Iowa Advocate Summer 2009

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S u m m e r 2 0 0 9 New Student Profiles n Legal Clinic n Honor Roll

F e a t u r e s a n d H i g H l i g H t s

3 meet the class of 2011

Five members of the class of 2011 share their stories and reasons for choosing Iowa law.

9 legal clinic

Iowa’s Legal Clinic offers a very broad range of opportunities and experiences where the student can experience what it is like to be a lawyer, counselor, and advisor, and to begin to develop a solid understanding of the kind of relationship they will have in the real world.

d e p a r t m e n t s

2 message from the Dean

14 college of law news

27 honor Roll

49 faculty notes

56 Development

59 alumni highlights

66 alumni notes

75 in memoriam

Advocatei o W a

T h e U n i v e r s i T y o f i o w a c o l l e g e o f l a W

3 10

Vol. 47, no. 2

summer 2009

Iowa Advocate is publishedtwice a year by The University of Iowa College of Law and the Iowa Law School Foundation. The views expressed herein are solely those of the authors.

Copyright © 2009 The University of IowaIowa City, Iowa 52242

Dean Carolyn Jones

executiVe DiRectoR of DeVelopmentAndrew Sheehy

eDitoRJill E. De Young

staff WRiteR Tom Snee

ui founDation WRiteRJen Knights

featuRe WRiteR Jen Knights

DesigneR Julie Longo

photogRapheRs Tom LangdonKirk Murray

The University of Iowa College of Law 1

Message from the D e a n

For many yearS, the legal profession and legal education have been built upon what seemed a rocky surface. The profession seemed ever growing, with ever-greater specialization, ever widening global reach and ever increasing remuneration. For legal education, increasing tuition and increasing debt loads for graduates have been consequences of efforts to provide more sophisticated curricula - with more clinical and other small-class opportunities and with faculty increasingly drawn from the more remunerative world of the profession.

It was not always so. The late Studs Terkel in his extraordinary oral history of the Great Depression, Hard Times, includes the account of Gordon Baxter, Harvard Law School, class of 1932:

“Those times, people went through school insulated from everything except the immediate environment. Very few people doubted their ability to make a living. Success was measured by income. . . It was really in my last year at law school that I noticed something was going on. At the New Haven football games, I met Yale graduates, who a couple of years before were claiming it was easy on Wall Street. Now the market crashed, and they were back at school, out of jobs. The world rushed in on us suddenly . . .”

The College of Law at the University of Iowa provided a shelter from the economic storm for about 20 more students in 1934 than it enrolled in 1930. Students worked a variety of jobs (some at night) to pay for tuition, room and board. For the faculty and staff between 1931 and 1933, overall salaries were cut 15%.

These years of hardship, though, were foundational to the College. The Law Commons (which served as the College of Law from 1964-1986) was built in 1934 as a public works project with a combination of new Deal federal grant money and state loans. The Commons (as dormitory) was described in 1934 as “[a] place where men with a common professional interest will have an oppor-tunity for association with one another and with members of the Law Faculty, the Bench and the Bar; where they may carry on their professional preparation in the atmosphere of the law and in keeping with its traditions.”

yet, even then, the world of tradition was changing. Small numbers of Jewish students, women, and people of color attended Iowa’s law school in the 1930’s and they were not always welcomed. The tradition of who would become a lawyer would continue to change and will alter into the future. Wiley rutledge, dean of the Iowa College of Law from 1935 to 1939, went on to become a Franklin D. roosevelt appointment to the United States Supreme Court. W. Willard Wirtz joined the Iowa law faculty in 1937, left in 1939 to go to northwestern and served with the War Labor Board during World War II. Wirtz was United States Secretary of Labor in the Kennedy and Johnson administra-tions. The larger role of the federal government in the economy was a result of the Great Depression and shaped in part by men once on Iowa’s law faculty.

The new Deal and World War II institutions are now under stress again. With the economic downturn, state appropriations cuts are projected to result in a 7% reduction in the College of Law’s revenue. The job environment will be a challenging one for the class of 2010 and beyond. Despite these difficulties, I know that the Iowa College of Law will continue its real traditions of providing excellent, student-centered and forward-looking legal education. our faculty, staff, and graduates are terrific assets. you tell me this at every alumni reception and meeting. I sincerely hope you will remem-ber this great College in your hiring decisions, in your advice to those interested in law school and in the charitable giving you are able to do.The years ahead will be full of opportunities and hardship. as Grant Gilmore wrote in his Storrs Lectures on jurisprudence:

“When we think of our own or of any other legal system, the beginning of wisdom lies in the recogni-tion that the body of the law, at any time or place, is an unstable mass in precarious equilibrium. The study of our legal past is helpful to lawyers and judges and legislators in the same way that the study of recorded games is helpful to a chess player. But the principal lesson to be drawn from our study is that the part of wisdom is to keep our theories open-ended, our assumptions tentative, our reactions flexible. We must act, we must decide, we must go this way or that.”

In an uncertain time, The University of Iowa College of Law is prepared to move forward - advancing the legal system and preparing new lawyers. you are a part of all that.

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1 Grant Gilmore, The ages

of american Law 99 (1977).

2 Iowa advocate Summer 2009

f e at u R e

By Jen Knights

John Lande has had his eyes on a law career since he discovered mock Trial and moot Court in the seventh grade. a driven and successful competitor, he earned all-american distinc-tion in mock Trial as an undergraduate and has earned more than 20 other awards for his courtroom skills.

2011meet the Class of

Among the five representative students we’ve selected

from the UI College of Law Class of 2011, only two knew

at a young age that they wanted to go to law school—and

those two could not have had more different upbringings.

The remaining three found their way to law school from

scientific backgrounds by way of differing life experiences.

as a little girl, Kapri Saunders dreamed of being a Supreme Court justice, in addition to aspiring to be an astronaut and a social worker. a troubled childhood gave her a deep and unrelent-ing commitment to making the law work for those with limited resources.

Claire Langton-Yanowitz majored in Chemistry as an undergrad, and had begun a career in environmental science. She decided to pursue a law degree so that she can have a more direct influence on policy and regulations as they relate to science and the environment.

Maxine Nash’s educa-tional background is in medical technology—but it was her experi-ence as a peace worker in war-torn Iraq that opened her eyes to issues of human rights and justice, and in-spired her decision to apply to law school.

Frank Johnson had a successful career conducting biological research, including a stint at naSa, in Houston, Texas. He came to Iowa from Texas to reconnect with his extended family in the area, and to begin a new career standing up for the little guy.

>>> Please enjoy reading the stories of how a few outstanding members of the class ended up here at the UI College of Law, and what they hope to accomplish with their Iowa law degrees.

For more information about the current student body, please visit www.law.uiowa.edu/community.


“Litigation is where my heart is now. But the law could lead me anywhere.”

featuRe

John LandeThe way John Lande tells it, he’s always been a slow starter. In elementary school, he struggled with a speech

impediment and needed extra help with his reading skills—and he worked with a tutor in high school to master mathematical concepts that eluded him.

once he gains momen-tum, though, John has a history of exceeding expecta-tions.

“‘Growth and develop-ment’ has always been a theme in my life,” explained John, a self-described “home-grown Iowa boy” whose family owns a small farm near ankeny, Iowa. “once I find something that interests me, I won’t give up until I’ve learned everything I can.”

His fascination with the law began as early as seventh grade, when he first dabbled in mock Trial. “I got turned on to the idea of law and litigation at a really young age,” he remembers. “and I kept at it through high school and undergrad.”

The truth is, he didn’t only keep at it—he dominat-ed. as a freshman at Drake University in 2005, he earned the all-american distinction in mock Trial, both as an attorney and as a witness, and throughout his undergrad years he received more than 20 awards for his courtroom skills in mock Trial and moot Court programs.

“Going all-american was probably my proudest accom-plishment,” he beamed.

and no one was more proud of John than his grand-father, who had a chance to watch one of his grandson’s mock Trial competitions shortly before he died.

“It was unexpected,” John recalled. “He went in to the hospital for a fairly routine procedure, and didn’t come home. I found out later from the friend who drove him to the hospital that my mock

trial competition was the only thing he wanted to talk about on the way there. He was so proud of me. If there was any question before that, his pride convinced me that law is the right career for me.”

Because he “always knew he wanted to go to law school,” John pursued a fairly traditional path, earning undergraduate degrees in political science and environ-mental policy at Drake.

“my classes in political theory got me especially excited about practicing law. essentially, I learned that law is an expression of political theory. The law adapts to fit society’s needs and to mirror society’s development. our system of law is, at any given moment, an indication of what we value as a society. That vision of the law really connects with my approach to life as a work in progress.”

John expected to also attend law school at Drake—but once his appetite for the-ory was whetted, his advisors recommended the Iowa Law School. “They said that Iowa offered a broader look at the law, and a more theoretical approach. I appreciate that, because we don’t only learn where the law is now; we also learn where the law comes from and where it might be going.”

Wherever John Lande’s law career takes him, he’s sure that he’ll spend a lot of time in the courtroom—and he doesn’t rule out the possibil-ity of ending up in a judge’s chamber, or the chambers of a state legislature.


Kapri SaundersKapri Saunders may be an idealist, but she is far from naïve.

articulate and animated, Kapri doesn’t seem like a young woman who had a rough upbringing—but her childhood in Tempe, arizona was “far from normal,” punctuated with stretches of homelessness, and interrupted by her parents’ frequent moves and run-ins with the law. Twice dur-ing her childhood, both her mother and father were in prison at the same time, leav-ing Kapri and her two sisters to fend for themselves.

“When the police took away our second parent,” she says, “they probably should have also put us in custody, but they didn’t,” Kapri recalled. “There was no one looking out for us in our parents’ absence.”

In spite of all the turmoil she experienced as a child, Kapri had big dreams. “I wanted to change the world,” she said. “Growing up and watching my parents struggle, I always thought there had to be a better way. I wanted to be an astronaut and a social worker. I wanted to be a Supreme Court j ustice. I felt like I could do anything.”

even though they had their shortcomings, she said, her parents “instilled in me the importance of education. They wanted us to be better than them.” Kapri surpassed her parents’ education level—and that of her sisters—by graduating from the north-

ern arizona University, where she majored in english and French.

Looking back on her life before college, Kapri remem-bers feeling like she had no one to turn to when she and her sisters were effectively orphaned by the criminal jus-tice system. She remembers feeling frustrated and helpless years later, when her mother died amid questionable circumstances and Kapri’s suspicions were not taken seriously by those handling the case. and she decided to go to law school so that she can be there for someone in the future, to spare them the same injustice.

“I want to practice law in the public interest, advocat-ing on behalf of people who can’t afford an attorney. and I don’t want to be just a law-yer they can afford—I want to be a good lawyer they can afford.”

She says that a bare-bones childhood taught her how to survive—and even thrive—on little. “I feel like there is a shortage of lawyers who are not in it for the money. I don’t want to get caught up in the moneymaking aspect of the profession, because there is so much power in the law to change people’s lives for the better.”

now that she’s in law school, she said, “I still dream about the Supreme Court, but I would be happy with a state-level appointment.”

Kapri says that her judicial aspirations have more to do with serving her community than realizing personal ambi-

tions or raising her salary. “Grass roots movements are valuable for providing direct services in communities, but if we really want to effect change, we have to go higher. once you escape bad circum-stances, there’s a responsibil-ity to better yourself, and then go back and be a leader

“I want to practice law in the public interest, advocating on behalf of people who can’t afford an attorney. and I don’t want to be just a lawyer they can afford— I want to be a good lawyer they can afford.” in your community—to help

make it better for people who are struggling like you did. To me, that’s what being a judge is about.”


featuRe

science that wasn’t in the lab. I like to see the bigger pic-ture—how science operates in society instead of endlessly studying one little protein under a microscope.”

True to her scientific train-ing, Claire did her research before deciding what career path to follow. after con-sulting with a handful of Carleton science majors who had gone on to study and practice law—not to mention interning for a patent and trademark litigator in minneapolis—she applied to law school.

“I’d like to investigate policy and regulations from the viewpoint of a scien-tist. Too often, regulations are made by people who understand the legal system but they don’t understand science. That nexus—where science meets policy—is very interesting to me.”

Her science background, she says, will benefit her stud-ies in law school. “a lot of the same skills that scientists use overlap with skills needed in the courtroom—analytical thinking, problem-solving, and following a logical and sequential order, for example. I feel that my science educa-tion has prepared me very well for law school—and for my career.”

But even though she’s in law school, Claire isn’t exactly following in their footsteps. “Law is a very diverse subject,” said Claire, who is considering a dual JD/mBa degree, indicating that she’ll keep her options open and delve into a wide variety of subjects—intellectual property, environmental law, government policy, immigra-tion—while she is studying in the Iowa Law School.

Claire majored in chemis-try, with a minor in Spanish. Both as a high school student and during her undergradu-ate years at Carleton College in northfield, minnesota, Claire indulged her curios-ity and sense of adventure, pursuing study-abroad op-portunities in Spain, mexico, and australia, and leading camping and canoeing trips into the Boundary Waters of northern minnesota—not to mention baking bread at a Unitarian family camp.

after graduation, she secured a job writing environ-mental hazard assessments for a multinational manu-facturing conglomerate—an opportunity she was uniquely qualified for because of a winter term spent scuba-diving and studying biology, ecology, and geology on a boat between Tasmania and the Great Barrier reef, off the eastern coast of australia.

“I knew it was a great job for someone just out of college, but I saw its limits. There is a glass ceiling for people with only B.a. de-grees, and knew I had to go back to school,” she said. “I wanted to get a job in

Claire Langton- YanowitzLike many of her classmates, Claire Langton-yanowitz has attorneys in her family—both of her parents, in fact. Her

“I feel that my science education has prepared me very well for law school—and for my career.”

mother worked as a litigator for the government, and her father is an estate planner in their hometown of rochester, minnesota.


Maxine NashPeople have a habit of call-ing maxine nash a “non-traditional” student. at 45, she is older than most of her first-year classmates—but what might be more non-traditional is the path she followed to arrive at the Iowa Law School.

maxine grew up on a dairy farm in Waukon, Iowa. Though her heart remains close to home, she has lived in wide variety of places—from stateside locales such as oregon and Colorado all the way to Kenya, Iraq, and Palestine.

She earned her under-graduate degree in medical Technology—a combination of biology and chemistry—at the University of northern Iowa. and while she enjoyed a fair amount of success working for an orthopaedic manufacturer in Indiana, she realized that “that job wasn’t going to get me out of bed every morning for the rest of my life”—and she began to think about seeking a differ-ent career.

When her husband died after a lengthy illness in 1991, maxine, seeking to clear her head and heal her heart, set out to travel the world—visiting more than 25 countries with her cousin.

“The world really opened up for me then,” maxine said. “I went back to work in clinical research, working as

an independent consultant, but I didn’t stay there long. It was like there were more important things for me to do.” She accepted a position managing world ministries for a Quaker organization, which eventually led her to working with a group called Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in Iraq—in the midst of a full-scale war.

“When we arrived, there was no government. There was no law other than the U.S. military. The firsthand experience of living in a country with no functional system of law really gave me a deep appreciation for the system of law in the United States.”

maxine and the other members of her CPT group were committed to “violence reduction”—which basically amounted to accompanying civilians in dangerous situa-tions, attempting to discour-age aggressive acts simply by their presence. She and her fellow peacemakers were unarmed and far from safe—in fact, four members of the group were kidnapped during the three years she spent in Baghdad, and one was killed.

“I asked myself how I could translate that experi-ence into positive action, and decided that I needed to be a part of our own justice system, to help strengthen our own society. I decided

to apply for law school when I returned to the states in 2006.”

maxine expects her career to focus on human rights law—but acknowledges that “all sorts of issues fall under that umbrella. If it touches human beings, it could involve human rights.”

“The need for immediate intervention is not always apparent here in the United States, but there certainly is an ongoing need to protect justice,” she said. “We should never stop working to make sure that all people are equal before the law.”

“We should never stop working to make sure that all people are equal before the law.”


featuRe

Frank JohnsonFrank Johnson used to get picked on as a kid growing up in el Paso, Texas, and that’s part of why he wants

“I want to stand up for people who can’t stand up for themselves,” he said. “Where better to do that than in the court room?”

“my parents raised me to not judge people by race at all,” said Frank, who grew up surrounded by his mother’s large mexican family. His father, who is white, was born and raised in Quasqueton, Iowa. “Until I was in middle school, it never dawned on me that race was an issue… and it was actually the Hispanic kids who gave me a hard time, for being ‘too white.’”

Frank’s ambitions were not always geared toward a law career. He earned his undergraduate degree in biol-ogy and computer science at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and began his career in bioinformatics—first con-ducting biological research with bacteria at naSa head-quarters in Houston, and then analyzing rna using gene-chip technology at the University of Texas medical Branch in Galveston.

“my heart wasn’t in it, though,” he said. “When I first started out in the sci-ences, I thought that I’d be helping people more directly. But where I ended up, do-ing research as a service to other projects, I felt isolated from the big picture. For all I know, I could’ve done research that will eventually lead to finding a cure for cancer—but I never got to see the results of my work.”

not wanting to pursue a further degree in the same field, Frank decided to take

the LSaT to see if he had an aptitude for law. “my score was good,” he said, “so I started thinking more seri-ously about a career in law.”

“Because of my science background, people assume that I’ll want to go into IP law—but I really want to help people, so I’m drawn to public-interest work. I hope that I can find a way to do both.” once he had decided to go to law school, it was the perfect opportunity for Frank to spend some time in his father’s home state—and to realize a childhood dream.

“my dad always talked about how great Iowa is—and when we would come to Iowa in the summers to visit his side of the family, I just fell in love with the place. even from a very young age, if people asked me where I wanted to live when I grew up, I’d say ‘Iowa.’”

