interim director named for refugee and asylum law program
Dec. 20, 2007
Contact: John Masson, (734) 647-7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — An Australian expert in international and human rights law is slated to take over next fall as interim director of Michigan Law’s acclaimed Refugee and Asylum Law Program.
Penelope Mathew is currently on leave from the law faculty at the Australian National University College of Law in Canberra. In addition to her new duties as interim director at Michigan, she’ll also join the Law School faculty as a visiting professor for a term of two years.
The appointment fills a temporary vacancy resulting from the granting of a multi-year leave to current Program Director James C. Hathaway, who is himself headed to Australia to become Dean of Law at the University of Melbourne.
“Professor Mathew will be a marvelous addition to what is already an internationally recognized refugee and asylum law program,” said Michigan Law Dean Evan H. Caminker, who noted that Mathew spent time in Ann Arbor as a visiting scholar several years ago. “The breadth and depth of Professor Mathew’s international experience will be a tremendous asset to shaping our students’ understanding of refugee and asylum law.”
Mathew earned her B.A. and LL.B. at Melbourne and her LL.M. and J.S.D. at Columbia. She has published widely in her areas of expertise in journals such as the American Journal of International Law, the International Journal of Refugee Law, and the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal. She also is one of the authors of International Law: Cases and Materials.
But her academic base hasn’t prevented Mathew from taking an active role in practice as a human rights and refugee lawyer. She has worked for various NGOs as a researcher, caseworker, and advisor, and has hard-won experience working with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Hong Kong’s refugee camps. More recently, she’s also worked as the Human Rights Legal and Policy Adviser to the Human Rights Commission in the Australian Capital Territory, the Australian equivalent of the District of Columbia.
“We’re eager to welcome Professor Mathew back to Ann Arbor," Caminker said. “Our renowned Refugee and Asylum Law program is in very good hands.”
U-M Regents approve architect, building project for law school
Dec. 13, 2007
Contact: John Masson, (734) 647-7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---The University of Michigan Board of Regents today approved the first major instructional expansion for the top-ranked Law School since the final component of the iconic Law Quadrangle opened nearly 75 years ago.
The regents' vote formally approved the Law School's plans as well as its choice of Hartman-Cox Architects of Washington, D.C., in association with Michigan-based Integrated Design Solutions, as architects for the expansion and renovation, which has an estimated total project cost of $102 million. The firm has extensive experience designing buildings consistent with the Collegiate Gothic style of the historic Law Quad.
"Legal education at Michigan is unlike that of any other American law school, and it is due in no small part to the environment of the Law Quad---one of the University's signature spaces," said President Mary Sue Coleman. "I'm delighted to see this project move forward in the hands of an architectural firm with the vision and experience needed to enhance such a significant campus landmark."
The project calls for construction of a new $80 million building complementing the existing Law Quad and adding classrooms, faculty offices and clinical spaces. The building will rise on the south side of Monroe Street, just north of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. The remainder of project costs will go toward building a new Law School Commons, on the south side of the existing quad between Hutchins Hall and the Legal Research Building, with group study spaces and gathering spots designed to blend into the classic spaces that make the Law Quad a unique and beautiful educational environment.
During the project the Law School will also replace the gray metal siding on the Legal Research Building book stacks on Monroe Street, and on a pedestrian walkway connecting that building with Hutchins Hall.
Representatives from the Law School's faculty, administration, and student body have spent several years determining what types of space the school needs. Because the number of students has more than doubled since the Law Quad was built, and the total number of faculty has quadrupled, classroom and faculty office space was high on the list of needs.
But teaching methods have also undergone revolutionary changes since the 1930s---the traditional law school model, with its lecturer holding forth at the front of an auditorium, has given way to smaller classes. Furthermore, the growing complexity of the law means Michigan Law offers four times the number of courses offered when the Law Quad was built---and in marked contrast to those long-ago classes, the vast majority today have fewer than 50 students. Classroom space in the new building will be tailored to address those changes, as well as the huge technological advances that have taken place since the 1930s.
