What if Indiana’s most affordable law school isn’t in Indiana?

For members of the fall 2015 entering class, The University of Toledo College of Law will provide Indiana residents a scholarship to cover the out-of-state tuition surcharges, making Toledo Law the most affordable law school for Indiana residents. The scholarship will be automatically renewed each semester of law school enrollment.

With the new Indiana Resident Scholarship Guarantee, Indiana residents will effectively pay Toledo Law’s in-state tuition rate of $17,900 – lower than any public or private law school in Indiana.

“Toledo Law offers a nationally ranked education with a personal touch,” said Daniel J. Steinbock, dean of the College of Law. “We have many graduates who have had outstanding legal careers after returning to or settling in Indiana with a Toledo Law degree.”

This initiative is part of the college’s ongoing efforts to recruit students from nearby states. Toledo Law also offers in-state tuition to Michigan residents through the automatic Michigan Resident Scholarship Guarantee.

Toledo Law is consistently looking for ways to improve the value it provides its students. Other recent initiatives include enhanced opportunities for experiential learning during all three years and more emphasis on joint degree programs such as the JD/MBA and new JD/MD.

Daniel Steinbock, dean of the College of Law, will speak to a class at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis on Tuesday, March 10, at 1:30 p.m.

Contact Rachel Phipps at 419.530.2628 to arrange a meeting with Dean Steinbock.

Donald R. West, the attorney for George Zimmerman, will speak today (Thursday, Feb. 26) at noon in the Law Center McQuade Law Auditorium.

His free, public talk is titled “The National Media in the Zimmerman Trial.”

Zimmerman, the Florida man who claims to have shot and killed teenager Trayvon Martin in self-defense, was acquitted of second-degree murder in July 2013. In the weeks and months preceding the not guilty verdict, the national media was acutely focused on Zimmerman and the facts of his case. This intense media presence had real consequences for Zimmerman and his defense.

West will look back on his representation of Zimmerman and examines how media attention affected the trial.

A veteran criminal defense attorney, West has been lead counsel in several high-profile death penalty cases in state and federal courts in Florida and Puerto Rico, and has been designated as learned counsel in death penalty cases in state and federal courts. He is also the former senior litigation counsel for the Federal Defender’s Office and supervisor of its capital defense team.

West holds a bachelor of arts and master of science degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from the State University of New York Buffalo Law School.

The lecture is sponsored by the UT College of Law and its chapter of the Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Feb. 24, 2015)
The Blade (Feb. 27, 2015)

The American Academy of Appellate Lawyers has chosen a recent article by Bryan Lammon, assistant professor in The University of Toledo College of Law, for its Eisenberg Prize.

The article, “Rules, Standards and Experimentation in Appellate Jurisdiction,” was published in the Ohio State Law Journal in 2013.

The annual Eisenberg Prize recognizes the publication of high-quality articles in the field of appellate practice and procedure. Winners receive $2,000.

Lammon joins a distinguished list of past awardees, including last year’s recipient, Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, one of the most well-known jurists in the country.

Lammon will receive the prize in April at the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers’ spring meeting in Santa Fe, N.M.

“It is absolutely phenomenal that someone at such an early stage of his career would win this award. Professor Lammon has a tremendously promising future as a scholar and is already a highly accomplished teacher. We are very proud of his accomplishment,” Daniel Steinbock, dean of the College of Law, said.

According to its website, the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers is committed to advancing the administration of justice and promoting the highest standards of professionalism and advocacy in appellate courts. Membership is reserved for experienced appellate advocates who have demonstrated the highest skill level and integrity.

What if Indiana’s most affordable law school isn’t in Indiana?

For members of the fall 2015 entering class, The University of Toledo College of Law will provide Indiana residents a scholarship to cover the out-of-state tuition surcharges, making Toledo Law the most affordable law school for Indiana residents. The scholarship will be automatically renewed each semester of law school enrollment.

With the new Indiana Resident Scholarship Guarantee, Indiana residents will effectively pay Toledo Law’s in-state tuition rate of $17,900 – lower than any public or private law school in Indiana.

