Law Quadrangle

The Legal Climate of Climate Change Cover Art

Cover Story

The Legal Climate of Climate Change

Like most headline-grabbing problems, the myriad issues surrounding climate change are integral to the work of many Michigan Law graduates. For some alumni, curbing and combating climate change is their life’s calling. For others, it is another hurdle to navigate as they pursue optimal outcomes for their clients or businesses.

Cover Story

The Legal Climate of Climate Change: Policy

“The first thing the professor told us was that he wasn’t trying to ban fossil fuels and he wasn’t trying to set goals for the next decade. He said that he just wanted to make sure we have policies in place now so that in 100 years, we’re much better off than we otherwise would be. And I said, ‘Well, with that line of thinking, we can actually work together.’”

Cover Story

The Legal Climate of Climate Change: Energy

When Mike Hardy, ’72, and Jim Spaanstra, ’77, began practicing environmental law, the laws, the issues facing their clients, and the environment itself were different than they are now. Hardy became an environmental lawyer because his firm needed a young associate to figure out this burgeoning practice area; for Spaanstra—who considered former Michigan Law Professor and environmental law pioneer Joe Sax a mentor—it was the reason he came to law school.

Cover Story Fall 2017

The Tech [R]evolution in Law

The first thing we do, let’s replace all the lawyers with computers. While even a modern-day Shakespeare might think such a paraphrase is science fiction, the legal profession is grappling with whether or not it could be true someday. Technology is changing our society in immeasurable ways, and the practice of law is no exception.

Students standing in the front of a class at a University Law School Event

Cover Story

Problem Solving Initiative Trains Future-thinking Lawyers

“Law school can get very in the weeds,” says Katie Hart, a 3L. “All your classmates are learning how to speak the same language. But to be an effective lawyer, you need to communicate with clients who won’t be fluent in legalese.”

Cover story image of two Detroit public schools.

Cover Story Spring 2017

Can Detroit Schools Be Saved?

Think of everything you’ve heard about Detroit Public Schools in recent years: gym floors buckling, walls covered in toxic black mold, archaic math books scattered around the classroom floor of an abandoned school. A state bailout and restructuring plan. Teacher shortages, fraud charges against suppliers, and what The New York Times described as a “chaotic mix of charters and traditional public schools,” in which students in many charters as well as traditional public schools lag behind in testing and other metrics.

Now set those ideas to the side for a moment, and meet Stephen Chennault III, known as Trey.

Cover Story Fall 2017

Have Your Day in Court Without Being in Court

A day in court is never a day at the beach. But for those who have trouble juggling work and family responsibilities in order to appear in court, or lack a way even to get there, something as minor as a traffic ticket can become a seemingly ceaseless stressor.

Cover Story

A Praktio Education in Contracts

Michigan Law Professor Michael Bloom says that learning to work with contracts is like learning any language. “So if software can help you learn Spanish or Python, why can’t it help teach you to read and write contracts?”

Law and Technology

Cover Story Fall 2016

Tension: Privacy vs. National Security in the Digital Age

Cindy Cohn, ’89, was in her office at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), interviewing a job candidate, when a staff member knocked on her door. Cohn initially said she couldn’t step away from the interview, but her colleague persisted. It was June 5, 2013—the day that would change everything.

Illustration of a car driving over a highway. The car is blue, and the rest of the scene is muted in color.

Cover Story Spring 2016

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.