Show Cause - A Memphis Law Podcast

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the history of the building we call home, with a focus on the massive undertaking that was its redesign and modernization. Our guest is Bill Nixon, the lead architect and project director for the project that saw our historical home transform into what it is today. 

He joins us ahead of an upcoming event at the law school on Friday, November 4th in our Historic Courtroom where he will give an in-depth look at the redesign of our historic home and walk the audience through what it took to pull off this massive undertaking, with stories, anecdotes, and behind-the-scenes glimpse into what it took to pull off a project of this scale.

In our podcast today, we just scratch the surface of his stories, and it hopefully gets anyone in our audience interested in historic preservation, renovation, and redesign, the impetus to come learn more at the event itself later this Fall.

So, take a listen and learn about a fascinating bit of historical architecture and what it took to transform a piece of history into what is now the (four-time) Best Law School Building and Facility Award Winner in the country.

The US Supreme Court recently announced that it would hear a case this Fall that could radically reshape how federal elections are conducted. It could give state legislatures independent power, which would not be subject to review by state courts, to set election rules that could be in direct conflict with their own state constitutions. In short, it could give state legislatures unchecked power to determine the outcome of federal elections and could essentially make gerrymandering legal.

The case, Moore v. Harper, originated in North Carolina and concerns a voting map drawn by the North Carolina legislature that was rejected as a partisan gerrymander by the North Carolina Supreme Court. Politicians there have based their argument against this ruling around the "Independent State Legislature Doctrine."

The case, and the Supreme Court’s decision, could throw nearly every facet of our country’s electoral process into chaos.

On today’s episode of Show Cause, we’re joined by Election Law expert and author of the book “Rethinking US Election Law: Unskewing the System,” Professor Steve Mulroy. He has published over 25 works on constitutional law, criminal law and procedure, and election law and is the past winner of the Democracy Innovator Award from the national FairVote organization for his work on voting rights and election law issues.

Professor Mulroy goes into detail with us about the monumental importance of this case and the implications it could have on our entire foundation of democracy.

In this episode, we take a look back at the landmark United States Supreme Court case in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage in the U.S. Our very own Professor Regina Hillman was a part of the legal team that took this case to the Supreme Court, and she joins us in this episode to take us behind the scenes a bit and explain what it was like to be a part of such a monumental moment in history. Professor Hillman was an organizing member of the Tennessee Marriage Equality Legal Team that challenged the state's constitutional and statutory bans on the recognition of valid out-of-state same sex marriages. She'll discuss the early days of the case when she represented one of the couples in Tennessee, Val Tanco and Sophy Justy, in the Tanco v. Haslam lawsuit, which eventually became a part of the larger Obergefell v. Hodges case alongside case from Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky, alongside the Tanco case in Tennessee. Professor Hillman also weighs in on how things unfolded at the national level as history was made via the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage in America. 

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the President Nixon's "Week That Changed the World" trip to Communist China that effectively ended the United States’ long isolation from the People’s Republic of China. The status of Taiwan and U.S.-China relations have never been the same since.

For today’s episode of Show Cause, we spoke with Memphis Law professor Ronnie Gipson about the fallout from that trip these many years later and the current situation with Taiwan and China as it relates to the U.S. and the entire international community.

With the focus of the world dialed in on China during the recent Olympics, it seems like a very timely opportunity to examine this issue. Additionally, the current international situation surrounding Russia and the Ukraine has shifted many people’s attention to the realm of international disputes, and while the Ukraine matter may be currently overshadowing Taiwan and China, it may also be a preview to how China will handle the issue on the international stage in the coming months or even years. In a way, what happens in the Ukraine and how the international community reacts to it might determine how China decides to operate going forward. It’s an interesting situation with worldwide repercussions and one that I found extremely interesting to get to know more about, both historically and looking forward.

At the start of the pandemic, especially during the quarantine phase, we all saw the constant posts on social media about all of the free time people had for new hobbies, exercising, cleaning, and random projects. But those individuals trying to juggle being an all of a sudden 24/7 parent and young professional with a career often felt like they were drowning in an environment of constant kids and work.

Fast forward two years or so and things may be normalizing for many people, but young professionals with children are still having to live in their ongoing covid-induced purgatory of career stress, parenting and childcare.

The pandemic has drastically changed the way the legal world works, but it’s also radically altered the way young attorneys with children make their way through balancing their careers and family life. Constant childcare closures, adapting to evolving health and safety parameters, family health concerns, court closures, virtual court appearances, and the never-ending string of surprises that having a young child entail, have all combined to make it a challenging time to be a young legal professional and parent.

The pandemic offers a crossroads opportunity: Firms can take what they’ve learned from the COVID-19 work experience and adjust practices to accommodate working mothers, or they can revert to the status quo that continues to threaten retention rates and their bottom lines.

In this episode of Show Cause, our guest is Sarah Stuart, an associate at the Memphis firm of Burch, Porter and Johnson, and the mother of an 18-month-old little girl.

She’s a 2016 Memphis Law graduate, and prior to joining Burch Porter in August of 2018, she served as a law clerk to both the Honorable Bernice B. Donald and the Honorable Sheri Lipman. She and her husband Reed found out they were pregnant at the very beginning of the pandemic and with the majority of their family residing out-of-town, have since braved the world of pandemic parenting as best they could, with a bit of luck, help, and stretching the limits of patience.

