40th Anniversary Summer 2009 Years 40 OF EXCELLENCE Table of Contents Letter From the Editor ......................................................1 Professor Ken Gormley named Interim Dean ................2 Professor Nancy D. Perkins appointed Associate Dean for Academic Affairs ...............................2 First-Year Write-On Competition Winning Entry .........3 JURIS STAFF DCLI Receives New High-Tech Computers .....................4 2008-2009 If Looks Could Kill. Your Career ..................................5 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: STAFF WRITERS: Happily Ever After? Considerations of Romantic Sarah R. Weissman Matthew Cianflone Relationships in the Legal Workplace ...............................6 Amy Keiser A Student Bar Association Update ...................................7 EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Elizabeth E. Lamm Edward R. Duvall Jennifer N. McDonough Prominent Alum to Speak at Graduation ........................9 Edward Preston ‘Till Law School Do Us Part? ..........................................10 MANAGING EDITOR: Anna (Anya) Ryjkova Benjamin Steinberg Vivian B. Taylor A Defense Courtesy of the Allegheny County Zachary Smith Public Defender’s Office .................................................12 ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Elizabeth Spadafore 40 Years of Excellence .......................................................16 Christina Horton Joseph Williams Paul Batyko Matthew B. Wachter Counseling Organizations Who Extend A Helping Hand to Others ..............................................24 Rebecca Yanos 40th AnniversarY Farewell To Dean Guter ...................................................26 SECTION Editors CONTRIBUTORS Not So Fast! .......................................................................27 Lara Shipkovitz Summer 2009 Amy L. Vanderveen Brandon Neuman (3D) It Isn’t Easy Being Green ..................................................28 Justin Sorensen (1D) Paula Dillie (3D) Childhood Obesity: The Newest Form Juris Magazine is a biannual of Child Abuse? ................................................................30 student publication of the Duquesne University School Advertising Announcement: To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate, of Law. The views and opinions If you are interested in adver- That is the Question .........................................................32 expressed herein are not tising in Juris, please contact necessarily those of Juris or When the IRS Comes Knocking, When Your Small the Duquesne University us at [email protected]. Business is Scammed By a Broker Turn to the Clinics School of Law. at Duquesne ......................................................................34 Cover photo courtesy of the Juris Magazine can be reached Juris Archives. Congratulations to Rebecca Yanos ..................................36 at [email protected]. Laws to Live By? ................................................................37 CORRECTION: The story in the Spring 2009 issue about Student Organizations was written by Anya Ryjkova and Vivian Taylor. Letter From the Editor This year was marked by many No one knows just what is changes. In our world at the law school, next for the law school, the the administration was changed over country, or re-organizing law night, in the middle of winter exams. In firms. Some of us have seen that the outside world, a new administration we may have to give up a little came into power in Washington in order to thrive. Those of us promising change; the controversial learning to thrive in a world of Guantanamo prison facilities were uncertainty know that the best- ordered closed and billions of dollars laid plans are those that can be were poured into failing landmark insti- easily changed. This is not the tutions. Closer to home, we heard first time our country or this rumors of mid-level associates losing school experienced tumultuous newly-acquired jobs, as our classmates times…our ability to adapt to going off to large firms received news and live in the tumult and dur- they would not be able to start work ing the changes rather than until January 2010 or possibly even mourn failed plans stands as September 2010 (delaying original start a testament to our true growth dates six to twelve months). This chain through this process called of seemingly unrelated events has one “law school.” major thing in common: uncertainty. Many of us came to law school with pre-conceived notions Sarah Weissman is the Editor-in-Chief of Juris. She also serves as a or laid-out plans of what our future as a student and an research editor on the Duquesne Law Review. Sarah will be graduat- attorney held; a six-figure salary, a prestigious job offer, a cushy ing in June 2009 and will practice with the law firm of Meyer, Darragh, Buckler, Bebenek & Eck. She can be reached at srw2777@ governmental launching pad. Unforeseen changes have put yahoo.com. these types of plans in flux; when you wake up, everything could be different. First-years, who went through school their I want to thank Justice Cynthia Baldwin for the opportunities, insight and continued mentoring. You have set the bar extremely entire lives at the top of the class, will find themselves learning high for the next generation of women attorneys. Thank you for the to live with life ranked in the middle. Second-years, who inspiration, as an attorney, a woman, and a mother. I aspire to carry intended to land a prestigious summer associate position, will myself with your grace and decorum and hopefully provide an adapt to a less prestigious, less lucrative (hopefully legal) posi- example for women coming through the Bar after me. tion. Third-years, saddled with debt equivalent to the price of a middle class home, who intended to have a satisfying career upon exiting law school, must adapt these newly acquired skills Call for Letters to the Editor: to search out available opportunities in this market. In this issue, we celebrate 40 years of Juris. The editors of Letters should address a current legal issue facing the the anniversary section found that predictions for one’s future region, law school, or law students or an issue at the law often do not materialize, based on interviews with professors school. Letters should not exceed 250 words. We plan to looking back at their own graduations from law school. The pick two or three letters to publish per edition of Juris. most meticulously laid-out plans could be standing in the way Letters should be submitted to [email protected] with your of better opportunities. In the midst of this time of great contact information. Letters can be mailed to the law uncertainty, perhaps the most useful skill a law student or school at: young attorney can possess is the ability to adapt—sometimes Duquesne University School of Law in doing what is best, you have to let go of what you had 600 Forbes Avenue planned or intended. Pittsburgh, PA 15282 ATTENTION: JURIS MAGAZINE SUMMER 2009 | JURIS MAGAZINE | 1 Professor Ken Gormley named Interim Dean Ken Gormley has served as a A repeat speaker at the Chautauqua Institution, Professor professor of law on Duquesne’s fac- Gormley has shared his expertise and opinions at university and ulty since 1994 and is also associate legal gatherings in the U.S. and abroad, including Oxford vice president for interdisciplinary University, Harvard Law School, the Pennsylvania State Trial scholarship and special projects for Judges’ Conference, the National Council of Jewish Women, Duquesne University. He is the Hofstra University, the Aspen Institute, Boston University immediate past-president of the School of Law, the Federal Bar Association, the Society for Allegheny County Bar Association. Professional Journalists and the R.I.Z. Law Centre for European Before coming to Duquesne, and International Cooperation in Cologne, Germany. Active in Professor Gormley taught at the community as well as professional and academic areas, he is University of Pittsburgh School of former mayor of Forest Hills, serves on the Forest Hills Ken Gormley Law and was director and founder Community Development Corporation board and previously of the Mellon Writing Program in coached recreational soccer. Additionally, he sits on the board legal research and writing. He earned his B.A. from the of trustees at St. Francis University, the Pennsylvania Supreme University of Pittsburgh summa cum laude and his J.D. from Court Historical Society, and the Pittsburgh 250 Commission. Harvard Law School. President of the Harvard Law School Association of Western Professor Gormley’s expert opinion has been sought in Pennsylvania, Professor Gormley also sits on the advisory the U.S. Congress and the Pennsylvania Senate, where he has board of the Bernard G. Segal Appellate Advocacy Institute and testified on wiretapping, obscenity law, presidential pardons numerous other legal advisory boards. and the independent counsel law. Professor Gormley’s current Professor Gormley is of-counsel with the law firm of book project on the Clinton-Starr investigation is scheduled to Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP based in Pittsburgh and be published by Crown Publishers (a division of Random Philadelphia. Previously, he served as executive director of the House) next year. His book, Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Pennsylvania Legislative Reappointment Commission and was Nation won the 1999 Bruce K. Gould Book Award for best a litigation attorney with the firm of Cindrich & Titus in publication relating to the law. Pittsburgh. As a special clerk to state Supreme Court Justice Ralph Cappy, he consulted on and drafted opinions