Editors and Staff of the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Law Review

On Friday, April 5, 2013, the North Carolina Central School of Law’s Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Law Review successfully hosted its seventh annual symposium. The day was filled with thought-provoking discussions regarding the fundamentalness of healthcare under the U.S. Constitution, the implementation of the Affordable Care Act by local leaders in the healthcare industry, as well as updates in patent laws presented by some of the field’s top attorneys. Special thanks to our advisors including: professors Dunn and Cogdell-Boies and Mrs. Foushee of the NCCU Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Law Institute. Special thanks also to Mr. Brown for his assistance with all of our technical matters, LexisNexis for their sponsorship and all of the staff at the NC Biotechnology Center for their continuing support of BPLR and NCCU School of Law. We look forward to seeing all of you next year!

• Jess Bravin, The Terror Courts: Rough Justice at Guantanamo Bay (2013).

Jess Bravin, the Wall Street Journal’s Supreme Court correspondent, has covered the U.S. military’s prison camp at Guantanamo Bay and the U.S. effort to create a parallel justice system for enemy aliens since the camp opened.  In The Terror Courts, Bravin writes about the many legal, political, and moral issues standing in the way of justice including issues of inadmissible evidence, clashes between military lawyers and civilian appointees, and political interference.  This timely resources is especially notable since the Obama administration plans to try the 9/11 conspirators at Guantanamo.

• Heather Harrison Dinnis, Cyber Warfare and the Laws of War (2012).

The information revolution has changed not only society in general, but also how society wages war.  Dinnis’s work examines how attacks on computer networks are viewed in international law and how they are treated under the laws of armed conflict.  It also includes discussion of the applicability of international humanitarian law to computer network attacks.

• George P. Fletcher and Jens David Ohlin, Defending Humanity: When Force is Justified and Why (2008).

When is war justified?  Fletcher and Ohlin use this work to offer a theory on the legality of war that provides guidelines for evaluating when interventions are justified using the United Nations Charter.  They do this by discussing the domestic criminal law concepts the UN Charter was originally based upon with a heavy focus on the concept of legitimate defense.  The authors feel this concept, which is lost in the English language version of the Charter, can provide politicians, courts, and scholars a solid base under international law for understanding when states can justifiably intervene with force and when they cannot.

These new resources are just a few of the resources about war and law available in the Law Library.  To learn more about these resources and others like them, please see a reference librarian.  For more information about new titles added to the Law Library’s collection, visit the New Acquisitions page at: http://law.nccu.edu/library/about/new-acquisitions/.

Deborah Jefferies began her tenure at NCCU School of Law in 1986 as Acting Law Librarian and Assistant Professor. She served as Director of the Law Library from 1987 to 2009. During that time, she taught Legal Bibliography, Advanced Legal Research, and the legal research section of Legal Research and Persuasion. She taught Information Technology and Intellectual Property and Law Library Management for the School of Library and Information Sciences. She has written and presented in the fields of law librarianship and legal research.

During her 23 years in the law library, Professor Jefferies was active in both the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and the South Eastern Association of Law Libraries (SEAALL). She served on the Board of Directors and as treasurer, respectively for SEAALL, worked on multiple AALL and SEAALL committees, served as chair of the Consortium of South Eastern Law Libraries and volunteered at multiple AALL annual meetings. Prior to leaving the library in 2009, Professor Jefferies served as the librarian on an ABA site evaluation team.

Adrienne M. Fox was admitted to law practice in North Carolina in 1974.  She has been certified as a Superior Court and Industrial Commission mediator by the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission since July 1, 2001.  Professor Fox joined the NCCU School of Law Faculty in 1989.  She has taught the following courses: Alternative Dispute Resolution;  Arbitration;  Negotiation; Evidence; Civil Procedure; Advanced Civil Procedure; Civil Litigation Clinic; and Trial Practice.

Professor Fox served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at NCCU School of Law from June 1998 to July 2000.  During this time, she was directly responsible for assuring compliance with ABA Standards and for preparing for ABA site evaluation. Professor Fox was also responsible for all academic matters, including schedule, curriculum changes, selection of adjunct faculty, advising of students and supervision of Academic Support Program.