Because Frank recognizes the importance of a strong support network, he’s happy that many members of his dad’s extended family still live in the Cedar rapids area. He has found a “family” on cam-pus, too, by getting involved with the “small but active” Latino Law Student asso-ciation. “They understand where I’m coming from, and help me feel at home even when I’m so far away from the Latino side of my family.”

overall, he said, “Profes-sors are friendly and acces-sible, and my classmates are competitive but not cut-throat. It feels like everyone at the Iowa Law School wants me to succeed.”

“I want to stand up for people who can’t stand up for themselves.Where better to do that than in the court room?”to be a lawyer. To this day,

Frank “can’t stand to see someone get picked on, espe-cially for something that they can’t control, like their race.”


ThE FACULTY members in

Iowa’s Legal Clinic are as

diverse in their areas of inter-

est and expertise as is imagin-

able, from domestic abuse to

disability law, from worker’s

rights to immigration. Where

many legal clinics across the

country focus on single areas

of the law, such as criminal

defense, Iowa offers a very

broad range of opportunities

and experiences where the

student can experience what

it is to be a lawyer, counselor,

and advisor, and to begin to

develop a solid understand-

ing of the kind of relationship

they will have with clients in

the real world.

Iowa’s Legal Clinic

f e at u R e

at Iowa, the demand for a spot in the clinic is so high that is a lottery to choose the 35 students who can participate.

By law, students may practice in court only after they’re halfway through law school, about a year and a half in. John Whiston, who specializes in criminal law, says that’s about when students are eager to start doing something outside of the classroom.

“They’ve been in the classroom, listening to the professor lecture and grill them about cases,” Whiston says. “It’s all very cerebral, very hypothetical. But these people typically came to law school because they wanted to practice law, to do what a lawyer does. So that means they relish the real-world experi-ence of dealing with clients, being in court, negotiating with

other lawyers. and they like the idea that the research that they do actually makes a difference.”

John allen says that the first year in law school is all about learning how little you know.

“That knowledge can lead to a crisis of confidence,” allen says. “There’s a focus in the classroom on precision, especially in writing, and that’s new for some people. Com-ments are often much more critical than in most educational experiences. you have to rebuild yourself constantly. The clinic offers a terrific experience where you learn that you really can do things right.” allen’s students focus on employment dis-crimination and the representation of persons with disabilities to help them get technological aids to improve their lives, a field known as assistive technology.

The clinic works on a law firm model, assigning each student several cases at once. Students choose their preferred area of focus and everyone gets at a case or two from their first choice.

Lois Cox, whose cases mostly involve domestic abuse, says students get 4 to 7 cases to start, and may have more.

“It’s a real-world experience, and students tell us how much they appreciate the pleasures and rewards of represent-ing people who could never afford these services without the clinic,” Cox says. “We don’t compete with our alums, either. We deal pretty much exclusively with folks who cannot pay. Students find that aspect very rewarding.

“For me, it’s a great privilege to be able to choose cases. you don’t get that in a law firm; you take what comes in the door,” Cox says. “Here, we can select our cases to best serve people who are sometimes shut out of the justice system.”

aBa accreditation standards require students to spend three to four hours a week for every credit, and since most students are in for nine hours, they are in the clinic between 27 and 36

“It’s a real-world experience, and students tell

us how much they appreciate the pleasures and

rewards of representing people who could never

afford these services without the clinic.”

f e at u R e Iowa’s Legal Clinic

Iowa’s Legal Clinic is currently undergoing a renovation thanks to two generous gifts to the Iowa Law School Foundation.


hours. It’s a lot of work, but it reflects reality, says Whiston.“That means they are here when clients show up unexpect-

edly, which happens all the time in the practice of law. and, if you have a hearing on monday, you’re here all day Sunday. That’s the way that lawyers work,” Whiston says.

Barbara Schwartz’s students handle immigration cases, working with clients mostly in cases involving asylum.

“my students often have chosen immigration law because they have had some experience with the immigration system. They may have seen their parents deal with the system or they may be married to immigrants. They can identify with their clients and get a great deal of satisfaction from representing them. and we have a very high success rate.” and the work does not end once asylum is granted. Students work to reunite the clients with their families and assist them until they gain a green card, a process that lasts at least a year. They also repre-sent clients who have been abused by spouses or others, using their illegal status against them. “It’s a very satisfying area of practice,” Schwartz says. “our students come out much better prepared than most for immigration practice. The downside is that students see how badly messed up and underfunded are the administrative agencies, especially at the federal level.”

“It’s a great learning experience,” Cox says. “In domestic violence cases, the clients come fast and go fairly quickly to court. In immigration cases there can be a very long calendar and a lot of client meetings. Students develop good skills in interviewing, in working a hearing, in direct examinations. They come away with tools they will be able to use for the rest of their careers.”

For John allen, perhaps the most important experience for students is developing their relationship as attorneys with clients.

“our students have the opportunity to work such a wide variety of cases. The substance of each case may be different, but the relationship with the client is the constant,” allen says. “It affects everything, all the way down to the way students talk and write in different circumstances. We get very gifted students here, but they have to think hard about how to com-municate with certain audiences. How you present yourself, in writing or in consultation, or in court, is the substance of your work as an attorney.”

“In the clinic, we model and encourage a collaborative relationship. you can see it in the way we sit down with clients. It used to be that the lawyer sat on the other side of a big heavy desk, a figure of authority, a fixer. our model is a round table. The attorney is not here just to pitch out remedies but to help resolve problems,” allen says.

“Students come to understand that the client is doing them an honor by sharing with them a very important matter in their lives and trusting them to help. It’s almost impossible in the classroom or the library; reading about cases, to appreci-ate how powerful is that client relationship in influencing judgments. and we hope, of course, that there is a synergistic effect in the way that students read the law after that experi-ence. once you see the law from a client service aspect, it’s a different world.”

John Whiston’s students typically get cases from the public defender’s office. The Iowa Student Practice rule allows students to defend people charged with misdemeanors, so the clients his students see are indigent and charged with such offenses as assault, theft, drug possession, and drunk driving. Students do all the interviews with clients and witnesses and law officers.

“a lot of our clients have substance abuse problems. Students learn to deal with—and come to care about—clients


with very real problems such as most of our Iowa kids have never experienced except on TV. It’s eye-opening in the best possible way,” Whiston says.

“When it comes down to it, most of these clients are going to be guilty, so the student attorneys’ job is to help walk them through a decision-making process. They do this extremely well, Whiston says. “I give them helpful hints and sugges-tions and I’m there to pull them aside when I see things going a little wrong, but there really is only one way to learn these skills, and that’s by doing the work in the real world.”

Len Sandler’s students have a different sort of relationship with clients; students forge the more traditional “family por-trait” attorney-client relationship when representing Iowans on disability, estate planning, guardianship and personal issues. The students who engage in public policy research, workshops, legislative drafting, advocacy and even city planning, paint with a broader brush.

For example, late last year, the Cedar rapids Civil rights Commission endorsed revisions to the city’s rights code sug-gested by Sandler’s students to expand and bolster protections and enforcement. a new team of students will work with the Cedar rapids city attorney, HUD officials, local stakeholders and the mayor and city council to get the revisions formally adopted. The work came about because the commission approached Sandler’s clinic based on successes working with advocacy groups and city and county departments.

“The Civil rights Commission wants to demonstrate its renewed commitment to make Cedar rapids an inclusive community that welcomes all individuals, families, businesses, and visitors. our mandate was to go well beyond minimum standards to address and eliminate the most prevalent forms of discrimination. The issues we worked on will have particu-lar significance as the city recovers from and responds to the 2008 floods,” Sandler says.

“The students must learn to see the practical side and consequences of every proposal, the logistics, and the interests of owners, developers, builders and officials. The goal is to give everyone an equal opportunity. The students participate in the entire process, informal workshops, hearings with the com-missioners and staffs, city councilors, city attorney staff, and public hearings,” Sandler says.

The payoff is real for students and clients, alike. “The students learn to anticipate what opponents and proponents are going to say and do. They must master the substantive law and learn to distill and translate very complex issues for a general audience, all the while maintaining objectivity in the face of all the possible responses and reactions. This is a depar-ture from the traditional role of personal advocate,” Sandler says. “The students learn that they have to be accurate and be forthright about all the issues, all the facts. If you’re perceived

as hiding--even shading--the truth, you lose all credibility and you can’t do your job.”

The broad range of experiences makes Iowa’s legal clinic unique, faculty members say. many other law school clinics focus solely on criminal law defense, but Iowa students may have worked on immigration cases, disability cases, and others, so that they can see how lawyers have to juggle a lot of differ-ent balls.

John allen says that he is often amazed at the challenges that his students take on.

“I’ve been a lawyer for 28 years and preparing for any case, now matter how simple, I get nervous,” allen says. “But I see my students presenting themselves with terrific confidence. I know they have to be at least as nervous as I would be, but there they are, succeeding, not because of any special gift, not because of hubris, but because they are well-prepared. Hard work, the great leveler, put them there. you have to be amazed what people can achieve.”

f e at u R e Iowa’s Legal Clinic

“A lot of our clients have substance abuse prob-

lems. Students learn to deal with—and come to care

about—clients with very real problems such as most

of our Iowa kids have never experienced except on

TV. It’s eye-opening in the best possible way.”—Professor John Whiston


College of Law n e W S

UI recognizes Charles “Chuck” Kierscht (’62) and Alison Guernsey (’08) at Finkbine Dinner

THe UnIVerSITy oF IoWa honored outstanding students, faculty members, a staff member and an alumnus on Tuesday, april 22, 2008 at the 91st anniversary Finkbine Dinner for representative Student Leaders, one of the university’s most prestigious award ceremonies. Linda mcGuire, associate dean for public service and instructor in the UI College of Law, emceed this year’s dinner, which was held at the Iowa memorial Union. UI President Sally mason was among those who presented the awards. among the recipients were two College of Law graduates: Charles m. Kierscht (’62) and alison Guernsey (’08).

The Hancher Finkbine alumni medallion went to Charles m. Kierscht.

Kierscht received his Bachelor of arts degree in psychology from the UI in 1960 followed by a Juris Doctor with distinction in 1962. after graduation, he served in the U.S. navy from 1963 to 1966 and then began a 29-year career with Kemper Financial Services in Chicago. Since his retirement in 1995 as chairman, chief executive officer and president, he has devoted his volunteer time to many organizations in the Chicago area where he resides. He began giving back to his alma mater more than 40 years ago with his first donation to the College of Law annual fund just after graduation. In the nomination for the award, it was noted that Kierscht has an exemplary record of service and generosity to the UI community including lifetime member-ship in the UI alumni association and College of Dentistry Dean’s Club. He is a member of the Presidents Club Gold and the Golden Hawks. most recently, he served as interim presi-dent of the UI Foundation and chair of the board of directors.

among those winning the Distinguished Student Leader Certificates in 2008 was alison Klare Guernsey. This award recognizes students who have exhibited meritorious qualities in leadership, learning and loyalty.

The dInner IS named

aFTer WILLIam O. FInkbIne,

a deS mOIneS buSIneSSman

and 1880 uI LaW graduaTe.

Guernsey is a 2008 graduate who has an extensive record of engagement and public service. as 2007-08 editor-in-chief of the Iowa Law Review, she started initiatives aimed at expanding the impact of the Review on the legal community and developing a deeper relationship with its alumni. Guernsey is an executive board member for the UI Center for Human rights and was instru- mental in creating opportunities for law students to participate further with the center. as a first-year law student, Guernsey organized students to create a database of public service job opportunities. She is working with the class gift committee to provide ongoing support for this project. She also co- authored a report that convinced the Law School Foundation to begin a public interest loan repayment program.

The Finkbine event began in 1917 to honor campus leaders and give them an opportunity to meet administrators, faculty, staff, fellow students and alumni. The dinner is named after William o. Finkbine, a Des moines businessman and 1880 UI law graduate.

The tradition of awarding Hancher-Finkbine medallions began in 1964. The awards, which recognize outstanding lead-ership, learning and loyalty, are named after Finkbine and Virgil m. Hancher, who served as president of the UI from 1940 to 1964. nominations for the student awards are solicit-ed from recognized student organizations and collegiate deans.


uniVeRsity honoRs

Hancher-Finkbine Medallion Faculty Nominee: alison Klare Guernsey

Philip G. Hubbard Rights Award Faculty Nominees: Karen Sue Kopitsky and Suzan marie Pritchett

college of laW aWaRDs (conferred by vote of the faculty)

John F. Murray Award: andrew David Finkelman

Iowa State Bar Association Prize: Samuel Paul Langholz

Donald P. Lay Faculty Recognition Award: ryan Patrick Howell

Alan I. Widiss Faculty Scholar Award: andrew David Finkelman, “The Post-ratification Consensus agreements of the Parties to the montreal Protocol: Law or Politics? an analysis of Natural Resources Defense Counsel v. EPA”

Sandy Boyd Prize: George Tyler Coulson, “This is Parkour!: First amendment Pro-tection of non-Propositional expression with Property Implications”

Robert S. Hunt Legal History Award: William Joseph Penisten II, “The Price of admission on america’s Frontier: The rise of entertainment regulation During the 19th Century”

Randy J. Holland Award for Corporate Scholarship: William Hughes, “Stock option ‘Springloading’: an examina-tion of Loaded Justifications and new SeC Disclosure rules”

Antonia “D.J.” Miller Award for Advancement of Human Rights: Joshua reace Williams

Michelle R. Bennett Client Representation Award: Julie Lynne Bryant and John Paul Fox

Russell Goldman Award: ross Wilson Binder

National Association of Women Lawyers Award: Suzan marie Pritchett

Iowa College of Law Appellate Advocacy Award: John Barry mcCormally

International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award: Shayla Laura Kasel

Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers Award: Paul Ben morris

Erich D. Mathias Award for International Social Justice: rebecca Leanne Bowman

Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement: Jonathan michael Gallagher, Taylor macfarlane Dix, Daniel Will Huitink, andrea Lynn reed

ALI/ABA Scholarship and Leadership Award: alison Klare Guernsey

ABA/BNA Award for Excellence in the Study of Intellectual Property: erica nichole andersen

Joan Hueffner & Stephen Steinbrink Real Estate Award: emily Dawn marriott and Zachary Dean olson

American Bankruptcy Institute Medal for Excellence in Bankruptcy Studies: John Paul eggum

2008 Student Honors and awards

special Recognitions

Dean’s Achievement Award: Tai L. Duncan

Van Oosterhout Best Brief Award: Samuel Paul Langholz

Van Oosterhout Best Advocate Award: andrew David Finkelman

Baskerville Best Oralist Award: John Paul Fox

Baskerville Best Brief Award: John Paul Fox

Jessup Competition Best Oralist Award: Stacey Lynn meyer

Jessup Competition Best Brief Award: Jonathan michael Gallagher

Jessup Competition Best Advocate Award: Jonathan michael Gallagher

2007 Supreme Court Day Advocates: andrew David Finkelman, John Paul Fox, Samuel Paul Langholz, John Barry mcCormally, elizabeth ann nemo, and adam Daniel Zenor



uniVeRsity honoRs

Hancher-Finkbine MedallionFaculty Nominees: angela Theresa Fogt Steven Paul Wieland

Philip G. Hubbard Human Rights Award Faculty Nominees:daniel wade zeno

college of laW aWaRDs (conferred by vote of the faculty)

John F. Murray Award:amy nicole Halbur

Award forOutstanding Scholastic Achievement elizabeth anne Donnellynickolas Philip Gianoumichael J. Hilkinryan Wade Leemkuil

Dean’s Achievement Award: daniel wade zeno

Donald P. Lay Faculty Recognition Awardmichelle alyce Wheelhouse

Antonia “D.J.” Miller Award for Advancement of Human Rights:Kara Kay moberg

Erich D. Mathias Award for International Social Justice:Judith avory Faucette

Michelle R. BennettClient Representation AwardKimberly marie ellisemily Kathryn ScholtenAlan I. Widiss Faculty Scholar Award

Casey Cole KannenbergWading Through the Morass of Modern Federal Habeas Review of State Capital Prisoners’ Claims

Willard “Sandy” Boyd Law Prizematthew James DonnellyA Newsworthiness Privilege for Repub-lished Defamation of Public Figures

Robert S. Hunt Legal History AwardChristopher William ClementThe Evolving Establishment Clause and the Appropriateness of Incorporation

Randy J. Holland Award for Corporate Scholarshipamy michelle KoopmannA Necessary Gatekeeper: The Fiduciary Duties of the Lead Plaintiff in Shareholder Derivative Litigation

Iowa State Bar Association PrizeJoshua T. mandelbaum

ALI/ABA Scholarship and Leadership Awardamy michelle Koopmann

Russell Goldman Awardalma Liliana Sánchez Cabral

National Association of Women Lawyers Awardelizabeth anne albright

Iowa College of Law Appellate Advocacy AwardJennifer michelle moyer

International Academy of Trial Lawyers Awardemily Kathryn Scholten

Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers AwardBenjamin Philip Long

ABA/BNA Award for Excellence in the Study of Intellectual Propertyalexandra J. olsonJeffrey Scott rundle

Joan Hueffner & Stephen SteinbrinkReal Estate AwardBrian russell Locke

American Bankruptcy Institute Medal for Excellence in Bankruptcy Studieselizabeth ann Hulsebos

special Recognitions Van Oosterhout - Baskerville Best Oralist Awardangela Theresa Fogtamy Beth Kretkowski (2007)

Van Oosterhout - Baskerville Best Brief AwardJoshua T. mandelbaum

Van Oosterhout - Baskerville Best Advocate AwardJoshua T. mandelbaum

Jessup Competition Best Oralist AwardCraig marshall regens

Jessup Competition Best Brief AwardBenjamin ryan To

Jessup Competition Best Advocate AwardChethan Gopal Shetty

2007 Supreme Court Day Advocatesangela Theresa FogtKyle Timothy Fogt Joshua T. mandelbaumJennifer michelle moyer

Stephenson Trial Advocacy Competition BestAdvocateBenjamin Philip Long

Cain-Love Award for Social JusticeJudith avory Faucettedaniel wade zeno

2009 Student Honors and awards


noBeL eConomICS LaUreaTe and new york Times columnist Paul Krugman discussed the U.S. economy when he delivered the University of Iowa College of Law’s annual Levitt Lecture on Friday, march 27 in macBride auditorium.

admission to Krugman’s lecture, “Improving the U.S. economy in the Short and Long Term,” was free and open to the public.

