Public Interest Law Film Festival Begins Tomorrow

By Jeanne Price

The Boyd School of Law’s second annual Public Interest Law Film Festival begins tomorrow, September 13. This year’s festival features three films that highlight the role of lawyers who are committed to public service. Each of the three films examines the legitimacy of the justice system and the penalties it imposes through a different lens – the criminal justice system in Crime After Crime, policies on immigration in AbUSed: The Postville Raid, and tort reform in Hot Coffee.

The festival begins Thursday evening with a showing of Crime After Crime (winner of the Freedom of Expression Award from the National Board of Review and the Grand Prize at the San Antonio Film Festival). Filmmaker Yoav Potash will lead a discussion of the film following its showing.

Friday morning events include a discussion of the use of media in litigation, led by Boyd Professor Elizabeth MacDowell, and a showing of Hot Coffee, followed by a question and answer session facilitated by Boyd Professor Elaine Shoben. At lunch, a group of distinguished academics, legislators, and community activists convene to discuss the collateral consequences of criminal convictions.

On Friday afternoon Professor and Boyd alumna Angela Morrison leads a discussion following the showing of AbUSed: The Postville Raid.

The festival ends with a keynote speech by Justice Michael L. Douglas of the Nevada Supreme Court. Following Justice Douglas’ remarks, the Law School will host a reception in the Wiener-Rogers Law Library. All of the films celebrated in this year’s festival are part of the Law Library’s documentary film holdings, a collection of more than 2000 films that are used by faculty and students in teaching and scholarly activities.

The Law School is very grateful to the Festival's sponsors.

Boyd to Host Second Annual Public Interest Law Film Festival

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that it will be hosting the Second Annual Public Interest Law Film Festival on September 13 and 14, 2012.

This year's festival, the theme of which is "Legitimacy, Process, and Penalty," will feature three films, including Crime After Crime: The Fight to Free Debbie Peagler, Hot Coffee, and abUSed: The Postville Raid. Distinguished festival presenters include Yoav Potash, award-winning filmmaker; Barbara Buckley, Executive Director of the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada; Professor Gabriel "Jack" Chin, UC Davis School of Law; and Justice Michael L. Douglas, Nevada Supreme Court.

The Second Annual Public Interest Law Film Festival will be held at Boyd School of Law's Thomas and Mack Moot Court Facility beginning at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 13, 2012, and closing with a reception in the early evening of Friday, September 14, 2012. The Film Festival schedule is available here. Registration information is available here. Tax-deductible donation information is available here.

Professor Marouf in the Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Professor Fatma Marouf had her Op-Ed, "No Human Being Is 'Illegal,'" published in today's Las Vegas Review-Journal.

According to Professor Marouf, "Last Saturday, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists hosted a panel discussion on the use of the term 'illegal immigrants.' As a participant on that panel, I write to stress that the term 'illegal immigrants' - used by the Review-Journal and endorsed by The Associated Press - is inaccurate, misleading and dehumanizing."

Professor Marouf currently serves as Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Immigration Clinic at Boyd School of Law. She joined the faculty in 2010, bringing expertise in Immigration Law, International Human Rights Law, and Refugee Law. Her scholarship has appeared in prominent journals such as Yale Law and Policy Review, American Journal of International Law, The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, and Harvard Human Rights Journal. Professor Marouf is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School.

Professor Traum Publishes in Cardozo Law Review

Congratulations to Professor Anne Traum on the publication of her recent article in Volume 33 of the Cardozo Law Review.

The abstract for "Constitutionalizing Immigration Law on its Own Path" provides: "Courts should insist on heightened procedural protections in immigration adjudication. They should do so under the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause rather than by importing Sixth Amendment protections from the criminal context. Traditional judicial oversight and the Due Process Clause provide a better basis than the Sixth Amendment to interpose heightened procedural protections in immigration proceedings, especially those involving removal for a serious criminal conviction. The Supreme Court’s immigration jurisprudence in recent years lends support for this approach. The Court has guarded the availability of judicial review of immigration decisions. It has affirmed that courts are the arbiters of constitutional issues (including due process) and criminal statutory interpretation. The Court has accorded agency deference on matters of agency expertise, which does not include interpretation of criminal law and convictions. And the Court has created generally applicable procedural protections in order to minimize court interference with substantive immigration policy. Guided by these core concepts, courts are poised to develop procedural protections for immigrants in removal proceedings that are tailored to the institutional interests at stake and protective of immigrants. By constitutionalizing immigration on its own path, courts may also avoid some of the pitfalls of a Sixth Amendment–based criminal-rights model."

The article's full text (Anne Traum, Constitutionalizing Immigration Law on Its Own Path, 33 CARDOZO L. REV. 491 (2011)) is available for download at UNLV's Scholarly Commons as well as SSRN.