Arrivals
Ana Pottratz Acosta joined Minnesota Law as a visiting professor for the 2025-26 school year. Acosta is a professor at Mitchell Hamline, where she teaches the Health Law Clinic and oversees the medical-legal partnership between Mitchell Hamline and United Family medicine. At Minnesota Law she will direct the Immigration & Human Rights Clinic, part of the James H. Binger Center for New Americans.
Amna A. Akbar joined Minnesota Law this fall as the Benjamin N. Berger Professor in Criminal Law. Akbar is a scholar of contemporary social movements, policing, race, capitalism, and inequality. With a focus on protest and organizing, she is interested in understanding law as a dynamic terrain of social, economic, and political contestation, as well as in how institutions and discourses of law define and delimit the possibilities of emancipation. She was formerly the Charles W. Ebersold & Florence Whitcomb Ebersold Professor of Law at The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law. Learn more about Prof. Akbar on page 22.
Juan Arguello joined Minnesota Law this summer as the assistant director of academic and bar success. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he brings strong legal training and a commitment to supporting future lawyers. Before entering the legal field, he served in the Army National Guard as an infantry sergeant. Arguello also holds a B.A. from DePaul University. Prior to joining Minnesota Law, he worked at Lawrence University, where he provided academic support and student success programming.
Kimberly Medina ’20 joined the Law School this summer as an immigration litigation and advocacy fellow in the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic. Before joining Minnesota Law, she was a practitioner-in-residence at Seton Hall University School of Law, where she represented indigent New Jerseyans in removal proceedings through the state-funded Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative. Medina earned her B.A. from the University of South Carolina and her J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School, where she was a student attorney and student director at the Detainee Rights Clinic.
Samuel J. Merchant joined the faculty in the fall as an associate professor of law. He was formerly a visiting assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, where he taught constitutional law, criminal procedure, sentencing, and habeas corpus. He was also a research fellow at the Georgetown Law Center for the Constitution. From 2022 to 2023, he served as a fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States, working concurrently at both the Supreme Court and the United States Sentencing Commission. In addition to an immersion in constitutional law and Supreme Court practice, Merchant helped prepare amendments to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Learn more about Prof. Merchant on page 22.
Kelly Shanahan joined Minnesota Law as a clinical fellow with the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic. Before joining Minnesota Law, Shanahan was an asylum attorney at the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement, a nonprofit legal service organization providing pro bono representation to immigrants throughout Nebraska. She earned her B.A. from the University of Minnesota, where she graduated with high distinction and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 2020. Shanahan is a graduate of the University of Nebraska College of Law, where she earned her J.D. in 2023 with highest distinction and was admitted to the Order of the Coif.
Hannah Stephan ’22 joined Minnesota Law as a clinical fellow with the Ronald M. Mankoff Tax Clinic this summer. She was previously the American Bar Association Christine A. Brunswick Public Service Fellow with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA) from 2023 to 2025. There, she represented and advised clients on federal and state tax matters in the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic and led the statewide expansion of MMLA’s tax outreach program. Stephan was a judicial law clerk with the Minnesota Court of Appeals from 2022 to 2023. She earned her B.S.B. summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, and her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School.
Vinita R. Singh joined the faculty as an associate professor of law this fall. She studies economic statecraft with an emphasis on examining how federal income taxation can be used to advance U.S. foreign policy and national security goals. She was formerly a visiting assistant professor and faculty fellow at the University of Iowa College of Law. She received her B.A. from Grinnell College, her J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law, and her LL.M. in National Security Law from the Georgetown University Law Center. She previously practiced in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis, advising on the tax aspects of international transactions. Learn more about Prof. Singh on page 23.
Nicole Smiley rejoined the Law School this summer as the new director of Law Clinics. In this role, she collaborates with the assistant dean of clinical education, clinical staff, and faculty to advance the strategic priorities and manage the operational and curricular functions of the Law Clinics. She previously served as the Law Clinics administrator and as administrative director for the University of Minnesota’s Department of Soil, Water, and Climate in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences. In 2024, she completed a service term as a GreenCorps Member with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s GreenStep Program before returning to the Law School.
Christian Purnell ’24 joined Minnesota Law this summer as a clinical fellow with the Gun Violence Prevention Clinic. He has a background in juvenile justice and has served as a law clerk in Minnesota's Fourth Judicial District Juvenile Court. Purnell earned his B.A. from Carleton College and his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School. While in law school, he worked as a student attorney and student director with the Child Advocacy and Juvenile Justice Clinic.