law briefs / student SUCCESS Student Organizations Recognized
GW Law Welcomes Eighth Scholarly Journal
GW Law is now home to the Federal Communications Law Journal (FCLJ) of the Federal Communications Bar Association—expanding the school’s list of student-operated scholarly journals to eight. When petitioning to host the FCLJ in 2011, GW Law’s Student Bar Association and the Cyberlaw Students Association highlighted the school’s reputation for excellence in the national legal community and its energetic and committed students. “The FCLJ saw in our school what we
FCLJ Editor in Chief Dennis Holmes, JD ’13, welcomes FCBA members and other guests at a reception in February.
3L Publishes ‘A mazon’ Taxes Article
retailers such as Amazon. Mr. Yu published the paper during his final year at GW Law. Many states attempt to obtain taxes from online purchases by asking their residents to include online taxes on their tax returns, he says in the paper. However, consumers rarely report these online purchases, making it difficult for states to enforce and track these taxes. This creates a loss of billions of dollars in tax revenue nationally.
In his article “Formulation and Enforcement of ‘Amazon’ Taxes,” published in the Feb. 4 issue of State Tax Notes, Gordon Yu, JD, MBA ’13, discusses the laws that states can choose to pursue in order to recoup taxes from online 34
GW Law | winter 2014
students already knew: Each day, GW students leave the classroom to put the law in action at the forefront of national discourse. It’s why we came to GW,” said former SBA President Nick Nikic, JD ’12. Visit the FCLJ’s new website at www.fclj.org
Each year GW’s Student Bar Association, with the assistance of the Dean of Students office, honors student groups and members for their events and programming. This year’s Best Student Organization Award went to District Record Sealing Service—a pro bono project started by students (with help from the D.C. Public Defenders Service and Assistant Dean David Johnson) that helps clients seal their criminal records and allows students to provide real assistance to people in need.
Academic All-American This spring as Patrick Rigney, JD ’13, was wrapping up his law school studies, he was named by Inside Lacrosse as a 2013 Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association Academic All-American. Mr. Rigney played for the George Washington University’s lacrosse team as a defensive midfielder; he was the only law student on the Colonials team and the only player to receive the Academic All-American title. “Being selected as an Academic All-American is both an honor and a privilege,” says Mr. Rigney, who now works for the Montgomery County (Md.) State’s Attorney’s Office. “I am thankful to have been able to wear the buff and blue as a representative of GW Law.”