Medill featured in STAT+
08 Aug 2023
In health care industry newsletter STAT+, Professor Colleen Medill analyzes the significance of a new lawsuit filed by the Department of Labor against third-party health care claims administrator, UMR, Inc. (UMR), alleging ERISA violations. Medill is a nationally recognized legal scholar on Employee Benefits Law.
The lawsuit alleges violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the federal law that governs health care plans sponsored by private employers. According to the article, UMR is the benefit administrator for more than 2,100 employer-sponsored health care plans.
Professor Medill opined in the article that the lawsuit "is significant because the Department of Labor is actually looking under the hood at the standards and methods that insurers apply when they decide whether or not to approve or deny a claim." She also commented that there was "no question" the outcome of the litigation will affect other health insurers that use similar practices to deny claims.
The case, which was filed on July 31, 2023, in federal district court for the Western District of Wisconsin, is Su v. UMR, Inc., Case: 3:23-cv-00513-wmc. Professor Medill, who served as a member of the Department of Labor's ERISA Advisory Council from 2017-2019, noted in the article that the Department of Labor has limited resources and therefore is selective about the lawsuits it chooses to file. Professor Medill concluded that the Department of Labor is "trying to set precedents or send a message to an industry. That's what I see happening with this lawsuit."
Sheppard to join AIPLA Board of Directors
08 Aug 2023
Lecturer Christal Sheppard has accepted a position on the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)'s Board of Directors for a 3-year term beginning in October 2023. Sheppard is currently the committee chair of the AIPLA Legislation Committee, which assists the Association's advocacy efforts by developing in-depth proposals and ensuring thoughtful and timely responses to proposed legislation.
Sheppard has over two decades of Science and Intellectual Property Law and Policy work experience including as a practicing attorney at Foley & Lardner, the United States International Trade Commission, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and internships with Judge Rader at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Executive Office of the President's Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Her successful career in intellectual property law and policy also includes her tenure as Chief Counsel on Patents and Trademarks for the United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary where she was integral in many endeavors including the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, the most comprehensive change to this nation's intellectual property laws in over 60 years.
2022-23 Faculty and Staff Awards
04 Aug 2023
Professors Jack Beard, Kristen Blankley, Matt Schaefer, and Academic Advisor Jill Stohs have been recognized with Faculty and Staff awards for their contributions during the 2022-23 academic year. The faculty members made great strides in research, teaching, and service, and Stohs had a significant impact on the Nebraska Law community.
Ray H. Bunger Memorial Award for Excellence
This award recognizes excellence in teaching, research, academic promise, and achievement related to the fulfillment of the research and teaching mission of the University of Nebraska College of Law. The donor for this award gave this gift to commemorate the life of the donor’s father, Ray H. Bunger, who was a lifelong devoted supporter of the University of Nebraska.
Professor Jack Beard is the 2022-23 recipient of the Bunger Award. This year, Beard completed a significant contribution to the law of armed conflict in space, the Woomera Manual. This multi-year effort involved substantial drafting and working with a variety of authors and government stakeholders from all over the world. Beard’s work that was adjacent to this project - lectures, talks, travel, and conversations with authors and other experts - has made him an international leader in this space. Beard was also recognized for his efforts to include and lift up students as part of the drafting and editing process.
Lane Award for Research Excellence
This award is given to individuals who excel in the research enterprise of the College and whose scholarship is likely to have a significant impact on solving vital societal problems. It is supported by a generous gift from the Lane Foundation.
This year’s recipient of the Lane Award is Professor Kristen Blankley. Blankley has built a national reputation in her field, continuing to contribute significant scholarly work. Her article on federal jurisdiction for arbitration cases is a substantial addition to that area of law. She continues to work on interdisciplinary projects, including a partnership with the UNL Psychology Department on discussing race in non-diverse communities, as well as with grant-funded work on restorative justice.
John H. Binning Award for Excellence
This award recognizes faculty members who excel in teaching, research, or public service.
