June 2008
June 10, 2008
Contact: John Masson, 734.647.7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – With the Michigan summer heating up, so are the studies of 95 intrepid law students who have become part of Michigan Law’s Summer Starter tradition.
As usual, the students hail from as far away as Shanghai and Honolulu and as nearby as Ann Arbor. But all share membership in a tight-knit coterie of students able to overcome summer languor and dedicate themselves to their studies.
“Starting law school is definitely a challenge,” said Sarah Banco, a Summer Starter who captained the U-M soccer team as an undergraduate. “But whether it’s a teammate staying after practice to chase balls so you can become a better shooter, or a classmate sharing notes and thoughts after class, people at Michigan strive to help one another. That creates a real sense of community and alleviates the stress of what can be a daunting experience.”
Banco isn’t the only Summer Starter who brings an impressive background to the Law School. Her classmates this summer include a Fulbright Scholar, a Peace Corps volunteer, an ordained rabbi, a Harvard medical doctor who was named one of Detroit’s Top Docs, a scientist with experience at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a published novelist, and a violinist who shared a stage with Itzhak Perlman and Isaac Stern.
Of the group, nearly 20 percent have graduate degrees. Yet more than 10 percent come from families in which neither parent has a college degree, and 25 percent have at least one parent without a college degree.
In addition to their early jump on law school, Summer Starters also have the opportunity to bond in smaller classes and laid-back social situations and to get to know the faculty and staff in a more relaxed setting.
“Our Summer Starters are traditionally a strong group of students, and this year’s crop is no exception,” said Sarah Zearfoss, Michigan Law’s assistant dean of admissions. “They’ve gotten off to a really good start this year, and we expect great things from them.”
June 10, 2008
Contact: John Masson, 734.647.7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Council of the American Law Institute – an organization of judges, practicing attorneys and legal scholars that helps improve the American justice system by clarifying and simplifying the law – last month elected Michigan Law Prof. Douglas Laycock to serve as its second vice president.
As a member of the ALI leadership team, Laycock will help guide decision-making by the non-partisan organization, as well as offer leadership in its day-to-day administration.
The Yale Kamisar Collegiate Professor of Law at Michigan Law, Laycock earned an undergraduate degree from Michigan State University and a law degree from the University of Chicago. Before he came to Michigan Law he served as a professor and the associate dean for research at the University of Texas Law School in Austin, and before that, as a professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School.
One of the nation’s leading authorities on the law of remedies and the law of religious liberty, Professor Laycock is the author of many articles, of the leading casebook on remedies, and of The Death of the Irreparable Injury Rule (Oxford Univ. Press, 1991), which won the 1991 Scribes Book Award. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has served on the ALI Council since 2001.
The American Law Institute, based in Philadelphia, was formed in 1923. Among its founders were former President William Howard Taft, former Secretary of State Elihu Root, and Charles Evans Hughes, who went on to become Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Its early leaders also included Judge Benjamin Cardozo and legendary Appeals Court Judge Learned Hand.
June 5, 2008
Contact: John Masson, 734.647.7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Professor Margaret Jane Radin, a noted property theorist and scholar of the jurisprudence of cyberspace, has been named a member of the 2008 class of fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She is the 11th Michigan Law faculty member to be named to the prestigious academy.
Other members of the faculty who are fellows of the academy are Phoebe Ellsworth; Bruce W. Frier; Douglas Laycock; Richard O. Lempert, ’68; Catharine A. MacKinnon; Donald Regan; Rebecca Scott; A.W. Brian Simpson; Joseph Vining; and James Boyd White.
Established at the time of the American Revolution, the academy each year recognizes U.S. and overseas leaders in sciences, arts and humanities, business, public affairs, and the nonprofit sector by inviting them into its class of fellows.
“The 212 scholars, scientists, artists, civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders come from 20 states and 15 countries and range in age from 37 to 87,” the academy said in announcing this year’s 212-member class. “Represented among this year’s newly elected members are more than 50 universities and more than a dozen corporations, as well as museums, national laboratories and private research institutes, media outlets, and foundations.”
Among this year’s class members are U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens; filmmakers Ethan and Joel Coen; Nobel laureates Linda Buck and Craig Mello; and guitarist B.B. King.
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