Features
Features
Driverless Cars and the Legal Issues They Create for Manufacturers and Law Firms
It started with a phone call from a West Coast lawyer seeking some basic legal advice about the auto industry. Then a few more calls, primarily from California and Europe. Before long, Richard Walawender, ’86, and other members of the automotive group at Miller Canfield PLC realized they needed to start a new team that would focus specifically on autonomous vehicles.
Highlights
Sections in This Issue
All Articles in This Issue
Class Note
Eric Ostermeier, ’95: Data-driven Political Journalism
The pen may be mightier than the sword, but in today’s world of pundits and partisanism, Eric Ostermeier, ’95, says data is the most powerful of all. Since 2006, Ostermeier has authored Smart Politics, a blog he founded at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
Class Note
Monica Tesler, ’98: Dreaming of Space Adventures Leads to Debut Kids’ Book
Some people spend their work commutes catching up on email or scrolling through Facebook. Others unwind by listening to their favorite podcast. Monica Tesler, ’98, spent the better part of a year on a commuter boat dreaming of space adventures, the likes of which can be found in Bounders, her debut novel for middle-grade readers.
Class Note
Hon. Harlan VanWye, ’67: An Extra-Innings Career
In 22 years as a judge with the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, the Hon. Harlan VanWye, ’67, saw it all, from despair to defensiveness to questionable wardrobe choices. But learning that a claimant named her child Harlan, after him, came as a surprise.
Class Note
Robbie Friedman, ’08: Innovations in Law Firm Billing
As a corporate attorney, Robbie Friedman, ’08, was familiar with what he describes as the “opaqueness” of legal billing. So he co-founded Viewabill, a startup based in Columbus, Ohio, in 2013. A cloud-based platform, Viewabill allows clients to see in real time how much a law firm is billing for its work.
Impact
Stu Finkelstein, ’85: Supporting a Loan Repayment Program that Offers Career Flexibility
Stu Finkelstein, ’85, loves going to work every day. Through his family’s bequest to create the Finkelstein Family Debt Management Fund, he will help to ensure that future Michigan Law graduates have the opportunity to feel the same way.
Briefs Spring 2016
News in Brief: Spring 2016
SFF Auction raises more than $59k | Record-breaking exonerations | Mini-seminars bring students into faculty homes for small group discussions | and more...
Impact
Barnhill, ’68: A Model Lawyer, a Grateful Client, a Scholarship Fund
There should be more lawyers like Charles “Chuck” Barnhill, says his longtime friend and former client, Wayne Kennedy. So Kennedy created a scholarship fund at Michigan Law to help train the next generation of lawyers at the place that trained Barnhill.
In Practice
Two Friends, Two Leaders, One City
Rebecca (Redosh) Eisner, ’89, and Lydia (Barry) Kelley, ’89, want part of their story to not be a story. Best friends who met at Michigan Law and became managing partners of two of Chicago’s biggest firms is a good tale. That they are both women adds intrigue. “I would love to reach the point where it’s irrelevant that we are women,” says Eisner. “Unfortunately, we are not there yet.”
Impact
Recent Gifts: Spring 2016
Giving to Michigan Law is an investment in the future of legal education, and private support ensures that the excellence that has distinguished Michigan-trained lawyers continues for generations to come.
Cover Story
In the Driver’s Seat: Autonomous Vehicles and the Law
The technology of autonomous and connected cars has come a long way, and it has outpaced solutions in another realm: The legal world. Now, Michigan Law is set to become the central repository for rapidly evolving legal and regulatory information involving autonomous vehicles.
@UMICHLAW
New Course Focuses on Business Development for Law Firm Associates
Bob Hirshon, the Frank G. Millard Professor from Practice and the Law School’s special counsel on developments in the legal profession, has created a new course, Business Development for Associates, to help prepare Michigan Law graduates for their first jobs in a rapidly changing legal profession.
Features
Driverless Cars and the Legal Issues They Create for Manufacturers and Law Firms
It started with a phone call from a West Coast lawyer seeking some basic legal advice about the auto industry. Then a few more calls, primarily from California and Europe. Before long, Richard Walawender, ’86, and other members of the automotive group at Miller Canfield PLC realized they needed to start a new team that would focus specifically on autonomous vehicles.
