Justice for Innocence Clinic Clients
Michigan Innocence Clinic client LaVone Hill was released from prison in October following an investigation by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Conviction Integrity Unit. Hill was convicted in 2002, in part due to police corruption, of two murders he did not commit. The prosecutor’s office has said it will not retry Hill. In August, the Michigan Supreme Court overturned the 2006 conviction of Milton “Chazlee” Lemons in the 2005 death of her infant daughter—an alleged case of shaken baby syndrome—and granted her a new trial. The clinic has represented Lemons since 2015.
British Academy Fellow
The British Academy elected Catharine A. MacKinnon, the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law, as an international fellow—one of just three law-related international fellows honored in 2024. MacKinnon specializes in sex equality issues under international and domestic law and pioneered the legal claim for sexual harassment. She is among the most widely cited legal scholars in the English language and has authored more than a dozen books and scores of journal articles. Her approaches to equality, pornography, and hate speech have had worldwide influence.
Foreign Engagement
An eight-person delegation from the Vietnam Ministry of Public Security, led by Major General Do Anh Tuan, the director of the Department of Training, visited the Law Quad in August. The group met with Eric Christiansen, assistant dean for international affairs, and other members of the Law School administration who focus on international academic programming and other foreign engagement.
Talking about Free Speech on Campus
Ekow N. Yankah, the Thomas M. Cooley Professor of Law, moderated a panel discussion about the challenges and opportunities of balancing free expression, including the right to protest, with the need to maintain a respectful and inclusive campus environment. Yankah was joined by Karima Bennoune, ’94 the Lewis M. Simes Professor of Law; Jack Bernard, ’96, a lecturer at the Law School and U-M’s associate general counsel; and Don Herzog, the Edson R. Sunderland Professor of Law.
When a ship is going down, the rats begin to flee. The same is true when it comes to the downfall of a powerful public official.
— Professor from Practice Barbara L. McQuade, ’91, in a Bloomberg op-ed about the federal indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Before joining the Law School, McQuade was a US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, where she oversaw the corruption case against former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Election Engagement on Campus
Michigan Law students with the Michigan Voting Project (MVP), a nonpartisan law student organization, led a Walk to the Polls event on October 31 (pictured), one the group’s initiatives to increase U-M student participation in the November 5 election.
Laws written decades before the rise of strategies like green stormwater infrastructure or rooftop solar can inadvertently add significant financial or regulatory barriers for socially desirable practices—in some cases, they ban them entirely. We’re proud to partner with Dearborn to support the city in removing barriers and expanding access to tools that save money, improve public health, and address climate change.
— Oday Salim, director of the Law School’s Environmental Law and Sustainability Clinic, in a Press & Guide article. The clinic recently announced a partnership with public health officials in Dearborn, Michigan, through which students will provide the city with pro bono services and recommendations related to the city’s environmental laws and ordinances.
Professor Thomas Joins State’s High Court
Kimberly A. Thomas, clinical professor of law, was elected to an eight-year term on the Michigan Supreme Court, which she began serving in January 2025. “I am so grateful to the people of Michigan for putting their trust in me, and I am looking forward to serving on the Michigan Supreme Court," she says. "I have deeply enjoyed the past two decades teaching the next generation of lawyers and will miss my colleagues and students here at Michigan Law.” Thomas is the co-founder of the Law School’s Juvenile Justice Clinic and previously taught in the Civil-Criminal Litigation Clinic.
Leveraging AI in the Law
Patrick Barry, a clinical assistant professor, launched AI for Lawyers and Other Advocates, a new set of online courses that explore the uses and dangers of artificial intelligence. The series is available free of charge for U-M students, alumni, faculty, and staff and can be found on Coursera and Michigan Online.
First and What?
Learning the nuances of the law while adjusting to life in another country is a lot to take on for many international students at the Law School. Add in the unique rules and sporting culture of American football—not to mention the sheer scale of 107,000 people screaming, “Sack him!” and then muttering about pocket protection—and it might be easy for newcomers to Ann Arbor to feel like they’ve been left on the sidelines of a significant community event.
So with all eyes on the Wolverines after their undefeated national championship season last year, Assistant Dean Ramji Kaul, ’05, an avid fan and season ticket holder, and 1L Jordan Barpal, a former member of the U-M team, taught an American Football 101 class for international students unfamiliar with the sport.
“There were some quizzical looks from the international students as we explained the rules and traditions—I imagine professors see the same expressions sometimes,” Barpal says. “But as one might expect, the students asked great questions, and it was fun to see the sport from their perspective.”
