Fall 2020

Beauty image of the Law School Reading Room

Briefs

News in Briefs: Fall 2020

Kevin Harrington
Kevin Harrington

23rd Exoneration

The Michigan Innocence Clinic celebrated its 23rd successful exoneration when client Kevin Harrington was released after serving more than 17 years for a crime he did not commit. The victory comes after 11 years of work by 27 student-attorneys.

$122,585, Funds raised by Student Funded Fellowships in 2020, including from the annual auction—conducted entirely online due to the pandemic—matching funds from Professor Robert Hirshon, ’73, and a $30,000 gift from faculty, staff, and administrators. It was the largest one-year fundraising total in SFF’s history.

Jessica Litman
Jessica Litman

Litman Testifies

John F. Nickoll Professor of Law JESSICA LITMAN testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property in February 2020.

Advisory Board on Race and Racism at Michigan Law

Comprised of alumni, faculty, and administrators, and co-led by Professor Dana Thompson, ’99, and Ellisen Turner, ’02, the Board is charged with examining the effects of race and racism in the Law School community and issuing recommendations about ways to eradicate systemic, institutional racism and discrimination within the Quad and for engaging issues of race in constructive ways.

37, Briefs submitted by the Workers’ Rights Clinic to the Michigan Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Circuit Courts, including applications for leave, briefs on the merits, reply briefs, and amicus briefs, during the 2019–2020 academic year

Three Alumni Head to the US Supreme Court

Mary Miller, ’16, will serve as a clerk for Justice Samuel Alito during the term beginning October 2020. Previously, she was a clerk for the US District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She also worked as an associate in the Washington DC, office of Kirkland & Ellis. 

John Ramer, ’17, joins the chambers of Justice Neil Gorsuch following a Bristow Fellowship at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Office of the Solicitor General.

Sarah Alsaden, BA ’13, JD ’16, will serve as one of four 2020–2021 Supreme Court Fellows by the Supreme Court Fellows Commission, and is assigned to the Federal Judicial Center. She joins the program following a clerkship for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Prior to that, she worked as an associate at Jones Day in Cleveland

Nicholas Bagley
Nicholas Bagley

Bagley Aids Whitmer

Since March, Professor of Law NICHOLAS BAGLEY has served as special counsel to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to aid in her response to the COVID-19 crisis. In that role, he drafts executive orders for the governor and offers legal and policy advice on the state’s response to the emergency.

Bill Bay, ’78, Trish Refo, ’83, and Reggie Turner, ’87.
Bill Bay, ’78, Trish Refo, ’83, and Reggie Turner, ’87.

ABA Leadership Changes 

Bill Bay, ’78, Trish Refo, BA ’80, JD ’83, and Reggie Turner, ’87, gathered on Zoom ahead of the American Bar Association annual meeting, held virtually in early August, during which Refo assumed the presidency, Turner assumed the role of president-elect, and Bay completed his 2-year term as chair of the ABA House of Delegates.

Covid Capacity

Every space in the Law Quad has been reassessed to establish new capacity limits for the fall term, based on University guidelines informed by the latest public health information.

Reading Room

400

Normal Capacity

71

Covid Capacity

220 Hutchins

124

Normal Capacity

15

Covid Capacity

More From This Issue

Covid 2020, at UM Law School

Fall 2020 Cover Story

COVID in the Quad

On a Thursday morning, stacks of The Michigan Daily carried a front-page proclamation from the president of the University of Michigan: Effective immediately and in response to the spreading global pandemic, all students, faculty, and staff must wear face masks while on campus, walking on nearby streets, and at all University events until further notice. The announcement came on the heels of an order the previous weekend from the Michigan governor that banned all public gatherings until the escalating public health crisis was resolved.
Beauty image of the Law Quad Architecture

Fall 2020 In Practice

Carla Newell, ’85: Riding a Tech Boom in Silicon Valley—Again

As public interest in consumer genomics has exploded in recent years, Carla Newell, ’85, found herself at the center of the industry’s boom as the chief legal officer and chief risk officer at Ancestry, a leading family history and consumer genomics company.
Christopher Burtley

Fall 2020 In Practice

Chris Burtley, ’15: Reimagining Supply Chains After Historic Disruption

Months before COVID-19 became a global pandemic, Chris Burtley, ’15, was called into the first of what would become a series of meetings about a novel coronavirus that was emerging in Wuhan, China, and beginning to threaten global supply chains. “When a client asked me in January to join calls related to the coronavirus, we thought of it as a small project to keep an eye on, not something that would become the biggest issue we have seen in decades.”

Related Reading

Painting of a couple walking through a garden

Winter 2022 Impact

Bob Fiske, ’55, Inspires Gift to Eponymous Government Fellowship

Inspired by the example of Robert Fiske, ’55, a group of donors has made a $90,000 contribution to the Fiske Fellowship Program at Michigan Law, which encourages young lawyers to enter government service by providing recipients with cash stipends and loan repayment assistance. 
Beauty image of the Arches in the Law Quad at the University of Michigan Law School

Winter 2020 @UMICHLAW

Ramer, ’17, Receives Prestigious Bristow Fellowship

Only four or five Bristow Fellowships are awarded annually by the U.S. Department of Justice. A prestigious honor, its holders are allowed to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. John Ramer, ’17, is now among their ranks. 
Ajitesh Kir, LLM ’18

Fall 2022 @UMICHLAW

India’s Supreme Court Cites Article by SJD Student Ajitesh Kir, LLM ’18

It’s not very often that a junior scholar gets published in an esteemed peer-reviewed law journal. It’s even less common for that junior scholar to have their article cited favorably by a country’s highest court.