classroom, 2d Floor, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. For more information, contact Professor Paula
Marie Young at pyoung@asl.edu.
From 2010 to 2013,
Feinberg served as the Administrator of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility,
handling hundreds of thousands of claims for damages arising from the blowout
of the BP oil well located in the Gulf of Mexico. He handled claims for lost jobs, lost wages,
reduced business income, and other hard-to-prove costs resulting from oil
contamination of the waters and surrounding lands.
Earlier,
he served as the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation responsible for
determining annual compensation packages for senior corporate officials at
companies that received the most taxpayer financial assistance following the
2008 market collapse.
As
Special Master of the Federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001,
he engaged in a precedent setting effort to compensation victims of the 9/11
terrorist attacks through an arbitration process that avoided the cost and
delays of traditional tort litigation.
Nearly all the families affected by that tragedy opted to use the
process.
More closely to home, he served as the Fund
Administrator responsible for the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund following the
tragic shootings at Virginia Tech University in 2007. In that role, similar to the one he played
for the victims of the 9/11 terrorism attack, he allocated the funds donated
from many sources to compensate the families affected by the deaths of their
loved ones.
He has also had unique opportunities to
serve as:
·
One of
three arbitrators selected to determine the fair market value of the original
Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination.
- One of two
arbitrators selected to determine the allocation of legal fees in the Holocaust
slave labor litigation.
- A member of
the Presidential Advisory Commission on Human Radiation Experiments from
1994 to 1998.
- A member of the Presidential Commission on Catastrophic Nuclear Accidents from 1989 to 1990.
His peers have recognized his
contribution to the field by designating him “Lawyer of the Year” in the National Law Journal (December, 2004)
and listing him in “Profiles in Power:
The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” (National Law Journal, May 2,
1988; March 25, 1991; April 4, 1994; June 12, 2000; June 19, 2006).
He has authored two books: What is
Life Worth? The Unprecedented Effort to Compensate the Victims of 9/11
(Public Affairs 2005) and Who Gets What:
Fair Compensation after Tragedy and Financial Upheaval (2012).
Mr.
Feinberg is the managing partner of Feinberg Rozen, LLP. He received his B.A. cum laude from the University of Massachusetts in 1967 and his J.D.
from New York University School of Law in 1970.
He clerked for Chief Judge Stanley H. Fuld, New York State Court of
Appeals from 1970 to 1972; served as Assistant United States Attorney, Southern
District of New York from 1972 to 1975; served as Special Counsel, United
States Senate Committee on the Judiciary from 1975 to 1980; and acted as
Administrative Assistant to Senator Edward M. Kennedy from 1977 to 1979.
Friday, March 8, 2013
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