Section: Cover Story
59 results
Cover Story Spring 2014
Felicia Andrews, ’04: Helping Youth Succeed Through Team 313
A self-described “impact person,” Felicia Andrews, ’04, reassessed her career goals and decided that the changes she was making at the macro level in South Africa through her work with the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development could be applied at the micro level in Detroit.
Cover Story Spring 2014
Detroit’s Real Challenge Isn’t the Bankruptcy
When Detroit became the largest city in U.S. history to file for bankruptcy, it was a bad thing—unless you have the unique worldview of a bankruptcy lawyer, in which case it was marvelous news, worthy of celebration.
Cover Story Spring 2014
Reviving Detroit at its Roots with Urban Agriculture
Surrounded by a sea of crumbling concrete, the lush green landscape of the market garden on Plum Street sits as an oasis in a city forged of steel and cement. For many, it is merely one example of efforts to revitalize Detroit. For Nicholas Leonard, it is the very essence of the urban agricultural model that has inspired his professional career.
Cover Story Spring 2014
Mayor Frank Murphy, ’12, Saves Detroit from Financial Ruin
In 1930, a graduate of the Law School—Frank Murphy, Class of 1912—was chosen to deal with a fiscal disaster in Detroit nearly as dire as today’s.
Cover Story Spring 2014
Detroit 2.0
Detroit is a gutted city, a cautionary tale, a tapestry of ruin. Or Detroit is the comeback kid, a wise investment, a city that will return to greatness. What happens next in the country’s onetime industrial capital is a story that cannot yet be written; no crystal ball can accurately predict the future of the largest U.S. city ever to seek bankruptcy protection.
Cover Story Spring 2014
Hatching New Businesses in Detroit
Nick Gorga, ’02, is helping “to put a small thumbprint on the next chapter of Detroit.” After working in Chicago for six years as an associate at Latham & Watkins LLP, Gorga returned to Detroit in 2008 to help combat what he viewed as a “brain drain” in the region.
Cover Story Fall 2014
Civil Rights Act at 50
This Civil Rights Act is a challenge to all of us to go to work in our communities and our states, in our homes and in our hearts, to eliminate the last vestiges of injustice in our beloved country.” So said President Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1964 when he signed the Act into law. Here, we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Act by sharing the stories of alumni who fought for its passage and those who worked to preserve its legacy.
Cover Story Spring 2014
The Big Three: Michigan Law Alumni Aim to Lead Detroit Out of Bankruptcy
Three Michigan Law alumni— Gov. Rick Snyder, ’82, Mayor Mike Duggan, ’83, and emergency manager Kevyn Orr, ’83—aim to lead Detroit out of history’s largest municipal bankruptcy. And they've made no secret of their ambitious plans for the beleaguered city.
Cover Story Spring 2014
Steven Rhodes, ’73: Guitar-playing Bankruptcy Judge Tuned in to the People
“There is no requirement that a bankruptcy judge has to listen to individuals who are represented by (lawyers),” says former bankruptcy Judge Ray Reynolds Graves, who worked with Judge Steven Rhodes for 17 years. “Steve put that to one side and had the retirees come into court and address him personally. Listening to people who could be adversely affected by having their pensions cut—that tells you something about the man’s sensitivities.”