[Infowarrior] - U.Maine Law Clinic Is First To Fight RIAA

[Richard Forno]

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14433

Student lawyers act for students in RIAA case

p2pnet news | RIAA News:- A student law clinic is about to cause a
revolution in the P2P filesharing war launched by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi
Universal and Sony BMG.

In what¹s probably a world¹s first, not lawyers, but student attorneys at
the University of Maine School of Law¹s Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic have
themselves taken up the fight on behalf of fellow students.

Hannah Ames and Lisa Chmelecki from the Cumberland clinic are now officially
representing two Maine students.

Ames and Chmelecki are being guided by clinic director and U of M assistant
professor Deirdre Smith (right).

They¹ve filed a reply to the US Supreme Court decision in Bell Atlantic v
Twombly, and the subsequent California decision, Interscope v Rodriguez,
which dismissed the RIAA¹s ³making available² complaint as mere
³conclusory², ³boilerplate² ³speculation².

³The two students represented by Cumberland join eight others represented by
a Portland law firm, bringing to 10 the number of University of Maine
students moving to dismiss the RIAA¹s case,² says Recording Industry vs The
People.

This could be the true beginning of the end for the RIAA in its attempts to
bring students to heel, turning them into compliant consumers of corporate
product under threat of legal persecution and severe financial penalties no
student can afford.

If other student from clinics not only in the US but around the world follow
the examples of Ames and Chmelecki, the stage will be set for a series of
confrontations and lightning strikes even the highly paid expert Big 4 legal
teams won¹t be able to handle.

Smith is on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court¹s Advisory Committee on the
Rules of Evidence, and governor John Baldacci¹s Select Committee on Judicial
Appointments.

She¹s a former member of the Board of Directors of the Maine Bar Foundation
and a founding board member of KIDS Legal.

Definitely stay tuned.