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The University of New Mexico

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Contact: Benson Hendrix, 505-277-1816
bhendrix@unm.edu

24 October 2007

UNM Law Professor to be Honored for Work on Behalf of the Mentally Disabled

For more than 30 years, UNM Law School professor Jim Ellis has been a tireless defender of the rights of people with mental disabilities in the civil and criminal justice system. Recently, Ellis argued the case of Atkins v. Virginia before the U.S. Supreme Court - a case in which the court held that the execution of individuals with mental retardation violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

UNM will honor Professor Ellis on Thursday, Oct. 25 for his groundbreaking advocacy on behalf of the mentally disabled, and for his being named to the school’s Henry Weihofen Endowed Chair. In addition to the ceremony, a one-hour Continuing Legal Education program will be offered as part of the celebration of Professor Ellis’ professional accomplishments.

Professor Ellis (A.B., 1968, Occidental College; J.D., 1974, University of California, Berkeley, Member of the District of Columbia Bar) joined the UNM law faculty 31 years ago. He has filed briefs in 18 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has shared his Supreme Court experience with UNM law students who have assisted him with all of his Supreme Court briefs.

Ellis' interest in mental disability dates to his service at the Yale Psychiatric Institute as a conscientious objector. After law school, he worked at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law in Washington, D.C., before joining the UNM law faculty.

New York University Law Professor Anthony Amsterdam, one of the most influential legal scholars in the United States, will make a special trip to Albuquerque to help honor his longtime friend and colleague.

“We are delighted that Professor Tony Amsterdam has agreed to join us for this very special occasion,” said UNM Law School Dean Suellyn Scarnecchia. “That a person of Professor Amsterdam’s stature in the legal community would come to honor Jim Ellis speaks volumes about the importance and impact of Jim’s long quest to protect the rights of the mentally disabled.”

Ellis teaches Constitutional Rights, Introduction to Constitutional Law, Rights of Children, Mental Health and Retardation Law, Criminal Law, and Mental Disability in Criminal Cases. He has spent his career writing articles and amicus briefs, and arguing for the rights of people with disabilities before congressional committees and state legislative committees across the country.

Ellis has received numerous national awards for his work, including the National Law Journal's "Lawyer of the Year" honor in 2002. His other honors include the Paul Hearne Award for Disability Advocacy from the American Bar Association; the Call to Action Award by the ARC of the United States; the Champion of Justice Award by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; and recognition by the National Historic Trust on Mental Retardation as one of 36 significant individuals in the field of mental retardation in the 20th Century. He has served as a law reporter for the A.B.A. Criminal Justice Standards project and president of the American Association on Mental Retardation.

The Weihofen Chair was established in 2004 to strengthen the law school’s academic program by recognizing distinguished teachers and scholars. It was funded initially by a gift from Professor Henry Weihofen, who taught criminal and constitutional law at UNM from 1948 to 1972, and who was an expert on the relationship between law and psychiatry.

More recently, his son, Bill Weihofen, generously supplemented the fund to allow for the awarding of two Weihofen academic chairs, one to Ellis and the other to Professor Rob Schwartz who will deliver a lecture honoring Ellis at the event.

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