The University of Pennsylvania Law Review will hold a symposium on Trafficking in Sex and Labor: Domestic and International Responses on Nov. 13 and 14.

Andrew Bingham L’10 dabbled in music for years until, midway through his first year at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, something clicked. “It wasn’t until law school that I was driven to make music as a creative outlet,” he says. Music soon became Bingham’s antidote to the pressures of law school. After intense days of class and legal writing, Bingham “would go home with a craving to play guitar and write music.” He often felt most creative when the pressures of law school were most severe. “Several of the songs I’m most pleased with came during finals week,” he observes. “That was kind of scary.”

Eight students and their professor were at the Supreme Court Oct. 13, seeing their work in action in a case before the nation’s highest court. 

Christopher Howland, a third-year student at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, was among five gay men awarded a $4,000 scholarship during a reception sponsored by Bread & Roses Community Fund on Oct. 1. 

The University of Pennsylvania Law School is welcoming 255 students as part of its Class of 2012, one of the most academically accomplished, talented and diverse group of students in the Law School’s history.

• The new students are already committed to the integration of knowledge across disciplines: they hold advanced degrees in education, environmental science, literature and divinity (among others), and they plan to pursue joint degrees in law and bioethics, business administration, international studies, social work and many more fields. 
• They have worked for change globally and within local communities as teachers, Peace Corps volunteers and health educators.
• The Class of 2012 includes artistic, clever and uncompromising voices: professional performers, college newspaper editors and a senior writer for President Obama’s transition team.
• They are professional, poised and devoted to shared sacrifice and responsibility: several are commissioned officers in the Army, Navy and Marine Corp.
• And they have followed unpredictable, amusing and inspiring journeys as a former NFL player, a champion baton twirler, and a member of the U.S. National Rowing Team.

New students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School spent part of their orientation participating in a neighborhood cleanup around 46th and Market streets in University City.

Penn Law's innovative public interest program requires students to integrate pro bono service into their lives as law students. To graduate, students must provide at least 70 hours of public service support to the community, which also provides opportunities for students to challenge themselves in new areas of practice and research.

Students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School will have even more opportunities to advocate for human rights and asylum protection, thanks to a gift from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and its partners. The gift honors Robert C. Sheehan, a 1969 graduate of the Law School who recently ended his 15-year tenure as executive partner of the law firm and assumed a new role as the firm’s pro bono partner.

More than 90 international students from 44 different countries have arrived at the University of Pennsylvania Law School this month to begin year-long studies toward a graduate degree as they study American and international law.

The students all have legal degrees and work in their home countries as politicians, prosecutors, professors, corporate counsel, law clerks, corporate lawyers, judges and in other roles. More than 1,200 applicants sought admission to the class of only 92 students. Roughly one-third of the enrolled students come from East Asia, Europe, and the rest of the world, respectively.

JAPANESE DINNER PARTY FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

On Aug. 25, members of the LLM class teamed up with visiting scholars to host a Japanese dinner party for the entire class.  The homemade meal included sushi, sashimi, tempura and other Japanese food, along with sake and various types of Japanese beer.

Jennifer Yvonne Mokgoro, a justice on the Constitutional Court of South Africa and a 1990 master’s degree graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, spoke at Penn Law’s commencement on May 18.

Members of Penn Law’s JD Class of 2009 came from 33 states, the District of Columbia and nine foreign countries. Master’s degrees were awarded to students from 29 different nations.

Can a non-citizen who pleads guilty to a drug charge be deported because of that plea, even if his lawyer told him that he would not risk deportation by pleading guilty?

Penn Law has awarded Human Rights Fellowships to students working abroad this summer in public interest internships between their first and second years of law studies.

At this year's Equal Justice Foundation auction, which raises money to support students who are exploring public interest careers, second-year Penn Law student Sarah McConaughy's bid was enough to secure the car washing talents of Professors Edward B. Rock and Jill E. Fisch.

While wearing roller skates.

"The winning bid was $290 -- and well worth it!" says McConaughy, who drove away in one clean set of wheels.

 [During their day jobs, Professors Rock and Fisch produced scholarship listed among the Top 10 corporate and securities articles for 2008.]

Penn Law graduating student Olwyn Conway has been named winner of the 2009 Summer Jackson-Healy Public Service Award, presented by the Equal Justice Foundation to a graduate who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to public service.

Before Michael Anderson rode his motorcycle from Philadelphia to Seattle last May, he grew a beard to protect his face from the elements. He didn’t know then that his beard would become his entrée into Middle Eastern society.

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell (third from left) was the keynote speaker at the 2009 Penn Law Review Dinner.  Rendell and Penn Law Dean Michael A. Fitts (second from right) are joined by (from left): next year's managing editor, Meena Sharma, and editor-in-chief, Kenji Price; and this year's editor-in-chief, Christopher DiPompeo, and managing editor, Kindl Shinn.

Rendell stressed the importance of giving back to the community and recalled stories from his work as Philadelphia district attorney to a banquet hall full of students, faculty, alumni, and members of the Pennsylvania bar. Guests included federal judges Marjorie Rendell and Louis Pollak, former dean of Penn Law.

Tianna Jackson (left) and Melanie Baptiste, both 2009 graduates of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, present Penn Law School Dean Michael A. Fitts with the 2009 Douglass Moot Court Trophy from the Black Law Students’ Association national competition.  Jackson is from the Bronx; Baptiste, who is from Atlanta, also won the 2009 title for National Best Oral Advocate.

“Know the world you live in” is the motto of www.ForeignPolicyDigest.org, an online magazine about world affairs and international issues. It is a message that third-year University of Pennsylvania Law School student Olivier Kamanda, the site’s founder, takes to heart.

Sharayu Jadhav, an Indian lawyer who will receive a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in May 2009, has received an award from the Philadelphia Bar Association for her outstanding achievements in international law and human rights.

Immigrants detained in the United States increasingly are denied due process, abused by local law enforcement and held in poor detention conditions, a delegation led by the University of Pennsylvania Law School told a hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

PHILADELPHIA (March 16, 2009) – The University of Pennsylvania Law School today announced the creation of two public interest fellowships and a significant expansion of its loan-forgiveness program at the opening of its first ever Public Interest Week.

