Faculty Forum: November 2020

Faculty Forum is a monthly feature written by Professor Michael Higdon highlighting the achievements of faculty at UT Law including publications in academia and the media, speaking engagements, interviews, awards and other accomplishments.

Professor Ben Barton guest taught a Legal Ethics class at Stanford Law School covering his book Fixing Law Schools, including a discussion of the current crisis, how COVID has affected it and where we are headed.

Professor Zack Buck published a book review in the Journal of Legal Medicine of the book, “Exposed:  Why Our Health Insurance Is Incomplete and What Can Be Done About It” (Harvard Univ. Press 2019) by Boston University law professor Chris Robertson.  The review is published at 40 J. Legal Med. 283 (2020).

Professor Buck published a piece on The Conversation titled “While the Supreme Court Deliberates on the Affordable Care Act, Congress and the White House May Act.” It can be found here.  The piece was subsequently published in the Houston Chronicle, and can be found here

Professor Joan Heminway participated, via Zoom, on a panel on drafting indemnification and advancement provisions in limited liability company operating agreements at the 2020 LLC Institute, an annual American Bar Association program focusing on limited liability companies and other unincorporated business entities. 

Dean Michael Higdon has agreed to serve on the provost’s faculty review and promotion taskforce and also co-chair the equity, fairness, and inclusion working group.

Professor Brian Krumm has agreed to serve on the provost’s faculty review and promotion taskforce and also a member of the working group that’s examining the lasting impact of the COVID pandemic.

Professor George Kuney has been selected by West Publishing to produce a series of short audio and video lessons dealing with areas and concepts that students find difficult in the Contracts I and Contracts II curricular space.  Topics will include objective theory of contracts, consideration in all its many forms, the statute of frauds, damage computations, and how the form of the legal standard at play in a contracts problem can guide the student in their analysis of an issue.

Professor Emeritus Dean Rivkin presented “Environmental Justice” at a CLE on social justice sponsored by the local Inns of Court.

Associate Dean Paula Schaefer presented a CLE on attorney ethics in appellate advocacy as part of the annual Supreme Court Boot Camp CLE sponsored by the Tennessee Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section. During this same CLE, Professor Lucy Jewel moderated a panel discussion on effective Appellate Advocacy with former Tennessee Supreme Court Justices Janice Holder and William Koch. 

Earlier this month, Dean Emeritus Melanie Wilson contributed to the New Jersey State Bar Foundation’s civics publication project — the Bill of Rights Up Close — by providing content about the Fourth Amendment. The piece, which is part of a larger blog, is available here.

Dean Emeritus Melanie Wilson met this month with the executive committee of the Association of American Law Schools; and she and Memphis Law Dean Katharine Schaffzin discussed women in academic leadership as part of a CLE hosted by the Nashville Lawyers’ Association for Women.