Washburn Law Journal
Editor's Note
Volume 41, No. 3 (Spring 2002)
The Washburn Law Journal is pleased to complete the forty-first volume of the Journal by publishing nine articles presented at the Fall 2001 Ahrens Advanced Torts Seminar at Washburn University School of Law. This seminar was made possible through the Ahrens Chair in Tort Law, which was named in honor of Professor Emeritus James R. Ahrens. The articles presented address a variety of views regarding the use of tort law to enforce environmental regulation. The Journal extends a special "thank you" to Professor Charlene Smith for securing the articles that appear in this issue.
Issue three also contains two student pieces. The SEC’s Criminal Rulemaking in Rule 10b5-2: Incarceration Should be Made of Sterner Stuff, a Note by third-year Washburn Law student Bach T. Hang, explores the SEC’s recently promulgated Rule 10b5-2 and whether it sufficiently defines the scope of the Misappropriation Theory in insider trading. InPromises to Keep: The Continued Denial of Constitutional Rights to Sexually Violent Predators, a Comment by second-year Washburn Law student Amy Jurgensmeier, Ms. Jurgensmeier critically analyzes the reasoning employed by the United States Supreme Court in determining whether the Washington Sexually Violent Predators Act infringes upon an individual’s constitutional rights.
Law Journal is a fundamental part of any law school. It is an indispensable learning and growing experience for all student staff members and editors. The editorial board extends its appreciation to the hard work and dedication of all staff members and to the outstanding support we have received from the faculty. Each year student members are recognized at the annual awards banquet for their superior contributions to the Law Journal. Students whose Note or Comment was published during the year are eligible for further acknowledgment through the GNIP-GNOP Awards and the Faculty Awards.
GNIP-GNOP Awards
The Free Society of GNIP-GNOP had its first meeting in 1947. Its members were nine Washburn Law School graduates who were also members of the Kansas Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta social fraternity at Washburn. Although all members did not graduate in the same class, occasioned in large measure by their military duty during World War II, they and their wives have gathered annually at various locations throughout the United States since 1947. It was at one of their mid-year meetings that the members decided to establish a cash award to benefit the Law School.
The GNIP-GNOP members presented their first award to a professor who had, in their judgment, been the outstanding law school teacher during that year. They abandoned this practice, however, because they all resided in a variety of states and concluded it was, as a practical matter, impossible for them to know and determine who for that year was the outstanding teacher. They accordingly decided to grant two awards each year to student writers on the Washburn Law Journal.
The winner must be present at the Annual Awards Banquet to receive the award; if he or she is not present, the award goes to the runner-up. The awards are presented by a GNIP-GNOP member. Erosion by the sands of time have reduced the number of GNIP/GNOP members from nine to seven.
This year, the GNIP-GNOP members selected as best Note Rebecca L. Farrell, Advocacy, Justice, and Prosecutorial Misconduct: The Death of the Prosecutor’s Reasonable Inference on Credibility Issues. They selected as best Comment Molly J. Staab, The Business Judgment Rule in Kansas: From Black and White to Gray [Gray v. Manhattan Medical Center, Inc., 18 P.3d 291 (Kan. Ct. App. 2001)].
Faculty Awards
The Washburn Law School Faculty Awards complement the GNIP-GNOP Awards. The Faculty Awards were renamed in memory of the late Professor John F. Kuether, long-time faculty advisor to the Journal, in 1999. This year best Note was awarded to Bach T. Hang, The SEC’s Criminal Rulemaking in Rule 10b5-2: Incarceration Should be Made of Sterner Stuff. Best Comment was awarded to John W. Broomes, Navigating in Isolated Waters: Section 404 of the Clean Water Act Revisited [Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, 531 U.S. 159 (2001)].
The Board of Editors would like to congratulate these students on their outstanding achievement. We thank every member of the Washburn Law Journal who contributed to the success of volume forty-one. Throughout the year each member has devoted many hours to cite-checking in order to ensure the high quality of each issue. It is your Journal, and you should all be proud to be a part of its history. Students who were published recognize the efforts of their fellow students in striving for an error-free article. Conversely, those students not published recognize the contribution their proofreading made to guaranteeing a quality product. Each member is vitally important, and your hard work is sincerely appreciated.
We would also like to thank the Law Journal faculty committee members for their support. A special thanks is extended to Professor Myrl L. Duncan, who showed us that Law Journal is not only about learning the fine art of legal scholarship, but also a great life experience.
As Editor-in-Chief, I would like to also thank this year’s Board of Editors for their selfless dedication and hard work. Kelly, Cailin, Michele, Scott and Robert have given their hearts and souls to the Journal. They made the good days better and the bad days not so bad. To all of our spouses and families, thank you for always believing in us and giving us room to follow our dreams.
Finally, I extend a personal thanks to my husband Steve and my dog Raptor, for always encouraging me and keeping me grounded in reality. Steve thinks I do it all on my own, but I could not do it without him and Raptor. They keep me smiling and help me remember there is more to life than law school and the Law Journal.
J.M.H.
Professor of the Year
Each year, the graduating class votes to honor a member of the Washburn University School of Law faculty as the William O. Douglas Outstanding Professor of the Year. Associate Professor of Law Richard Lavoie was the recipient of this honor for the 2001-2002 academic year.
Professor Lavoie received his A.B. Cum Laude from Dartmouth College, his J.D. Cum Laude from Cornell Law School and his LL.M. in Taxation from New York University. Prior to joining Washburn in 2000, Professor Lavoie taught a wide variety of tax and business courses at both Syracuse University College of Law and Capital University Law School. Professor Lavoie has written several articles while at Washburn, and was honored to have one of them selected for presentation at the prestigious Stanford-Yale Junior Faculty Forum. His writings also include a treatise on the valuation of corporate stock for estate and gift tax purposes published by the Bureau of National Affairs as part of their Tax Management Portfolio series of tax law texts.
Professor Lavoie entered teaching after ten years of private practice with Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft, the oldest law firm in the nation. During his years of New York City practice, Professor Lavoie specialized in mergers & acquisitions, the development of new financial products, and the taxation of corporations, partnerships and bankrupt entities. Since leaving the firm, Professor Lavoie has maintained his connection to the cutting edge of tax practice by remaining of Counsel at Cadwalader. Professor Lavoie's teaching responsibilities at Washburn Law School include Taxation of Individual Income, Taxation of Corporations and Secured Transactions.
Adjunct Professor of the Year
The class of 2002 selected Terri L. Bezek as Adjunct Professor of the Year. Professor Bezek received her B.A. degree from Washburn University and her J.D. from Washburn University School of Law. She teaches Conflicts of Law. Ms. Bezek is the Director of Central Research at the Kansas Court of Appeals.
The Washburn Law Journal is pleased to recognize the contributions of Professors Lavoie and Bezek by acknowledging them in Volume 41, Issue 3.
