Wayne Law News

Justice Marilyn Kelly, who served for 16 years on the state’s top court, will bring what she has learned over her illustrious career to the halls of her alma mater. She has joined the faculty of Wayne State University Law School as its first “distinguished jurist in residence.”

Wayne State University law students got the flavor of federal courtroom proceedings, and the Law School got a taste of major media attention March 7, when U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman heard arguments on a case that will have an impact on whether Michigan’s 2004 ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional. Journalists and interested spectators joined students in Partrich Auditorium, where pre-trial motions in a case against the state of Michigan brought by April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse of Hazel Park, a lesbian couple involved in a child custody case, were heard by Friedman.

The 16th annual Treasure of Detroit Gala and reunion weekend, set from Sept. 27-29, will honor some of the legal community’s best and brightest. Last year's honorees are shown with former Dean Robert Ackerman (center).

Valerie Newman, a 1992 graduate of Wayne State University Law School, will be honored April 27 by the Women of Wayne Alumni Association.

Students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends are invited to join Wayne State University Law School Dean Jocelyn Benson in running through fire, crawling through mud-pits, and scaling walls during Tough Mudder, a 10- to12-mile extreme obstacle course considered one of the toughest and most popular fitness events in the world.

Since Alex Patterson graduated from law school, his life has taken a twisty route that eventually led to his current job as chief creative officer at Tough Mudder, a rapidly growing company that stages military-style obstacle course events around the world.

Detroit business journal DBusiness recently named its Top Lawyers for 2013, and more than 25 percent —265 out of 963 honorees — are alumni of Wayne State University Law School.

Wayne State University Law School continues to be recognized as one of the nation's top law schools in U.S. News & World Report's list of Best Law Schools for 2013. Wayne Law's 2013 ranking was its highest in several decades, reflecting its upward climb into the nation's top tier of law schools, said Dean Jocelyn Benson.

Wayne State University Law School has earned a perfect score from Law School Transparency for providing full and accurate information online regarding student scholarships and employment outcomes, an effort Assistant Dean of Admissions Erica Matthews-Jackson applauds.

Professor Erica Beecher-Monas is one of four co-authors of a brand new edition — the seventh — of law textbook “Evidence: Teaching Materials for an Age of Science and Statutes.” The book is published by LexisNexis Law School Publishing, and it examines “the intersection of science, law, evidence and the Constitution,” according to one of the co-authors, Professor Ronald Carlson of the University of Georgia Law School.

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Alumni Accomplishments

Linda Burwell, '85, testified before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C., on March 20, as part of a round table public meeting to provide input on the agency's Quality Control Plan for investigations and conciliations. A nationally recognized speaker and author on employment law, discrimination prevention and risk management, Burwell often serves as the legal expert on panels involving employment laws and workplace trends. At Nemeth Burwell, where she is a founding partner, she serves as a litigator, arbitrator and consultant, representing management in all aspects of labor and employment law and EEOC matters.


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Student Accomplishments

Robert Johns, Jessica Wayne and Kenneth Cox are the members of Wayne Law's environmental moot court team who competed recently at Pace Law School in New York and won the award for Best Brief-Intervenor Appellant. The team also advanced through oral arguments to the quarterfinals of the National Environmental Moot Court Competition. Johns is team captain. Professor Nicholas Schroeck works with team and called the best brief award "a huge honor."
 


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Faculty Accomplishments

Steven Winter is the author of a chapter, "Frame Semantics and the 'Internal Point of View,'" in a just released book, "Law and Language: Current Legal Issues Volume 15," which offers a broad overview of the interaction between law and language and the way they infuence each other


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