Pitt Law eDocket: Volume 5, Issue 11 - November 2, 2009

MARK A. NORDENBERG LECTURE IN LAW, MEDICINE AND PSYCHIATRY

"Direct to Consumer Genetic Testing"

Beth Ann Pischke, Administrative Coordinator

Thursday, November 5, 12:00 p.m., Teplitz Courtroom, School of Law

Dr. Gail H. Javitt, of Counsel, Sidley Austin, and Research Scientist, Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University will be the speaker for the annual Mark A. Nordenberg Lecture in Law, Medicine and Psychiatry. This lecture has been approved by the Pennsylvania Legal Education Board for 1.0 hour of substantive CLE credit. All are welcome to attend.

BARCO LAW LIBRARY

1L Required Career Training

Susanna Leers, Electronic Research and Technical Services Librarian

Next Wednesday, November 4, Career Services is holding mandatory training for all 1Ls on how to use LexisNexis and Westlaw career resources. Note that the training will be in the Teplitz Moot Courtroom on the Ground Floor. The sessions will last for approximately 45 minutes. The schedule is as follows:

Any student who has a schedule conflict may attend any of the sessions. Attendance will be taken.

CAREER SERVICES

Pamela Day, Assistant Dean for Career Services

1L Students--Mandatory Career Services Orientation/Sessions and Individual Consultations

Mandatory Group Orientation Sessions:

The Career Services Office will be holding mandatory Career Services group Orientation Sessions and individual career consultations at the beginning of November for all first-year students to introduce you to the services and resources offered by our office. Before you can take advantage of career counseling sessions, mock interviews, and resume preparation, you must attend a group orientation session and schedule an initial individual consultation. If you have not already done so, you may come to the Career Services Office (Room 235) and schedule your initial consultation. These will be scheduled to begin after your group orientation session. Students who have a primary interest in public interest work or government employment may request (on a space available basis) to have their initial consultation with Mary Thinium, our Director of Career Services and Public Interest Initiatives. Once having participated in the group orientation session and having completed your initial consultation, you are welcome to use all of our services and resources. In conjunction with our office, the library will be holding Westlaw and Lexis Career training sessions (job searching) in November. These sessions are required, and attendance will be taken. Additional information on the times and dates will be announced.

Strategies for Coming Out on Top of the Economy

Wednesday, November 4, The Rivers Club, Oxford Centre, Fourth Floor, 301 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, 3:00-6:00 p.m. (Program), 6:00-7:00 p.m. (Reception and Networking)

This program will provide an opportunity for students to network with attorneys and gain a better understanding of what is going on in the market. The program has been put together for the Pittsburgh business and legal community on the state of the current economy by Heather McAllister, a 2001 graduate of our law school. She recently left her law firm position in Washington, DC, to establish The Flagship Group, Inc. Dean Mary Crossley and Max Miller, Director of Pitt Law's Innovation Practice Institute, are on one of the panels. STUDENT REGISTRATION UPDATE: $15 for Symposium; To register: (1) Stop by the Career Services Office Room 235 and Register (name and e-mail) along with a check ($15.00 made payable to The Flagship Group, Inc.) or cash; or (2) Fill out the form e-mailed earlier with credit card info and faxing (202-204-5198) or scanning and e-mailing it back to info@theflagshipgroupinc.com. If you have any questions, please contact 202-302-6364 or info@theflagshipgroupinc.com. If you would like to travel with a group of students to the program please e-mail pday@pitt.edu and if there is sufficient interest we will set time/place to meet. Please note that you must still register for the program as set forth above.

RSVP Required--1L Resume Writing Workshop

Thursday, November 10, Room 107, 1:00-2:00 p.m.

Objective: to develop a well-tailored resume for use in securing legal employment or an internship
Education: University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Experience: Externships, internships, retail sales, food services

On Tuesday, November 10, from 1:00-2:00 p.m., the CSO will host a resume writing workshop for first-year students. This resume workshop will help you identify what to include on your resume, and how to write it and format it effectively. Following the steps in the workshop will result in a well designed and effective resume. If you have already started or have a resume, the workshop will not only make your resume a better document, but help prepare you for upcoming interviews. If you would like to attend please RSVP to Mary Thinium thinium@pitt.edu. We also encourage you to bring your laptops to this program.

Alumni Career Chat--The Honorable Alan D. Hertzberg

RSVP Required--Signups are limited to 2L/3L students
Thursday, November 12, 12:15-2:00 p.m., Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, 816 City-County Building

Judge Alan Hertzberg, Civil Division, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas invites students to meet with him in his chambers on Thursday, November 12. This "Alumni Career Chat" is part of the partnership between the Career Services Office and the Pitt Law Alumni Association Board: alumni invite students to visit their workplaces to see the law in practice. Judge Hertzberg is a 1983 graduate of Pitt Law. Lunch will be provided and formal business dress is required. Space is limited to the first seven 2L/3L students to sign-up by e-mailing Pam Day at pday@pitt.edu. Please note that by signing up you are making a commitment to attend the event. A member of the CSO staff will also be attending this event so students can elect to travel downtown as a group from the Law School or go directly to the Judge's chambers. When you RSVP, please let us know if you plan to travel with the group or if you will meet us there.

