Tag Archives: ADF: Blackstone Legal Fellowship

Patheos: This is a guest post from Dr. Brian Mattson, Senior Scholar of Public Theology for theCenter for Cultural Leadership. Dr. Mattson also serves as faculty for the Alliance Defending Freedom’s Blackstone Legal Fellowship. You can follow his blog Dead Reckoning or connect with him on Twitter and Facebook.

World Magazine (includes audio): Brian Mattson is a theologian and scholar, and he writes about culture and politics. His book Politics & Evangelical Theology will used by Blackstone Legal Fellowship, a project of Alliance Defending Freedomthat trains future lawyers and rising young Christian leaders.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2011-2012 William Pew Religious Freedom Scholarship! The winners announcement has been posted here in pdf format. More Information about the competition is available in pdf format here. The winning paper by Andrew D. Brown has been published and can be viewed online: Parenthood by Estoppel? Assessing Boseman v. Jarrell and North Carolina’s Child Custody Standard, 90 N.C. L. Rev. Addendum 180 (2012)

Learn about the Blackstone Legal Fellowship.

Guillermo Barrera Fernandez at A7.com.mx (Google Translation): Charnowski Elizabeth, who came to us this summer as a resident Blackstone (great program Defending Freedom Alliance) reports on a new initiative by Amnesty International for countries to legalize abortion. Unfortunately, AI has become a violator of human rights.

Jonathan Lee and Matt Mellema, participants in the Blackstone Legal Fellowship appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss their experiences. | MP3 audio 9:05 mins

Jordan Lorence on KPXQ AM 1360, Koinonia with Tom Brown | MP3 audio 12:04 mins | Blackstone Legal Fellowship

Jordan Lorence and Paul Watkins appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the Blackstone Fellowship and ADF Cases. | MP3 audio 18:45 mins

Kathleen Hunker at Townhall.com: The New Jersey controversy prompted a series of questions regarding the rights of individuals who oppose abortion, and whether they retain the right to abstain from facilitating what they view as the termination of a human life in the course of their professional and/or business activities.. . . Kathleen Hunker has an LL.M. in Public Law and Human Rights from the University College London. She is a third-year student at the Columbia University School of Law and an Alliance Defense Fund Blackstone Fellow.

ADF President and General Counsel Alan E. Sears appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show. | MP3 audio 8:22 mins

The Center for Bioethics and Culture: This week, we are pleased to feature an in-depth report on assisted reproduction in Canada. The report was prepared by our 2011 Blackstone Legal Intern, Brittney Sharp. The report is especially timely as Jennifer Lahl will be in Toronto later this month speaking at a conference on reproductive issues and filming two interviews for our new film project, Anonymous Fathers Day.

Catholic News Agency (CNA): Katherine Nikas, who worked with the coalition as part of the Alliance Defense Fund’s Blackstone Legal Fellowship, said it was “incredible to see the amount of young people who are actually on our side – the young people who wanted a different voice, who stood up for family values.” Nikas said she has found that many members of her generation are “tired of the pain and the heartache of just having abortions pushed at us and condoms thrown at us.”

LifeSiteNews.com: Katherine Nikas, a Blackstone intern with the Alliance Defense Fund, said that the statement’s initial reception at the General Assembly was very encouraging. “It was incredible to see the amount of young people actually on our side,” said Nikas, adding that the statement filled a sorely unmet need.“We’re tired of the pain and the heartache of just having abortions pushed on us and condoms thrown at us.”

ADF attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the Blackstone Legal Fellowship. | MP3 audio 21:55 mins

“With the filing of a lawsuit in the baby Shanice case, the issue of babies born alive after an attempted abortion is once again in the spotlight . . . After she scheduled the abortion, Williams was given medication to dilate her cervix. She arrived at the clinic the next day. When the doctor failed to show up, Williams delivered a baby girl. At that point, her attorney said, ‘She came face to face with a human being, and that changed everything.”

ADF Blackstone Fellow David Manni writing at The Christian Post / Advancing Religious Liberty: “I’ve always thought the debate on abortion revolved around an issue of framing . . . [I]t has always seemed so simple to me, if I could only get a person to see that, foremost, an embryo is a human life deserving of dignity and respect – all other arguments become weak and inconsequential. If we start from this premise, there is no wiggle room . . . It is axiomatic that those who control the foundation of an issue regulate the content of any ensuing discussion.”