Professor Matt Schaefer is the recipient of this year’s Binning Award. This academic year, Schaefer wrote two articles that were later accepted for publication, wrote a substantial and thorough blog post for the Yeutter Institute, and completed a great deal of work on his International Business Transactions casebook. He continues to dedicate time to working with the University of Nebraska's Yeutter Institute for International Trade and Finance and has been essential to its success. Shaefer was also recognized for chairing the College of Law's curriculum committee for the second consecutive year, leading the effort to match the curriculum with Nebraska Law's mission.
John H. Binning Award for Administrative Excellence
This award was established to recognize excellence in any or all activities that support the education mission of the College of Law.
Academic Advisor Jill Stohs is the recipient of this year's administrative Binning Award. Stohs is dedicated to student success, continuing to advocate for their best interests. She has embraced the fullness of her role as advisor, going beyond only helping with academic matters. Stohs' nomination letter, written by students, demonstrates her impact. One student said, "Jill has been a guiding light for me and so many other students throughout our law school. She goes above and beyond her role as Academic Advisor and is someone that students can feel comfortable and welcomed around."
Schutz and Sullivan receive professorships
04 Aug 2023
Professors Anthony Schutz and Ryan Sullivan have been approved to receive professorships at the College of Law. Both faculty members have made enormous contributions to the Nebraska Law community through their scholarly endeavors and support of the college's mission.
Anthony Schutz will be the Marvin and Virginia Schmid Foundation Professor of Agricultural Law. Anthony joined the College of Law faculty in 2006. Since that time, he has become a nationally recognized voice on agricultural law, and a local resource for legal opinions on the Nebraska state constitution as well as on the variety of issues related to agriculture, rural communities, and land use. Most recently, Schutz's leadership as Associate Dean for Faculty was essential to the College’s efforts to respond to the challenges of the pandemic and to help modernize the College’s policies and procedures.
Ryan Sullivan will be the Robert J. Kutak Distinguished Professor of Law. Ryan joined the College of Law faculty in 2013 and has since been an ambassador for the clinical programs and the work being done by students. His scholarly work has been described as “cutting edge” and uniquely informs his teaching and public service. As a clinical professor, Sullivan spends time teaching students about the law and guides them as they prepare to practice. The Tenant Assistance Project, Housing Justice Clinic and Estate Planning Clinic have all expanded under Sullivan's leadership, and opportunities for law students to work with and support Veterans have also grown.
Jefferis named 2023 Layman Award recipient
02 Aug 2023
Professor Danielle Jefferis has received a grant from the Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED)’s Layman Seed Program for her project, “The worst of the worst: civil rights cases and the effect of supermax rhetoric on judicial decision-making.” The program funds new projects by early-career faculty who are nontenured at the time of submission.
With the project, Jefferis plans to analyze how certain language impacts litigation and judges’ decision-making in prisoners’ civil rights cases. The language she is focusing on is what she describes as “supermax rhetoric.” This refers to language the government often uses in cases involving supermax prisons and prisoner-plaintiffs, phrases such as “the worst of the worst” or “the most dangerous.”
This type of language, Jefferis said, tends to evoke an emotional response.
“We’re looking to do some really deep analysis of how that works and if there are any patterns that have an impact on the outcome of these cases,” she said.
Part of the inspiration for this project came when Jefferis was representing prisoners at the Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado. She noticed that the same phrases continued to be used time and time again in the prisoners’ civil rights cases.
“I started thinking about what kind of role this language is serving, because it’s very powerful,” she said. “When you have that kind of evocative language that stirs up emotions, it's really hard to use logic to dispel any sort of ideas or images that come up.”
Professor Jefferis’s research focuses on laws and policy governing prison and detention. This project, she said, is another way to analyze how courts are interpreting protections for incarcerated people while continuing to look at the underlying question of what function courts play.
Looking forward, Jefferis said she hopes to continue to do more interdisciplinary work and draw on other bodies of social science to understand legal issues from a different perspective.
“There’s a lot to do with the law in and of itself, but the law doesn’t operate in a vacuum,” she said.
The project will be co-authored by Professor Nicole Godfrey of the Michigan State University College of Law and Professor Sue Provenzano of the Georgia State University College of Law.