2010 Roscoe Hogan Environmental Law Essay Contest

Jennifer L. Poller, Director of Employer Relations

The Public Justice Foundation is sponsoring the 2010 Roscoe Hogan Environmental Law Essay Contest. The topic is Can Coal Be Clean? Litigation Remedies for Coal Contamination from Mining to Combustion to Sequestration. The intent-to-enter form submission deadline is January 29, and the essay submission deadline is March 31. The link for additional information about the contest is: http://www.publicjustice.net/What-We-Do/Awards/Law-School-Essay-Contest.aspx. If you have any questions, please contact 202-797-8600 or cgoings@publicjustice.net.

REGISTRAR'S OFFICE

Beth Liberatore, Registrar

May 2010 Graduation

Students who are scheduled to graduate in May 2010 can begin to submit graduation applications to the Registrar's Office on Monday, November 2. The deadline for submitting applications without penalty is Wednesday, December 9.

All May graduates (JD, LLM, and MSL) must complete an Application for Graduation. This form is required by the University for any student to graduate. If you are a certificate student, you must write which Certificate Program you are in at the top of the Application for Graduation Form in order to graduate with the certificate. Joint degree students must indicate their joint degree at the top of the form. Joint Degree students must also apply for graduation at the other school where they are pursuing their joint degree in order to be awarded the degree from that school in addition to the JD degree. If you do not apply at both schools, you will not graduate.

All JD students are also required to download the Graduation Requirements Checklist from the Registrar's web page, complete it and submit it with your Application for Graduation. Graduation Requirements and the Graduation Requirements Checklist are on the Registrar's web page. There is also a link to the University's website there that contains the Graduation Application which you will also need to download, complete and submit to the Registrar's Office: http://www.law.pitt.edu/registrar/graduation.

You should be using PeopleSoft to help you complete the graduation requirements checklist.  You will notice that a lot of the detail is on the system for both the JD requirements as well as the certificate programs. However, we are still in the process of developing and testing Graduate Advisement in PeopleSoft and that this is not yet completed. You may find things that you have questions about that may appear to be a discrepancy. In order to develop and test this functionality, we had to do it in the PeopleSoft production environment. The information on the Law School website for graduation is what you should use to determine that you have met the requirements. If you have any questions, please contact the Law School Registrar's Office. If you are enrolled in a certificate program, you can also use the requirements information that is now in PeopleSoft to assist you in determining if your certificate program requirements have been met.

There is no charge to apply for graduation. However, if you do not submit the necessary paperwork by the deadline, the University will assess escalating fees to apply for graduation after the deadline has passed.

First-Year Undergraduate Transcripts

In order to comply with ABA regulations, the Law School Registrar's Office must have on file a final, official transcript with your degree posted. The copy included in your LSDAS report is not official, and does not fulfill this ABA requirement. If have not already done so, please request your official transcript with your degree posted as soon as possible be sent to:

University of Pittsburgh
School of Law
Registrar's Office
3900 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Students whose transcript the Registrar's Office has not yet received have been notified. Any student who does not have a final official transcript on file will not get registered for the spring term until your transcript is received. Registrations for the spring term will be processed and entered in PeopleSoft during the month of November. The final date for continuing students to register for the spring term, without being charged a late fee by the University, is Friday, December 11.

STUDENT NOTICES

Careers in Tax Law Panel

Professor Infanti

Thursday, November 12, 12:00-2:00 p.m., Alcoa Room

You are invited to attend a "Careers in Tax Law" Panel on Thursday, November 12, from 12:00-2:00 p.m. in the Alcoa Room. Panelists:  Christine B. Bowers, Deloitte Tax LLP; Seth I. Corbin, Fox Rothschild LLP; Nancy W. Puleo, Alcoa, Inc.; and Edward F. Peduzzi, Jr., Internal Revenue Service. The speakers will describe the nature of their practices in these different settings and will leave time at the end of their presentations for discussion and questions. The panelists generally speak on how they pursued their careers, pitfalls they may have encountered, and any advice they may have for the law students interested in pursuing a career in tax law. Lunch will be served. Please contact Yolanda Lee, Membership and Marketing Manager, to RSVP or if you have questions or need further information, at leey@staff.abanet.org or 202-662-8680.

