AJMLS Adjunct Professor Interviewed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Baptist preacher, a prosecutor, and an adjunct professor at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School – John Melvin has a full plate of duties, responsibilities, and obligations. In a recent article by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Professor Melvin was asked about how he seamlessly balances being a prosecutor and preacher. “Being a prosecutor isn’t that different from being a pastor in some ways,” Melvin says. Instead of teaching a congregation about the Bible, he instructs juries on Georgia law. Excerpts from the article are below.

To view the full article, click here. Congratulations Professor Melvin for receiving recognition for your years of service to the community and your congregation.

As a Baptist preacher, John Melvin is patient with sinners. As a prosecutor, he has earned a reputation for doggedly pursuing them.

Over the past 18 years, Melvin has worked as a prosecutor in Gwinnett, DeKalb and Cobb counties and has become one of the state’s most experienced prosecutors of corrupt public figures. Not only that, Melvin has spent the last 15 years pastoring a congregation of about 75 souls at Camp Creek Primitive Baptist Church in Lilburn.

Like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting, the worship services are held in a small, white country church where the congregation sits in maplewood pews and sings without instrumental accompaniment from an old-timey hymnal.

AJMLS Professor Recognized for Work with Non-Profit Organization, Gideon’s Promise

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the landmark United States Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School (AJMLS) would like to recognize the work of Professor Jonathan Rapping and his non-profit organization, Gideon’s Promise (formerly the Southern Public Defender Training Center). Professor Rapping was recently interviewed by USA Today, and the Miami Herald for his contributions and service. Additionally, Rapping wrote an op-ed for The Huffington Post and a letter for The New York Times.

At the upcoming Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School Criminal Justice Honors Open House, Professor Rapping will discuss the soon-to-be-released award-winning HBO documentary, Gideon’s Army, featuring his non-profit organization. Gideon’s Army follows three Gideon’s Promise public defenders who are trained and supported by Professors Rapping, Fulcher, Saviello and a national faculty of current and former public defenders. The open house will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., on March 30, 2013 at the Blackburn Conference Center, located at 1405 Spring St. NW Atlanta, GA 30309. Parking will be available in the parking garage attached to the law school. Please RSVP to the Office of Admissions at admissions@johnmarshall.edu or (404) 872-3593 ##Ext. 201.

European Law Journal Appoints Associate Dean Van Detta to Permanent Board of Peer-Review Referees

Merkourios, Utrecht Journal of International and European Law, has appointed Jeffrey Van Detta, Associate Dean for Scholarship and Professor of Law at AJMLS, to its Permanent Board of Referees. 

Merkourios is an Open Access, peer-reviewed, student-led law journal, which focuses on international and European law.  The Journal provides immediate, open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the community of scholars and to a wider public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Merkourios is affiliated with Utrecht University and Urios.  Utrecht University, located in Utrecht, Netherlands, is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe.  See  http://www.uu.nl/EN/Pages/default.aspx    Urios is the Utrecht Study Association for International and European Law.   Founded in 1981, Urios has a membership of 250 students, which includes both Utrecht students and exchange students.   The mission of Urios is to introduce students to International and European law on a more practical level, as explained on its webpage at http://www.urios.org/1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=55

The Referee Board is a new initiative that the 2012-2013 Board of Editors of Merkourios has inaugurated.  By establishing the Permanent Board of Referees, Merkourios aims to further develop the Journal by achieving higher standards of academic quality and by enhancing cooperation within its network of referees and authors.

Members of the Permanent Board of Referees report their professional opinions on the academic quality of articles that the student Editors have previously reviewed and identified as worthy of further consideration for publication.   Rendered on the basis of anonymous peer review, the reports from the Journal’s Referees are a determinative factor in the Journal’s final publication decisions.

Merkourios appointed Associate Dean Van Detta as a member of the Permanent Board of Referees based on his expertise and scholarly publications in the areas of Trans-National Commercial Law, International Business Transactions, International Civil Litigation, Private International Law, Employment and Labour Law, and Jurisprudence.   Associate Dean Van Detta teaches courses encompassing those areas in AJMLS’s J.D. Program, American Legal Studies LL.M. Program, and Employment Law LL.M. Program.

“I believe very passionately in the kind of scholarly work carried on by Merkourios, in which both law students and experienced faculty collaborate in evaluating and publishing scholarship of the highest calibre,” Associate Dean Van Detta commented.  In his view, “that is an ideal combination of talents, perspectives, and expertise for the dynamic areas of legal scholarship which Merkourios embraces.”

The most recent issue of Merkourios—the General Issue 2013 (Vol 29, No 76)— may be viewed at http://www.merkourios.org/index.php/mj/issue/current

Associate Dean Van Detta also has three articles of his own in the publication process thus far this year:   Some Legal Considerations For EU-Based MNEs Contemplating High-Risk Foreign Direct Investments In The Energy Sector, 9 South Carolina  J.  Int’l  L. & Bus. __ (Issue 2, Spring 2013); Transnational Legal Services In Globalized Economies: American Leadership, Not Mere Compliance, With GATS Through Qualifying LL.M. Degree Programs For Foreign-Educated Lawyers Seeking State-Bar Admissions, 12 Hofstra J. Int’l Bus. & L. ___ (Spring 2013); and Politics And Legal Regulation In The International Business Environment: An FDI Case Study Of Alstom, S.A., In Israel, 21 U. Miami Bus. L. Rev. 301 (Spring 2013).