News & Features

Campaign finance experts will explore the topic "Checks and Balances: The Impact of Money on the 2008 Elections" during a March 2 symposium at the Law School. On Friday, March 2, 2007, the Law School will host a symposium titled “Checks and Balances: The Impact of Money on the 2008 Elections.” The symposium is co-sponsored by the Election Law Society, the Election Law Program, and the Institute of the Bill of Rights Law, and will be held from 3:30 to 6 p.m. in the Law School’s McGlothlin Courtroom. The event is free and the public is welcome.

Panelists include:

Allison Hayward, Assistant Law Professor of Law at George Mason University, former Chief of Staff and Counsel to Federal Election Commission Commissioner Bradley A. Smith, and founder of the Skeptic’s Eye blog (www.skepticseye.com);

Neil P. Reiff, Deputy General Counsel of the Democratic National Committee and a partner of the firm Sandler, Reiff, and Young;

Jason Torchinsky, Senior Associate with Holtzman Vogel and former Deputy General Counsel to Bush-Cheney ’04;

William & Mary Law Professor Neal E. Devins, Director of the Institute of Bill of Rights Law, will serve as moderator for the panel.

Election Law Society President Alper Ozinal JD ’09, former Assistant Press Secretary for Governor Mark R. Warner, said that the student organizers of the symposium were “pleased to be able to put together a top notch panel of election law practitioners who are uniquely well positioned to discuss campaign finance issues at the outset of what will surely be the most expensive election cycle in U.S. history. Producing citizen lawyers is a priority at William & Mary, and being informed about election law is an important piece of our civic duty.”

First-year law students founded the Election Law Society, the student division of the Election Law Program, at William & Mary in September 2006. Believed to be the first law school organization of its kind in the country, the Society has more than 100 members. During fall semester, members participated in a “Campaign Finance 101” seminar before the November elections, hosted a visit by Federal Election Commission Chairman Michael E. Toner, conducted a voter registration drive, and held an Election Night party in Williamsburg. They plan to make the Election Law Symposium an annual Law School event.

College of William & Mary Media Contact: Suzanne Seurattan, 757-221-1631, scseur@wm.edu.

William & Mary Law School Communications Contact: Jaime Welch-Donahue, 757-221-1840, lawcom@wm.edu