The Lessons From The Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings

Phil Davis, President, Pitt Law Federalist Society

Thursday, November 5, 1:00-2:00 p.m., Room 113

Mere months after taking office, President Obama was presented with his first opportunity to fill a Supreme Court vacancy. What does President Obama's selection of Judge (now Justice) Sonia Sotomayor portend for any future vacancies? What lessons about the broader battle over the role of the courts are to be drawn from the confirmation process and from Judge Sotomayor's hearing testimony? What kind of Supreme Court justice will she be, and how will she affect the Court?  Commentary will be provided by Professor Hellman after the speech. Lunch will be served. Ed Whelan is the President, Ethics & Public Policy Center; the Primary contributor, National Review Online's Bench Memos blog; and a Former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Staughton and Alice Lynd--"Stepping Stones:  Memoir of a Life Together"

Professor Lobel

Thursday, November 5, 4:00 p.m., History Department Lounge, 3703 Posvar Hall

Staughton Lynd was an adjunct professor of law at Pitt Law in the 1980's and his wife Alice Lynd is a Pitt Law alumnus who graduated in 1984. Staughton is one of the most prominent rank and file labor lawyers of the last few decades, and had a very prominent career as a history professor at Yale and a political activist before going into law. The two have worked as a team for many years, and have recently published a memoir. They will be speaking about their memoir, Thursday, November 5, at 4 pm in the History Department Lounge, Room 3703 Posvar Hall.

The Working Class History Seminar, with the Law School and the Battle of Homestead Foundation, present Staughton and Alice Lynd,who will meet with us to discuss their new memoir about their lives of courageous activism.

Stepping Stones is a joint memoir by two longtime participants in movements for social change in the United States. Staughton and Alice Lynd have worked for racial equality, against war, with workers and prisoners, and against the death penalty. Coming from similar ethical backgrounds but with very different personalities, the Lynds spent three years in an intentional community in Northeast Georgia during the 1950s. There they experienced a way of living that they later sought to carry into the larger society. Both were educated to be teachers-Staughton as a professor of history and Alice as a teacher of preschool children. But both sought to address the social problems of their times through more than their professions. After being involved in the Southern civil rights movement and the movement against the war in Vietnam in the 1960s, both Staughton and Alice became lawyers. In the Youngstown, Ohio, area they helped workers to create a variety of rank-and-file organizations. After retirement, they became advocates for prisoners who were sentenced to death or confined under super maximum security conditions. Through trips to Central America in the 1980s, Staughton and Alice became familiar with the concept of accompaniment. To them, accompaniment means placing themselves at the side of the poor and oppressed, not as dispensers of charity or as guilty fugitives from the middle class, but as equals in a joint process to which each person brings an essential kind of expertise. Throughout, the Lynds, who became Quakers in the early 1960s, have been committed to nonviolence. Their story will encourage young people seeking lives of public service in the cause of creating a better world.

Important Payroll Holiday Break Deadlines--Time Sheets for November AND December

Kimberly A. Carson, Administrative Coordinator

The time sheet deadline for the month of November is no later than noon on Monday, November 9. You may turn in your time sheets to the front desk receptionist in Room 202. Paychecks will be ready for pick up after 12:00 p.m. on Monday, November 30 in Room 202.

The time sheet deadline for the month of December (hours accumulated between Monday, November 9-Friday, November 20) is no later than noon on Monday, November 23. You may turn in your time sheets to the front desk receptionist in Room 202. Paychecks will be ready for pick up after 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 16 in Room 202.

As a reminder, time sheets MUST have supervisor's signature and be turned in by the designated due date. Hours turned in after the designated due date will be paid the following month.

POSITIONS AVAILABLE

Tutoring Elementary and High School Students in East Liberty

Professor Luneburg

Each year the East End Cooperative Ministry runs a tutoring program for elementary, middle and high school students (from the Pittsburgh public schools) at the East Liberty Presbyterian Church on Highland Avenue in East Liberty. Over the years many law students from Pitt have volunteered one hour of their time each week during the semester to work with a student. (The tutoring program operates Tuesday through Thursday between 3:30-7:30 p.m.) The subject matters for tutoring vary depending on the grade level of the student and the student needs; and, for most tutoring, you really don't have to be an expert in any particular area. If you are interested in the opportunity, you should contact Brad Yoder at 412-361-0450 or at tutoring@bradyoder.com.

CONTESTS, COMPETITIONS & SPECIAL PROGRAMS

See Angela Scolieri in Room 202 for more detailed information:

• The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers announces the Third Annual Writing Competition for law students. Topic: Any aspect of domestic public or private labor or employment law. Students are encouraged to present (a) a public policy issue; (b) practical implications of a leading case or doctrine; (c) comment on a statute or the need for a statutory modification; and (d) comment on a common law doctrine. Deadline: Postmarked by May 1, or e-mailed by May 14. Prizes: First Prize: $1,500; Second Prize: $1,000; Third Prize: $500.
• The Theodore Tannenwald Jr. Foundation for Excellence in Tax Scholarship, Inc. announces the 2010 Tannenwald Writing Competition. Topic: Any federal or state-related topic in accordance with the competition rules. Deadline: July 1, 2010. Prizes: $5,000, $2,500 and $1,500 for three top papers submitted.
• The Roscoe Hogan Environmental Law Essay Contest is currently seeking submissions. Topic: Can Coal Be Clean? Litigation Remedies for Coal Contamination from Mining to Combustion to Sequestration. Deadline: Intent to participate-January 29. Submission deadline-March 31. Prizes: $5,000 to winning essay.