To the Penn Law community:

 

 

 

 

The current economic environment posed a significant challenge to our fundraising efforts. Many who we traditionally depend on for support have been constrained by their own financial difficulties. Despite the decrease in monetary contributions, we managed to secure more items and in-kind donations this year than in any previous auction!

 

Update: Evan Mendelson (left) and Russell King won this year's Keedy Cup; Dominic Draye was named best oralist.

Does AT&T really have more bars in more places? Russell King of La Crescent, Minn., and Evan Mendelson of Owings Mills, Md., will argue that they do indeed… if by bars, one means barriers to equality. They’ll be trying to break down these barriers to win restitution for AT&T employees who became pregnant before 1978—when laws were created to protect pregnant women from job discrimination—who now find their pension benefits reduced. But should the Pregnancy Discrimination Act be applied retroactively?  Dominic Draye of Kenmore, Wash., and Conor Lamb of Pittsburgh, Pa., representing the petitioner AT&T, will argue that the company is being treated unfairly.

Come see what it takes to win this argument before some of the sharpest judges on the bench. This year’s competition will be judged by The Honorable Frank Easterbrook, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; The Honorable Roger L. Gregory, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; and the Honorable Gene E. K. Pratter, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Penn Law alumna.

The Keedy Cup is the culmination of the Penn Law’s moot court tournament, named for its founder, the late Dean Edwin R. Keedy.

Cheer on your classmates and learn how to get your name on the Keedy Cup!

AT&T Corp. v. Noreen Hulteen, et al.
In the Keedy Cup
Jan. 22 at 4 p.m.
Annenberg Center

MLK Day of Service

"What are you doing for others?" According to Martin Luther King, Jr. that's "life's most persistent and urgent question." President-elect Barack Obama and vice president-elect Joe Biden are taking this question to heart; the day before their inauguration, they will participate in the MLK Day of Service in Washington, DC. Moreover, Obama has asked Americans to join him and to be "active citizens."

Students, faculty, and staff from the University of Pennsylvania Law School plan to heed the call again this year.

On January 19^th, members of the Penn Law community will partner with Philadelphia-area organizations to complete those odd jobs non-profit organizations don't always have the resources to undertake, like cleaning, organizing, and painting.  Groups that will benefit from Penn Law muscle include Philadelphia VIP, Philadelphia Reads, and Philabundance.

The first King Day of Service was held in Philadelphia in 1996. Last year some 60,000 volunteers participated in nearly 600 service projects across the region.

"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Come prove the content of your character. To find out more about how to participate in uplifting humanity with painstaking excellence, contact Jennifer Pesavento in the Toll Public Interest Center at 215-898-0955.

Your time and effort will make a difference.

Update: The Penn Law team reached the national finals before falling to Chicago Kent on Feb. 5. Penn's Daniel Schwei was named best oralist.

Before issuing the panel's ruling, the moot court's chief justice, Judge Barrington D. Parker Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, told all of the students:"Your presentations were outstanding. All of us here participate in oral arguments in one form or another at one level or another, and all of you already are very talented advocates. If there is no place to go but up, the four of you you are going to have brilliant careers at the Bar."

 *  *  *

Should a private school get preferred treatment from a zoning board because of its religious affiliation?  Should a state be forced to subsidize private-school tuition for a special-needs child? And should the answer to either question rest in part on the outcome of a coin flip?

The first two questions are complicated but the answer to the third is an easy "yes," if coin flips help your moot court team win the regional finals.

And Penn Law's moot court team - made up of third-year students Allison Reimann, Steven Myers and Daniel Schwei - arrived at the mid-November regional finals in Baltimore already knowing that its legal briefs had been unanimously judged to be the best. They let coin flips determine who would argue for the plaintiffs and the defendants before the moot court; those arguments were persuasive enough to get the team to February's national championships in New York City.

"We were confident that our brief was one of the better ones," said Schwei. "I was proud of our brief. We had a maximum of 35 pages to address issues that were enormously complex. Even in the limited space, we produced a coherent whole."   Myers concurred: "I thought it was a brief that could be submitted to court."

Reimann was named "best oralist," completing Penn Law's sweep of the major prizes for legal writing and oral argument.

"They had the best first practice round I've ever seen," said Anne Kringel, senior lecturer and legal writing director at Penn Law and the team's faculty advisor.

The group has already taken beneficial lessons from their moot court experience. "I learned the value of working collaboratively with very intelligent teammates," Schwei says. Reimann appreciates "the opportunity for feedback on the delivery of an argument. We not only received great feedback from the faculty members who helped us prepare, but from the judges themselves after each round."

Rules prohibit any revision of the brief for the national competition, so the team will focus on honing its oral arguments after winter break. "From what we've seen in the regional round, it's worth all of us being ready to answer questions about the issues raised in both cases," Reimann says.

That preparation, and a lucky quarter, might just do the trick.

Third-year Penn Law student Amy Retsinas was among five Philadelphia-area students honored by the Philadelphia Bar Association's Public Interest Section for their strong commitment to public interest work.

Having worked as a social service provider in domestic violence agencies before coming to Penn Law, as a student Retsinas volunteered with Action AIDS and worked on various projects as a co-coordinator of the Reproductive Rights Project.  She interned in Family Court as an advocate with Women Against Abuse, and co-chaired Penn Law's Equal Justice Foundation Auction, which raised over $60,000 to support law students taking uncompensated employment in public interest during the summer.

Retsinas also helped the organize the 2008 Sparer Symposium, sponsored by the Toll Public Interest Center at Penn Law, which focused on the revitalization of Philadelphia.  She spent summers exploring different facets of public interest law, interning at Alaska Legal Services and at Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg.  She currently works as an extern in the Employment Unit at Community Legal Services and is a senior editor on the Journal of Law and Social Change.

Twenty-one students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School worked for 300 hours on a 42-page paper for which they won't even receive a grade. But they just may help save the planet.

When the Environmental Protection Agency proposed new clean-air rules and asked Americans, "Is there a better way to regulate greenhouse gases than using the Clean Air Act?" an environmental student group at Penn Law decided to prove that there is.