Krugman won the nobel Prize for economics in 2008 for his work on international trade and economic geography, which studies the economic dynamics that determine how and why certain places – like Silicon Valley – end up specializing economically and the advantages this kind of clustering brings to companies and economies.

also a professor of economics at Princeton University, Krugman has writ-ten a twice-weekly op-ed column about economics for the New York Times since 1999. He recently re-released his book The Return of Depression Economics, which was originally published in 1999.

In the book, Krugman surveyed the eco-nomic crises that swept asia and Latin america in the 1990s and warned that, like diseases that have become resistant to antibiotics, the economic maladies that caused the Great Depression were making a comeback.

Krugman earned his B.a. from yale University and his Ph.D. from mIT. He taught at yale, mIT and Stanford University before joining the Princeton faculty in 2000. He also served on President ronald reagan’s Council of economic advisors in 1982 and 1983.

Krugman has written more than 200 papers and 20 books. among his best-sellers are The Conscience of a Liberal, The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century, and The Accidental Theorist and other Dispatches from the Dismal Science.

The richard S. Levitt Family Dis-tinguished Lectureship was created in 1995 through a generous endowment gift from the Levitt family to the Iowa Law School Foundation. The purpose of the Levitt Lectures is to bring to the

nobel laureate Krugman delivers law school’s Levitt Lecture

Iowa campus distinguished national and international figures in law and govern-ment to present timely lectures to stu-dents, faculty and alumni of the College of Law. Prior Levitt Lecturers include U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, former U.S. attorney General Janet reno, former U.S. general Wesley Clark, former republic of Ireland Presi-dent mary robinson, new york Times columnist Thomas Friedman, and four nobel Peace Prize winners: elie Wiesel, abba eban, Bishop Desmond Tutu and John Hume.


maRch 27, 2009


Dr. SHIrIn eBaDI, an Iranian lawyer who received the 2003 nobel Peace Prize for her work advocating human rights in Iran, delivered the 2008 Levitt Lecture, “Human rights in Iran and the middle east,” at the University of Iowa on Wednesday, april 23.

The first muslim woman to receive the nobel Peace Prize, Dr. ebadi was honored for her work in advocating democracy and human rights in Iran. She has been active in politically sensi-tive legal cases in the Iranian court sys-tem and in attempting to reform family law in Iran by seeking changes in divorce and inheritance legislation.

However, her work has often brought her in conflict with Iran’s hard-line Islamic leadership, a conflict that has led to a jail term.

a lawyer educated at Tehran Univer-sity, she was the first female judge in Iran when she was appointed president of the

Tehran City Court in 1975. She served in that position until 1979, when the leaders of the newly established Islamic republic determined that women were not suitable for such posts because it violated Islamic law.

Following the revolution, she was unable to obtain a law license and spent the next years publishing books and law review articles. She finally received a license in 1992 and established a law practice that specializes in politically sen-sitive cases other lawyers will not accept.

The nobel award committee said it chose her because of her focus on pro-moting human rights and democracy in her country. “as a lawyer, judge, lecturer, writer and activist, she has spoken out clearly and strongly in her country, Iran, and far beyond,” it said.

The nobel committee also noted that she had “never heeded the threat to her own safety”.

nobel Peace Prize-winner, Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Discusses Iranian reforms in Levitt Lecture

THE RICHARD S. LEVITT FAMILY

DISTINGuISHED LECTuRESHIP was

created in 1995 through a generous

endowment gift from the Levitt family

to the Iowa Law School Foundation.

The purpose of the Levitt Lectures is to

bring to the Iowa campus distinguished

national and international figures in

law and government to present timely

lectures to students, faculty and alumni

of the College of Law. Prior Levitt

Lecturers include U.S. Supreme Court

Justice John Paul Stevens, former U.S.

Attorney General Janet Reno, former

U.S. general Wesley Clark, former

Republic of Ireland President Mary

Robinson, New York Times columnist

Thomas Friedman, and four Nobel

Peace Prize winners: Elie Wiesel,

Abba Eban, Bishop Desmond Tutu

and John hume.

Dr. shirin ebadi with her translator, Dean Emeri-tus n. William hines and Dean carolyn Jones.

apRil 23, 2009



Getting that approval, though, might have huge costs in time, money and frustration, leading the researcher to give up. The frustration is only multiplied if a researcher needs permis-sion from more than one rights holder.

“Intellectual property laws are supposed to encourage innovation, but instead they hold it back,” said Bohannan, an IP law expert. “The more rights the owners have, the more counter-productive the IP system becomes.”

rights holders could be sued for violating antitrust laws, but Hovenkamp said that the person filing the suit would have to demonstrate financial harm to win. Since no product was developed, though, he said it’s impossible to demonstrate financial harm.

one solution Bohannan and Hovenkamp will suggest is to revise IP law so that it’s the rights holder who must dem-onstrate in an infringement lawsuit that another’s violation of their rights caused some kind of harm to them. If they can’t demonstrate that they lost sales, lost licensing fees, or suffered some other kind of loss because of the violation, they will receive no damages in return.

“The current law is only about using what someone else owns, not about whether that use causes harm to the owner of the right,” said Bohannan. “If the uses benefits others but causes no harm to the owner of the right, then the world is better off. In this context “harm” has to be defined as some-thing that decreases the innovator’s incentive to invent in the first place.”

IP law is in its confused state largely because the laws have been heavily influenced by special interests -- the recording industry, for instance, has been involved in writing anti-piracy and copyright laws in ways that favor their own interests. The researchers hope their book, “Creation Without restraint: Competition Policy in Innovation Intensive markets,” will serve as an antidote and encourage judges and Congress to hack away at the innovation law thicket to help the economy grow.

Bohannan and Hovenkamp also plan to argue that anti-trust law should penalize restraints on innovation as well as anticompetitive practices, and that other doctrines such as IP misuse, the first sale doctrine, and remedies should likewise be reformed to enhance rather than inhibit innovation.

They expect to complete the book in three years and also host a colloquium with antitrust and IP legal experts from across the country.

Professors hovenkamp and Bohannan hope new book will increase innovation, lead to economic growth

They expeCT TO

COmpLeTe The bOOk

In Three yearS

and aLSO hOST a

COLLOquIum WITh

anTITruST and

Ip LegaL experTS

FrOm aCrOSS The

COunTry.

InTeLLeCTUaL ProPerTy LaW has become a legal mess that many analysts say is holding back the U.S. economy, but Professors Herb Hovenkamp and Christina Bohannan are hoping their new book can clarify the law and encour age economic innovation.

“If someone thought rationally about intellectual property (IP) laws, we would not have the laws we have now,” said Herbert Hovenkamp, one of the world’s top experts on antitrust law.

He and Professor Christina Bohannan have received a $350,000 grant from the ewing and marion Kaufmann Foundation to write a new book suggesting ways to reform and streamline a set of laws producing rights so confusing and counter-productive that they have been referred to as a “thicket.”

This thicket is more than just an abstract scholarly legal issue, though. market-based economies depend on the development of innovative new products and services, but mounting evidence suggests the thicket is keeping many innovations from ever developing and reaching the market in the first place.

“a lot of people are held back in creating an innovative new product or service because of the intellectual property and antitrust laws they have to deal with,” said Hovenkamp. “The current union of intellectual property and antitrust law does not encourage the amount of innovation that competitive markets are capable of producing.”

Innovation laws are intended to protect inventors or cre-ators from having their invention or creation used by someone else at their own loss. Copyright, for instance, protects artists, writers, composers, musicians and other creators from having their creations used by another person without compensation. IP laws also include patents, which are used to protect the creators of new technology, such as software, drugs or biotech.

However, Bohannan said U.S. law goes too far in protect-ing the rights of a patent or copyright holder, which is how innovation is held back. For example, IP laws might make it difficult for a researcher to develop a new drug because it requires the use of an enzyme, protein or some other piece of biotechnology that’s owned by another researcher.


eQUaL JUSTICe WorKS in Wash-ington D.C. has appointed daniel zeno as one of its ten new members to its national advisory Committee. The 20-member committee includes law school students, law school professionals and faculty who provide advice and sup-port to equal Justice works in its efforts to mobilize the next generation of lawyers committed to equal justice. daniel zeno is a 2009 graduate of The University of Iowa College of Law. He is involved in various student organizations, including the equal Justice Foundation, Black Law Students association, Iowa Campaign for Hu-man rights and The University of Iowa antiwar Committee. daniel is also an editor for The Journal of Gender, race and Justice. This past summer, daniel worked at the advancement Project, a policy, communications and legal action group committed to racial justice in Washington, D.C. The previous sum-mer, he worked at the aCLU Drug Law reform Project in Santa Cruz, Ca. Prior to attending law school, daniel worked at the U.S. Government accountability office in atlanta, Ga evaluating federal

programs. daniel received his a.B. from Wabash College in 2002 and his m.P.a. from Indiana University Blooming-ton in 2004. The national advisory Commit-tee advances the goals of equal Justice Works by engaging law school stakehold-ers; conducting outreach to students and professionals at member law schools; providing advice on programmatic direc-tion, issue identification and campaign strategies; and assisting with the design, implementation and evaluation of select initiatives. members of the committee have varied public interest backgrounds and will provide valuable feedback and guidance to equal Justice Works for a two-year period. a complete list of current committee members and their biographies can be viewed at: http://www.equaljusticeworks.org/about/nacmembers.

equal Justice Works appoints daniel zeno (’09) to national advisory Committee

The National Advisory Committee advances the goals of Equal Justice Works by engag-

ing law school stakeholders; conducting outreach to students and professionals at

member law schools; providing advice on programmatic direction, issue identification

and campaign strategies; and assisting with the design, implementation and evaluation

of select initiatives.

Registrar Deb paul, a familiar face to alumni, celebrates a milestone.

Members of the nyemaster law firm sponsor a pre game cookout fall 2008.

snapshots



incoming first-year laW students at the university of iowa helped with flood clean-up in the iowa city area as part of a community service project held during orientation week on aug. 19.

among the students’ projects was assisting habitat for humanity restore land-scaping at homes in iowa city’s flooded Parkview neighborhood along normandy drive; helping organize habitat’s re-store, a re-sale and building materials store at 2401 s. scott Blvd.; and removing leftover

sandbags that protected the city of iowa city’s water plants and wells.law students also helped maintain trails in iowa city’s hickory hill Park that were

damaged by the summer’s heavy rains, and help pick up litter and do other clean-up projects at lake macbride state Park.

other non-flood related projects included: collecting food for table to table; organizing materials in the friends of historic Preservation’s salvage Barn at the iowa city landfill; sorting donated goods for sale at the crowded closet nonprofit re-sale shop at 1213 gilbert ct., iowa city; sorting and organizing donations at the north liberty community Pantry at 85 n. Jones Blvd.; and helping with various maintenance projects at miracles in motion, a therapeutic horse-riding academy at 2049 120th st. n.W., swisher.

linda mcguire, the law school’s associate dean for civic engagement, said the service project is an annual part of each incoming class’s orientation. other orientation sessions held during the week for the approximately 200 first-years included a class that introduces the law and legal reasoning, commentary on legal careers from alumni who are practicing attorneys, judges and justices, and the nuts and bolts of the law school’s operation.

the community service project not only introduced students to the area and provided bodies to help local charitable organizations, mcguire said it also shows students the importance of providing leadership and community service in their professional, post-law school lives.

Incoming law students assist with flood clean-up during orientation


The community

service project not

only introduced

students to the

area and provided

bodies to help

local charitable

organizations,

it also shows

students the

importance of

providing leader-

ship and commu-

nity service in their

professional, post-

law school lives.

— LinDa McGuiRE,

associatE DEan foR

civic EnGaGEMEnt


the trial advocacy team at the Regional competition in Kansas city. from left to right: Zachary olson (’08), meghan maher (’08), paul morris (’08), Benjamin long (’09), nathan Roberts (’08), and emily sieber (’08).

FeDeraL JUDGeS have grown used to threats of violence, but the most worrisome threats don’t usually come from foreign-born, anti-american terrorists, a U.S. federal district court judge said at the University of Iowa College of Law Thursday.

John C. Coughenour, former chief judge of the Western Washington District who presided over the trial of “millennium Bomber” ahmed ressam, said hatred from inside the country is more dangerous.

“I had more to fear from my own fellow citizens than from mr. ressam during that trial,” said Coughenour.

Coughenour, a 1966 UI law school graduate, is now a senior judge in the Western Washington District. His ad-dress, “Judicial Security after 9/11,” was the James Fraser Smith Lecture for 2008.

Coughenour pointed out that before 1979, only one federal judge had ever been assassinated, but five have been killed since then. especially since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, security has in-creased significantly at U.S. courthouses, which are now filled with metal detectors, surveillance devices and armed guards.

But Coughenour said the great-est threats to a judge come outside the

courtroom, noting that the five judges who have been assassinated in the past 30 years were killed at home or some other place away from the courthouse.

Coughenour talked about security details that have trailed him and his fam-ily during several of the trials he presided over, including the ressam trial. But he said the biggest threat in that trial came afterward, during ressam’s sentencing, when Coughenour harshly criticized the U.S. government’s use of secret military tribunals to try suspected terrorists. Coughenour said the criticism led to a pile of hate mail, death threats, and condemnation from talk show host Bill o’reilly, “which I wear as a badge of honor.”

He said he was particularly proud that ressam’s trial was conducted fully in the open, despite the government’s efforts to make some evidence secret.

“mr. ressam received all the protec-tions afforded by the Constitution to any american citizen,” Coughenour said.

Coughenour was appointed as judge in the U.S. District Court for Western Washington by President ronald reagan in 1981. He served until 2006, when he retired to senior judge status.

‘millennium Bomber’ trial judge, UI alumnus, John Coughenour (’66) speaks at law school

James fraser smith, Judge

coughenour, and Virginia smith at the James fraser

smith lecture.

Nonprofit Resource Center co-sponsors non-profit management conference and sponsors nonprofit continuing legal education program this fall

ThE UNIVERSITY oF IoWA’S Larned A. Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center was one of the co-sponsors and organizers of this year’s annual statewide conference on volunteer service and non-profit management. “Together, Building Iowa’s Future” was held oct. 28 and 29 at Iowa State University and will feature sessions on, among other topics, recruiting and managing volunteers, marketing, creating business partnerships, boards of directors and an update on new state and federal laws that govern non-profit organizations.

The University of Iowa College of Law and the Larned A. Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center also hosted a nonprofit law program Sept. 5-6, at the Coralville Marriott. The guest speaker was Theresa Pattara, tax counsel to Iowa Sen. Chuck Grass-ley, the ranking minority member of the Senate Finance Committee, who advises Grassley on tax matters relat-ing to exempt organizations. other presenters include Eric Tabor, chief of staff at the Iowa Attorney General’s office. College of Law professors will also give presentations, and Emeritus Professor Willard L. Boyd will discuss nonprofit governance.



do you regulate the players involved in combat? Despite the daunting challenge-not to mention logical inconsistencies-of the task, diplomats in the past have hammered out treaties that, for instance, defined how armies must treat captured enemy soldiers (Geneva Conventions), prohibited the use of some weapons (poison gas) while limiting others (land mines), and attempted to protect civilian non-combatants from military attack.

But warfare today rarely involves combat between two armies representing nations, with a well-defined difference between a combatant and a civilian. The United States wrestles with this question everyday in Iraq and afghanistan-what constitutes torture? What are the rights of those held in Guantanamo Bay? How can you defend yourself against an enemy combatant when you don’t know it’s an enemy combatant until after he’s blown himself up, along with a group of american soldiers and whatever civilians happen to be standing too close?

The issue goes beyond terrorism, though. Civil wars and ethnic conflicts, which are often one and the same thing, have been blurring legal lines in recent years. For instance, how should inter-national law have treated the Serbs and

Professor Mark osiel’s new appointment Helps Him adapt War and Human rights Law

albanians in their fight over Kosovo, or minority Tamil rebels fighting the government in Sri Lanka? He said one frequent issues is what happens when a suspected war criminal is found living in a third country, what is that country’s legal obligation to hand the suspect over for a war crimes trial? What rights does a country have in extracting a war crimes suspect found in another country?

osiel said those are the questions that modern international law must now take into consideration. He hopes his consul-tations with european defense ministries help in one way, by encouraging those countries to update their own laws and military rules of engagement so they are in agreement with international law and synchronized across the continent.

osiel also coordinates training soldiers in those countries’ militaries on international law.

“We’ll be teaching soldiers direct ap-plications of general rules and principles found in various international treaties, such as the Geneva Conventions or treaties prohibiting torture,” osiel said. “They have to know, at what point can you shoot, or use other force?”

osiel also coordinates a series of lectures, seminars and other academic gatherings of scholars, lawyers and lawmakers to discuss the future of inter-national law as it relates to contemporary warfare.

“The law is beginning to adapt and will adapt, as the law always does,” osiel said.

“We’ll be teaching soldiers

direct applications of general rules

and principles found in various

international treaties, such as the

Geneva Conventions or treaties

prohibiting torture.”