Beard featured in Cybersecurity in Outer Space
02 Aug 2023
Jack Beard, Director of the Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program, was recently featured in the latest edition of TAG Cyber Quarterly. The article titled "A Lawyer's Trek to Law's Last Frontier" recounts Beard's unconventional career path from his time as an exchange student in Leningrad during his undergraduate at Georgetown, through his time in the Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps. and beyond.
The feature delves into the transformative experiences that eventually lead to his current position at Nebraska Law. The article also describes Beard's pivotal role in creating "The Woomera Manual," a project focused on establishing reliable and practical guidelines for responsible behavior in outer space. His unique approach, which emphasizes the importance of state practice in shaping international law, is showcased throughout the article, as well as his research and writing on norms and soft law.
To read the full feature, see: https://www.tag-cyber.com/advisory/quarterly
Alumni News | July 2023
19 Jul 2023
Every month, we bring you the latest updates from our alumni near and far.
ALUM NOTES
Mark A. Fahleson, '92, was named a 2023 Fellow of the College of Labor Employment Lawyers.
Nicole M. Iraola, '19, was named director of immigration legal services for the Diocese of Grand Rapids.
Gatluak B. Ramdiet, '19, has been invited to become a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
ALUM IN THE NEWS
Mindy M. Rush Chipman, '07, has been selected by the ACLU of Nebraska's Board of Directors as the organization's next executive director. Rush Chipman has previously held leadership roles at the Immigrant Legal Center and the Lincoln Commission on Human Rights.
Magilton, '11, named Co-Chair of AALS Externship Section Subcommittee on Scholarship
12 Jul 2023
Elsbeth Magilton, '11, has been named the Co-Chair of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Externship Section Subcommittee on Scholarship. At Nebraska Law, Magilton serves as the Director of Externships, Executive Director of the Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law programs, and Adjunct Professor of Law.
The Externship Committee represents faculty who administer and teach field placement (externship) programs across the country. Magilton also sits on the Anti-Racism and Scholarship Subcommittees.
As Co-Chair of the Scholarship Subcommittee, she serves with Professor Carolyn Young Larmore of Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law. The committee supports the externship community in their scholarship pursuits, providing a summer writing support program and sessions on writing and publishing each semester. Externship faculty write on issues of experiential learning and pedagogy, as well as topics aligned with individual areas of expertise.
Lenich presents at Nebraska Judges Conference
05 Jul 2023
Professor Emeritus John Lenich made presentations at the Nebraska County Judges Summer Conference in Kearney on June 23, 2023, and at the District Judges Summer Conference in North Platte on June 8, 2023.
Lenich’s presentation to the County Judges focused on the County Court Expedited Civil Actions Act, the principles governing the discovery of social media content, and ways of minimizing discovery disputes.
Lenich’s presentation to the District Judges focused on the proposed changes to the Nebraska Discovery Rules. He also made presentations about the proposed changes to the Madison County Bar Association in Norfolk on May 19, 2023, and to the Lincoln Bar Association on February 9.
Lenich is the Earl Dunlap Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus. He is also the Civil Reporter for the Nebraska Supreme Court Committee on Practice and Procedure.
Langvardt leads creation of "Media and Society After Technological Disruption" symposium
03 Jul 2023
Professor Kyle Langvardt has led the creation of a sixteen-author symposium titled "Media and Society After Technological Distribution."
In collaboration with former professor of law and director of the Nebraska Governance & Technology Center Gus Hurwitz, Langvardt recruited top scholars from the fields of law, journalism, computer science, and history to write about how technological disruption has transformed media and the law of media. The symposium was financially supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Langvardt and Hurwitz also contributed chapters and introductory material to the volume, with Langvardt acting as lead editor. It was published as a special symposium issue by The Journal of Free Speech Law (JFSL), a new, high-profile peer-edited journal. The symposium will also be published as a book through Cambridge University Press.
Ruiz, '25, finds balance on and off the track
30 Jun 2023
In the early hours of the morning, you're off to Memorial Stadium to lift weights and eat breakfast. Then over to East Campus for class in the morning. Study for a few hours and attend another class in the afternoon, unless it’s a day with a noon pool workout. After that, on to Innovation Campus for track practice and dinner. Finally, head home to study for the rest of the night.
