AOI: Public Interest Law
64 results


Class Note Spring 2017
Kerene Moore, ’05: Opening the Courthouse Doors to Everyone
When the marriage equality movement started gaining momentum, Kerene Moore, ’05, saw an opportunity to help the LGBT community understand its rights, and to access them. It’s why she helped to create the LGBT Rights Project at the Jim Toy Community Center in Washtenaw County.


Class Note Spring/Summer 2018
Chase Cantrell, ’08: A Force for Positive Change Close to Home
Chase Cantrell, ’08, could have gone many places with a degree from Michigan Law. Instead, he chose to be a force for positive change in his native Detroit.


Class Note Spring/Summer 2018
George Barchini, ’15: Striking a Balance with Big Law and Public Interest
Near the end of a long week in Laredo, Texas, George Barchini pulled an all-nighter—but not for the reasons typical of young associates at Big Law firms. Instead, he was trying to stop the deportation of a Central American woman.


Class Note
Laurence Kahn, ’77: Providing Alternative Crisis Resolution
Laurence Kahn, ’77, has spent his life as an advocate in every sense of the word. Following his earlier experience in government and private practice, Kahn formed a volunteer team to launch Help Now! Advocacy, an all-volunteer nonprofit that specializes in crisis resolution by providing advice and negotiation on matters that fall outside the scope of attorneys or social workers.


In Practice Fall 2022
Litigating Death Row: A Long Road of Loss
For 16 years, Jodi Lopez, ’03, fought to save Matthew Reeves’s life—and twice his life was spared. But the hard-fought victories that Lopez, Ben Friedman, ’13, and others won on Reeves’s behalf were reversed by the US Supreme Court. For Lopez and Friedman, the case raises salient due process questions that warrant examination of and discussion about the American justice system.


Features
A Legacy of Bigoted Deeds in Ann Arbor
The Hannah neighborhood near downtown Ann Arbor is relatively small, and its lawn signs reflect the progressive politics of residents. But that welcoming impression took a hit when neighbors started to learn last year that the deeds to their homes contain racist covenants once used for decades to exclude non-whites. The common reaction? Shock.


Impact
Bob Fiske, ’55, Inspires Gift to Eponymous Government Fellowship
Inspired by the example of Robert Fiske, ’55, a group of donors has made a $90,000 contribution to the Fiske Fellowship Program at Michigan Law, which encourages young lawyers to enter government service by providing recipients with cash stipends and loan repayment assistance.


@UMICHLAW
Pro Bono Program Builds on Best-Ever Year
In a year where virtually everyone needed extra help to get by, Michigan Law students went above and beyond to offer their assistance through the Law School’s Pro Bono Program, which asks students to voluntarily commit to pro bono service outside of the classroom. Despite the constraints of the pandemic, a record-breaking 252 students participated in the program during the 2020–2021 academic year.


In Practice
Law at the Bottom of the Earth
Ted Kill, ’07, covered a lot of ground between Michigan Law and his arrival in Antarctica, when he travelled to the continent as part of an interagency federal government inspection team. His journey to the bottom of the earth started with a clerkship at the International Court of Justice that he secured through Michigan Law, which served as a bridge to joining the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser.


@UMICHLAW
@UMICHLAW: Spring 2021
Tamar Alexanian, ’21, named 2021 Skadden Fellow | Daniel Fryer, ’18, joins Michigan Law faculty | Professor Samuel Bagenstos becomes OMB GC | and more...