When Bob Hertzberg (Wiest Class, 1979) arrived at Cooley Law School in 1976, he was determined to overcome obstacles that had plagued his education since childhood. Now, the retired lawyer, who once argued in front of the United States Supreme Court, is giving back to the school that gave him his start in the legal profession.
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TAMPA BAY, Fla. – The American Bar Association’s Pipeline Council has awarded Cooley Law School Professor Joseline Jean-Louis Hardrick and her nonprofit, Journey to Esquire® Scholarship & Leadership Program, with the 2026 Alexander Rising Star Award.
Cooley Law School’s Board of Directors Chair Mitchell Zajac has been named to Crain’s Detroit Business 2025 Class of “40 Under 40,” which highlights CEOs, founders, innovators, community champions and others younger than 40 who are making significant impacts. Zajac will be recognized during a reception on Nov. 20 at The Department at Hudson’s in Detroit.
Judge David Hamilton (Hilligan Class, 2012) had dreams of becoming a big-time defense attorney when he started classes at Cooley Law School in the fall of 2009. But his mom, Rosalind, envisioned her son in a different career path – a life in public service. After his first year at Cooley, Hamilton proved her right.
As an attorney one for the Judiciary of Guam, Francesca Camacho (Scalia Class, 2024) hopes to someday be a trial prosecutor, advocating for the interests of justice and the people of Guam – something she’s been wanting to do since before law school.
The views expressed in this article are those of Samantha Hulliberger and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the United States Air Force. Samantha Hulliberger (Scalia Class, 2024) didn’t just stumble upon the idea of military service or the law — her path was shaped by a deep commitment to public service, family influence, and a pandemic that gave her time to reflect.
If you’re just beginning your law school journey, now is the perfect time to focus on the skills that will support you well beyond your first semester. Setting clear boundaries doesn’t make you less committed; it helps you build a healthy, sustainable path forward. When you communicate openly about what you can deliver and when, you set professional standards that will earn the trust of classmates, professors, and future colleagues. You’ll also discover that adaptability is one of the most valuable traits you can bring to law school. Every classroom, clinic, and workplace will challenge you in new ways. The ability to adjust, collaborate, and thrive in unfamiliar environments will not only shape your student experience but also prepare you for a successful legal career. For more guidance, read the American Bar Association’s article "Essential Soft Skills You Must Develop During Law School," co-authored by Cooley Law School Professor Matthew Marin and Cooley Student Katelyn Hearn. Their perspective offers practical insights that every new student should carry into their studies. Read the full article here: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/law_students/resources/student-lawyer/professional-development/essential-soft-skills-you-must-develop-during-law-school/.
“Direct violation of the Insurrection Act,” says Ret. Brigadier General Michael McDaniel, who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Homeland Defense Strategy, Prevention and Mission Assurance at the Pentagon.
The Schurr Murder trial commenced on Monday, April 28, 2025, in connection to the officer involved shooting resulting in the death of Patrick Lyoya. Former Grand Rapids Police Department Officer Christopher Schurr encountered Lyoya during an April 2022 traffic stop. Cooley Law School Professors Lewis Langham, Tracey Brame and Tonya Krause-Phelan have offered expert analysis through each phase of the trial, from jury selection, to prosecution and defense case presentation, and jury deliberation.
On July 1, Russ Kavalhuna, J.D. (Gerald W. Boston Class, 2007), will take the reins as Western Michigan University’s (WMU) president. He will fill the position being vacated by Dr. Edward Montgomery who is retiring. Kavalhuna will be WMU’s 10th president and is currently president at Henry Ford College (HFC). He earned his bachelor's degree in aviation science from WMU and juris doctor from Cooley Law School. He and his wife, Courtney, have two children.
The Cooley Organization of Women Law Students (OWLS) hosted an International Women’s Day Event on March 11, 2025, featuring the Honorable Ana C. Viscomi, former Asbestos Special Master and current Superior Court Judge, as their keynote speaker.
Preface: Although I am committed to avoiding personality, policy, politics, and party in these blogs, I must cross that line in considering President Trump’s March 25, 2025, Executive Order entitled “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering, Parents, States, and Communities.” I do so because I am offended by the stark incompetence demonstrated in the document, which actually does not address empowerment of anyone and does not provide any indication of how outcomes will be improved. After law school, I joined the Department of Justice as an Honors Employee. My major task was supervising investigations, which revealed my hidden competence in planning and organizing activity. After that experience, I became a planner for the State of Michigan, serving in the Executive Office of Governor William G. Milliken. I became head of a State Planning Agency, implementing federal law and state policy through writing and administering plans for and distribution of federal appropriations (and state and local matching funds). That experience colors my judgment about the President’s Executive Order, which attempts to close the federal Department of Education without providing any planning whatsoever.
In his memorandum, the President asserts that he has unspecified “core powers,“ which are being abused by law firms and attorneys. He fails to identify these powers and their source. Contrary to his assertion, under the Constitution the President possesses only clearly delegated power; while most of the federal power is delegated to Congress.
On Wednesday, March 12, 2025, Cooley Law School's Lansing campus held its annual MentorJet program, co-sponsored with the National Association of Women Judges. The program matches law students with leading lawyers and judges to learn about law practice and job opportunities. The event included representatives from the Michigan Department of the Attorney General, 54-A District Court, Oakland County Circuit Court, Ingham County Circuit Court, Michigan Indigent Defense Commission, and many private practice law firms. "It was inspiring to see our students get the opportunity to meet with various professionals to learn about legal career opportunities," said Karen M. Poole, Cooley Law School director of Career & Professional Development. "We're grateful to all the judges and attorneys who volunteered their time to engage with our students."
The Context On March 14, 2025, President Trump issued a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemy Act1 to justify massive, immediate deportations of groups of allegedly illegal immigrants who came to the United States from Venezuela. These illegal immigrants were reportedly members of a terrorist group.
Tracey Brame, Associate Dean of Experiential Learning and Practice Preparation at Cooley Law School, was recently featured on WGVU's Powerful Women: Let's Talk podcast. A passionate legal advocate and educator, Brame shared her journey, commitment to justice, and the impact of her work. From her time at Legal Aid of Western Michigan to leading the Cooley Innocence Project, Brame has dedicated her life to advocating for justice for individuals and within legal systems. Her recognition as Michigan Lawyers Weekly's 2020 Lawyer of the Year reflects her deep commitment to public service. You can listen to the episode below or find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR One, or anywhere else you listen to podcasts.
Professor Emeritus Gerald Fisher was recently featured in the Detroit Free Press and Law360. He offered expert insight into a dispute over bills passed by the Michigan Legislature last year but not presented to the governor for consideration. A state judge recently ruled that the House should have presented the legislation. At Cooley, Professor Fisher taught Property, Secured Transactions, Constitutional Law, Zoning and Land Use Law, and State and Local Government Law. He also served as general counsel for cities, villages, and townships in southeast Michigan and as special counsel for governmental entities throughout Michigan. He appeared on 21 occasions in cases presented to the Michigan Supreme Court. To learn more about the legal complexities of this issue, read the full articles here:
In a recent Detroit Free Press article, Professor Mark Dotson provided an expert analysis of the legal complexities arising from a water main break in Detroit. The incident caused extensive property damage, leading to questions about a liability waiver the city asked residents to sign. Professor Dotson noted that the city's primary concern is securing legal access to affected properties before conducting repairs. His main message for residents was: "Regardless of what the city is doing, regardless of requirements of the waiver, they need to notify their insurance company." He said they should do it now. Professor Dotson's expertise offers valuable guidance to Detroit residents navigating the legal aftermath of the water main break, highlighting the intersection of law and public infrastructure management. For a more in-depth understanding of Professor Dotson's analysis and the legal considerations surrounding this incident, read the full article: "Detroit asking water main flood victims to sign a waiver. We had 2 lawyers take a look."
In Humphrey's Executor v. United States,[1] the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a statutory restriction that provided a for-cause limitation on the removal of a Federal Trade Commission member was constitutional. The Federal Trade Commission Act limited the power of the President to remove a Commissioner to “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”[2] The Court found that the statutory provision restricted the President’s removal power to those causes. It distinguished the recent decision of the same Court in Myers v. United States,[3] finding that the federal officer removed in Myers–a postmaster–was an executive officer restricted to the performance of executive functions, while the FTC Commissioner removed in Humphrey’s Executor acted in a quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial manner, and was not a purely executive officer. The Court held that the Commissioner could only be removed by the President for the causes listed in the Act. The limiting provision was constitutional.
About the Author: Don LeDuc is the retired president and dean of Cooley Law School. His book, Michigan Administrative Law, is revised and published annually by the West Group. He is a member of Scribes, the American Society of Writers on Legal Subjects, and received the Golden Pen Award from the Legal Writing Institute. This article is part of a multi-part series discussing the meaning of the U.S. Constitution's words.
Professor Mark Cooney recently shared his legal expertise in a Bloomberg Law article examining the impact of Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement’s decision to step down. Professor Cooney discussed how the court’s leftward shift is part of a swing he's noticed over nearly a decade. Professor Cooney’s insights provide critical perspective on how court composition influences legal outcomes. To read the full article and Professor Cooney’s analysis, visit "Michigan Chief Justice's Exit Fortifies Court's Leftward Swing."
Professor Jeffrey Swartz recently appeared on CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield to provide legal analysis on the Justice Department's decision to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Professor Swartz has made numerous appearances on national and local television, providing expert commentary.