Take a listen and learn more about what it’s like to be a parent and young attorney in these trying times. And what lessons can be learned from it going forward.

In episode 5 of Show Cause, we're joined by Professor Daniel Kiel to discuss the long and ongoing history of the Pervis Payne case, in which he has played several parts over the course of his career, both in the private sector and as an academic.

Pervis Payne has spent the last 34 years on Death Row in Tennessee for a double murder in Millington, TN in 1987.

Ironically, COVID-19 might be the reason he’s no longer there.

He was supposed to be executed on December 3rd, 2020, but on November 6 of that year, all executions in Tennessee were suspended due to the pandemic.

That delay allowed Payne’s attorneys to pursue several legal angles geared towards permanently removing him from death row.

When Payne's case went to the Supreme Court in 1991 on a technical criminal procedure question about sentencing, he was represented by attorneys at Burch, Porter, and Johnson. When Professor Kiel started working at Burch Porter early in his career, the firm was still affiliated with the case and assigned him to handle a request to pursue DNA testing for Payne under a newly-enacted statute that enabled convicted defendants to get DNA testing if it might impact their conviction.  He argued the case at the TN Court of Criminal Appeals in 2007, but sadly came up unsuccessful.

However, he continued to follow the case through its evolution over the years, and when Payne's execution date was set in early 2020, he was put back in touch with the current legal team. Throughout the summer and fall of 2020, he worked to generate scholarship on the unusual constitutional position into which the Payne case fell, dealing with his intellectual disability and the unconstitutionality of his status on death row as a result.  He went on to publish several pieces raising awareness of this situation as part of a larger campaign to get the previously mentioned statute passed and fill the gap between the US Supreme Court’s decision and the implementation of it in Tennessee. As the legislature considered that statute, he testified in front of the House committee considering the bill.  And as you may have seen in the news lately, the statute eventually passed, ultimately resulting in Payne’s removal from Death Row.

Enjoy the show as you learn more about the case itself and more of Professor Kiel's history with it!

This episode of Show Cause welcomes our very own Steve Mulroy, the Bredesen Professor of Law and a member of the Memphis Law faculty since the year 2000.

He’s not only the law school’s resident Star Trek aficionado (and self-proclaimed biggest “trekkie” in Shelby County) but also a nationally regarded expert in the areas of Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Civil Rights, and Election Law. 

As a law professor, he has participated in the litigation of over a dozen cutting-edge cases in areas which inform his scholarship. Amongst many other areas of expertise, Professor Mulroy has written and spoken extensively on election related issues, voting rights, first amendment cases, and a wide range of civil rights related items.

He joins us on the podcast today for a wide-ranging conversation about a variety of things he’s involved in, weighing in on topics such as COVID mask and vaccine mandates, recent cases he’s been a part of as a pro bono attorney, upcoming US Supreme Court cases on the docket and how his classes are studying them, as well as election matters, voting rights issues, and even recent legislation regarding critical race theory and the first amendment concerns those bills raise.

And of course we take some time to chat about all things pop-culture with Professor Mulroy, which as those who know him can attest, is an always enjoyable topic to go over with him.

In this episode of Show Cause, we are excited to welcome Josh Whitehead, the Administrator of the Memphis and Shelby County Office of Planning and Development. In addition to his role overseeing zoning and planning efforts throughout the city, Whitehead is also a longtime adjunct professor of Land Use Law at the University of Memphis School of Law.

Our conversation covers a lot of ground and if you are interested in the many quirky twists and turns of zoning, urban planning, as well as the history of zoning in Memphis, you're in for a treat.

We touch on the development and implementation of Memphis' Unified Development Code, the history behind Memphis' many planning ordinances in the past, and the new Memphis 3.0, the city’s comprehensive plan to guide land use, development, transportation, and other built environment considerations over the next 20 years.

All of this and much more in this episode of Show Cause.

In episode 2 of Show Cause, we are joined by Memphis Law Professor Danny Schaffzin and Steve Barlow, co-directors of the law school's Neighborhood Preservation Clinic.

They go into detail about the formation and history of this innovative blight-fighting clinic and how the unique partners its composed of make it one of the most effective blight-fighting tools the city has ever known. They also discuss the many educational opportunities this program provides students and the unique career pipeline it has developed, as many former clinic students are now finding themselves practicing in a variety of related fields and coming full-circle. 

As a national model for the fight against blight, the clinic and its partners are still evolving and finding new and innovative solutions to the issues surrounding blight and redevelopment of properties. 

Take a listen to learn more about these "preservation partners" in the ongoing battle against blight in Memphis and beyond!

In this episode we examine the topic of Name, Image, and Likeness rights (NIL) and how this item is changing the landscape of college athletics and amateurism. We are joined by two individuals that help explain the matter in more depth, both from a University of Memphis perspective and the larger legal landscape.

Lynda Black is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Memphis and serves as the Faculty Athletics Representative to the NCAA for the UofM. Professor Black is also a Division 1 Faculty Athletics Representative Board Member and has worked extensively on NIL matters.

Dr. Adam Walker is the Executive Associate Athletic Director for Administration at the University of Memphis. He chaired the UofM's NIL working group and the committee that created the University's new NIL-related program, "MaximUM," which provides resources and helps to educate student-athletes on how to manager their personal brands.

Enjoy the show. This is Show Cause.