Professor Susanna Blumenthal, William L. Prosser Professor of Law, professor of history, and co-director of the Program in Law and History, has been named a 2025-26 Laurance S. Rockefeller visiting faculty fellow at Princeton University’s Center for Human Values. Blumenthal is the award-winning author of Law and the Modern Mind: Consciousness and Responsibility in American Legal Culture (Harvard University Press, 2016). Her work has also appeared in the Harvard Law Review, Law and History Review, and Law and Social Inquiry. While at Princeton, she will work on a book about the duplicitous self, titled The Apprehension of Fraud in Modern America.
Professor Emeritus Antony Duff has received the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) section on jurisprudence Hart-Dworkin Award. The award was acknowledged during a ceremony at the 2025 AALS Annual Meeting. Duff is a leading expert on the philosophy of punishment and is internationally recognized for his expertise in criminal law and its structure. He joined the Law School faculty as a tenured professor in 2010 and is also a professor emeritus in the Department of Philosophy, University of Stirling in Stirling, Scotland.
Professor Charlotte Garden, Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty & Bennett Professor of Law, has been appointed the University of Minnesota Law School’s next associate dean for academic affairs, beginning in January 2026. She specializes in labor and employment law and constitutional law, especially the First Amendment. She has published in many leading law journals, co-authored two leading work law casebooks, and been active in national policy efforts to strengthen workers’ rights. She led the Appointments Committee this past year and served as faculty advisor for Minnesota Law’s SSG peer tutoring program.
Professor Claire Hill, James L. Krusemark Chair in Law and founding director of the Institute for Law and Rationality, and co-author Yaron Nili have won the Outstanding Senior Scholar Paper Award from ComplianceNet for their paper, “Independence Reconceived.” Hill and Nili will be recognized at the 2025 ComplianceNet conference. Their paper was chosen for its theoretical contributions to the field of compliance research. Hill teaches corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, and a seminar in law and economics. Her research interests include corporate governance, capital structure, structured finance, rating agencies, secured debt, contract theory, law and language, and behavioral economics.
Professor Sapna Kumar, Henry J. Fletcher Professor of Law, has been elected as a member of the American Law Institute (ALI). ALI elects individuals who reflect the excellence and diversity of today’s legal profession. ALI's membership consists of eminent judges, lawyers, and law professors from all areas of the United States and from many foreign countries, selected on the basis of professional achievement and demonstrated interest in improving the law.
Professor Brett McDonnell, Dorsey & Whitney Chair in Law, received the University of Minnesota’s 2025 Award for Excellence in Academic Unit Service for his outstanding contributions to the Law School. McDonnell teaches and writes in the areas of business associations, corporate finance, law and economics, securities regulations, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, and legislation.
Professor Perry Moriearty was recommended for promotion to the rank of Professor of Law in a vote by Minnesota Law faculty. The recommendation will be presented to the University of Minnesota Board of Regents for approval later this semester. Moriearty specializes in juvenile justice, criminal justice, and race and the law. She co-directs the Child Advocacy & Juvenile Justice Clinic in addition to teaching courses in criminal law and juvenile justice. She has received the AALS N. Shanara Gilbert Award for her work in clinical teaching and social justice and was recognized with the Stanley V. Kinyon Clinical Teaching Award in 2012.
Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, KC (Hons), Regents Professor, Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy, and Society, and faculty director of the Human Rights Clinic, has been nominated to the role of Counselor for the American Society of International Law (ASIL). ASIL’s mission is to foster the study of international law and to promote the establishment and maintenance of international relations on the basis of law and justice. ASIL is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational membership organization founded in 1906 by members of the American peace movement; its first president was U.S. Secretary of State Elihu Root.
Professor Caleb Smith, clinical professor of law and director of the Ronald M. Mankoff Tax Clinic, has been appointed the next assistant dean for clinical education, effective July 1, 2025. Smith oversees clinic students who represent low-income clients in tax controversies on cases that include audits of tax returns, filing and trying cases in Minnesota Tax Court and Federal District Court, and bringing taxpayers into collection compliance.
Professor Ilan Wurman, Julius E. Davis Professor of Law, was named an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute. At Minnesota Law, he teaches administrative law and constitutional law and writes primarily about the Fourteenth Amendment, administrative law, separation of powers, and constitutionalism. Wurman is the author of numerous law journal articles and an administrative law casebook. His next book, The Constitution of 1789: A New Introduction, is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press. He previously taught at Arizona State University.
Assistant Dean of Experiential Education Mitchell E. Zamoff, J. Stewart and Mario McClendon Professor in Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution, has received the University of Minnesota’s 2024-25 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Education. This honor is awarded to exceptional candidates nominated by their colleges for excellence in graduate and professional education. Faculty members who receive the Graduate and Professional Teaching Award become members of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Zamoff has twice received the University of Minnesota Law School’s Stanley V. Kinyon Teacher of the Year Award. He teaches alternative dispute resolution, civil procedure, evidence, evidence drafting, Law in Practice, and Introduction to American Law, a course for undergraduates.