After a national election that chose a new President, an election that took place in a closely divided nation, our new President has unleashed a continuing outpouring of initiatives. These have generated widespread debate and hand-wringing. The President’s initiatives and the debate surrounding them–coupled with the underlying division in our country–threaten our national stability, if not our country’s continued existence. These initiatives seem disorganized and lacking in reasoned support, while the debate they have engendered seems overblown and unfocused.
An oft-quoted cliche about a fast start is that someone “hit the ground running.” That certainly characterizes our new President and his blizzard of executive orders, directives, and announcements. On the other hand, a cliched criticism is that “fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Both characterizations are apt regarding the President, as well as the commentary about the President’s actions, particularly media commentary.
Professor Emeritus Michael C.H. McDaniel recently provided legal insight on WILX 10 regarding proposed funding cuts to sanctuary communities.
The latest episode of WGVU's Mutually Inclusive takes an in-depth look at Kenneth Nixon's powerful story and the transformative work of the Cooley Law School Innocence Project.
Michael C. H. McDaniel, a retired professor at Cooley Law School and Director of Homeland Law LL.M., was recently featured on WZZM13, discussing the legal implications of a potential pause on federal assistance and the impact it could have on Grand Rapids. General McDaniel provided critical insight into a 1974 congressional act requiring the president to provide lawmakers with an advanced warning about proposed deferrals of budget authority.
In a recent story by FOX 17 News, Professor Jeffrey Swartz offered his expertise on the evolving landscape of U.S. immigration enforcement. As a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney, Professor Swartz noted that agents must follow procedures but believes mistakes will inevitably happen, leaving courts to shape future enforcement. Read the full article here: https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/you-still-have-rights-understanding-the-changes-in-immigration-enforcement.
The incoming President has proposed something called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The idea of “fixing” or “streamlining” the federal government is nothing new–nearly every president over the past one hundred years has sought to make the federal government more efficient by cutting out duplication, waste, and fraud. Nearly every president has failed to accomplish that objective.
This essay examines the power of the President to order that money appropriated by Congress should not be spent; put another way–can the President refuse to spend funds that Congress authorized to be spent? This essay presumes that the power of appropriation lies in Congress and that the power to spend appropriations lies in the executive branch, namely with the President.[1]
In recent days, two high-profile cases have cast a troubling light on the growing enthusiasm for vigilantism in America. From the tragic chokehold death of Jordan Neely to the violent shooting of United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson, these events raise critical questions about the legitimacy of individuals taking the law into their own hands.
Current circumstances compel examination of the power of a President of the United States to nominate appointees and to fill vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate. The first context for analysis requires a look at two constitutional provisions regarding the President’s appointment power:
Over the course of the past few years, considerable attention has been given to decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, with critics often including a focus on the question of who appointed the Justices serving on the Court.
In a republican form of government–one in which representatives of the people make most policy decisions–the legislative branch is the most important.
Kalamazoo County celebrated the dedication of their brand-new justice center on Saturday, September 7. The center will be named in honor of the late Charles A. Pratt, a World War II veteran and the first black judge in Kalamazoo county when he was elected in 1969. Judge Pratt had 50 years of experience as a lawyer before he moved to the bench, where he is remembered for his unwavering commitment to justice, community service, and mentorship. After 12 years on the bench, Judge Pratt retired, but continued to give back to his community through his work with local organizations. Most notably, Judge Pratt was a strong advocate in Cooley’s long-lasting legacy, often carrying applications to the school wherever he went during Cooley’s fledgling era.
We have now completed a presidential election campaign. While there was considerable public discussion about the qualifications of the candidates and the political process, the role of the President was largely ignored. This short piece describes the power allocated to the President by the Constitution of the United States.
Professor Norman Fell September 8, 1942 - June 21, 2024
Sukayna Almusawi knew from the age of 14 she wanted to be a lawyer—yet many people insisted she would not succeed, not only because she is a woman, but also because she wears the hijab.
Cooley Law 2L student Thomas Gildner shares a passion for the law with his father, Michael, a partner at Simon, Figuera, and Parker in Flint.
Growing up, Cooley Dean’s Fellow Danielle Levy always knew that her parents and grandparents wanted her to pursue a professional career. It was no surprise then that Levy started at the University of Central Florida (UCF) following a BioMed major.
Ahmad Saifi grew up in his traditional family knowing that his family expected him to go into medicine. That pressure was compounded when one brother decided he was going to be a doctor, and the other brother made the decision to go to dentail school. Unfortunately for his family, Saifi wasn't interested in following any profession in the medical field.
One thing Cooley Law School Dean’s Fellow Troy Conti learned about himself working as a sheriff’s deputy after college was that he enjoyed being in the courtroom more than he liked patrolling the streets.
At an early age Maria Pierre had two responses when somebody asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said she either wanted to be an attorney or a probation officer. She really didn’t know where probation officer came from, but after she graduated from college that was the first path she followed.
Professors Mable Martin-Scott and Kimberly OLeary have taught the course, Multicultural Lawyering, at Cooley Law since 2020, helping students navigate issues of culture in their own professional lives, the legal system, and when assisting clients. They have recently reflected on the lessons they have learned from their students in two forums.
Krystle Cacci spent her whole life in government. Her mother was a judge, afterall. It was a natural progression to go into service. In college, she forged ahead in government policy by getting two master’s degrees focusing on public administration.
Cooley Law 3L student Autumn Loos is passionate about her work at the school’s Innocence Project, where she has interned since last September. “The thing about these clients is sometimes, we at the Innocence Project are their last resort. They have had no one to believe them,” she says. “All they need is someone to believe they are innocent and give them hope. Being able to tell someone or show them you are on their side is so impactful. “Interestingly, sometimes, all it takes is one page of a document to make or break an innocence claim. All you need to do is find that one piece of evidence that wasn’t tested that could start the domino effect and lead to their release.” With plans to focus on criminal defense after graduation, specifically focusing on post-conviction appeals, Loos notes her path is a little different than that of most people. When she was a toddler, her mother was murdered by her boyfriend, impacting Loos’s life in multiple ways. Growing up with her aunt, uncle, and cousins, Loos always knew she wanted to do something related to criminal law — but was unsure if that would be prosecution or defense. When she started undergrad, her goal was to become a criminal profiler and join the FBI. But in her teens, her older cousin — who she grew up with and looked on as a sister — became addicted to drugs. “This chain of events is what ultimately led me to focus on criminal defense,” Loos says. “For many years we watched her get put in jail and passed around the system without getting any actual help—it wasn’t until she went to prison and was locked away for years that she was able to become clean.” After her cousin was able to fight her addiction and was released, she had to deal with parole officers and everything that being on parole entails. “She never messed up, she was home on time every night, she never did drugs again, she is still clean and has had a job the entire time she has been home, but even now that she is off parole, there are lifelong consequences,” Loos says. “There are certain jobs she can never have and things she can never do. She has served her time and paid her debt to society, but she will still always be labeled a felon.” Loos relishes the quote from Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, that “Each of us is more than the worst thing we have ever done.” “Oftentimes, people in prison have no hope,” Loos says. “They are at the lowest point in their lives, and if they are there and shouldn’t be, all they need is for someone to believe in them. I want to be that person for someone. I want to give them hope and at least let them know that they have someone who hears them and is there for them.” Loos serves as president of the school’s Criminal Law Society, where she formerly served as promotions chair. “I’ve loved being able to organize events. Last term, we hosted a panel discussion with exonerees so students could hear about what led to their convictions and exonerations,” she says. “Our most recent event was coordinated with the Innocence Project. We did a case screening day that allowed students to see what it would be like to work with the Innocence Project if they chose to do that for their clinical requirements.” She currently is the Teaching Assistant (TA) for Wills Trusts and Estates, and enjoys helping other students. “I think some of the concepts can be confusing, and while the professor is so knowledgeable and great at teaching, sometimes it’s easier to understand when someone who is also at the same level as you breaks it down for you,” she says. Loos believes her undergrad degree in psychology from Capella University will help in her legal work. “I like learning how people think and make decisions,” she says. “It’s fascinating to see how everyday decisions can be determined by experience. I also have a passion for learning about things like how false confessions happen and understanding the psychology behind them helps to learn how to spot false or coerced confessions and could help to reduce their occurrence.” Loos chose Cooley because of the school’s Innocence Project, and because the school was flexible with her work schedule. “As a non-traditional student, I have to be able to work, so having a school that accommodated that was a requirement,” she says. She has worked at Rocket Mortgage for four years, first as a documentation specialist and now as a loan analyst. “I enjoy working with them because they have a great culture and really focus on the well-being of their employees. They have excellent benefits and have been very flexible with my ever-changing school schedule,” she says. “I work from home so I can take care of my daughter, spend time with her, and focus on school.” A fan of Ohio State football, Loos also is an avid reader, completing 43 books last year, in addition to assigned reading for classes. “When I’m not working or doing schoolwork, though, I just try to make sure to spend as much time with my family as I can,” she says. A native of Owosso, Loos attended school in Corunna, and currently lives in Swartz Creek with her husband and daughter, who will turn 2 in June. “She was born the day before our wedding anniversary, so we spent our anniversary eating buffalo wild wings in the hospital,” Loos says with a smile.
Ever since high school, Gabriella Logiudice imagined her fighting the good fight as a police officer. Not because she had a family in law enforcement, but because she had a desire to achieve justice and protect those most vulnerable, especially children.
