THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL SCHOOL OF LAW CAROLINA LAW Making a Difference at Home page 24 VOLUME 37, ISSUE TWO FALL-WINTER 2013 UNC Law Alumni Association Board of Directors DEAN’S MESSAGE Executive Officers Thomas F. Taft ’72, president Craig T. Lynch ’86, vice president Dear Friends: Leslie C. Packer ’86, second vice president We spend much time at Carolina Law pondering pedagogy and John Charles Boger ’74, secretary-treasurer the future of the law, asking what we can do as educators — through Harriett J. Smalls ’99, Law Foundation chair classes, clinics, externships and extracurricular offerings — to Marion A. Cowell Jr. ’64, past campaign chair strengthen lawyers-in-training and mold them into outstanding members of the legal profession. In this issue of Carolina Law, David M. Moore II ’69, past president (2007-08) we set down the theme of future proficiency to focus on present John S. Willardson ’72, past president (2008-09) service — examining what our promising students, our energetic Norma R. Houston ’89, past president (2009-10) faculty, and our 10,000 living alumni, are doing right now to serve Ann Reed ’71, past president (2010-11) the people and institutions of the State of North Carolina. It’s a remarkable picture. In scores of ways, Carolina Law Robert A. Wicker ‘69, past president (2011-12) EXUM STEVE students reach out every day, fall, spring and summer, to assist John Charles “Jack” Boger families and individuals who have desperate, unmet legal needs. In our six law school clinics, students respond directly — even as they learn how to become Committee Chairs outstanding lawyers — by investigating consumer fraud that may have jeopardized a family’s home Advancement Committee, Walter D. Fisher Jr. ’86 and principal asset, by combating abysmal rental conditions that can strip a renter of full enjoy- Long-Range Planning Committee, ment of a leasehold, by assuring that wages duly earned are paid to hard working breadwinners, by Marion A. Cowell Jr. ’64 defending young teenagers against pending juvenile charges that might forever alter the prospects Alumni Engagement Committee, Kelly Podger Smith ’02 of their lives and futures, and by taking on a host of similar challenges. Beyond assisting individuals, clinic students advise nonprofit corporations that need legal assistance to build housing units for Nominations Committee, Stephen E. Lewis ’91 the elderly or to develop promising work opportunities for former substance abusers looking to reclaim a responsible work life and future. Our students’ service to North Carolina’s people moves daily beyond the classroom settings. Law UNC Law Foundation Officers students organize dozens of volunteer organizations that provide much-needed assistance – to cancer Harriett J. Smalls ’99, president and chair patients who need help preparing legal documents, to elderly citizens faced with bewildering tax Edwin Jasper “Jack” Walker Jr. ’69, vice president forms, or to wrongly convicted inmates seeking to prove their innocence. Our student-run Pro and chair, audit committee Bono Program, supervised by Dean Sylvia Novinsky, places hundreds of students with practicing John Charles Boger ’74, secretary-treasurer lawyers who call the law school for assistance with their own public interest matters. Our centers likewise extend themselves daily to assist North Carolina residents — whether recently appointed local bank directors who need legal training about their new obligations, or coastal towns and UNC School of Law Office commissions that seek guidance on reasonable land use policies, or underserved minority communi- ties, hoping for equal municipal services or promised educational opportunities for their children. of Advancement In reaching out to the state, our students are following the leadership of Carolina Law faculty, Kris Jensen, associate dean for advancement who have long participated in the tradition of service — on key state administrative boards, T. Brandon Wright, assistant dean for advancement through amicus curiae briefs filed in important legal cases, by reports drafted for state and federal Louise Harris, regional director of advancement regulatory committees, and in their testimony sought by state and federal legislative bodies on the nation’s most vexing legal and policy problems. Dana Dubis, director of annual giving It is doubly gratifying, though no surprise, to discover how widely and prominently Carolina Susan McLean, director of alumni and donor relations Law alumni stand out in every corner of this state as community servants and public citizens. Kelly Mann, alumni and donor relations coordinator Often leading key local boards and commissions, serving in state legislative and executive posi- Rory Moore, executive assistant