May/June 2023
Message from the Dean

I just wrapped up my first year as Dean. I would like to thank you all for your support of our Law School this year. It has been a successful year, and I would like to share a few highlights with you.

We raised a record-breaking $8.35 million this year – exceeding any other fundraising year by over $5 million. Most of this support will go directly to students as scholarships. Thanks to so many of you for your incredibly generosity.

We had a very successful 75th Anniversary. It was wonderful to see so many of you at our Kick-Off Fiesta, Chavez Lecture, Simms Lecture, and 75th Anniversary Gala. Seeing so many of you together proves that our community is thriving and ever connected.

We have begun updating the Forum. This summer, the Forum is receiving fresh paint, new carpet, and modern wood paneling for the Leo Romero Classroom. This fall, we will replace the old wooden doors with nice, modern wood doors. We are in the process of obtaining new furniture for the Forum too.

We are thrilled that we have obtained the leasehold to the New Mexico Law Center Building located right next to our Law School. We leased out the property in 1974 and have been trying to recover the leasehold for years. We are excited to renovate and expand into this building.

We proudly graduated the Class of 2023. As usual, we held a spirited commencement ceremony behind the Law School overlooking the golf course. We are so pleased that we were able to graduate this class – which started its 1L year during the peak of the pandemic – surrounded by faculty and staff and hundreds of families and friends.

And finally, I want to congratulate three professors who were awarded tenure this year – Professors Sonia Gibson Rankin, Gabe Pacyniak, and Sarah Steadman.

As you can see, we are up to great things. Thank you for all you are doing to help the school, and I look forward to seeing you at our next event – the Back to School Fiesta – on August 25.

Best regards,
Camille Carey
Dean
UNM Law Hosts the 2023 Law Scholarship Classic

On June 9, 2023, the University of New Mexico School of Law hosted its annual Law Scholarship Classic golf tournament.

The event was held at the UNM Championship Golf Course and included a day of golfing an 18 hole course with alumni, friends and families.

UNM Law is proud to host this event and thanks all who have contributed to making the event successful, including our sponsors below.
ExxonMobil Contributes more than $500,000 to New Mexico Education Initiatives
At UNM, the funds support the Wild Friends Program at the UNM School of Law. Wild Friends is a unique, award-winning civics education program that provides a statewide, experiential education program that integrates civics and wildlife law to help students in grades 4-12 understand the democratic process, develop good citizenship skills, and contribute to wildlife conservation by involving them in public policy projects of their choosing.

“The generous funding provided by ExxonMobil has allowed our program to reach students in underserved areas across the state, from To'Hajiilee to Wagon Mound, providing award-winning experiential civics and science education to New Mexico's youth," said Sue George, director, Wild Friends Program, UNM School of Law. "We are grateful for the opportunity this funding has given us to help improve the educational experiences of these students and to contribute to the quality of life in our beautiful state.”
UNM School of Law in the News
Associate Dean and Professor Serge Martinez and clinical law students speak about cannabis expungements and how they can help.

Congratulations to Elliott Heater-Brown (2L), the winner of the Don G. McCormick Writing Prize! This prize is awarded to an Elements of Legal Argumentation II (ELA II) student with the brief that best represents and exemplifies excellence in legal writing. Each ELA II professor nominates the best brief from their class. The best briefs are then judged by a respected member of the legal community who looks for conciseness, clarity, proper legal citation, style, and ethical representation.

Don G. McCormick practiced law in New Mexico after graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 1933 until his death in 1986. McCormick drafted the New Mexico Uniform Jury Instructions (Civil), served on the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association, was elected a Fellow on the American College of Trial Lawyers, and was a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. McCormick believed that lawyers have a duty to communicate effectively and wanted to recognize the student whose writing best exemplified excellence in writing.

Heater-Brown explains “I appreciate the ELA Department’s effort to create engaging prompts and the creation of and adherence to formulas which make legal writing simpler for beginners. One of the main things that I learned about legal writing is that the goal is to articulate complex topics as clearly and concisely as possible. I feel honored to have been awarded this prize, and I look forward to continued learning and practice of the skill of legal writing.”

Congratulations again, Elliott!
RECENT APPEARANCES & PUBLICATIONS:

  • Was interviewed by KRQE regarding the recent case 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis.
  • Contributed an essay for Dictators and the Disappeared: Democracy Lost and Restored (University of New Mexico Press, 2023). The themes explored in the book are also represented in the Albuquerque Museum in a presentation that bears the same name as the book.
  • Served as a speaker on the panel “How to Become a Law Professor: AAPI/MENA Women in the Legal Academy.” This was a webinar for those interested in entering the teaching market.
  • Hosted and spoke to a group of advocates from around the world about current challenges in gender and LGBTQ+ equity in the United States. The event was organized by the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program.
  • Delivered a presentation at the New Mexico Public Education Department’s annual Building An Equity Bridge conference.
  • Coordinated and co-moderated a discussion entitled “Moving from Data Gathering to Policymaking.”
  • Co-authored with Donald Sherman (VP and Chief Counsel of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics) an op-ed in the Nevada Independent about a pending bill in the Nevada legislature. The bill criminalizes those who misrepresent themselves as Presidential electors.
  • Was quoted on MLive, a local journalism website in Michigan. Presently, two high school students in Michigan are suing their middle school because the latter prohibited the students from wearing sweatshirts that read “Let’s Go Brandon,” a euphemism popular among supporters of former Pres. Trump for a profane insult against Pres. Biden. Maryam discussed the First Amendment issues surrounding the case.

