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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
