Happy Snow-Day, WCL!

We hope you are all enjoying your day off! With Spring Break just around the corner we wanted to shoot off this quick email with a bunch of great events for you to look forward to when you return to campus. Below please find a few updates and things to look forward to over the next few weeks. Don't forget - you can utilize the links on the left hand side of this newsletter to take you down to exactly what you want to read. We know your time is valuable, so make the most of it.

Stay safe and warm!

Best,

Abby Duggan, WCL Student Bar Association President                       Hilary Swab, WCL Student Bar Association Vice President

The link to elect your SBA President and Vice President for next year will go live tomorrow morning, March 7th, at 9am. Polls will remain open for 24 hours, closing on Friday, March 8th at 9am.

All JD students (1Ls, 2Ls, 3Ls and 4Ls) are eligible to cast a vote. Please be sure to do so by visiting the election link here.

One of the organizations that ranks law schools, the Princeton Review, has opened up its annual survey to poll students on their law school experience. It is my personal opinion that WCL has some fantastic qualities that we consistently maintain for our students - it would mean a lot for the future of the school if we could articulate these strengths through a high response rate to the survey, complete with a focused emphasis on the areas WCL excels in.

For example, I think it would be difficult to find another institution comparable to ours in the areas of Curriculum Balance, Diversity of Faculty, Quality of Teaching, Opportunities for Externships, a low level of Competitiveness, and Equal Treatment on the basis of Gender and Ethnicity. If the majority of students who respond to this survey believe the same and articulate these feelings when filling out the survey, I would assume that our collective responses might be recognized in the rankings.

I invite you to peruse the survey and fill it out if you are so inclined. Honest but favorable responses will only help WCL when Princeton Review publishes its rankings next year.

Please feel free to email me with any questions on this important issue at sba@wcl.american.edu.

My Best,

Abby Duggan, SBA President

Regalia and Other Commencement Related Items

Regalia and other commencement-related items are now available for order online here.

• Enter American University Washington College of Law as your school
• The last day to order your cap & gown online is Wednesday, April 10, 2013 . Orders placed after this date may incur additional fees.
• LLM graduates please choose Master degree when ordering.

For other commencement-related information, please click here. 

Pro Bono Honors Pledge - DEADLINE

All 2013 graduates who wish to be recognized for their pro bono activities during law school must report their pro bono hours to the Office of Public Interest (Suite 122) no later than Thursday, March 28th, 2013 in order to be honored at the 14th Annual Peter M. Cicchino Public Service Awards Dinner on Thursday, April 18th, 2013. A minimum of 75 hours is needed to satisfy the Pledge (25 hours for LLM Students), of which at least at least 50 hours must be for law-related pro bono work. Please email David Steib with questions.

The SBA presents annual awards on behalf of the student body to the most outstanding full-time Professor, Adjunct Professor, and staff member. Each winner is invited to join us at Barrister's Ball where SBA presents the awards. In addition, this year SBA has added faculty/staff superlatives. Although the faculty/staff who win the superlatives will not be joining us at Barrister's, we hope that it will be a fun way to show faculty/staff appreciation. We encourage you to nominate professors and staff members by completing this online form.

ADVANCE Mentoring

ADVANCE, a mentoring program for first generation law students, will be hosting its elections on Thursday, March 28.  Elections are open to all full-time and part-time 1Ls and 2Ls as well as part-time 3Ls.  All interested candidates are required to: 1) attend a mandatory elections meeting, 2) submit an elections application; and 3) participate in an elections interview.  Please see below for more details:

• Monday, March 18, 6 pm, Room TBA: mandatory meeting for interested candidates;
• Monday, March 18 - Friday, March 22: meet the Board and find out more about the position(s) you're interested in;
• Monday, March 25: elections applications due;
• Thursday, March 28, 6-10 pm, Room TBA: election interviews;
• Friday, March 29: elections announcements.

We hope to hear from you!  For more information, please visit the website.