Michigan Resident Lawyer Employment Data–Part 6 by Don LeDuc, Professor of Law, Cooley Law School Annually, the State Bar of Michigan collects detailed data regarding its membership, focusing on active Michigan resident lawyers–a focus followed in the seven-part analysis in this series. The data is supplied by and used with the permission of the State Bar. My thanks to Kristen Sewell, the current Research and Analytics Director at the State Bar of Michigan and Anne Vrooman, recently retired from that position, for their work in gathering and providing this information. The data provides an opportunity to examine objectively both the changes from year-to-year and the implications of those changes.
Michigan Resident Lawyer Employment Data–Part 6 by Don LeDuc, Professor of Law, Cooley Law School Annually, the State Bar of Michigan collects detailed data regarding its membership, focusing on active Michigan resident lawyers–a focus followed in the seven-part analysis in this series. The data is supplied by and used with the permission of the State Bar. My thanks to Kristen Sewell, the current Research and Analytics Director at the State Bar of Michigan and Anne Vrooman, recently retired from that position, for their work in gathering and providing this information. The data provides an opportunity to examine objectively both the changes from year-to-year and the implications of those changes.
Active Michigan Resident Lawyers Reported by Age – Part 5 by Don LeDuc, Professor of Law, Cooley Law School Annually, the State Bar of Michigan collects detailed data regarding its membership, focusing on active Michigan resident lawyers–a focus followed in the seven-part analysis in this series. The data is supplied by and used with the permission of the State Bar. My thanks to Kristen Sewell, the current Research and Analytics Director at the State Bar of Michigan and Anne Vrooman, recently retired from that position, for their work in gathering and providing this information. The data provides an opportunity to examine objectively both the changes from year-to-year and the implications of those changes.
The first thing Kristina Williams learned in college was that nursing wasn’t the career for her. The second thing she realized was that she didn’t really have another path pointing her in the right direction.
Michigan Resident Lawyer Employment Data Series – Part 4 by Don LeDuc, Professor of Law, Cooley Law School Annually, the State Bar of Michigan collects detailed data regarding its membership, focusing on active Michigan resident lawyers–a focus followed in the seven-part analysis in this series. The data is supplied by and used with the permission of the State Bar. My thanks to Kristen Sewell, the current Research and Analytics Director at the State Bar of Michigan and Anne Vrooman, recently retired from that position, for their work in gathering and providing this information. The data provides an opportunity to examine objectively both the changes from year-to-year and the implications of those changes.
Kara Rosengren was born and raised in Michigan and spent most of her formative years in the small village of Holly. It was also where she fell in love with dance. She vividly recalls her very first dance class at six years old; she knew then and there that she was born to be a dancer. Her passion for dance followed her to Western Michigan University where she got her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance and then pursued what many would say was an illustrious dance career.
Joe Kimble was working as a staff analyst for the Michigan Supreme Court in the mid-1970s when he was faced with an assignment that he wasn’t quite sure how to tackle: revising Michigan court rules. He had majored in literature at Amherst College before going to law school at the University of Michigan and even earned a few student writing awards along the way, but legal writing was something he’d yet to master. So before putting pen to paper, he decided to educate himself. He went to the law library and checked out The Fundamentals of Legal Drafting by Reed Dickerson, which at the time appeared to be the one and only book on the subject. “It never quite hit me in law school, even with that kind of background, that there’s something wrong with the way lawyers write,” he said. “As many law students do, I just took it as a given that this is the way it is, and this is the way it has to be.” Dickerson showed Kimble the light. He still remembers a particularly eye-opening part of the book, laid out in two easy-to-read columns. One listed common legal and formal terms, and the other listed simpler equivalents, sometimes even just a single word. Instead of prior to, one could simply write before. Pursuant to could become under. In the event that could be shortened all the way to if. It just made sense. Why would anyone want to write in a way that wasn’t the clearest, most straightforward way possible? “It was a revelation,” Kimble said. After all that time in law school and as a lawyer becoming well-versed in the confusing and clunky world of legalese, he found it to be like discovering a secret lying in plain sight. Everyone, and particularly lawyers, should be writing in a plain — or much plainer — way. And yet, they weren’t — at least not yet. Kimble has committed his legal career to improving the clarity of legal documents. He has served on state and national committees; was a founding director of the Center for Plain Language and a president of Clarity, an international organization promoting plain legal language; was a style (drafting) consultant on the projects to completely redraft the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Bankruptcy Procedure, and Evidence; is a prolific author of articles and books; and has taught thousands of students the art of plain language. Now a distinguished professor emeritus, Kimble taught legal writing for 30 years at Cooley Law School and the school’s Center for Legal Drafting bears his name. In 2023, he won the State Bar of Michigan’s highest honor, the Roberts P. Hudson Award, for his career achievements. This year marks yet another milestone: The Michigan Bar Journal’s Plain Language column — for which he has served as editor, inspiration, and frequent author since 1988 — is celebrating its 40th year. (See more about that in this month’s column.) “It’s a labor of love,” he said.
Michigan Resident Lawyer Employment Data Series – Part 3 by Don LeDuc, Professor of Law, Cooley Law School Annually, the State Bar of Michigan collects detailed data regarding its membership, focusing on active Michigan resident lawyers–a focus followed in the seven-part analysis in this series. The data is supplied by and used with the permission of the State Bar. My thanks to Kristen Sewell, the current Research and Analytics Director at the State Bar of Michigan and Anne Vrooman, recently retired from that position, for their work in gathering and providing this information. The data provides an opportunity to examine objectively both the changes from year-to-year and the implications of those changes.
The first recorded etiquette rules are traced to 2400 B.C., and many are still important today in the practice of law. So it goes without question that law students should learn, hone, and abide by basic etiquette guidelines. To narrow down the long list of rules, here are four main categories to prioritize: Greetings, being Ahead of Schedule, Meetings, and Emails. In other words, be on your GAME!
Cooley Dean’s Fellow Colby Weron has been thinking about law school ever since he was a freshman in high school. He was debating between going into law enforcement, like his mother, or becoming the first attorney in his family. Seeing his mother’s struggles with his father as a young boy tipped the scales on the side of a legal career.
Michigan Resident Lawyer Employment Data Series – Part 2 by Don LeDuc, Professor of Law, Cooley Law School
Once Cooley Dean’s Fellow Francesca Camacho participated in her high school’s mock trial team, she realized the law was calling her.
Drawn to the field of law out of a passion for justice and fairness, Cooley Law School 3L student Jennel Davoren has racked up a slew of awards during her studies.
Michigan Resident Lawyer Employment Data Series – Part 1 by Don LeDuc, Professor of Law, Cooley Law School
Carter Lewis loved math and science growing up, so despite his father, John Lewis, being a lawyer, and his two siblings, Marco, and Camille, in law school, he decided he wanted to go in a different direction.
Norelle Miranda knew she wanted to help people, even as a five-year-old when she and her family immigrated to the United States from the Philippines. Growing up, her parents instilled in her a very strong call to service and a passion to share hard work.
As a Psychology major, Jacob Goss started looking into careers in the mental health field. Yet, the more he investigated the field, the more he had reservations, especially after getting a regular dose of the day-to-day from his girlfriend Jessica Meyerson, a licensed school counselor. The one takeaway he heard loud and clear was that you can't help someone who doesn’t want to help themself.
Since he was a kid, Cooley Dean’s Fellow Thomas Gildner knew that a legal career was something he might like to do as a career. Easy to understand since his father was an attorney.
As hard as it was to leave family and friends in Los Angeles, California to attend Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, Adriana Burga knew it was the right decision. She also knew it wasn’t going to be forever since she planned to return to her home state but knew in her heart that she needed to be in a place where she could “settle down for a little bit and take a break from big city life” for law school.
Professor Emeritus Kimberly O'Leary is spending her retirement traveling around the world with her husband, Paul. While traveling, Professor O'Leary has launched an oral history project called The Gen Jones Chronicles.
If you were to ask Darrin Robinson at age 14 where he saw himself professionally, he would have said firmly that it would be in the field of medicine. But that plan got derailed when he accepted a position in the U.S. Department of Defense as a Student Mechanical Engineer serving at the U.S. Navy’s Naval Underwater Warfare Center.
Adriannette Williams fights for justice as a George Floyd Foundation founding board member, updates The Florida Bar handbook and is now the DEI connector for students and faculty at Lincoln Memorial Law School.
As a shareholder of Foster Swift Collins & Smith, PC and past president of the Detroit Bar Association, Paul Millenbach shares a piece of advice that has stuck with him since graduating from Cooley Law School over 30 years ago: Be prepared.
Sumayya Saleh’s Syrian parents, Bilal and Abida Saleh, immigrated to the United States in the mid-1980s, seeking opportunity after their families had been forced to flee oppression in Syria. When her parents arrived in the United States, they married in Tennessee, had two daughters, Layla and Aamena, then moved to Florida and had twin girls, Maryam and Sumayya. The children learned their parents’ heritage and their story of oppression and immigration, and experienced firsthand what injustice looked like in this country. It would certainly inform their lives growing up, but it turned into a passion when it became personal.
From a young age, Jayson Thomas enjoyed strategy games—and with that passion went on to earn a BBA in management with minors in marketing and entrepreneurial studies from the University of Mississippi.
Cooley Law School student Mya Hurwitz never really thought about what she wanted to do as a career as she was growing up, but she absolutely understood that her parents expected her to be a doctor or a lawyer. It’s almost cliché in many families, and Hurwitz was no different as she began her career journey.
Kimberly E. O'Leary is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Cooley Law School, and co-author with Mable Martin-Scott of the book Multicultural Lawyering: Navigating the Culture of the Law, the Lawyer, and the Client. She is now retired from full-time law teaching, but continues to blog about multicultural lawyering and her travels with her husband, Paul, in the blog Rocinantes on the Road. Below is an excerpt from her blog story called With buoyant spirit, Fiji models reconciliation & a welcoming culture.