Gregory Malhoit joined the faculty of NCCU School of Law in 2005.  He received his Bachelor of Arts in History from Midland Lutheran College in 1970 and his Juris Doctor from the University of Nebraska in 1972. He has been involved in the movement for equal justice for the poor throughout his entire legal career. Professor Malhoit served as the founding Executive Director of East Central Community Legal Services in Raleigh, N.C. from 1974 to 1992.  Later, he was the Executive Director of the North Carolina Legal Services Resource Center representing the interests of poor people in the North Carolina General Assembly.

In 1993, Professor Malhoit established the North Carolina Education and Law Project to advocate for improved educational opportunities for poor and minority students. In 1996, he became Executive Director of the N.C. Justice Center, a nationally recognized non-government funded legal and policy advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives of poor and working poor North Carolinians. In 2001, Professor Malhoit became the Director of the Rural Education Finance Center, a nationwide project providing legal and policy support for attorneys, educators, parents and students working to secure equal and adequate funding for public schools in the courts.

Register to attend the dinner.

We will be accepting applications through April 30, 2013

• Jessica L. Clark & Kristen E. Murray, Scholarly Writing: Ideas, Examples, and Execution (2012).

Targeted specifically at law students and beginning professionals, this legal writing resource takes a practical approach to legal writing.  It strives to guide students through the entire process of writing legal research papers – from choosing a topic to polishing a final draft.  It also provides students with examples of papers with annotations to assist them with developing their writing skills.

• Rachel H. Smith, The Legal Writing Survival Guide (2012).

This short and practical resource is designed to be a how-to survival guide for writers developing their predictive writing, persuasive writing, and correspondence skills by offering practical tips, tricks, and tactics.  The author also provides examples to assist writers with avoiding common grammar, punctuation, citation, and style errors.

These new resources are just a few of the legal writing resources in the Law Library.  To learn more about legal writing resources, please see a reference librarian.  For more information about new titles added to the Law Library’s collection, visit the New Acquisitions page at: http://law.nccu.edu/library/about/new-acquisitions/.

A Parent’s Guide to a Personal Education Plan

This Guide offers many North Carolina parents a tool to advance the education of their children. The publication highlights and explains the requirements of a state law known as the Personal Education Plan Law or “PEP Law.” As discussed in the Guide the law requires schools to develop a customized Personal Education Plan (PEP) for every student considered to be at risk of academic failure. “At-risk students” include students who do not pass the State’s End-of-Grade (EOG) and End-of-Course (EOC) tests, and students who show signs of academic failure, such as behavior problems and poor performance on classroom work or tests. A PEP is a plan that includes education strategies specifically designed to improve an individual student’s academic performance in school and to bring the student to grade level proficiency.

Based on test scores and other indicators, North Carolina has over 400,000 students considered to be at risk of failing in school. If parents properly understand and know how to use this law, it has tremendous potential to improve educational outcomes for struggling students. The Guide offers a summary of the law and practical suggestions on how parents can effectively use the law and participate in the PEP process.

A Parent’s Guide to a Personal Education Plan (PEP) for Your ChildDownload A Parent’s Guide to a Personal Education Plan (PEP) for Your Child

Questions?

For more information, contact Professor Gregory Malhoit at gmalhoit@nccu.edu or 919-530-7463.

Durham, NC – DeWarren K. Langley was awarded the prestigious 2013 Outstanding Citizen Spectrum of Democracy Award in honor of vital contributions to make North Carolina’s democracy & government better, specifically by working to create genuine & meaningful opportunities to engage youth with policy makers in program & service delivery through the Durham Youth Commission and Kids Voting Durham. The Award was conferred by the North Carolina Center for Voter Education at the Raleigh Marriott City Center on February 21, 2013.

The video profile can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSY96o0zaQk.

The North Carolina Center for Voter Education is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to informing and involving citizens so they may fully participate in democracy. For more information, visit, www.ncvotered.org.