American Constitution Society - WCL Chapter

Keep an eye out for and join the American Constitution Society's upcoming events:

• Gideon v. Wainright anniversary lunch event (with Criminal Law Society): March 21 at noon, Rm 100
• DOMA/Prop 8 lunch panel (with Lambda Law Society):  March 25 at noon, Student Lounges
• ACS Board Elections!  Contact Sara Lacy at sara.lacy@american.edu if you're interested in leading the 2013-2014 ACS team!

International Law Review

Congratulations to the new Volume 29 Editorial Board of the American University International Law Review: 

• Editor-in-Chief: Mary Grinton
• Executive Editor: Jordan Shipley
• Managing Editor: Evi Katsantonis
• Senior Note & Comment Editor: Christine Mitchell
• Senior Articles & Critical Essays Editor: Jessica Scott
• Publications Editor: Rishi Gupta
• Human Rights Academy Book Editor: Matt D’OrsiAssociate
• Executive Editor: Amy Withmory
• Oxford International Law Reports Editor: Cody Bannon
• Symposium Editor: Tiffany Mathiason
• Deputy Symposium Editor: Angela Cabral
• Note & Comment Editors: Nisha Arekapudi, Kelly Brouse, Upasana Khatri, Edward Lang, Brenna Nelinson, Barbara Stone 
• Articles and Critical Essays Editors: Marina Barakatt, Ben Bloom, Andrea Coronado, George Ganey. Ben Shipe

Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

The Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law together with the Women and the Law Program invite you to join us for a discussion of gender and social policy in the 2012 presidential election.  The symposium, Gender Matters: Women, Social Policy, and the 2012 Election, will take place on April 2, 2013 from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm in Room 603 at American University Washington College of Law.

The 2012 election saw bold statements from both sides regarding social and economic policy, and plenty of fishing for women's votes.  However, the real needs and concerns of women are not easily reduced to a single issue or to an easy sound bite.  While some policies specifically target women or discrimination on the basis of sex, the gendered dynamics of other proposals are often more nuanced and difficult to detect.  The symposium will explore how current or proposed social policies affect the lives of women and their families.  Speakers will also analyze what role, if any, rhetoric about those policies played in the recent election.  For more information and to register, please click here.

Lambda Law Society

Lambda, ACS, and JGSPL are co-sponsoring a panel on the Prop 8/DOMA cases on March 25 from 12-1:30 PM in the JD Student Lounge. This event will be a pre-argument discussion of the Hollingsworth v. Perry and U.S. v. Windsor cases. Panelists include Luke Platzer at Jenner & Block, and Nan Hunter at Georgetown Law. Prof. Raskin will moderate the discussion on the cases, expected arguments, and challenges that litigators will face.

Students United

Executive Board Applications

Students United is looking to expand its Executive Board for the 2013-14 school year. There are four positions open to those who would like to become more involved with Students United next year. Please email wclyouthjustice@gmail.com for an application and description of board member duties. Applications are due via email Thursday, March 7 at 5:00pm. Please do not hesitate to email us with any questions.

Students United Spring Interest Meeting

On Thursday, March 21 12:00-1:00 in Room 526 Students United will will be hosting their spring interest meeting. They will talk about our mentoring program and broader issues facing youth in DC in an interactive environment. More details and a reminder will be sent out as the date gets closer.

WCL Democrats

The WCL Democrats and the Federalist Soc'y are co-hosting an event titled Is Affirmative Action consistent with the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment? tomorrow (March 7th) in room 602 from 12:15pm-2pm. Dr. Roger Pilon from the Cato Institute and Prof. Susan Carle from WCL will debate the above question in light of the upcoming Supreme Court decision in Fisher v. Texas. A burrito bar will be served.

The WCL Administration would like to remind the student community that a Dean’s Advisory Council member has generously allocated a finite amount of funding to assist students with financial challenges that cannot be met by other means.  A student interested in requesting funding from this source is expected to have exhausted other means at his or her disposal, including assistance through the Office of Financial Aid, if applicable, prior to making a request.  If approved, the funding will be on a grant (i.e., nonrepayment) basis.

Requests for funding may be made in confidence of any of the following administrators: Khadijah Al-Amin-El, Director of Major Gifts (Development and Alumni Relations; alaminel@wcl.american.edu); Associate Dean David Jaffe (Student Affairs; djaffe@wcl.american.edu); Director Barbara Williams (Financial Aid; bwilli@wcl.american.edu). The request should include the reasons(s) giving rise to the need for funding, the efforts expended toward addressing the funding need, and a specific dollar amount.

