UM Law Faculty and Staff Recognized for Excellence
OXFORD, Miss. – Attending the University of Mississippi School of Law means learning from award-winning faculty and staff. In the 2018-19 academic year, six faculty and staff members were recognized with national and statewide honors.
The latest award bestowed upon a UM Law faculty member came during commencement on May 11. Ron Rychlak, professor of law and Jamie L. Whitten Chair of Law and Government, was this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award.
The award is the university’s highest honor for research. Rychlak has been a very active scholar through writing, publishing and research. He has been author, co-author or editor of 11 books. Additionally, he has penned more than 90 academic papers on topics spanning the field, including criminal law, environmental law, international law, gambling law, sports law and the study of religion in times of war.
“This award illustrates the wonderful scholarly activity that occurs daily at the School of Law,” said UM Law Dean Susan Duncan. “We have a highly productive faculty publishing in top journals, writing books and contributing to the development of the law. Our students also publish in our own journals and journals across the nation and the world at a far higher rate than law students at other schools.
“Professors like professor Rychlak mentor and guide our students in these efforts. This award acknowledges the hard work our faculty and students do every day.”
Several other faculty and staff members have also been recognized for their work this past academic year.
Sandra Cox-McCarty, associate dean for administration and diversity initiatives in the University of Mississippi School of Law, was among 30 recipients of the Education, Diversity and Greater Equality (EDGE) awards given by the Council of Legal Education Opportunity in November. She became involved with the organization as a law student at Mississippi College and has served as a teaching assistant during CLEO’s pre-law institute at the University of Tennessee.
Her involvement and passion for the organization, which aims to increase minority representation in the field of law, led to her bringing the pre-law summer institute to UM Law. During the four years it was held on campus, 2012-15, nearly 200 students participated.
Cox-McCarty was also honored in March for her dedication to diversity and inclusion by the board of trustees of Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. She was the recipient of its annual Excellence in Diversity Award.
For more than 27 years, she has worked diligently to create an atmosphere of inclusivity and tolerance. Cox-McCarty joined the law school in 1992 and has dedicated her career to making the law school a diverse and inclusive environment for all students. Her main role is dealing with administrative day-to-day aspects of the school. However, she does much more than that for students, the school and the university behind the scenes. She coordinates HBCU visits to the law school and develops relationships with those institutions through pre-law initiatives. In service, she mentors prospective law students and continues to serve as adviser for the Undergraduate Black Law Students Association.
In April, Karen Peairs, assistant director of Career Services at the law school, and David Calder, clinical professor and director of the Child Advocacy Clinic, were the staff and faculty recipients of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, the McLean Institute and university’s highest honor of service.
Calder is the Director of the Child Advocacy Clinic, which trains law students to serve as guardians ad litem, who are appointed by courts as special advocates to protect the interests of children who are victims of abuse or neglect. Calder regularly speaks at trainings for attorneys and child advocates on child protection issues.
Calder also serves as a member on multiple commissions and task forces, and he consults the Mississippi Judicial College, an entity at the university that trains all state judges, on child advocacy issues. His projects include working on handbooks for guardians ad litem in Youth Court and Chancery Court.
His passion for child advocacy has also led him to work on improving access to the courts to enable pro se litigants to represent themselves on simple issues. Additionally, Calder has provided free legal representation to indigent parties.
Peairs was also a recipient of the Sullivan award. In addition to serving law students through Career Services, Peairs donates her time to the Magnolia Bar Association. She also introduced statewide Restoration Day Expungement Clinics in north Mississippi, where students and local attorneys help members of the public expunge their criminal records.
Additionally, she solicited plaintiffs on behalf of the ACLU of Mississippi’s lawsuit to allow felons who have paid their debt to society to once again have the right to vote. Peairs served as volunteer counsel for the Mississippi Center for Justice and is a board member of North Mississippi Rural Legal Services. She helps facilitate protections for descendants to ensure there is no loss of land in the absence of a will.
This year, Peairs developed a Pro Bono Lawyers United with Students pilot program in partnership with the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission. The goal of the program is to place second and third year law students with practicing attorneys during wintersession to assist with the state’s need for legal services.
Macey Edmondson, the law school’s assistant dean for student affairs, was recognized during Disability History Month with the University’s Access Award.
Student Disability Services recognizes faculty and staff members who go above and beyond in their support of students with disability.
On April 11, MacArthur Justice Clinic Director and Assistant Professor of Law Cliff Johnson was inducted as a Mississippi Bar Foundation Fellow. Only 10% of lawyers in the state are eligible for membership as a fellow, and it is the Foundation’s highest honor.
Selection as a fellow means the attorney is recognized by their peers for having achieved the highest level of professionalism, competence and leadership. According to the Foundation, fellows are selected for membership based not only on their excellence as a lawyer but also by their dedication and service to the public and profession.
Also in April, UM Law Registrar Eddie Upton was honored for his dedication with the National Network of Law School Officers 2019 Vanguard Award.