“Toledo Law offers a nationally ranked education with a personal touch,” said Daniel J. Steinbock, dean of the College of Law. “We have many graduates who have had outstanding legal careers after returning to or settling in Indiana with a Toledo Law degree.”

Toledo Law is consistently looking for ways to improve the value it provides its students. Other recent initiatives include enhanced opportunities for experiential learning during all three years and more emphasis on joint degree programs such as the JD/MBA and new JD/MD.

This initiative is part of the college’s ongoing efforts to recruit students from nearby states. Toledo Law also offers in-state tuition to Michigan residents through the Michigan Resident Scholarship Guarantee.

** Americans With Disabilities Act talk Jan. 29 is canceled **

A lecture by Dr. Michael Stein, co-founder and executive director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 29 at the UT College of Law has been canceled. 

The event, “The Americans With Disabilities Act at 25: Looking in by Looking out,” will be rescheduled.
 

This year marks the 25-year anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Where it stands now will be discussed Thursday, Jan. 29, at noon in the Law Center McQuade Law Auditorium.

Dr. Michael Stein, co-founder and executive director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, will give a talk titled “The Americans With Disabilities Act at 25: Looking in by Looking out.”

The landmark civil rights law prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation and all places that are open to the general public.

Stein will survey the act’s 25-year legacy of promoting equal opportunity for people with disabilities and address what needs to be done. In doing so, he will draw on his work on disability rights in three dozen countries.

An internationally recognized expert on disability law and policy, Stein helped draft the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In addition, he works with disabled persons organizations around the world, consults with governments on their disability laws and policies, advises a number of UN bodies, and has brought landmark litigation and written extensively on disability rights.

Stein has received numerous awards for his work and was appointed by President Obama to the United States Holocaust Council.

A longtime visiting professor of law at Harvard, Stein also has taught at New York University, Stanford and William & Mary law schools.

He is a graduate of New York University and holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a PhD from Cambridge University.

Stein’s free, public talk is sponsored by the UT College of Law.

The Keystone XL Pipeline is politically controversial, but the more pressing concern missing from the ongoing debate is how the legislation subverts the important constitutional principle of separation of powers, according to a University of Toledo law expert.

The bill passed by the House approving the pipeline to connect Canadian crude oil to existing pipelines in the United States is “special legislation” because it singles out an individual company for special treatment that is not available to the rest of the population, said Evan C. Zoldan, UT assistant professor of law.

The Keystone legislation permits TransCanada Keystone Pipeline L.P. to construct and operate the pipeline simply by submitting an application without having to comply with environmental or other applicable laws that would apply to any other person or company.

By passing a law that gives a benefit to a single company, Zoldan said, Congress impinges on the constitutional principle of separation of powers by assuming the power to apply the law in derogation of the responsibilities of the executive branch.

“Although advocates of the pipeline may discount the separation of powers concerns that are raised by the Keystone legislation, they do so at their peril,” he said. “A healthy respect for the prerogatives of the different branches of government helps maintain a properly functioning government. The willingness of the House to pass special legislation is both a symptom of governmental dysfunction and cause of concern for the future.

“As the Senate considers the Keystone legislation in the coming weeks, it should consider carefully whether a short-term win is worth the attendant degradation of the important constitutional principle of separation of powers.”

Contact Meghan Cunningham, assistant director for media relations, at 419.530.2410 or meghan.cunningham@utoledo.edu to arrange an interview with Zoldan.

Benjamin Davis, an associate professor at The University of Toledo College of Law, is available to comment on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report to be released today on the CIA’s interrogation and deportation program.

Davis

“Whatever is said by present or former senior officials about the release of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence executive summary of the torture report, we must remember that the issue is not the report but the underlying torture,” Davis said. “That torture besmirched the reputation of the United States and their actions betrayed the public trust these officials are sworn to uphold.

“The United States is bound by the absolute prohibition against torture. This report lets us know that crimes of great depravity were committed at the highest levels. Criminal accountability for these officials crimes remains elusive, but is absolutely essential.”

