Lenich Discusses County Court Process with Lincoln Journal Star
17 May 2016
Professor John Lenich responded to a Lincoln Journal Star editorial board proposal regarding medical debt collection. Lenich proposes that rather than raising filing fees, the courts consider increasing the allowable wage garinshment amounts.Read full article.
Shoemaker Elected to the Center for Great Plains Studies Board of Governors
10 May 2016
Professor Jessica Shoemaker was recently elected by the fellows of the Center for Great Plains Studies to serve a three-year term on the Center's Board of Governors. The Center for Great Plains Studies is focused on the study of the people and environment of the Great Plains. The Center publishes two different journals, presents regular interdisciplinary leactures and symposia, and operates a host of scholarly and outreach projects, including the Great Plains Art Museum in downtown Lincoln, the PLains Humanities Alliance and a graduate student, faculty, and community fellows program.
Nebraska Law Named in Top LL.M. Programs for Career Opportunities and Value
06 May 2016
Nebraska Law has been named one of the top LL.M. programs for career opportunities, and one of the top LL.M. programs for value in the most recent edition of International Jurist.Ratings for LL.M. programs with excpetional career opportunities were determined by job placement rate, job search help and networking opportunities. They also take into account practical experiences such as clinics, externships and law journals.
Ratings for the top value LL.M. programs were determined by evaluating tuition cost, the cost of living, and scholarship availabilty. The net cost of each school was then balanced against the quality of the school's academics and the overall law school experience.
Learn more about Nebraska Law's LL.M. programs on our website.
Medill's Article Accepted by Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal
18 Apr 2016
Professor Colleen Medill’s article, Comparing ERISA and Fair Labor Standards Act Claims Under the Affordable Care Act, has been accepted for publication by the Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal. The article explains how the employer mandate under the Affordable Care Act creates incentives for retaliatory employment actions by employers, and then compares and contrasts the strategic advantages and disadvantages of asserting employee claims under ERISA Section 510 and Fair Labor Standards Act Section 18C. The article concludes by discussing the major factors that initially should be evaluated for each type of claim when determining the plaintiff’s litigation strategy.
Neilsen Wins American Bar Association Forum on Construction Student Writing Competition
18 Apr 2016
Jeremy Neilsen, 3L, won the 2015 American Bar Association Forum on Construction Student Writing Competition with his paper 21st Century Application of the Spearin Doctrine. Neilsen will be recognized at the Forum's annual meeting and in their newsletter, Under Construction.Nate Bray, 3L, was named a finalist and received second place in the same writing competition with his paper Project Counsel in an Online Construction Industry.
Schmidt Wins 2015-16 Louis Jackson National Student Memorial Writing Competition in Employment and Labor Law
15 Apr 2016
Chris Schmidt, 3L, won the 2015-2016 Louis Jackson National Memorial Student Writing Competition with his paper A Ticket to Free Ride? Not so Fast: Members-Only Collective Bargaining as a Possible State Response to a Judically Recognized Right to Work. The competition, sponsored by national labor and employment law firm Jackson Lewis is administered by IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law's Institute of Law and the Workplace. Schmidt's paper is available on the competition website.
Blankley Receives Public Policy Center Grant
14 Apr 2016
Professor Kristen Blankley was recently awarded a $5,000 grant to work with the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center on the project “Using Motivational Interviewing to Enhance Autonomy, Trust, and Parenting Plan Effectiveness.” In the project, Professor Blankley and the Public Policy Center will train local mediators on the techniques of motivational interviewing and determine whether these skills enhance the mediation process in cases under the Nebraska Parenting Act.
Denicola's Article Accepted by Rutgers University Law Review
11 Apr 2016
Professor Robert Denicola's article, Ex Machina: Copyright Protection for Computer-Generated Works, has been accepted by the Rutgers University Law Review.Many of the sports and financial news stories on the Internet are written by computers. Computers also draw, paint, and compose music. Copyright law requires an identifiable human author because authors own copyrights and computers do not possess the personhood necessary to own property. The Copyright Office and some courts and commentators go further, demanding that the copyrightable expression in a work emanate from a human being. That requirement denies the incentive of copyright to an increasingly large group of works that are indistinguishable from works created by human beings. The article argues that a computer user who initiates the creation of computer-generated expression should be recognized as the author and copyright owner of the resulting work.
