Jenkins Competitors Move to the Quarterfinals

Congratulations to the students in the Jenkins Honors Moot Court Competition who have moved on to the inaugural quarterfinal round of the competition.    The students will be competing on Saturday, April 14 at 1 p.m. to determine who will be advancing to the semifinal round on April 15 at 1:00 p.m.

The teams will be paired as follows:

Emily Gaertner and Jehona Osmani v. Simone Haugen and Anne O’Meara

Olivia Garman and Sarita Olson v. Katie Bakunowicz and Kelsey Stefka

Claudia Ayala Tabares and Alexander Hensley v. Elizabeth Grabow and Zeinat Hindi

Killian Commers and William Ruffing v. Be’Jan Edmonds and Ian Pomplin

Congratulations to all the participants in the competition.  We also very much appreciate the judges who grade briefs and participate in the preliminary rounds.  This year we had two Jenkins alums, Attorneys Lindsey Anderson and Averi Niemuth, judging together in the preliminary rounds.  One of the great things about moot court is how active our alums and volunteers are, and we appreciate their time and assistance every year.

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Playwright Aims to Prod Thinking About the Aftermath of Ferguson

Dael Orlandersmith says she does not have the right to speak for the people who were affected when a police officer, Darren Wilson, shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown on a street in Ferguson, Missouri, on Aug. 9, 2014.

But she can speak about them, and she does want people to think about themselves, their own communities, and the issues that were raised by the Ferguson incident and its powerful aftermath. The St. Louis Repertory Theater invited Orlandersmith, a well-known poet, playwright, and performer from New York City, to create a play focused on Ferguson. That led her to interview dozens of people in Ferguson and to write “Until the Flood,” a play that includes eight characters she sees as composites of people she interviewed.

Orlandersmith is currently performing “Until the Flood” as a one-woman show at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. She described her approach to the play – and more broadly, to her artistic work – in an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program at Eckstein Hall on Thursday.

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Is it Time for More Than Just “Thoughts and Prayers”?

This semester in Professor Lisa Mazzie’s Advanced Legal Writing: Writing for Law Practice seminar, students are required to write one blog post on a law- or law school-related topic of their choice. Writing blog posts as a lawyer is a great way to practice writing skills, and to do so in a way that allows the writer a little more freedom to showcase his or her own voice, and—eventually for these students—a great way to maintain visibility as a legal professional. Here is the first of those blog posts, this one written by 2L Michael Van Kleunen.

Since the high school shooting in Parkside, Florida, we have seen an arguably unprecedented response from citizens and politicians speaking out on the topic of gun control and the extent to which a policy should be implemented. However, the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other gun rights groups have maintained a strong stance against policies that limit the proliferation of guns in the United States, basing their argument on the Second Amendment.

These groups have profoundly affected political rhetoric and the subsequent legislative landscape for decades. Recent polls have shown a majority of Americans would like to see Congress pass some kind of gun control legislation. But why has it taken so long for such policies to move forward? One key reason is the amount of campaign contributions issued to politicians who occupy vital positions that, inherent in their position, facilitate the creation and passing of legislation.

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