This is a typical spring day for Cortez Ruiz, ’25. Ruiz competed with the Nebraska Track and Field team this spring as they took home the Big Ten Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship for the first time since 2016. At this year's Drake Relays, his group won the 4x800 - something a team from Nebraska hadn't done in 27 years.
Amidst these athletic feats, Ruiz still has to fulfill the expectations of any law student. He knows that in order to do both - and do them well - he must maximize his time and schedule everything to a tee.
“Every half hour is planned,” he said. “I like being efficient, it takes away a lot of the stress.”
As busy as his schedule can get, Ruiz recognizes the importance of taking care of your mind and body. Amidst his daily routine, he prioritizes a strict 8 hours of sleep.
“You need energy to perform at your best,” he said.
Ruiz ran track as an undergrad at BYU and was given an extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic but wasn’t sure if he would be able to juggle athletics and law school simultaneously. Upon starting his 1L year, he found that the support of the faculty was crucial.
“Everyone has always been really supportive of me,” he said. “That’s Nebraska."
They were invested in his success and eager to help. When he would have to miss class due to travel or competitions, professors would send recordings of their classes and lectures.
Ruiz never expected to live in the Midwest. He’d never even been to Nebraska before submitting his application. But upon moving here, he found that the flexibility, care, and support he felt from the College of Law made life as a student-athlete much less complicated.
“Another reason why Nebraska was meant to be is that it probably wouldn’t happen this smoothly at another law school,” he said.
Although Ruiz will no longer compete with the Nebraska Track and Field team, he's nowhere near the end of his journey as an athlete. He said he'll continue to focus on his physical health while trying to decide what field of law to go into. Fluent in Russian and Spanish, he hopes to use his skills to help people from other countries. For now, he's keeping his options open.
"I'm learning quite a bit and taking it one step at a time," he said.
Weitzel presents at National Business Law Scholars Conference
28 Jun 2023
Professor Paul Weitzel presented his paper, "The Case Against Officer Fiduciary Duties," at the National Business Law Scholars Conference at The University of Tennessee on Thursday, June 15. This presentation was part of a panel discussion titled "Fiduciary Duties and the Business Judgement Rule."
The two-day conference draws legal scholars from across the world, showcasing papers and presenters from a variety of business law disciplines.
Professor Weitzel’s scholarly research aims to humanize the corporate experience. His work explores the legal and governance constraints that drive antisocial corporate behavior, with the goal of revising the underlying theories of corporate purpose and corporate personality to empower executives.
Acklie Charitable Foundation makes landmark pledge to University of Nebraska College of Law
26 Jun 2023
Lincoln philanthropist Phyllis Acklie has pledged a landmark gift to provide approximately 80 scholarships annually, as well as other financial support, to University of Nebraska College of Law students and to permanently endow the college’s Children’s Justice Clinic.
The Acklie Charitable Foundation, established by Phyllis and her late husband College of Law alumnus Duane Acklie, '59, made the gift commitment through the University of Nebraska Foundation. At the request of the donors, the total commitment amount shall remain confidential.
“The education from the College of Law has had a monumental impact on multiple generations of our family, and there is no question we feel passionate about Nebraska Law, and how we believe it is currently shaping Nebraska’s next generation of leaders,” said Halley Kruse, the couple’s granddaughter and a 2014 alumna of the College of Law.
With this gift commitment, the Acklie family is the largest donor in the College of Law’s history. The Acklie pledge will provide immediately spendable dollars to fund approximately 80 scholarships each year for the next nine years, as well as stipends and travel awards, to Nebraska Law students. The gift pledge also will provide permanent funding for the Children’s Justice Clinic (CJC), which gives legal representation to vulnerable Nebraska children, and ongoing support for the College of Law’s other law clinics.
Clinic programs address an increasing need in the community for legal services and give third-year law students an opportunity to represent actual clients, under the supervision of faculty members, and to have experiences comparable to what a new attorney might encounter.