National LGBT Bar Association - Prudential Fellowship Program

Application Deadline: March 11, 2013 at 5:00pm ET

The National LGBT Bar Association is pleased to partner with Prudential Financial, Inc. (Prudential) to provide a meaningful summer internship opportunity to a highly-motivated first-year law student.  Through this partnership, the National LGBT Bar Association will select a student to join the 2013 summer law intern class at Prudential for a 10-week internship at Prudential’s offices, for a stipend of approximately $10,000.  Internship positions will be located in the New Jersey tri-state area. A position may also be available in Dallas, TX.

Internship Responsibilities

The summer intern will have the opportunity to work with attorneys who support the broad reach of the Prudential businesses. The summer intern will also participate in the summer intern training program, which includes programs presented by Prudential attorneys that highlight different areas of the business and the legal department. Each intern will be paired with an attorney who will serve as a mentor during the program and will provide guidance on projects. The summer intern may also have an opportunity to practice interviewing skills, prepare presentations and shadow attorneys on various projects. The summer internship will run between June 3, 2013 and August 9, 2013. The summer intern will be paid a stipend of approximately $10,000, which shall accrue and be paid on an hourly basis.

Qualifications:

• Must be a member of the National LGBT Bar Association
• Must be a law student enrolled at an ABA-accredited law school and have successfully completed the first year of law school and be scheduled for graduation in spring 2015 (full-time students) or spring 2016 (part-time students)
• Must have a minimum 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale or the equivalent
• Ideal applicant will have financial or business-related experience or interest

How to Apply

To apply, you must submit a cover letter, resume, a list of three references and a copy of your transcript to:

D’Arcy Kemnitz, Esq.
Executive Director
National LGBT Bar Association
1301 K Street NW, Suite 1100 East Tower
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 637-7661
Prudential@lgbtbar.org

Please write “Prudential Fellowship Program” in the subject line of all correspondence.  All materials must be received by 5:00 p.m. ET on March 11, 2013.

All applicants must be available for phone interviews between Monday, March 18, and Friday, March 22.

1Ls:

• Job Search Strategy Tips for Spring Break available in the document library on CareerLink

2Ls:

• Job Search Strategy Tips for Spring Break available in the document library on CareerLink
• Webcast of 2L Career Boot Camp now available on OCPD website under Events & Programs -> Webcasts/Podcasts.

3L/4L/All:                      

• Unique Boutiques Week: Secrets of Small & Mid-Size Legal Employer Hiring (March 19,12:00PM) 
• Unique Boutiques Week: Boutique Firms, Who We Are & How We Hire networking event (March 20, 5:30PM)
• JD Preferred Series, Session 3: Careers in Compliance & Investigations (March 7, 4:30PM)

* Visit CareerLink for a full listing of Events, Job Postings, and to Schedule a Counseling Session. *

This month the SBA worked on some great things:

SBA Soccer Tournament

The first annual SBA Soccer Tournament, organized by Wellness Chair Steven vonBerg, was a huge success! The soccer tournament was well-attended and very well-received.  Between 40-50 students participated, despite the snow(!) and cold, and everyone had a good time.  Thanks for those of you who came out to participate!

Action Items

The SBA voted to fund three separate alternative spring break trips, as well as to send several moot court teams to competitions across the globe.  We also voted to recognize a new student group - the Brazilian Interest Society.

New SBA Senator

We would also like to welcome our new At Large Senator, Erica Tokar! Erica will serve on the Groups and Organizations Committee.

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Our next meeting will be Tuesday, March 26th at 10:10pm in Room 101. We will also be holding a special meeting to discuss a potential SBA Contribution to the JD Distinguished Fellowship session on March 19th at 10:10pm in Room 101.

Don't forget that Barrister's Ball will be held on April 6, 2013 at the Ronald Reagan Building! Tickets go on sale in the lobby the week after spring break for $40 each.

As always, please reach out to your Senators for more information!