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Chase Receives IRS Grants

Nov 17, 2009 - The College of Law is the recipient of two IRS grants, one to assist its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and the other to continue funding the NKU Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic.

The College of Law was awarded a VITA grant in the amount of $20,000 for the 2010 filing season. The grant program, now in its second year, is an IRS initiative designed to promote and support free tax preparation services for underserved, low income populations. Chase's VITA effort is part of the Regional Earned Income Tax Credit Collaborative, which in total was awarded $40,000 by the IRS. Chase operates six Northern Kentucky VITA sites. It is expected that over 2000 taxpayers will be assisted at these sites during the next filing season. The grant will enable the Northern Kentucky sites to increase their capacity to file returns electronically in our region. The grant money will be used to purchase laptops and printers for the Covington and Florence sites. It is expected that about 70-80 volunteers will staff the six sites. Volunteers are needed and welcome. Professor Ljubomir Nacev and Mary Lepper - Chase 1999 and NKU Director of Curriculum, Accreditation, and Assessment - run the Northern Kentucky VITA sites.

The second IRS award was a continuing grant provided to operate the NKU Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC). NKU received $50,000. The NKU-LITC has operated continuously since 2001 and has helped over 1,200 hard working families resolve federal and state tax issues. Mary Lepper is the director of the LITC and Professor Nacev is the pro bono legal advisor.

Both programs, VITA and LITC, enhance Chase's ability to offer its students opportunities to gain tax lawyering skills and experience outside the classroom.

Chase Student Advocacy Society Holds Inaugural Opening Statement Competition

Competition winners Lisa Gentry and Greg Laux

Oct 29, 2009 - The Center for Excellence in Advocacy and the Chase Student Advocacy Society held the Inaugural Opening Statement Competition on Saturday, October 24, 2009. The competition was open to all 1L students.

Lisa Gentry won the competition and the runner-up was Greg Laux.

Participanting students were Elizabeth Acciani, Jeff Davis, Lisa Gentry, Charles Harmon, Zach Hoskins, Eric Hutson, Edward Kim, Greg Laux, Juliana Madaki, Jeremiah Schlotman, Christopher Soergel, Diane Thomas-Joy, Peter Tripp, Jerod Vance, and Elizabeth Wafula.

The Student Advocacy Society would like to thank the competition judges, as well as other faculty and staff who assisted with the program.

The volunteer judges were Harry Sudman, Beverly Storm, Robert Davis, Josh Brown, Professor Rick Graves, Professor Lawrence Rosenthal, Bob Sanders, Kris Ellena, and Matt Strange.

Professor Sharlene Lassiter-Boltz allowed the Advocacy Society to use her fact pattern and offered support at the event, Dean David MacKnight helped with ordering the awards, Wendy Lane assisted with advertising and promotion, Professor Barbara McFarland helped the Advocacy Society students draft the score sheet, Sherrie Turner assisted with setting up the competition, and Center for Excellence in Advocacy Director Rick Bales offered guidance and support throughout the process.

The competition was organized by Chase Student Advocacy Society students Michelle Eviston, Melissa Hailey, Meagan Lorenzen, Ryan Maxwell, Mike McKinney, and Joseph Mooney.

Chase Alumni Association Presents Alumni Awards

Judge Ralph Winkler, Mary Denise Kuprionis, Judge John Andrew West, Brett A. Schatz

Oct 27, 2009 - The NKU Chase College of Law Alumni Association honored four alumni during its annual Chase Alumni Luncheon on Friday, October 9, at the Bank of Kentucky Center on NKU's campus.

Judge Ralph Winkler '70, was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a retired visiting judge on Ohio's First District Court of Appeals. He has served on the bench for more than 30 years, including four years on the Hamilton County Municipal Court and 18 years on the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas before being first-elected to the Ohio Court of Appeals in 1998. He also served in the United States Army, as a federal agent, and as the First Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. He has also been very active in civic organizations and community affairs.

