The School of Law will host a discussion of the recently published book Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics and Guilt in America, which was co-authored by Andrea L. Dennis, the holder of the law school's John Byrd Martin Chair of Law. The discussion will be held Jan. 30 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Larry Walker Room of Dean Rusk Hall. Published by The New Press, Rap on Trial examines the use of "rap lyrics as criminal evidence to convict and incarcerate young men of color" based on hundreds of court cases from across the country.
By many accounts Phyllis A. Kravitch was a trailblazer. She entered the practice of law in 1944 when female attorneys were few and far between. She built her reputation at her father's law firm, becoming the first woman Savannah Bar Association president in the mid-1970s, the first woman elected as a Georgia Superior Court judge in 1976 and the third woman to serve our nation as a U.S. Circuit Court judge in 1979. Her service on the U.S. Courts of Appeals lasted almost four decades. As a permanent tribute, more than 40 of her former judicial clerks created the Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch Scholarship Fund at the University of Georgia School of Law.
Two students participating in the law school's Veterans Legal Clinic, L. Andrew "Andy" Bastone and Michael R. "Mike" O'Brien, have helped a veteran recover over $8,600 in incorrectly withheld U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs benefits. The veteran, John Rivers, retired from the service in 2014 and started receiving disability compensation. In 2016, the VA reduced these benefits, stating that he could not receive both compensation and military drill pay at the same time. Bastone and O'Brien, both veterans themselves, successfully persuaded the VA that this decision constituted administrative error. Working under the supervision of clinic attorney Kelly A. Parker, they got the VA to repay Rivers the full amount of benefits it had mistakenly withheld.
In 2019, five law students - Christopher J. Bertrand, Maria Mercedes Carruthers Ferrero, Ashley L. Henson, C. Joshua "Josh" Rewis and Amelia C. Stevens - participated in the Georgia Sea Grant Legal Fellowship Program conducting research to address critical environmental, economic and social concerns primarily affecting coastal Georgia. Bertrand and Rewis completed their fellowships this past summer along with Ferrero who continued her work through the fall semester. Stevens and Henson completed their projects this fall.
The University of Georgia School of Law will once again be represented in the 12th Annual Hunton Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship, a competition which includes the "best of the best" moot court teams from law schools across the country based on performances in the previous academic year. UGA won this competition last year.