STarTIng ThIS paST

auguST, OSIeL

began ServIng

aS dIreCTOr OF

InTernaTIOnaL

humanITarIan

LaW aT The T.m.C.

aSSer InSTITuTe

In The hague,

neTherLandS.

War IS noT what it used to be, and most legal experts agree existing laws that dictate proper behavior during war are of little use in modern fighting.

“most international agreements relating to law during armed conflict were written in response to wars between national states and their armies,” said mark osiel, aliber Family Chair in Law at The University of Iowa College of Law and expert in interna-tional and human rights law. “now, we see conflicts that are different-civil wars, ethnic conflicts, terrorism-and the law is responding.”

osiel is playing a major role in shap-ing that response during the next two years. Starting this past august, osiel began serving as director of International Humanitarian Law at the T.m.C. asser Institute in The Hague, netherlands. There, he helps lawyers and scholars from around the world develop inter-national and human rights law in a way that makes it relevant to today’s issues.

His primary task is organizing and directing training sessions to educate judges from around the world about developments in international criminal law. osiel also consults with the defense ministries of several countries regarding their rules of engagement for military operations and bringing their national laws into compliance with international law.

He said the changing nature of war-fare and violence is confusing a legal pic-ture that was murky to begin with-how


Holding the World Bank account-able has been an ongoing issue for the giant multilateral development bank. Formed after World War II, the World Bank helps developing countries build their economies by providing financing and advice to, among other things, help them construct the kinds of public infra-structure they couldn’t afford to build on their own. over the years the bank has helped countries build massive projects like dams, highways and power plants.

The bank has often been criticized, though, for financing projects that harmed people or communities in the country where the project was being built. This damage was often the result of the bank violating its own policies and procedures, but Carrasco said the people who suffered had no way to hold the bank accountable.

In an effort to allay these concerns, the bank created an Inspection Panel in 1993. The panel hears complaints from communities and determines what role the bank played in causing that dam-age by ignoring its own policies and procedures.

But Carrasco said the panel is gener-ally regarded as ineffective. “The panel has very limited authority to recom-mend any type of remedial measure to the bank,” said Carrasco. “The panel is not a problem-solving entity, and under its operating procedures it is expected to opine solely on whether the bank complied with its own policies. It also follows then that the panel has no authority to provide compensation to affected communities.”

Carrasco said those communities often look to the bank’s management for relief, but “it is not the bank’s practice

to provide compensation for harms the inspection panel identifies.”

To replace this, Carrasco suggests a process of independent mediation and arbitration that would determine if the World Bank is at fault for damaging the community, how the damage can be fixed, and if it can’t be, what compensa-tion should be provided to the people most harmed by the development. In the first step, an independent mediator would be appointed who is agreed up on by both the bank and the commu-nity filing the complaint. The mediator would investigate the claim and deter-mine whether the damage was caused because the bank ignored its policies and procedures.

Should the two sides disagree with the mediator’s findings, an independent arbitration panel would be appointed, whose decision would be final. If the panel finds the bank was negligent, it would be required to either offer a plan to fix the damage or compensate the victims.

However, Carrasco said most cases would likely be settled at the mediation stage and not advance to arbitration.

The new process “gives the claimants a voice and a remedy they don’t have now,” Carrasco said. It would also act as a check against the World Bank by com-pelling it to more closely adhere to its own policies, which would also improve its public credibility.

“Holding the bank accountable for damages resulting from its failure to fol-low its own policies and procedures in development projects would promote, rather than detract from, the bank’s purpose,” he said.

Carrasco’s paper, “The World Bank’s Inspection Panel: Promoting True accountability Through arbitration,” is co-authored by University of Iowa College of Law alumna alison K. Guernsey (’08) and will be published in a forthcoming issue of The Cornell Law Review.

Professor Carrasco offers Changes to Improve World Bank accountability

PROFESSOR ENRIquE

CARRASCO, AN

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOP-

MENT ExPERT, IS PROPOSING

A NEW METHOD OF HOLDING

THE WORLD BANK ACCOuNT-

ABLE WHEN ITS DEVELOP-

MENT PROJECTS DAMAGE

COMMuNITIES IN

DEVELOPING COuNTRIES.

THe ProPoSaL WoULD create a mediation and arbitration process that replaces the current Inspection Panel, which has been under considerable criti-cism since its inception.

Carrasco said that people harmed by a project financed and advised by the World Bank should, under certain circumstances, be able to bring an arbitration claim against the bank for damages if the bank did not follow its own policies and procedures.

“our proposal would bring about real and effective accountability on the part of the World Bank because it eliminates the bank’s paternalistic, biased and politically motivated approach to resolving claims,” said Carrasco, who is also director of the University of Iowa’s Center for International Finance and Development.



Professor mark sidel was honored for his research into the impact of anti-terrorism laws on nonprofit and philanthropic organizations in the united states, united kingdom and australia.

sidel received the civil liberties Prize from the international center for not-for-Profit law and the catholic organization for relief and development, awarded for scholarship on the legal and political environment for civil society.

sidel’s paper, “counter-terrorism, civil liberties and the enabling legal and Political environment for civil society: a comparative international analysis of ‘War on terror’ states,” focuses on the legal and political environment for civil society in the united states, united king-dom and australia. the paper examines the legal and political environment for civil society and analyzes the different ways counter-terrorism law and policy affect nonprofit and philanthropic institu-tions. he also examines the changes to existing regulatory institutions and the emergence of new regulators, and the differing responses of civil society institu-tions to those restrictions and policies.

an expanded version of sidel’s work will be published as a book in 2009. sidel also serves as president-elect of the international society for third sector research.

SIx UnIVerSITy oF IoWa faculty members have won the 2008 regents award for Faculty excellence. Given by the Board of regents, State of Iowa, the award honors faculty members for work representing a significant contribution to excellence in public education. each honoree received $1,000. Professor Sheldon Kurtz was among the six recipi-ents, who also included Peter Damiano, Pamela Geyer, William Larue Jones, Craig Kletzing, and Jane Paulsen.

Sheldon Kurtz, Percy Bordwell Pro-fessor of Law, is a prolific scholar in the area of property law, wills and trusts. He has put his expertise into the service of the state by acting as a commissioner on Uniform State Laws for the state of Iowa since 2000. In that capacity, he works with numerous state legislatures

Professor Sidel honored for war on terror and nonprofit research

Professor Kurtz wins regents awards for Faculty excellence

on the adoption of important statutes such as the Uniform anatomical Gift act. Kurtz has offered dedicated service to the College and University, notably as an active participant and past president of the Faculty Senate. a popular and creative teacher, he has developed several innovative educational opportunities for law students. one is a law and technolo-gy seminar in which students mimic the role of legislators and develop statutes on important public policy issues, typically relating to law and medicine; another is a medical seminar for law students in which students work with faculty and staff from the UI Hospitals and Clinics and the Carver College of Law to learn about various aspects of the health care system.

Rebecca Bowman (’08) wins Weston International Human rights essay Competition

The COmpeTITIOn

IS InTended TO

prOmOTe under-

STandIng and The

COnTInuIng

advanCemenT OF

human rIghTS.

THe UnIVerSITy oF IoWa Center for Human rights announced rebecca Bowman (’08) as the winner of the annual Burns H. Weston International Human rights essay Prize in 2008.

Bowman was awarded the $1,000 prize in the graduate and professional student category for her essay “Lubanga, the Democratic republic of Congo, and the african Court: Lessons Learned from the First International Criminal Court Case.” Bowman is a dual-degree student originally from monticello, Iowa. She was awarded her JD from the College of Law in 2008 and is presently pursuing a doctorate in higher education in the UI College of education.

The competition is intended to promote understanding and the continuing advancement of international human rights, as well as honor Weston, the former and founding director of the UICHr and an internationally renowned scholar in international human rights law.


a UnIVerSITy oF IoWa law profes-sor is spearheading an effort to make environmental rights as much a part of the legal vocabulary as economic or property rights so future generations can enjoy a safe environment.

“our growing climate crisis demands that our laws take seriously the legal rights of children and future generations to inherit a clean, healthy and sustain-able environment,” says Burns Weston, professor emeritus in the UI College of Law, senior scholar of the UI Center for Human rights and project director of the Climate Legacy Initiative (CLI). “In turn, the present generation must take legal responsibility for the ecologi-cal legacy we leave behind. It is a rank injustice to our heirs if our behavior does not change.”

The CLI, a joint project of the UI Center for Human rights and the environmental Law Center of Vermont Law School, seeks to broaden and deepen the legal means for protect-ing the earth’s environment for future generations. In april 2008, it released a major policy paper titled “recalibrat-ing the Law of Humans with the Laws of nature: Climate Change, Human rights, and Intergenerational Justice,” authored by Weston and Tracy Bach, CLI associate director and a researcher and professor at Vermont Law School.

“The Climate Legacy Initiative’s work is intended to spark public and profes-sional discussion about how our laws can adapt to and confront the climate crisis,” Weston said. “We seek a fundamental rethinking of how the law, both nation-ally and internationally, can be made a better steward of the environment, especially in the face of unprecedented climate change.”

Weston said a legal approach is just one tool in confronting this huge chal-lenge, but it is critical.

However, he said this not a task for the law alone. “Law underwrites all we do and how we go about doing it,” he said. “In a democratic society, this makes law’s relation to the environ-ment everyone’s problem and everyone’s responsibility, and it cannot wait. events may overturn intention unless we are expeditious.”

The CLI policy paper lays out a legal framework for constructing intergenera-tional rights and duties, and for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of existing law. It also offers 16 recommendations that governing bodies from local to global can implement to safeguard the environment.

The CLI engaged more than 40 legal and public policy experts from the

United States and europe to help with the policy paper, including Jonathan Carlson, a professor in the UI College of Law; Jerald Schnoor, a professor in the UI College of engineering; maureen mcCue, an adjunct professor in the UI Global Health Studies Program and coordinator of the Iowa Physicians for Social responsibility; and Sharon Benzoni, formerly a research associate at the UI Center for Global and regional environmental research, currently executive director of the Council for International Visitors to Iowa Cities and the Iowa City Foreign relations Council.

“The CLI’s ultimate goal is a funda-mental change in the way legal systems think about the environment,” said Weston. “We hope it leads to a paradigm shift in the way the law -- and every-one and everything else -- relates to the environment.”

Weston said that the obligation to do right by our children and grandchil-dren carries great moral weight, but that this has not been reflected in our legal systems to a degree sufficient to meet such environmental challenges as climate change. The concept of the common good, he said, is not only to establish a civil society for the current generation, but to make sure a functioning society can be handed to our heirs and their descendants.

In an environmental sense, he said, this means that current generations must act to ensure future generations’ rights to, for instance, biological diversity, environmental quality, and access to resources.

“Leaving the earth better than we found it is not merely a nice idea,” Weston said. “It is our responsibility to our children, grandchildren, and genera-tions beyond.”

Professor Burns Weston leads initiative to protect environment for future generations


“Our growing climate crisis

demands that our laws take

seriously the legal rights of

children and future

generations to inherit a clean,

healthy and sustainable envi-

ronment, in turn, the present

generation must take legal

responsibility for the ecological

legacy we leave behind. It is a

rank injustice to our heirs if

our behavior does not change.”


Faculty N o t e s

Randall Bezanson published with G. Cranberg “An economic slowdown is no time to shrink the news” in Nieman Watchdog (Harvard, November 13, 2008).

steven J. BuRton published two books in october. one is Elements of Contract Law, published by oxford Uni-versity Press. the other, which he co-edited, is American Arbitration Principles and Practice, published by the Practising Law Institute. He also contributed a chapter to the arbitration book, on “the Legal environment.”

Bill Buss was one of four University of Iowa faculty members to receive the 2008 President and Provost Award for teaching excellence.

Jonathan CaRlson continues to serve as senior Associate to UI President sally Mason. Among other responsibili-ties, he chairs the President’s sustain-ability steering Group, which monitors the university’s progress on President Mason’s and the Regents’ sustainability initiatives. He also serves as the univer-sity’s representative on the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce Board of Direc-tors. Carlson continues to work actively on scholarship related to international environmental law. two of his articles will be published this spring – “Reflec-tions on a Problem of Climate Justice:

Climate Change and the Rights of states in a Minimalist International Legal order” in TLCP and “International environmental Law, Climate Change, and Intergenerational Justice,” in Recali-brating The Law Of Humans With The Laws Of Nature: Climate Change, Human Rights, And Intergenerational Justice (Climate Legacy Initiative 2009)(Burns Weston & tracy Bach, ed.). In addition, Professor Carlson recently completed the 14th annual update of volumes 4 and 5 of Weston & Carlson, International Law & World Order: Basic Documents (Brill).

MaRCella david participated in a symposium on December 5 and 6 sponsored by the UI Center for Human Rights. It celebrated the 60th Anniversary of the United Nation’s Universal Decla-ration of Human Rights and was held in the old Capitol. Also participating were Professor Karen engle of University of texas Law school and Professor Mark sidel. Former Iowa Congressional Rep-resentative Jim Leach gave a keynote, and was awarded the 2008 Courage of Conviction Award.

ann laqueR estin was named to the Aliber Family Chair in Law in 2008, and has been awarded a Global scholar fel-lowship by the University of Iowa for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years. she will be writing a handbook on

international family law for lawyers and judges in the United states. In 2008, she participated in the thirteenth world conference of the International society of Family Law in Vienna, Austria, and spoke to the secretary of state’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law in Washington DC. In addition to Family Law and Federal Indian Law, estin is teaching a class with Professor Linda Kerber of the History Department on Family, Gender and Constitutional History. she recently published Golden Anniversary Reflections: Changes in Marriage Law After Fifty Years’ in the Family Law Quarterly. In 2009, her essay, “Unofficial Family Law,” will be published in the Iowa Law Review, and her article on “sharing Governance: Family Law in Congress and the states” will be published in the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy.

Bill hines has completed the second year of his five-year Phased Retirement Plan, teaching Property II and trusts and estates in the spring semester of 2009. In April, 2008 he presented a talk to the U.s. District Court, North-ern District of Iowa Historical society entitled “Milestones and Benchmarks in Iowa Law and in the History of the

Professor lois Cox at the 2009 Levitt Lecture reception.

Professor arthur Bonfield and his wife, Dr. eva tsalikian at the 2008 Levitt Lecture.


Faculty N o t e s

Iowa Law school.” In the summer of 2008, he completed work as editor of the book, The History of the Iowa Law School, 1865-2005, to which he also contributed four of its fourteen chapters, and selected and captioned 150 photo illustrations. He continues to serve as Chair of the student Athlete Welfare Committee within the university’s Presi-dent’s Committee on Athletics. He was recently appointed for the second time to the officer Nominating Commit-tee of the Association of American Law schools, which will select the Associa-tion’s officers for the 2010 year. His cur-rent scholarly research is wide ranging, including work on the constitutionaliza-tion of punitive damages, severance of joint tenancies, enforcement of univer-sity sexual harassment codes, and institu-tional mechanisms for resolving conflicts among students, faculty members, and administrators over student grades.

niCholas Johnson recently pub-lished two books. Your Second Priority discusses mass media issues and reform, from explanations of the American sys-tem for foreign governments to analyses of journalistic ethics. Are We There Yet? deals with issues of politics and govern-ing, which he discussed during an hour-long interview on the Iowa Public Radio program “the exchange.” It includes some of his blog entries about the candi-dates and the primary. His bi-partisan involvement in the primaries included conversations with Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, and Mike Huckabee, as well as Barack obama, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson (whom he introduced on one occasion), and Den-nis Kucinich. He and his wife co-chaired their precinct caucus, following which he was asked to co-chair the Johnson County Democrats Convention (with Iowa City Mayor Reginia Bailey). His continued participation in media reform includes the Iowans for Better Local television group, and his presen-tation at the National Conference on

Media Reform in Minneapolis. In January 2009 he was asked to present, along with former FCC chairs Reed Hundt and Bill Kennard, at a Washington, D.C., conference: “Re-forming the Federal Communications Commission,” a joint project of Public Knowledge (www.publicknowledge.org) and the University of Colorado’s Center for Law, technology, and entrepreneur-ship. the conference, and its continu-ing Web site, http://fcc-reform.org, are making recommendations to the obama Administration. Johnson keynoted the santa Clara University High tech Law Institute’s celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Carterfone decision. As an FCC commis-sioner he authored this FCC decision, opening At&t’s formerly proprietary network to others’ equipment– ulti-mately including the modems that made Internet communication possible. His paper has been selected for publication in sCU’s Computer and High Tech Law Journal. Johnson was active in community efforts related to flood prevention and conservation. He served on the steer-

ing committee of “our Land, our Water, our Future,” the citizens’ group that successfully promoted passage of a $20 million conservation bond. He created and maintained the Web site, “the Great outdoors of Iowa” (or “Go Iowa”), with links to over 100 related or-ganizations (http://resourcesforlife.org/goiowa). He was asked to make related Power Point presentations to the John-son County Council of Governments, League of Women Voters, and FAIR. Closer to home, Johnson participated in the University of Iowa’s “Iowa River tour” and is a member of the Univer-sity’s Faculty engagement Corps. He also serves on the executive committee of the Melrose Neighborhood Association, which urged the upgrading of the law school neighborhood’s Brookland Park, as well as this year’s celebration in the park. At the law school’s re-enactment of the supreme Court’s Pentagon Papers oral argument Johnson was asked to play the role of Justice Hugo L. Black, the justice for whom he clerked. Later he and his wife, Mary Vasey, attended a Washington reunion of the former Black

Professor Marcella david, Dean Curt hunter (Tippie College of Business), sharman thorton-hunter, Professor Paul Krugman, and lynette Marshall (President, University of Iowa Foundation) at the 2009 Levitt Lecture.


