Lynda Black

Professor Black’s article “The Day the Fight Song Died: The Alston Concurrence that Became the Playbook” was published in the Symposium Edition of Volume 53 of the University of Memphis Law Review.. She also presented at the Symposium itself in the Spring. Her article, “Specialty: How Pets Unleashed a New Classification of Property,” was recently accepted for publication by the Gonzaga Law Review.

 Professor Black was also recently named to the University of Memphis President’s Council by University president, Bill Hardgrave.

Jennifer Brobst

Professor Brobst has had several pieces of scholarship published or updated recently, while also participating as a panelist or presenter at various events. These include:

• “Perilous Private Enforcement Strategies: From Posses and Citizen’s Arrest to Texas Heartbeat Statutes,” in ConLawNOW
• “Vicarious Liability for Systemic Risks of Sexual Violence in the United States: Not A Modest Proposal,” in the University of Detroit Mercy Law Review
• Paper presentation: “Trouble in the Land of Or: Statutory Construction and Declining Literacy in America,” at the 2023 Annual Scholarship Conference, Central States Law School Association, University of Oklahoma School of Law
• Panelist: “Navigating the Good, the Bad, and the Possibilities of ChatGPT,” at the UM3D Summer Institute: Reflecting Forward, University of Memphis
• Paper presentation: “Considerations of Human Trauma When AI Acts as a Perpetrator,” at the Workshop on Vulnerability and Digital Intimacy, Emory University School of Law Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative

Stephen Galoob

Professor Galoob will join Memphis Law in the Spring as our newest Visiting Herff Chair of Excellence in Law. He is a professor at the University of Tulsa College of Law.

Ronnie R. Gipson

Professor Gipson’s article titled, “Swept Up in the Illegal Charter Net,” was published in the September 2023 issue of Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) Sport Aviation Magazine.

His article, “The Interjurisdictional Abortion Wars Have Arrived,” has been accepted for a forthcoming publication in the University of North Texas at Dallas Law Review On the Cusp.

Regina Hillman

Professor Hillman’s article, “The Battle Over Bostock: Dueling Presidential Administrations & the Need for Consistent & Reliable LGBTQ+ Rights,” was recently published in Volume 32 of American University Washington College of Law’s Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law. 

Additionally, she was recently the 2023 Stonewall Lecture Series Speaker hosted by Roger Williams University School of Law. The annual event honoring the contributions of the many people who have advocated for LGBTQ+ equality and justice. She presented her lecture, titled “The Battle for Pride: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow.”

She also participated as a panelist at the Supreme Court Case Update – 2022-2023 – FedEx Free CLE Day, where she served as a panel member addressing major cases from the Supreme Court’s 2022-2023 Term with FedEx Managing Director of Employment Litigation Terrence Reed, Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge Jeffrey Usman, and Tennessee Law Professor Teri Baxter.

She also made several presentations over the 2023 Spring and Summer terms addressing LGBTQ+ issues:

• Professor Hillman presented at Sherrod, Roe, Voight & Harbison for the firms DEI Pride Month event. Titled “Celebrating Pride – Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow.”
• She presented for the Tennessee Bar Association’s LGBT Section Annual CLE on challenges facing transgender youth and anti-LGBT legislation.
• In May, she was a panelist for the Tennessee Bar Association’s Leadership Law Program addressing diversity and LGBTQ+ issues applicable to the practice of law in Tennessee.
• In April, she served as a panelist for the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section annual meeting.  The presentation, titled “Addressing the Criminalization of Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Youth” focused on harmful legislation prohibiting gender-affirming care of trans youth.
• In April, she presented at SHRM’s Annual Conference titled “The Snares & Legal Landmines of HR Professionals.  Her presentation was titled “LGBTQ+ Discrimination, Harassment, and Transgender Challenges in the Workplace” and focused on LGBTQ+ workplace issues.

D.R. Jones

Professor Jones was elected to the Executive Board of the Society of Academic Law Library Directors (SALLD). The mission of SALLD is to promote academic law librarianship and to represent the interests of academic law libraries.

Professor Jones was a participant in the Privacy Law Scholars’ Conference held at the University of Colorado School of Law in June 2023.   In October 2023, Professor Jones presented her latest scholarship at the Annual Meeting of the Mid-America Association of Law Libraries (MAALL). Also at the MAALL Meeting Professor Jones was a panelist on a program entitled “Shaping Collection Development for the Future.”

Daniel Kiel

Professor Kiel is the author of the new book, "The Transition: Interpreting Justice from Thurgood Marshall to Clarence Thomas,” from Stanford University Press. The book was released in April 2023 and details the most significant transition from 1953 to the present when Justice Thurgood Marshall was replaced by Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court and the resulting consequences that are still unfolding to this day.

Additionally, his work, "Justice Thurgood Marshall's Last Stand," was published in the Journal of Supreme Court History. 

William Kratzke

Professor Kratzke's article, "Musings: Itemized Deductions and the Changing Fabric of American Society Wrought by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – Observing Regressiveness in Plain Sight," was published in the winter edition of The Tax Lawyer.

Katy Ramsey Mason

Professor Mason was recognized amongst a select group of researchers at the University of Memphis for having awards totaling more than $500,000 in the last year.

She also has a forthcoming article in the Washington & Lee Review titled, “Civil Means to Criminal Ends.”

Professor Mason is also overseeing the law school’s new partnership with Everytown Law, which as part of the MLP Clinic under her direction, will help support pediatric victims of gun violence at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.

Drona Rasali

Professor Rasali is Memphis Law’s newest Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Race & Health Policy.

Daniel Schaffzin

Professor Schaffzin was recognized as a University of Memphis “PI Millionaire,” signifying the attainment of more than $1 million as a Principal Investigator on externally supported sponsored projects. He also joined the board of directors of Intunity (formerly the Housing Foundation of West Tennessee, Inc.), a 501(c-3) organization dedicated to providing first-class, safe and affordable houses for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities who choose to live in community residential housing.

Additionally, Professor Schaffzin was recognized as a 2023 recipient of the Susan Te Paske "See Me" Award during the University of Memphis’ Disability Advocacy Week. The Award honors a UofM faculty member who has been nominated by a student for showing an understanding of and willingness to learn about issues of disability.

Faith Watson

Professor Watson joined Memphis Law this semester as an Assistant Professor of Law – Teaching Appointment.

Jodi Wilson

Associate Dean Wilson was recently inducted as a Memphis Bar Foundation Fellow. The Foundation annually nominates attorneys and judges to become Fellows. Nominees are chosen based on their devoted and distinguished service to the legal profession and the administration of justice and their adherence to the highest standards of professional ethics and personal conduct.