CUA Cover Winter 2005 final (Page 2) - Columbus School of Law

R S V P : W I L L A T T E N DAs you wander through a crowded room,the name tags leap out at you. The guestsare affiliated with such prestigiousemployers as Verizon, Samsung, Time Warner, Google, theConsumer Electronics Association, the Federal TradeCommission, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, theNational Association of Broadcasters and several prominent arealaw firms. In fact, the crowd would appear at home at the annualconvention of the National Association of Broadcasters. Orperhaps, a posh Capitol Hill reception for the biggest players inthe communications industry.This particular group of industry movers and shakers,however, assembled at the Columbus School of Law on March15, 2007, to analyze, project and prognosticate about the explosionin wireless communication technologies that touches thelife of every American. Two dozen high-ranking representatives—assorteddirectors, vice presidents and general counselsfrom the leading corporate, government and association sectorsthat control America’s communications systems—gathered fora student-conceived forum titled “Content Abundance in aMultimedia World: Challenges and Opportunities for Multi-Platform Content Delivery and Regulation.” Led by FCCcommissioner and keynote speaker Robert M. McDowell, thegroup’s daylong discussion focused on how government andregulatory bodies should encourage the astonishing growth ofwireless broadband, heir apparent as the information deliverysystem of the future.What prompted 24 extraordinarily powerful and busy professionalsto set aside an entire day to voluntarily participatein a discussion not organized by lobbyists or Capitol Hill kingpins,but by law students? “What attracted influentialpresenters to our symposium was rooted in the evolution andmaturity of our programs, alumni, students and faculty,” notesProfessor David Irwin, director of the Institute forCommunications Law Studies and a deeply involved facultyadviser for the program. “Our graduates have gained broad andfavorable recognition at the FCC, in government, at law firms,in industry and elsewhere.”Professor Irwin’s point can hardly be argued. The‘Content Abundance’ discussion was a joint effort by CommLawConspectus: Journal of Communications Law & Policy and theInstitute for Communications Law Studies, widely recognizedas one of the nation’s premier and best-connected communicationslaw programs. For more than 25 years, the institute haspatiently seeded the ranks of government, private firms and thecorporate world with CUA law graduates, some of the mostgifted communications attorneys at practice anywhere today.Leveraging those alumni connections, and boosted by thehelpful personal appeals of former FCC commissioner andCUA law alumna Kathleen Q. Abernathy, 1983, students wereable to assemble a roster of panelists that resembled a “Who’sWho” of the modern communications industry.Another powerful draw is the opportunity to devote theappropriate time and attention to explore complex subjectsin depth. An erudite discussion of an hour or two is a formatthat most experts find infinitely more satisfying than beingasked to reduce their knowledge to an eight-second televisionsound bite.Not as Easy as it LooksThe scope and success of ‘Content Abundance’ and otherstudent-driven symposia is a team effort, of course. Studentsmay initially conceive of a topic and identify the best potentialspeakers on the subject, but it ultimately takes a coordinatedeffort among faculty advisers, staff and law school administrationto achieve an academic production that meets expectations.The majority of law school events involve rooms to book, classesto juggle, receptions to arrange, written materials to produceand publicity to manage well in advance.“Equally important is making sure that you have adequatefunding for an event. Sometimes this entails seeking fundingfrom outside the law school, from places such as firms, local barassociations and alumni,” says Amanda West, 2008, who establishedCUA as the first host of what has become an annualwomen’s networking tea. Open to all women who attend D.C.-area law schools, the tea is meant to play the role for youngThe “Women in the Law: D.C. Networking Tea” attractedhundreds of area law students in October 2006. Thenetworking event is the creation of CUA’s Women’s LawCaucus and now rotates annually among local law schools.14CUALAWYER /Fall–Winter 2007