clerks including a dinner at the supreme Court building. For the past three years much of his writing is contained on his Web site, http://www.nicholasjohnson.org, and blog, http://FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com. the latter now contains over 600 essays on a wide variety of public policy issues (as well as many of his op ed newspaper columns). “so You Want to be a Lawyer: A Play in Four Acts” continues to receive hits from over 100 countries – and produce requests for law school information – as does “Random thoughts About Law school Rankings.” other subjects during a random two-weeks’ sampling included, “tell Me a story” (the “stories Project”), “Impor-tant things in Politics” (lobbyists’ fund-ing), “Censoring Billionaires” (t. Boone Pickens’ commercial), “City’s Moral Compass is spinning” (property tax rev-enue not valid basis for Wal-Mart store approval), “City owned Hotels” (Cedar Rapids’ Crowne Plaza), “It’s Biden – for ‘experience’?” (what’s relevant “experi-ence” for president?), “Abolish Bar exams?” (critique of an op ed), “Jails: ‘overcrowding’ Not the Issue,” and “solving Illegal Behavior Problems by Making It Legal” (lowering drinking age to 18). In addition to the stories Project op ed, “Flying Video screens, stories and tourism,” others included “Assess-ing Candidates ‘experience,’” “Preserv-ing for our Grandchildren” (conser-vation and greenbelts), “shed Light on Problem Behind Fighting; Adults’ Decisions Increase Violence,” “A $2.20 Gift to our Great-grandchildren,” and “Assessing the Presidential Picks: Quali-ties to Keep in Mind When Picking a President.” ChRis lieBig taught LAWR and has been working on the LAWR Review Committee and the LAWR Hiring sub-committee. He was the College of Law’s nominee for the President and Provost’s teaching Award for lecturers.

angela onwuaChi-willig gave birth to her third child, solomon, on March 3, 2008. she has been named the Charles M. & Marion J. Kierscht scholar at the University of Iowa College of Law in recognition of her scholarly accomplishments. onwuachi-Willig is the Chair of the AALs Minority section and the Chair-elect for the AALs section on Law and Humanities for 2009. she also was appointed to serve on the AALs Com-mittee for the Recruitment and Reten-tion of Minorities in Law schools. Her article “Cracking the egg: Which Came First—stigma or Affirma-tive Action?” (co-authored with emily Houh of the University of Cincinnati College of Law and Mary Campbell of University of Iowa sociology) appeared in a symposium issue of the Califor-nia Law Review. this article received significant press. It was the subject of an article in the Chronicle of Higher Educa-tion and the Iowa City Press Citizen, and it was discussed in The Australian and on the Nebraska Radio Network. In addition, she was interviewed about the article on Iowa Public Radio. she pre-sented “Cracking the egg: Which Came First�stigma or Affirmative Action?” as part of the Law and Citizenship Colloquium at southern Methodist University, Dedman school of Law

on December 3, 2008, and spoke in a seminar on Citizenship about the same paper. onwuachi-Willig also published an opinion-editorial entitled “Vote Buoys Faith in Power to Beat Racism” after the election of Barack obama as President. the op-ed appeared in the Des Moines Register on November 8, 2008. Later, she was invited to write a short opinion piece for the Des Moines Register about the inauguration of Barack obama—“Presidential Inauguration: Iowa Views (Great Pride, But Also Fear)” for the January 19, 2009 paper. Angela onwuachi-Willig and Jacob Willig-onwuachi (of Grinnell College) presented their co-authored paper A House Divided: the Invisibility of the Multiracial Family at the thirteenth Annual Latina/o Critical theory Con-ference at seattle University school of Law. the paper will be published as part of a special projects issue of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Angela also presented the paper at the second Annual Lutie A. Lyle Black Women Law Faculty Writing Workshop at Denver University, sturm College of Law. Angela and Jacob co-authored an opinion-editorial regarding the Varnum case (Iowa’s same-sex marriage case) entitled Iowa supreme Court should

Professor Charlie davidson, Pat Bauer and Bill hines at the 2009 Levitt Lecture Reception.


Faculty N o t e s

Again Be A Pioneer. the op-ed appeared in the Iowa City Press-Citizen on December 9, 2008. Angela was quoted in the UsA today and the Des Moines Register about the Varnum case. she also did an interview on the radio about the case. Angela presented her paper “Com-plimentary Discrimination” in (1) a faculty workshop at Washington and Lee University school of Law through Francis Lewis Law Center in Lexington, Virginia, on september 15, 2008, (2) a faculty workshop at suffolk Law school in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 17, 2008; and (3) a seminar at emory University school of Law on April 6, 2008. on January 23, 2009, Angela presented the Inclining significance of Presidential Races, a co-authored paper with osamudia James, at the Law and Contemporary Problems symposium at Duke University school of Law. she also participated in a workshop there. Angela received an obermann Interdisciplinary Grant with Professors Mary Noonan and Mary Campbell of UI sociology for the summer of 2008. the authors are currently completing their research on minority partnership rates. Angela also moderated a discus-sion on teaching and scholarship at the emerging Family Law scholars Confer-ence at Cardozo school of Law, Yeshiva University. Angela organized the 20th anniversary Critical Race theory Conference in April of 2009 as well as the Critical Race theory speakers series leading up to the conference. this conference honored the memory of the first Critical Race theory Workshop, which took place at a convent in Wisconsin in 1989. she also organized the Nineteenth Annual Midwest People of Color Legal scholar-ship Conference from May 7-10, 2009. Finally, on April 16, 2009, Angela was invited to speak on a panel at a Critical Race theory conference at Yale Law school.

todd Pettys completed his article “Popular Constitutionalism and Relax-ing the Dead Hand: Can the People Be trusted?” which appeared in the Washington University Law Review in January 2009. Pettys completed an article titled “the Myth of the Written Constitution,” which has been accepted by the Notre Dame Law Review and will be published later this year. He currently is at work on an article tentatively titled “Counsel and Confrontation,” which addresses various complexities that arise under the supreme Court’s recently re-vised interpretation of the sixth Amend-ment’s Confrontation Clause.

Katie PoRteR has been interviewed by several national media outlets on bankruptcy, mortgage, and consumer credit issues. Newsweek and The New York Times quoted her in stories on when consumers should consider bank-ruptcy, and the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The TODAY Show sought her expertise on mortgages and home foreclosures. she testified in May before the U.s. senate Judiciary Committee at a hearing, Policing Lenders and Protecting Homeowners, about mortgage servicing. With several of her co-investigators on the 2007 Consumer Bankruptcy Project, Porter published the first academic study of who files bankruptcy after the 2005 law reform. “Did Bankruptcy Reform Fail?: An Empirical Study of Consumer Debtors” appeared in the peer-reviewed American Bankruptcy Law Journal in November. Her study of mortgage claims, “Misbehavior and Mistake in Bankruptcy Mortgage Claims,” was published by the Texas Law Re-view, and an empirical analysis of home affordability challenges of families in bankruptcy is forthcoming in the Utah Law Review. Porter was a co-organizer of the two-day conference, the subprime Housing Crisis: Interdisciplinary Policy Perspectives, which was hosted by the University of Iowa Public Policy Center in mid-october. she presented a paper

on the role of default costs in prevent-ing families from avoiding foreclosure. With Ronald J. Mann, Professor of Law at Columbia University, she has authored “Saving Up for Bankruptcy,” which examines the path of households in financial distress into bankruptcy. In January, she presented this piece at a faculty workshop at Florida state Law school and at the Iowa Legal studies Worshop. she taught a short-course on credit cards this fall as a visitor at the University of Illinois College of Law. she also conducted a day-long training session on debtor-creditor issues for the Federal trade Commission and was a keynote speaker at the National Con-sumer Law Center’s conference. Porter was chosen to direct the 2009 summer Research seminar for the University of Iowa’s obermann Center for Advanced studies. the seminar will bring a dozen scholars to Iowa City to study consumer debt in America and workshop empirical papers on houshold economic risk. Por-ter was also a nominee for the 2008 Col-legiate teaching Award. she welcomed her second child, Paul, in July 2008.

MaRgaRet RayMond’s new Profes-sional Responsibility casebook, The Law and Ethics of Law Practice, will be published by West this spring.

Professor John Reitz with Mike Chibita (LLM ’92) who was visiting from Uganda.


MaRK sidel has completed two books that will be published in 2009 - Regula-tion of the Voluntary Sector: Freedom and Security in an Era of Uncertainty, to be published by Routledge, and The Constitu-tion of Vietnam: A Contextual Analysis, to be published by Hart (oxford) Publish-ing. He has also completed some work on nonprofit self-regulation, on counter-terrorism and its impact on nonprofits, and on human trafficking that will be out in journals in the U.s. and U.K. this year. He is working on a book on hu-man trafficking. sidel is now serving as President of the International society for third sec-tor Research (IstR), the international academic group supporting research and training on civil society, nonprofits, and philanthropy. He is also serving as Chair of the Nonprofit and Philanthropic Law section of the American Association of Law schools. since mid-2008 Professor sidel has delivered academic presentations at the International society for third sector Research international conference in Barcelona and at the Catholic orga-nization for Relief and Development (Cordaid), the latter in connection with winning the ICNL/Cordaid Civil Liberties Prize; at the Maxwell school for Citizenship and Public Affairs at syracuse on counter-terrorism and civil society and on nonprofit self-regulation; for the United Nations Development Programme and the Ministry of Justice in Vietnam on donor assistance for legal and judicial reform and on civil society participation in lawmaking; in Kiev for the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law conference on teaching and research in nonprofit law; for the National Association of state Charity officials on nonprofit self-regulation in the U.s; and other venues.

Peggie sMith has been named the Murray Family Professor of Law in recognition of her scholarly accom-plishments. she is the lead author of

Principles of Employment Law (West). the book, which is co-authored with R. Gely, A. Hodges, and s. stabile, is scheduled for publication in early March 2009. she also has a forthcoming chapter, �Union Representation of Child Care Workers in the United states,” in Comparative Patriarchy & American Institutions (University de savoie Press). Her article, �the Publicization of Home-Based Care Work in state Labor Law,� was published last summer in the Min-nesota Law Review, 92 Minn. L. Rev. 1390 (2008). Her article, �Aging and Caring in the Home: Regulating Paid Domestic-ity in the twenty-First Century,” 92 Iowa L. Rev. 1837 (2007), was recently listed on ssRN�s top ten download list for �economic Inequality & the Law.� You can view the abstract at the following URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1087691. the article was recently featured on the Direct Care Alliance’s web site at http://directcarealliance.blogspot.com. In March 2008, smith presented a faculty workshop at Chicago-Kent

College of Law on her work examining the employment rights of home care workers. In June 2008, she served as chair and moderator of a panel on Orga-nizing Domestic Labor in the U.S.: From Servants to the Service Industry held in Minneapolis at the 14th Berkshire Con-ference on the History of Women. In september 2008, smith was a presenter at the Northeast People of Color Legal scholarship Conference held at Boston University school of Law. In october 2008, she served as lead panelist for a panel on Women and Care Work as part of a conference on �Women and Work: Choices and Constraints� held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. smith is a member of the execu-tive Board of the employee Rights and employment Policy Journal and she serves on the executive Committee of the AALs section on Labor Relations and employment Law.

alexandeR “sasha” soMeK returned from Berlin in August 2008. He recently co-edited the collected essays of his former teacher Gerhard


Professor adrien wing at the Club de

Madrid event (held November 2008 in

Rotterdam) with President Bill Clinton who was the closing

speaker.

Faculty N o t e s

Luf and presented them at a symposium that was held in Vienna. He recently gave two keynote lectures, one at a conference in Bremen, the other at a conference in Bergen. the first, entitled “Constitution without emancipation”, offered a critical analysis of europe’s constitutional project. the second, entitled “the emancipation of Legal Dissonance”, offered a perspective on the challenges posed for legal science in europe by the case law of the european Court of Justice. He also completed a manuscript in which I discuss the poten-tial pitfalls of the global administrative law project. the title reads “Administra-tion without sovereignty”.

JiM toMKoviCz continued to serve as Chair of the Foundational Provision subcommittee of the Iowa Criminal Code Reorganization Committee. Dur-ing the Fall of 2008, the subcommittee (which consists of Professor tomkovicz, senator Keith Kreiman (’78), Represen-tative Kurt swaim (’75), Assistant Attorney General thomas H. Miller (’75), and County Attorney Jennifer Miller) made considerable progress discussing and formulating proposals on basic criminal law subjects such as actus reus, mens rea, attempt, accomplice lia-bility, conspiracy, and insanity. tomkov-icz is working on a draft chapter on the

Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule for his book Constitutional Exclusion to be published by oxford University Press. He is also drafting an article concerned with the evolution of the rationales for excluding confessions under Miranda v. Arizona and with the implications of changing the justifications for declaring confessions inadmissible. He is also in the last year of terms on the University of Iowa Faculty Council and Faculty senate.

As of the end of Fall semester 2008, Professor BuRns weston completed his four-year service as Visiting Distin-guished Professor of International Law

and Policy at Vermont Law school. However, he will continue his service as Director and senior Researcher of the Climate Legacy Initiative, a joint project of the environmental Law Center of Vermont Law school and the Center for Human Rights of the University of Iowa, made possible by $750,000 in grants that he won for this project in 2006-07.

In May 2009 he was honored by the bestowal of the degree of Honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D) from Vermont Law school.

He has been actively researching and writing, partly in my capacity as Direc-tor and senior Researcher of the Climate Legacy Initiative. His recent scholar-ship includes: “Climate Change and Intergenerational Justice: Foundational Reflections,” in the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law (2008); “Human Rights and Nation-Building in Cross-Cultural settings,” in the Maine Law Review (2008); and “Recalibrating the Law of Humans with the Laws of Na-ture: Climate Change, Human Rights, and Intergenerational Justice” (A Policy Paper of the Climate Legacy Initiative of the environmental Law Center of Vermont Law school and the Center for Human Rights of the University of Iowa, forthcoming in April 2009).


Professor adrien wing with 2009 MLK Week Speaker Marc Moriel.

2008 Archachon Post-program group with Professor wing in Egypt.

Weston also prepared the following “Recommendations” for that CLI Policy Paper:

“Recommendation No. 1: Define and Develop a Law of the ecological Com-mons for Present and Future Genera-tions” (with Carolyn Raffensperger and David Bollier); “Recommendation No. 13A: Adopt Draft UN General As-sembly Declaration on the ecological Rights and Responsibilities of Present and Future Generations” (with Kather-ine L. Moll, Vermont Law school ’09, & suzan M. Pritchett, esq., J.D. the University of Iowa College of Law ’o8); “Recommendation No. 13B: Adopt Draft UN General Assembly Resolu-tion on the Right to a Clean, Healthy, ecologically Balanced, and sustainable environment” (with suzan M. Pritchett, J.D. the University of Iowa College of Law ’08); and “Recommendation No. 13C: Adopt Draft UN General Assem-bly Declaration on the establishment of the Atmosphere as a Global Commons” (with Wan-Chun Dora Wang, J.D. the University of Iowa College of Law ’10, & suzan M. Pritchett, esq., J.D. the University of Iowa College of Law ’08) (April 2009).

He also continues work with Jonathan Carlson and Geoffrey Palmer on the third edition of International Environmental Law and World Order: Problem-Oriented Coursebook, due for publication by thomson-West in Fall 2009 or spring 2010.

Additionally, he continues with the Jonathan Carlson and very able law students his annual update of the multi-volume International Law and World Order: Basic Documents (1994– ), now published by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Finally, and again with the help of some very able law students, Weston continue to research and write the Hu-man Rights Index series, published three times annually in The Iowa Review and, subsequently, on the web site of the UI Center for Human Rights (wwww.uichr.

org), which underwrites the series.Additionally, Weston completed

my two-year term as Counselor to the American society of International Law. He continues to serve as an Honorary Member of the Board of editors of the American Journal of International Law. He also serves as a member of the edito-rial Review Board of the Human Rights Quarterly and of the editorial Board of Human Rights and Human Welfare.

For further information, consult Weston’s personal website at www.burnsweston.com.

adRien wing’s publications include: “Women’s Rights and Africa’s evolv-ing Landscape: Can the Women’s Protocol of the Banjul Charter Make a Contribution?,” in Africa: Mapping New Boundaries in International Law 13 (Jeremy I. Levitt ed., Hart, 2008); “spirit Injury, exile, and the state of Palestine,” in Landscapes of Exile 249 (Anna Haebich & Baden offord eds., Peter Lang Publishers, 2008); “Race Across Boundaries: the south African Constitution Role Models for the U.s.,” 24 Harvard Blackletter J. 73 (2008); “twenty-First Century Loving: Gender equality in the Muslim World,” 76 Fordham Law Review 2895 (2008); and “equality: Facially Neutral Rules that Disparately Impact Protected Classes,” in Comparative Constitutional Law 88 (Mark tushnet & Vikram Amar eds., oxford Press 2008). several of Wing’s ssRN articles have been top ten downloads on various subject matter lists. Additionally, she edited panel proceedings for the “Politics of sudan” panel that she chaired at the American society of International Law (AsIL) annual meeting, and submitted a book chapter on “Founding Moth-ers for a Palestinian Constitution,” in Constituting Equality (susan Williams ed., Cambridge Press 2009). this summer, Wing took a delega-tion of 22 – most of her Arcachon sum-mer abroad program group to egypt for

a tutorial on Law in egypt. the time in-cluded a visit to parliament and a recep-tion hosted by the American embassy. While in egypt, she led a delegation of the American society of International Law that held a historic first meeting with egyptian society of International Law. she is AsIL Vice President. she also visited singapore in her AsIL capacity as well. Wing was a keynote speaker at the Activating Human Rights and Peace conference hosted by southern Cross University in Byron Bay, Australia. she was a panelist on the women’s rights and closing plenary as well. she has been invited back to Australia to deliver the distinguished Kirby lecture, in honor of a member of the Australian supreme Court, retiring Judge Michael Kirby. the topic of her March 2009 lecture is “Global Commitments to Human Rights in National Courts.” Wing also conducted research on women’s issues in New Caledonia, Fiji, tonga, Vanuatu, and tunisia. In November, Wing was an expert at a Global Leadership Forum conference hosted by the Club de Madrid in Rotter-dam, the Netherlands. this organization consists of current and former world leaders. While there, she met various dignitaries including former Us Presi-dent Bill Clinton. In January, Wing was honored by the American Association of Law schools, when she won the Clyde Ferguson Award from the AALs Minor-ity section. the Award is granted to an outstanding law teacher, who in the course of his or her career has achieved excellence in the areas of public service, teaching and scholarship. It is particu-larly aimed at law teachers who have provided support, encouragement, and mentoring to colleagues, students and aspiring legal educators. Additionally, she finished her first year of a two-year term as chair of the AALs Membership Review Committee.


