Contact John Masson, 734.647.7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A two-year Zubrow Fellowship from the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia will help 2007 Michigan Law grad Emily Keller continue to pursue the passion for children’s law that drew her to law school in the first place.
Keller, currently on a clerkship with U.S. District Court Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Connecticut, is scheduled to begin the prestigious Zubrow Fellowship in the fall. She plans to continue the work in the juvenile justice system that she’s been doing since her days as an undergraduate at Brown University.
“I was troubled by the failure of the system to address the underlying causes of delinquency,” Keller said of her experiences with juvenile justice. “I entered law school with the goal of combining my interest in policy with my passion for working directly with at-risk youth.”
An extensive background with kids helped her land the Children’s Law fellowship. She worked in the Juvenile Prosecution Unit of the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office while still an undergraduate, and spent summers working at a camp for disturbed, neglected, and abused children. After she graduated, she became a caseworker for teens who were on probation, then spent three more years working at the non-profit group FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS before coming to Michigan Law. During law school she spent one summer with Michigan Law’s Child Advocacy Law Clinic and another with the Center for Children’s Law and Policy.
The Zubrow Fellowship was established in 2001 and allows selected Law School graduates to dedicate two years to furthering the goals of the Juvenile Law Center, one of the oldest public interest law firms for children in the country. The Center works to ensure that a system designed to protect kids doesn’t end up hurting them, instead.
From Proposition 209 to Proposal 2: Examining the Effects of Anti-Affirmative Action Voter Initiatives
Contact: Maureen Bishop, 734.763.6100, maureena@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — On Saturday, February 9th, the Michigan Journal of Race & Law will be holding its winter symposium, “From Proposition 209 to Proposal 2: Examining the Effects of Anti-Affirmative Action Voter Initiatives” at the University of Michigan Law School. The event will include opening and closing remarks by Dean Frank Wu of the Wayne State University Law School and Dean Guy-Uriel Charles of the University of Minnesota Law School, and will also include panel discussions showcasing many prominent scholars in the field of educational diversity. Panels include:
- Panel I: Ending Affirmative Action: The Current Effects of Proposition 209 in California and the Potential Effects of Proposal 2 on Public University Education in Michigan. Panelists: Matthew Fletcher, Cheryl Harris, Emily Houh, and Martha Kim. Moderator: Mark Rosenbaum
- Panel II: Measuring Diversity in Other Ways: Potential Legal Alternatives to Affirmative Action. Panelists: Mario Barnes, Kim Forde-Mazrui, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, and Daria Roithmayr. Moderator: Christina Whitman.
- Panel III: Existing and Emerging Efforts to Remedy K-12 Educational Disparities. Panelists: Susan Benton, Sumi Cho, Michael Kaufman, and Margaret Montoya. Moderator: Ellen Katz.
Recent developments in affirmative action policy have left many educational institutions asking what can be done to legally continue to promote diversity. Voter initiatives such as Proposition 209 in California and Proposal 2 in Michigan, which ban the use of race and gender in school admissions, present a significant obstacle in the continuing struggle to create a diverse educational environment. The coming Symposium will examine the various policy and legal questions arising out of the anti-affirmative action movement as well as possible next steps in the wake of these voter initiatives.
With the majority of graduate schools yielding less than a 50% minority enrollment rate, anti-affirmative action voter initiatives threaten to further divide an already segregated society. The initial effects of Proposition 209 proved devastating for the racial and ethnic environment at several schools within the University of California education system. For example, the percentage of black and Latino students admitted to the undergraduate college at the University of California-Berkeley dropped, respectively, from 7.3% to 4.1% and from 18.5% to 12.5% in the years after the passage of Proposition 209. Similar significant drops in law school minority enrollment occurred. Passed almost exactly a decade later, the effects of Proposal 2 on Michigan educational institutions are still unknown, but are likely to be even more pronounced.
The Journal’s Symposium will therefore explore a broad range of issues relating to creating, maintaining and promoting diversity in the face of recent legal changes. With affirmative action at a crossroads, the Michigan Journal of Race & Law hopes that this Symposium will serve as a catalyst for discussion that reinvigorates the struggle for educational diversity.
The symposium brochure, including an updated schedule of speakers and events may be found at http://students.law.umich.edu/mjrl/.
Contact: John Masson, 734.647.7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A generous gift from the estate of distinguished 1930 graduate Harvey J. Gunderson will allow the Law School to create a new professorship to help ensure Michigan Law students continue studying under accomplished legal practitioners who are at the top of their fields.
Michigan Law Dean Evan Caminker said the establishment of the Harvey J. Gunderson Professorship from Practice will help Michigan Law continue providing its students an unsurpassed legal education.
