Capital University Law School Names New Leadership at NCALP, Markus Departs to Serve on Governor Strickland’s Staff

January 12, 2007

Capital University Law School announces the appointment of Denise St. Clair as executive director of the National Center for Adoption Law & Policy (NCALP) at Capital University Law School and Professor Angela Upchurch as academic director. Their appointments come following the departure of Professor and Director Kent Markus who is taking a leave of absence from the Law School to serve as Governor Ted Strickland’s new chief legal counsel.

“I want to congratulate Kent Markus on his new role as chief legal counsel to Ohio’s Governor. As the founding director of NCALP, he created and grew the Center into the state and national resource it is today. We are deeply grateful for his leadership and commitment to Capital and wish him all our best,” said Dean Jack A. Guttenberg. “NCALP’s education, advocacy and research projects will continue to grow and thrive under the very able leadership of Denise St. Clair and Angela Upchurch. They bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the Center and will build on the Center’s programs to make it an even greater resource to our community and students.”

St. Clair, who currently is NCALP’s associate director, joined the staff in 2001 to oversee the Center’s major project at that time – the Adoption LawSite – a compilation of the adoption and child welfare laws of all 50 states. Since then, she has spearheaded many of the Center’s key initiatives and legal research and analysis projects. St. Clair is a graduate of the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law where she was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Family Law. As a former partner in a major Kentucky law firm, she brings more than 12 years of private practice experience to the position.

As executive director, St. Clair will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Center and its major projects, including the Ohio Child Protection Law Reform Initiative, in which the Center partnered with a committee of the Supreme Court of Ohio to develop a new statutory structure to improve child welfare law and practice in Ohio, and the Professional Development Initiative, aimed at developing multidisciplinary training programs for child welfare professionals and students.

“We will miss Kent Markus’ unflagging enthusiasm, but I am looking forward to seeing the vision for the Center that began under his leadership continued in both our current work and in expanded programming and new initiatives,” said St. Clair.

Upchurch is a scholar in the area of children’s legal rights and procedural law. She is a contributing author to the ABA Center on Children and the Law, A Judge’s Guide: Making Child-Centered Decisions in Custody Cases (2001). She is also the author of “The Deep Freeze: A Critical Examination of the Resolution of Frozen Embryo Disputes Through the Adversarial Process,” 33 Florida State University Law Review 395 (2005) and “A Postmodern Deconstruction of Frozen Embryo Disputes,” 39 Connecticut Law Review (forthcoming 2007). Upchurch graduated first in her class at Loyola University Chicago School of Law where she was editor-in-chief of the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal. A former law clerk to The Hon. Michael Murphy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Salt Lake City, Upchurch joined the law faculty at Capital in 2003. She teaches a course on children, families and the state, as well as civil procedure and torts.

As the academic director of NCALP, Upchurch will work to enhance the law school’s academic programs as they relate to adoption and child welfare law, including the Adoption Law Fellowship, the National Moot Court Competition in Child Welfare and Adoption Law, the Summer Adoption Law Institute and Maestros, a newly formed student organization that provides resources and mentoring to students interested in pursuing careers in children and family law.

“There is a great need for well-trained attorneys in the area of family law,” said Upchurch. “NCALP is paving the way as a training ground for new attorneys in this area and I am excited by this opportunity to help grow Capital’s program to better prepare future attorneys for practice in this important field of law.”

Founded in 1998, the National Center for Adoption Law & Policy at Capital University Law School seeks to improve the law, policies, and practices associated with child protection and adoption systems. The Center’s activities focus on research, education and advocacy. In November 2006, NCALP was honored with the Ohio State Bar Foundations’ Organization of the Year Award. Its major projects include Adoption Academy, the Adoption LawSite, Adoption JobSite, an annual symposium on a significant child welfare/adoption-related topic, amicus curia briefs, and weekly news and case summaries. For more information about the Center, visit www.law.capital.edu/adoption.