Development

DaviD woulD have

appreciateD how the

Business, law, anD

innovation program

BroaDens the knowleDge

of iowa law stuDents.

it helps them to Be

flexiBle, following

opportunities wherever

they might leaD—just

like DaviD DiD.

Judge Paul e. Hellwege: Adding Value to an Iowa Law educationJUDGe PAUL e. HeLLWeGe (1936 B.A., 1938 J.D.) of Boone, Iowa, knows how devastating it can be for a parent to mourn the loss of their child.

When his son, David Hellwege (1969 B.B.A., 1973 J.D.), died in 2007 at the age of 60, Judge Hellwege said it was even more difficult than losing his wife a year earlier. “Phoebe was 96 years old, and we’d had a long and full life together. When David died, it was the wrong order of things. No father should have to go to his son’s funeral.”

Judge Hellwege, an alumnus and longtime generous supporter of the University of Iowa College of Law, thought that David would have appreciated a memorial gift to the Iowa Law school in his name—and when the college approached him about supporting the Innovation, Business, and Law program, he knew he had found a fitting program to carry on David’s legacy.

Iowa’s Innovation, Business, and Law Program offers intensive courses in anti-trust, corporate and securities law, and intellectual property, striving to integrate in-struction in complex legal disciplines, in sophisticated technologies, and in the eco-nomics of dynamic financial markets. the program brings business leaders, judges, agency personnel, scholars, and others to campus to discuss and debate current issues and to educate students in the many subtle interactions between business and law.

David himself, Judge Hellwege speculated, probably would have enjoyed being a visiting professor (practitioner-in-residence) in this program, considering the nearly seamless way in which business and law interacted in his successful career. that’s why he created the David Hellwege Innovation, Business, and Law Events Fund in 2007—both to pay tribute to his son and to enhance an Iowa Law school program that prepares students for their own successful interdisciplinary careers.

David Hellwege earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at the UI before going on to graduate from the Iowa Law school in 1973. After graduation, he moved to Melbourne, Australia, to teach in the law school at Monash University. In 1980, he was hired by Philip Morris Australia and began working his way up in the company, holding various positions that involved planning, finance, records retention, and tax matters. He returned to the U.s. in 1992 when he was promoted to a stateside position in Rye Brook, New York. When he retired in 2001 and moved to tulsa, oklahoma, he was the assistant controller for Philip Morris International.

“David would have appreciated how the Business, Law, and Innovation program broadens the knowledge of Iowa Law students. It helps them to be flexible, following opportunities wherever they might lead—just like David did,” said Judge Hellwege.

“Neither David nor I were outstanding scholars when we came to the Iowa Law school,” recalls Hellwege, who worked as an attorney in Boone for 27 years, and then as a judge for 27 years before retiring in 1990. “But we both managed to have quite successful careers because of the excellent law education we received at Iowa.”

Because generous alumni like Judge Paul Hellwege continue to provide their sup-port for forward-looking programs like the Innovation, Business, and Law program, the value of an Iowa Law school education only continues to increase.

To learn more about how you can support faculty and students in the UI College of Law, please contact:

Andrew Sheehyexecutive Director of

DevelopmentCollege of Lawthe University of Iowa

FoundationP.o. Box 4550Iowa City, IA 52244-4550(800) 648-6973(319) [email protected]


andrew sheehy, Executive Director of Development, with Molly o’Brien loussaert (’02), Associate Director of Development and Brian Coy, Assistant Director of Development.

Katie Finn Milleman (’05) Memorial scholarship

2008 LuncheonMarilyn Finn and Bryan Coy,

Assistant Director of Development at the Katie Finn Milleman (’05)

Memorial Scholarship Luncheon.


As MANY oF YoU KNoW, Behnaz soulati passed away this past summer after a long battle with cancer. Her family and friends have now established a scholarship at the College of Law with the goal of ensuring that she will continue to be an inspiration and example that dreams, belief, and hard work can overcome any obstacle. We would like to ask all of those who were friends with, or inspired by, Behnaz to consider sup-porting this scholarship as well.

Behnaz’s optimism, diligence and sense of humor in Law school and after were hallmarks of her approach to life; but her most remarkable attribute was her ability to make an opportunity out of adversity. After graduating with distinc-tion, she went to work as a clerk for the Iowa District Court seventh Judicial District. she joined the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines in 2000, and became a shareholder in 2006. she was an active volunteer member of the Polk County Bar Association, the Iowa state Bar Association and a Com-missioner for the Iowa Department for the Blind.

Behnaz was proud of her professional life, but she found her greatest joy in spending time with her family and friends. she and fellow College of Law classmate Jeff Cordts married in 2005, and they enjoyed three years of friends, family and travel.

Behnaz was originally diagnosed with breast cancer in the fall of 2003. An initial round of treatment appeared to have been successful, but in early 2006 it was discovered that the cancer had returned and had spread. During these years of treatment, Behnaz retained her smile and her optimism. Having been selected to receive an award as a YWCA Woman of Achievement this past spring, she took the opportunity to send an important message.

“No matter if you are disabled or face a serious illness or any other challenge in your life, do not ever give up. try to volunteer and give back to your community. You will find it very rewarding, and that satisfaction will help you to move on and overcome any challenges that may be put in your way.”

Cancer may have taken her life on June 9, 2008 but it never took her spirit. Behnaz never gave up.

those who had the privilege to count Behnaz as a close friend have thought long and hard about how best to assure that her optimism and determination continue to make a difference. they could think of no better way than with a scholarship at the College of Law. Behnaz’s family has decided

to work with friends and the Iowa Law school Foundation to endow a permanent Law school scholarship. the annual award will go to a deserving student who is working to over-come a significant challenge to a law career.

to join in supporting these efforts, please make your gift to this permanent reminder of Behnaz’s remarkable ability to turn adversity into opportunity by contacting:

Andrew Sheehyexecutive Director of DevelopmentCollege of Lawthe University of Iowa FoundationP.o. Box 4550Iowa City, IA 52244-4550(800) 648-6973(319) [email protected]

Announcing The Behnaz soulati (’99) Memorial Scholarship

“No matter if you are disabled or face a

serious illness or any other challenge in your life,

do not ever give up.

Try to volunteer and give back to your community.

You will find it very rewarding, and that satisfaction

will help you to move on and overcome any challenges

that may be put in your way.”

Development


Alumni H I G H L I G H t s

WHeN BoB KeItH was a third-year law student at Iowa in 1974, he wrote a thesis for Arthur Bonfield’s civil liberties seminar about the newly emerging legal rights of unwed fathers.

He had no idea at the time that the paper would be the first step of a long career in family law that would take him to Washington, D.C., where he now works as Chief Counsel for the Children, Families and Aging Division of the office of the General Counsel at the Department of Health and Human services.

“I give Arthur the credit for this,” said Keith. “He’s the one who encour-aged me to consider a career in public service.”

In his position, Keith and 11 staff at-torneys provide counsel to the Adminis-tration for Children and Families which administers a $46 billion budget in grant programs and contracts that help families. the agency has dozens of pro-grams including Head start, temporary Assistance for Needy Families (welfare), Child support enforcement and Foster Care and Adoption Assistance, as well as many smaller programs, like those that assist in refugee resettlement, disability assistance, runaway youth, and respon-sible fatherhood.

“Anything you can imagine that has to do with families, other than health care” said Keith, a native of Rockwell City.

His position is the latest family law stop that began with his first job out of law school, as an assistant attorney general in the Iowa Attorney General’s office, where he prosecuted deadbeat parents and pursued other family law cases in northeast Iowa.

one highlight, early in his career, was briefing and arguing the landmark case Larsen v. Scholl, 296 N.W.2d 785 (Iowa 1980) before the Iowa supreme Court. testing the boundaries of long-arm jurisdiction, Keith succeeded in convinc-ing the Court that a Nebraska man, who arguably had fathered a child while dat-ing a woman in Iowa, could be required to defend the paternity suit in this state. At the time it was the norm to require the woman to bring her case in the state where the man lived, and it was very dif-ficult and often impossible to establish paternity under those circumstances.

the case, Keith noted, is still cited frequently in court opinions, law review articles, and mentioned in text books nearly 30 years later.

the seven years he spent in the Iowa AG’s office were a good start in the field and helped his career in the federal government by giving him a solid foundation in litigation, as well as a real empathy for the individuals served by these huge national programs.

“Iowa has always been a trendsetter in family law, and I brought a lot of good ideas with me when I moved to Wash-ington,” said Keith, who’s worked in HHs since 1982.

Recently, Keith was a member of the U.s. delegation to the Hague and helped with negotiations for a Con-vention on the International Recovery of Child support and other Forms of Family Maintenance. He also served on the drafting committee for the new international agreement that will facili-tate countries’ efforts to recover child support obligations across international lines, and will make it much more dif-ficult for parents to skip-out on their child support obligations by moving to another country.

He made a dozen trips to the Hague between 2003 and 2007, which resulted in finalization of the new Convention last November after it was approved by more than 60 participating countries.

Keith has also been active in working with the Uniform Law Conference to revise interstate procedures in this coun-try by early 2009 to enable the United states to ratify the Convention.

“the agreement requires that signa-tory countries enforce child support

bob keith ( ’74)

Alumni in the Capitol

Recently, Keith was a member

of the U.S. delegation to The

Hague and helped with nego-

tiations for a Convention on

the International Recovery of

Child Support and other Forms

of Family Maintenance.




MARGARet toBeY hopes not to deal with the f-bomb so much during the next four years. As vice president of regulatory affairs for NBC Universal, tobey has defended her client and the broadcast industry in general against the FCC’s high-profile zeal in recent years in punishing broad-casters for what it considers broadcast indecency. As an advocate for NBC, first as outside counsel and then as VP since 2007, much of tobey’s efforts have been directed at defending the company against the FCC’s protean indecency policy.

But the Washington, D.C.-based tobey is confident Barack obama’s FCC will have higher priorities than dirty words.

“President-elect obama was a con-stitutional lawyer and law professor, which makes me think he has a healthy respect for the First Amendment and will encourage the FCC to pursue goals other than content regulation,” said tobey.

He is not lacking for other goals to pursue, she said. Completing the 2009 transition to all digital transmission of tV signals required lots of time and attention. And if making tV more family-safe is a goal, she said there are techniques more friendly to the consti-tution than the heavy-handed efforts of the past few years.

“there could be more emphasis on the use of parental controls and other tools that families can use to monitor or block children’s access to tV, the Inter-net, or any other media platform,” she said, citing the v-chip in tV receivers, cable and satellite blocking technologies and the content filters that most Internet service providers offer. “We have the technology, let’s educate people in how to use it and make it better.”

tobey has worked in communica-tions law since she got her first job at a Washington, D.C. law firm in 1981 and was assigned to one of the monumental cases in communications law history—the break-up of At&t. Her firm repre-sented sprint, one of the long-distance carriers that successfully challenged Ma Bell’s monopoly.

“I found I loved communications law and ultimately developed a special fondness for broadcast,” said tobey, who has since worked at several D.C. firms as a communications law specialist before joining NBC.

tobey’s introduction to law came after she had received her undergradu-ate degree in anthropology from the University of Iowa and was studying for her Master’s degree in the same field. Because much of her work in anthropol-ogy involved Native American culture, she took Robert Clinton’s Indian law seminar in the law school as an interdis-ciplinary elective.

“It was great,” she said. “I realized I liked legal analysis and the socratic Method. It was so much different from what I had experienced in the humanities.”

After graduating from the law school in 1980, she’d planned to pursue a career in Indian law, but none of her job oppor-tunities panned out. But an even better opportunity was presented to her— a clerkship with Judge Roger Robb of the U.s. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. this came after Profes-sor Randall Bezanson—a former Robb clerk himself—put in a good word for her.

margaret tobey (’80)

orders of another country, if the order conforms to their own legal framework,” he said. “If they can’t enforce an order, or there is no existing order, then the second country will take steps, without charge, to issue a new child support order.”

Now, with a new president com-ing to office, Keith’s most pressing job will be to ease the transition from one Administration to the next and show a new group of political appointees how the Department of HHs is run. He’s not worried. He’s done it three times before and is used to the routine.

“Political appointees are like law students in a way,” he said. “they come in wide-eyed, optimistic and eager to change the world, and possibly just a little naïve. If takes awhile to figure-out how the system really works, but after a few years they leave office much wiser and generally have accomplished some-thing significant.”

Tobey has worked in com-

munications law since she got

her first job at a Washington,

D.C. law firm in 1981 and

was assigned to one of the

monumental cases in com-

munications law history—the

break-up of AT&T. Her firm

represented Sprint, one of the

long-distance carriers that suc-

cessfully challenged Ma Bell’s

monopoly.


that led to an offer of a clerkship with supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun—another former Bezanson employer—but which she was unable to complete because she became pregnant. “I didn’t think it would be fair to Justice Blackmun to keep the position because I knew I wouldn’t be able to give it my full attention,” she said. “But by then, I was —like many other judicial clerks—afflicted with ‘Potomac Fever’ and determined to stay in D.C.”

tobey’s work as NBC’s regulatory affairs vice president brings her into con-tact with many federal agencies besides the FCC, including the FtC, FDA and the Copyright office. she hopes for a clearer rule-making philosophy under a new president.

“President-elect obama and his tran-sition team have been very disciplined, and we’re hoping that discipline leads to the development of a consistent policy framework that will be carried out in all of the administration’s rule-making functions,” she said.

since November 4, she said excite-ment has been the overriding feeling in Washington.

“People have been really pumped up in Washington, and it’s persisted a long time,” she said. “We always look forward to change. It’s energizing, it’s good for the city, and it’s good for our practices.”

MARK WetJeN had front row seats to two momentous events in 2008.

As a senior aide to sen. Harry Reid, Wetjen had an inside view as Barack obama was elected America’s first African-American president and the Democrats expanded their control of Congress in the fall elections.

And as Reid’s aide on financial servic-es matters, Wetjen was partly responsible for Washington’s response to the massive collapse of Bear stearns, Merrill Lynch

mark wetjen (’99)

In lATe SepTeMBeR 2008, with financial institutions failing and markets in collapse, the Bush Administration proposed bailing out failing banks in an effort to restore confidence to the financial system and economy. The Treasury Department sent to Congress a 3-page bill requesting $700 billion for a taxpayer bailout of the banks. Immediately, negotiations began in the halls of the Capitol.

Among those involved in the talks was Mark Wetjen ’99, an aide to Senate Majority leader Harry Reid on financial institutions.

The two most contentious issues were what to do about executive pay and how to disburse the money. Treasury wanted it all up front. Some of the member-level meetings were incredibly dramatic. Tempers rose, as did voices. The stakes were very high, particularly because the election was the backdrop and the two candidates would have to vote on the measure.

On Sept. 25, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain suspended his campaign to return to Washington to help the proposal. Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, also returned to the Capitol.

We knew that what we were working on would have an impact on the election, but it wasn’t clear how things would shake out. I remember the exact moment when Sen. McCain announced he would suspend his campaign to return to Washington to work on the rescue bill, and thought, “how in the hell is this going to play out?” For a variety of reasons, I knew McCain would not have a substantive impact on the negotiations, but outside D.C. it wasn’t clear how the public would react to his announcement.

The Senate continued to work on the bill, even after the House of Representatives voted it down Oct. 2. negotiations continued between Congress and the White HouseThe night the negotiations wrapped up was a Saturday (Oct. 4). We were all in the Speaker’s office, including Treasury Secretary Henry paulson and several senators and congressional representatives. Sen. Reid called me at 11pm that night and said he was com-ing back down to the Capitol. An hour or so after he arrived, the deal was struck. Members and paulson and his team were shuttling between conference rooms, negotiating on specif-ics. They went to the cameras outside the Speaker’s office after midnight. The next week, we were watching the roll call vote in the House and the stock market dive at the same time. Two days later, Obama and McCain returned for the vote in the Sen-ate. The gallery was packed with observers and press, the inside wall of the Senate chamber was lined with staff. I’ve never seen the chamber that full. everyone could feel the weight of the moment. The rescue bill appears to have helped some -- credit markets have normalized since late September but remain very fragile. Serious economic challenges remain that president-elect Obama and Congress will have to confront, including mounting job losses, the unstable auto sector, home foreclosures and energy security to name just a few.

and other banks during the year.“I attended all member meetings

where staff was allowed, represent-ing sen. Reid,” Wetjen said. “Most of the negotiation about the language of the bill itself was done between staff, and I was part of those discussions, as well. Congress took the proposal presented by the treasury Depart-

ment and revised it by adding taxpayer protections, executive pay standards and oversight mechanisms.

“It was an extraordinary experience, to say the least,” he said (see sidebar).