"Depending on how well the government responds, the EPA's proposed rules have the possibility of being the most important [environmental] regulations of the 21st Century," says Christina Kaba, a second-year student from Drexel Hill, Pa., who is co-chair of the student pro-bono group, the Environmental Law Project.

Their 42-page comment, filed with the EPA in its rulemaking proceeding, delineates how regulating greenhouse gas emissions from residential and commercial buildings - not just industrial sources - is both important and cost-effective. But granting permits to every residential and commercial producer of greenhouse gases, as the Clean Air Act does now with industrial sources, would be onerous. And greenhouse gases are fundamentally different from the air pollutants the act was designed to regulate.

Instead, the students offer alternatives and are excited about their possible influence.

"We've collated a lot of data in this paper; it's a major contribution," says Roland Backhaus, a second-year student from Annapolis, Md., who co-chaired the undertaking.

After reviewing the legislation that mandates new air pollution regulations to address greenhouse gases, the students outline cost-effective technologies for curbing emissions from residential and commercial sources and discuss green technologies for building and retrofitting homes.  In order to improve the efficiency of a building's thermal envelope and reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, they offer suggestions ranging from simple programmable thermostats to more complex air source heat pumps, an alternative to traditional heating systems.

Finally, they present case studies of a statewide effort in California and localized efforts in Seattle, Wash., Berkeley, Calif., Chicago, and Portland, Ore. In Chicago, for example, new building codes were established to promote the conservation of electricity, and in Seattle the city provides consumer rebates and grants to encourage citizens to purchase new, more efficient technologies.

The students' opportunity to counsel the EPA was a long time in the making.  It began last year, when the Environmental Law Project approached Cary Coglianese, the Edward B. Shils Professor of Law and director of the Penn Program on Regulation, asking for additional ways to get clinical experience in environmental law. He suggested that the group participate in notice and comment rulemaking, which occurs when a government agency wishes to change a rule or regulation. The agency publishes a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register requesting comments on the proposal. During an open period, the public can offer comments that are used to make adjustments to the new rule.

"Participating like this in a rulemaking proceeding gives our students an opportunity to gain practical writing and legal advocacy experience -- as well as contribute positively to the resolution of a significant public policy issue," Coglianese says.

The EPA undertakes 200-400 such rulemakings each year. The greenhouse gas rulemaking grew out of the Supreme Court's 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA that held that the EPA had to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Penn Law students started following the rulemaking soon after the Supreme Court's decision, including participating in a conference call Professor Coglianese arranged with high-ranking EPA officials.  They were ready to go when the EPA published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking this summer, requesting comments by November 28 on how to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

"The opportunity to comment on major regulation was exciting and unexpected. We sustained the project for one-and-a-half years while the EPA got around to asking for comments," Kaba says.

Of the student group's 70 members, 21 participated in drafting this comment. Project organizers Backhaus and Kerri Kuhn, a third-year student from Colorado Springs, Colo., assigned work teams. Backhaus thinks this is where he learned the most, acknowledging the difficulties of directing 20 people toward a common goal.

Kuhn, Kaba and Backhaus edited the paper to make it consistent. Kaba admits to working on it over Thanksgiving. All told, the students spent over 300 hours working on the project.

"The students who did this are impressive," Kaba says.

Part of this feeling of satisfaction stems from the intricate nature of the Clean Air Act. "It's the most complicated area of the law I've dealt with in law school," explains Kuhn, who spent the summer predicting carbon markets in California. "The Clean Air Act has so many parts. It was created over a long period of time and involves interaction between states and federal government."

Still, she was pleased with the opportunity that this project gave her to begin to decipher the legislation. "It's been invaluable to participate in administrative law procedures since I'll be digging through comments for the rest of my life," she says.

"This is yet another excellent example of Penn Law students' commitment to public service," says Coglianese.

Kuhn concludes, "EPA will go to the legislature using these comments and will project our voices to Congress. It's exciting to have a say in what the nation should do."

Meet the student leaders in this effort:

Christina Kaba feels a strong pull toward a career in public service and hopes to work in environmental law. The second-year student became interested in environmental issues when she was a geologist working in the field for an oil company. Disillusioned, she left her graduate work in geophysics for a job in an environmental nonprofit before coming to Penn Law. She will be a summer associate at Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young in 2009.

Roland Backhaus also has a background in energy: nuclear engineering. "Although I hope that one day we'll be able to efficiently use wind, solar and geothermal power, for now nuclear is one of the better options in terms of greenhouse gases." He feels a deep-seated responsibility to protect the earth for future generations. This summer he will work on nuclear energy regulation at a firm that he hopes to join after graduation.

Kerri Kuhn studied resource management in Tanzania during college, working to balance resources between tourists, local people and wildlife, which sparked her interest in the environment. She's currently pursuing the Environmental Law Certificate and will join the environmental law practice at Morrison and Forrester in San Francisco after graduation.

PHILADELPHIA (Oct. 31, 2008) -- Before coming to the University of Pennsylvania Law School, third-year student Lindsey Carson worked in several sub-Saharan African nations to increase citizen participation in the political process, including democratic elections.

"We worked to identify obstacles to full and free exercise of the right to vote in parliamentary elections, as well to enhance the ability of civil society groups to advocate within the political structure," she explained.

It is no surprise, then, that she has joined 10 other Penn Law students in "Watch the Vote 2008," a non-partisan election-monitoring effort arranged through Penn Law's Toll Public Interest Center. 

"Watch the Vote 2008 has been a great way of standing by the notion that, regardless of who one votes for, we have a system that works, that we can believe in and have faith in," Carson said. "If voters continuously run into problems, that faith in our process and our public officials will be eroded."

Prior to Election Day, the 11 law students compiled information about localized election laws for key battleground states.  On Election Day, they will use that information as a quick reference when helping Penn undergraduates respond to telephone calls about alleged voting problems. The students will provide callers with poll location addresses, transfer callers to their local election officials, and alert officials to potential violations of voters' rights.