“The American society decreasingly values religion, seriously jeopardizing the future of religious of freedom. A society that does not value religion will not protect religious freedom. The attitude of the next generation towards religion is nothing short of frightening . . . ”

ADF Attorney Jeffery Ventrella writing at Inside the Issues: “How can we expect the next generation of lawyers to really know about constitutional law unless they understand the context undergirding that precious document? . . . There is a solution: while ideas have consequences, people change cultures—more precisely, changed people change cultures. And that is the fundamental mission actuating the Blackstone Legal Fellowship. By a rigorous curriculum fueled by a top-notch faculty, our country’s best and brightest Christian law students are transformed.”

Baptist Life: “Exemplary college and seminary students interested in addressing today’s cultural issues from a biblical perspective have the opportunity to become directly involved in issues that impact millions of people through the Ethics & Religious Liberties Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention . . . Clifton Drake had just graduated from law school at Georgetown University when he decided to pursue an internship with the ERLC in 2008. Placed through the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, a ministry of the Alliance Defense Fund, Drake spent six weeks in ERLC’s D.C. office working on public policy issues of interest to Christians.”

Hugh Hewitt interviewed Seth Schuknecht, an intern in the Blackstone Legal Fellowship. | MP3 5:45 Mins

ADF attorney Jeff Ventrella to discuss the Blackstone Legal Fellowship. This was recorded last week.| MP3 5:27 mins

ADF attorney Jeff Ventrella appeared on the Michael Medved Show to discuss the Blackstone Legal Fellowship. | MP3 5:13 mins

Parish the Thought: “Over the past two weeks I’ve had the honor of offering Mass for the Catholic participants in the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, which is a ministry of the Alliance Defense Fund. The Blackstone fellowship is an intensive nine week program for law students to equip them for facing the moral and ethical challenges in today’s legal system. You can go to their site for a better explanation. The students told me of the incredible speakers and programs offered during this two week session in Phoenix. In fact, I was kind of jealous not to be able to attend the sessions myself.”

National Right to Life: “Summer brings three things to Washington: 90 degree days, tourists from around the world, and some of the country’s best and brightest college students for summer internships. Every year, National Right to Life hosts young men and women from across the country as part of both our college internship program and the National Right to Life Academy . . . This is the second year National Right to Life has participated in the program and we are thrilled to welcome Jon Scharfenberger, Mark Guillaudeu, and Jess Brown. Additionally, Wesley Robinson, a law student at Villanova University School of Law, will clerk in the Powell Center for Medical Ethics as part of the Alliance Defense Fund’s Blackstone Fellowship Program . . . ”

ADF attorney Jeffery J. Ventrella appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the Blackstone Legal Fellowship. | MP3 – 7:37 mins

NRLC: “Summer at the National Right to Life office offers a refreshing change of pace with the arrival of a number of college students to participate in the NRLC internship and Academy programs. Different than a normal internship, the National Right to Life Academy is an intensive summer training course for college students in the right to life movement and issues. Students delve into the history and philosophy of the Movement, as well as seriously studying the various policy proposals and arguments related to each pro-life issue, from abortion the denial of lifesaving medial treatment . . . Another Academy alumnus has been accepted to the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, sponsored by the Alliance Defense Fund. The network of Academy alumni is a fresh source of vitality for a movement whose greatest strength may be its faithful endurance . . . ”

Jennifer Roback Morse writing at the Ruth Institute Blog: “A new group is forming for pro-life law students. Advocates for Life is sponsored by Americans United for Life, and hopes to have chapters in law schools across the country . . . The idea was hatched by Fiedorek and several other participants in the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, an annual summer school for 110 second-year law students put on by the Alliance Defense Fund . . . The Alliance Defense Fund’s Matt Bowman says Advocates for Life will be a powerful ally in the ADF’s own efforts to ‘educate the next generation of lawyers in the best legal arguments for the protection of innocent life.’”

“. . . The idea was hatched by [Kellie] Fiedorek and several other participants in the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, an annual summer school for 110 second-year law students put on by the Alliance Defense Fund. The ADF began as a fund-raising organization to support legal cases in defense of traditional marriage, the right to life and freedom of religion. Now it has 40 litigators of its own working on cases and runs both the Blackstone Legal Fellowship for students and the National Litigation Academy to train practicing lawyers in pro-life and other legal issues. ‘Several of us last summer were talking about the great support we were getting from Blackstone and went from there to what a need there was for pro-life students on campus for the same support,’ said Fiedorek, who just graduated from Ave Maria University’s law program. The Alliance Defense Fund’s Mat Bowman says Advocates for Life will be a powerful ally in the ADF’s own efforts to ‘educate the next generation of lawyers in the best legal arguments for the protection of innocent life. . . ”

Pornography Harms, is a one-stop location for sound research, news articles and opinion pieces demonstrating the harm from pornography,’ said Patrick Trueman, creator of the site.

