Chapman appointed to Cleveland Chair

Nathan S. Chapman has been named the new holder of the law school’s A. Gus Cleveland Distinguished Chair of Law.

With scholarship focusing on the historical and theoretical underpinnings of constitutional law, he recently published the Oxford University Press book Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience (with M.W. McConnell).

He was also selected for a McDonald Distinguished Senior Fellowship from the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion. As one of 19 scholars selected from leading universities across the United States and Europe, he will help develop an “integrated series of books and articles rooted in the intersection of law and religion.”

His other recent scholarship includes: “‘The Arc of the Moral Universe’: Christian Eschatology and U.S. Constitutionalism” in the Notre Dame Law Review, “American Religious Liberty Without (Much) Theory” in the Journal of Law and Religion and “Fair Notice, The Rule of Law, and Reforming Qualified Immunity” in the Florida Law Review.

Chapman, who joined the School of Law faculty in 2013, has been recognized by law students on several occasions. He has received both the Ellington Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Brown Professionalism Award and has served as a graduation faculty marshal.

Milot receives Stanton Distinguished Professorship

Practicum in Animal Welfare Skills Director Lisa Milot has been named the inaugural Annie and Zack Stanton Distinguished Professor in Canine Welfare Law.

The professorship was created by The Stanton Foundation, which has recently supported Milot and her PAWS work with a $1.4 million grant to help reduce the neglect and abuse of dogs.

Milot’s teaching and research focuses on legal issues concerning animal welfare. She is the author of “Backyard Breeding: Regulatory Nuisance, Crime Precursor,” the first academic article on the small-scale commercial breeding of dogs, analyzing both the legal regimes that allow for the proliferation of this activity and the effects on local communities and larger criminal enterprises.

She often shares her expertise with members of the media. She has recently been quoted in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Forsyth Herald and the Athens Banner-Herald.

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.

Promoting the welfare of dogs and strengthening the human/dog bond are among the core objectives of The Stanton Foundation, which was created by the late Frank Stanton.

Scherr awarded rank of full clinical professor

Veterans Legal Clinic Director Alexander W. “Alex” Scherr has been awarded the rank of full clinical professor. Under his direction since 2018, the clinic has helped approximately 800 veterans and their families claim more than $6.5 million in benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies.

Last year, he was elected to a three-year term on the National Law School Veterans Clinic Consortium, which advocates for veterans in judicial, legislative and administrative forums.

A national leader in clinical education, Scherr is the author of Learning From Practice: A Text for Experiential Legal Education and Green’s Georgia Law of Evidence. He has served as president of the Clinical Legal Education Association and chair of the Association of American Law Schools Clinical Advisory Committee. He currently serves as a drafter of the Multistate Performance Test for the National Conference of Bar Examiners and a member of the Board of Editors for the Clinical Law Review.

In 2019, Scherr received the AALS William Pincus Award and the UGA Engaged Scholar Award.

Scherr joined the law school faculty in 1996 as its first director of civil clinics. From 2016 to 2018, he served as the school’s associate dean for clinical programs and experiential learning.

Norins promoted to clinical associate professor

First Amendment Clinic Director Clare R. Norins has been promoted to clinical associate professor. Started under her leadership in 2020, the clinic represents clients in federal and state courts on a range of First Amendment and media law issues. The clinic also regularly provides trainings to high school and college students, journalists, local government leaders, members of law enforcement, community groups and judges on First Amendment and open government topics.

During the 2023–24 academic year, Norins co-chaired the 33rd Georgia Bar, Media & Judiciary Conference and facilitated the panel “What’s the Intel on Artificial Intelligence?” She presented on digital free speech issues being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court at the Georgia Bar Association’s conference on 42 U.S.C. § 1983 litigation. She also planned and moderated the plenary panel “Black box platforms: Challenges of social media regulation” at the Yale Law School’s 2023 Access & Accountability Conference.

In 2022, Norins secured a three-year grant from The Legal Clinic Fund for Local News to expand the clinic’s support for local journalism in Georgia. The year before, she was a co-recipient of the national Clinical Legal Education Association’s Award for Excellence in a Public Interest Case.

Over the past year, she has provided expert media commentary to Georgia Public Broadcasting, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the Georgia Recorder and Courthouse News.

She is a board member of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation and an executive committee member of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Communication, Media & Information.

Nolan earns promotion

Instruction and Faculty Services Librarian Savanna Nolan (J.D.’13) has been elevated to Law Librarian III. She promotes and coordinates research services for the faculty and also teaches Legal Research; Advanced Legal Research; and Spies, Lies and Lawyers: Social Media, Misinformation and the Law.

Her recent scholarship includes “Hugh Ambrose ‘Hughie’ Jennings (1945)” in 11 Men In: Lawyers in the Baseball Hall of Fame (McFarland & Company, forthcoming) and a book review of Teaching About Fake News: Lesson Plans for Different Disciplines and Audiences in the Journal of New Librarianship (2022).

An active member of the American Association of Law Libraries and its Southeastern Chapter, Nolan has regularly presented as part of both organizations’ programming over the past three years. She also routinely presents at the annual Teaching the Teachers conference, which focuses on evidence-based instructional strategies and instructional design, taught by law librarians for law librarians. She presently serves as the treasurer of the Southeastern Chapter of the AALL and as the chair of the AALL Economic Status of Law Librarians Committee.

She joined the Alexander Campbell King Law Library’s team in 2020.

Quinn named director of Rusk Center

In January, Sarah Quinn became the permanent director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center after leading the unit for seven months on an interim basis.

Partnering with the center’s faculty co-directors – Regents’ Professor of International Law & Woodruff Chair in International Law Diane Marie Amann and Stembler Family Distinguished Professor in Business Law Christopher M. Bruner – she is working to situate UGA Law as a leading institution in international law.

Quinn, who joined the School of Law in 2019, previously served as the associate director for global practice preparation. She was instrumental in developing the school’s partnership with India’s Jindal Global University, establishing the Graduate Certificate in International Law and transitioning the Global Governance Summer School into a credit-bearing program. Prior to joining the law school, Quinn worked with the UGA Office of Global Engagement and the U.S. Peace Corps in addition to serving as a director for the American School Language Institute in Morocco.

She earned her B.A., B.F.A. and M.I.P. from UGA and her ED.M. from Harvard University.