Former U.S. Attorney Named UA Distinguished Visiting Lecturer in Law

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama School of Law has announced that former U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance will join the law school as a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer in Law in August.

She will teach in the areas of criminal justice reform, criminal procedure and civil rights.

“I am delighted that Joyce Vance will be joining the School of Law,” said Dr. Mark E. Brandon, dean of the UA School of Law. “Her knowledge and experience – both as U.S. attorney and in private practice – will make her a valuable presence in the classroom and a tremendous resource for our students. She will also be a splendid colleague.”

As U.S. attorney, Vance led an ongoing investigation into Alabama’s prisons and successfully challenged Alabama’s HB 56 immigration law. She entered into a settlement agreement with Jefferson County, Alabama, rectifying violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act at polling places, prosecuted a string of police “color of law” cases, developed a program to reduce recidivism by reducing barriers to successful community reentry among people being released from prison and partnered with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to bring Alabama into compliance with the Motor Voter Act.

Vance’s office prosecuted Alabama’s first “material support of terrorism” case and focused on fraud and corruption in cases such as the $16 million fraud prosecution of a healthcare non-profit CEO and the $7.3 million prosecution of the head of the Alabama Small Business Consortium.

“I’m honored to be able to work with students who will shape the future of the legal profession and our communities and to share my experience, which underlines the critical importance of the rule of law, with them,” Vance said. “I look forward to the opportunity to continue to make a contribution to important issues of social justice, criminal justice reform, civil rights and good government.”

Vance was nominated to be U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama by President Barack Obama in 2009 and was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate.  She was one of the first five U.S. attorneys, and the first woman appointed as a U.S. attorney by the administration.

Vance served on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, a committee of U.S. attorneys that advises the U.S. attorney general on policy and management issues affecting the U.S. attorney’s offices around the country. Vance also co-chaired the committee’s Criminal Practice Subcommittee and was a member of its Civil Rights Subcommittee.

Vance is a graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and the University of Virginia School of Law. A frequent visitor to Alabama Law, she delivered the commencement address in 2011.

About the UA School of Law

One of America’s leading public law schools and a “#1 Best Value Law School” in the nation, according to the National Jurist in 2012 and 2013, The University of Alabama School of Law offers a challenging curriculum with over 150 electives, several dual enrollment opportunities, Master of Laws degrees, and a J.S.D. With a student-to-faculty ratio of  8.7:1, the Law School offers students a rigorous, hands-on learning experience, with strong student engagement in clinical programs, law review, moot court and trial advocacy.