THE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO COLLEGE OF LAW TRANSCRIPT FALL 2017 WOMEN IN THE PROFESSION, THEN AND NOW Our Alumnae and Friends Share Their Stories Back by popular demand! Toledo Law branded apparel by Land’s End BUSINESS.LANDSEND.COM/STORE/TOLEDOLAW SEPTEMBER 1, 2017 We are off to the start of another great year at the College of Law. For the second year in a row, we dramatically outperformed the national admissions trends. We had double-digit increases in both applications and enrollment in an environment where both measures were flat nationally and regionally. We grew our entering class while maintaining our entering credentials, which we had increased significantly last year. Assistant Dean of Admissions Jessica Mehl ’05, and her team continue to do a great job informing prospective students about the wonderful education they will receive if they join us at the College of Law. We also are pleased that we increased the percentage of women in our first-year class to 48 percent. Consistent with the overall theme of this issue of the Transcript, we have made progress on this measure, but we still have room for improvement. To help us make progress on diversity more broadly, I appointed Prof. Jelani Jefferson Exum to the newly created position of associate dean for diversity and inclusion. In this new position, Prof. Exum will undertake a number of initiatives, including the development of a new pipeline program focused on minority undergraduates in our region. In March, we learned we had improved 12 spots in the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings, from 144 to 132. This step up in the rankings was due largely to improvement in our entering student credentials and in our graduate employment rates. The U.S. News rankings are fickle, and we may move down again a little bit next year due to a decrease in the employment rate of our 2016 graduating class. Improving graduate employment is one of our highest priorities. We understand that students come to law school to get a good job. We will continue to work hard to improve the employment outcomes for our students because it is at the core of our mission as a law school. Improving employment outcomes will have the additional benefit of helping with our U.S. News ranking. One of the greatest things you can do to aid the College of Law is to help one of our graduates land a job. If you can contribute in this way, please get in touch with Kelly Tomlinson ’06, the director of our outstanding Office of Professional Development. We have been able to brighten up the Law Center with several facilities projects. Last summer, we created a new reading room on the 4th floor of LaValley Law Library and renovated the Chris ’83, and Peggy ’82, Bussert Classroom. This summer, we completed a renovation of the Cubbon Courtroom that included a technology update. This will allow our students to learn cutting-edge techniques on the electronic presentation of evidence. We also replaced the ceilings and lighting in the second floor hallways. If you haven’t been in the Law Center for awhile, please stop by to see our new look. To continue to make progress, we need your support. Your donations to the College of Law help us with the work we do every day. Many of our improvements were funded by generous alumni gifts. The library reading room, for example, was funded in significant part by a gift from the estate of Charles F. Buck ’51, and the Cubbon Courtroom renovation was funded from funds set aside with admirable foresight from the original naming gift made by Frank ’54, and Barbara Cubbon. Your support also helped us purchase a course from BarBri that allowed our third-year students to get a jump on their bar preparation. We are in the process of implementing a comprehensive bar success program for our students. Having your financial support allows us to do new and innovative things quickly, as needs arise. Our fundraising efforts will be greatly aided by our new director of development, Andria Dorsten Ebert. Prior to joining us in July, Ms. Ebert was regional director of Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. She knows the Toledo legal community well, and we are glad to have her on our team. As always, we would be delighted to see you if you would like to stop by for a visit, or to hear from you if you have any thoughts or suggestions you would like to share. Together, we will continue to build on our great history, and make the College of Law even better than before! Sincerely, D. Benjamin Barros Dean and Professor of Law TRANSCRIPT Toledo Law 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS OF TABLE TABLE OF CONTENTS Transcript is published once a year by the College of Law Office of Communications. Dean D. Benjamin Barros Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Geoffrey C. Rapp 8 16 Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development Kara Bruce Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Jelani Jefferson Exum Assistant Dean for