Davis, a faculty member at UToledo since 2003, is a contributing editor at the SALTLAW Blog. He has been addressing accountability for torture since early 2004 in law review articles, online articles, as a Board Member of the Human Rights Committee of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT), and as a Member of the American Society of International Law (ASIL).

To schedule an interview contact Rachel Phipps, assistant dean for communications, at 419.530.2628 or Rachel.Phipps@utoledo.edu.

Media Coverage
Trouw (Dec. 10, 2014)
Dagsavisen (Dec. 11, 2014)

Are we protecting our water resources or are we engaging in regulatory overreach, threatening shipping, and stifling an energy boom? How do we prevent recurrence of the crisis that deprived half a million persons in the Toledo area of drinking water this August?

These questions will be among those addressed by panels of legal and scientific experts at the 14th annual Great Lakes Water Conference on Friday, Nov. 7 at The University of Toledo College of Law.

The free, public conference titled “Defining and Defending Our Waters” is sponsored by the College of Law the Legal Institute of the Great Lakes.

Panel topics during the conference will be “Defining the Reach of the Clean Water Act,” “Open Lake Disposal of Harbor Sediments,” “Fracking Bans and State Preemption,” and “Algae and the Toledo Water Crisis.” Gail Hesse, executive director of the Ohio Lake Erie Commission, is the keynote speaker.

“The annual Great Lakes Water Conferences consistently tackle topics at the cutting edge of law and policy,” said Kenneth Kilbert, director of the Legal Institute of the Great Lakes and associate dean for academic affairs. “Last year’s conference focused attention on harmful algal blooms before the crisis in Toledo this summer, and this year the topics are just as critical and timely.”

Registration is $75 for Ohio attorneys seeking 5.5 hours of CLE.

For more information and to register, visit utoledo.edu/law/academics/ligl/conferences.html.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Nov. 8, 2014)

Graduates of The University of Toledo College of Law passed the Ohio bar exam this summer at the second-highest rate among state law schools, according to results for first-time takers released Oct. 31.

UT’s pass rate for the July bar exam was 86.4 percent, as 51 of its 59 first-time bar exam takers were successful. The overall pass rate for first-time takers was 81 percent.

More than 1,000 applicants took the bar exam for the first time in July. Ohio State graduates had the highest pass rate of the nine law schools in the state.

“We are proud of our graduates’ performance, but not surprised,” said Daniel J. Steinbock, dean of the UT College of Law. “Our curriculum thoroughly prepares our students for the bar exam, and our faculty’s teaching ability is second to none.”

Steinbock noted that these outstanding results also came while UT law students are paying the lowest tuition rate of any law school in Ohio and Michigan.

Successful applicants will be sworn in as members of the Ohio bar Monday, Nov. 17.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Jan. 22, 2015)

Experts will consider the intersection of law and medicine and recent developments in health law at The University of Toledo College of Law Friday, Oct. 10.

The free, public event titled “Scalpel to Gavel: Exploring the Modern State of Health Law,” is sponsored by the UT Law Review and will be held from 8 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. in the Law Center McQuade Law Auditorium.

Four panels will discuss areas of health law that shape the modern legal landscape, including the influence of provider liability on the administration of health care; public health; the ethical considerations that accompany clinical decision making; and the problem of fraud within the health-care industry.
Presenters’ scholarly contributions will appear in an upcoming volume of The University of Toledo Law Review.

Dr. Maxwell Gregg Bloche, the co-director of the Georgetown-Johns Hopkins Joint Program in Law and Public Health, and professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center, will deliver the keynote address.

“The College of Law has vastly increased its health law course offerings, added two faculty with expertise in the area, and established a certificate of concentration in health law,” said Daniel J. Steinbock, dean of the College of Law. “This symposium highlights our focus on this increasingly important area of law.”

Members of both the legal and medical communities are expected to attend. Continuing legal education and continuing nursing education credits are available.

For more information and to register, visit utole.do/lawsymposium or call 419.530.2962.