Kimberly E. O'Leary is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Cooley Law School, and co-author with Mable Martin-Scott of the book Multicultural Lawyering: Navigating the Culture of the Law, the Lawyer, and the Client. She is now retired from full-time law teaching, but continues to blog about multicultural lawyering and her travels with her husband, Paul, in the blog Rocinantes on the Road. Below is an excerpt from her blog story called New Zealand - respect, heart, & willingness to tackle the hard questions raised by multiculturalism.
I have listened to many of the "experts" on the national networks describe the length of time it will take to bring the indictment against Donald Trump to trial. The estimate of up to a year is just not accurate. I am a former Miami judge, who, before and after the bench, practiced as a criminal defense attorney in the Federal Courts before the judges of the Southern District of Florida (SDFL) and many other districts around the country. Every district is different and every judge within those districts have different demeanors.
All her life, Sarah Tanner was never one to get herself pigeonholed into one way of thinking. In fact, she always had a healthy love for debate.
When Cooley Law School student Kyndal Midkiff was younger, her mother worked in a small law firm in Palm Harbor, Florida, with an “amazing attorney.” She thought it was a cool environment and was impressed by how the attorney interacted with his clients and how appreciative and thankful those clients were with his care.
It was the phone call Samantha Hulliberger had been waiting on for five years. When the second-year Cooley Law School student picked up the phone that day, she wasn’t sure what kind of news would be waiting on the other end of the connection. She soon found out.
“It was just a feeling,” said Cooley Law School student Courtney Yonker, when she tried to explain how she ended up going to law school and why she chose Cooley Law School. At first the thought of law school was scary, but then she remembered that her father, Marc Yonker, not only got through law school, but has loved his career ever since. “It’s just like what you see in the movies when everyone talks about law school, it’s like this nightmare,” explained Yonker. “I used to hear everyone talk about the cold calling in class, and, oh my gosh, it seemed so terrifying. But then I thought of my dad who went to law school – he went to Cooley’s Lansing campus – and he had such a great experience.”
For a little more than a decade beginning in the late 1980s, on the morning of graduation, the Cooley Law School graduating seniors and the faculty engaged in a game of basketball.
WHAT IS “MODERN LEGAL EDUCATION”? Does it describe a particular program? Is it a term that outlines a specific set of programs with rules and protocols to follow? Or does “modern legal education” simply encompass anything since the time when the fictional Professor Kingsfield terrified first-term students in John Jay Osborn Jr.’s “The Paper Chase.” The answer is a little bit of all of the above, plus the opinions, projects, and ideas of a vast number of legal scholars dedicated to putting forth their ideas in publication.
In this episode of Journey to Esquire, founder of Diversity Access Pipeline Inc. and WMU-Cooley Law School Professor Joseline Hardrick passes the mic to WMU-Cooley Law School graduate Krystle Cacci. She is an Appellate Attorney, Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office and is an experienced policy analyst with a demonstrated history of working in the public and private sectors. Fun fact: Krystle's mother is also a lawyer and was a judge on the Florida 1st District Court of Appeals from 2010-2016.
Early in February the nation was introduced to the world of surveillance balloons as the U.S. Military shot down what was believed to be a Chinese balloon off the east coast. And a few days later three more balloons, which we have since learned were most likely not part of China’s surveillance program, were shot down by military fighter jets.
To describe the most recent couple years in Jigisa Patel-Dookhoo’s life as a whirlwind would be an understatement of epic proportions. Many people in the world went into a sort of hibernation during the pandemic. Not the Hon. Jigisa Patel-Dookhoo (Coleman Class, 2009).
Kara (Henigan) Hope has come a long way since that fateful day when she was called upon to stand and recite in the late Professor Peter Jason’s Contracts I class. An introvert by nature, Kara was beyond nervous as she responded, but she learned something important about herself that day – she could do it.
Neena Sterling (Gray Class, 2022) knew she wanted to be a lawyer since she was a young girl. When she graduated from college she was on track, but ended up hitting some bumps and taking time off to work for a year. In 2016, she had a daughter, and her dream of law school was put on the back burner.
Krysten Hergert earned her undergrad degree in scientific and technical communication from Michigan Technological University, starting her studies in environmental engineering.
Cooley law student Nancy Zieah serves Double Duty as editor of the Law Review and as president of the law school's moot court program. Eight years of owning and operating a liquor store in downtown Detroit shaped the way Nancy Zieah sees the law. “I had to find a balance between a neighborhood at odds with itself and the multiple law enforcement divisions in the downtown area,” she says. “This gave me an opportunity to see how the same series of events can lead to a wide variety of conclusions.” Now a 3L student on the Dean’s List and Honor Roll at Cooley Law School and due to graduate this year, Zieah was drawn to the law by its ability to provide aid and assistance. “Regardless of whether my future client is on trial for a criminal offense, hoping for an amicable divorce, or seeking compensation owed to them, the legal profession is one that helps people,” she says. She is particularly appreciative of the Cooley Law School faculty. “Our professors have dozens of students and a life beyond the classroom, yet they have time to get to know us, share an opportunity, or link us with a professional who might help us get to where we want to be,” she says. Zieah—who also previously spent 5 years as a credit card processing agent—appreciates the fact that many students at Cooley are—like her—not traditional law school students right out of undergrad. “Many are balancing law school with other responsibilities like being a parent, working a full-time job, or taking a chance on a drastic career change,” she says. “There is nothing more inspiring than surrounding yourself with people who have that kind of drive and determination.” Zieah started her academy trajectory with an undergrad degree from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, where she was on the honor roll for all terms; and did data entry and research for “Correlates of War.” Fluent in Arabic and Chaldean, she was a delegate in the Model Arab League; and was a member of Amnesty International. “I studied political science because it casts a wide net over societal problems and solutions,” she says. “I particularly liked studying international politics and social justice reform. This is probably what drew me to things like the Jessup International Moot Court competition at Cooley, and the expungement fairs.” The current president of the Melissa Mitchell Moot Court, Zieah earned the Trinity Term Top Advocate Award in 2021 for the highest score in a single round. Last year she was a member of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court team that ranked amongst top 30 national teams in Advanced Rounds. “My first term was particularly difficult and I wasn’t sure if this was the right career path for me, but Moot Court reassured me that law school is exactly where I was meant to be,” she says. “In our first year, we get so bogged down with preparing for finals that we don’t realize how much we have learned. Moot Court is where students are able to apply the material, and this helped us see how to approach those daunting exams.” Her experience with expungement came from volunteering for Safe and Just, an organization that hosts expungement fairs in the metro-Detroit area. “The most memorable clients were those who were motivated by principle and sought expungement for offenses that dated back to the ‘70s and ‘80s,” she says. “Today’s sentencing programs and options would have yielded very different results and while we can’t turn back the hands of time, it was humbling to see them find some solace.” Last September, Zieah started an externship at the Washtenaw County Office of Public Defender in Ann Arbor. “I appreciated my supervisor for approaching this position with a ‘sink or swim’ mentality,” she says. “I didn’t spend weeks observing and conducting an endless amount of legal research. By the second week, she had me on the record and let me be uncomfortable. “I have an awful habit of over-preparing for everything, but this externship helped me gain confidence in what I already know and helped me see that I didn’t have to have every single ‘what-if’ covered to be a good advocate for my client.” She enjoys serving as editor-in-chief of Law Review; and last year was honored with the Dawn C. Beachnau Award, presented to members of the Law Review Board of Editors who made the most significant contributions through their leadership and dedication. “After the pandemic forced everyone to rethink what works, I’ve been dedicated to improving student organizations at Cooley,” she says. “With the Law Review, I had the privilege of leading students who were dedicated to modernizing how the Law Review published scholarly articles by restructuring the organization, changing the publication process, and creating more access.” Zieah—who in the fall of 2021 earned a Certificate of Merit in Scholarly Writing for the highest grade in the course—co-founded and serves as president of the law school’s Chapter of Scribes, a national organization dedicated to encouraging legal authors and improving legal writing. “The founder of Scribe-Auburn Hills reached out to me and explained that Scribes takes an informal approach to helping students move away from archaic legalese like ‘thereinafter.’ I believed in the long-term advantage of helping students shift into succinct writing styles and thought it would be a great addition to the Lansing organizations,” she says. She also has enjoyed serving as a Teaching Assistant for Evidence, and for Criminal Procedure. “The best part of being a TA is relieving students from their exam anxiety,” she says. “Everyone is troubled by the unknown, so it’s nice to give students a little insight into what they can expect and that helps them focus on the material that matters.” During the pandemic, Zieah found the challenge of remote learning was actually a benefit. “Remote learning appears to be a disconnected method of learning, but my peers and I have had a very different experience,” she says. “Our group chat of students turned into a 25-member family because virtual learning brings down those walls that the classroom restricts to who sits next to you. Since then, we’ve supported organizations we probably wouldn’t have had interest in, celebrated weddings, consoled losses, had picnics, and held holiday parties. “I think this has a lot to do with how intimate online learning can be. Our computer screens were a window into one another’s personal lives. We saw family members pass by, where people lay their heads, the pets they love, their children, and so on. For me, it was an advantage to getting through law school.” Her 8-year-old twin boys, Dylan and Nolan, were 5 when Zieah started law school. “While their father didn’t enjoy how virtual classrooms took over our home, sharing the remote learning experience with them helped all of us get through it,” she says. A Youth Education Committee Member of the Oakland County Bar Association, Zieah also is a student associate of the Oakland County Inns of Court where teams of legal professionals and students give presentations on different areas of the law. “This experience exposed me to the relationships that judges and attorneys have outside of the courtroom and helped me see how supportive the legal community is,” she says. “The opportunity to get advice from working professionals has helped shaped the career path I plan on taking.” She plans on launching her career in the field of criminal defense. “Hopefully, that helps set the foundation for appellate work. I enjoy areas of the law that are geared towards appellate work—specifically, criminal appeals. This area of the law is where I can combine my passions for writing and oral advocacy,” she says. “The most important thing about my career goals is that I’m able to maintain a healthy work-life balance. I’ve met too many attorneys who are unhappy because they chose an area of the law or a place of employment for all the wrong reasons and I plan on doing everything I can to avoid this predicament.” The Detroit native, who now calls Sterling Heights home, was a volunteer coach for Detroit PAL, a volleyball program for 7th to 12th grade girls. The team, at that time, earned Best Academic Team and was runner-up for the championship title. “I’m a firm believer that sports show us how effective we can be when we work with others,” Zieah says. “As a teenager, I always believed that if I wanted it done right, I should do it myself. Playing volleyball helped me see how much people can improve over short periods of time and it helped me learn how to trust other people and their abilities. “In classrooms, we can’t see grades evolve and improve over time, but we can watch our teammates go from shanking every ball to hitting their target or getting closer with each day. Because this valuable lesson can’t be taught in a classroom, coaching was my way of paying it forward.”
