The Impact Litigation Clinic Outstanding Advocate Award recognized Steven Fasciale and Patrick Maley, J.D., Ph.D. for their work in the clinic supervised by Professor Jon Romberg. Steve and Patrick provided dedicated and compelling advocacy for an impoverished client who had asserted to the district court judge that his serious mental illness impaired his ability to litigate his Eighth Amendment civil rights suit against the prison where he was incarcerated. The district court judge dismissed their client’s case, explaining that he didn’t have enough information to be able to assess what role mental illness had played in their client’s discovery shortcomings. Steve and Patrick, pointing to a prior Impact Clinic case that established the legal standard under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(c), argued in a brief submitted to the Second Circuit that the district court was obligated to conduct a duty of inquiry to determine their client’s competence before simply dismissing his case for discovery non-compliance. Congratulations! 🌟 Read about the other award recipients here: https://lnkd.in/e3W5eexw
THE ART OF HUMILITY IS REPRESENTATIVE OF BALANCED CONFIDENCE
2dCONGRATULATIONS🎉 Jennifer Dale Cotten-Rashwan, J.D. Class 1991 jenniferrashwan.com