LSU Law bids fond farewell to two of its longest-serving professors, who are retiring with 100 years of combined service
|
|
As fall semester classes wrapped up just before Thanksgiving, two of LSU Law’s longest-serving professors—who have 100 years of combined service to the law school—stepped into the classroom to teach for the very last time.
Professor Bill Crawford, who is 92 and has been the oldest faculty member on the entire LSU campus for several years now, taught his final class on Nov. 20 after 53 years with LSU Law. One week later, Professor Paul Baier led his last class after 47 years at the law school. Both announced their retirements earlier this year.
To show their appreciation for the professors’ service, Dean Tom Galligan and LSU Law faculty and staff members made a surprise visit to each of their last classes.
|
|
LSU Law National Moot Court team has strong showing at Memphis regional competition
|
|
The LSU Law Tom Fore Phillips National Moot Court Team had a strong showing regional round of the National Moot Court Competition held at the University of Memphis in late November.
The team—consisting of third-year students Michael Maldonado, Indigo Diekmann and Katelyn Bayhi—won all its preliminary round matches and beat Cumberland Law School in the quarterfinals.
The team came within an inch of going to New York for the national finals, losing to the host school and eventual regional champion, University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, in the semifinals.
|
|
Chancellor Emeritus John Costonis reflects on LSU Law tenure
|
|
Since retiring at the end of June, LSU Law Chancellor Emeritus John Costonis has finished up what may be his final two legal papers—one of which will be published by
Louisiana Law Review in the coming months—and embraced a much less hectic schedule than he used to keep.
“Some people really struggle with retirement, but honest to god, I don’t mind having some free time for a change,” says the 82-year-old Boston native who plans to spend his retirement in Baton Rouge, which he has called home since becoming LSU Law chancellor in 1998. “I’m not eager to be running off to some other place at my age. We have so many friends here, and like my wife says: If you’re not having fun here, then there’s something wrong with you.”
Along with spending time with family and friends, Costonis has been turning his attention in recent months to some of his greatest interests: philosophy, classical music and reading the classics in foreign languages.
|
|
As Hannah Mayeaux prepares to enter her last semester at LSU Law next spring, she’s already looking forward to returning to her native Lake Charles to take up medical malpractice cases in state court on behalf of plaintiffs at The Townsley Law Firm.
Though she doesn’t have to stress about finding a job after graduation—and is grateful to be joining a firm she’s already familiar with after clerking at it over the summer—there’s still the stress of finals and finances.
As for the latter, the stress is greatly reduced by the four endowed scholarships Mayeaux is fortunate to be the recipient of this year.
|
|
In our latest Dean's Council Spotlight, two of the council's youngest members
—Brooksie Bonvillain Boutet ('14) and Ryan E. Boutet ('15)
—talk about how their LSU Law educations prepared them for successful careers in Texas and share their advice to students who aspire to follow in their footsteps.
|
|
LSU Law alumnus Judge Harlin D. Hale receives Norton Judicial Excellence Award
|
|
1982 LSU Law graduate and United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Harlin DeWayne “Cooter” Hale is the recipient of the 2019 Judge William L. Norton, Jr. Judicial Excellence Award.
“It’s not something I ever expected to receive,” Hale says. “In years past, this award has gone to judges whom I consider to be intergalactic bankruptcy judges who handle giant cases and are nationally known. So I was very, very touched to be named alongside them.”
|
|
Five LSU Law alumni included in ‘Business Report’ Forty Under 40 class of rising young professionals
|
|
LSU Law alumni are well represented on this year’s Forty Under 40 list of the Baton Rouge area’s rising young professionals who “play a key role in making the Capital Region a better place to call home.”