“The overall impacts made by the Acklie family’s support of Nebraska Law are simply immeasurable,” said University of Nebraska–Lincoln Chancellor Ronnie D. Green, Ph.D. “This gift, combined with their previous and ongoing generosity, has led to library and classroom updates, cutting-edge curriculum development, expanded student support via scholarships and unique experiential learning opportunities through the clinics.
“Theirs is the deepest collective commitment to Nebraska’s flagship university,” Green added. “By benefiting generations of Nebraska Law graduates and their prior considerable support for students, faculty and programs in Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Business, Engineering and the Lied Center for Performing Arts, the Acklies are truly sowing good in the world.”
Richard Moberly, dean of the College of Law and Richard C. & Catherine S. Schmoker Professor of Law, also expressed gratitude to the Acklie family.
“The Acklie family’s long dedication to the College of Law started with Duane’s days working and studying in our library and has included the education of generations of family members. Their gifts have transformed our physical space and provided generous scholarships for our students,” Moberly said. “We are honored they continue to believe in our mission to develop inclusive leaders and are especially grateful for the support our students and programs will receive through this most recent gift. This gift marks the largest single gift in the college’s 132-year history and will significantly impact the ability of our students to serve their communities and advance justice for generations to come.”
Scholarships
The Acklie pledge will establish the College of Law Leadership & Scholarship Fund, which prioritizes scholarships for Nebraska residents. The fund will provide full-tuition scholarships for 15 in-state students and half-tuition scholarships for about 65 students each year, with most of those scholarships designated for Nebraska residents. Full-year, in-state tuition is approximately $12,600 for the 2023-24 academic year.
During the 2022-23 academic year, Nebraska residents made up 55% of the College of Law’s enrollment.
The gift commitment will help to ensure a Nebraska Law degree remains accessible to all students, regardless of family income or socioeconomic background. The College of Law consistently ranks in the top 10% nationally for lowest law school debt.
The Acklie pledge also supports the Nebraska Public Interest Law Fund, which provides stipends for second- and third-year law students who work for a government or public interest organization in law school, as well as travel awards for students to attend a national leadership conference.
Approximately 430 students are enrolled in the College of Law.
College of Law clinics
The Acklie pledge will create the Children’s Justice Clinic Endowed Excellence Fund to support the CJC.
In the CJC, third-year law students serve as guardians ad litem in Lancaster County Juvenile Court, under the supervision of law professor Michelle Paxton, and advocate for the best interests of children in the legal system. Most cases involve family situations that include domestic violence, neglect, unsafe housing and substance abuse.
“Children are our most vulnerable population, and they need a fighter in their corner,” Paxton said.
Since the CJC launched in 2017, 49 Nebraska Law students have been trained as guardians ad litem. From August 2017 through December 2022, CJC students have represented 204 children and served as advocates in 139 juvenile court cases, with 125 of those cases involving abuse and neglect.
“Right now, there is a shortage of high-quality attorneys to represent children in juvenile court because the traditional law school experience does not provide the training and support you need to be effective,” Paxton said. “The support the Acklie family is providing will allow us to increase the availability and quality of attorneys interested in representing children across the state.”
The Acklie gift commitment also will create the College of Law Clinics Endowed Support Fund to provide financial support for the college’s six other clinics, as well as any future clinics. In addition to the CJC, the College of Law offers the Housing Justice Clinic, Criminal Clinic, Civil Clinic, Immigration Clinic, Weibling Entrepreneurship Clinic and Estate Planning Clinic.
About Duane and Phyllis Acklie
Duane Acklie was raised on a farm near Norfolk and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska in 1953 and his juris doctor degree from Nebraska Law in 1955. He served as an Army officer in counterintelligence from 1955 to 1957.
He and Phyllis purchased Crete Carrier Corp. in 1971, building it into one of the nation’s largest privately owned trucking companies. Duane Acklie died in 2016.
“To our family, the impact of the education Duane received at Nebraska Law cannot be overstated,” said Kruse, vice president and director of the Acklie Charitable Foundation. “We are thrilled to make these gifts to help students have the same chance to acquire an exceptional foundational legal education and gain practical hands-on experience assisting clients.”
