In September 2005, the Communications Law and Policy Society became an official student organization recognized by the Senate.
In November 2005, the Senate granted funding of almost $1000 to support the first-ever Syracuse team at the 12th Annual Federal Communications Moot Court Competition at Catholic University. The problem at this year’s appellate advocacy competition focused on creating a family-friendly tier of programming on cable and satellite and whether the FCC exceeded it’s authority by creating this new tier. Teams submitted a brief and delivered oral arguments before a panel of practicing attorneys who specialize in communications law at the appellate advocacy competition. Competitors included seven other law schools: George Washington University, Georgetown University, Indiana University, University of Colorado, Southwestern University, University of Baltimore, and Catholic University. Rich Strong of Charter Communications and Elise Hiller of the New York Cable Association advised the team. SUCOL team members included David Ray, Amy Vanderlyke, and Jacob Wolfsheimer.
CLPS worked with the SUCOL Office of Advancement to sponsor a breakfast and practicing session with SU alums and friends of communications law at alumni house in Washington, DC. Participants included Eric Bernthal, Latham & Watkins; Ron Russo, Cohn Marks; Krista Witanowski & John Burgett, Wiley Rein & Fielding, LLP; Danielle Burt, Swidler Berlin; Joe DiScipio, Fletcher Heald & Hildreth.
The team also met with the Communications Practice of Patton Boggs, LLP and discussed the competition, areas of interest to Patton Boggs, and avenues for a relationship between the firm and the school.
In February 2006, the Sports & Entertainment Law Society and the Corporate Law Society joined with CLPS to sponsor an academic panel on “Global Governance of Communication.” The panel discussed the changes in global communication and information policy set in motion by the World Summit on the Information Society, focusing in particular on the problem of Internet governance at the international level. Speakers included Dr. Milton Mueller, School of Information Studies and Internet Governance Project; Dr. John Mathiason, Maxwell School and Internet Governance Project; Raed al Sharif, doctoral candidate, School of Information Studies; and Mawaki Chango, doctoral candidate, School of Information Studies.
In the fall of 2006, CLPS helped to bring pertinent events not just to students of the law school, but to the campus at large. CLPS hosted an event on the Politics of Communications, bringing in top communications attorneys from Holland + Knight and Patton Boggs LLP to talk about the issues surrounding political advertising, as well as potential hot button issues for the incoming Congress. CLPS worked with the Institutue for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media in presenting an Interchanges luncheon, featuring Rick Lane, a Vice President at News Corporation, who spoke about the various legal and policy issues surrounding mySpace. CLPS is preparing to send its second team to the Federal Communications Moot Court Competition at Catholic University.