Four former U.S. senators, a former Detroit mayor, as well as business, community, education and nonprofit leaders, are serving on a bipartisan, 18-member advisory board for the Levin Center at Wayne Law. Chairing the board is Eugene Driker, Wayne Law class of 1961, a founding member at the Detroit law firm of Barris Sott Denn and Driker and a former member of the WSU Board of Governors.

Five faculty members and one student at Wayne State University Law School serve on the Levin Center Faculty Board overseeing center operations. Chairing the board is Professor John Mogk, an expert in urban development and policy who has served on the Law School's faculty since 1968.  

Nearly 200 business, community, legal and political leaders gathered May 5 to celebrate former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin’s new roles at Wayne State University Law School and Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP. Wayne Law and Honigman hosted the cocktail reception at the Detroit Institute of Arts. During its first year, the Levin Center has raised $1.3 million toward its goal of a $5 million endowment to support the Levin Center in perpetuity.

Levin teaches tax policy seminar at Law School

Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law and the Law School's distinguished legislator in residence, taught his first class during fall semester 2015 at the Law School. Levin co-taught Tax Policy Seminar: Role and Impact of Congressional Oversight on Abusive Tax Strategies with Distinguished Professor Alan Schenk and Adjunct Professor Stephen Cappellino. For fall semester 2016, Levin and Wayne Law Dean Jocelyn Benson will co-teach a seminar on The Legislative Process.

More than 100 people attended a panel discussion Nov. 2 at Wayne Law about Congress' ability to oversee classified programs. The Levin Center at Wayne Law presented "Congressional Oversight of Classified Programs: Covert Action, Electronic Surveillance and the Rule of Law."

Two summer legal internships offered in Washington, D.C.

Finalists are being interviewed for two 10-week summer legal internships the Levin Center at Wayne Law is offering for Wayne Law students to work in congressional committee offices in Washington, D.C. Both positions will involve a bipartisan approach to oversight.

About 100 people attended the Levin Center at Wayne Law's first conference, "Congressional Oversight of Classified Programs – 40 Years after the Church Committee." The conference Oct. 20 in Washington, D.C., focused on Congress' ability to oversee classified programs.

The Levin Center at Wayne Law had its first international training in December for legislative staff in Ukraine on how to conduct oversight investigations. Elise Bean conducted the two-day training for 22 Ukrainian Parliamentary staffers in cooperation with the Committee on Corruption Prevention of the Ukraine Parliament and with the Anti-Corruption Action Center, a Ukrainian public-interest group.

The Levin Center at Wayne Law joined forces with the Project On Government Oversight and The Lugar Center to sponsor two intensive training workshops for congressional staff on how to conduct bipartisan, fact-based oversight investigations. The two-day boot camps, taught by a bipartisan team of experienced investigators, were attended by staffers from the House and Senate and the Democratic and Republican parties on Aug. 11 and 12 and Feb. 17 and 18. More oversight boot camps are planned for later this year.

As part of the Michigan Municipal League Capital Conference on Tuesday, March 22, in Lansing, the Levin Center at Wayne Law will present "Streamlining Evaluation of Municipal Programs." Speakers will be Elise Bean of the Levin Center and Mike Flowers, chief analytics officer of Enigma.io and senior fellow with Bloomberg Philanthropies. Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Levin Center, will introduce the discussion.

The Levin Center at Wayne Law will present a panel discussion, Mindful Lawyering: The Ethics of Knowing When to Say No, on Monday, April 4, at the Law School. Panelists will be former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair of Levin Center at Wayne Law; Judge Nancy Edmunds, Wayne Law class of 1976, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan; and Reginald Turner of Clark Hill PLC and a member of the Levin Center Advisory Board. Professor Peter Henning will be moderator, and the Levin Center's Linda Gustitus, Wayne Law class of 1975, will provide introductory remarks.  

Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law, appeared Jan. 31 on CBS' "60 Minutes" for its report, "Anonymous, Inc." Levin spoke to correspondent Steve Kroft about the ease with which questionable money flows into the U.S. through shell companies with hidden owners and the legislation he proposed to curb it.

Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law, joined with his former Senate colleagues Dick Lugar, Tom Daschle and Trent Lott to co-write a column, "A Modest Proposal to Restore Bipartisanship to SOTU." The column was published Jan. 12 in Politico.

Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Levin Center, wrote an opinion column, "Church Committee demonstrated value of bipartisan oversight," published Nov. 5 on The Hill's Congress Blog.

Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law, co-wrote a guest column, "Congress got it wrong on unjustified corporate tax loopholes," for The Hill. The column, published Jan. 13 and co-written with Reuven Avi-Yonah, the Irwin I. Cohn professor of law and director of the Graduate Tax Program at the University of Michigan, discusses five loopholes that Congress could have and should have eliminated.