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News - May 2006

Aeran Baskin and Sarah Donaldson Named 2006 Sonnenschein Scholars
May 31, 2006

Incoming second year Michigan Law students Aeran Baskin and Sarah Donaldson were recently recognized as Sonnenschein Scholars by the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP. They join 48 other students from the 25 leading U.S. law schools in receiving a $4000 summer stipend to help underwrite working with a public interest program of their choice.

Baskin, a graduate of Howard University from Southfield, Michigan, has elected to work at the Children’s Law Center in Washington DC. Donaldson, a Yale graduate from Birmingham, Alabama, will be involved in the Public Interest Legal Advocacy project in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The Sonnenschein Scholars program was established this year in honor of the law firm’s centennial celebration. “We created the Sonnenschein Scholars program to make it possible for deserving students to pursue their commitment to public service, whether their dream may be to represent abused women and children, fight discrimination, or advocate on behalf of immigrant rights,” said Jerome T. Wolf, a Sonnenschein partner.

Added Maryann Sarosi, J.D., Assistant Dean of Public Service at the University of Michigan Law School, “We’re of course honored that the law firm of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal has chosen Michigan Law to be among the schools participating in the Sonnenschein Scholars program, and we’re pleased that they selected Aeran and Sarah, two of our very promising public interest law students. Such external acknowledgement is a validation of Michigan Law’s historic and ongoing commitment to public service, and to the variety of ways and means our students and faculty express their obligation to the public good.”

Carl Schneider, Stillman Professor of Law, Named to The President's Council on Bioethics
May 26, 2006

The President recently announced the appointment of Michigan Law Professor Carl E. Schneider to his Council on Bioethics, a body which advises the President on ethical issues related to advances in biomedical science and technology. The appointment recognizes Schneider’s research, scholarship, and professional reputation in bioethics and issues at the cusp of medicine and law.

Schneider, who is also Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, is the author of The Practice of Autonomy: Patients, Doctors, and Medical Decisions, a study of the way authority to make medical decisions is and should be allocated between doctors and patients. He is the co-author of The Law of Bioethics: Individual Autonomy and Social Regulation, a law school casebook. He is currently preparing a book analyzing the law and the reality of medical decisions of all kinds.

In addition to bioethics, Professor Schneider’s research interests include professional ethics and education, family law, and constitutional law. He was educated at Harvard and the University of Michigan Law School, and clerked for Judge Carl McGowan of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for Justice Potter Stewart of the United States Supreme Court.

The President’s Council on Bioethics is an 18-member group of distinguished physicians, attorneys, researchers, and scholars under the chairmanship of Edmund D. Pellegrino, M.D.

Gavin Clarkson Testifies Before US Senate Committee on Native American Finance Issues
May 23, 2006

Michigan Law Visiting Assistant Professor Gavin Clarkson -- also Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information and Native American Studies -- today testified before the United State Senate Committee on Finance's Subcommittee on Long-Term Growth and Debt Reduction.

Clarkson’s argument is that due in part to restrictions imposed on tribal access to capital markets, upwards of $50 billion yearly in capital needs remain unmet for Native American infrastructure, community facilities, housing, and enterprise development.

The kernel of such restrictions, according to Clarkson, is Section 7871 of the Internal Revenue Code requiring that tribal tax-free bond proceeds can be used only for "essential government functions" -- a restriction not applicable to state and municipal bonds. One result is that while American Indians represent more than 1.5 percent of the US population, tribes issued less than 0.1 percent of tax-exempt bonds between 2002 and 2004. Without access to tax-exempt rates, poorer tribes in particular cannot afford the debt service required to invest in their unmet capital needs. Additionally, the IRS has challenged more than 40% of the tax-exempt tribal bonds, including obviously governmental projects such as water treatment plants and municipal golf courses, yet less than 1.25% of non-tribal bonds have been challenged during the same time period. Clarkson also presented evidence that amending the statute to increase tribal tax-exempt bonding authority would actually increase federal tax revenues.

Dr. Clarkson's Committee testimony reflects research conducted both at the Law School and School of Information. In addition to Native American economic development, his research interests also focus on intellectual property strategy. He holds an MBA from Rice, doctorate from the Harvard Business School, and J.D. from Harvard Law School.

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