August 2009

August 28, 2009


Faculty Accomplishments:

Professor Lyn Enzeroth has recently published: The Illusion of Sanity: The Constitutional and Moral Danger of Allowing States to Medicate Condemned Prisoners in Order to Execute Them, 76 Tennessee Law Review 641 (2009) and Judicial Advocacy in Pro Se Litigation: A Return to Neutrality,  42 Indiana Law Review 19 (2009) (lead article co-authored with the Honorable Robert Bacharach).

Professor Robert Spoo's essay, "For God's sake, publish; only be sure of your rights": Virginia Woolf, Copyright, and Scholarship," was recently published in Woolf Editing/Editing Woolf: Selected Papers from the 18th Annual Conference on Virginia Woolf, ed. Eleanor McNees and Sara Veglahn (Clemson: Clemson Univ. Press, 2009).  His essay, "Ezra Pound, Legislator: Perpetual Copyright and Unfair Competition with the Dead," has been accepted as the lead essay in a collection, Modernism and Copyright, edited by Paul K. Saint-Amour and to be published by Oxford University Press.  The latter piece is an adaptation of his article, "Ezra Pound's Copyright Statute: Perpetual Rights and the Problem of Heirs," which will be published later this month in Volume 56 of the UCLA Law Review.

Professor Spoo is also a former law clerk to Sonya Sotomayer, the most newly appointed Justice to the United States Supreme Court.  Professor Spoo clerked for Justice Sotomayer at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit after completing his law degree at Yale.

Professor Marianne Blair presented "Revocation of Parental Consent: The Limitations of International and Constitutional Regulation of Adoption Norms," at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2009 Annual Meeting, Family Law Workshop on August 7, 2009.

Student Accomplishments:

Student Quality Continues Upward Trajectory.  This fall the College of Law welcomed 140 first year students with a record of outstanding academic achievement. The median LSAT score of the fall 2009 1L class was 155, and the median undergraduate GPA was 3.22. The median LSAT score shows an eight point increase since 2000. To put this jump in perspective, the lowest-scoring quartile of this year's class performed better than the highest-scoring quartile of eight years ago.

Second Year Receives National Scholarship.  Stephanie Nowak received a scholarship from the law firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, a corporate firm with offices in Birmingham, AL; Atlanta, GA; Baton Rouge and New Orleans, LA; Jackson, MS; or Chattanooga, Johnson City, Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville, TN.  The Baker Donelson Diversity Scholarship provides recipients of the three annual scholarships a salaried 2L Summer Associate position, and $10,000 is paid during the students' third year of law school to help defray the cost of tuition and related expenses.   Stephanie will have the opportunity to work in one of their Tennessee offices this summer.

Second Year Law Student Featured in Magazine.  The Student Lawyer, a magazine published every month of the school year by the Law Student Division of the American Bar Association, will feature Thomas Landrum, a second-year student in their upcoming magazine.  Thomas traveled to Sierra Leone this summer to spearhead the Women for Women of Sierra Leone program for conflict resolution.   Landrum's introduction to the WWSL was as liaison acting on behalf of Engineers Without Borders, a Tulsa student organization that was attempting to develop a relationship with WWSL to assist in its activities.  Although the engineers and WWSL were unable to join forces, WWSL was impressed by Landrum's commitment, his extensive training in the development of teamwork skills, his experience in organizing various events, and the fact that he was attending law school.

New Excellence in Education Scholars for 2009-2010.  The College of Law has accepted three new first year law students as Excellence in Education Scholars based on their academic achievements and demonstrated service.  The three new scholars are Joshua T. Franks, of Chickasha, Oklahoma, Lorena S. Tiemann, of Mutual Oklahoma, and Rachel Wilhelm of Coppell, Texas.

Josh Franks graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.  Community involvement is very important to Josh.  Since graduating college in 2006, he has worked with the Office of Juvenile Affairs in Grady County, Oklahoma, as a Juvenile Justice Specialist and as a Psychiatric Social Rehabilitation Specialist at Grand Lake Mental Health Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.  Josh says, "My goal for my practice of law is to ensure that my generation has a voice for change, a voice for hope, and voice for democracy."

Lorena S. Tiemann received her Master of Liberal Studies from Fort Hays State University in 2008 and her Bachelor of Science in Justice Studies from St. Gregory's University in 2005, where she was Valedictorian of her class.  Service has been a constant theme in Lorena's life.  During college, she was the volunteer chair for the sorority Zeta Xi Lambda, where she had the opportunity to work with the Salvation Army and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.  Since college, she has become very active in her Church community and also volunteers as a driver for the Meals on Wheels program.  She says, "I want to make a life through what I give - not just make a living through what I get.  Therefore, my goal for the practice of law is to help people understand laws and their purpose, and to ensure that my results benefit the meaning of justice."  Lorena is also a proud mother and wife.

Rachel A. Wilhelm is a recent graduate of the University of North Texas where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.  As team captain of both the UNT and University of Arkansas tennis teams, she was able to sharpen her leadership and problem-solving skills.  Her participation in tennis also provided her the opportunity to work with Habitat for Humanity and a local charity organization named Friends of the Family.   In the Fall of 2008 she was awarded the Denton area annual award for community service because of her involvement with the Salvation Army.  Rachel's goals "are to become a judge and eventually get into politics to further help the fight against drug abuse and family violence."

Cheasapeake Energy Continues to Hire TU.  Chesapeake Energy Corporation recently extended full-time offers to third year law students, Malori Dahmen and Michael Matison.  Both Malori and Michael were Chesapeake Scholars and participated in the Chesapeake Summer Internship Program.  Chesapeake Energy Corporation and The University of Tulsa College of Law are in their third year of partnership which has produced extremely qualified students to Chesapeake and has brought  curricular enhancements and scholarship dollars to TU Law.

TU Law Announces 2009-2010 Student Ambassadors.  The College of Law has selected twelve new students for the TU Law Student Ambassador Program. 

Mandy Brummett
Kyle Davis
Kelley Feldhake
April Frago
Jessica Hunt
Paul LaRaia
Thomas Landrum
Dustin Lusk
April Merrill
Ivan Orndorff
Josh Ritchey
Sara Rogers

The following Ambassadors are returning for the 2009-2010 school year.
Alex Chan
Amanda Dumey
Mike Manning
Lori Rusling
Nate Soderstrom
Linda Smith

These students were selected because of their enthusiasm for TU Law, their positive spirit, their diverse law school experiences and backgrounds and their ability to meet the minimum gpa criteria.  Their willingness to serve without a stipend is a demonstration of their selflessness.  1Ls have consistently commented on how helpful our ambassadors were during the application process.

Alumni Accomplishments:

Marvin  (JD '07) has been named "Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year for 2009" by the Tulsa County Bar Association. This marks the first time the award, which reads "In Recognition of your outstanding reputation as a lawyer and your dedicated service to your profession and the community," has ever been presented to a Latino.  Marvin is an associate at the law firm, Brewster & DeAngelis, where his practice focuses on criminal defense.