Student Organizations
UT Law’s student organizations offer many opportunities for students to engage with the community, build connections with practicing lawyers and potential employers, and form lifelong bonds with their peers.
Our student organizations host lively debates, meaningful community service activities and stimulating social events. UT Law students benefit from immersive learning experiences and valuable networking opportunities.
Below are the currently active student organizations at the College of Law. Student members are responsible for the management, philosophy, and views of each student organization. Students are also actively involved in the publication of the College of Law’s various journals.
American Constitution Society for Law and Policy
UT Law students operate a chapter of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS), which believes law should be a force to improve the lives of all people. ACS works for positive change by shaping debate on vitally important legal and constitutional issues through the development and promotion of high-impact ideas to opinion leaders and the media; by building networks of lawyers, law students, judges, and policymakers dedicated to those ideas; and by countering conservative legal opinion.
Dwight Aarons – Advisor
daarons@utk.edu
Animal Legal Defense Fund
UT Law students operate a chapter of the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), dedicated to providing a forum for education, advocacy, and scholarship aimed at protecting the lives and advancing the interests of animals through the legal system, while raising the profile of the field of animal law.
Joan Heminway – Advisor
Jheminwa@tennessee.edu
Black Law Students Association
The National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA)’s UT chapter is the Marilyn Yarbrough Chapter. NBLSA is a professional organization committed to articulating and promoting the educational, professional, political, and social needs and goals of black law students. Founded in 1968, NBLSA has more than 6,000 members. Organized into six geographical regions, NBLSA boasts more than 200 chapters, including chapters and affiliates in six other countries. Though headquartered in Washington, DC, NBLSA hosts an annual convention in one its US chapters’ cities.
Named for the first African American law school dean at UT and in the Southeast, the Marilyn Yarbrough Chapter promotes NBLSA’s goals through a variety of initiatives, including academic and professional workshops, mentoring programs, the annual Blackshear Scholarship Gala, a charity ball, the BLSA buddy program, and the College Student Division.
Dwight Aarons – Advisor
daarons@utk.edu
Christian Legal Society
As the University of Tennessee chapter for the Christian Legal Society, our missions and goals include the following:
- Cultivate spiritual growth among its members through communal prayer, fellowship, and worship; learning to share one’s faith; and devotional study of the Bible and classic Christian works
- Show the love of Christ to the campus community and community at large by proclaiming the gospel in word and in deed, such as through a life of integrity and charitable good works; as Martin Luther put it, “to be as Christ to our neighbor.”
- Address the question, “What does it mean to a Christian in law?” that is, learning to submit every aspect of one’s calling in the legal profession to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Brad Areheart – Advisor
barehear@utk.edu
Michelle Kwon – Advisor
mkwon2@utk.edu
Environmental Law Organization
The Environmental Law Organization seeks to connect its members to the broader environmental law community, inform them of the environmental law and policy issues they are likely to encounter during their careers, and empower them to confront those issues thoughtfully and practically.
Becky Jacobs – Advisor
jacobs@utk.edu
Federalist Society
The Federalist Society is a non-partisan group of conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the law and legal system. The society’s principles are that “the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be.” The society seeks to promote an awareness of these principles and to further their application through its activities.
Glenn Reynolds – Advisor
greynold@utk.edu
Health Law Society
The mission of the Health Law Society is to provide a venue for students interested in health law to discuss current health law issues and to generate greater awareness of those issues among the College of Law community. In addition, the Health Law Society seeks to link the college community to learning opportunities on campus and in the community.
Zack Buck – Advisor
zbuck@utk.edu
If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice
If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice supports law students and legal professionals aiming to increase dialogue, awareness, and activism to protect and expand reproductive justice. If/When/How is committed to fostering the next wave of legal experts for the reproductive justice movement through mobilizing and mentoring law students that will build capacity, vision, and leadership for a more successful reproductive justice movement.
If/When/How believes that reproductive justice will exist when all people can exercise the rights and access the resources they need to thrive and to decide if, when, and how to create and sustain their families with dignity, free from discrimination, coercion, or violence.
Wendy Bach – Advisor
wbach@utk.edu
Inntechspective: Legal Hackers Knoxville Chapter
Legal Hackers is a global movement of lawyers, policymakers, technologists, and academics who explore and develop creative solutions to some of the most pressing issues at the intersection of law and technology. Through local meetups, hackathons, and workshops, Legal Hackers spot issues and opportunities where technology can improve and inform the practice of law and where law, legal practice, and policy can adapt to rapidly changing technology.
We are explorers. We are doers. We are Legal Hackers.
Brian Krumm – Advisor
bkrumm@utk.edu
OUTlaw
OUTlaw is a student organization dedicated to promoting diversity education and awareness, fellowship, and discussion in the UT Law community and the Knoxville area.
