October 2008
Oct. 23, 2008
Contact: John Masson, 734.647.7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---The University of Michigan Board of Regents today approved schematic designs for construction that will expand instructional space at the University's top-ranked Law School for the first time since the school's main classroom building opened in 1933.
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The regents' vote approved designs by Hartman-Cox Architects of Washington, D.C., working in association with Michigan-based Integrated Design Solutions. The centerpiece of the project is a four-story instructional and administrative building---complementary to the Collegiate Gothic style of the iconic Law Quad---to be built just across Monroe Street, south of the existing buildings. But also integral to the project will be a new Law School Commons area, which will rise in an unused grassy area east of Hutchins Hall and south of the Legal Research Building. |
"The buildings of Michigan's Law Quad are among the most distinguished on any American college campus, and symbolize the unique environment we provide for legal education," said U-M President Mary Sue Coleman. "This impressive expansion builds upon that legacy as we work to educate the next generation of legal experts."
The new instructional building will add classrooms and clinical spaces suited to the changed requirements of a top legal education, which have evolved considerably since Hutchins Hall opened on the Law Quad in 1933. Today's law students take more small classes, have much more interaction with each other and with actual clients in supervised clinical settings, and draw heavily on such technologies as wireless networks. The new instructional building will be designed to meet all of those needs, in addition to providing more space for a student body that has more than doubled---and a law faculty that has more than quadrupled---since the last time the Law School added classroom space.
| The Law School Commons, a two-story, glass-roofed center for student life including group study spaces, gathering spots, and a café, is destined to become the heart of the Law School, which already is noted for its collegial atmosphere. The Commons is strikingly designed to bring the classic spaces and outer walls of the Quad indoors, to help students connect with the unique and beautiful educational environment of the Law School---and with each other. |
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One last piece of the project: removing the gray metal siding that covers parts of the Legal Research Building and an elevated pedestrian walkway connecting that building with Hutchins Hall.
High-resolution artist's renderings of both buildings are available at: http://www.law.umich.edu/PublishingImages/COMMONS%20RENDERING.jpg and http://www.law.umich.edu/PublishingImages/Hook_Arch_scan-small.jpg or visit the building project page.
Total cost of the expansion and renovation project is estimated at $102 million and will be paid for with gifts from private donors, proceeds from University investments, and the resources of the Law School itself.
"On the cusp of our 150th anniversary, we welcome these additions to our historic and magnificent Law Quad," said Evan Caminker, dean of the Law School. He also noted that one building on the Quad, the Reading Room, was chosen for the American Institute of Architects list of America's 150 favorite buildings. "When these new buildings are completed, they will help Michigan Law lead the field of legal education for another 150 years."
October 17, 2008
Contact: John Masson, 734.647.7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich.--- The Law School this month selected 10 promising second-year law students to carry on the tradition of public service embodied by the Dean’s Public Service Fellows program.
Each of the newly named Fellows has demonstrated a commitment to public service and intends to seek public service legal employment next summer, after they complete their second years of law school. The program was developed by Law School Dean Evan Caminker.
“At Michigan Law, we have a tradition of shaping our students for leadership roles, whether that leadership is in the sphere of business, private practice, or public service,” Caminker said. “We designed this program to help our students as they pursued the path of public service leadership.”
This year’s recipients, each of whom will receive a $7,000 cash award, include:
Erin Opperman
Jamison Brewer
Jessika Croizat
John Espinosa
Kathryn Ladewski
Kristina Saleh
Lia Ernst
Lisa Bauman
Luis Avila
Siddharth Nag
Last year’s Fellows worked for organizations as diverse as the Senate Judiciary Committee, the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, the Office of General Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
"Enabling the Law School's students to pursue their dreams of public service benefits everyone," said the donor for the program, a Michigan Law alumnus who asked to remain anonymous. "Our students are of the highest quality -- just what public service needs. I believe in the value of giving back, and that -- coupled with my personal desire to help students pursue their dreams of public service – is why I contributed to this fellowship program."
Oct. 15, 2008
Contact: John Masson, jpmasson@umich.edu, 734.647.7352
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The numbers are in. And they’re impressive.
The latest figures available from our Legal Research Department show significant gains in judicial clerkship positions from previous years, with a total of 65 accepted judicial clerkships for 2009 as opposed to 48 clerkships for the current year.
But that’s not all.
Michigan Law alumni also nabbed two Supreme Court clerkships. 2008 grad Hyland Hunt will begin her second clerkship with Justice John Paul Stevens and 2006 grad Joshua Deahl will continue clerking for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
And those are in addition to seven more federal Court of Appeals clerkships than last year. Also, as clerkship coordinator Prof. Joan Larsen is quick to point out, not all of the hiring has been completed.
“We added 24 clerkships between October 2007 and the summer of 2008, 11 in federal district courts and 13 in state courts,” she said.
Which means there could be even more good news on the horizon for Michigan Law students.
Oct. 9, 2008
Contact: Jaeyeon Chung, 734.763.5954, refugee@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Louise Moor, Amnesty International’s Refugee and Migrants’ Rights Officer, will address the contributions Michigan Law has made to refugee rights during an Oct. 17 program celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Law School’s Program in Refugee and Asylum Law.
As part of the celebration, PRAL also is publishing its collection of “Michigan Guidelines on the International Protection of Refugees” as a single volume – in four languages: English, French, Russian, and Arabic. Guest speakers and past contributors to the Michigan Guidelines are returning to the Law School to speak about the importance of international refugee law.
A complete schedule of the program, which is free and open to the public, is available by clicking here.
In addition to her Oct. 17 talk, Moor also will give a presentation Saturday, Oct. 18 titled “On shaky ground: Limited options for individuals displaced by xenophobic violence in South Africa.” Moor, from New Zealand, works at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London.
Other highlights include Paul McDonough, information officer for the European Council for Refugees and Exiles, who will speak Friday on the international influence of the Michigan Guidelines. On Saturday, he’ll give a morning presentation on “Refugee Rights and the Challenge of Mixed Migration Flows to Europe.”
Closing out the weekend events Saturday afternoon will be a special presentation by Visiting Professor and Director of the Program, Penelope Mathew, titled “ ‘Accidents of Persecution’ – the House of Lords, the Michigan Guidelines and global justice.”
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