FALL 2009 HONORING FORMER CH IEF JUSTI C E RALP H J. CAPPY COVERS2 | JURIS MAGAZINE | FALL 2009 Table of Contents Letter from the Editor ........................................................1 Interim Dean Gormley Delves into “The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr” ..................................2 Duquesne Law Students Spin Their Wheels for a Good Cause ......................................................................4 Annual Katie Westbrook Race Ipsa Loquitur Breaks JURIS STAFF Records and Keeps Memories Alive ..................................5 2009-2010 Traversing the Globe: Perspectives Gained From Duquesne University School of Law’s Summer Abroad EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: ASSociate EditorS: Programs .............................................................................6 Christina E. Horton Joseph DeMarco Ryan Duty The Pittsburgh Summit: The Local and Global EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Matthew Wachter Impact of the G-20 ............................................................8 Benjamin Steinberg Trial and Tribulation: Dr. Cyril H. Wecht Speaks ..........10 WEB Editor: MANAGING EDITOR: Vivian B. Taylor Nationally Ranked Legal Writing Program Has a New Home: The Bridget and Alfred Peláez Legal Writing Jessica Troy Center ................................................................................12 COPY Editor: ASSIStant Katherine Lowery Pennsylvania Supreme Court Convenes to Honor One Managing Editor: of Their Own: Former Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy ....13 Bridget Sedlock CHIEF Staff WRITERS: Two Women, Two Benches, Timothy Miller One Common Title: Role Model ....................................16 Production Editor: Ashley Owens Rachel M. Roney Allegheny County Bar Association Institute for Gender Equality Seeks Better Tomorrow for Staff WRITERS: Female Practitioners .........................................................18 Krista Bartolomucci Ashley Bozewski “Neutral Third Party?” Attorney General’s Findings Katlin Connelly Shake Alternative Dispute Resolution Arena .................21 Juris Magazine is a biannual student publication of the Daniel Patrick Craig A Student Bar Association Update .................................22 Duquesne University School Lisa Dougan of Law. The views and opinions Christian Evans Prescription Drug-Related Deaths: expressed herein are not Stefanie Flick Is the Prescribing Doctor a ‘Smooth Criminal’? ............23 necessarily those of Juris or the Duquesne University Juliann Haynes The Wecht Institute Announces “Forensic Fridays” ......24 School of Law. The Criminal Law Journal Hits the Cyber-Presses .......24 ADMINIStrative Support Juris Magazine can be reached Dean Ella Kwisnek Federal Solution for Student Loan Woes .......................25 at [email protected]. Cover photo courtesy of the Advertising Announcement: Juris Archives. If you are interested in advertis- ing in Juris, please contact us at [email protected]. Letter from the Editor I was told by friends who had by whatever litigation or trans- gone before me that law school would actional matter is at hand be a roller coaster ride. Sometimes I should be the lawyer’s highest agree, but other times I feel like I am priority. While this may seem to still on that initial uphill ascent: There be idealistic thinking from a is a pit in my stomach, sweat on my naive law student, it is a thought forehead, and all of my nerves are that I am going to try to carry with shaking while I wait for the fun to me into practice. begin. Then there are the days and This issue of Juris features weeks when I feel like Sisyphus, some outstanding individu- condemned to forever roll that als who seem to share this same momentous rock uphill only to have it thought process. Chief Justice roll right back down. At least up until Donetta Ambrose and Judge this point I have been able to avoid Maureen Lally-Green are being flattened during that descent, profiled, each demonstrating although some days it is a close call. a will and a determination to My latest brush with my rock serve the halls of justice without was when I was recently asked to give letting a little thing like a major a speech to prospective Duquesne gender barrier get in the way. Law students during the school’s The law school recently dedi- annual open house. Anyone who cated The Bridget and Alfred knows me is aware that I look forward Peláez Writing Center, built to public speaking about as much as I would look forward with funds donated by a former student of Professor Peláez to skydiving without a parachute (not a great trait for an who, due to the profound effect the professor left on him, aspiring litigator, but at least it shows I am not afraid of a insisted on Peláez’s name gracing the center. Our cover challenge). I felt extremely honored to have been chosen to story chronicles the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Special give the speech, having been picked in large part due to my Session, held on Duquesne’s campus, to honor the late former position as Juris Editor-in-Chief, and wanted to make sure not Chief