THE STORY BEHIND THE CLASSES Nearly 10 years ago, I knew the Librarians had to do more than we were to help students be practice ready with research skills beyond what they learned in Research and Writing. Previously, the Librarians team taught an advanced legal research three-credit course. This was in the 90s. As our student body grew and the campuses expanded, we ran out of time to cover more than the basic classroom support so many of you experienced in classes like Research and Writing, Advanced Writing, Estate Planning, Pre-Trial Skills, the Externship classroom component, and many more.
At the end of his first year elected the 115th President of the New Jersey State Senate, Senator Nicholas Scutari is leading the upper chamber for the 220th Legislative Session. Scutari was first elected to the State Senate in 2003 to represent the 22nd District, which includes the Middlesex County municipalities of Dunellen and Middlesex, the Somerset County municipalities of Green Brook and North Plainfield, and the Union County municipalities of Clark, Fanwood, Linden, Plainfield, Rahway, Scotch Plains, and Winfield. A lifelong Linden resident, Senator Scutari began his career in public service in 1994 when he was elected to the Linden Board of Education. Senator Scutari was elected to the Union County Freeholder Board in 1996. He served as Union County Freeholder Vice Chairman in 1998 and as Union County Freeholder Chairman in 1999. He is the youngest person ever to serve as Freeholder Chairman in Union County. As Senator to the 22nd Legislative District, Senator Scutari has spearheaded several initiatives that benefit both the citizens within the 22nd district and the State of New Jersey as a whole. He is a strong advocate for insurance reform and has sponsored legislation to create a more consumer-friendly environment. Another priority for him is having a fair, competent, and qualified Judiciary in New Jersey. Senator Scutari was the longest serving Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in New Jersey history. He continues to be committed to the thorough vetting and scrutiny of judicial nominees, cabinet nominations, and other gubernatorial appointments. He also recognizes the importance of caring for the ill and infirmed in the State. To that end, was the primary sponsor of the ‘New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act,’ which allows New Jersey citizens suffering from chronic and debilitating illnesses, for whom currently available treatments and medications have proven ineffective, to receive medicinal marijuana to treat and help alleviate their symptoms. Senator Scutari has been a long-standing opponent of draconian drug policies and this landmark piece of legislation served as a first step in getting cannabis outside of the underground. In 2021, Senator Scutari spearheaded legislation that would create the legal and regulatory framework for the cannabis industry in the state of New Jersey. This landmark legislation helped to create thousands of jobs in a new industry sector while righting countless legal injustices that people have faced generationally. Also, a strong advocate for quality education, Senator Scutari has supported a number of pieces of legislation that would provide funding and expand programs to ensure that New Jersey citizens receive the high-quality education they deserve. Senator Scutari is a graduate of Linden High School where he was captain of the Varsity Wrestling Team. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Kean College in less than three years at the age of only 20. He received his Masters Degree in less that one year at Rutgers’s University at the age of 21. He earned his Law Degree from Cooley Law School and was awarded the John D. Voelker Award as the school’s Outstanding Law Review Associate. A practicing attorney with an office located in Linden, Senator Scutari is a Certified Civil Trial Attorney certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Finally, Senator Scutari is also an Eagle Scout since 1984.
Roger and Marilyn Grove had been donors and supporters of Cooley Law School. Roger was also a good friend of Judge Brennan’s. Both avid sports fans and athletes, they often met up for a match of tennis or racquetball or pickle ball, or a friendly duel in almost any sport. Roger was also a musician. He was a tenor and first baritone horn for the MSU Concert Band.
The do-it-yourself tradition at Thomas M. Cooley Law School survived its growth and success.
Cooley Law School Assistant Dean and Professor Erika Breitfeld was selected by her peers as Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s Lawyer of the Year for 2022. Breitfeld said she picked up on a common theme as she heard about her fellow honorees’ achievements.
As Michigan voters cast their ballots in the Primary Election, Cooley Law School professors shared their legal analysis with media about the three state proposals and candidates in highly contested statewide races.
“Distinguished both at the lectern and on the bench” Cooley Law School established the Frederick J. Griffith III Adjunct Faculty Award in 1997. It is named for the late Rick Griffith, who was a Lansing lawyer and long-time adjunct professor at Cooley. Cooley is enriched by the dedicated, experienced, and talented members of our adjunct faculty They blend teaching with active careers in a great variety of law practice settings.
EGRESS? You are in a crowded restaurant. The fire alarm goes off and diners rush for the doors. One door is marked EGRESS and one is marked EXIT. Which one leads to safety? Answer: both. But head for the Egress. It could have life-or-death consequences. Here’s why. Most of the diners likely do not know the word egress. The Plain English Lexicon says of egress that only 2/3 of Americans who completed grade 16 (four years of college) are likely to understand its meaning. It’s a college-grad word. Yet according to the Literacy Project Foundation, the average American reads at a junior-high grade level. This level of literacy might well result in a backup of diners trying to get through the Exit door and clear sailing at the Egress door.
A national ranking of 200 small college towns by Preply.com selected Lansing, home of Cooley Law School, as the fifth best in Michigan. The ranking was based on economic and social environment factors including having a college or university, a vibrant community, and affordability. Lansing is first and foremost a small college town because it has two small colleges: Cooley Law School and Lansing Community College. What makes Lansing a great small college town—and a great place to live and visit—is that it has a small college-town feel. It has the sense of being in an artistic community, with students pursuing higher education, trying to discover themselves and what they will do with the rest of their lives. Every small college town is different, even when they’re located right next to each other. That doesn’t make one better than the other. Better yet, you don’t have to choose. Michigan State University in East Lansing is a boon to the Greater Lansing Area, but so is General Motors' historic investment in Lansing. Lansing is also the state capital, with a lot of history in museums—art, history, and science—as well as its buildings, parks, streets, and a walk-through sculpture garden. The Cooley Law School campus is an artifact and attraction, with historic structures that were renovated (the classic exterior) and updated (the modern interior). It also has a dedicated greenspace that helped it achieve an environmentally responsible designation from the Society for Environmentally Responsible Facilities in June 2013. Preply rated the small college towns on 13 different indicators in three categories that affect college students including: Wallet Friendliness: The cost of apartment rental, a meal in an inexpensive restaurant, a beer, and a fitness club membership. Social Environment: the per capita rate of cafes, parks, nightlife venues and diversity as measured by foreign-born residents, as well as crime. Economic Opportunities: the average salary, the employment and unemployment rates, and the cost of buying an apartment. The social environment includes: Live music and theater, including little-known and local talent. Art galleries that feature work by local artists, sometimes the owner of the shop. Other unique shops full of character with quirky names (Elderly Instruments: “New, Used & Vintage Musical Instruments,” plus electronics and other accessories). Non-college classes where anyone can learn ballet or belly dance, acting, or art. You don’t even need to take a class; there are art parties where everybody creates a painting or screen print on the spot. Come see for yourself! Check out the Cooley Law School campus and discover Lansing’s other hidden treasures.
With the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the law school, it seems fitting to look back at where we have come from through the eyes of the Library. The Law Library has a substantial Cooley Law School Archives collection relating to materials collected that are historical in nature containing various publications created and distributed by the school. The collection is large with nearly 1,000 items. While there is little new material being added to this collection due to the role the internet plays in creating a communications presence, you might be surprised to know that it does continue to grow. Links have been added when possible to online additions and there are some messages that are best conveyed in a print format. That is where this collection becomes invaluable.
The first person in her family to attend law school, Alyssa Emery will graduate from Cooley Law School in August—and after receiving a federal clerkship through the “Just the Beginning” Program, will do legal writing and research this summer for a district court judge out of Washington, D.C. “I interviewed with another candidate before deciding on the one with D.C, but there was something about the way the staff talked about the judge that I knew this was the position for me,” she says. Emery launched her academic trajectory with undergrad and master’s degrees in philosophy, cum laude, from Wayne State University. “I’ve always been someone who has asked ‘why’ and philosophy showed me I wasn’t alone,” she says. “I love learning and obtaining knowledge. Philosophy is a bottomless well of knowledge.” That same passion for knowledge drew Emery to the legal field.