Law Career Services and Alumni Affairs Heather S. Karns 26 52 Assistant Dean for Admissions Jessica Mehl ’05 Assistant Dean for the LaValley Law Library FALL 2017 Rick Goheen Letter from the Dean _______________________ 1 Editor Kirsten Winek Toledo Law News ___________________________ 3 Writers Year in Review ____________________________ 14 Heather Karns Stormie McGee ’17 Commencement __________________________ 16 Rachel Phipps ’07 Kirsten Winek Women in the Profession, Graphic Designer Then and Now ____________________________ 18 Stephanie Delo Alumni Profiles ____________________________34 Photographers Daniel Miller Faculty Notes _____________________________38 Katie Monahan Mary Pencheff Alumni News _____________________________44 Anthony Tscherne Project Manager Class Notes ______________________________56 Paula Ashley Copy Editor Kimberley Goodin 2 Toledo Law TRANSCRIPT NEWS TOLEDO LAW NEWS TOLEDO LAW CLIMBS 12 SPOTS The text is unique in that it includes many PROFESSOR ZOLDAN CO- IN U.S. NEWS RANKING cases decided after the ADA Amendments AUTHORS AMICUS BRIEF UTILIZED BY U.S. COURT OF In one year, Toledo Law has climbed 12 Act of 2008 dramatically increased APPEALS FOR THE 6TH CIRCUIT spots in the annual U.S. News & World the ADA’s coverage. It also provides Report ranking. U.S. News & World a more robust coverage of disability Report ranked Toledo Law No. 132 of 196 discrimination in employment, so much schools as part of its 2018 Best Graduate so that the book could be used either Schools edition. Last year’s ranking was in a general disability law course or a No. 144. specialized course focused on disability discrimination in employment. Indicators that helped this increase included higher selectivity of incoming students and “We’re thrilled to have Professor Porter join higher employment rates at both graduation the ranks of our faculty casebook authors,” and 10 months after graduation. said Geoffrey Rapp, Toledo Law associate Dean D. Benjamin Barros said, “I am glad dean for academic affairs and Harold A. Evan C. Zoldan, an associate professor to see the rankings reflect some of the Anderson Professor of Law and Values. at Toledo Law, recently co-authored an fundamental improvements we have “Her scholarly work on disability law has Amicus Brief that was relied on by the U.S. made. We significantly increased the generated great interest among judges, Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. entering credentials of our first-year class, lawyers, and teachers of the subject, and His co-authors included fellow law and our job placement numbers also I expect the book will be very well-liked professors Sonja Starr of the University moved up. by students.” of Michigan Law School, Corey Rayburn Yung of the University of Kansas School “We will continue to work on improving of Law, and Douglas Berman of the Ohio our fundamentals, especially in areas “I am glad to see the [U.S. State University Moritz College of Law. of crucial student outcomes like News] rankings reflect job placement.” In its decision, Does v. Snyder, some of the fundamental No. 15-1536 (6th cir.), the 6th Circuit PROFESSOR PORTER PUBLISHES improvements we have held that provisions of Michigan’s Sex DISABILITY LAW CASEBOOK Offender Registration Act (SORA) Toledo Law Professor Nicole Porter made. We significantly unconstitutionally imposed retroactive published a new textbook, Disability increased the entering punishment in violation of the Law: Cases and Materials, with co-author Constitution’s Ex Post Facto Clause. Stephen Befort of the University of credentials of our first- Michigan’s SORA, like many states’ Minnesota Law School. It was released sex offender registry statutes, imposed in November 2016 as part of West year class, and our job registration requirements on convicted Academic’s American Casebook Series. placement numbers also sex offenders. SORA imposed these registration requirements retroactively; The casebook’s topics are wide-ranging moved up.” that is, they were applied to individuals and include disability law as related to who had already been convicted and even employment, government services, public – Dean D. Benjamin Barros those who had completed their sentences. accommodations, and education. Readers However, while Michigan maintained will become acquainted with both the that its registration requirements served Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a non-punitive purpose, the court held Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and that SORA imposed restrictions that the Individuals with Disabilities Education have traditionally been considered Act (special education services). punishment, such as public shaming and TRANSCRIPT Toledo Law 3 NEWS onerous restrictions on where registrants offender registries. The state has already Terri Lewandowski started working at can live and work. Because the Ex Post indicated that it intends to petition the UT July 9, 1984, as an account clerk in Facto Clause prohibits punishment U.S.