Issue: Fall 2015
33 results
Class Note
Daniel Matzkin, ’09: A New Perspective on Hearing Cases
According to Daniel Matzkin, ’09, his typical day as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida is just like everyone else’s in that same position. And if you ask whether law school was particularly challenging for him, he’ll tell you that it is equally challenging for nearly everyone.
Class Note
Dina Leshetz Bakst, ’97: Advocating for Work-Family Balance
When the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) was reintroduced with bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate in June, it was a personal victory for Dina Leshetz Bakst, ’97. Bakst helped to draft the legislation, which provides stronger legal protections for pregnant women in the workplace.
Class Note
Russell Smith, ’86: Ensuring There Are Plenty of Fish in the Sea
Russell Smith’s clients are slimy. Really. They number in the billions, don’t communicate, and move constantly. He willingly allows many to get the death penalty. Smith, ’86, is deputy assistant secretary for international fisheries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Class Note
Geeti Faramarzi, LLM ’13: Assisting with Australian Inquest into 2014 Lindt Café Siege
Long before American television viewers awoke to reports of a suspected terrorist attack in Australia, Geeti Faramarzi, LLM ’13, was watching the chaotic scene unfold live outside her Sydney office. “I was told that an armed robbery was taking place next door at the Lindt Café,” recalls Faramarzi, a solicitor at the Office of the State Coroner of New South Wales (NSW).
Class Note
Larry Elder, ’77: Filling the Conservative Airwaves
Larry Elder, ’77, has offered his wisdom on his talk radio show, now on the air for some 20 years. It would be difficult to find another U-M alum who can mix it up like Elder can. He represents a small category: black conservatives. Suffice it to say that the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have not been on Elder’s show.
Class Note
Samuel Zhang, LLM ’85: Facilitating Business Deals with Cultural Insights
Just as he has represented U.S. and European companies with investments and cross-border transactions in Asian countries throughout the past two decades, Samuel Zhang, LLM ’85, is now assisting companies from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan that seek to conduct business in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world.
Impact
3L Challenge Celebrates 20 Years
Twenty years ago, the Law School faced two problems: declining state funding and a declining percentage of recent graduates who were becoming donors to the Law School. So John Nannes, ’73, came up with an idea: He would donate $250 to any Law School organization or activity that a 3L student chose, if the student agreed to make a gift to the Law School in each of the first three years after graduation.
@UMICHLAW Fall 2015
Scholars and Judges Convene to Develop Refugee Law Guidelines
The 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as someone who has a well-founded fear of being persecuted based on one of five factors, including his or her political opinion. But what constitutes a political opinion? A group of judges and academics gathered at Michigan Law to develop guidelines for this unsettled area.
Features
Broadway in China, and China on Broadway
Fifteen years ago, Robert Nederlander Jr., ’89, began exploring opportunities to take Broadway shows to China—something that had never been done at that time. Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment, of which he is president and CEO, would go on to fulfill that promise by becoming the first foreign entity allowed to form a joint venture and operate in the Chinese performing arts industry.