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Two hundred eleven Notre Dame Law School (NDLS) 2Ls (49%) and 3Ls (51%) responded to the 2011 Summer Research Experience Survey conducted from October 10th through 14th by the Research Department. This was a response rate of 46%. The annual survey helps the legal research instructors assess whether our students have the research skills to successfully compete with other law students in summer jobs. Legal research instructors Dwight King, Chris O’Byrne, Patti Ogden, and Warren Rees are proud that, over the years, NDLS students have reported confidence in their research skills, with many rating their skills as better than those of students from other schools. Here are a few highlights.

Margaret M. (“Peggy”) J.D. ’79, has been given a warm tribute by the quarterly journal Directors & Boards.

The special feature article called Foran, the chief governance officer and corporate secretary of Prudential Financial, “the rare individual who has earned the respect of all constituencies in the ongoing governance debates.”

The University of Notre Dame has been selected as the U.S. partner in a British Leverhulme Trust initiative to take part in an international network considering the intersection of families and the state from interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives.

Professor Margaret Brinig, the Fritz Duda Family Chair in Law, has been asked by the British participants to direct and organize the third of the project’s four workshops. In making the appointment, the Trust noted that Professor Brinig is well known for her interdisciplinary and empirical focus and for her experience in international family law organizations. The workshop will take place at Notre Dame and involve principals from the U.K. and Australia as well as a number of scholars from Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters and family law experts from around the U.S. to be selected by Professor Brinig.

Due to Bank of America’s plan to charge a $5 fee for debit card users starting in January 2012, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Con-sumer Protection Act, Pub. L. No. 111-203, 124 Stat. 1376 (2010) has been back in the news again lately.

What does, Dodd-Frank have to do with debit cards? Quite a bit, due to Senator Dick Durbin’s (D- IL.) amendment which lowered the ―interchange fees‖ that banks can charge retailers for debit trans-actions: > Read More

Liz Hurley, St. Joseph County Deputy Prosecutor, has been selected as magistrate judge in Mishawaka, Indiana for St. Joseph Circuit Court. Hurley has been a deputy prosecutor for 10 years.

Since joining NDLS in 2000, Bellia has become well known to students for teaching popular courses in Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, and Cyberlaw, and to colleagues for being among the faculty’s best scholars (she has published numerous articles on Internet law and separation of powers and is the co-author of a leading cyberlaw casebook).

Perhaps less well known is that she is also in her third year as the University’s Faculty Athletics Representative to the NCAA and Chair of the University’s 15-member Faculty Board on Athletics. In that role, Bellia oversees the principal advisory group to the President on educational issues related to intercollegiate athletics. She also works closely with the football, volleyball, and women’s tennis programs as each team’s faculty liaison.

To recognize her for outstanding contributions to the academic performance of Notre Dame student-athletes, athletics director Jack Swarbrick surprised Bellia with an honorary Monogram at the Notre Dame Football Awards Show December 9 in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

Joining Swarbrick on stage for the presentation were Monogram Club president Dick Nussbaum (‘74, ’77), executive director Beth Hunter, Bellia’s husband, A.J., and daughters, Kate and Molly. > Read More

Professor Donald Kommers has been awarded a yearlong Emeritus Fellowship from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to study Germany’s postwar constitutional order.

The Emeritus Fellowships honor faculty across the United States who, after their official retirements, continue “active and productive” scholarship in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.

Professor Kommers’ project will examine the country’s constitution, called the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, within the framework of Germany’s political development from 1949 to the present. > Read the full story

The insanity defense: Defendants in two high-profile local cases to make an argument lawyers say rarely wins (Quoting Jimmy Gurulé) South Bend Tribune, December 10, 2011

Professor Paolo Carozza participated in the Second Seminar of the Catholic-Muslim Forum on November 21 – 23, held at the site of Jesus’ baptism in Jordan.

Carozza was one of 24 Catholics invited to attend the seminar by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, headed by Cardinal Jean-François Tauran. Twenty-four prominent Muslim religious leaders and scholars also attended, led by H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan.

The First Seminar, whose theme was “Love of God, Love of Neighbour: The Dignity of the Human Person and Mutual Respect,” took place in Rome in 2008. This year’s theme was “Reason, Faith, and the Human Person.” > Read More

John Wingerter has been promoted to a director position at Cohen & Grisby. Wingerter is a member of the Business Group and assists clients with mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, private equity and mezzanine financing transactions.

Following past practice, the library has opened Room 3331 in Biolchini Hall of Law for take home exams. The room will remain open beginning today through the exam period.…

Professor Mary Ellen O’Connell has agreed to participate in a bipartisan, off-the-record, bicameral staff briefing in the Capitol Visitor Center on the use of armed drones in conflict areas. At the December 9 briefing, Prof. O’Connell will be asked to discuss the current use of drones, the legal and ethical ramifications of the technology’s use, and the future of drone warfare from a strategic and moral perspective.

