Cade awarded full professor and presented with Engaged Scholar Award

Associate Dean for Clinical Programs and Experiential Learning Jason A. Cade has been promoted to the rank of full professor. In addition to leading the Community Health Law Partnership Clinic since 2013, he holds a Hosch Professorship and teaches immigration law.

Cade was also awarded UGA’s Engaged Scholar Award in April, a university-level honor bestowed upon one tenured faculty member each year who has significantly advanced progress on issues of public concern through scholarship, service-learning activities with students, and campus leadership.

Among his recent scholarship is “‘Water is Life!’ (and Speech!): Death, Dissent and Democracy in the Borderlands” in the Indiana Law Journal and the co-authored report “Escalating Jailhouse Immigration Enforcement,” which reveals an increase in the issuance of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina from 2016 to 2018, among other findings.

Last year, the Community HeLP Clinic won the national Clinical Legal Education Association’s Award for Excellence in a Public Interest Case or Project for its work with the law school’s First Amendment Clinic and clinics from Harvard, Columbia, Texas A&M and Boston universities.

Grant promoted to associate professor

Elizabeth M. Grant (J.D.’94) has been promoted to clinical associate professor. She directs the School of Law’s Civil Externship program and its Public Interest Practicum.

During the 2019–20 academic year, she was one of nine faculty members selected campus-wide to participate in UGA’s Service-Learning Fellows program, which provides an opportunity for faculty members from a range of disciplines to integrate academic service-learning into their professional practice.

Her recent scholarship includes “Towards a jurisprudence (and pedagogy) of access: A reflection on 25 years of the Public Interest Practicum” in the Georgia Law Review Online.

Grant has worked at the School of Law in various capacities for several years. She has taught the Civil Externship course during the summer semesters since 2010, served as the interim director of the Family Violence Clinic (as it was called then) in 2015 and was an adjunct mock trial coach.

Hetherington gains promotion and wins three grants

Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic Director Emma M. Hetherington (J.D.’11) has been promoted to clinical associate professor.

Earlier this year she was awarded three grants – one from the UGA Teaming for Interdisciplinary Research Pre-Seed Program and another from the UGA Center on Human Trafficking Research and Outreach, while the third is a Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children Grant from Georgia’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. All three will allow Hetherington and the clinic to further their important work related to assisting sexually abused and exploited children.

She presently serves on the 2022–23 Sexual Assault, Child Abuse, and Human Trafficking State Expert Committee, which develops best practice guidance, protocol development, training, technical assistance and other resources benefiting Georgia’s 50 judicial circuits.

The Wilbanks CEASE Clinic – the first of its kind in the nation – is dedicated to legal representation and advocacy for survivors of child sexual abuse in civil litigation and juvenile court dependency proceedings. Under her direction, the clinic has served more than 200 survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation since opening in 2016.

McNiff leads Mediation Practicum

Rob McNiff (J.D.’02), now a clinical assistant professor, leads the School of Law’s Mediation Practicum. He joined the school’s faculty in 2017, and he teaches classes in mediation and negotiation.

Over the past several years, McNiff has helped with the school’s advocacy program. With his assistance, School of Law students have won numerous moot court and mock trial trophies.

McNiff is a registered neutral and approved trainer with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution. He has successfully mediated hundreds of cases in many areas of law.

Previously, McNiff served as a public defender in judicial circuits in Northeast Georgia before opening a general practice of law in Winterville. He also started Resolve Mediation Solutions, which emphasized delivering mediation services to individuals and groups who sought to avoid litigation.

Milot named full professor and received $200k PetSmart grant

Practicum in Animal Welfare Skills Director Lisa Milot has been awarded the rank of full professor.

Milot also recently secured a $200,000 grant from PetSmart Charities to establish the Community Interventions for Sustainable Access to Care program.

The initiative seeks to determine the assistance needed to make veterinary care accessible in two socially vulnerable communities in Athens. Community Interventions is designed to address barriers to veterinary care by providing services on location in the selected communities, paired with information about the legal requirements for pet ownership and best practices for the social and physical needs of companion animals. Milot will analyze data from Athens-Clarke County Animal Services to see if the program is successful in keeping more animals in their homes and improving the condition of animals impounded despite the program.

Milot, who joined the School of Law in 2007, was named the 2009 UGA Professor of the Year by the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers.

Scartz named associate professor

Christine M. Scartz (J.D.’94), who joined the law school faculty in 2015, has been promoted to clinical associate professor. Currently, she directs the Jane W. Wilson Family Justice Clinic and teaches the courses Family Law and Law and Social Justice: Strategic Advocacy.

During the 2021–22 year, Scartz co-authored “Lessons from a Pandemic: Recommendations from the Georgia TPO Forum for Strengthening Protections Against Domestic Violence” in the Family Law Quarterly. She served as a Fellow with the Georgia Womens’ Policy Institute and an Advisory Board member with Marsy’s Law for Georgia in addition to being admitted to the Amicable Divorce Network and selected as a member of the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence Faculty Facilitator Team.

Additionally, she has served on the Executive Board and Fatality Review Panel of the Western Judicial Circuit Domestic Violence Task Force since 2016, and Scartz currently chairs the Firearms Surrender Protocol Committee of the Task Force.

Previously, she was an adjunct instructor with the school’s Public Interest Practicum and Civil Clinics. In 2020–21, Scartz was a UGA Service-Learning Fellow.