@UMICHLAW
Salazar Honored with 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award
Ken Salazar, ’81, received Michigan Law’s Distinguished Alumni Award at a special ceremony on March 18, as part of the Juan Luis Tienda Scholarship Banquet. Salazar delivered the keynote address at the annual banquet hosted by the Latino Law Students Association.
Features Spring 2016
Veterans on the Law Quad: Stories of Service
Alexis Bailey, 2L, and Mir Ali, ’09, were already loyal to the country and to the military before the terrorist attacks. Afterward, their support only grew. Read more about their journeys and the launch of the new Veterans Legal Clinic.
@UMICHLAW
Detroit Neighborhood Business Project Launched
Michigan Law and JPMorgan Chase have joined together to launch the Detroit Neighborhood Business Project (DNBP), a program to address barriers to growth and provide legal support for Detroit’s neighborhood small businesses.
Features
2L Alexis Bailey Brings Military Experience to the Veterans Legal Clinic
Basic training. A highly regimented schedule. A litany of demanding and sometimes demeaning rules designed to break down underclassmen so they can be built back up again as a unit, a team. Very little about the Air Force Academy is easy. If you’re 2L Alexis Bailey, there’s also the September 11 attacks, which happened when she was a sophomore.
@UMICHLAW
Michigan Law’s Child Advocacy Law Clinic: Theory and Practice Come Together in Trial Experience
In 2014, a woman named Ashley came to Michigan Law’s Child Advocacy Law Clinic to help her gain custody of her children from her violently abusive husband. She met 2Ls Dani Angeli and Alanna Farber, who became her champions, working with Ashley on the case all the way through her trial.
Features
Mir Y. Ali, ’09: From the Law Quad to U.S. Army Special Forces
Mir Y. Ali, ’09, signed up for Army ROTC as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois. He was ready, willing, able—even excited. “I said, ‘Let me get this straight: you’re going to pay for college, teach me how to shoot guns and climb mountains, and I’ll get to work out? I’m in,'” Ali recalls.
@UMICHLAW Spring 2016
Former Clerks and Faculty on the Legacy of Justice Antonin Scalia
The passing of Justice Scalia “could mark a turning point in the history of American law,” wrote Richard Primus, the Theodore J. St. Antoine Collegiate Professor of Law.
Features
Michigan Law Veterans Legal Clinic Opens
In November, Michigan Law celebrated the opening of the Veterans Legal Clinic, which offers veterans and, in some cases, their immediate families, legal help in matters such as family law, eviction, consumer problems, foreclosure, and employment cases.
@UMICHLAW Spring 2016
L. Bates Lea China Exchange
Michigan Law was pleased to host two Bates Lea Exchange Professors from China during the fall 2015 semester: Professors Jie Cheng and Wei Cui. Cheng taught the course Constitutional Theory and Practice in China, and Cui, Taxation of Individual Income. The exchanges are made possible through the generosity of L. Bates Lea, ’49.
Impact
Stan Stroup, ’69: Supporting Michigan Law's Most Prestigious Scholarship
Smart students who dream of graduating from Michigan Law should have the opportunity to do so without worrying about how to pay for it, Stan Stroup, ’69, believes. Through their bequest gift to establish a Darrow Scholarship, Stroup and his wife, Sylvia, will help make some of those dreams come true.
@UMICHLAW
Kaiser-Jarvis Named Assistant Dean for International Affairs
Theresa Kaiser-Jarvis—a lawyer and longtime international higher education administrator—has been named the Law School’s assistant dean for international affairs. “I’m thrilled to join Michigan Law’s international team,” says Kaiser-Jarvis.
Impact
Cause and Effect: Donors and Their Scholarship Recipient Reflect on Their Connection to Michigan Law
Anita Jenkins, ’74, and Jim Jenkins, ’73, of Midland, Michigan, got their start at U-M, both as lawyers and as a couple (they met in the course registration line as undergrads). Ashley Davis, a 1L from Jacksonville, Florida, is the 2015-2016 Jenkins Scholar and a graduate of Florida Atlantic University.
Features Spring 2016
A Lively Chat About Michigan Law History with Legendary Faculty Members
Yale Kamisar would like to set the record straight, once and for all. Yes, yes, he threw a book and broke a student’s glasses. Yes, he paid to have the glasses fixed. But it was one book, one time, thrown to make a point about the case of a husband flinging a beer mug at his wife while she held a lit lamp—and the student seemed willfully disinclined to understand the professor’s point.