Diane M. Haller, a partner at Quarles & Brady LLP, has been named chair of national Real Estate Practice. Haller’s practice focuses on commercial real estate development.

Professor O. Carter Snead will discuss his essay "Cognitive Neuroscience and the Future of Punishment" at a Judicial Issues Forum at the Brookings Institution December 13 at 10 a.m.

To examine the challenge of adapting our constitutional values to future technology that was unimaginable at the time of the nation’s founding, the conference will consider the scenarios posed by Professor Snead and other contributors to the book Constitution 3.0: Freedom and Technological Change (Brookings Institution Press, 2011). Read More

Dylan Johnson is an associate in the natural resources group at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

Susan Brichler Trujillo, an associate at Quarles & Brady in Phoenix, has been appointed to the Community Legal Services board of directors by the State Bar of Arizona’s board of governors. Trujillo practices in the areas of health law and litigation.

Sofía Galván Puente, a 2009 graduate of Notre Dame Law School’s LL.M. degree program in international human rights law, will receive the National Youth Award of 2011 for Human Rights. The award recognizes Mexican youth “whose career trajectory, commitment, or study brings honor to their generation and inspires individual or community progress.” Mexican President Felipe Calderon will personally present Ms. Galván with the award, a gold medal, in December 2011.

Due to anticipated high demand, you may not reserve a study room from Monday, December 5, through Friday, December 16 more than one day in advance. On any day during this period, you may reserve a room for that day or for the following day, but not beyond that. You can make same-day or next-day reservations online at the Circulation Desk. Study rooms will be left unlocked from 10 p.m. until 8:00 a.m. the next day. If you are in an unlocked room for which you have an 8:00 a.m. reservation, you must go to the Circulation Desk at 8:00 a.m. to retrieve the key.

Patrick A. Salvi has been promoted to partner at Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. Patrick has also been named to Law Bulletin Publishing Company’s 2011 “40 Under Forty” Illinois list recognizing up and coming lawyers.

Ophelia Camiña, J.D. ’82, is the subject of a feature story in the 2011 Texas Super Lawyers Magazine. Ms. Camiña, who took trial advocacy with Professor James Seckinger, is now a partner with Susman Godfrey LLP, where she specializes in business litigation.

The magazine profile notes that Ms. Camiña’s trial victories include Dilliard’s v. i2 Technologies, Inc. The $238 million jury verdict awarded in that case ranks among the Top 10 Jury Verdicts in the United States for 2010.

James D. Friedman of Quarles & Brady LLP has been named by Wisconsin Super Lawyers as among the top attorneys in Wisconsin for 2011.

Julie Veldman, J.D. ’11, and Carolyn Wendel, J.D. ’11, have joined Barnes & Thornburg LLP’s Chicago, Ill., office.

Why contraception mandate should be scrapped — (Opinion: by Richard Garnett) USA Today, November 27, 2011

Thomas, Kagan asked to sit out health care case — (quotes: Richard Garnett) AP, November 26, 2011

The NBA Players Could Win – But it isn’t Likely
Forbes
Also, notes antitrust expert Joseph Bauer, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, part of the players’ suit was filed in California’s 9th Circuit, …

NBA lockout: Law professor predicts players’ union to file more …
Los Angeles Times
Below are excepts of an interview with Notre Dame law professor Joseph Bauer on the NBA players’ union filing antitrust lawsuits against the league. …

Beginning Monday, November 28th, the Circulation Desk will take reservations for laptops that are on Reserve. Reservations will be taken on a first come, first served basis. During the exam period December 9 through December 16, laptops will be available only for Electronic Bluebook and there will be no overnight circulation of the laptops. Because of the limited number of loaner laptops available, we request that you do not reserve a laptop as back up for your personal laptop.

Student Assistants in the Library – what exactly do they do? The students working in Access Services are law students and undergraduates who perform many crucial tasks. They assist at the Circulation Desk, checking books in and out retrieving reserve materials. They also do shelf-reading to make sure every book is where it should be, and search for books that aren’t. Meet the Students

Supreme Court Takes On Obamacare Challenge – Forbes
Source: forbes.com

The Supreme Court takes on the case of whether Obamacare is constitutional, with all of its political ramifications.

Patrick A. Salvi, J.D. ’78, has been presented with the 2011 Career Achievement Award by Cook County’s Jury Verdict Reporter and the Law Bulletin Publishing Company.

The Award is presented to lawyers who have secured at least five Illinois civil jury verdicts of at least $5 million (not counting settlements and bench trials).

The Award was presented at the Cook County Jury Verdict Reporter’s annual Awards for Trial Lawyer Excellence at the University Club in Chicago October 26.

An adjunct professor of law at Notre Dame, Mr. Salvi is the managing equity partner of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, the Chicago and Waukegan, Illinois, firm he established in 1982.

More information about Mr. Salvi is available here.