Faculty Scholarship: Summer 2024

The faculty at Charleston School of Law are renowned nationwide for their research and scholarship. Below are publications of Faculty Scholarship from Summer 2024:

May – Presentations:

• AI − Indiana State Bar Association.
• AI − South Carolina CLE for Extern supervisors.
• MS Word, Excel, and Outlook Skills and Shortcuts for Lawyers − NBI CLE.

June – Presentations:

• AALS − Redefining Law School Compliance with ABA Standards 301 and 303 to Address Evolving Technology Needs in Modern-Day Legal Practice.
• MS Word, Outlook, and Excel Secrets Only the Top Paralegals Know − IPE CLE

July – Presentations:

• “Empowering Legal Education: How Law Librarians Have Shaped Technological Competence in ABA-Accredited Law Schools” (paper workshop) − Sixteenth Annual Boulder Conference on Legal Information, Scholarship and Teaching (CoLIST).
• Writing Agendas and Scholarship Portfolios: From Ideation to Publication – All day workshop American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Annual Meeting.
• Using Model-Based Language to Write Effective Performance Appraisals − AALL Annual Meeting.

Awards/Recognition:

• In May, was named NBI Outstanding Faculty Member from 2023. 
• Named a VLEX/Fastcase 50 Honoree for 2024.
• Named Vice Chair for the Private Law Librarians Summit Committee (2024−25).
  • Chair for the PLL Summit Committee (2025−26).

Suzanne Chapman’s article Abandon English Class, All Ye Who Enter Here: Three things our students learned in English class that are barriers to Legal Writing Success was accepted for publication in The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing. In the article, Suzanne suggests that what students were taught to do in English class—from the goals of reading and writing about a text, to the ways they should analyze and write about it—are fundamentally opposed to the way they need to read, analyze, and write about the law in Legal Writing class. Suzanne identifies three of these fundamental differences and suggests ways to bridge the gap between the two classes, de-mystify the Legal Writing experience, and ultimately help students transition more smoothly into legal thinkers and writers. 

Chapman also presented at two conferences over the summer:

• Training Advocates Conference (TAC) at Fordham University, NY. Suzanne presented on the panel entitled “The Path to Empathy: Coaching and Judging Competitive Trial Teams,” which explored the legal and practical necessity of incorporating empathy and inclusive learning techniques in the coaching of advocacy teams.
• Educating Advocacy Teachers (EATS) Conference at Stetson University, FL. Suzanne presented on the panel entitled “Nuts and Bolts of Hosting a ‘Well-Run’ Trial Advocacy Competition,” which discussed the best practices for hosting national advocacy competitions as well as solutions to the most common problems that arise while hosting them.

• Completed a recompilation of two volumes of the Practice Commentaries to New York’s Vehicle and Traffic Law, §§ 1-399.  These commentaries appear alongside official New York statutes in print and in Westlaw.  The publisher is Thomson Reuters.
• Completed annual summaries of changes to New York’s Vehicle and Traffic Law and asset forfeiture statute in the Civil Practice Law and Rules.

In May 2024, Armand Derfner accepted publication of his article titled Can Our Democracy Survive this Supreme Court? in The Supreme Court Review, University of Chicago. In this article, Armand speaks about how the Supreme Court has turned the right to vote around in his lifetime and to the effects of gerrymandering and money contributions. He does not agree with expanding the Supreme Court but says there is hope that the basic decency of the people of our country will save our democracy.  He argues that gerrymandering is a crime, right up there with insider trading or fixing a horse race.

• A Review of Significant Supreme Court Decisions of the 2023−2024 Term published in the SC Lawyer. 
• Eberle will be presenting this Supreme Court Recap on Thursday September 26, 2024, as a CLE for the SC Bar.

• Attorney-Client Privilege in the U.S.—South Carolina Privilege Law: Update, published May 2024.
• Attorney-Client Privilege in the U.S.—Louisiana Privilege Law: Update, published May 2024.
• Attorney-Client Privilege in the U.S.—South Dakota Privilege Law: Update, published May 2024.
• Attorney-Client Privilege in the U.S.—Utah Privilege Law: Update, published May 2024.
• Attorney-Client Privilege in the U.S.—Michigan Privilege Law: Update, published May 2024.
• Attorney-Client Privilege in the U.S.—Mississippi Privilege Law: Update, published May 2024.
  • Synopsis: Each of these tracks caselaw and statutory developments in the implicated States’ laws of attorney-client privilege.

• “Davis v. Disability Rights New Jersey,” chapter in Top Food & Drug Cases 2023, published June 2024.
  • Synopsis: Discusses and critiques a New Jersey Appellate Division decision that explored the right of access to a claimant’s social media presence for use in litigation, focusing on civil discovery entitlements and implicated privacy expectations.

• “Some Appeal-Endangering Nuances of the Federal ‘Separate-Document’ Rule,” FDLI Update (Summer issue, published June 2024).
  • Synopsis: Discusses developments in the caselaw interpreting and applying the amended “separate document” rule on federal appeals.

• A Student’s Guide to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: 2024-2025:  Revision, published July 2024.
  • Synopsis:  Annual revisions to study aid encompassing changes in the law of federal civil practice.