News

After the tragic killing of George Floyd and resulting civil unrest, Ian Taylor Jr. ’19 felt a need to contribute to the moment in a constructive way.

Born and raised in Jamaica, Andrew Gordon ’08 is both an associate director of the Minneapolis-based Legal Rights Center (LRC) and the lead attorney for its Community Defense Program. Gordon has worked at LRC helping indigent clients and coordinating volunteer efforts for more than a decade. Recently, he has been instrumental in staffing the legal support hotline set up to aid George Floyd protesters and their families.

Judge Toddrick S. Barnette ’92, who has served for 14 years on the Hennepin County District Court bench, was last month elected by his peers to serve as chief judge of the Hennepin County District Court. He will take over his new position on July 1, becoming the first chief judge of color in the court’s history. Before joining the bench, Barnette served as a senior attorney in the Office of the Hennepin County Attorney and, prior to that, a senior attorney in the Office of the Hennepin County Public Defender.

Dear Law School Community:

Simply put, this is a terrible moment for the Twin Cities, during a terrible time. George Floyd suffered a maddeningly horrendous and senseless death, and the ensuing unrest has rocked our community. And, what started locally has expanded and roiled our country in the last few days, demonstrating the shared pain felt by many.

For me, this past week has been hard: my emotions have ranged from shock to sorrow to anger to fear to pain to frustration.

Dear Law School Community:

Law & Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice recently launched a series of online video interviews with faculty, practitioners, and other legal experts about a variety of issues affecting law and inequality during COVID-19.

The interviews, conducted by students on the journal’s editorial staff, includes discussion of the pandemic’s impact on domestic violence, reproductive rights, the rights of incarcerated people, the state of public defense in Minnesota, and issues facing immigrants, as well as evictions and other housing-related matters.

Minnesota Women Lawyers has announced that 3L Meghan Knapp is the recipient of the 2020 Equal Justice Award.

The annual award invites for a paper submitted by a Minnesota law student on a topic involving law and social justice.

Kristin Trapp, 2L, recently had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of testifying before a committee of lawmakers on the merits of a constitutional amendment that she conceived of and helped draft.

Retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page ’78 has been fighting the good fight for decades, mostly on behalf of equality in race and education—and all the intertwined areas those topics touch. At 74, he shows little sign of slowing down.

A food pantry created by Minnesota Law students to help service the needs of their fellow students will open next month in Mondale Hall.

Mondale Kitchen, located in the N20 suite of the subplaza, will provide students with 24/7 access to shelf-stable non-perishables, single-serving ready-to-eat foods, and fresh produce. The goal is to ensure all students have the nutritious food they need in order to advance their academic, professional, and social success.