Also planned for the new building are specialized areas for the Law School's clinical program, which prepares students for the hands-on reality of legal practice. Because students enrolled in the nine legal clinics in the programs deal with real clients in the real world, clinical spaces are expected to mirror modern law offices by including, for example, such facilities as client conference rooms.
And the new Law School Commons will be a student-centric hub of activity for the Law School's more than 1,100 students, two-thirds of whom live away from the Quadrangle. The Commons is designed to become a central gathering place for students and faculty whose enthusiasm for discussion and debate can't be confined to the classroom alone.
The project will be paid for with gifts from private donors, the proceeds from University investments, and the resources of the Law School itself. Hartman-Cox, in conjunction with Michigan-based Integrated Design Solutions, is scheduled to begin the design process immediately.
"This crucial expansion will enable the Law School to continue providing its students with the best legal education available anywhere," said Evan Caminker, Law School dean. "As we look back on 150 years of legal education at Michigan, we can rest assured that these spectacular new spaces will enable us to bring the law to life for generations of students to come."
More information on the campaign for the U-M Law School is available at: http://www.law.umich.edu/campaign/Pages/default.aspx
International environmental law specialist to visit michigan law
Dec. 20, 2007
Contact: John Masson, (734) 647-7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Donald K. Anton, an international environmental law expert and a professor at the Australian National University College of Law in Canberra, will visit Michigan Law for a period of two years beginning next fall.
Anton’s broad range of teaching experience includes international and human rights law, property, torts, international environmental law, human rights and the environment, marine and coastal law, and international procedure and advocacy.
“Our ability to draw an exemplary scholar like Don Anton into the Michigan Law family will help us bolster one of our most crucial programs,” Law School Dean Evan H. Caminker said. “His research and teaching experience will help make our Environmental Law and Policy Program even stronger.”
Outside the classroom, Anton consults regularly with government and international organizations. He is currently an Associated Fellow with the United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR) as an advisor to its international environmental law program, and has consulted in the past with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, and the Australian Senate Committee on Environment.
Professor Anton is admitted to practice law in the United States and Australia. He has a law degree from St. Louis University and a B.S. in political science from Central Missouri State University. He also has worked as a firefighter at the Pattonville-Bridgeton Terrace Fire District in St. Louis (1978-80) and as an air disaster litigation attorney in Boise (1988-91).
Michigan DEQ CHIef to speak at michigan law
Great Lakes, climate change on Steven E. Chester's agenda
Dec. 3, 2007
Contact: John Masson, (734) 647-7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Among Michiganders, interest in global warming seems locked in an inverse relationship with the Great Lakes: when the lakes go down, the interest goes up.
So, with the lakes approaching record lows, a talk on “The State of the Michigan Environment: From the Great Lakes to Climate Change” by the head of the state’s Department of Environmental Quality could hardly be more timely. Hosted by Michigan Law’s new Environmental Law and Policy Program, the talk is scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5 in room 132 of Hutchins Hall at the Law School. Admission is free.
Chester has been the DEQ director since January, 2003. In that role he’s in charge of programs regulating Michigan’s air and water quality, hazardous waste management, geological resources, and land management. Before he took on Michigan’s highest environmental post, Chester was a principal at the Detroit law firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, PLC. He is also a former Deputy Director of the Office of Criminal Enforcement at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and worked as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Wayne County, Mich.
“One of the strengths of Michigan Law’s Environmental Law and Policy Program is the critical role of the Great Lakes State in so many sensitive environmental issues, including climate change, freshwater resources, invasive species, and alternative energy,” said Professor David M. Uhlmann, the ELPP Director. “We’re delighted to host Steve Chester, whose depth and breadth of experience will help further understanding of Michigan’s challenges and strengths – and those facing our nation as well.”
More information about the Environmental Law and Policy Program is available on the ELPP home page.