The Acklie family has a history of support for the College of Law. Including the gift commitment announced today, the family has made three significant gifts during Only in Nebraska: A Campaign for Our University’s Future, which began in 2018. The campaign is a historic effort to engage at least 150,000 benefactors to give $3 billion to support the University of Nebraska. The campaign’s top priorities are support for students and ensuring a high-quality, affordable and accessible education for them.
The Acklie family also supported the philanthropic effort to renovate the Marvin and Virginia Schmid Law Library, which reopened in 2022; the Acklie Family Student Commons on the library’s lower level is named in their honor.
In 2021, Phyllis Acklie honored her husband by establishing the Duane W. Acklie Honor Scholarship Fund. This permanently endowed fund provides multiple, annual scholarships to aid Nebraska high school graduates from rural areas who are pursuing a law degree at the University of Nebraska.
Before the current campaign, the Acklie family provided the lead financial gift for the College of Law Duane W. Acklie Classroom Wing in 2009.
“I am deeply grateful to the Acklie family for their generous support of the College of Law and many other areas of the University of Nebraska. Members of the Acklie family also have given generously of their time and talents as volunteers for both the university and foundation,” said Brian F. Hastings, president and CEO of the University of Nebraska Foundation. “I have no doubt the Only in Nebraska campaign will succeed because of kind and committed support from alumni and donors like the Acklies.”
About the University of Nebraska Foundation
The University of Nebraska Foundation grows relationships and resources that enable the University of Nebraska to change lives and save lives. During the most recent fiscal year, a record 60,571 donors gave $300.6 million to the foundation to aid UNK, UNO, UNL, UNMC and its clinical partner, Nebraska Medicine, and NCTA. The foundation raises more than $7 for every $1 spent. Only in Nebraska: A Campaign for Our University’s Future is its current campaign with a goal to raise $3 billion from 150,000 unique benefactors to support the University of Nebraska. More information is at OnlyinNebraska.org.
O'Connor, Schwab win Koley Jessen Entrepreneurship Award
26 Jun 2023
Katelin O'Connor, '23, and Carrie Schwab, '23, have been named the winners of the 2022-2023 Koley Jessen Entrepreneurship Award.
Both students were recognized for their dedication to serving clients in the Entrepreneurship Clinic and for addressing challenges with patience and professionalism. O'Connor and Schwab were also awarded for their commitment, competence and comprehensiveness while they took ownership of their work throughout the year.
Big Ten Law Schools Affirm Their Commitment to Diversity
23 Jun 2023
As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hand down a decision that could fundamentally alter affirmative action, a group of law school deans — including Dean Richard Moberly — has issued a statement affirming their commitment to diversity:
We are deans of Big Ten law schools, joining together to affirm our commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion through legally permissible means, regardless of the outcome of the cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. These are core values of our law schools and the universities of which we are part. If we are to prepare people to be effective lawyers and future leaders, it is essential to create a learning environment that welcomes people who embody a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences.
Association of American Law Schools (AALS) and American Bar Association (ABA) policies properly recognize the centrality of diversity, equity, and inclusion to legal education and the legal profession. For example, AALS Bylaw Section 6-2 requires that: “A member school shall seek to have a faculty, staff, and student body which are diverse with respect to race, color, and sex.” This reflects the judgment of member law schools, including ours, that it is essential both to provide access to historically underrepresented communities and to create a learning environment that “incorporates the different perspectives necessary to a more comprehensive understanding of the law and its impact on society.” The ABA has likewise identified the elimination of bias and the enhancement of diversity as one of its four primary goals.
Why are diversity, equity, and inclusion so integral to legal education and the legal profession? Among the many reasons is that preparing students for successful careers as lawyers and for leadership roles that they will one day occupy is core to the mission of all our law schools. Many legal employers actively seek to hire and retain lawyers with the capacity to work cooperatively with a wide range of people and groups. From big law firms, public entities, and multinational corporations, to small nonprofits, firms, and other businesses, employers place considerable value on a diverse workforce. It is therefore critical that law schools include a diverse group of students and prepare them to work with clients and communities who embody the differences that make this country great.