The Penn Law students will spend Election Day stationed on Penn's campus, at CNN in New York, and at Manhattan law offices of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady. They will provide legal research on issues of voter irregularity, including preparing briefs, seeking voter affidavits, working to preserve ballot access, and proposing remedies for problems that voters face. Seasoned election lawyers across the country will be standing by to take matters to court, if necessary.

The effort is part of election protection hotlines promoted by CNN (877.CNN.in.08), in collaboration with InfoVoter Technologies, and radio's "Tom Joyner Morning Show" (866.myvote1).

"Voters in my age group seem more excited than I've seen them," said third-year student Ofotsu Tetteh-Kujorjie, a native Ghanaian who came to the United States in the mid-1990s. "If you go back to the primaries, we potentially had the first woman nominee and we have the first black nominee. If you look around the world, there seems to be a realignment of power; it seems appropriate that these different presidential candidates emerged."

"Our students were eager to be active participants in this year's election," said Arlene Rivera Finkelstein, executive director of Penn Law's Toll Public Interest Center. "The opportunity with Watch the Vote 2008 was a great chance for students to participate not just on the micro level - working with individual voters who experienced problems at the polls - but also at a very macro level - identifying and addressing large scale problems occurring across the country.  They will also have an ongoing role in litigation before and after the election that can shape voter access on a long term basis."

Penn Law students are required to complete 70 hours of pro bono work in order to graduate.

Tetteh-Kujorjie, who is not eligible to vote in the U.S., thought Watch the Vote would be a great way to participate in the election process. "I'm interested in getting a sense of how the American system works. I have a high curiosity about the problems people may face at the voting booth," Tetteh-Kujorjie explained. "I'll also be interested in seeing how efficacious the legal system is in resolving issues that may arise."

Carson, a native of Rosemont, PA, has been surprised by her research of Ohio voting laws. "What's amazed me so far, as I've been researching Ohio, is that U.S. elections are so localized. You can have two counties next door to each other, each with different voting procedures and mechanisms for getting a paper ballot. It would probably surprise people that, even as we complain about low voter turnout, our system may not be able to accommodate all voters if a majority of registered voters came to the polls."

The hotlines expect to receive as many as one million calls on Election Day.

Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg has become a "local personality"--at least to the Free Library of Philadelphia--where officials recently asked him to join other public figures in their Banned Books Week celebration.

The third-year Penn Law student has not written a book that's been banned, but he has gained a reputation for his blog, "Young Philly Politics," and his recent campaign to get the city to share detailed real-time election results with the public and not just with the news media and well-connected politicians on a password-protected site.

The Philadelphia native made a verbal request, and later a written one, to city elections officials to receive access. He was denied. After he appealed to the city solicitor, he was granted a password.

If one private citizen could get a password, he wondered, shouldn't more have access? A fax campaign resulted in 400 requests to the election commission. As a result, the city has promised that a new, openly accessible website will be available before next week's election.

Dan, who is cautiously optimistic the city will meet the election deadline, undertook this campaign because he was "taught from an early age the government should function in service of the public good. Public interest law is the family business."  His father, Irv Ackelsberg, was with Community Legal Services of Philadelphia for 30 years.

As for being labeled a "personality" - his efforts have been noted in a New York Times blog--Dan says, "I'm flattered, but at the end of the day, I have to be cognizant that no one elected me. I'm just a person with a megaphone."

He began the Young Philly Politics blog in December 2004 as an outlet for young people who had become active in Sen. John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential campaign. He wanted to be sure their energy was captured and redirected to local politics.

Eventually, he'd like to take the blog statewide. "The blog has helped people in disparate parts of the city interact around important political issues. I'd like to do that for the state."  In addition, he's considering creating a non-profit organization with a board to run the blog--so that he's no longer the "person with a megaphone."

For his own future, he's interested in a career as a Philadelphia public interest lawyer. "I'd like to work for the public good while maintaining my Olympic dreams," he says with a shrug that suggests he finds his own words slightly corny. But it's not a pipe dream. Last year, he took time off from Penn Law to train for the Olympics in the lightweight double sculls. After winning U.S. Olympic Trials, his double narrowly missed out on a trip to Beijing.

"I'm trying to navigate what happens next.  I've got over $100,000 debt, I want to retire from rowing on my own terms, and I want to work for the public good."

PHILADELPHIA (Oct. 27, 2008) -- Two students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School will be among the presenters at a Tuesday, Oct. 28, hearing in Washington, D.C., on immigration and immigrant rights.

The students - Matthew Erie and Maisha Elonai - are students in Penn Law's Transnational Legal Clinic.  The hearing is being conducted at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and will focus on due process violations in U.S. immigrant detention and deportation.

The hearings will be webcast live on the Commission's website.

PHILADELPHIA (Oct. 7, 2008) - Michael Wong is a 26-year-old law school student turned filmmaker, whose newest film debuts in less than two weeks.  Shmul Kaplan is an 80-year-old disabled survivor of Nazi oppression whose complicated journey through the U.S. immigration system is told in the film.

"The hours and hours that I spent concentrating on Mr. Kaplan's face, both in shooting and editing the film, helped remind me to appreciate the beauty of the human face," Wong says. "Somewhere along the line, I had stopped observing peoples' faces when they talked. But you can learn so much about people just by watching them; where they are coming from, their mood, what they want."

What is a law school student doing making a film about an octogenarian trying to obtain citizenship? 

"This will make me a better lawyer," he says.

Wong's documentary contributes to the growing body of law-genre documentaries made by lawyers and law students. Students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School first analyze feature-length films that focus on lawyers, the law or social policy, and then produce short advocacy videos that explain complex legal matters to a general lay audience or that allow clients the opportunity to situate their legal problems within the context of their lives.

"The Documentaries and the Law course teaches students the connection between narrative in film and legal persuasion, while the Visual Legal Advocacy seminar gives them the opportunity to make short films on behalf of real clients or organizations," explains Regina Austin, professor of law and director of the Penn Program on Documentaries and the Law. "Telling stories with pictures and sound in legal proceedings is the wave of the future. Learning the rudiments of video production is a tool that will stand law students in good stead."

Most of the work the students do is for general public education (like a short video on the life of civil rights lawyer Sadie T.M. Alexander) and for administrative proceedings (like asylum issues or pardon and clemency hearings).

