News for alumni and friends of Indiana Law
MAY 2019
In this issue:
- Commencement honors Class of 2019 on May 4
- Fuentes-Rohwer named Wells Professor
- Thirteen alumni named Leaders in Law
- LLM program receives top rankings
- In brief; coming events
Commencement honors Class of 2019 on May 4
Friends, family, and faculty gathered in the IU Auditorium on Saturday May 4 to honor the Law School's Class of 2019. Indiana Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey G. Slaughter, '89, gave the keynote address, and IU Vice President Hannah L. Buxbaum was chosen by the students to speak on behalf of the faculty. Buxbaum is a the John E. Schiller Chair in Legal Ethics at the Law School and renowned for her classroom performance in the first-year contracts course.
Juan Pazos delivered remarks on behalf of the graduate students, and Alex Devilliers spoke for the JD class. Sydney Bierwirth announced the results of the Class of 2019 pledge campaign: a gift to the Annual Fund of more than $16,000, with a participation rate above 80%. Sarah Brown was elected to lead the assembly in singing the Alma Mater.
Fuentes-Rohwer named Wells Professor
Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, professor of law and Harry T. Ice Faculty Fellow, has been named a Class of 1950 Herman B Wells Endowed Professor.
Fuentes-Rohwer is an expert on the Voting Rights Act, immigration law, and civil rights, with particular emphasis on constitutional law and the Reconstruction Era. His scholarship focuses on the intersection of race and democratic theory and looks at the ways that institutions, especially courts, are asked to craft and implement the ground rules of American politics. He joined the faculty in 2002.
Fuentes-Rohwer is devoted to the undergraduate students he teaches in the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs' Law and Public Policy Program, a collaborative initiative between the O'Neill School and the Maurer School of Law. He serves the program by contributing to the popular curricular programs and serving as a voice in career development planning.
He also demonstrates a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, serving on Indiana Law's Faculty Diversity and Inclusion Committee and as the faculty advisor to the Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality. He is also a faculty representative for the Luis Dávila Latinx Thematic Living Learning Community and the Building Bridges Awards Selection Committee. He has served as faculty advisor to the UndocuHoosier Alliance, the Lamda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity, the Black Law Student Association and the Latino Male Initiative.
Fuentes-Rohwer is chair of IU's Latino Faculty and Staff Council, hosts a monthly radio program for "Hola Bloomington" that is dedicated to Latinx politics, and is a member of De Pueblo a Pueblo.
Thirteen alumni named Leaders in Law
Thirteen Indiana Law alumni were honored on May 8 as part of The Indiana Lawyer's Leadership in Law Class of 2019. John Hoard, '80, Todd Kaiser, '86, Prof. Norm Hedges, '98, Rory O’Bryan, '72, Andrew Ozete, '96, Jason Reese, '97, Joseph Smith, '96, Sydney Steele, '64, and Alan Townsend, '92 were named Distinguished Barristers. Benjamin Blair, '10, Samantha Hargitt, '13, Jessica Laurin Meek, '17, and Leah Seigel, '14, were honored as Up-and-Coming Lawyers.
LLM program receives top rankings
International Jurist magazine has awarded top rankings to Indiana Law's Master of Laws (LLM) program: A+ for experience, A+ for academics, and A for value. The program has earned top rankings for each of the past three consecutive years. Read more about the rankings in this month's issue.
In Brief...
- Prof. Robert Fischman and Lydia Barbash-Riley, '16, recently published "Empirical Environmental Scholarship," which was judged one of the 15 best articles published in 2018 by a group of legal scholars convened by the Land Use and Environment Law Review.
- Prof. Dan Cole was honored with an Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award from the IU O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
- Prof. Sarah Jane Hughes is one of the contributors to Cloud 3.0: Drafting and Negotiating Cloud Computing Agreements (ABA Publishing 2019).
- Kaitlin Cutshaw, '19, has received an Equal Justice Works Fellowship, sponsored by Latham & Watkins LLP. She will promote housing and educational stability for children negatively affected by eviction, through direct representation and policy reform.
- Mark your calendars for Alumni Weekend, October 25-26, including reunions of the Classes of 1969, 1994, and 2009, along with a special Alumni Board reunion. Details will be forthcoming.
- Several alumni receptions are planned for this summer. See our alumni calendar for the ones nearest you.
- Dean Parrish will be visiting the West Coast later in the summer. Here is the tentative schedule; invitations will be forthcoming.
- June 13: Denver Alumni Happy Hour, The Westin Denver Downtown, Time TBD
- July 16, 17, or 18: Los Angeles Alumni Reception, Time and Location TBD
- July 19: Portland Alumni Reception, Time and Location TBD
- July: Seattle Alumni Reception, Date, Time, and Location TBD
- July 23 (tentatively): Palo Alto Alumni Reception, Time and Location TBD