Because diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values of our law schools, we have been following the Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College cases with great interest. Whatever the outcome of those cases, our law schools will both respect that decision and remain open and accessible to people of diverse backgrounds who we believe will succeed as lawyers and leaders serving the diverse communities that constitute our nation. We commit to advancing our core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion through whatever practices and policies remain legally available to our law schools.
Johanna Bond
Incoming Dean and Professor of Law (effective July 2023)
Kimberly Mutcherson
Co-Dean & Professor of Law
Rose Cuison-Villazor
Interim Co-Dean, Professor of Law and Chancellor's Social Justice Scholar
Rutgers Law School
Danielle M. Conway
Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law
Penn State Dickinson Law
Lincoln L. Davies
Dean & Frank R. Strong Chair in Law
The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law
Linda Sheryl Greene
Dean and MSU Foundation Professor of Law
Michigan State University College of Law
Renée McDonald Hutchins
Dean
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Garry W. Jenkins
Dean & William S. Pattee Professor of Law
University of Minnesota Law School
Richard Moberly
Dean and Richard C. & Catherine S. Schmoker Professor of Law
University of Nebraska College of Law
Christiana Ochoa
Dean and Herman B Wells Professor
Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Hari M. Osofsky
Dean and Myra and James Bradwell Professor of Law
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Victor C. Romero
Interim Dean, Maureen B. Cavanaugh Distinguished Faculty Scholar, and Professor of Law
Penn State Law
Daniel P. Tokaji
Fred W. & Vi Miller Dean and Professor of Law
University of Wisconsin Law School
Kevin K. Washburn
William Hines Dean and Professor of Law
University of Iowa College of Law
Mark D. West
David A. Breach Dean of Law and Nippon Life Professor of Law
University of Michigan Law School
Moore named Outstanding Criminal Clinic Student
22 Jun 2023
Kaitlyn Moore, '23, has been named the 2022-2022 Outstanding Criminal Clinic Student of the Year.
The annual award, supported by John, ’87, and Elizabeth Anderson, recognizes demonstrated excellence in the fundamental skills of lawyering.
As a student in the clinic, Moore exhibited initiative, a strong work ethic and superb courtroom performances. This work reflected her detailed preparation and in-depth investigation.
Shanahan named Outstanding Immigration Clinic Student
22 Jun 2023
Kelly Shanahan, '23, has been named the 2022-2022 Outstanding Immigration Clinic Student of the Year.
The annual award, supported by John, ’87, and Elizabeth Anderson, recognizes demonstrated excellence in the fundamental skills of lawyering.
As a student in the clinic, Shanahan demonstrated superior skills on behalf of her immigration clinics. The clinic gives students an intensive, year-long experience working in-depth on immigration cases and projects on behalf of low-income clients in need of legal assistance.
Lutz named Outstanding Civil Clinic Student
22 Jun 2023
Ivy Lutz, '23, has been named the 2022-23 Outstanding Civil Clinic Student of the Year.
The annual award, supported by John, ’87, and Elizabeth Anderson, recognizes demonstrated excellence in the fundamental skills of lawyering.
As a student in the clinic, Lutz exhibited the professional values central to the practice of law. She strove to promote justice, fairness and morality and provided competent representation on behalf of her clients.
Hobelman, Hurt named Outstanding CJC Students
22 Jun 2023
Ellie Hobelman, ’23, and Bree Hurt, ’23, have been named the 2022-2022 Outstanding Children's Justice Clinic Students of the Year.
The annual award, supported by John, ’87, and Elizabeth Anderson, recognizes demonstrated excellence in the fundamental skills of lawyering.
As students in the Children's Justice Clinic, Hobelman and Hurt demonstrated strong initiative and work ethic while serving as student guardians ad litem. This work supported the clinic's goal of raising the standards and expectations for those who represent children.
Schutz featured on "Ag Law in the Field" podcast
20 Jun 2023
Professor Anthony Schutz was recently featured on "Ag Law in the Field," a podcast hosted by Tiffany Lashmet, Extension Ag Law Specialist with Texas A&M Agrilife Extension.
In this episode, Professor Schutz is joined by Lashmet and Professor Jesse Richardson of the West Virginia University College of Law to discuss the recent ruling in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. Listen here.