Thimmesch's Article Accepted by Denver Law Review
07 Apr 2016
Professor Adam Thimmesch's article, Transacting in Data: Tax, Privacy, and the New Economy, has been accepted for publication by the Denver Law Review. The article evaluates how the collection and use of personal information in today's economy intersect with our domestic tax instruments. That analysis provides insights into how our tax systems might react to the new data economy and into how our nation's tax laws might act to discourage innovations to the internet ecosystem that would be more protective of personal-privacy interests.
Stohs' Article Accepted by New York Law School Law Review
05 Apr 2016
Professor Brett Stohs has continued to research interests in the application of electronic mind mapping to clinical legal education. His manuscript, “Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave: Mind Mapping as Creative Spark to Optimize Student & Client Assignments in a Transactional Clinic,” has been accepted for publication in the New York Law School Law Review as part of its special issue on how clinics and experiential learning have developed into an integral part of modern legal education. He continues to use this innovative tool to improve learning outcomes for students and clients who participate in the Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic.
Nebraska Law Professors Speak Around the World
04 Apr 2016
Professor Sandra Zellmer presented Facing Floods and Climate Change While Reforming Disaster Law at the University of Missouri Life Sciences & Society Program 12th Annual Symposium on March 7, 2016. Zellmer also presented at the UNL Honors College Colloquium: Discussions of Science and Public Policy.On March 16, 2016, Professor Frans von der Dunk spoke at the 2nd ICAO/UNOOSA Symposium in Abu Dhabi. The presentation outlined the definition of "Space Object" in the context of impending private commercial spaceflight operations. On March 17, 2016, von der Dunk led a session at the Young Lawyers Symposium organized by the European Center of Space Law (ECSL). Finally, on March 18, 2016, von der Dunk co-chaired the ECSL's Practitioners' Forum, discussing the explotation of natural resources in outer space.
Professor Brett Stohs hosted a brief presentation at the Southeast Community College Entrepreneurship Center. The weekly coffee is an opportunity for small business owners, startup owners and companies that serve small businesses to come together for a brief presentation and relaxed networking.
Professor Jessica Shoemaker spoke at Harvard Law School's "Just Food? Forum on Land Use, Rights and Ecology" on Friday, March 26, 2016. Shoemaker presented as part of the "Native American Law Rights Panel". The panel incorporated a range of perspectives, including experts engaged in Navajo Nation food policy specifically as well as UN-level work on food security and cultural land relationships around the Arctic Circle with the Inuit Circumpolar Council. Shoemaker spoke specifically on U.S. federal policy in American Indian land tenure—both historically and currently--and discussed strategies for grassroots property reforms going forward.
Professor Anthony Schutz presented "The Nebraska Constitution" at the Center of Great Plains Studies on March 16, 2016. The discussion examined the complex relationship between constitutional change and its impact on public policy.
As part of Nebraska Law’s Space, Cyber and Telecommunications Law LL.M. program outreach in space education, Professor Schaefer guest lectured or taught a mini-course on regulating and incentivizing commercial space activities at three law schools in January and February 2016 with space law and aerospace industry interest. The lectures/mini-courses, some in-person and some online, focused on three problem sets – one involving liability issues, one involving space debris remediation, and one involving asteroid mining with litigation, negotiation, and legislation modules. Professor Schaefer previously taught a similar mini-course at Washington University in St. Louis in September 2014.
In March, Professor Bill Lyons taught a course in United States individual income taxation at the International Tax Center at the University of Leiden. Lyons has been teaching at the International Tax Center for several years.
Professor Rick Duncan gave several presentations this quarter. The first, Is the University Still a Free Market for Ideas: Free Speech vs. Censorship on Campus, was on March 1, 2016 at the University of Kentucky Law School. Duncan also presented Hobby Lobby Round Two: Can The Little Sisters of the Poor Knock Out the Contracecptive Mandate, at New York University Law School on March 7, 2016. Professor Duncan gave the same presentation at Cornell Law School on March 22, 2016.
Professor Kristen Blankley presented as part of the Continuing Legal Education Seminiar The Development of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct and Ethical Implications for Transactional Attorneys at Creighton University School of Law. As part of the symposium, Blankley discussed the ethical issues involved in advising clients in ADR options.
Heiliger Awarded Koley Jessen Entrepreneurship Award
01 Apr 2016
The Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic Board of Advisors named Jordan Heiliger the 2016 recipient of the Koley Jessen Entrepreneurship Award.
