Paul R. Scoggin (’84) has been appointed by Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton to serve as a judge in the state's 4th Judicial District, replacing Judge Marilyn B. Rosenbaum, who retired. "The people of the 4th Judicial District will be well served by Paul Scoggin's extensive legal experience and long history of public service," said Dayton in making the appointment. "I thank Mr. Scoggin for his willingness to continue serving the public, after having already spent 30 years in the Hennepin County Attorney's Office."

On June 1, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Mellouli v. Holder, handing a victory to Moones Mellouli, a pro bono client represented jointly by the University of Minnesota Law School's Center for New Americans, Faegre Baker Daniels and the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM). The decision is an early milestone for a unique law school program created to transform U.S. immigration policy through partnerships with law firms and non-profit immigration legal service providers.

The University of Minnesota Law School held its 127th commencement ceremony May 16 at Northrop Memorial Auditorium.

Khary D. Hornsby (’05), director of international and graduate programs at the Law School, has been honored with a 2015 Award for Global Engagement by the University's Global Programs and Strategy Alliance office. This award is given to faculty and staff to acknowledge exceptional achievements in and contributions to global education, research, and engagement on behalf of the University.

John D. Gould (’53), a founder of the Minneapolis-based intellectual property law firm Merchant & Gould and a leading figure in the legal community for six decades, died May 13 in St. Paul. He was 88.

The Law School welcomed graduates and their families for the 2015 Student Awards and Recognition Ceremony, held at 2:00 p.m., May 15 in Lockhart Hall. The event acknowledged outstanding student achievement among those in the Class of 2015, prior to the May 16 Commencement.

The White House announced yesterday that President Obama has nominated Samuel D. Heins (’72) as the United States ambassador to the Kingdom of Norway. Heins will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before the full Senate votes on his confirmation.

Class of 2016 students Jeffrey Bruno and Samuel Jackson have each been awarded, through a highly competitive process among more than 400 law student applicants nationwide, a prestigious 10-week Peggy Browning summer 2015 fellowship in public interest labor law.

Fellows spend their summer at labor unions, worker centers, the U.S. Department of Labor, union-side law firms, and nonprofit organizations working to improve workers' rights. Bruno will work at the United Steelworkers in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Jackson at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Washington, D.C.