Wong's short documentary tells Kaplan's story of surviving the Nazi invasion of the Ukraine and then, at age 70, seeking asylum in the United States from the anti-Semitism he had faced his entire life. He dutifully applied for a Green Card, the first step to becoming a citizen. Delays in the naturalization process, however, caused Kaplan to lose his disability benefits -- he was forced to live on $215 per month plus food stamps for three years.  Tens of thousands of other disabled asylum applicants suffered the same fate; Kaplan became the named plaintiff in a class action lawsuit.

Since filming ended, Wong has maintained contact with Kaplan, attending a ceremony where Kaplan received a special citizenship award from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and Council Migration Service of Philadelphia.

"Lawyers have a unique set of skills that allow them to understand and explain complex issues," the law student and filmmaker says. "The medium of film helps me present these complex issues in a way that grabs the attention of the normal viewing audience more effectively than other media and breaks down the issues in a way they can understand."

Wong intends to accept an offer to work in corporate law. He feels his training in legal filmmaking has already improved his lawyering skills.

The program is also creating a series of videos about the pardon process and has created a library of clemency films. Currently, students are editing a video that tells the story of an incarcerated woman who is under house arrest while awaiting a kidney transplant. Because the woman cannot leave the house, telling her story in the video is one of the few ways in which she can perform community service.

Austin sees proselytizing among lawyers about the power of film and video in legal advocacy as part of her mission.

The program continues to seek clients who would benefit from the student work. Their work and DVD distribution is free of charge.

"We have to overcome skepticism about the economics and efficacy of video," she says.

To that end, the Penn Program on Documentaries and the Law is holding a roundtable, "Building Video Bridges," on Friday, Oct.17, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

The conference will include a premiere of the student-produced short documentary "Shmul Kaplan."

Anyone wishing to attend the Roundtable should register in advance by e-mailing Anna Gavin, events coordinator at Penn Law School, at agavin@law.upenn.edu. The organizers will seek approval for four and one-half hours of Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education credit to be provided for a nominal fee of $25. Please indicate your intention to seek CLE credit when you communicate with Gavin about your attendance.

Note: The Class of 2011 enters with the most accomplished academic record in Penn Law history. They come from 32 states, the District of Columbia and 12 foreign countries.  Fifty-one percent are women; 33 percent are students of color; and 10 percent already hold an advance degree.  Meet one of our new students: Dianna Myles.

By Aisha Mohammed

Eighth grade English teacher, Dianna Myles, has traded in her chalk for a 1L seat at Penn Law School. Coming to Penn fresh from an inner-city classroom, she is ready to influence students from another level: policy-making. 

"Everyone has to be involved," says Myles, a subscriber to the holistic approach pioneered by Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children's Zone. Canada's credo is that low-income inner-city kids can learn just as well as affluent suburban kids if they have access to the same resources. To give them an even footing, he provides free social, medical and educational services and encourages parents to participate in their child's education.

As a sophomore at Emory University, Myles had an opportunity to test that holistic approach. Noticing a disturbing trend in Atlanta public schools -- the city was eliminating arts programs for low-income students -- she set out to solve the problem by channeling funds and support from Emory's theater department to inner-city middle school students.

Myles recruited volunteers from the college and founded Bringing up Leaders and Achievers through Student Theater (BLAST) -- a children's musical theatre. Working with 15 students, she organized a performance of "The Wiz," the Broadway hit based on the Wizard of Oz that featured an African-American cast.

Her own high school education was solid, says Myles, which accounts for her desire to address educational disparities. Not only did she study visual arts and music, but she was also active on the debate team. Debating on topics as diverse as Russia, education, and privacy, she discovered a talent for marshaling critical evidence to debunk opposing arguments or create a new line of attack. The thrill of presenting winning arguments before a judge led to an interest in law.

"I particularly care about how children are protected by the law," says Myles, who has also worked to raise awareness of the sexual exploitation of children. It is a major issue in Atlanta, she explained, with underage girls being prosecuted for prostitution. Racial stereotypes impact the way cases are handled, with Caucasian girls getting more sympathy from the community than African-American girls, according to Myles.

Disparities also exist in public education, she says, which is why she became invested in Teach for America, a movement that works to ensure every child has an equal chance in life.

"Public education for low-income and African-American students is not up to standard" because of the overemphasis on test scores at the expense of liberal arts and humanities, says Myles. The singular focus on testing, she says, limits what teachers can do in the classroom.

Despite the constraints, Myles created a lively and engaging learning environment for her eighth graders in St. Louis. She used the Harry Potter books- her favorite series "hands down"-- as the model for an incentive program that encouraged teamwork. Myles passed around a hat filled with questions, much like the "sorting hat" in Harry Potter. Students picked questions and were assigned to one of four houses depending on their answers. They earned points for their house by demonstrating good citizenship, participation, and exceptional work. At the end of the year, the house with the most points -- Hufflepuff in this case-- won dinner and a field trip.

Bad education, Myles says, begins with low standards. School administrators blame student's home environments for poor performance and teachers assume they can never learn. Ultimately, low expectations prevent teachers from creating innovative approaches.

By contrast, Myles set the bar high for her students and to her surprise she found they were jumping to reach it. Emulating her "tough" high school English teacher who pushed her to produce her best, Myles walked her students through the college admissions process.

She showed them how to research schools, put together an application, and write inquiry letters to admissions officers, because she believes it's never too early to start thinking about college. "They were actually invested and cared about what happened," says Myles. One student even brought a template for a resume to class and offered to make copies. Her only regret, after noting their enthusiasm, is that she wishes she'd done it throughout the year.

Although Myles will miss creating magic in her classroom, she looks forward to building the kind of advocacy skills she will need in her ongoing battle to conquer her personal Lord Voldemort: inequality in the schools.

Note: The Class of 2011 enters with the most accomplished academic record in Penn Law history. They come from 32 states, the District of Columbia and 12 foreign countries.  Fifty-one percent are women; 33 percent are students of color; and 10 percent already hold an advance degree.  Meet one of our new students: Dorje Glassman.

