The Red Velvet Lawyer

The Appalachian School of Law's Innocence Project The Appalachian School of Law established a local chapter of the Innocence Project in 2012.   Mission Statement The website of the national organization explains its mission: The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University to assist prisoners who could be proven innocent through DNA testing. To date, more than 300 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 18 who served time on death row. These people served an average of 13 years in prison before exoneration and release.  The Innocence Project’s full-time staff attorneys and Cardozo clinic students provide direct representation or critical assistance in most of these cases. The Innocence Project’s groundbreaking use of DNA technology to free innocent people has provided irrefutable proof that wrongful convictions are not isolate...

The Appalachian School of Law  Softball Team The Appalachian School of Law Softball Team (ASLST) has two purposes: To organize and run the ASLST for the benefit and enjoyment of all the members of the ASL community who wish to participate; and To organize and run the ASLST, which participates in the Annual University of Virginia School of Law Softball Invitational in Charlottesville, VA.  The current members of the ASLST choose new members twice a year.  Members must be students (and not alumni) and they pay an annual dues of $10.  While the organization's Constitution contains a non-discrimination clause, it still reserves the right to base selections for this athletic team based on the ability to perform the activities related to the group's purpose.  The Executive Officers choose the final team roster for the tournaments. They consider skill, ability, attitude, participation, and team need. The organization has two r...

Appalachian School of Law Students  Help Build the Great Eastern Trail Students at the Appalachian School of Law organized to help with the title work associated with building the Great Eastern Trail Project . In August of 2007, the trail groups involved in the effort incorporated as the Great Eastern Trail Association and held an organizational meeting in Virginia in November of 2007. Project organizers intend to establish an organizational structure that will encompass the entire length of the trail and to begin filling in the gaps in the trail. About the GET Project The Great Eastern Trail (GET) Association, working with American Hiking Society and local trail partners, is creating America's newest long-distance hiking trail.  This path runs for 1800 miles across nine states.  It runs roughly parallel to the Appalachian Trail, but follows the ridges on the Western side of the Appalachian Mountains.  Its path takes it close to Buchan...

The ADR Society of the  Appalachian School of Law The Appalachian School of Law is the only law school in the U.S. founded with a focus on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).  Beginning in 2006, the school placed increasing emphasis on its ADR curriculum, as I described here .   The ADR Society is a student organization dedicated to the advancement and awareness of ADR practices, to the exploration of career opportunities in ADR, and to equipping students with the knowledge and skills necessary to represent their future clients effectively in negotiation, mediation, and arbitration forums.   Students created this organization in 2012. Thus, it joins the other offerings falling generally under our Lawyer as Problem certificate program. Its Constitutional Preamble provides: The ADR Society exists to provide Appalachian School of Law students with opportunities to learn about Alternative Dispute Resolution practice, utility, a...

The Appalachian School of Law Honor Court The Honor Court serves as the Judicial Branch of the Student Bar Association (SBA). The Honor Court consists of five members elected from, and by, each class of the law school, including two members from the rising 3-L class, two members from the rising 2-L class, and one member from the 1-L class. The Chief Justice is the rising 3-L student receiving the most votes for the court. Duties of the Honor Court The Honor Court: hears and considers all complaints properly brought before it; notifies the Dean of the Law School, in writing, of a possible Honor Code violation and requests an investigation by the Dean; makes a written determination, based on facts presented at a hearing, of each case brought before it; after determining that an infraction of the Honor Code has occurred, makes a written recommendation to the Dean regarding the punishment of the student pursuant to the honor code; immediately provides a written fin...

The Patent Law Association of the  Appalachian School of Law The Patent Law Association serves as a source of knowledge in patent law, intellectual property law, copyright law, and as a network for Appalachian School of Law students, alumni, faculty, and staff. If anyone has more information about this student organization, please let me know.  

The Appalachian Natural Resources Law Journal  of the Appalachian School of Law The Appalachian School of Law offers two scholarly writing journals edited by students.  I profile the first journal -- the Appalachian Journal of Law --  here . The ANRLJ published its first issue in September 2007.  It has published articles from lawyers, business leaders, coal, oil, and natural gas industry participants, and students.     The Mission Statement of the ANRLJ  The By-Laws of this journal provide: Our mission is to promote excellence in natural resources law through education, analysis, and publication of natural resource related issues, and any issues that may bear a relation to the field of natural resources.   We will endeavor to demonstrate, through our members, an ethical commitment to illuminate all facets of current natural resources issues pertinent to the community at large, with emphasis on the A...