AOI: Human Rights
23 results
In Practice Winter 2025
Her Own Experience with Infertility Motivates Alexis Cirel, ’03, to Advocate for Better Surrogacy Laws
Alexis Cirel, ’03, a partner at Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas LLP in New York City, spent years advocating for new surrogacy laws in New York and Michigan. Her dedication to the issue is rooted in her own experience with infertility in the early 2010s.
Impact Winter 2025
New Fellowship to Fund LLM Public Service Opportunities Honors Longtime Assistant Dean for International Affairs Virginia Gordan
A new fellowship at Michigan Law will help fund important postgraduate opportunities for masters of law students, while honoring a longtime champion of international students. The Virginia Gordan LLM Public Service Fellowship is named for the first assistant dean for international affairs at Michigan Law.
In Practice
Aisha Elmquist, ’07: Everyone Has the Right to a Seat at the Table
Throughout history, many Americans with disabilities have been denied fundamental rights like attending school, holding jobs, and choosing homes. However, for as long as these inequalities have persisted, advocates for disability rights have fought back—including Aisha Elmquist, ’07, who leads a state government program in Minnesota that is tasked with helping those with disabilities live their best lives.
@UMICHLAW Winter 2024-2025
Michigan Law’s 1L Advocacy Clinic Provides Early Exposure to Real-world Lawyering
Michigan is one of the few law schools in the country to house a clinic for first-year students, who are allowed by the Michigan Supreme Court to do certain types of legal work. The experience can be transformative for students new to law school.
Class Note Winter 2024-2025
Emily Rutkowski, ’16: Transforming a Legal Career into a Mission of Global Support
While working at Morrison and Foerster’s corporate department in Palo Alto, California, Emily Rutkowski, ’16, discovered her passion for advocacy when she had the opportunity to work on a number of pro bono cases. In the years since, Rutkowski has followed that instinct to help others through a number of pivots in her career and personal life—including a move to Ukraine to support fundraising and other aid efforts related to the ongoing war.
Features Winter 2024-2025
Flawed Facial Recognition Technology Leads to Wrongful Arrest and Historic Settlement
The Law School’s Civil Rights Litigation Initiative worked on behalf of a Michigan man falsely arrested for a crime based on flawed facial recognition technology. A first-of-its-kind settlement achieves the nation’s strongest police department policies and practices constraining law enforcement’s use of the technology.
In Practice Summer 2024
Faizah Malik, ’11: Fight for Housing Justice
Faizah Malik, ’11, managing attorney of housing justice at Public Counsel in Los Angeles, is working to address the housing and homelessness crisis in Los Angeles.
@UMICHLAW
Human Trafficking Clinic Finds Multidisciplinary Solutions
The Law School’s Human Trafficking Clinic had been representing victims of labor and sex trafficking for more than a decade when its director, Bridgette Carr, ’02, began to envision a broader mandate for the clinic—one that would help combat trafficking before people become clients.
@UMICHLAW Fall 2023
At the Cutting Edge of International Law: Four Michigan Law Faculty Discuss Their Latest Work
The University’s founding statute in 1837 required the law department to hire a faculty member devoted to international law. Ever since, Michigan Law has been uniquely committed to the study of law beyond US borders.
Class Note Spring/Summer 2023
Kate Powers, ’20: Holding War Criminals to Account
Kate Powers, ’20, serves as the executive director of Global Accountability Network (GAN), an organization that works to bring justice to victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.