By Aisha Mohammed

Dorje Glassman, visiting Tibet for the first time, was searching for the Tibet he thought he understood. Growing up in a Tibetan-Buddhist family, Glassman had come to assume that China was exploiting Tibet and that all Tibetans were naturally anti-Chinese. Tibetans, as far as he could see, had nothing to gain from Chinese rule. What Glassman found instead was a challenge.

Waiting for a bus to Mount Everest, Glassman saw an opportunity to commiserate with a Tibetan student about China's uninvited presence. The student's pro-China comments took him aback. If China had not annexed Tibet, the student claimed, he would never have been able to attend a University in Beijing. To Glassman, the Tibetan's words made about as much sense as Gandhi touting the use of guns. After a heated discussion he understood that Tibet's relationship with China had perhaps led to gains not readily apparent to a foreign eye.

This ability to embrace complexity will come in handy as he prepares to chisel out a future in Chinese law. Towards this end, Glassman, a Levy Scholar, has enrolled in Penn Law's JD/MA program offered through the Lauder Institute. As part of the Chinese track, Glassman will study Mandarin, spend his first summer in China, and earn an MA in international studies.

Glassman's study of Kung Fu ignited his interest in China at the age of 17. Several years later as a sophomore at Oberlin College, he became enchanted by Chinese calligraphy. In order to learn the art, however, he had to commit to a year of Chinese language classes. He quickly discovered that he had a "real affinity" for Mandarin, and spent the next year in Beijing, immersed in the language and culture.

After earning a dual degree in Environmental and East Asian Studies, Glassman returned to China to work as a project manager with a local nonprofit. He spent a year at Yunnan Mountain Heritage Foundation, a small organization that promotes eco-tourism and cultural preservation in the ethnically Tibetan areas of Northern Yunnan. In Yunnan, he initiated a Buy Local campaign, which was inspired by a similar campaign he had witnessed in Carrboro, N.C., while working as a carpenter during summer vacations in college.  Glassman helped start a series of local markets for Tibetans to sell traditional crafts that still exist today.

In China, where slogans are as common as bicycles Glassman was particularly struck by one of ex-President Jiang Zemin's: Use law to govern the country. "Chinese today take it for granted that law should be the foundation of government, but it wasn't always this way. It has gradually become popular opinion," says Glassman.

Glassman's interest in law, like his interest in China, began in his teens. His high school English teacher impressed him with the "exceptional clarity of thought and expression" he demonstrated when discussing Dostoyevsky and Melville. Glassman was lit with a desire to develop and use those skills. A legal education, he felt, would be the best way to do that.

Conversations with friends in China led him to contemplate the legal foundations of the country's pressing social and political issues. "The proper treatment of minorities, the displacement of communities because of development projects, all these issues boil down to the law," says Glassman.

By Glassman's account, it is an exhilarating time to be a lawyer in China. Recent years have seen the emergence of a more accessible civil legal system. As the Chinese government attempts to deal with increasing levels of social unrest -- incidents of social unrest rose from 8,700 in 1993 to 74,000 in 2004 -- judges are reviewing cases in traveling courts, with plaintiffs represented both by non-barred legal workers as well as licensed attorneys. Low-income citizens are seeing avenues open up for legal recourse.

However, those connected to the most politically-sensitive issues, such as Tibetan independence, still face a dead-end. The government declined to renew the licenses of attorneys who represented the Tibetan activists arrested in the spring 2008 Lhasa uprising. But the non-renewal of licenses is rare, says Glassman.

Also excluded from the system are foreign attorneys, since Chinese civil courts are off-limits to them. Although Glassman hopes civil courtrooms will eventually open their doors to foreigners, passing the Chinese bar exams remains a distant dream.  Approximately eight percent of attorneys pass the Chinese bar exams, and foreign attorneys are not permitted to sit for the exam. So Glassman, who hopes to work in China, plans to start his career by training with a commercial litigation firm.

Training in Beijing, however, comes with a bonus: grappling with the contradictions and complexities presented by China. Beijing, explains Glassman, is "one of the few places in the world where one can routinely find farmers selling apples from the back of decrepit carts drawn by gaunt horses parked next to the latest model Mercedes Benz."

Note: The Class of 2011 enters with the most accomplished academic record in Penn Law history. They come from 32 states, the District of Columbia and 12 foreign countries.  Fifty-one percent are women; 33 percent are students of color; and 10 percent already hold an advance degree.  Meet one of our new students: Paul Fattaruso.

By Larry Teitelbaum

Paul Fattaruso writes poetry and fiction that is at once serious and playful, strange and familiar, aimed at providing his readers a fresh view of an old world. The point is, his work eludes easy description. Take his first novel. In 2004, at age 26, Fattaruso published Travel in the Mouth of the Wolf. The book features, among other things, a talking dinosaur, a supernaturally talented shortstop, psychic twins, and a lonely ex-president.

From Homer to Shakespeare to Kafka, writers have consistently explored the ways in which law both shapes and is shaped by our beliefs and actions, he says. He adds that law and literature also share a devotion to precision and close attention to language. Further, he says, the search for truth threads both disciplines.

To further emphasize the two fields' connection, Fattaruso cites a quote from Percy Bysshe Shelly: "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world." Fattaruso suggests that poetry and law are both interested in "the moral questions surrounding humans' relationship to the world and to one another."

It was his moral compass that ultimately pointed Fattaruso, who is contemplating the study of intellectual property and environmental law, to law school. After graduating summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1999, Fattaruso earned an MFA from the school, then a Ph.D. in English from the University of Denver. While preparing for his comprehensive exams, Fattaruso celebrated the birth of his son, Max, now two years old. His son's arrival inspired Fattaruso's decision to enter law school and start a new chapter in his life. He started to think about how he could make change in the world and found the study of law the best route. He jokes, "The audience for poetry isn't what it was 100 or 200 years ago, and there are probably more immediate routes to social change."

Nonetheless, Fattaruso's work succeeds on pure literary merit. His first novel was praised   by critics and has been translated into German. His second book, Bicycle, published in 2007, has been hailed as a "tiny masterpiece." His most recent collection of poems is called Village Carved from an Elephant's Tusk.