Mary Denise Kuprionis '94, was the recipient of the Professional Achievement Award. She is vice president, secretary, and chief ethics and compliance officer of The E.W. Scripps Company. She was the first woman elected as an officer of the company, and she has held numerous leadership positions. Also active in many professional, civic and philanthropic organizations, she serves as chair of the board of trustees of the College of Mount St. Joseph and is a member of the board of trustees of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. In September 2009, she was selected as one of twenty-one women lawyers nationwide to participate in the American Bar Association's 2009 "DirectWomen" Program, an initiative designed to identify and promote qualified women lawyers to serve on corporate boards of public companies.

Judge John Andrew West '71, was the recipient of the Exceptional Service Award. A Judge on the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, he has served the greater Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky community for more than forty years as a history teacher, a lawyer, a jurist, and a board member of the Cincinnati Bar Association (CBA), National Conference of Community and Justice, and YMCA. He is a founding member of the Black Lawyers Association of Cincinnati (BLAC), and is co-chair of the BLAC-CBA roundtable, an organization dedicated to increasing the presence of African Americans in the legal community. He is also a member of the Chase College of Law Board of Advisors.

Brett A. Schatz '00, was the recipient of the Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award. Brett is a partner at the law firm of Wood, Herron and Evans, where he has litigated complex lawsuits in all areas of intellectual property. He was named as one of the Ohio Super Lawyers - Rising Stars in 2006 and 2007. He has served as an adjunct professor at Chase College of Law and currently serves as the vice chair of the intellectual property section of the Cincinnati Bar Association.

More than 300 Chase alumni and friends attended the luncheon. The alumni association also hosted a CLE program before and after the luncheon titled "A View From Across the River II: Nuances Between Kentucky and Ohio Practice." Featured speakers were Stephanie A. Dietz '94, Randy J. Blankenship '96, Eliot G. Bastian '99, Paige Leigh Ellerman '99, Professor John M. Bickers, Judge Michelle M. Keller '90, and James R. Adams.

The program sponsor was Taft, Stettinius & Hollister. The table sponsors were: Adams, Stepner, Woltermann & Dusing; Arnzen, Molloy & Storm; Chase College of Law; Cors & Bassett; Dinsmore & Shohl; Dressman, Benzinger & LaVelle; The Farrish Law Firm; Frost Brown Todd; Greenebaum, Doll & McDonald; Keating, Muething & Klekamp; Mary Denise Kuprionis '94; The Lawrence Firm; Lerner, Sampson & Rothfuss; NKU Alumni Programs; NKU Foundation; O'Hara, Ruberg, Taylor, Sloan & Sergent; Parry, Deering, Futscher & Sparks; Brett A. Schatz '00; Schuh & Goldberg; Sutton Rankin Law; Taft, Stettinius & Hollister; Turner Construction Company; Judge John Andrew West '71; Judge Ralph Winkler '70; Wood, Herron & Evans; and Wood & Lamping.

Chase Posts Kentucky's Highest Bar Passage Rate

NKU Chase College of Law

Oct 27, 2009 - The Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law has posted the highest passage rate among Kentucky law schools on the July 2009 Kentucky Bar Examination.

Seventy-one Chase graduates sat for the exam, which was administered July 28-29 in Louisville, Ky.

First-time exam takers from Chase posted an 89 percent pass rate, while the state average for first-time takers was 84 percent. Overall, Chase posted a pass rate of 86 percent compared to a statewide average of 79 percent.

"We're very proud of our class of 2009," said Chase College of Law Dean Dennis Honabach. "Their success is further confirmation of our belief that a curriculum of solid instruction in doctrine and theory combined with extensive professional skills training prepares students for success on the bar examination as well as for the practice of law."

The largest of Kentucky's three law schools, the NKU Chase College of Law enrolls more than 600 students. Founded in 1893 as a part-time "night law school," Chase quickly developed a reputation as the "Lawyers' School" because of its emphasis on using the region's finest lawyers to prepare students for the practice of law. Educating the best practicing lawyers in the region became a tradition at Chase.

That tradition continues today. Chase offers a full-and part-time program that provides a holistic legal education while preparing students to be "practice ready" upon graduation. Through Chase's two Centers of Excellence, the Center for Excellence in Advocacy and the Transactional Law Practice Center, students work with Chase's nationally recognized professors and experienced successful practitioners, judges and businesspersons to acquire the knowledge and develop the skills necessary to be practice ready upon graduation.