The award recognizes the outstanding contributions of a law school officer who uses innovative methods in transforming academic services for students. More than that, the Vanguard Award recognizes outstanding leadership and effective administration.
Upton has served as the law school’s registrar for the last seven years. During that time, he designed a database to handle all reporting and processing requirements for students.
“Our faculty and staff work diligently on behalf of our students, and I am so pleased they have been recognized for their efforts,” Duncan said. “Everyone at the law school truly cares about their work and service to students, and I continue to be impressed daily by these wonderful colleagues.”
The Defense Rests: Professor Phillip Broadhead to Retire After Serving UM Law for 17 Years
OXFORD, Miss – Phillip Broadhead, a clinical professor in the University of Mississippi School of Law, has influenced the lives of hundreds of students and residents throughout his lifelong legal career as a public defender in Mississippi.
Broadhead retires this month after serving 17 years as director of the UM Criminal Appeals Clinic.
Originally from Meridian, Broadhead graduated from Mississippi State University and Mississippi College School of Law. His career in criminal litigation began more than 35 years ago, where he served as Marion County public defender, followed by his role as assistant Hinds County public defender.
His academic career began in 2001 as an adjunct instructor at Mississippi College. He joined the UM School of Law in 2002, when he established the Criminal Appeals Clinic as an experiential learning course of study.
The clinic allows third-year students to gain practical experience in criminal law and procedure by serving as lawyers to review trial records and evidence, write case briefs and participate in oral arguments before the Court of Appeals and Mississippi Supreme Court.
“The Criminal Appeals Clinic has provided me the opportunity to work with literally hundreds of talented students who have gone out into the world ready for practice,” Broadhead said.
“I am grateful to my colleagues on the faculty and to members of the bench and bar for all of the support shown to the program throughout the years, but after 35 years as a public defender, it is time for me to step away from teaching here at the law school as a full-time faculty member.”
Earlier this year, Broadhead’s teaching was recognized with the Ben Hardy Faculty Excellence Award.
“For several years, professor Broadhead has contemplated retirement, but like any good lawyer immersed in the work and devoted to clients – and in his case, his students, too – it took him a few years to wrap his mind around beginning a new phase of life,” said Tucker Carrington, associate dean for clinical programs. “His decision is a big loss for us at the law school and for indigent state legal services.”
Broadhead has supervised the representation of more than 100 clients through the clinic, where he has inspired students to become passionate advocates for their clients. His students have delivered 36 oral arguments before the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals in Mississippi on behalf of appellants, resulting in the reversals in 18 cases since 2004.
“Professor Broadhead has accomplished so much in his career, but his most resonant accomplishment is that he has been there for his clients – almost all of whom had no one else but him to turn to for counsel – day after day, year after year, for the last 35 years,” Carrington said.
In an effort to better reach and educate students, Broadhead planned and coordinated the “Court on the Road” program, which is in its 15th year. The program allows the Court of Appeals to hold special sessions and hear oral arguments of pending Criminal Appeals Clinic cases at the UM School of Law.
The court also regularly visits other institutions throughout the year to educate students on how the court system works.
He has devoted many years of service to improving the quality of representation for criminal defendants and has been an instrumental resource for Mississippi courts. The Mississippi Supreme Court tasked Broadhead to research and present data on criminal sentences over the last decade for the Sentencing Disparity Task Force.
He also has served the courts as a member of the Federal Inmate Re-Entry Program and the Mississippi Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules, among others.
Broadhead is a life member, past president and board director of the Mississippi Public Defenders Association, where he has worked in the organization’s teaching institute to enhance the trial skills of criminal defense attorneys.
“Golf and travel will be my primary focus for the next few years,” he said.
Faculty Highlights – May 2019
Assistant Professor of Law Antonia Eliason co-authored the article “A Higher Authority: Canada’s Cannabis Legalization in the Context of International Law” with NYU Law School‘s Robert Howse. The article was recently published in the Michigan Journal of International Law.
Professor of Law Ron Rychlak will speak at the Southern Gaming Summit May 8 in Biloxi on the federal Wire Act.
On April 19, MacArthur Justice Center Director and Assistant Professor of Law Cliff Johnson testified to the Mississippi Advisory Subcommittee of the Commission on Civil Rights concerning prosecutorial discretion and sentencing disparity in Mississippi.
Johnson spoke at the Mississippi Public Defenders Annual Conference regarding the successful efforts of the MacArthur Justice Center at UM Law to have juvenile offenders removed from the Mississippi Sex Offender Registry on April 25.
On May 10, Johnson will speak at the Mississippi Association for Justice Annual Criminal Defense Seminar concerning the impact of recent criminal justice reform on pretrial incarceration.
Prof. Rychlak is the recipient of the 2019 Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award, the highest honor in research given by the university.
Michelle Hanlon, Air and Space Law Instructor and Research Counsel, was quoted in an article by National Geographic.
Associate Dean for Clinical Programs Tucker Carrington co-authored the book The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist, which was released last year. The book was recently reviewed by Temple University School of Law.
Hanlon was also quoted in All About Space magazine in the article, “Crimes in Space.”