For the past eight years, during and after his graduate studies, Fattaruso has shared tools of the trade as a college instructor of composition, creative writing, and literature -- an experience he hopes will serve him well in law. "Trying to persuade a group of skeptical college students of the modern-day relevance of Chekhov's plays might be a bit like trying to convince an unsympathetic jury," he quips.

But the jury is not out on one thing: Fattaruso plans to continue writing, although he concedes that the first year of law school could cause writer's block. Will he incorporate law into this work? After all, models exist for such convergence.

Several years ago, poet-novelist Brad Leithauser spoke at Penn Law on how he used his Harvard Law background and early law practice as grist for his writing mill. Noting that law is a rich subject for literature, and one that has not been mined enough, he encouraged more lawyers to write from experience.

Fattaruso likes that idea. He hopes the study and practice of law informs his writing and makes it more complex, layered and experiential. "I expect to maintain writing as a part of my life," says Fattaruso.

Using five camcorders, members of the Visual Legal Advocacy seminar have made a short video that captures the essence of the 2008 Commencement of Penn Law School. Held in the majestic Academy of Music, the video shows the pre-processional preparations; the waving of the class flag; and highlights from the speeches of Matteo Erede, the LL.M class representative, Scott Reich, president of the J.D. class; Jared Genser, the Honorary Fellow, and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Before the graduates know it, all of the names have been read, all of the diplomas have been awarded, and they are on their way to new lives in the law. (Video)

PHILADELPHIA (Sept. 10, 2008)  - Two of the nation's top law and business schools - the Wharton School and the Law School at the University of Pennsylvania - are launching an accelerated three-year program leading to both the JD and MBA degrees.

"As the world becomes more complex, leaders must be able to integrate financial, legal, political and cultural issues like never before," said Michael A. Fitts, dean of Penn Law School.  "From corporate scandals and globalization to crises in the housing and credit markets, there is an obvious need for people with advanced training in the law to be highly skilled in business, and there is no better place anywhere to study business and finance than the Wharton School.

"This will become the leading way to educate tomorrow's leaders on Wall Street," he added.     

Thomas S. Robertson, dean of the Wharton School, agreed. "Business today operates in a complex legal and regulatory environment. Success requires the ability to navigate through this landscape," he said.  "Penn Law, with nine Ph.D.s in economics and two MBAs on its faculty, is able to teach law informed by the considerations important to business.  This three-year program and its demanding curriculum will be irresistible to top students, who also will have access to the exceptional networking and career opportunities that both Penn Law and Wharton provide."

Students in the new program will spend the first year in Law School and the following summer in four Law and Wharton courses designed specifically for the three-year JD/MBA. The second and third years will include a combination of Law and Wharton courses, including capstone courses in the third year and work experience in law, business, finance, or the public sector in the summer between the second and third years.

Penn's three-year JD/MBA is the country's first fully integrated three-year program offered by elite law and business schools on the same campus.  The new program will target potential applicants who will typically have around two years of work experience, whether in law, finance, as entrepreneurs or in investment banking, private equity and related fields.

"We expect that all sorts of people with business experience will apply," said Edward Rock, co-director of Penn's Institute for Law and Economics, the Saul A. Fox Distinguished Professor of Business Law, and an architect of the three-year program.  "Some will want to pursue corporate law or corporate finance while others are likely to go in different directions.  All of them will be able to navigate and lead in the worlds of business and of law, because this is the best way to prepare tomorrow's business lawyers." [View an interview with Professor Rock.]

Applicants must be admitted by both schools in order to enroll in the three-year program.  Students in the joint program will be required to meet the Law School's mandate to perform 70 hours of supervised legal work in a pro-bono setting in order to graduate.

The new program solidifies Penn Law's position as the leading cross-disciplinary law school in the country.  Penn Law already offers 10 other three-year joint degree programs that combine a law degree with master's degrees in bioethics, international studies, education and other disciplines.  In total, Penn Law offers more than 30 joint- and dual-degree and certificate programs; one-half of its students take classes outside the Law School; and 70 percent of its faculty hold advanced degrees in fields other than law, including nearly one-half of the standing faculty holding a Ph.D.

Wharton is the largest business school in the world, with more than 200 standing faculty in 11 departments, including finance, accounting, real estate, health care and more.

The three-year JD/MBA program is expected to enroll about 20 students each year, beginning in September 2009. 

"For a student interested in business law today, it is essential to learn corporate finance," said Professor Rock. "In this combined program, students will be able to complete a full MBA including, if they wish, a major in finance, at the same time as taking numerous advanced courses in corporate law. The graduates of the joint program will be qualified to do just about anything at the boundary between law and business: corporate law; investment banking; private equity; hedge funds; real estate; and more."

Paul S. Levy, a 1972 Penn Law graduate and a former managing director at Drexel Burnham Lambert, recalled that on his first day at Drexel, he was asked to calculate a bond's yield to maturity.  He quietly called a friend with an MBA to help him figure it out.

"A JD/MBA from Penn Law and Wharton will help graduates do much more than calculate yields," said Levy, now the senior managing director and founding partner of the New York-based investment firm JLL Partners, one of the leading private equity investment firms in the country.  "Increasingly, lawyers are CEOs of major corporations, leading figures in private equity, investment bankers and so on.  To prepare tomorrow's lawyers in ways that will enable them to move effortlessly into business and finance, it is clear that a variety of Wharton courses will serve as an invaluable supplement to the more traditional law courses."

In a report commissioned by a Ugandan ambassador, one dozen University of Pennsylvania Law School students are recommending that the war-torn nation modify its eight-year-old Amnesty Act, form a truth and reconciliation commission with subpoena powers, establish a special domestic court to prosecute rebel leaders as an alternative to the International Criminal Court, and recognize the special needs of women and children as Northern Uganda emerges from two decades of civil war.

The students' completed their report one week after Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony failed to appear at a scheduled ceremony to sign the final cessation of hostilities agreement.