Below is a conversation surrounding Standard 303. Curriculum with Demetria Frank, Associate Dean for Diversity & Inclusion, University of Memphis Law In February, 2022, the ABA adopted a new Standard for Legal Education. The new Standard, 303(c), provides:
Of course, everything is online. While that statement is not actually true, most materials a practicing attorney are looking for can be found in a digital format. The questions are where to look and what resources are available?
Elizabeth Devolder (Hughes Class, 2016) was nothing short of a superstar in law school. She excelled in classes and student competitions, even winning a national championship in the American Bar Association’s 2015 Client Counseling Competition. On top of that, she was selected as one of National Jurist’s 25 future lawyers honored in the national publication’s inaugural “Law Student of the Year” feature in 2016.
Coolcat has been around since 1990, yet whenever I write about it, I say “Coolcat, the library online catalog.” It replaces the paper card catalog which is now something that very few current students even remember. When the Library developed its first version of the online catalog, it was likely one of the first 25 academic law libraries to do so. The visionary leadership of Judith Ansbach, with librarians Pam Bartlett and Rita Marsala, as well as staff member Susan Oliver, helped us quickly transition to the newly emerging high-tech record-keeping system that we still call Coolcat.
Pauline (Polly) Brennan was used to her husband, Tom — the late Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas E. Brennan Sr. — coming up with ideas — and plenty of them. Some were good, some not so good. “But some of his ideas were visionary,” she says, “And Cooley Law School was one of those.”
I have blogged about the problem of excessive commas. Now I want to tackle the problem of a missing punctuation mark: the hyphen. I’m talking specifically about the hyphen that belongs in the middle of phrasal adjectives.
Recent Cooley alumna Veller Morris almost went into a career in radiology—and it was sheer serendipity that she instead took a legal studies program.
Riley Stheiner dreamed of becoming a lawyer as early as seventh grade, but after finishing her undergrad degree in legal studies and criminal justice from Grand Valley State University, she had second thoughts.
Scott Nowling who enjoyed a 27-year career in field sales management at Johnson & Johnson before studying law, recently graduated from Cooley Law School and was named summa cum laude of the Samuel Blatchford Class during a graduation ceremony at Michigan State University Auditorium on May 12. He ranked first with a cumulative grade point average of 4.0, one of 17 Cooley students who have graduated with a 4.0 GPA since the first graduating class in 1976.
With the encouragement of my colleague Joe Kimble, editor of the long-running Michigan Bar Journal Plain Language column, I submitted “Help Wanted (and Needed!),” which appeared in the January 2019 issue. It called attention to help-wanted ads that demand excellent writing skills—but demonstrate something less.
As a teenager, Yaritssa Plasencia (Blatchford Class, 2022) knew she wanted to pursue a career in physical therapy when she got such wonderful care from a physical therapist after a bad car accident.
“Woof!” There are over 63 million United States households that know this sound when they come home from school or work. It’s the sound of your precious pup who keeps you company during the midst of your studies or sane after a long day at the office. Many of these furry friends were procured from a breeder where the buyer was obligated to sign a puppy contract. The general purpose of a puppy contract is to protect the dog. But how far can a breeder go before a court will not enforce the contract? Though these musings do not provide legal advice or opinions, following are some general points to consider if you purchase a puppy from a breeder or sell a puppy to a buyer.
Growing up, the only thing Cooley Law School graduate Connor Porzig cared about was basketball. “I like to think of it as my first love. Whether I was watching it on TV or playing outside, it was something that I understood and had a passion for from the beginning,” says Porzig.
On January 4, 2021, the Brennan Law Library on the Lansing campus opened in a new location. Gone are the days of endless miles of shelving and study carrels in every corner to meet the needs of any type of studier. The new space is compact with movable compact shelving housing most of the collection.
Stephanie Ray was a very quiet child, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have a lot to say. "I think people found my opinionated self quite a shock, especially since I didn't really speak much as a child," laughed Ray. Born in Medellin, Colombia, Ray came to New York City to live with her adoptive parents, Stratton Ray and Virginia Ann Wright, in 1992.
Barrister William Lye OAM QC, former adjunct professor at WMU-Cooley Law School, leads an Australian Legal Team who are investigating the situation in Ukraine.
The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has many keyed into the impact on global oil supply, but the U.S. National Security Council is renewing its focus on another area of national security concern – the global water supply. Cooley Law Professor Michael C.H. McDaniel, former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Homeland Strategy Defense, spoke with Tom Jordan and Kevin Dietz of WJR-AM Detroit, sharing his perspective on this potential threat.
As the Russia-Ukraine War continues, Cooley Law School Professors David L. Finnegan and retired Brigadier General and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Homeland Defense Michael C.H. McDaniel, experts on international law, have created a video-blog series sharing various interpretations of international law as it pertains to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The first three video-blog posts take a look at three important topics when looking into the violation of war crimes. Hosted on Cooley’s blog site, the video blogs also can be found on the Cooley Law School YouTube channel and are available for members of the media to share with their audiences.
LCloud storage, AI, and the potential for a national practice may influence practice rules. Legal ethics: It’s not a class in your first-year curriculum. But it’s a concept that will follow your every decision as a lawyer.
Following the April 4 shooting death of 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya by a Grand Rapids police officer, many have expressed frustration over the use of deadly force, questioning police policy on de-escalation, as well as frustration over length of time to conduct and release information from the investigation.
Have you ever said something and discovered that your listener felt attacked, when that was not your intent? Have you ever had someone say something to you where you felt misunderstood, stereotyped, or disrespected? When those kinds of mis-communications occur, how do you respond? When the other person is from a different culture from you, have you ever felt like the mis-communication is even more fraught?
Cooley Law student Heather Silcott knew from the moment she rescued a labradoodle named Bruno from an auction that animals needed lawyers.
In the middle of their study of Contract law, students encounter a cluster of cases dealing with when courts should grant some form of relief to parties who unknowingly enter into contracts beset by misunderstanding, mistake, or ignorance. I call this cluster “the Law of Confusion.” Reading the cases, students are at least as confused as were the parties to the lawsuits that they are being asked to study.
I retired in December, 2021, and I had the honor of being asked to present a lecture on what I learned from my career. In that lecture, I discussed five "lessons" I have learned that made my career more productive and more enjoyable. You can watch the 30-minute lecture in the video, or if you want the “Cliff Notes” version, here are the 5 lessons below - Cooley Professor Emeritus Kimberly E. O'Leary
I have previously blogged about ways to boost an article’s readership. Since then I have learned of a really simple additional way. We all know that to increase readability, use short words and short sentences. It turns out that using a short title for your article can increase the likelihood that it will be read. And cited by others.
THE PAST The "Looking Back: 1930s" article in the January 2022 Michigan Bar Journal concludes by briefly noting "a failed constitutional amendment which would have moved Michigan away from an elected judiciary." The ballot measure would have instituted non-partisan appointment of Michigan’s Supreme Court justices. Since that 1938 defeat, the State Bar has initiated or supported petition drives to put the question of non-partisan judicial selection back on the ballot three more times.
Mina Woodard’s original career goal was to become a math teacher, but she switched to criminal justice studies after transferring from the University of Louisiana to Michigan State University in her second year. “I wanted to have a career where I felt like I could help people,” she says. “I enjoyed learning about how the legal system works and the reasons behind why people commit crimes. Studying criminal justice was the beginning of my interest in law.” The seeds of her future career were sown when she took a law class at MSU and found it fascinating. After giving birth to her daughter Skye during her junior year of college, Woodard didn’t give much thought to continuing education—but after graduation, struggled to find a career that interested her. Three years as a Client Service Specialist at Jackson National Life in Lansing was a valuable experience, but she recognized it wasn’t what she was meant to do long-term.
Cooley Law School 2005 graduate Janelle Benjamin is the founder and CEO of the company All Things Equitable. Benjamin, located in Toronto, Ontario, works with organizations and companies all over the world. Her consulting work focuses on diversity and inclusion in the workplace. She helps employees from historically marginalized groups feel safer at work, and she helps employers figure out how to create diverse and safe workplaces that are fair and equitable. She does her work by speaking, interviewing, conducting focus groups, surveys, and training sessions. Benjamin started the company in 2020, pulling together more than 15 years of skills acquired through her work on the staff of high level policy makers in Human Rights and Fairness government commissions. She earned her J.D. with a focus on International Law, ADR, and Litigation. She believes she is the only firm in Toronto that focuses on all historically marginalized groups – there are consultants on racial equity, or accessibility equity, or LGBTQI equity, for example. She helps companies create fairness for all its employees by examining such issues as implicit bias and micro-aggressions, but also explicit bias and dismantling sexist, racist, ableist and other practices that are a barrier to fairness. She credits some of her own experiences of discrimination and micro-aggressions in the workplace with helping her recognize and validate the experiences shared by marginalized employees. She credits her policy experience with helping her problem-solve with employers. After the events of the summer of 2020, including the shooting of George Floyd, Ms. Benjamin realized she wanted to do more. She also realized her own race and gender posed challenges to being promoted within corporate culture. With the support of many people with whom she had worked, who advised her that she had the perfect skill set to take action to improve employment settings, she launched her own business and has been busy ever since.
You might say that Katie Stanley started law school at age 13. She was, of course, too young to actually enroll in law classes, but that’s when she began reading the legal textbooks for her dad, Mike Stanley, who’d enrolled at Cooley as a blind student. Katie was soon hooked on the material, setting the stage for a career in the law as a means for helping people.
