Law School Briefs 10/26/12

Law School Briefs highlights news from law schools in Indiana. While Indiana Lawyer has always covered law school news and continues to keep up with law school websites and press releases for updates, we gladly accept submissions for this section from law students, professors, alumni, and others who want to share law school-related news. If you’d like to submit news or a photo from an event, please email it to Marilyn Odendahl at [email protected], along with contact information for any follow-up questions at least two weeks prior to the issue date.

LACE attorneys from Kenya give lecture at IU McKinney

The Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law hosted a presentation Oct. 17 by the attorney leaders of the Legal Aid Centre of Eldoret in Kenya.

LACE Legal Director Milkah Mirugi Cheptinga and Board President Eric Gumbo spoke to a crowd of about 60 individuals in the Wynne Courtroom. Clinical professor Fran Quigley gave the introduction.

The Legal Aid Centre of Eldoret is a human rights law clinic working in close association with the Indiana University-affiliated and Nobel Peace Prize-nominated AMPATH (Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare) program. Since its founding in 2008, LACE has represented more than 3,000 HIV-positive AMPATH patients.

The central Indiana legal community has partnered with LACE since its inception when Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Patricia A. Riley, vice president of the I.U. McKinney Alumni Association board of directors, co-founded the organization along with Quigley and their Kenyan colleagues.

Valpo law students turn to new tool for career planning

Valparaiso University Law School has launched a new tool to help students complete the steps necessary to advance their careers and pass the bar.

Known at VOLT, the Valparaiso Online Law Tracker is a mobile online law tracker that is a password-protected, career planning aid with one-to-one proactive communication between the school and the students. The main functions of VOLT include providing students with a list of vital career planning steps, benchmarking the student’s progress against the entire class, and walking students through the steps to prepare for the bar exam.

VOLT is believed to be the first tool developed specifically to provide help with law career planning.

The success of VOLT will be measured by overall student participation and the completion of students’ lists. Quantitative and qualitative follow up research will be conducted.

Evan Bayh gives inaugurallecture at IU McKinney

Nearly 250 people crowded into the Wynne Courtroom at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law Oct. 18 to hear former U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh deliver the inaugural address in a lecture series to honor his father, former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh.

The series is being sponsored by contributions from friends of Birch Bayh and from the Simon Property Group, where the elder Bayh was a board member for 17 years.

Evan Bayh spoke for about 30 minutes and then took questions from the audience for another half hour. The conversation ranged from politics and the presidential election to providing advice to students about public service.

Birch Bayh was unable to attend the event but he did send a letter to greet the audience which I.U. McKinney Dean Gary Roberts read before the lecture.

A native of Terre Haute, Birch Bayh received his law degree from the I.U. Maurer School of Law in 1960 and was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1961. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962, serving three terms.•