Uganda should "deny amnesty to those individuals who are most responsible for serious crimes, especially the planning and executing of widespread, systematic or serious attacks directed against civilians," the students write. "Under the current act, an individual can receive amnesty for crimes committed after the signing of a peace agreement.... The continuous extension of the Act all but encourages commission of crimes against the Government and undermines peace."

The students spent eight months studying the conflict--including two weeks in Uganda--and conducted five-dozen interviews with Ugandan victims, United Nations representatives, government officials, aid workers and journalists. In addition the students conducted extensive research into international criminal law and local customs related to justice in Uganda.

They undertook the project in response to an invitation from Mirjam Blaak, Uganda's ambassador to the Netherlands, to Penn Law Professor William Burke-White, who teaches a seminar about the provision of justice in the wake of mass atrocity.

"My seminar focuses on topics such as the interaction between domestic and international norms of justice and the tension between peace and justice," Burke-White said. "Often, achieving justice can be an obstacle to peace, because justice requires an accounting of misdeeds."

The conflict between the Ugandan government and the Lord's Resistance Army unfortunately presented the class with a textbook example of a brutal and devastating atrocity, said one of the students, Erin Valentine.

"The International Criminal Court's 2003 indictments of top LRA leaders have put significant pressure on the LRA to participate in the Juba peace talks and led to a relative peace in Northern Uganda." Valentine said. "But the preliminary agreement still must be converted into a final, comprehensive plan for a permanent peace."

Most of the criminal charges to date have been filed against LRA fighters; relatively few government soldiers have been tried in closed-door military tribunals. The government should disclose the results of those trials "in order to move beyond victor's justice to a comprehensive and just peace," said student Nicholas Bentley.

"Every one of our recommendations and every decision that Uganda makes has implications for the entire region because the conflict is reaching across borders," added student Alison Stein.

During their visit to Uganda, the students came somewhat close to talking with one of the LRA's leaders when a person with whom they were visiting placed a call to the rebel fighters. "But we only reached whoever it is who answers his phone when he's sleeping," said student Sarah Ashfaq.

"These students signed up last fall for a three-credit seminar," said the professor, Burke-White. "None of us imagined the long days or the all-night debates in Kampala as we compared notes on our interviews and talked about what we should recommend to the Ugandan government. This was an incredible effort by these students."

The trip was funded by a donation from Richard G. Corey, a principal of Kingdom Zephyr, a private equity fund investment manager focused on Sub-Saharan Africa, and 1974 Law School alumnus.

"I hope that the insights the students gained from their trip and the recommendations that they are making will contribute to a lasting peace in Northern Uganda," Corey said. "These young scholars are among our best and the brightest upcoming legal minds, and I was delighted to help them try to make a difference in the world."

The students presented their findings and recommendations to Penn Law School faculty and students in April and will make presentations to representatives of nongovernmental organizations; the U.S. State Department and Congress; and the Ugandan government in May.

PHILADELPHIA - An email making the rounds this month in the legal blogosphere from a female attorney laid off six days after her miscarriage - "What kind of people squander human relationships so easily?" - is the latest example of women lawyers using non-legal methods to advocate for their rights in the workplace.

"One would expect that women lawyers, when confronted with unfair hiring practices, unequal pay, or unjust choices, would turn to the legal system," writes Alison I. Stein, a student at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. "Nonetheless, a growing group of women lawyers are using the Internet - and, in particular, blogging - to resolve their disputes, address their personal grievances, challenge implicit male bias engrained in the profession, and share and obtain the information they need to become stronger bargainers in the workplace."

Stein will present her paper - "Women Lawyers Blog for Workplace Equality: Blogging as a Feminist Legal Method" - at the Joint Annual Meetings of Law and Society Association and Canadian Law and Society Association, May 30 in Montreal. She will be joined on a panel by law professors from City University of New York, University of Illinois, and Cleveland State University. Her paper also will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism.

"From cattle ranchers to diamond merchants to third-wave feminists ... groups of people opt out of the legal system - and instead use personalized and informal methods of rights assertion - as a means of 'overcoming the ineffectiveness' of state-sponsored laws," writes Stein.

For a much earlier, low-tech version of the same technique, Stein points to Myra Bradwell, who in 1873 was denied membership to the Illinois State Bar because "the natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for the many occupations of civil life."

Bradwell responded by establishing what became the country's most widely circulated legal newspaper, the Chicago Legal News, in which she "advocated for legal reforms in women's rights, child custody and in the legal system ... and transformed the public's perceptions about women practicing law."

But that transformation went only so far, Stein argues, because while nearly one-half of all law school graduates since 1992 have been women, only about 15 percent of law firm partners are female and women comprise only 25 percent of tenured law school professors, the career goal that Stein has set for herself.

Female lawyers are being "pushed" out of the profession by "inflexible jobs, lack of good, affordable childcare, and lack of paid leave to take care of sick children," she writes. In 2006, concern about the rates at which women opt out of the legal profession led a group of female law students from 10 of the nation's top law schools to create the blog "Ms. JD: Changing the Face of the Legal Profession," where members provide "networking opportunities, critical analysis of relevant news, and thoughtful discussions for women about their chosen fields of law." Newer, similar blogs include "Up to PAR" (a blog started by the Project for Attorney Retention) and "Building a Better Legal Profession."

Female lawyers turn to blogging because the law's ability to vindicate their rights is limited, their grievances are born out of institutional biases or mindsets, and because the anonymity of blogging lets them give voice to their complaints without risking their reputations.

For example, a 2007 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court (Ledbetter v. Goodyear) held that victims of pay discrimination must challenge that discrimination within 90 days. But "if a woman does not know that she is being paid unequally for more than 180 days after her first paycheck, her claim is barred," Stein writes. "By blogging about what various firms pay men and women, and by using blogs to discuss various ways in which to approach salary discussion, women are using an alternative method to address grievances that are legal in character."

Stein concludes: "Blogs like Ms. JD and Building a Better Legal Profession appear to have succeeded in leveraging market pressures to change business practices. Legal recruiting directors across the country have seen an increase in the numbers of men and women--both law students and lateral hires--who ask about work/life issues during the interview process."

Or, as the laid-off big-law female lawyer writes in her email circulating in the blogosphere: "We are human beings first before we are partners or associates."