tions, and frequently working as the local Atticus Finches of countless towns and hamlets, Carolina Law alumni continue this school’s deeply rooted tradition of giving back to the people of the Old North State. I’m proud to be their dean and to read about their collective work in this issue of UNC School of Law Office Carolina Law. I hope you will be too. of Communications Sincerely, Allison Reid, assistant dean for communications Katherine Kershaw, communications manager Student Bar Association J.M. Durnovich, 2013-2014 president JOHN CHARLES “JACK” BOGER’74 Dean and Wade Edwards Distinguished Professor of Law PUBLICATION Carolina Law is published twice per year by the Office of CAROLINA LAW Communications at UNC School of Law. It is distributed to alumni and colleagues. Please update your information at www. Co-Editors ALLISON REID, KATHERINE KERSHAW law.unc.edu/alumni. Copyeditor CHRIS NELSON We continually seek content for publication. Please submit Contributing Writers JESSICA CLARKE, MICHELE LYNN, NANCY OATES AND MARK TOSCZAK alumni class notes to [email protected]. Submit stories and press releases to [email protected] or Carolina Law editor, Designer SARAH CHESNUTT UNC School of Law, 160 Ridge Rd., CB #3380, Chapel Hill, Photographers BRIANA BROUGH, STEVE EXUM, DONN YOUNG NC 27599. For more information, call 919.962.5106. Research Assistant KERRY BOEHM 12,500 copies of the magazine have been printed at a cost of $13,325. 2 SPRING-SUMMER 2013 CAROLINA LAW CONTENTS VOLUME 37, ISSUE TWO FALL-WINTER 2013 School News 2 Faculty & Research 8 Center News 14 Donor Profile 17 Alumni News 20 COVER STORY MAKING A DIFFERENCE AT HOME 24 Carolina Law faculty, students and alumni share a commitment Class Notes 40 to give back to North Carolina. On the cover: CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT, ANITA BROWN-GRAHAM ‘91, GARDNER ALTMAN ‘71, J. TROY SMITH JR. ’67, DANA SIMPSON ‘00 Parting Shots 44 Cover photos by Donn Young DO TRADEMARK LAWYERS MATTER? 10 Faculty Books 46 Faculty members Deborah Gerhardt and Jon P. McClanahan publish research that shows the value of having a trademark lawyer. LOOKING BACK 18 An excerpt from a new book about Henry Frye ’59, N.C.’s first African American Chief Justice VOICES 48 Banks in Commodities: Let’s Focus on Issues, not Rhetoric, by Saule T. Omarova Mark your Alumni Weekend will be held HONOR ROLL OF DONORS 32 APRIL 10-12, 2014. Recognizing those who supported Carolina Law this year. calendar! Details on page 20. SCHOOL NEWS What I Did This Summer: Rising 2Ls Work In New ’Crim Lab’ THE RISING Henry focused on digital forensics for My Gideon, a project 2L STUDENTS named after Gideon v. Wainwright, the famous U.S. Supreme sitting at Court case that ensured all indigent defendants facing a felony computers in charge the access to counsel appointed and paid for by the state. the seminar Students, mentored by expert public defenders in cities around the room at country, collected data on legal factual issues that would be of use UNC School to a public defender arguing a death penalty case. of Law last The students each took a topic under forensic science, such summer were as fingerprints or DNA. They found out everything there is to gratified that know about their topic and distilled it down to a précis on a Wiki the detailed, page. They included relevant cases, trial motions, appellate STEVE EXUM STEVE technical work briefs, scholarly research, checklists and training manuals. They Robert J. Smith they were sent their draft to the lawyer assigned as their mentor, who may doing in the Criminal Justice Reform Project helped create tools have drawn in knowledgeable peers to incorporate more details. that will affect the legal system as a whole and change the lives Eventually, they will have created an online resource for use by of individuals. Robert J. Smith, the UNC assistant professor of public defenders who don’t have the personnel or resources to law who oversaw the students, admits that the students’ peers compile the information. who had taken summer internships with corporate law firms or Smith organized My Gideon while earning his law degree at nonprofit agencies might have had more fun, but the nine students Harvard. To fund the Criminal Justice Reform Project, he used who opted to work for Smith under public interest grants made a a $25,000 grant from the Vital Projects Fund, and UNC School meaningful contribution to their chosen profession. of Law matched $15,000 of it. He received more funding from “This research can be incredibly tedious,” Smith says, “but the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at those bigger, life-changing claims can’t be made unless this Harvard to cover students’ work on My Gideon. time-consuming, dry work is done. These students have to