News

Students enter Minnesota Law with widely divergent knowledge and experience with racial injustice and its

Minnesota Law's new Racial Justice Law Clinic, led by associate clinical professor Liliana Zaragoza, is highlighted today in the University of Minnesota's newly launched "Building a Better World" series. The series focuses on ways in which the University "is adapting to the needs of a rapidly changing world by creating new ways of thinking, of doing, and of being." 

The 229 first-year J.D. students entering the Law School this year bring exceptional educational and professional backgrounds. The record-setting class boasts the highest academic credentials and represent the most diverse class in Law School history.

Garry W. Jenkins, dean and William S. Pattee Professor of Law, and eight Minnesota Law alumni were honored by Minnesota Lawyer with Diversity and Inclusion Awards.

The award is for groups and individuals who have made a significant impact with respect to diversity and inclusion on the greater community or within their organizations. They will be honored at an awards celebration on Oct. 5. (Register)

Ra'Shya Ghee '13 will join Minnesota Law in mid-August as its assistant dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

In this newly created role, Ghee will be part of the Law School’s senior leadership team and will be responsible for leading and aligning the Law School’s critical work in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. The role will focus on:

Garry W. Jenkins, dean and William S. Pattee Professor of Law, has joined the board of directors of the National Women’s Law Center, a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization that fights for gender justice—in the courts, in public policy, and in our society—working across the issues that are central to the lives of women and girls.

The Community Legal Fellows Initiative, funded by The Minneapolis Foundation, provides much-needed legal support for low-income persons in North Minneapolis and the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis. Through a community partnership model with a civil legal aid organization and community health clinics, the initiative supports Minnesota Law graduates working with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid to expand service capacity to clients in need while simultaneously training new public service lawyers in Minnesota.

Seven years ago, professor JaneAnne Murray was tapped for the steering committee of Clemency Project 2014 (CP2014), a national effort by lawyers and advocates to provide legal assistance for people given excessively harsh prison sentences seeking clemency from President Barack Obama. She thought that to make this work meaningful, she should take on a few clemency cases with her students.

Three Minnesota Law students, working in the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic, produced a comprehensive and significant report shining a spotlight on the harsh and repressive conditions faced by  the LGBTIQ community in Guatemala.

Thanks to a generous gift from Medtronic, Minnesota Law has created two new scholarships named after trailblazing alumni. The Judge Pamela G. Alexander ’77 Scholarship and Judge Michael J. Davis ’72 Scholarship were established to support law students who show a commitment to social justice and exhibit outstanding potential for legal work as civil rights or public interest attorneys.