Rita Samaan and Sean Higgins graduated from Michigan Law in 2017 with legislative experience under their belt, thanks to their work with Michigan Law’s Unemployment Insurance Clinic. As student-attorneys in the clinic, Samaan and Higgins were among 17 members of a workgroup that crafted legislation to address problems with the state of Michigan’s unemployment insurance system.
The bipartisan workgroup—assembled by Rep. Joe Graves [R]—represented employers, claimants, and the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA). It was charged with overhauling how the UIA detects fraud in its system.
The overhaul was needed, says Steve Gray, clinical assistant professor of law and director of the Unemployment Insurance Clinic, because the state had implemented a new computerized program to make fraud determinations.
As a result of a faulty system design, nearly 50,000 innocent Michigan residents were falsely accused of unemployment insurance fraud over a two-year period—and had their wages garnished and their income tax refunds seized in order to pay penalties that were wrongly imposed.
A large number of the Unemployment Insurance Clinic’s clients were among those falsely accused of unemployment insurance fraud, Gray notes.
In fall 2017, eight bills were approved unanimously by both the Michigan House of Representatives and Michigan Senate. Then Gov. Rick Snyder, ’82, signed them into law in December of that year.
For Higgins, an associate attorney at Hankin Sandman Palladino & Weintrob in New Jersey, working with Gray and his clinic partner Samaan to draft reform legislation was a highlight of his Michigan Law experience.
“After seeing the flaws in the unemployment system through our work with clients, it was rewarding to draft direct solutions to ensure that future claimants will not suffer the same injustices that our clients did,” he says.
The experience was especially meaningful for Samaan—an associate in the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, office of Dykema—because it also gave her the chance to testify before the Michigan House of Representatives.
“It was important to voice the concerns of our clients who had been unjustly treated by the system and advocate for how much legislative reform was needed,” she says. “It was a unique experience for a student to testify about the numerous people who have struggled against a system that was meant to help, but only ended up hurting them.”
Other Unemployment Insurance Clinic students who contributed to the legislative success included Schuyler Ferguson, ’16; Joe Dalia, ’17; Lauren Fitzsimons, ’17; Seth Tangman, ’17; Travis Miller, ’18; and Claire Nagel, ’18. Clinical Fellow Samir Hanna, ’12, also testified on behalf of the legislation.—LA