Robin Sutara (Witherell Class, 2010) has always been a trailblazer. Perhaps an unassuming trailblazer, but she has definitely carved out a career and life path that has taken her to extraordinary places and heights. Sutara, who twice graduated from Cooley, garnering her JD in 2010 and then returning for her Masters of Law in Intellectual Property and graduating in 2013, was named as Microsoft UK’s first Chief Data Officer in January 2021. She is responsible for collaborating with Microsoft’s customers throughout the UK, learning about how they leverage data and artificial intelligence, and working closely with them to create new solutions for a variety of functions and across multiple industries, including retail, banking and healthcare. Sutara has been with Microsoft for more than two decades, serving in a number of leadership positions on the way to her current role with the company. Sutara’s previous roles included consumer support engineer, technical account manager, business operations manager and chief of staff, where she was responsible for all operations and business management functions for the corporate vice president for the Azure Data engineering organization. Azure is a cloud computing service operated by Microsoft for applications management via Microsoft-managed data centers.
What does being a lawyer mean to Yveline Dalmacy? Well, it doesn’t mean driving the fanciest car or living in the biggest house. To her it means touching and empowering as many lives as you can in your lifetime. That’s the legacy she wants to leave. As a proud Haitian who immigrated to New York when she was 14 years old, she met many challenges but still managed to help others along the way.
On Thursday, July 22, 2021, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the appointment of Kwamé L. Rowe to the 6th Circuit Court of Oakland County, in southeast Michigan. Rowe served as a special assistant prosecuting attorney with the Trafficking Unit for Oakland County, working on felony cases involving human trafficking, complex narcotics, and homicide.
If you are an American lawyer in the 21st century, you need to understand how to work with clients, judges, and other professionals from diverse backgrounds. The ABA has focused on guiding lawyers to learn these tools.
Many people helped make the modern Civil Rights Movement, which aimed to get equal treatment of all Americans regardless of race, gender, and sexual identity, successful. Like many aspects of history, though, only a handful of people emerged as the "leaders" or "figureheads" of the movement, for example, Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Fraud is the deliberate misrepresentation of a material fact, made with the intention of inducing reliance in another person, which causes a loss of money or property. It can have both criminal and civil consequences.
When you read articles featuring Jon Kohler (Adams Class, 1997) about his success as a land broker, you read about the deals that include large swaths of land in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. You also read about the value of the land and how the deals were brokered. What you don’t read about in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and others is Kohler’s passion for conservation and the need to rehabilitate and maintain many of the lands his company brokers in their most natural states.
According to Cooley professor Amanda Fisher, the resources and attention that students get at Cooley far surpass those at other law schools. In fact, she says the law school’s caring atmosphere and faculty accessibility translates into positive outcomes for students.
I have previously blogged about the unfortunate case of Peevyhouse v. Garland Coal. In a poll of law professors, Willie and Lucille Peevyhouse were voted “The Most Screwed Victims in Case-law History.”
Sometimes seminal moments in one’s life can change a career path. For Rabih Hamawi (Story Class, 2015), who at the time, owned and operated an insurance agency in Livonia, Michigan, it was a not-so-ironic realization that led him to now battle in court against insurance companies on behalf of his clients.
How can lawyers help their clients when the clients’ experiences – often traumatic and oppressive ones – are not like anything the lawyers have ever experienced or encountered?
Orientation for most students can be slightly overwhelming, but for Kimberly Lewis it was the launch of an exciting new future. A natural extrovert, she had already scoped out her classmates and locked in on one student. Someone she intuitively knew was interesting and smart.
Following the not-guilty verdict of Kyle Rittenhouse on November 19, 2021, Cooley Law School Criminal Law Professors Jeffrey Swartz and Anthony Flores were interviewed by media in Michigan and Florida.
Recent posts have described a process for showcasing your scholarship. It’s done by creating a digital archive to display and preserve your published articles. Part One featured the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). Part Two compared Google Scholar (GS) and other platforms.
“I am sympathetic to the prosecutor’s cause for gun safety reform, but at this point, the ends do not justify the means.” - Former Judge and Cooley Law School Criminal Law Professor Jeffrey Swartz.
Part One: Use SSRN To Archive Articles explains how to use the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) to create an online archive of your articles. A decade after SSRN was founded in 1994, Google launched a similar platform, Google Scholar (GS), and later added profiles. GS profiles too can be used to create an online archive to display and preserve publications.
An earlier post suggested ways to maximize the impact of your scholarship through spin-off articles.This three-part post identifies another way to showcase your scholarship: establishing a digital archive to display and preserve your publications, including self-published ones.
Do you have questions about drones and how they may impact your safety and security? Take a deep-dive into drones, their social impact, and the legal rules surrounding Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) during this timely and critically important upcoming virtual event.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor may have named Cooley student Brittany Lindsay a COVID-19 Hero of Tampa Bay, but her hero status started well before 2020. In March of 2020, Lindsay was a Senior Program Director at the local YMCA supervising the Office of Youth Development. She was responsible for essential workers’ children. When daycare shut down, it was her immediate responsibility to make all daycare options safe for the children of essential workers, like police, firefighters, and those in the military. In essence, Lindsay became an essential worker tasked to help pave the way for essential workers and their families.
From its earliest days, Cooley Law School has employed the services of adjunct (part-time) professors. The faculty members hired to teach the very first entering class in 1973 were all part-timers. They consisted of two lawyers, an appellate judge, and a former prosecuting attorney.
Writing is a necessary evil to some and a welcome respite to others. But whether you love it or hate it, lawyers spend much of their time writing, and writing well is important to success as a lawyer. Cooley understood these two facts from the start, which is why Cooley now has a nationally recognized research and writing program. Designed to teach students plain-language writing and techniques that will serve them throughout their careers, the program has raised the legal-writing bar nationwide.
“Calm” is not a word that typically springs to mind when thinking about the practice of law – particularly criminal law. From stressed attorneys to frantic defendants, looming deadlines, over-crowded trial calendars, and high-stakes courtroom drama, “calm” just isn’t an adjective that typically gets put into play in the legal arena.
Strunk & White’s classic guide to good writing, The Elements of Style, urges writers to use definite, specific, and concrete language. “Prefer the specific to the general, the definite to the vague, the concrete to the abstract.” The goal is to write “with such accuracy and vigor that the reader, in imagination, can project himself into the scene.”
Despite the apparent confusion and divide on the topic of vaccines, masks, and mandates, Cooley professors are very clear about what the law says, and what is allowed, not allowed, and why.
Cooley Law School Professors Matthew Marin and Amanda Fisher’s article, "Asynchronous Teaching Methodologies: Pandemic Reflections and Best Practices,” published in the Summer/Fall 2021 issue of The Learning Curve, a publication of the AALS Section of Academic Support . It includes well supported advice for the use of asynchronous methods, even after the return to the physical classroom.
Cooley Law School graduate Jon Kohler (Adams Class, 1997), is the founder of Jon Kohler & Associates, the #1 plantation brokerage in the United States. Kohler attributes the work ethic and education he gained at Cooley Law School with his continued success. Read below Mr. Kohler’s interview with writer Adam York in this Dec. 6, 2016 blog.
What are the keys to a successful law practice? For family law attorneys Nikki Maples (Sibley Class, 2011) and Meagan Jones (Nelson Class, 2018), the answers are easy – fostering professional relationships and a strong interest in the people who show up on the doorstep of Maples | Jones, PLLC, in Austin, Texas.
James Turgal stared at his phone in shock. In just five minutes, his life had been completely changed. Settled in nicely to his post as Special Agent in Charge for the FBI in Phoenix, Arizona, moving across the country was not on his to-do list. But when your boss – who happens to be FBI Director Robert Mueller – calls and tells you he needs you back in Washington, D.C., ASAP, you just start packing up your house and go.
Choi T. Portis (Wilkins Class, 2011), a Detroit native and deputy general counsel for the city of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, will tell people affectionately and with a laugh that her day job is centered on “fighting over sewer water.”
Nurisha Azizi Harvey graduated cum laude with a Juris Doctor and concentration in litigation from Cooley Law School. She shared the day with the William Strong Class during a virtual graduation ceremony on Sunday, December 6, 2020. Then she was sworn in on June 11, 2021 as a new attorney during a ceremony held at the historic Sarasota County Courtroom in Sarasota, Florida by the Honorable Charles E. Williams. The next month Harvey was admitted to the Bar of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Never tell Heather Silcott she can’t achieve success—whether in the legal field, hockey arena, or pageant world. A comment from an employer that she could “always be a legal assistant,” gave Silcott the impetus to apply to law school—and she is now a rising 3L at Cooley Law School with an exciting legal career in her sights.
When offices started closing down back on March 16 of 2020, John Desmond (Person Class, 1994) remembered thinking at the time that this whole thing would only last two to three weeks, maybe four weeks max.
Growing up, Erika Weiss’ (Livingston Class, 2014) family didn’t talk much about their Native American ancestry. While In middle school, Weiss remembers often being asked, “what are you?” She wasn’t sure how to answer what seemed like a strange question, often saying to herself “I’m a human,” while realizing she “stuck out like a sore thumb” to those asking the question.
Samuel A. Onyegam (Wilkins Class, 2011) would be the first to say he had a good time as a student at Cooley Law School. But that didn’t mean he was into partying or the bar scene in Lansing, Michigan. He had one priority as a law student. He would make as much out of his law school education and experience as possible, and a good time meant staying focused on “learning the law the right way.”