Blackstone Legal Fellow Nathan Fox has written an article in the Federalist Society’s State Court Docket Watch (Fall 2009) that begins (citations omitted):

In a case that is of great consequence to education law, as well as to religious liberties issues more broadly, a New Hampshire state court judge recently removed a girl from home schooling by order. On June 14, 2009, Judge Lucinda Sadler of the Laconia Family Division ordered a ten-yearold girl out of religious home schooling and into public school against the wishes of her mother. In The Matter of Martin Kurowski and Brenda (Kurowski) Voydatch, “the parties reserved for the court the issue of whether Amanda would attend public school for the 2009-2010 school year, or continue to be home schooled by Ms. Voydatch.” The portion of the case discussing the background and decision of the judge ordering Amanda Voydatch into public school is summarized below . . .

Related ADF Media Information Page: NH court orders home-schooled child into government-run school

The new website can be found at:
http://www.blackstonelegalfellowship.org/

About the Fellowship: “Named in honor of Sir William Blackstone, the noted English law professor, the Blackstone Legal Fellowship is a leadership development program designed to provide a rigorous nine-week summer legal internship. Our goal is to train law students who will rise to positions of influence and leadership as legal scholars, litigators, policy makers and judges . . . ”

West Palm Beach Children’s Health Examiner: “Ms. Tucci is also an Instructor at South University, teaching an ABA-Approved Paralegal Program since 2004. She is a member of the Florida Bar, the Palm Beach County Bar Association. She is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University and Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center. In 2002, Ms. Tucci attained the honor of Blackstone Fellow through the Alliance Defense Fund. She was also the recipient of a Florida Bar Fellowship, focused on ProBono work.”

Associated Content: “Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel presented Child AbuseWatch’s Child Advocate of the Year Award on Friday, November 13th, 2009 [to] Vicki Tucci Esq, Circuit Director, Guardian ad Litem Program, 15th Judicial Circuit spoke of the importance of all aspects of the child advocacy community in helping children . . . In 2002, Ms. Tucci attained the honor of Blackstone Fellow through the Alliance Defense Fund.”

Regent Law Professor Lynne Marie Kohm, writing at the Regent Law Family Restoration blog: “Well, I can tell you why ADF is more competent in this representation than most attorneys – because of the excellent litigation training provided to attorneys around the globe in ADF’s National Litigation Academies (NLA) and their annual Blackstone Legal Fellowship program. And a large number of those ADF attorneys today are Regent Law graduates.”

ADF attorney Jeffery Ventrella appeared on WallBuilders Live to discuss the Blackstone Fellowship for law students.

The MP3 runs just under twenty minutes.

Lisa Roose-Church reports in the Daily Press & Argus:
“Although teaching suit her, McGuire felt something was missing and she returned to college, eventually graduating cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School in 2008. . . . McGuire also learned about an organization called the Alliance Defense Fund, which is comprised of attorneys who defend the First Amendment guarantees of religious freedom. ‘As a Christian, I was concerned about the erosion of religious freedom from what was originally intended in the Constitution,’ McGuire said. ‘I thought it would be exciting and fulfilling to become a lawyer and someday use my legal skills to protect religious liberty and it turns out that I have been able to do that to some extent already.’”

More information: ADF Blackstone Fellowship and National Litigation Academy

Nightlight Christian Adoptions has announced that Ms. Anne Swanda of the U. of Nebraska College of Law is the winner of the 2009 Embryo Law Essay Competition. Ms. Swanda is a Blackstone Fellow.

Learn more about the Blackstone Fellowship.

NaplesNews.com: “Six students of Ave Maria School of Law have been chosen to participate in the prestigious Blackstone Fellowship offered by the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, a public-interest legal institute active in advancing pro-life, religious-freedom, and civil liberties causes . . . ”

Jones Day has issued this press release that begins:
“Law student Anthony J. Alt today won the William E. Swope Antitrust Prize. The writing competition sponsored by international law firm Jones Day awards a $10,000 first prize for an essay illustrating the fact-intensive approach to antitrust analysis pioneered by Mr. Swope, a long-time partner at the Firm. Mr. Alt, due to graduate this year from Michigan’s Ave Maria School of Law, submitted a paper on the insurance industry’s federal antitrust exemption and recent proposals to overturn it.”

Philip Henderson, a law student at The University of Georgia in Athens, is one of a growing number of idealistic young Republicans joining the conversation as the political party struggles to redefine itself after the 2008 elections . . .

Today!  ADF attorney will appear on the Hugh Hewitt Radio Show to discuss the marriage battle and the Blackstone Legal Fellowship.