Accolades: UVA Law No. 2 in Alumni at Top Firms

The University of Virginia School of Law has the second-highest percentage of recent alumni working at the 10 highest-grossing U.S. law firms, among other recent accolades for the Law School community.

GradReports, a college rankings and research website, used LinkedIn data to track alumni from U.S. News & World Report’s top 50 law schools who graduated between 2015 and 2021 and now work at the 10 highest-grossing firms as ranked by The American Lawyer.

According to the study, UVA had more than 10% of alumni at the firms. The University of Chicago Law School was No. 1 at 11%.

Butler Wins UVA Research Award

Professor Jay Butler became the first Law School faculty member to win a UVA Research Achievement Award. Launched in 2019, the third annual Research Achievement Awards Program was held Jan. 28 online. Butler won a Research Excellence Award, which recognizes faculty members who have generated sufficient volume of scholarship of high quality and are emerging in their fields as leaders and acknowledged as such by their peers. Butler focuses his scholarship and teaching on international law, corporations and contracts. He previously won the Francis Deák Prize, awarded by the board of editors of the American Journal of International Law, for his paper “The Corporate Keepers of International Law.”

Stephan’s Book Recognized

Professor Paul B. Stephan ’77 has won the Robert E. Dalton Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Foreign Relations Law, presented by the American Society of International Law, for his book. “The Restatement and Beyond: The Past, Present, and Future of U.S. Foreign Relations Law,” co-edited with Columbia University law professor Sarah A. Cleveland, provides analysis, context and criticism of the American Law Institute’s “The Restatement (Fourth) of U.S Foreign Relations Law.” UVA Law professors Ashley Deeks, John C. Harrison, George Rutherglen and G. Edward White contributed a chapter each to the book. Stephan is an expert on international business, international dispute resolution and comparative law who has served as counselor on international law in the State Department and as special counsel to the general counsel in the Department of Defense.

Stephan is the John C. Jeffries, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Law, and David H. Ibbeken ’71 Research Professor of Law.

Citron Wins 4th Privacy Papers Award

Professor Danielle Citron has won the Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award, presented by the Future of Privacy Forum, for the fourth time. “Privacy Harms,” co-authored by George Washington University law professor Daniel J. Solove and forthcoming in the Boston University Law Review, analyzes how to conceptualize privacy harms and their proper role in privacy regulation. Winners have been invited to speak at the 12th Annual Privacy Papers for Policymakers event Feb. 10. Citron, director of the school’s LawTech Center, writes and teaches about privacy, free expression and civil rights. Her next book is “The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity, and Love in the Digital Age.”

Citron is the Jefferson Scholars Foundation Schenck Distinguished Professor in Law, and Caddell and Chapman Professor of Law.

Laycock Receives Honorary Degree

Professor Douglas Laycock received an honorary degree in laws from Michigan State University, at which he earned his undergraduate degree. He addressed the colleges of Arts and Letters, Communication Arts and Sciences, and Social Science at the school’s fall commencement Dec. 18, saying his proudest career achievement has been defending “the rights of all sides in America’s culture wars.”

“I defend the rights of people that I think are profoundly wrongheaded on fundamental matters. I often oppose those people politically, but I defend their right to live their own lives by their own deepest values,” he said.

Laycock has served as lead counsel in six cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, and is a life member of the American Law Institute and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Laycock’s writings have been republished in a five-volume collection, “Religious Liberty.”

Students Win Telecommunications Competition

Gray Moeller ’22 and Davis Metzger ’24 won the National Telecommunications and Technology Competition. Courtesy photo

Davis Metzger ’24 and Gray Moeller ’22 — former high school debate partners from Boerne, Texas — won the National Telecommunications and Technology Competition. Their student coaches were Kevin Krotz ’22 and Eric Dunbar ’23. The competition is co-hosted by the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law’s Law and Technology Institute, and the Federal Communications Bar Association. The event features an original appellate problem written by a panel of experienced telecommunications and technology attorneys. The problem asked if the First Amendment applies to social media and if fiery political speech in an uncertain context is protected.

Grad’s Paper on UVA Case Wins Award

Rachael Jones ’21 won the Supreme Court Historical Society’s 2020 Hughes-Gossett Award for best student paper. “Rosenberger’s Unexplored History,” published in the Journal of Supreme Court History, focuses on Rosenberger v. Rector & Visitors of University of Virginia, a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that state universities cannot withhold funding from student religious groups if it’s provided to similar secular ones. (Professor John C. Jeffries Jr. ’73 argued the University’s case.) She said she wrote the paper for a course on religious liberty taught by Professor Micah Schwartzman ’05. Winners have been invited to the society’s annual meeting in June.

DHS Report Cites Citron

Citron’s work was noted in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s recent report “Increasing Threats of Deepfake Identities.” To help customers understand how a potential threat might arise and what that threat might look like, DHS considered scenarios specific to commerce, society and national security. The report cited her 2019 paper “Deep Fakes: A Looming Challenge for Privacy, Democracy, and National Security,” co-authored with University of Texas law professor Robert Chesney, and Citron’s testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 2019.

Mason Noted in EU Opinion

An opinion issued by an adviser to Europe’s top court cited Professor Ruth Mason, whose recent work considers multilateral efforts to reform corporate taxation. Priit Pikamae, advocate general at the European Union Court of Justice, said Dec. 16 that Italian carmaker Fiat Chrysler need not pay €30 million in back taxes to Luxembourg, part of the European competition commissioner’s crackdown on sweetheart deals between EU countries and multinationals such as Fiat, Apple and Starbucks. The opinion cited Mason’s 2019 paper “Identifying Illegal Subsidies,” which argues that the U.S. Supreme Court’s internal consistency test is a better way to identify illegal tax subsidies.

Mason is the Edwin S. Cohen Distinguished Professor of Law and Taxation, and Class of 1941 Research Professor of Law.

Research Librarian Profiled

Daniel Radthorne, a research librarian at the Arthur J. Morris Law Library, was profiled in the January/February issue of AALL Spectrum, published by the American Association of Law Libraries. In a Q&A, Radthorne discussed the favorite aspect of his job, what inspires him most, a hypothetical autobiography, his favorite quote and what superpower he wished he had — the Vulcan “mind meld” from “Star Trek.”