  • Participated in the session titled “Clinical and Experiential Law Program Directors Workshop Welcome and Introduction” at the 2023 AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education.

  • Was honored by the State Bar of New Mexico. He was bestowed the Judge Sarah M. Singleton Distinguished Service Award. The award “recognizes attorneys who have provided valuable service and contributions to the legal profession, the State Bar of New Mexico, and the public over a significant period of time.”

  • His article “Why The Actual Malice Test Should Be Eliminated” is forthcoming in 50 Florida State Law Review (2023).
  • His article “First Amendment Fetishism” is forthcoming in 2024 Utah Law Review (2024).
  • Submitted a bar exam essay question (along with the model answer and answer outline) to the California Bar Examiners for potential inclusion in a future exam administration.

  • Was quoted in Source New Mexico about the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brackeen v. Haaland.

  • Wrote the article “Would You Make It to the Future? Teaching Race in an Assisted Reproductive Technologies and the Law Classroom” that will be printed in Women and the Law.
  • Published “The MiDAS Touch: Atuahene’s ‘Stategraft’ and the Implications of Unregulated Artificial Intelligence,” N.Y.U. L. Rev. Online (2023).
  • Presented the following papers:
  • “Tech Giants on Trial: Why Section 230 of the Communications and Decency Act Matters,” at the Inn of Courts, Santa Fe, April 19, 2023.
  • “Decoding the Law: What will Large Language Models Mean Under the Law?,” Santa Fe Institute, April 25, 2023. See it here.
  • “Has Section 230 Gone Too Far? Gonzalez, Taamneh, and Tech Company Immunity,” NM Federal Bar, April 28, 2023.
  • “Civil Law: Contract and Torts,” Navajo Nation Judiciary, Window Rock, AZ, May 1, 2023.

  • Was interviewed by Canadian Global News about the criminal indictment against former President Trump.

  • Published “Surviving Castro-Huerta: The Historical Perseverance of the Basic Policy of Worcester v. Georgia Protecting Tribal Autonomy, Notwithstanding One Supreme Court Opinion's Errant Narrative to the Contrary,” 74 Mercer Law Review 845 (2023). The article is a contribution to the Mercer Law School symposium “Past is Prologue: Legal Narratives and the Law’s Potential for Justice and Injustice.”

  • Presented his work-in-progress “Realizing the Progressive Promise of America’s New Climate Change Industrial Policy” at the inaugural Berkeley/Penn Energy Scholars Workshop.
  • Participated in the following sessions at the 2023 AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education:
  • A poster presentation titled “Opportunities for Clinics to Support a Just Transition to a Clean Energy, Climate Resilient Economy” and
  • Worked as a group leader.
  • Co-organized, along with Alumna Pala Vance, a NM Bar CLE on Natural Resources and Environmental Law related outcomes from this past legislative session.

  • Published “The Incapacitated Grantor and the Revocable Trust: Unnecessary Tax Complexity and a Reform Proposal,” in 76 The Tax Lawyer (spring 2023).

  • Published a guest column in the Albuquerque Journal, titled “Problematic Baldwin Case Could Have Been Even Worse at Trial.”

  • Delivered a presentation before the NM Federal Bar Association regarding the affirmative action cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • Presented a paper “Asian Americans and the Affirmative Action Debate” before the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico. The paper was delivered as part of the AAPI Heritage Month celebration.
  • Spoke at the 2023 Drake Constitutional Law Symposium on a panel titled “The Scales of Justice Tilt Right: Abortion, Affirmative Action, and the Administrative State.”
  • Posted a blog entry “Asian Americans and the Bait-and-Switch Attack on Affirmative Action,” in the blog of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Civil Rights and Racial Justice.
  • Published “Asian Americans, Racial Stereotypes, and Elite University Admissions”102 Boston University Law Review 233 (2021). Four scholars authored responses to that article and these responses were published recentl in an online symposium by Boston University Law Review. Vinay’s responses to his commentators are available here.
Professor Carol Suzuki

  • Led a workshop titled “The Importance of Being Earnestly Asian and American: Does it Matter?” at the 2023 AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education.

  • Was appointed by the New Mexico State Board of Bar Commissioners to serve on the Board of the DNA-People's Legal Services for a four-year term. More information about the DNA is available here.
  • Participated in the session “Other Than That, How was the Play, Mrs. Lincoln?: Reimagining What's Possible Across Practice Areas Post-Pandemic” at the 2023 AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education.


  • Participated in the session “Other Than That, How was the Play, Mrs. Lincoln?: Reimagining What's Possible Across Practice Areas Post-Pandemic” at the 2023 AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education.

UNM Law graduate (2022) Samantha Wauls has received a prestigious one-year entertainment law fellowship with the Motion Picture Association (MPA). The Motion Picture Association and the Entertainment Industry College Outreach program has a MPA-EICOP Entertainment Law & Policy Fellowship program that offers opportunities in the entertainment industry for high-performing recent college, university, and law student graduates.

The MPA-EICOP Entertainment Law & Policy Fellowship shows a commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the entertainment industry. Fellows will spend 6 months with the MPA, splitting their time in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. The following 6 months will be spent at one of the studios with which MPA is associated. These studios include Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros. Congratulations Samantha!
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Back to School Fiesta
Friday, August 25, 2023
5 PM - 7 PM
School of Law Back Patio & Lawn
Register Online
SAVE THE DATE
Distinguished Achievement Awards Dinner
Friday, October 20, 2023
5:30 PM
Register Online