Justice Ralph Cappy. I was privileged to be in atten- to let my selectors down. The topic on which I was to speak dance at the session, where numerous people spoke of the seemed simple enough: my personal path to Duquesne Law Chief Justice’s unwavering commitment to honor and justice, School, my experiences thus far, and my future aspirations. as well as his kind heart and generous spirit. I am so proud of It was easy for me to relate at least in part why I chose the hard work and dedication of the Juris staff that allowed Duquesne. I remember that when I was trying to write my this issue to be put together so that it may help to remind its admissions essay to Duquesne Law School, I came upon our readers that the welfare of the people truly is the highest law. school’s motto: Salus Populi, Suprema Lex — “the welfare of the people is the highest law.” This statement struck a chord Christina Horton is the Editor-in-Chief of Juris. She also serves as a with me, having come from a background in public service, Senior Staff Member on the Duquesne Law Review, and as a and has stuck with me throughout my law school experience. Senator on the Student Bar Association. She is a member of the Women’s Law Association and the Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity. On many days, this motto serves as the answer to why I keep Christina received her undergraduate degree in Journalism Summa rolling that rock up the hill, and puts things into perspective. Cum Laude from West Virginia University in 2005 and is set to No matter what area of the law one practices, or what type graduate from Duquesne School of Law in June of 2010. She can be of client one represents, the welfare of the people affected reached at [email protected]. FALL 2009 | JURIS MAGAZINE | 1 Interim Dean Gormley Delves into “The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr” By Christian Evans It was one of the most polarizing scan- later, the Monica Lewinsky scandal became dals in American history. The nation was in headline news, and President Clinton was disbelief as President Bill Clinton became the impeached by the House of Representatives second president ever to be impeached by the for perjury, abuse of power, and obstruction House of Representatives. The controversy of justice. surrounding President Clinton began in May The events leading up to President of 1993, shortly after he took office, when Clinton’s impeachment are so intricate and several longtime employees of the White complex that it would be nearly impossible House Travel Office were fired and replaced to understand the entire saga simply by read- with friends of the Clintons. In July, the mys- ing one book or newspaper article. That is terious purported suicide of Deputy White why Ken Gormley, Duquesne Law School’s House Counsel Vince Foster was viewed with Interim Dean, decided to embark on a nine- suspicion. In November, the “Whitewater” year investigation into the events surrounding controversy materialized when Arkansas the scandals. businessman David Hale alleged that then Gormley’s book, titled “The Death of Governor Clinton pressured him to provide an illegal loan American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr,” is a compilation of hun- to an associate of the Clintons for real estate dealings in the dreds of hours of research and interviews with key players 1980s. In December 1993, two Arkansas state troopers claimed involved in the scandals beginning with Whitewater and that they had arranged sexual liaisons for Clinton. A few years ending with President Clinton’s impeachment trial in the 2 | JURIS MAGAZINE | FALL 2009 United States Senate. Although many books have covered Whitewater, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, and Clinton’s impeachment, Gormley’s book offers a fresh take on the sto- ries. “What makes this book different from any other book that exists is that it’s telling the whole story of how all these events are interconnected,” Gormley said. “This had so many pieces to it because they are all intertwined with so many actors, that there were days that I would go home and wonder if I would lose my ability to figure out where the thread was. So to be able to complete it was very rewarding. This project was a very massive, complex undertaking.” Unlike many of the books that have been written by journalists who had access to only one side of a particular controversy, Gormley was able to gain access to both sides of Kenneth Starr, Law School Administrative Assistants June the story. “I was able to interview President Clinton three or Devinney and Kathy Koehler, Dean Gormley four times, I interviewed Kenneth Starr for 50 hours, Monica Lewinsky, Linda Tripp, Janet Reno, Congressman Henry Hyde, senators, and other congressman,” he said. This access enabled White River where the Whitewater scandal took place because Gormley to acquire information that has never before been I wanted to get a feel for things.” Several times, he drove back released. and forth between Pittsburgh and Washington D.C., some- Gormley felt that it was his job to allow each person times on the same day, to interview Kenneth Starr.