Readability should be a goal of all careful writers. Lawyers, in particular, need to exercise care that their writings are comprehensible to the intended audience.
Contempt of court has been in the news recently, usually as a result of someone being punished for disrespecting the court. Examples here in Michigan include a restaurant owner fined $15,000 for violating a judge’s coronavirus-closure order. And a lawyer hit with a $3,000 fine for displaying the middle finger during a zoom hearing.
The LSAT is the definitive test used in the law school admissions process. As such, your score will have a significant impact on your acceptance and scholarship eligibility.
Cooley Law School Professor and former administrator from Pasco, Hillsborough and Orange Counties Renalia DuBose is available to speak to the media on the legal parameters surrounding Education Law and Legal Rights and the recent news surrounding the Florida High School Yearbook Distribution Being Paused Due to Black Lives Matter Content.
Southfield, Michigan tax attorney Chelsea Rebeck (Ellsworth Class, 2012) could see the handwriting on the wall as soon as the first news reports of the Covid-19 pandemic shutdowns started streaming in.
Let’s talk about stating issues. It’s a really important skill. There’s an old saying that “a question well stated is half answered.” It applies to resolving legal questions; a well-stated issue leads directly to the relevant rule, and off you go. Issue-spotting is crucial to exam success, but issue-stating is important as well.
I remember when I decided I wanted to be an attorney. My father had just enrolled in law school, and he came home and set his law school books on the kitchen table. I was young, and my father was starting law school “late.” He was retired from the military and owned his own construction company. It was a family business and we all worked together.
Law students often face tough challenges during their demanding legal studies. But Samantha Norris, who graduated from Cooley Law School on May 23, faced a far greater challenge—a strenuous battle against cancer.
According to the American Association of Retired Persons, so-called “free lunch” seminars are often used to lure people into investing in unsuitable or even fraudulent products. To help older Americans avoid being scammed, AARP and the North American Securities Administrators Association developed the Free Lunch Monitor Program.
When Shemia (Francisco) Washington was in fifth grade, she wanted to be like Clair Huxtable, the sophisticated and personable character played by Phylicia Rashad on The Cosby Show. “Claire was an attorney, so I wanted to be an attorney. Claire spoke Spanish, so I learned to speak Spanish,” Washington remembered with a laugh.
Congratulations! Your article has been researched, written, edited, and—hurray!—published. After all that work, why stop with one article? With some imagination, you may be able to develop one or more spin-off pieces for other publications. Sometimes this may involve a reprinting of your article in full. More often it will take the form of an excerpt or abridgment.
What does the word “scribes” call to mind? For most people, it evokes the image of medieval monks copying manuscripts with quill pens. But modernly it also refers to a society of legal writers.
Cooley Law School alumnus Rick Conklin always had a passion for the law—and while earning his undergrad degree in communications from Grand Valley State University, realized Lady Justice was calling his name.
During this age of the Coronavirus, numerous industries have been taking the necessary steps to adapt to the current realities, which has caused nearly everyone to do things differently within their working environments. And while many of these activities were already being done before the pandemic, years of change were packed into a very short amount of time. Yet these very changes may actually stick going forward, especially in the realm of legal education and the law. Consider these:
My fervent hope is to provide some historical perspective of the past year and the last three months. The title I came up with “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Maybe it should have been “These are the times that try men’s souls”
Maya Smith knew from childhood that her purpose was to give back and make an impact – and saw the legal field as the way to effectuate change. Clearly it was the right choice.
Charles Ford has lived life large, not only as a star athlete, but as an attorney and a successful sports and life coach for kids. He is without question a man of many talents with many gifts to share.
As beginning law students soon learn, what we call “legal reasoning” can be expressed by the formula IRAC. It’s the law’s version of the deductive syllogism. It stands for Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion. First, identify the salient issue (“Is Socrates mortal?”). Then, state the applicable rule (“All men are mortal”). Next, apply the rule to the relevant facts (“Socrates is a man”). This leads inexorably to the conclusion (“Therefore Socrates is mortal”).
The 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award was presented to Amy Rombyer Tripp (Blair Moody Class, 1996) and Karen Truszkowski (Richard H. Flannigan Class, 1999). The coveted award is presented at the annual meeting of the Cooley Law School Alumni Association, and this past year, the virtual ceremony was held on November 19, 2020. Recipients are chosen by the Past President's Committee of the Alumni Association and awarded annually.
Assistant Dean of Admissions Stephanie Gregg may have retired from Cooley in 2012 after 25 years of service, but her heart continues to support the law school's historic equal access to justice mission through her talent as a local artist and advocate. In creating her art she finds an outlet to express her feelings.
On January 6, while rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Cooley Law School professors began answering calls from media outlets around the country regarding what could be considered both a criminal display of force and a violation of the Constitution.
Cooley Law School alum John Nocita (Turner Class, 1991) is profiled in the Winter 2020 issue of the alumni magazine Benchmark. The profile includes an account of his donation to the law school of an impressive bronze bust of Thomas M. Cooley mounted on a marble pedestal.
Yes, that statement exaggerates—but only slightly. Academics must publish or perish, meaning to lose their chance at a tenured position. Lawyers, on the other hand, don’t lose their law license when they fail to publish. Yet they lose a critical professional-development opportunity.
Earlier this year the Michigan State Bar Foundation announced the names of inductees into the 2020 Fellows Program. Among the twelve persons honored as Fellows is Cooley Law Professor Erika Breitfeld. A number of other Cooley Law School faculty members and senior administrators are members as well.
To say that Cooley Law School Distinguished Professor Emeritus Otto Stockmeyer was a little excited would be an understatement. In fact, the word Booyah, or "An expression of joy or triumph" according to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, comes to mind. After his two years of suggesting, proposing, reasoning, and cajoling, Michigan will adopt the Uniform Bar Exam! [UPDATE: IT'S NOW OFFICIAL 4/7/2022!]
As a U.S. Army Reserve Soldier, Major Carmen J. Quesenberry attended Cooley Law School while serving as the Company Commander for her Reserve Unit in Virginia and is currently serving as the Executive Officer (XO) for the Army Reserve 3rd Battalion, 95th Regiment (Signal) located in New Mexico.
Artistic endeavors: Cooley Law graduate is also a talented artist and entrepreneur
Attorney and Cooley graduate Tammy Allison worked for the U.S. Department of Justice for a decade, spanning three presidential administrations, including George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, when she decided to launch the first-ever black owned Federal Executive Clemency law firm. She is only the third attorney in the United States who has worked at the Office of the Pardon Attorney (OPA) to own a firm dedicated to federal executive clemency.
Cooley Professor and Director of the Cooley Innocence Project Marla Mitchell-Cichon gave the commencement address during the Steven Johnson Field Class Virtual Graduation Ceremony on Sunday, November 15, 2020. Read the Love Letter below.
Leading up to, during, and after the 2020 presidential election, Cooley Law School professors were called on by the media as subject matter experts. Associate Deans Michael C.H. McDaniel and Tracey Brame, along with Professors Brendan Beery, Devin Schindler, Jeffrey Swartz, and Renalia DuBose spoke on topics relating to election law and constitutional law, and offered analysis of the election and potential litigation stemming from counting ballots.
Cooley Law School alumna Katrina Hofstetter, who earned her undergrad degree in history, summa cum laude, from Ferris State University, spent 13 years as a legal assistant at Bossenbrook Williams PC in Lansing, learning about the law, including the administrative and practical aspects, how to build lasting and trustworthy relationships with clients, and how to run a law practice.
Starting a new law school from scratch is not a simple matter.Cooley Law School’s founder, Justice Thomas E. Brennan, had many concerns, large and small, to attend to, from hiring faculty to acquiring furniture. He devised the school’s innovative year-round schedule, created the Student Bar Association and Scholastic Review Board, composed the school’s motto, and designed its distinctive diplomas. Another of Brennan’s concerns was that his students—also new, of course—achieve success at the new school. To that end he typed up a one-page list of suggestions he titled “Judge Brennan’s Ten Commandments for Law School.” For several years, Xerox copies were included in new-student welcome packets. In later years, some first-year professors attached copies to their course syllabus. But as far as is known, the “Ten Commandments” were never typeset or digitalized. . . until now. Here, preserved on the internet, is the handout that helped the first generations of Cooley law students achieve success.
APRIL 26, 2021 - Congratulations, Joseline Hardrick, Professor and Diversity Access Pipeline, Inc.'s Journey to Esquire Program Founder and President on receiving the Delano Stewart Diversity Award from the George Edgecomb Bar Association. WATCH THE CEREMONY HERE
Professors Turn Focus to Practical Bar Passage Help As a way to assist Florida bar passage efforts, Cooley Law School professors Paul Carrier and Matthew Marin, along with recent graduate Sara Marin (no relation) spent several years collaborating on a contract law project that teaches all MBE-tested subjects through the use of all-Florida cases.
Cooley Professor and Associate Dean Emeritus Nelson Miller shared his expertise with WalletHub.com (one of the leading outlets covering the personal finance industry) weighed in on the following answers to questions important to the car industry.
With Halloween just a few dark and dreary days away, many individuals have begun sharing ghost stories among their friends and family. Some stories may include tales about a neighborhood home that is suspected of having paranormal activity. While many times these stories are just stories, in some instances a homeowner may believe their house is, indeed, haunted and questioning whether disclosing this information is a must before putting their home on the market.
My Contracts students know how much I revere Justice Benjamin Cardozo (1870-1938). Teaching his opinion in Wood v. Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon has been a particular delight. And I have blogged about him here and here.
