Akron Law Black Law Students Association Annual Banquet

The Akron Law Black Law Students Association will be holding their annual banquet April 5, 2014, at 6:30pm at the Quaker Square Inn. The theme for this year’s banquet is Empowerment, and the Speaker will be The Honorable Judge Jessica Price Smith from The Ohio Bankruptcy Court for The Northern District of Ohio.  Tickets are available for students for $35. Please contact Lauren Simmons at lds43@zips.uakron.edu for more information or to purchase tickets.

Examsoft Reminders

We just wanted to remind everyone about a few things with Examsoft:

  1. The calculator function is disabled in Examsoft.
  2. There are a default of 10 questions on every Examsoft exam file that you download.
  3. Do not leave the room after your exam until you receive the screen that has the green check mark congratulating you on a successful upload.
  4. Be sure to have your computer’s power plugged in.
  5. PC users will not have to input their student ID when starting an exam.  However Mac users will.
  6. Show up to your exam at least 15 minutes early.

If you have any questions, please contact law-support@uakron.edu.  Good luck with the rest of your exams!!

Examsoft Download Reminder

Just a reminder that the download period for Examsoft for finals ends on December 2nd.   As always, there is no excuse for claiming to be unaware of the download period.  If you have any issues, please contact law-support@uakron.edu if you have any troubles.

Akron Law Wins Diversity Award From CLEO

The UA School of Law is pleased to announce that CLEO, the Council on Legal Education Opportunity, has named us a significant contributor to their diversity initiatives to increase the pipeline for minority students into law schools.  We have been named a William A. Blakey Diversity Pipeline Architect.  CLEO sent us a poster commemorating their 45th anniversary, which prominently names us as a key supporter.  That poster is being displayed in the glass case in the elevator lobby for all to see. We are very pleased to contribute to the important cause of increasing the diversity pipeline and to supporting an inclusive environment in the law school and legal profession.

 

Please make sure to check out the poster, and to be inspired to continue our commitment to diversity and inclusion.

 

US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Celebrates 25th Anniversary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

November 19, 2013

U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims celebrates 25th anniversary

“That we have a specialized veteran’s court is a credit to our national commitment to do justice by, quote, him who shall have borne the battle, in President Lincoln’s timeless words.”

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at the twelfth judicial conference of
the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, April 2013

WASHINGTON — Chief Judge Bruce E. Kasold is pleased to announce the 25th anniversary the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, a court created with enactment of the Veterans’ Judicial Review Act in November 1988. With the creation of the court, our nation’s military veterans and their survivors and beneficiaries were provided–for the first time–the right to appeal adverse decisions of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on their claims for benefits.

Before the court was created, generations of veterans dissatisfied with VA decisions had no judicial forum in which to challenge VA’s administrative rulings. When Congress enacted the Veterans’ Judicial Review Act of 1988, it answered a decades-long call for judicial oversight for veterans.

At the court’s first convention, then-Chief Justice of the United States William H. Rehnquist said, “[The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims] is going to . . . engage, I dare say, in some very important work.”

Indeed, since the court first convened, veterans have brought approximately 60,000  appeals before the court. These veterans include those whose service and sacrifice have seen the nation through World War II and the Korean, Vietnam and Gulf Wars, as well as intervening periods of peace and recent years of combat in Afghanistan.

In considering these appeals over the past 25 years, the court has crafted decisions that have promoted greater accountability and uniformity in VA’s claims processing. The court’s bench and bar have also worked to encourage representation of veterans and have significantly lowered veterans’ pro se rates before the court.  And, by taking oral arguments outside the traditional courtroom to the nation’s law schools, the court is inspiring law students and young lawyers to represent veterans.

Last month, the court held an oral argument at Harvard Law School. Last year, the court held an oral argument at Yale Law School.

The court will mark its anniversary with a private ceremonial session in its courtroom on November 20.

Chief Judge Kasold and his eight colleagues on the bench celebrate these achievements and the opportunity to provide justice for veterans and help fulfill–in the words of President Barrack Obama–the “sacred trust with those who wear the uniform of the United States of America[, ] a commitment that begins at enlistment, and [] must never end.”

 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims interprets and applies laws affecting the men and women who served in the nation’s armed forces, and is the specialized voice in the federal judiciary on veterans law.  The court conducts independent review of the decisions of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, an independent adjudicatory body within the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Since its establishment by Congress in 1988, the court has rendered more than 60,000 decisions on appeals.  The Court’s judges are  appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.  The court’s precedential opinions are published in West’s Veterans Appeals Reporter. Visit the Court’s website at www.uscourts.cavc.gov.