Faculty News

Professor Stan Darling Receives OSBA Legal Educator Award

Professor of Law Stanton G. Darling II is the 2008 recipient of the Ohio State Bar Association Legal Education Committee Award. The award is given to the law teacher who has contributed the most to Ohio law and the Ohio bar. Darling was presented with the award May 15, 2008, at the OSBA Annual Meeting in Columbus, Ohio.

Robert Ware, president, Ohio State Bar Association, presents Professor Stan Darling with the OSBA Legal Education Committee Award.

Darling, one of Ohio’s leading experts on civil procedure and a member of the Capital University Law School faculty since 1981, is co-author of Ohio Civil Practice, a comprehensive treatise on the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure, which is updated and supplemented annually. The text is used statewide at law schools and in law practices.

For seven years, Darling served as counsel for the Rules of Civil Procedure to the Supreme Court of Ohio Rules Advisory Committee. During this time, he spent well over 1,000 hours drafting memos and rules to assist the Committee and the Court in this area of the law.

In the 1980s, Darling was an expert resource for the Ohio Legislature on civil justice issues. He was special counsel to the Select Committee on the Civil Justice System of the Ohio House of Representatives, and later, was advisor to the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives on tort and civil justice matters.

Darling previously taught at the law schools at Stanford, Santa Clara, University of San Francisco, University of the Pacific, and University of California-Davis. He has served on the faculty of the National Judicial College, the Ohio Judicial College and the Michigan Judicial Institute. Over his 26 years of teaching at Capital, he has made numerous CLE presentations on Ohio Civil Practice and Procedure, Negligence Law and Products Liability for the OSBA, CBA and groups such as the IRS and Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers. He instructs in and has prepared his own course materials for Torts, Civil Procedure and Products Liability. He holds a J.D. from Georgetown University and a B.A. from The Ohio State University.

Professor Athornia Steele Named Dean of
Nova Southeastern University Law Center

Professor Athornia Steele has been named dean of Shepard Broad Law Center of Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His tenure there begins August 2008.

Professor Steele began his affiliation with Capital in 1970 as a student. He earned his BA and JD at Capital, and then joined the faculty at the Law School in 1980 teaching Business Associations and Decedents Estates. He later taught Corporate Finance, Securities Regulations and the Law of Higher Education. In addition to his professorship, Steele has served as Director of Student Activities, Director of Academic Support, Interim Associate Dean, Associate Dean and Interim Dean.

“It is always difficult to leave a place and people who have become so much a part of your life” said Steele, “At the same time, I look forward to the future and to new opportunities and challenges.”

NSU Law offers a full and part-time division with an entering student enrollment of approximately 350 as well as two exchange programs (Barcelona, Spain and Venice, Italy).  It has a strong clinical program and was twice named the Most Wired Law School in the United States by the National Jurist magazine. NSU has strong graduate programs in business, education, allied health, humanities and social science and is very interested in creating interdisciplinary study and degree programs.

Before joining the law faculty, Steele was an Assistant Attorney General of the State of Ohio. From 1984 to 1986, he was a visiting professor at Washington & Lee Law School. Professor Steele has been extensively involved in the work of his church serving on boards, committees and task forces of the former American Lutheran Church and the current Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA).

Professor Steele also is also actively involved with the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) and has served on its Academic Support Workshop, Test Development and Research Committee, Minority Affairs, Finance, and Legal Affairs committees. He has served on the executive committee of the Association of American Law School's Section on Academic Support, as well as the ABA’s Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar Committee on Law School Administration.

Other Faculty News

Professor Mike Distelhorst and Adjunct Professor Jason M. Dolin have published an article entitled, “Clinical Experience Essential Part of Legal Education” in the May/June 2008 edition of the OSBA Magazine, Ohio Lawyer.

The article deals with the need for more clinical legal education as detailed in the Carnegie Report, “Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law” and the Clinical Legal Education Association Report (the Stuckey Report), “Best Practices for Legal Education.”

Dean Jack A. Guttenberg is co-chairing the ABA Section on Legal Education Law School Development Committee. In this role, Guttenberg, and his co-chair Trishana Bowden of American University, are planning the May 2009 conference in Jackson Hole, WY, which brings together law school deans, faculty and development officers to discuss and learn from one another law school development issues.

Dennis Hirsch served as a judge for the Central Ohio Emerald Awards. This annual event recognizes those in the Ohio region who are leaders in the area of waste reduction, recycling and environmental stewardship. Hirsch received the Board of Trustees Emerald Award in 2006 for his work with the Central Ohio Sustainability Roundtable.

Hirsch was a speaker at the OSBA’s Annual Convention where he participated on an environmental law panel. His topic was “The Brave New World of Carbon Trading: An Introduction for Lawyers.”

Hirsch also spoke at the “Carbon Emissions Trading 101” conference in New York City on “The Offsets Compliance Market: Past Experience, Future Opportunities.”

Dan Kobil was quoted in the May 2, San Diego Union-Tribune article "Captured fugitive now waiting for extradition, and to learn fate" by Kristina Davis.

Kobil was quoted in the April 30, Columbus Dispatch article "Protesters who were barred sue fair board" and the April 30 Marietta Register article "Fair Board Lawsuit: No Word Yet". Both articles discuss a case alleging the Washington County Fair Board infringed on free speech rights when it prevented two members of a local group from marching in a parade.

Professor of Legal Writing and Adjunct Chris Mc Neil was granted a doctorate in judicial studies in graduation ceremonies conducted at the University of Nevada - Reno. His dissertation, "Perceptions of Fairness in Agency Adjudications: Applying Lind & Tyler's Theories of Procedural Justice to State Executive-Branch Adjudications," was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

McNeil presented a program entitled "The Nuts and Bolts of Administrative Hearings before the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles," for the Butler County Bar Association, in Hamilton, Ohio. He also presented a forum, "Electronic Communication Skills for the Legal Assistant," for the Columbus Bar Association.

While serving as a visiting professor at the University of Oregon School of Law for the 2007-08 academic year, Susan Rozelle was quoted in the Corvallis Gazette Times ( Corvallis, OR) on April 19 in the story, "Without Body, State Must Prove Death." She also appeared on Eugene, Oregon’s KEZI Channel 9’s ABC News at 6 o’clock, with a follow-up interview at 11 o’clock, in the story, "Judge Hears Joel Courtney's Plea," regarding a murder prosecution without a body.

Denise St. Clair, executive director of the National Center for Adoption Law & Policy at Capital University Law School, was quoted in the June 2008 Columbus C.E.O. magazine article, “Adoption Benefits,” by Susan Pavilkey. The article examines ways employers are making it easier for employees to adopt children.

Floyd Weatherspoon addressed a session on the practical implications of mandating that discrimination claims be arbitrated in a union setting at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service's 14th National Labor-Management Conference on June 11.

Weatherspoon was quoted in the May 15, 2008 Toledo Free Press article, "Dixon to File First Amendment, discrimination suits," by John Krudy.