After graduating from the Iowa law school, the Dubuque native worked in private practice firms in san Diego and Reno before Reid hired him as an aide in



october 2004. He arrived in Washing-ton a month later, just after the election, when the Democrats promoted Reid to lead their party.

Wetjen had an interest in politics during law school, and for a summer he worked for Mari Culver and volunteered to help her husband, Chet, run for Iowa secretary of state. still, going to work for the senate minority leader was an eye-opening experience.

“I didn’t fully realize it at the time, but becoming leader is a really big deal,” he said. “As the minority leader, you set the agenda for the whole caucus, and later, after he became majority leader, for the entire senate.”

As the majority leader’s financial services aide, Wetjen works with the chamber’s various committees—particu-


larly the Banking Committee—and the senate floor staff to develop new policy and legislation, and to shepherd it through.

“I work with the committees to facilitate policy, and I work as a prob-lem-solver,” he said. “I try to find ways to help sen. Reid make the trains run inside the building, so to speak. We become really involved when legislation has advanced to the senate floor.”

Wetjen said his law school experience has shaped his career, and is in some ways responsible for his job in Reid’s office.

“I enjoyed my constitutional law classes, and when I worked in private practice, I kept looking for ways to deal with constitutional issues,” he said. “since those issues come up frequently in the public sector, it made sense I would go there eventually.”

He also remembers some uncom-fortable meetings with Professor Jon Carlson.

“When I was interning for a judge, he offered criticism in how to improve my papers, and it was some tough medicine sometimes, but it helped to guide me professionally,” he said. “one of the things he said was to leave time to review something I’ve written before sending it out the door, and that’s advice I’ve called upon frequently.”

Now, with a new Democratic administration taking over, Wetjen said he expects to be even busier.

“With obama elected, senator Reid’s office is where much of the action’s going to be,” he said.

Mark wetjen (’99) looks on as Senator harry Reid, the majority leader with his colleagues Richard J. durbin, left, Patty Murray and Charles e. schumer.

Dou

g M

ills/

The

New

Yor

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mes

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ux


WHeN BARACK oBAMA and other Democrats swept to victory last fall, many observers credited the win to the party’s so-called “50 state strategy,” which gave the party for the first time a robust presence in even the reddest states.Among those who developed and imple-mented the strategy was the Democratic National Comimttee’s executive director, tom McMahon, a 2002 law school graduate.“We realized that if we were going to win national elections, we needed to be a national party and not just a regional party that ceded large regions of the country to the Republicans,” said Mc-Mahon.

McMahon and Howard Dean, the former presidential candidate, started to put the strategy into place when Dean became chairman of the DNC in 2004. It bore its first fruit when Democrats took control of Congress in 2006.

the strategy forced Republicans to invest resources in reliably red states, hindering their efforts to concentrate those resources in a handful of states like they had done in previous elections.

McMahon said some worried early on that the strategy would harm Demo-crats by taking resources away from competitive races and making invest-ments in areas where the party has not had recent success. But it proved success-ful in the end. the Democrats followed up on their 2006 success in 2008 by winning most of the important toss-up states like Pennsylvania, ohio and New Hampshire, and even picked off red states like Virginia, Indiana, and North Carolina, places that hadn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in generations. Altogether, Democrats won nine states that President Bush carried in 2004. on election Night, when McMahon joined obama and other top Democrats in Chicago, he was cautiously hopeful the work would pay off.

“You always believe that you are going to win, but I’m one of those people who remains worried until the results are final,” he said. “It turned out to be a great night both for our party and our country.” For McMahon, the night-long lake-side fete was pay off for 20 years of work in the Democratic Party. the omaha native started as a volunteer for the Dick Gephardt campaign in the Iowa caucuses in 1988, when he was an undergradu-ate at the University of Nebraska. After graduating, he went to work for the Clinton Administration, working in both the Department of Defense and the office of the Vice President. He finally fulfilled a long-delayed goal of attending law school in 1999 by coming to Iowa. still, he couldn’t stay away from politics, occasionally traveling to Washington, D.C. and helping Al Gore’s campaign throughout 2000.

“Law school was helpful because legal work makes you a lot more focused and disciplined, and it shows you how to use your legal education in public service,” he said.

He graduated in 2002 and started working for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign in 2003. one of his tasks with Dean was using technology to develop new ways to reach voters, raise money and get the message out. Although the campaign screamed itself out on caucus night, the technology initiative proved to be hugely successful and lived on when Dean and McMahon brought it with them to the DNC in 2004, when Dean became DNC chairman.

Using the Dean technology strategy as a template, McMahon implemented a system unrivaled in modern cam-paigns. Using such modern tools as Facebook and twitter and BlackBerrys (as well as such “old” technologies as e-mail), the DNC built a database of millions of people who would support, campaign for, donate to and ultimately vote for obama and other Democratic candidates.

tom mcmahon (’02)

the use of technology was noted especially for reaching young, techno-savvy voters and bringing them to the party.

“We used technology in a way that allowed young voters to be empowered and to get involved in the election,” McMahon said. “Now, we can use that infrastructure to allow government to communicate directly with voters more efficiently and cost-effectively, and allow citizens to communicate more directly with legislators and other government leaders.”

With a new president in place, Dean and McMahon will leave the DNC so obama can appoint his people to the position. that’s fine with McMahon.

“I’m going to take some time off,” he said.

He graduated in 2002 and

started working for Howard

Dean’s presidential campaign

in 2003. One of his tasks with

Dean was using technology

to develop new ways to reach

voters, raise money and get

the message out. . . the tech-

nology initiative proved to be

hugely successful and lived

on when Dean and McMahon

brought it with them to the

DnC in 2004, when Dean

became DnC chairman.


Dean Emeritus Bill hines with Tippie Dean Curt hunter.

Dean Emeritus Bill hines with don (’69) and Jeananne schild.

outback Bowl Reception


2009 Alumni Achievement Award Recipient, John wicks (’64), accepted

the award at the Phoenix reception.


College of law alumni awards Program BegInnIng In 2009, the College of law launched an alumni awards program to recognize alumni achievements. Awards will be presented in three different categories: 1) Recent Alumni Award; 2) Alumni Achievement Award; and 3) Alumni Service Award.

• Recent alumni award – granted to alumni of the College of law within the first ten years of their graduation from law school for significant achievements in their area of practice or in their service to the college, community, state or nation.

• alumni achievement award – granted to alumni of the College of law for significant accomplishments in their law careers.

• alumni service award – granted to alumni of the College of law for significant accomplishments to the university, community, state, or nation.

2009 alumni awards Recipients

• Recent alumni award - Behnaz Soulati (Class of 1999)

• alumni achievement awards - John Wicks, Sr. (Class of 1964)

• alumni service award - Rob Youle (Class of 1976)

nominationsAnyone can make a nomination. nominations for the 2010 awards are due november 15, 2009. nomination letters should include the category of the nomination and specify the qualifications of the nominee. Additional information such as letters of support, press releases about the nominee, and the nominee’s résumé are helpful to the Awards Committee. please send nominations to: Jill De Young, Director of external Relations, The University of Iowa College of law, 299C Boyd law Building, Iowa City, IA 52242.

2009 Recent Alumni Recipient Behnaz Soulati’s parents, Firooz and Mihan soulati, and husband, Jeff Cordts (’99), accepted the award from Dean Jones.

2009 Alumni Service Award Recipient, Rob youle (’76) with nominator gary streit (’75).


Alumni N o t e s


1950s 1958 donald J.

BRown, West Des Moines, Iowa, has been honored by the Davis Brown Law Firm with four other University of Iowa College of Law graduates for 218 combined years of service to the firm. Mr. Brown has been with the firm for 46 years.

1959 diCK Canady, san Francisco, California, for the third consecutive year, was named one of the nation’s top 10 mergers and acquisitions at-torneys by United States Lawyer Rank-ings. Also noteworthy, Mr. Canady ran and finished his fourth Boston Marathon on April 21, 2008.

1960s 1962 RoBeRt

a. gaMBle, Des Moines, Iowa, has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® 2007. He is a shareholder of the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines, Iowa, practicing in the Business Division.

1962 Judge thoMas KoehleR, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a sixth Judicial District Court Judge received the 2008 Iowa Association for Justice Judicial Achievement Award. the Award is given in recognition of a judicial career distinguished by hard work, common sense and empathy for those who seek justice in the courts.

1963 williaM J. Koehn, Pacific City, oregon, has been honored by the Davis Brown Law Firm with four other Uni-versity of Iowa College of Law graduates for 218 combined years of service to the firm. Mr. Koehn has been with the firm for 45 years.

1964 e. MiKe CaRR, Manchester, Iowa, practices law with his two sons John Carr (’97) and steve Carr in Manchester, Iowa, in what is believed to be the oldest continuous bloodline law firm in the state of Iowa. Mike Carr’s grandfather, e.M. Carr (1872) started the firm in 1872, which was continued by Mike Carr’s father Hu-bert Carr. Mike Carr joined his father in the practice in 1964 followed by John Carr in 1997 and steve Carr in 2001.

1964 John d. shoRs, Des Moines, Iowa, has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® 2007 and by Chambers USA 2008 as senior states-man in Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions. He is a shareholder of the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines, Iowa, practicing in the Busi-ness Division. Additionally, he has been honored by the Davis Brown Law Firm with four other University of Iowa College of Law graduates for 218 combined years of service to the firm. Mr. shors has been with the firm for 44 years.

1966 williaM R. King, Des Moines, Iowa, has been honored by the Davis Brown Law Firm with four other University of Iowa College of Law graduates for 218 combined years of service to the firm. Mr. King has been with the firm for 42 years.

1967 ChaRles h. diCK JR., La Jolla, California, has been named the Chair of the North American Litigation Practice Group of Baker & McKen-zie, LLP.

1967 RoBeRt F. holz, Des Moines, Iowa, has been rec-ognized by Best Lawyers in America® 2007. He is a share-holder of the Davis Brown Law Firm, practicing in the Business Division. Additionally, he has been honored by the Davis Brown Law Firm with four other University of Iowa College of Law graduates for 218 combined years of service to the firm. Mr. Holz has been with the firm for 41 years.

1968 laRRy J. MaRtin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2009.

Mr. Martin works at Quarles & Brady LLP in energy law.


1969 Randall P. BoRCheRding, san Francisco, California, recently retired from the California Attorney General’s office after 36 years. He held the position of supervising Deputy Attorney General, Business and tax section, Civil Division, san Francisco.

1969 RogeR MCCaBe, Beaumont, texas, was selected to serve as the District Governor for Rotary District 5910 for the term July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009. the District contains 42 Rotary Clubs and 2700 Rotarians. When Roger is not volunteering his time for Rotary, he will continue to practice civil trial and family law with MehaffyWeber in Beaumont, texas.

1970s 1970 alFRedo PaRRish, Des Moines,

Iowa, was selected by the Iowa Asso-ciation of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Drake University Law school to receive the John Adams Award for 2008 in honor of a career of service to the Constitution of the United states. Prior recipients have included Chief Justice Louis Lavorato, Ray Rosenberg and John Wellman.

1971 Judge Jon C. FisteR, Waterloo, Iowa, has been named the new chief judge of Iowa’s First Judicial District. He succeeds Judge Alan L. Pearson who retired. Mr. Fister was appointed to the bench in 1993 after practicing law in Black Hawk County for more than 20 years and teaching at Iowa Western Community College.

1971 Jonathan C. wilson, Des Moines, Iowa, has been rec-ognized by Best Lawyers in America® 2007. He is a shareholder of the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines, Iowa, practicing in the Business Division.

1976 CaRRoll ReasoneR, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was selected by Gov-ernor Chet Culver and Lt. Governor Patty Judge to be a member of the Rebuild Iowa Advisory Commis-sion. Additionally, she is serving as the University of Iowa as Interim Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel.

1977 MiChael s. MCCauley, Milwaukee, Wis-consin, has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2009. Mr. McCauley

works at Quarles & Brady LLP in environmental law.

1977 david sallen, Fort Madison, Iowa, recently retired after serving 20 years as a councilman on the Fort Madison, Iowa City Council, the most years ever served on the Council. He won seven consecutive city elections and on occasion served as Mayor Pro Tem.

1977 david B. vansiCKel, Des Moines, Iowa, has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® 2007. He is a shareholder of the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines, Iowa, practicing in the Business Divi-sion.

1978 CRaig CuRRie, st. Paul, Min-nesota, has been appointed to the Governing Board of the Cedar Riv-erside People’s Center (‘CRPC’). the CRPC Board is responsible for policy decisions and oversight of the organi-zation’s operations and finances. Mr. Currie recently retired as a partner in the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney. He has been an active member of the American Bar Associations and of the Minnesota and Ramsey County Bar Associations.

1979 steve diCKinson, Cumming, Iowa, has been elected to Fredrikson & Byron’s Board of Directors. Mr. Dickinson represents clients in both domestic and international busi-ness transactions including mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, private placements, venture capital and private equity investments, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and dis-tribution arrangements, and provides business and strategic counsel to a variety of companies. He oversees Fredrikson’s Iowa office and has practiced law in Iowa for more than 25 years. In addition, Mr. Dickinson has been a member of the section Council of the Business Law section of the Iowa state Bar Association since 2005.

1979 gene R. lasueR, Des Moines, Iowa, has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® 2007 and by Chambers USA 2008 as Band 2 in Labor and employment Law. He is a shareholder of the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines, Iowa, practicing in the Business Division.

Alumni N o t e s


1979 MaRgaRet van houten, Des Moines, Iowa, has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® 2007. she is a shareholder of the Davis Brown Law Firm, practicing in the Business Division.

1980s 1980 elizaBeth a. oReluP, Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2009. Ms. orelup

works at Quarles & Brady LLP in corporate law.

1980 Judge annette J. sCieszin-sKi, Albia, Iowa, has been elected to the governing board of the National Conference of state trial Judges to represent District 6 (Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and south Dakota), 2007-09.

1980 deBoRah thaRnish, Des Moines, Iowa, has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® 2007 and by Chambers USA 2008 as Band 1 in General Commercial Litigation and Band 2 in Labor and employment Law. she is a shareholder of the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines, Iowa, practicing in the Litigation Division.

1981 Joan u. axel, Muscatine, Iowa, was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame Class of 2008 by the Iowa Commission on the status of Women at the state Historical Build-ing in Des Moines.

1981 Julie Johnson MClean, Des Moines, Iowa, has become AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell®. she is a shareholder in the David Brown Law Firm in Des Moines, Iowa. she practices primarily in Banking, Bank-ruptcy, Business organizations, and Mergers and Acquisitions.

1981 sCott P. stolley, Dallas, texas, has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2009. scott P. stolley does appellate law at the law firm of thompson & Knight LLP in their Dallas office.

1982 RoBeRt douglas JR., Des Moines, Iowa, has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® 2007 and by Chambers USA 2008 as Band 2 in Real estate Law. He is a shareholder of the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines, Iowa, practicing in the Real estate Division.

1982 Kent heRinK, Des Moines, Iowa, has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® 2007. He is a shareholder of the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines, Iowa, practicing in the Business Divi-sion.

1982 PatRiCK d. walsh, Bayside, Wisconsin, has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2009. Mr. Walsh

works at Quarles & Brady LLP in project finance law.

1983 gRaCe Cowan, Park Ridge, Illinois, has joined Conseco, Inc. as senior vice president of operations. Her responsibilities at Conseco will include policy holder service, claims, consumer relations, and output and records management. Prior to joining Conseco she served as senior vice president and national director of Aon Consulting’s life, disability and elective benefits practice.

1983 eveadean MyeRs, Fargo, North Dakota, has been named vice president of a newly established division of equity, diversity and glob-

al outreach at North Dakota state University. Prior to accepting this position Ms. Myers was employed as the associate director of Affirma-tive Action/equal opportunity and Diversity at Iowa state University for 10 years.

1983 PaMela M. oveRton, Para-dise Valley, Arizona, was selected as Arizona Woman of the Year in the magazine Arizona Women and was featured in the June 2008 issue (Vol 23, Issue 03).

1983 MaRK d. walz, Des Moines, Iowa, has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® 2007. He is a shareholder of the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines, Iowa, practicing in the Business Division.


1984 sean MCPaRtland, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been appointed by Governor Chet Culver as a district court judge for Iowa Judicial District 6. Prior to this appointment, Mr. McPartland was an attorney with Lynch Dallas of Cedar Rapids.

1984 Kevin M. RoBinson, oak Park, Illinois, was appointed as Chief Legal officer of Claymore Funds. He is senior Managing Director, General Counsel and Corporate secretary of Claymore and oversees the firm’s legal, compliance and governance ef-forts. He was most recently at NYse euronext, Inc., where he served as Associate General Counsel for its Corporate Practice Group. He previ-ously worked at ABN Amro Inc., where he was responsible for corpo-rate and regulatory matters, and he served as senior Counsel in the enforcement Division of the U.s. securities and exchange Commission.

1985 gReg BRuCh, Washington, D.C., has joined Willkie Farr & Gallagher as a Partner doing litiga-tion for its Washington D.C. office. Prior to joining the firm, he was with Foley & Lardner.

1985 sCott siMMeR, Washington, D.C. has joined Blank Rome LLP as a Partner in the health law group, and will also practice in the commercial litigation group. Mr. simmer brings 18 years of experience in the health care field, with a focus on obtaining substantial recoveries for clients by identifying, investigating, and litigat-ing a wide range of fraudulent and abusive practices by major providers of health care-related products and services. He will be based in Blank Rome’s Washington, D.C. office. Prior to joining Blank Rome LLP, he worked at Robins, Kaplan, Miller &

Ciresi LLP, where he was head of the health care litigation practice.

1985 heidi MCneil staudenMaieR, Phoenix, has been named one of the Best Lawyers in America® 2009.

