Month: October 2020

Dear University of Akron School of Law students and faculty,

On November 14-15, Carnegie Mellon University will be holding the “Swear Me in, Scotty!” mock trial invitational. The CMU Mock Trial program is currently looking for volunteer judges, and since the tournament is virtual this year, you can judge rounds without having to leave your house!

Mock trial is a competitive speech and debate activity where two teams each represent one side of a mock court case. Schools prepare witnesses and attorneys for direct and cross examinations. Volunteer judges preside over the round to rule on objections and score competitors based on their public speaking skills. Volunteer judges are critical for competitors to improve their case before the American Mock Trial Association’s official tournaments in the spring.

At “Swear Me in, Scotty!”, there will be two rounds each day–one in the morning and one in the afternoon–and training will be given to each judge before the invitational. No prior mock trial experience is necessary in order to judge.

If you are interested in judging for CMU’s invitational tournament, register to judge at this Google form. If you have any questions, please contact the Tournament Director, Cayden Codel, at cmumocktrial@gmail.com.

• The NEW MAX by AccessLex® app is now available for download in the iOS and Android app stores. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!
• The first MAX scholarship drawing of the academic year is right around the corner on November 1.   A digital scholarship poster is attached for you to share with your students.
• We’d like to give a big MAHALO (thank you) to University of Hawaii at Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law’s Professor and Director of the Ulu Lehua Scholars Program, Troy Andrade, and Director of Law Student Financial Assistance, Heather Smith-Lee, who recently brought MAX into the Ulu Lehua Scholars Program 1L classroom with the webinar, Managing Your Money During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Ulu Lehua Scholars Program offers financial, academic, and moral support to underrepresented law students throughout their law school careers.

Attention All Akron Law Students! SBA will be hosting the Fall General Student Body Meeting on Monday, October 19 at 5:00-6:00pm via Webex. Topics to be discussed include: Midterms (Examsoft and Brightspace procedures), in-person and online classes, updates on the Spring semester schedule, the Bar Exam and Character and Fitness applications, and the impact of COVID-19 on the school. Student reps from the working group will be in attendance to discuss the potential CSU/Akron partnership and want to hear your thoughts! Use the link below to join the meeting:

Session number: 120 658 1925 
Session password: SBUA 
Go to: https://uakron.webex.com/uakron/k2/j.php?MTID=tcd0e825ef846055aa78e21bdaecdfb75

Hope to see you all there!

– SBA Executive Board

Who’s ready to carve out some friendly competition? Submit your pumpkin carving to earn points for your class! A survey will be sent out the week after submissions are due for you (and your friends and family) to vote for the most awesome pumpkins. The top three pumpkins with the most votes will get extra points for their classes. Link to submit your pumpkin: https://forms.gle/mEVtAw1MWv4VWxkA6  

Submissions are due Oct. 25th!

The IPTLA, the Health Law Society, and the Federalist Society are co-hosting Professor Adam Mossoff, of George Mason University, and Dr. George Horvath, of Akron Law, on: Pandemics and Patents: Do Patents Help or Hinder Medical Innovation? Professor Mossoff and Dr. Horvath will discuss this topic in detail and Professor Hrdy, of Akron Law, will moderate with commentary. The discussion should be extraordinarily interesting and timely, given that disputes over patents on COVID vaccines are sure to arise soon. Please join us at the following WebEx to watch:

https://uakron.webex.com/uakron/k2/j.php?MTID=t7f8d08d8f227fb2ec8cf5f82bd4957e0

Session number: 120 624 5235 
Session password: Zippy2020