“Our ability to attract top legal minds as teachers – people who have much to offer in the classroom, but who often wish to teach part-time so they can keep both feet planted in the practical arena – will be enhanced by this magnificent gift,” Caminker said.
The first holder of the Harvey J. Gunderson Professorship from Practice will be longtime Michigan Law Faculty Fellow Mark D. Rosenbaum, Caminker said. Rosenbaum, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Los Angeles, has argued three times before the U.S. Supreme Court, and is a frequent visitor to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the California Supreme Court. He is universally regarded as one of the premier public interest advocates in the country.
Changes in the legal world require changes in legal education, Caminker said. One way for Michigan Law to continue its leadership role is for the school to attract top-notch practitioners to complement the existing, richly diverse array of legal theorists already on its faculty.
“The establishment of the Harvey J. Gunderson Professorship from Practice will help us bring in instructors with expert knowledge that few others have,” Caminker said. “Our students will be the beneficiaries, for years to come.”
Contact: John Masson, 734.647.7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A newly created professorship at the University of Michigan Law School is designed to add an accomplished legal practitioner to an already formidable faculty of legal scholars, Dean Evan H. Caminker announced today.
The new position, the Jeffrey F. Liss Professorship from Practice, will help Michigan Law continue matching its exemplary legal education to the demands of a rapidly changing legal world, Caminker said.
Liss, a distinguished alumnus who graduated in 1975 and came back later to teach as an adjunct professor at Michigan Law, played a leading role in the growth and expansion of DLA Piper, one of the world’s largest and most successful law firms. His dedication to public service and his passionate belief in every lawyer’s duty to serve the public good helped make him what one DLA Piper executive called the “soul and conscience” of the global firm. In addition to regular pro bono work, Liss also served as an advisor to former Vice President Al Gore and Sen. John Kerry. He died in 2007 after a valiant struggle with pancreatic cancer.
A generous gift from Liss’ wife, Susan Liss, combined with strong support from DLA Piper, contributions from across the firm, and numerous gifts from friends and family, helped create the Liss Professorship, whose holder is intended to be an active or former experienced legal practitioner of significant stature in his or her field. Caminker said the inaugural Liss Professor will be David Uhlmann, the director of Michigan Law’s new Environmental Law and Policy Program and the former top environmental crimes prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice.
“This professorship demonstrates the very generous intentions of the donors in more ways than one,” Caminker said. “In a very tangible way, they’ll be giving the gift of hard-won experience to generations of Michigan Law students.”
Three from michigan law land skadden fellowships
Contact: John Masson, 734.647.7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Three recent Michigan Law students will get a boost in prospective public service careers thanks to newly awarded fellowships from the Skadden Fellowship Foundation.
The awards mark the first time three of the highly competitive Skadden Fellowships have gone to Michigan Law students or alumni in the same year. Only 25 are awarded annually nationwide.
Michigan Law’s Skadden Fellows are pursuing a variety of public service projects this year:
- 3L Joshua Kay plans to represent parents with disabilities in child protection cases in Detroit. He intends to focus on protecting their rights to due process, appropriate family services, and non-discriminatory treatment under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He will be working at Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service, Inc.
- Molly Kovel, ’06, will offer employment legal services to indigent people in New York who have criminal records. She will clear their records of errors, challenge illegal job discrimination, and help them secure stable employment to break the cycle of poverty and incarceration. She will be based at the Bronx Defenders, a criminal defense non-profit that also provides clients with legal services in a wide variety of civil matters.
- Kyle Fisher, ’07, will work with the Pennsylvania Health Law Project to provide representation for low-income veterans who have trouble accessing health care through Veterans Administration hospitals.
The Skadden Fellowship Foundation — created in 1988 by the law powerhouse of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom — pays the fellow’s salary and fringe benefits. Law school debt management is also available if it’s needed.
The fellowships themselves help create what a newspaper once described as a “legal Peace Corps” of highly qualified attorneys dedicated to providing legal services to the poor, the elderly, the disabled, and those who are deprived of their civil or human rights. Fellowships last one year with an expectation of renewal for a second year. Candidates, in conjunction with their sponsoring organizations, write the guidelines for their positions themselves. Afterwards, those proposals are reviewed by a Foundation panel, which chooses the winners.
“It allows lawyers in the early stages of their careers to work on vital issues that address unmet legal needs, and to launch their public service careers,” said MaryAnn Sarosi, Michigan Law’s Assistant Dean of Public Service. “We're proud of them and the way they will use their legal skills to help underrepresented communities.”