Heiliger will graduate in May with the Class of 2016. During her time at Nebraska Law, Heiliger served on the Faculty Honor Committee; was the president of the Environmental and Agricultural Law Society; appeals president for the Student Bar Association; a member of the Client Counseling Competition Board; a College of Law student ambassador; and spent the fall semester as a student attorney in the Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic.
The Koley Jessen Entrepreneurship Award was established to recognize Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic students who have demonstrated exceptional legal skills, provided outstanding service to clients and furthered the mission of the Clinic. The firm was founded in 1988 with a vision of creating an environment that would foster trust and teamwork. Through the years, their guiding principles of integrity, client focus, and integrity have created the environment they envisioned years ago. Don Swanson, a partner in that firm, was instrumental in creating the endowed fund for this award.
Dawes, '06, Publishes Book About the Affordable Care Act
30 Mar 2016
Daniel E. Dawes, '06, recently published a book: 150 Years of ObamaCare. In the book, Dawes explores the secret backstory of the Affordable Care Act, shedding light on the creation and implementation of the greatest and most sweeping equalizer in the history of American health care. The book provides an insider's perspective on the contemporary understandings of health reform.An instrumental player in a large coalition of organizations that helped shape ObamaCare, Dawes tells the story of the Affordable Care Act with urgency and intimate detail. The book explains the law through a health equity lens, focusing on what it is meant to do and how it affects various groups.
Daniel E. Dawes is a nationally recognized leader in the health equity movement and has led numerous efforts to address health policy issues impacting vulnerable, underserved, and marginalized populations. He is a health care attorney and administrator, and serves as the executive director of government affairs and health policy at Morehouse School of Medicine. He is also a lecturer of health law and policy at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute.
Seeley's Fictional Story Published in The Long Story
21 Mar 2016
Michael Seeley, 3L, wrote a fictional story as his final project for Professor Dooling's Law and Literature class. His story of a British naval court-martial in Napoleonic-era Europe was accepted by The Long Story, a North American literary magazine that publishes novella-length pieces. Seeley's story, The Grey Shore of Conscience, was accepted for the 2016 issue.
Blankley's Article Published in Conjunction with Creighton Law Review Symposium
21 Mar 2016
Assistant Professor Kristen Blankey's paper, The Ethics and Practice of Drafting Pre-Dispute Resolution Clauses, will be published in the Creighton Law Review in conjunction with the Symposium on "The Development of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct and Ethical Implications for Transactional Attorneys." Blankley's paper considers the ethical issues surrounding alternative dispute resolution processes and working with corporate clients in drafting such clauses. The paper covers both ethical and practical aspects of these issues.
Brummond, '03, Named Nebraska Alumni Association Early Achiever
21 Mar 2016
Assistant Dean for Student and Alumni Relations & Annual Giving, Molly Brummond, was named a 2016 Early Achiever by the Nebraska Alumni Association. Molly oversees student organizations, develops programs, and devotes time to alumni programming and outreach. Upon her graduation from law school, with distinction, Molly entered private practice with the firm of Baylor Evnen Curtiss Grimit & Witt, LLP. After several other career opportunities, she returned to the College of Law in 2010. Brummond also chairs the board of directors for the Food Bank of Lincoln and Southeast Nebraska, and is an adviser for the UNL chapter of Phi Mu, a volunteer for CEDARS Youth Services and a board member for Kidzone. Molly and her husband, Jameson, have two sons, Brooks and Reis.
Interim Dean Moberly Digs into the Numbers Behind the U.S. News & World Report Rankings
17 Mar 2016
The University of Nebraska College of Law ranked 57th in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of law schools published this week. I want to highlight some key statistics provided in the report, because I think those numbers demonstrate that Nebraska Law students get terrific results from their education for a comparatively low cost.
Two numbers provided by U.S. News should be paramount to law students and prospective law students: job placement rate and bar passage rate. These numbers best reflect the quality of education a law school provides. Nebraska Law’s rates in both of those categories (87.2% and 90.4%, respectively) place it in the top 30 law schools in the country.
Importantly, Nebraska Law achieves these results while charging the lowest tuition rate among schools U.S. News ranked in the top 100. Our combination of successful outcomes and low tuition is why National Jurist Magazine rated Nebraska Law the No. 1 Best Value law school in the United States. Our students graduate with the fourth-lowest debt load in the country, pass the bar, and start real legal jobs where they put their legal education to work.