This year’s Forty Under 40 list, compiled and published annually by
Business Report, includes LSU Law alumni Ryan Chenevert (’12), Francisca Comeaux (’11), Druit Gremillion Jr. (’11), Erin Kilgore (’07) and Jill Kindler (’11).
|
|
LSU Law alumnus and retired judge draws on his 56-year legal career to write a novel based in Baton Rouge
|
|
In the 23 years since 1963 LSU Law graduate Anthony Graphia retired as a family court judge, he’s had plenty of time to reflect on his 56-year legal career. Now, Graphia has drawn on his experiences as an attorney, prosecutor and judge to pen “The Eagle and The Hawk,” a fiction novel that’s based in Baton Rouge in the 1970s.
“The stories are based on cases I handled or knew of,” says Graphia, a Baton Rouge native. “When I sat down to write, I thought it was easiest to write an autobiographical fiction book.”
|
|
|
|
Professor Clare Ryan presented her article, "Children as Bargaining Chips," at the McGill Faculty of Law Legal Theory Workshop in Montreal on Nov. 29. Her article, "The Law of Emerging Adults," will be published by
Washington University Law Review in January.
|
|
|
|
Professor Ray Diamond delivered a lecture on Nov. 12 entitled “Brown vs. Board of Education: 65 Years Later,” at the “Education as a Civil Right” convocation sponsored by New Schools for Baton Rouge.
|
|
|
|
Professor Keith Hall spoke on the topic “Single Well Spacing and Pooling: State Spacing and Jurisdiction over Conservation” at the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation’s Advanced Landman’s Special Institute on Nov. 8 in Houston.
|
|
|
|
Dean Tom Galligan‘s article, “The Structure of Torts,” has been published by
Florida State University Law Review (46 Fla. St. Univ. L. Rev. 485; 2019). In the article, Galligan proposes a coherent and consistent analytical approach for all torts based upon the elements of negligence.
|
|
LSU Law professor releases children's book to introduce kids to DNA
|
|
About four years ago, LSU Law Professor Michael Malinowski was feeling “pretty burned out” with writing academic legal papers.
“I’ve always loved expository writing,” says the author of several academic books and more than 50 law review articles, whose expertise is biotechnology and related health care and bioethics issues. “But legal writing can be a very stifling genre. I wanted to do something more creative.”
Inspired by conversations with friends who work with children in a variety of fields and the cultural shift he has observed in the public’s acceptance of genetic testing, Malinowski set out to write a book that introduces children to the basic concepts of DNA and genetics.
He’s the first to admit the result, “Why Am I Me?”—released on Oct. 22 by Lake Charles-based Ally-Gator Book Bites—doesn’t deal with the usual themes found in most children’s books. But in an age in which millions of people are embracing genetic testing to learn more about their ancestry and health, DNA is an issue that Malinowski feels today’s children need to be knowledgeable about.
|
|
Now in its ninth year at the Law Center, the
LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources will host its 2020 Symposium on Friday, Jan. 24, in the McKernan Auditorium. This year's theme, "Navigating Legal Waters," will explore the future of water resources law, regulation and management.
Topics discussed will include Louisiana riparian law, the groundwater conduit theory, coastal land loss and its legal implications for property owners and mineral leases, the use and reuse of hydraulic fracturing fluids, geo-engineering in waterbodies, and the future of the "Waters of the United States" CWA Rule.
A total of 5.5 hours of CLE credit can be earned by attending. Registration is free, and breakfast and lunch are provided for attendees.
|
|
On Friday, Jan. 31,
Louisiana Law Review and the Pugh Institute for Justice will present “We The Jury: Conversations on the American Jury’s Past, Present, and Future" in the McKernan Auditorium at the Law Center.
The symposium will feature legal practitioners and scholars from across the country who will discuss and analyze a variety of issues relating to the history of the jury, jury selection and representation, the Sixth Amendment and non-unanimous juries, and the role of the jury as a political and cultural institution.
Attendees can earn a total of 7.5 hours of CLE credit. Registration is free, and breakfast and lunch will be provided.
|
|
Find out about the latest news and accomplishments of your classmates.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
