Page 8 - University of Baltimore Law - Fall 2019

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25th Annual Awards Ceremony
UB LAW HELD ITS 25TH ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY ON APRIL 14
For the Class of 2019, Katrina Smith was valedictorian, and Herman Brown was
the salutatorian. Katrina Smith also received the 2019 Pro Bono Challenge Award.
The Law Faculty Award winners for the Class of 2019 were Sarah Simmons, day student, and Beatrice Thomas, evening student. Those awards were presented at commencement ceremonies.
Amy Valdivia received the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) Outstanding Student Award for her work with the Innocence Project Clinic. Clinical Excellence Awards also went to Ariella Bond, for her work in the Immigrant Rights Clinic, and John Whitney, for his contributions to the work of the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic.
The award for Outstanding Teaching by a Full-Time Faculty Member went to Prof. Fred Brown, and Michael L. Spekter received the award for Outstanding Teaching by an Adjunct Faculty Member. The Saul Ewing Award for Outstanding Teaching in Transactional Law went to Prof. Robert Rubinson.
Prof. Michele E. Gilman received the Faculty Scholarship Award for Traditional Research, and Prof. Michael Higginbotham received the Faculty Scholarship Award for Public Discourse.
The Law Faculty Service Award was given to Prof. Margaret Johnson, and the Rose McMunn Distinguished Service Staff Award went to clinic administrator Laura Garcia.
The Student Bar Association recognized Lisa Sparks with the James May Faculty Award and Asst. Dean Alyssa Fieo with the Staff Mentoring Award. The SBA named Alana Glover Student Leader of the Year and recognized UB Students for Public Interest Law for Outstanding Service to UB by a Student Organization.
The Hon. Cynthia Jones, J.D. ’92, (right), a judge on the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, was the keynote speaker. She encouraged the graduating students to refrain from too much worry about the future and concentrate on enjoying the beginning of their law careers.
Daniels’ Book on Voter Suppression Due in 2020
Prof. Gilda Daniels reduced her teaching load this past year to work as director of litigation for the Advancement Project. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit works to develop strategies and build community alliances to achieve systemic
change on issues of democracy, voting rights and access to justice.
Daniels has also been working on her first book, Uncounted: The Crisis of Voter
Suppression in the United States, due to be published in January 2020 by NYU Press. The book examines the phenomenon of disenfranchisement through the lenses of
history, race, law and the democratic process.
Part of her work at the Advancement Project has been filing Freedom of Information Act requests to hold the Trump administration accountable for some
of its discriminatory practices against African and Central American immigrants. “We’re seeking records on how the White House chose to deny temporary
status to immigrants from certain nations. [President Trump] is seeking to end Temporary Protected Status for those countries.”
She is also helping the Advancement Project address the school-to-prison pipeline, with an imbalance in suspensions and expulsions for students of color and an increasing criminalization of students. African American
girls, for example, are expelled at a much higher rate than white girls. The arming of teachers is seen as a disturbing trend in this context.
As with so much movement lawyering, she says, “It’s not about winning. It’s about moving the needle, creating power, changing the narrative.”
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