The Red Velvet Lawyer

The Last 18 Months: Transition Back to the US, Into Retirement, During a Pandemic In January 2021, Qatar University College of Law advised that it would apply the Qatari retirement cap of 65 years and not renew my contract.  QU had waved the retirement cap for two years.  Even so, the news made me very sad (and a bit angry).  I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Qatar and my job as a clinical professor of law teaching college-level law students.  I loved my expat friends, my students, and all of my QU faculty colleagues.   The news forced me to plan my move back to the US.  Before the pandemic started, I had planned to retire to Chiang Mai, Thailand, a northern university town, with an ancient moat, ring roads, and elephant rescue parks to the north in the mountains.    When the country closed its borders, I considered other countries that offered retirement visas without me having to return to the US to begin the process.  I looked at Malaysia an...

This summer, I will serve as the Faculty Supervisor for our students working as externs in Kentucky.  I have played this role for our Kentucky students three summers in a row.  One year, I also covered southwest Virginia nearly to the Cumberland Gap. I love exploring the towns and cities in the area we serve as a law school.  I love meeting the prosecutors, attorneys general, public defenders, judges, Legal Service, and other pubic service attorneys that host our students and serve as their site supervisors.  I love talking with these folks about our well-trained rising 2L students who must complete the externship as part of our educational program.  I also love interacting in my Dispute Resolution course with these more savvy, world-tested lawyers-in-training.  I know they bring a level of confidence and experience to the course that elevates our conversations. The Appalachian School of Law recently completed a couple of videos describing the externs...