The consistency of our overall ranking over the last three years is good given that prospective students consider it as they select a law school. Nevertheless, as you may know, the methodology that creates these rankings is flawed. For example, the U.S. News methodology undervalues results: the job placement rate and bar passage rate I mention above together count for only 20 percent of a school’s total score. “Reputation” and incoming class statistics count for 65 percent of a school’s ranking, although they arguably have little to do with the quality of education a student receives once on campus. The ranking takes into account what schools spend on their services, but does not consider what students spend on tuition.
If you care about outcomes and value, U.S. News can tell you a great deal about the education one might receive at a law school. You just have to look deeper than the final rankings, compare schools based on what they produce by looking at bar passage and job placement, and then look up how much they charge for those results. I am very pleased to report that those metrics demonstrate that Nebraska Law continues to provide real value to its students.
Richard Moberly
Interim Dean
Medill's Article Accepted by Iowa Law Review
17 Mar 2016
Professor Colleen Medill’s article, Regulating ERISA Fiduciary Outsourcing, has been accepted for publication in Volume 102 of the Iowa Law Review. Professor Medill’s interest in the outsourcing of fiduciary functions by employers who sponsor benefit plans for their employees dates back to June of 2014, when she was asked to testify on current industry trends and emerging legal issues by the Department of Labor’s ERISA Advisory Council. The Council’s final report to the Secretary of Labor, which can be found here highlighted her testimony as particularly relevant and helpful to the Council.
The abstract below describes the content of the article:
Pension and welfare benefit plans sponsored by private employers are big business. The sponsorship of these plans is the most heavily tax-subsidized private economic activity in the entire federal budget, with an estimated loss in federal tax revenues due to special tax breaks of over $1.485 trillion for the budget period 2014-2018. In exchange for these special tax breaks, the federal government heavily regulates these private plans. To cope with the complexity, employers increasingly hire outside professional fiduciaries to run their employee benefit plans so that they can concentrate on running their businesses. Although this outsourcing of plan management and administrative functions is now widespread, almost no federal regulation applies to these fiduciary outsourcing arrangements. As evidenced by a 2014 report issued by the Department of Labor's ERISA Advisory Council, both employers and the professional fiduciary services industry want and need more guidance in the form of regulation. The need for regulation has become even more urgent in light of the Supreme Court’s subsequent 2015 decision in Tibble v. Edison International, which further encourages employers to outsource plan asset management functions. This Article explains and analyzes the unresolved issues that have emerged in this complex area of law and proposes specific solutions to better regulate fiduciary outsourcing arrangements.
Nebraska Law to Co-Sponsor Panel at the Space Foundation’s Annual Symposium
11 Mar 2016
Together with the Space Foundation, and Holland & Hart law firm, Nebraska Law is co-sponsoring a commercial space law panel at the 32nd Annual National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs on April 14, 2016. The commercial space law panel is titled, “Congress, the Executive Branch and Industry: Regulating In-Space Activities, Property Rights, Human Space Flight, Space Traffic Management and Orbital Debris.” Speakers will include Dr. George Nield, Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation – FAA; Dr. Alice Bunn, Director of Policy - UK Space Agency; Mike Gold, Director of DC Operations and Business Growth – Bigelow Aerospace; Peter Marquez, Vice-President Global Engagement – Planetary Resources, and Nebraska Law’s Professor Matthew Schaefer, who helped organize the panel along with Holland & Hart.
Professor Schaefer previously spoke at the Space Foundation’s Space Technology and Investment Forum in San Francisco in September 2015.
Professor Schaefer Guest Lectures Nationally
11 Mar 2016
Professor Schaefer Guest Lectures at UC-Irvine, Univ. of San Diego, and Univ. of Miami Law Schools on Commercial Space Law in Winter 2016
As part of Nebraska Law’s Space, Cyber and Telecommunications Law LL.M. program outreach in space education, Professor Schaefer guest lectured or taught a mini-course on regulating and incentivizing commercial space activities at three law schools in January and February 2016 with space law and aerospace industry interest. The lectures/mini-courses, some in-person and some online, focused on three problem sets – one involving liability issues, one involving space debris remediation, and one involving asteroid mining with litigation, negotiation, and legislation modules. Professor Schaefer previously taught a similar mini-course at Washington University in St. Louis in September 2014.