Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Blog

Even while WMU-Cooley student Hala Alkattan was working on her undergraduate degree, she knew she wanted to help people. At the time she wanted to do something for the Syrian refugees that were coming into Tampa. Little things to make life better for them. From that spark of an idea, the small non-profit, "turned into something huge," as Alkattan says. 

Amanda Burch always knew she wanted to be a lawyer. Raised on a steady diet of the Matlock TV attorney series, she planned her undergraduate degree to dovetail neatly into her J.D., and she was on her way. She chose WMU-Cooley because the weekend classes and part-time schedule meshed well with the reality that she needed to continue working while in school.

Nathan Tamulonis hails from Indianapolis, but after college everything seemed to converge together in what he calls the "perfect storm." The warm breezes of the Tampa Bay area were calling him, and Tamulonis and his fiancé, Hanna, made the decision to make Tampa their home, and WMU-Cooley Law School Tamulonis's law school. 

According to Commander Michael Shea, the director of Saint Michael’s Legal Center, "there are a lot of people in our society who just can't afford a lawyer." The clinic, which is housed at WMU-Cooley Law School's Tampa Bay campus, helps to bridge that financial gap, a crevice that is over 50 percent in the family law area.

WMU-Cooley student Shekinah Apedo's first name in Hebrew means "In the Glory of God." As a social worker, Apedo loved that she was able to live out her faith, and give glory to God, in her career. But it was in the courtroom when she knew she was best serving her clients.    

This blog was originally published on May 17, 2017 WMU-Cooley Law School graduate Brandon Moultrie knew he wanted to go to law school, and knew that he wanted to do it Florida.  Ever since he did his undergrad in the Sunshine State, he relished the opportunity to come back. It took one campus visit to WMU-Cooley's Tampa Bay campus to be convinced. Everybody made him feel like he was already home.  

This blog was originally published on May 19, 2015. As much as every news affiliate is looking for a story, reporters and news sources are always in need of someone who can take personal opinion out of a story and replace it with a professional and objective account of a story – no matter how controversial. Many also can argue that literally every story has the potential to have a legal viewpoint.

Imagine being in business for yourself for almost 10 years and suddenly everything changes. New laws make it a very real possibility that your employees will become your boss. You could conceivably lose your company. You could lose your livelihood, your income, everything you have built. And the worst part is, due to a lack of education, your prospects are very limited.

I passed through the turnstile and onto the mid-level concourse in Carver Arena, the home court for the basketball team of Bradley University, from which I’m happy to hold a bachelor’s degree. I had never before been to a Bradley game. Bradley was and is a school of around 5,000 students, so I’d expected to find maybe a few hundred people in the crowd. It took me some time, as I beheld my cavernous surroundings, to scrape my chin off the floor. Ten thousand strong rose to the rafters, and they produced a din, even before the opening tip, that was deafening.

Taking on the world is something WMU-Cooley law student Ashley Hart is not afraid to do. In fact, it's in her blood. She not only feels the need to help others, she wants to make sure she is at the table in making policy decisions on their behalf.