Sarah Warren had fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, through artificial insemination using sperm from her friend David Covington. Sarah wants to raise the children alone but David now wants parental rights. David filed a paternity action seeking to be recognized as the father and change the twins' last name. Sarah wants the action dismissed but if not, she questions whether David would be entitled to custody, visitation, or being listed on the birth certificates. The memo asks junior associates to research the issues and predict how the court might rule on dismissing the case and David's potential rights if it proceeds.

1. MEMORANDUM
TO: Junior Associates A-M
FROM: Senior Partner Goering
RE: Covington v. Warren, Case No. 09-D-7419 -- paternity action
DATE: November 2, 2009
Sarah Warren, our client, is a single mother and the Respondent in a paternity proceeding.
A couple of weeks ago, she had fraternal twins – a boy, Carson, and a girl, Catalyn. They were
conceived by artificial insemination. The sperm donor, Petitioner David Covington, was at one
time Sarah’s very close friend. Sarah desperately wanted children, but she has never married.
David has been in a committed relationship for the last several years with his same-sex domestic
partner.
A couple of years ago, while David and his partner were still living in Mountain Home,
Arkansas, Sarah went to visit them for a few days. While she was there, she asked David if he
would be a sperm donor for her artificial insemination procedure. She had been consulting with a
fertility doctor in Hot Springs, Arkansas. David was reluctant at first, but after giving it some
thought, he warmed to the idea of having a child to continue his genetic bloodline.
Sarah and David talked it over at some length, and he finally agreed to provide sperm
samples for Sarah’s fertility doctor to use in the artificial insemination procedure. He also agreed
to contribute to Sarah’s medical expenses. Recognizing that she would be carrying his child for
nine months, he figured that was the least he could do. Although he understood that Sarah planned
to raise the child as her own, they were good friends and saw each other often at social gatherings.
He was looking forward to regular opportunities to watch his child grow up.
The initial artificial insemination procedure took place in October 2008, but no pregnancy
resulted. At that time, David went to the office of the fertility doctor in Hot Springs with Sarah and
provided the sperm sample while he was at the doctor’s office. A couple of months later, after it
became clear that the first attempt had failed to result in a pregnancy, Sarah asked him once again if
he would provide a sperm sample for a second try. He agreed to do so, but he refused to go back
to the doctor’s office to provide the sample. Instead, the doctor supplied Sarah with a small
covered plastic container so that David could provide the sperm sample in the privacy of his own
home in Mountain Home. She took the sample to her fertility doctor in Hot Springs, who used it
for the second artificial insemination procedure. Before long, Sarah was thrilled to learn that she
was expecting boy-girl twins.
She had a healthy pregnancy, and the twins were born on October 18, 2009. During the last
couple of months of her pregnancy, she became concerned about David’s increasing level of
interest in playing a role in raising the children. In fact, he even moved from Mountain Home to
North Little Rock to be closer to them. David’s relationship with his same-sex partner became
tense, and Sarah was concerned that David was focusing too much on the anticipated arrival of the
twins. The day they were born, he showed up at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock and
insisted on seeing his “little darlings.” Sarah told the hospital nurses to keep him away from the

2. babies because she did not want him to establish a bond with the children.
Because of Sarah’s concern about David’s apparent desire to be actively engaged in the
children’s upbringing, Sarah wants to be sure that he has no parental rights. David was quite upset
when he was not allowed to see the children at the hospital on the day they were born. He promptly
filed a paternity action against Sarah, asking the court to confirm that he is the twins’ father using a
blood sample. He also wants the court to change the children’s last name to Covington.
Sarah wants us to try to get the paternity action dismissed. Please review the attached
pleadings thoroughly and research the primary legal issues. We are expecting a ruling from the
Pulaski County Circuit Court judge before too long on our Motion to Dismiss Covington’s paternity
action, but in the meantime I would like you to review our file and predict how you think the court
will rule. First, will the court grant our motion to dismiss for lack of standing? Second, if the court
refuses to grant our motion to dismiss, how do you predict the court will rule on the merits of the
case? Specifically, is Covington entitled to shared custody or visitation? Is he entitled to request a
court order directing that his name be listed on the children’s birth certificates as their natural
father?
The facts are not in dispute. After researching the relevant authorities, please write an
office memo addressing the legal issues. Please prepare a draft of your memo, not to exceed ten
pages, double-spaced. Your memo should follow the standard format for office memoranda
discussed in the Edwards text, including the appropriate headings. Please use 12-point Times New
Roman font and at least 1-inch margins on all four sides, and please double-space your memo.
Your completed memo should be approximately 8-10 pages in length. I will not read past the end
of the tenth page, so be sure you include all required memo components within that overall page
limit. Your memo, including the Question Presented, Brief Answer, Facts, Discussion, and
Conclusion, is due no later than the beginning of class on November 30.
In preparing your office memo, please cite case authority and secondary authorities
consistent with the ALWD citation manual. You may discuss the research materials and your
analysis with other students who are working on the same open research memo assignment.
However, you may not discuss the assignment or any of the materials with anyone else – including
other law students, your parents, your lawyer, your roommate, or your significant other. In
addition, you may not show your written work to anyone, including your classmates in this course.
Writing, revising, editing, and proofreading of your memo must be done by you alone. Any
departure from these requirements will be considered a violation of the Honor Code and handled
accordingly.
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