Mercer Law Review Symposium to be held on October 3 in honor of Jack Sammons

359

The 2014 Mercer Law Review Symposium on Friday, Oct. 3, will focus on “The Scholarship and Teaching of Jack Sammons.” Sammons taught at Mercer Law School for more than 30 years and retired in 2013. The symposium will feature speakers from across the United States who will come together to discuss Sammons' scholarly contributions to law and legal education and how it influenced their own work. The symposium will take place in the first-floor courtroom of Mercer Law School from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

“Jack Sammons has contributed broadly to the legal profession, legal education, and Mercer Law School. This is an exciting opportunity to celebrate one of our own whose work will continue to affect the lives of lawyers for years to come.”

The first session of the symposium, from 8:45 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., will discuss “Law, Religion, and Practice.” The panelists include Gary Simson, Mercer Senior Vice Provost for Scholarship and Macon Chair in Law; and Professor Timothy Floyd, Tommy Malone Distinguished Chair in Trial Advocacy and Director of Experiential Education at Mercer Law School.

The second session, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., will discuss “Legal Discourse, Rhetoric, and Philosophy of Law: Part One.” The panelist include James Boyd White, L. Hart Wright Collegiate Professor of Law Emeritus at University of Michigan School of Law; Joseph Vining, Harry Burns Hutchins Collegiate Professor of Law Emeritus at University of Michigan School of Law; and Gene Garver, Professor of Philosophy at St. John's University. 

During a luncheon at the Woodruff House, Dean Floyd and Professor Emeritus Harold Lewis will bring remarks about Sammons and his impact on the evolution of Mercer Law School. The third session, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., will conclude the second part of “Legal Discourse, Rhetoric, and Philosophy of Law.” The panelists include Richard Dawson, an interdisciplinary and independent scholar in New Zealand; Linda Edwards, E.L. Cord Foundation Professor of Law at William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada at Las Vegas; and David Ritchie, Director of International Initiatives and Professor of Law and Philosophy at Mercer Law School.  

The final session, from 3:45 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., will discuss “Clinical, Skills, Professionalism, Practical Wisdom, and Vocation.” The panelists include Mercer Law School professors Sarah Gerwig-Moore, Mark Jones and Patrick Longan, William Augustus Bootle Chair in Legal Ethics and Professionalism. 

About Jack Sammons
As a professor, Jack Sammons held the Griffin B. Bell Chair of Law, and was the former director of clinical education, and the former associate dean at Mercer Law School. Sammons is a prolific scholar. His academic work spans the fields of clinical education, legal discourse, ethics, professionalism, religion, and rhetoric. His teaching in these fields has had an impact of three generations of Mercer Law students. The Symposium allows mentors, peers and devotees of Sammons to come together to discuss and celebrate the breadth and depth of his scholarship.