1987 aaRon F. BiBeR, Minne-apolis, Min-nesota, has been elected to serve as 2008-09 secretary of the Minnesota state Bar Associa-tion. Following his term as secretary, Biber will serve as treasurer (2009-10), present-elect (2010-11), and president of the Minnesota state Bar Association from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. Mr. Biber is a principal at Gary Plant Mooty where he is a member of the Litigation practice group and co-chair of the Antitrust & trade Regulation team. He served as president of the Hennepin County Bar Assocation (1998-99) and, since 2002, has served as a delegate to the American Bar Association House of Delegates.

1987 JaCKson sChMidt, seattle, Washington, has been elected to his fourth term as Council Chair of the Pike Place Market Public Develop-ment Authority, the public entity that owns and operates the Pike Place Market in downtown seattle, where he continues to practice law.

1989 williaM a. BoatwRight, Des Moines, Iowa, has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® 2007. He is a shareholder of the Davis Brown law Firm in Des Moines, Iowa, practicing in the Business Division.

1989 thoMas J. houseR, Des Moines, Iowa, has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® 2007. He is a shareholder of the Davis Brown Law Firm, practicing in the Business Division.

1989 Molly o’MeaRa sChnell, Davenport, Iowa, has opened a new law firm, schnell & Hancock, P.C. in Davenport with fellow alumnus, Melissa A. Hancock (’02). the firms focus is on corporate matters, real estate, taxes, probate, trusts and estate planning.

1990s 1990 FRanKlin

J. FeilMeyeR, Ames, Iowa, has joined Pasley and singer Law Firm, LLP, as a partner. Feilmeyer’s prac-tice is concentrated in the areas of estate planning, probate, business, taxation, and municipal law. Feilmey-er was a managing editor of the Iowa Law Review, law clerk to Judge Dick schlegel of the Iowa Court of Appeals, member of the Iowa second District Judicial Nominating Commission, and past president of the story County Bar Association. He has practiced law in Ames since 1991. He is the city attorney for Gilbert, slater, and Zearing. He is the immediate past president of the Iowa Municipal Attorneys Association.

Alumni N o t e s


1990 teRRy a. Fox, Chicago, Illinois, has joined smithAmundsen LLC in their Chicago and st. Charles offices as a partner in the Insurance services and employment Practice Groups. His concentration is in tort and em-ployment related litigation.

1990 JosePh PiCKaRt, Wauwa-tosa, Wisconsin, has been named by Wisconsin Super Lawyers® magazine as top attorneys in Wisconsin for 2008. Mr. Pickart practices at Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek s.C.

1990 MiChael shuBatt, Dubuque, Iowa, has been appointed by Gov-ernor Chet Culver as a judge to the Iowa Judicial District 1A.

1991 david Benson, Kansas City, Missouri, has joined session Law Firm, which offers its clients solu-tions in the practice of environmental law. Mr. Benson has worked with a cross-section of environmental statutes, Comprehensive envi-ronmental Response Compensa-tion and Liability Act (CeRCLA) cleanups and cost recovery actions, and conducting environmental due diligence for real estate transactions. He also has experience in the area of government contracting and contract claims litigation, and maintains an active interest in the emerging area of climate change.

1991 JeFF loRengeR, Iowa City, Iowa, has been appointed as President of Allsteel Inc. Mr. Lorenger joined HNI Corporation in 1998 and has since held multiple executive level positions, including Vice President, sales and Marketing for the HoN Company, Vice President, General Counsel and secretary for HNI Cor-poration, and Vice President, seating for Allsteel.

1993 eRiC K. FisheR, Chicago, Illinois, is In-House Counsel for the Inter-national Brotherhood of teamsters, Local 705 in Chicago and litigates all arbitrations on behalf of the Lo-cal, which consists of approximately 23000 members who work primarily in the package car, freight, railroad, moving and transportation industries.

1994 Kevin tiMMeRMan, Dubuque, Iowa, President and Co-owner of steele Capital Management, Inc., has been recognized by Barron’s at number 14 as one of the top 100 Independent Financial Advisers in the country. Based out of Dubuque, Iowa, steele Capital Management is a Registered Investment Adviser cur-rently managing over $850 million for both individuals and company sponsored retirement plans.

1995 aMit B. shah, st. Louis, Missouri, has been selected by Missouri Lawyers Weekly as one of Missouri’s “rising stars” and recog-nized in the publication’s 2008 “Up and Coming Lawyers” list. the 11th annual “Up and Coming Lawyers” issue honored 48 attorneys, who were chosen based on their career achieve-ments and dedication to improving the community. He is a member of Armstrong teasdale LLP’s Busi-ness services Department, where he focuses his practice in the areas of general corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, and real estate. He co-founded the firm’s Diversity Com-mittee and as a result of his efforts in leading the Diversity Committee, a recent National Association of Law Placement (NALP) study indicates that Armstrong ranks third among st. Louis and Kansas City law firms in percentage of minority attorneys.

1996 MaRy howell-siRna, story City, Iowa, was presented with the staff Attorney Award of Merit, an award given out once yearly by the Iowa County Attorney’s Association to “an experienced assistant county attorney who has a distinguished record of accomplishment, dedication and service to the association, his or her community and to the public.” Ms. Howell-sirna started with the story County Attorney’s office in 1999 and later became first assistant to County Attorney stephen Holmes, who nominated her for the award. At story County, Ms. Howell-sirna has specialized in prosecuting child abuse and sexual assault cases. Prior to joining the story County Attorney’s office she also served as a law clerk to District Court Judge Robert W. Pratt prosecuting domestic abuse cases.

1997 Keith saundeRs, Waukee, Iowa, has accepted a position as Board of Regent liaison for the University of Iowa, after 12 years representing University of Northern Iowa in the same position.

1997 tiM seMelRoth, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, from Riccolo & semelroth in Cedar Rapids, was installed as President for the Iowa Association for Justice for 2008-09.

1998 nathan d. KoCh, Iowa City, Iowa, was named president of Ameri-can Bank and trust Company, N.A., and elected as a director of AmBank Holdings, Inc. AmBank Holdings, Inc. is the parent company of Ameri-can Bank and trust Company, N.A., a $670 million, full-service commer-cial bank with 14 bank locations in Coralville, Iowa City, the Quad Cit-

Brian hook (’99) is sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State in October 2008 by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.


ies and Kane County Illinois. He was also selected by the Corridor Business Journal for its Forty Under 40 Award in 2008.

1998 Jenny sChulz, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been selected by the Cor-ridor Business Journal for its Forty Under 40 Award in 2008. the Award winners are selected by an indepen-dent panel of judges from nomina-tions submitted by readers, and are recognized for their professional suc-cess and community involvement.

1999 MiChael dunning, olympia, Washington, has been named out-standing employee for 2007 by the Washington state Attorney General’s offices. He is an Assistant Attorney General in the office where he serves as the section Chief of the Hazard-ous Waste Cleanup & Management section.

1999 Bassel el-KasaBy, omaha, Nebraska, received the Roger Bald-win Civil Libertarian of the Year Award from the ACLU Nebraska in April 2008. He is a partner in the law firm el-Kasaby & Nicholls.

1999 Jesse z. weiss, Austin, texas, has been promoted to partnership at Akin Gump strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. He practices securities litigation.

2000s 2000 CRaig Can-

non, Raleigh/Winston-salem, North Caroina, has won the American Bar Association’s 2008 Pro Bono Publico Award. the Pro Bono Publico Award is the ABA’s highest national honor for pro bono service. throughout his career at Womble Carlyle, Mr. Cannon has demonstrated a dedication to the de-velopment of innovative approaches to the delivery of voluntary legal ser-vices. since 2006, he has served as the National Coordinator of the ABA’s Disaster Legal services Program. In this capacity, he oversees efforts to provide legal assistance to disaster victims throughout the United states. During the last three years, more

than 75,000 victims have received pro bono legal assistance through the program. In addition, he spearheaded the effort to create a pro bono project that would not only take steps toward meeting military veterans’ need for legal assistance in applying for service-connected disability benefits, but also serve as a national template for the delivery of legal assistance to veterans in need. He worked with the firm’s Pro Bono Committee for several years to plan the project he would name “When Duty Calls.” since its rollout in May 2007, more than 200 veterans have received assistance, with more clinics scheduled in 2008 and beyond. the When Duty Calls model has now been replicated by other firms in Washington, DC, and New York City.

2000 Jason zaBoKRtsKy, ely, Minnesota, has started a business guiding canoe trips in the world famous Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota. It is called Boundary Waters Guide service. For more information see: www.Bound-aryWatersGuideservice.com.

2002 Melissa a. hanCoCK, Davenport, Iowa, has opened a new law firm, schnell & Hancock, P.C. in Davenport with fellow alumnus, Molly o’Meara schnell (’89). the firms focus is on corporate matters, real estate, taxes, probate, trusts and estate planning.

2002 RaChel ziMMeRMann sMith, Iowa City, has joined the Iowa City law firm of Phelan, tucker, Mullen, Walker, tucker & Gelman, LLP as an associate.

Alumni N o t e s


2003 steFanie BoweRs, Iowa City, Iowa, has been selected by the Cor-ridor Business Journal for its Forty Under 40 Award in 2008. the Award winners are selected by an indepen-dent panel of judges from nomina-tions submitted by readers, and are recognized for their professional suc-cess and community involvement.

2003 david e. FunKhouseR iii, Phoenix, Arizona, has been appointed by the Arizona Demo-cratic Party as the newest member of the Arizona House

of Representatives to fill a vacancy in the state’s 11th legislative district. one of three candidates nominated by the Arizona Democratic Party, he was unanimously selected by the Maricopa County Board of super-visors on August 20, 2008. Mr. Funkhouser was sworn in on August 26, 2008 by Arizona supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor. At Quarles & Brady LLP he practices in the area of commercial litigation em-phasizing in real property disputes, consumer lending, contract disputes and commercial torts.

2003 lanCe haMPton, Washington D.C., is a Presidential Management Fellow with the Department of Defense.

2003 BenJaMin hayeK, Iowa City, Iowa, has joined Hayek Brown More-land & smith LLP as an associate. Prior to relocating back to Iowa City, Ben was associated with Lind Jensen sul-livan & Peterson PA in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

2003 Kevin houChin, Fort Collins, Colorado, has published a book for law students through Morgan James Publishing entitled Fuel the Spark: 5 Guiding Values for Success in Law School and Beyond.

2003 leah niCole C. PeRRy, Den Haag, Netherlands, was awarded the LLM from the University of Leiden in Holland. Ms. Perry received the LLM in Advanced International Law and graduated in the top 10 percent of her class. she was the Assistant editor for Leiden Journal of Public, International Law. she previously worked as an International Affairs Advisor to a member of Congress.

2003 saRa sidwell, Minneapolis, Minnesota, has joined the office of Jackson Lewis LLP as an associate at-torney practic-ing in the area of employment defense. Jackson Lewis LLP represents management exclusively in labor and employment law and has 37 offices around the country.

2004 Polly FolKins haMPton, Washington D.C., has accepted a trial attorney position with the office of the solicitor for the Department of Labor.

2004 M. duJon Johnson, China, has been named as a 2008 Interna-tional Visiting scholar at the taiwan Foundation for Democracy. the taiwan Foundation for Democracy is one of the most prestigious think-tanks in Asia and is the only one in Asia devoted to democracy. Mr. Johnson is the only African-American to be named a visiting scholar.

Crystal Kennedy (’87), david Kutcher (’00), Joshua novak (’07), gregory lynch (’94), and akua akyea (’97), paneled a discussion on the Job Search in Tough Times in October 2008.


2004 anant KaMath, Iowa City, Iowa, has been selected by the Cor-ridor Business Journal for its Forty Under 40 Award in 2008. the Award winners are selected by an indepen-dent panel of judges from nomina-tions submitted by readers, and are recognized for their professional suc-cess and community involvement.

2004 C. ann MaRtin, Mil-waukee, Wiscon-sin, has joined Quarles & Brady LLP as an associ-ate on the Labor & employment team. Before joining the Firm, she worked as an as-sociate for Lindner & Marsack, s.C.

2006 saMuel J. sadden, sioux City, Iowa completed the prestigious Dean Acheson stage program at the Court of Justice in Luxembourg. He was se-lected for the three month internship from a competitive pool of applicants who were nominated by prominent American law schools and selected to work in the chambers of eU Judges.

2007 saRah K. FRanKlin, West Des Moines, Iowa, has joined the Litigation Division in the Davis Brown Law Firm. she practices in the area of litigation.

2007 Ben M. KloCKe, omaha, Nebraska, has joined Baird Holm LLP where he prac-tices real estate and commercial lending law at the Firm. He is admit-ted to practice in Iowa and Nebraska.

Iowa Law Alumni at the newly formed Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergman

Front Row: Philip Burian (’96), darrel Morf (’69), thomas deBoom (’99), nick abou-assally (’92), Kelly terrill (’06), amanda d’amico (’04)

Second Row: Kerry Finley (’90), larry gutz (’64), abbe stensland (’06), Jeffrey Mcginness (’01), david Kubicek (’73), Jason steffens (’03)

Third Row: leonard strand (’90), allison heffern (’87), Matthew hektoen (’05), James Peters (’80), sarah swartzendruber (’01), tim van Pelt (’06), Christine Conover (’98)

Fourth Row: Jacob Koller (’03), Mark herzberger (’87), david Kutcher (’00), david zylstra (’98), lynn hartman (’87), J. scott Bogguss (’71), louis ebinger (’08), Randal scholer (’81), david hacker (’82), Jeffrey stone (’06), Matthew adam (’02), Kyle wilcox (’03)

Malinda Morain (’05), Mary sevandal (’05), amy Finn, and todd Cohen at the Katie Finn Milleman Memorial Scholarship luncheon in 2008.

Alumni N o t e s


2007 Joshua J. novaK, Wilming-ton, Delaware, an associate at Rich-ards, Layton & Finger in Wilm-ington, has been admitted to the Delaware Bar.

He works with the alternative entities group in the firm’s business department.

2008 eRiCa n. andeRsen, Wash-ington D.C., has been selected as the recipient of Intellectual Property Law section of the Virginia state Bar Award by the American Intellectual Property Law education Foundation and the Intellectual Property Law section of the Virginia state Bar.

2008 sCott M. hanCoCK, Caledonia, Michigan, has joined the firm Warner Norcross & Judd LLP in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

2008 aBBy leMeK, Chicago, Illinois, has joined Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione as an associate in the Chicago office.

2008 saMantha R. shePPaRd, st. Louis, Missouri, has joined the firm of Armstrong teasdale as a member of the firm’s Public Law and Finance Practice Group, where she focuses her practice in the areas of development incentives and develop-ment financing.

2008 douglas van zanten, Grand Rapids, Michigan, has joined the firm Warner Norcross & Judd LLP in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

1965 RiChaRd g. leiseR, Bloomington, Illinois, July 9, 2008.

1966 JeRRy C. estes, Fort Dodge, Iowa, July 16, 2008.

1967 JaMes R. MaRtin, Waterloo, Iowa, August 14, 2008.

1971 RalPh R. thRoCKMoRton, Idaho Falls, Idaho, October 11, 2008.

1973 RoBeRt a. KiMM, Solon, Iowa, September 17, 2008

1975 thoMas P. CuRRan, Richfield, Minnesota, March 28, 2008.

1980 RoBeRt J. Cowie, JR., Decorah, Iowa, november 6, 2008.

1976 Jose C. olveRa, Biggsville, Illinois, September 21, 2008.

1981 thoMas e. Milani, JR., Rockford, Illinois, July 18, 2008.

1999 Behnaz soulati, Des Moines, Iowa, June 9, 2008.

In Memoriam

1942 FRed F. heRzog, evanston, Illinois, March 21, 2008.

1942 John J. young, Des Moines, Iowa, July 11, 2008.

1945 JaMes J. Johnston, Denver, Colorado, August 6, 2008.

1947 RoBeRt C. heege, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, October 24, 2008.

1947 PeteR B. naRey, Spirit lake, Iowa, October 24, 2008.

1949 daRl C. Kyle, Washington, Iowa, October 13, 2008.

1951 RoBeRt l. ChRistensen, Carson City, nevada, May 14, 2008.

1952 leo M. BaKeR, Cedar Falls, September 11, 2008.

1952 walteR R. Johnson, Ottumwa, Iowa, August 17, 2008.

1953 RoBeRt a. williaMs, Denver, Colorado, August 28, 2008.

1954 geoRge t. MuRPhy, la Quinta, California, August 13, 2008.

1955 wayne C. Collins, Rio Verde, Arizona, June 22, 2008.

1955 John R. Reilly, Washington, DC, October 12, 2008.

1955 MaRshall h. sClaRow, golden, Colorado, March 13, 2008.

1955 RiChaRd sevatson, Dublin, new Hampshire, June 2, 2008.

1958 Ronald e. Fenton, Tucson, Arizona, May 1, 2008.

1958 JaMes d. MCKinney, JR., Arlington, Virginia, June 25, 2008.

1958 John a. MCClintoCK, Clive, Iowa, October 23, 2008.

1959 John J. CaRlin, Bettendorf, Iowa, June 4, 2008.

1959 williaM F. Manly, grinnell, Iowa, September 27, 2008.

1960 Bennett M. FisCheR, Vinton, September 18, 2008.

1960 geoRge e. wRight, Fort Madison, Iowa, May 20, 2008.

1961 John R. glidden, Carthage, Illinois, September 10, 2008.

1963 thoMas l. ChRistensen, Davenport, Iowa, June 4, 2008.

1964 CaRol g. CRissMan, Bloomington, Illinois, February 12, 2008.


Iowa Advocate Summer 2009

Documents

Transcript of Iowa Advocate Summer 2009