2024

Twelve Emory Law students have been designated as Kessler-Eidson Scholars for their excellence demonstrating trial advocacy skills this past May.

The new school year is in full swing and things are hopping! Our revamped Orientation hit a responsive chord with the lLs, who are settling in very well.

Longtime professor at Emory School of Law champions fundamentals as building blocks for successful careers in law.

While many American citizens were horrified to see Afghan men and women clinging to airplanes to try to escape Kabul in 2021, few knew how to help. But Jacob DeFazio 21C 24L’s work to help Afghan interpreters who risked their lives working with US military during America’s longest war has been recognized with a national public service award.

The court’s recent decision in Loper Bright Enterprises has enormous implications for environmental law and prospective climate action. While agencies and courts are digesting the ruling, there are four initial takeaways for environmental law.

In June 2024, the United States Supreme Court decided Moore v. United States. The Petitioners in Moore challenged of the Mandatory Repatriation Tax (“MRT”), a provision of the international-tax regime of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”).

In response to the prosecution by Special Counsel Jack Smith on federal charges arising out of the 2020 election and the events of January 6, 2021, President Trump claimed that as president he was entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution. After losing in the district court and court of appeals, he appealed to the Supreme Court.

This spring, the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization adopted its first new international treaty in over a decade—the first to connect intellectual property with the genetic resources and traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples.

Two recent Emory Law graduates are semifinalists in an international competition where the ultimate prize is $1 million in investment funding. Bene Owanga 24L and Chinelo Adi 24L are among the 16 semifinalist teams that will travel to the United Kingdom in August to compete for the 15th Annual Hult Prize.

Six Emory Law students will spend this summer getting hands-on experience working in public interest jobs because they received fellowships through the John Paul Stevens Foundation.

Emory University School of Law will open a new IP and Innovation Clinic in August.

Emory University School of Law and the Center for the Study of Law and Religion have announced the establishment of the Johan van der Vyver Professorship in Law and Religion. 

I am honored to start my service as Dean of Emory Law today.

At the June 20, 2024, Southeastern Legal Awards Ceremony hosted by the Daily Report, two of three attorneys honored for lifetime achievement were Emory Law alumni.

The Emory University Board of Trustees recently recognized several faculty members for their accomplishments as scholars, teachers, and contributors of service to Emory and the broader community.

In 1989, Ian Levin 92L arrived at Emory Law as a 1L from New York. The world was shifting under waves of unrest and protest as the Berlin Wall fell and students defied tanks in Tiananmen Square.

When Alex Subbard at last lost his fight with Parkinson’s, his two children mourned. But when a heretofore unknown handwritten will surfaced, their grief turned to rage.

On Sunday, May 12, Emory University School of Law graduated more than 300 students during ceremonies held at the Gas South Convention Center in Duluth.

Traditionally, most law school graduates go on to be lawyers. But for Morieka Johnson 94C 24L and other recipients of the juris master degree, there is the opportunity to learn from world-class legal scholars and take that knowledge into a number of careers that require one to look at situations through a legal framework. 

After finishing college in three years—and with two bachelor’s degrees— Nikki Hurtado 24L applied to Emory Law as an Early Decision student. She was the consummate overachiever.

Good lawyers have to be great storytellers—which is impossible without a command of language. So, when a lack of fluency in English was standing between Pamela Bispo da Silva 23L and her dreams, she left the small town of Rio Claro, Brazil, and accepted an au pair job in Pennsylvania.

John Witte has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS)—the third Emory Law scholar to receive this honor.

Brill Publishers has released a book of essays in honor of John Witte, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, McDonald Distinguished Professor of Religion, and faculty director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University.

Richard D. Freer, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law, presented this year’s John F. Morgan Sr. Distinguished Faculty Lecture: “The State of American Civil Justice: A Story of Exodus and Transformation” was the focus of the lecture.

Emory Law’s Volunteer Clinic for Veterans has built initiatives to enhance students’ experience and logged a victory which resulted in a life-changing award for a veteran client.

Next month, Emory Law will honor four of its best at the annual Alumni Awards Reception. Three are leaders in the fields of wealth management, personal injury/malpractice, and securities litigation. The fourth is a former US Navy judge advocate who co-founded Emory Law’s Volunteer Clinic for Veterans.

This year the Emory Public Interest Committee (EPIC) honored a veteran public defender, a former investigator turned civil rights attorney, and an Am Law 100 firm partner who has logged hundreds of pro bono hours over nearly 40 years in practice.

The Memorial Service will be held in Tull Auditorium on March 30, 2024, at 11:30 a.m. A reception will follow in Hunter Atrium. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the A. James Elliott Community Service Award at Emory University School of Law.

A. James Elliott 66C 66L, who was both an alumnus and associate dean of Emory Law, passed away on January 14, 2024.

This semester, Emory Law is launching a new stipend program for first- and second-year juris doctor students who accept summer volunteer jobs at legal public sector and public interest organizations.