Outstanding Advocacy Skills

Recently I reported the success of our champion negotiation team in the 2009 Robert R. Merhige, Jr. National Environmental Negotiation Competition. Now that our entire competition season is over, I thought I would share in one place the amazing accomplishments of our students this year:

• Champions, 2009 Robert R. Merhige, Jr. National Environmental Negotiation Competition, T.C. Williams School of Law, Richmond, Virginia, March 2009.
  
  
• Regional Finalist, American Bar Association National Appellate Advocacy Competition, Washington, D.C., March 2009.
  
  
• Champions, Spong Invitational Moot Court Tournament, William & Mary School of Law, Williamsburg, Virginia, February 2009.
  
  
• Second Place Overall and Best Oralist, 2009 Moot Court National Championship, University of Houston Law Center, Houston, Texas, February 2009.
  
  
• Best Brief Award, National Pretrial Advocacy Competition, Stetson University School of Law, Gulfport, Florida, October 2008.

Together these accomplishments reflect something we have known for a long time. Regent Law School has one of the top advocacy skills training programs in the nation.

Congratulations students and faculty coaches. And praise God for his blessing on our efforts.

Engaging the World Through Scholarship

I took an afternoon to read some of the recent publications by Regent Law School professors. I am always thankful for my faculty colleagues. They are impeccably credentialed and incredibly bright and thoughtful. Nonetheless, in reading their recent writings I was reminded again what a privilege it is to serve with this group of men and women.

The pieces varied a lot:

• Lynne Kohm highlighted the debilitating effects divorce has on children and advocated for a change in divorce law. 
  
  
• Eric DeGroff explored the boundaries of parents’ fundamental right to direct the education of their children—and particularly the challenges that right presents in a public school setting. 
  
  
• Tom Folsom analyzed the appropriate relationship between “supernatural law” and human law—along with whether all forms of “supernatural law” (those based on Christian or Muslim moral principles for example) should be viewed in the same way. 
  
  
• Craig Stern challenged the Supreme Court to articulate a clear constitutional law standard for when a person should be permitted to bring a “generalized grievance” to court. 
  
  
• Ben Madison completed the first four chapters of his upcoming textbook on state civil procedure. His book highlights not only statutory examples and problem sets, but also broad principles of justice that are rooted in scripture and natural law.
  

We don’t know yet how God will use these and other pieces being written by Regent law professors. We know this, though. Ideas do have consequences. Thoughtful books and articles change the way professors, lawyers, and judges understand and talk about the law. Sometimes they change the law itself. Past articles by Jim Duane and Lynne Kohm have influenced legislators to pass new statutes.

Regent law school will engage the world largely through our graduates as they serve Christ and others in the legal profession. But we will also engage the world as professors write and speak. I am very thankful to be a part of the faculty that is called to this task.

Bob Goff and Justice Around the World

One of the recent highlights at the law school was the visit of Bob Goff. Bob is the managing partner of the Goff & DeWalt law firm (with offices in California and Washington). He specializes in construction litigation. But that is just Bob’s day job. Bob spends his spare time—and much more than that—promoting global justice.

Learning of Regent Law School’s mission and our desire to continue to expand in the area of global justice, Bob visited the school last week. He took a red-eye flight from Seattle to speak to our Human Rights, Civil Liberties, and National Security class, as well as to others interested in global justice.

In a word, the talk was inspiring. It inspired the students. And it inspired me. Bob shared how he and his team at Restore International (the nonprofit organization Bob founded) have worked to rescue children sold into slavery in India. He also told of his most recent project of motivating the Uganda justice system to process the cases of children who have been detained for 3 years or more without ever seeing the inside of a courtroom.

While listening to Bob—and then talking with him more in depth later—I concluded that Bob’s life motto is “yes!” If he senses a call of God, he goes—no matter the cost or seeming obstacles. As I write, Bob is one step away from being appointed a Supreme Court justice in Uganda because he believes God would use him in that role to bring justice to the nation.

Inspiring. And tremendously encouraging. As we, Lord willing, establish a Center for Global Justice and Human Rights in the coming years, I believe Regent students will work with Bob and Restore International on the ground in Uganda and elsewhere. It is an exciting prospect!