The purposes of the OUTlaw Legal Society of the University of Tennessee College of Law are:
1. To promote an understanding of LGBTQ+ legal concerns within the academic and legal communities and in the public.
2. To organize academic programs concerning LGBTQ+ legal issues and to facilitate discussion about those issues within the academic and legal communities and in the public.
3. To foster an inclusive university environment where members of the LGBTQ+ community can live, learn, and work free from discrimination, bias, hostility, oppression, and fear of violence.
4. To work toward the extension of basic human and civil rights to LGBTQ+ persons through pro bono research for attorneys handling cases regarding LGBTQ+ legal issues and through research and writing for publication in legal journals and periodicals.
Sibyl Marshall – Advisor
smarshal@utk.edu
Latino Law Student Association
The mission of the Latino Law Student Association of UT Law is to prepare its members for their professional roles in society and to promote awareness of Latino interests and issues in the legal community and within the College of Law. The organization provides its members with a strong academic and social support system by advancing the interests and welfare of members and the overall law school community.
Eric Amarante – Advisor
Efrank17@utk.edu
Law Women
Law Women’s mission is to emphasize and address issues of concern to women within the legal profession and academic community. Law Women strives to raise awareness of issues related to women’s participation in the judicial system, promote career opportunities for women within the legal profession, act as a forum for networking with attorneys and other legal professionals, and coordinate activities within the university community that address issues of concern to women. Law Women accepts members—both female and male—who are committed to advancing these goals.
Joan Heminway – Advisor
joan.heminway@utk.edu
Joy Radice – Advisor
jradice@utk.edu
Moot Court Board
The Moot Court Board is comprised of second- and third-year students who have demonstrated excellence in trial and appellate advocacy. The board sponsors two annual intramural competitions: the Ray H. Jenkins Trial Competition and the Advocates’ Prize Moot Court Competition. Any UT Law 2L or 3L may participate in these intramural competitions. The board also coordinates several competitive traveling teams. Learn more.
Penny White – Advisor
pwhite4@utk.edu
Native American Law Students Association
The mission of the Native American Law Students Association at UT Law (NALSA) is to promote knowledge of American Indian law and issues in the legal profession. In order to do this, NALSA hosts events to provide information to interested persons. NALSA also strives to encourage American Indians to enter the legal profession.
Don Leatherman – Advisor
dleathe1@utk.edu
Phi Alpha Delta
The Phi Alpha Delta Law fraternity strives to form a strong bond uniting students and teachers of the law with members of the bench and bar in a fraternal fellowship designed to advance the ideals of liberty and equal justice under law, to stimulate excellence in scholarship, to inspire the virtues of compassion and courage, to foster integrity and professional competence, to promote the welfare of its members, and to encourage their moral, intellectual, and cultural advancement so that each member may enjoy a lifetime of honorable professional or public service.
Judy Cornett – Advisor
jcornett@utk.edu
Rebecca Kite – Advisor
rbryan1@utk.edu
Sports and Entertainment Law Society
The purpose of the Sports and Entertainment Law Society is to promote an interest in and understanding of the issues and new developments associated with the sports and entertainment law fields and to aid in networking between students and alumni who have an interest in the sports and entertainment law fields.
George Kuney – Advisor
gkuney@utk.edu
Student Bar Association
As the voice of the law student body, the Student Bar Association is a direct channel to the law school administration. The Student Bar Association holds its meetings throughout the academic year to discuss concerns raised by fellow law students. The meetings not only serve as a way to remedy issues, but also as a way to develop new and better services for UT Law students.
Brad Morgan – Advisor
rmorgan2@utk.edu
Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
The Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is one of the nation’s oldest state criminal bar associations. Members support the work of the criminal defense bar, help educate lawyers and act as a voice for the bar and the citizen accused in the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government.
Joy Radice – Advisor
jradice@utk.edu
UT Pro Bono
UT Pro Bono is a community service organization with significant student leadership and staff direction at the College of Law. The program strives to connect law students with area attorneys representing indigent clients. Working in cooperation with attorneys and local legal aid societies, UT Pro Bono serves as a resource by providing law students for research, educational, and investigatory assistance. Learn more.
Vols for Veterans
Vols for Veterans is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in April 2017 by students committed to offering assistance to veterans in the Knoxville community. The organization introduces law students to career opportunities in military service through JAG careers, assists veterans through pro bono work, and annually awards the Gen. Clifton Cates Leadership Scholarship to two law student veterans or dependents of veterans. In 2018, the organization received the Charles R. Burchett Extraordinary Contributions to Campus Life Award.
For more information, follow Vols for Veterans on Instagram @volsforvets.
Brianna Rosenbaum – Advisor
brianarosenbaum@utk.edu