February 2010

February 2010

Faculty Accomplishments:

Associate Dean and Professor of Law Tamara Piety. Tamara Piety participated in a debate with Professor Calvin Massey entitled “Does Corporate Speech Deserve Constitutional Protection?” The debate took place at Hastings Law School in San Francisco and was moderated by Associate Dean Evan Lee.

Dean and Professor of Law Janet Levit. Janet Levit spoke on a panel at the ABA Mid-Year Dean’s Meeting on Feb 4, 2010. The panel was entitled, “Impact of Changes in Legal Marketplace on Female, Minority & Nontraditional Grads”. Other deans participating on the panel were Leroy Pernell of Florida A&M and Kevin Washburn from New Mexico. The meeting was attended by deans from most of the ABA-accredited law schools.

Student Accomplishments:

Philip Tinker, a second year law student, has been accepted for the Udall Foundation's Native American Congressional Internship in Washington D.C. for the summer. Philip will be working on Indian law legislative issues in a Congressional office. More information about the internship program cand be found on the foundation's website at
http://www.udall.gov/ourprograms/nacinternship/nacinternship.aspx

Kelsey May (J.D.’10) has secured a post-graduate clerkship with Judge Barbara Robinson of the Western District of Texas, Amarillo Division. In a year where NALP is reporting that federal judicial clerkships have reached an all time high and applications from alumni exceed those from students, Kelsey’s placement is a testament to the strength of our students.

Sarah Yates, a second year law student, has recently been asked to present a paper identifying the fundamental rights of persons with schizophrenia as applicable to psychiatric advanced directives at the 13th Annual Meeting of the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists (CPNP). The conference will be held April 18-21, 2010 in San Antonio, TX. Sarah Yates, a Juris Doctorate candidate, will be making the presentation with a doctor of pharmacy candidate with whom she corroborated her research.

The College of Law’s Board of Advocates recently hosted the regional National Trial Competition in Tulsa on February 12-14. Seven law schools from Region 11 competed to advance to the finals to be held in Dallas in late March. The Board of Advocates secured and coordinated approximately 500 people in the Tulsa community to serve as evaluators, judges, bailiffs and witnesses. The event was a huge success!

Alumni Accomplishments:

Klint A. Cowan’s article, "Tribal Sovereignty v. State Court Jurisdiction," was featured as the lead article in the OBA Journal Volume 81 No. 5, February 13, 2010. The article looked at the recent attempts by the Oklahoma Supreme Court to assert jurisdiction over tort claims against tribes and their casinos under the Oklahoma tribal-state compacts. Klint is a 2004 graduate of the College of Law and practices at Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker in Oklahoma City.