News

Tammy Merkins (’99) has been appointed county attorney of Becker County, Minn., effective July 8. She will fill the remaining two and a half years in the term of Gretchen Thilmony, who has been named a judge in the state’s 7th Judicial District. Becker County is located in northwestern Minnesota; its county seat is Detroit Lakes.

The Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) has presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to Michael J. Galvin Jr. (’57). The award is given only rarely by the MSBA, and is reserved for those members who have made extraordinary and impactful contributions to the bar, the legal profession, and the community throughout their careers.

The Law Library and Riesenfeld Rare Books Center have recently received a donation of important rare law books from the collection of Raymond A. and Ruth A. Reister. The donation comprises nearly 100 titles on inheritance, wills, and estates in Anglo-American law that were collected by Raymond Reister during his lifetime. The books range from a rare 16th-century treatise to valuable 17th- and 18th-century titles—including works by William Blackstone and Francis Bacon—to humorous works on eccentric wills.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has appointed Douglas C. Bayley (’04) to serve as a judge in the state’s 1st Judicial District, which consists of Carver, Dakota, Goodhue, Le Sueur, Scott, and Sibley Counties. In making the appointment, Dayton said, “Mr. Bayley brings a diverse range of professional experiences and possesses [an] extensive record of public service. I thank him for his desire to continue serving the people of Minnesota in this new role.”

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the first-ever grant dedicated to laying the policy groundwork needed to translate genomic medicine into clinical application. Professor Susan M. Wolf, who holds faculty appointments at the Law School and the University of Minnesota Medical School, is one of three eminent researchers who will lead the three-year, $2 million project, known as LawSeq^SM.

A new report from the University’s Energy Transition Lab (ETL), which is based at the Law School, finds that more than 2,000 renewable energy jobs could be added to the northeast Minnesota/northwest Wisconsin economy if a range of biomass and solar projects come to fruition.

Professor Robert A. Stein (’61), the Everett Fraser Professor of Law, has been honored with a 2016 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.

Law and Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice has announced the launch of a new online publication called Law and Inequality: Sua Sponte.

At its recent annual meeting, held at the School of Law at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, the Association for Law, Property, and Society (ALPS) honored Professor Hari Osofsky with its Distinguished Service Award. The award, established last year, recognizes honorees for “using their expertise to improve the quality of people’s lives locally, nationally, or internationally; serving as mentors to junior faculty and others interested in teaching and research in property law; and serving and enlarging the community of property law scholars.”

Bryan R. Browning (’08) has been elected president of the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association (MHBA), which was founded in 1991 to organize Hispanic attorneys, judges, law students, and other concerned members of the Hispanic community into a force for professional and community benefit. Browning is an associate with the Twin Cities law firm of Bassford Remele, where he focuses his practice in the areas of products liability, wrongful death, construction, subrogation, and commercial litigation.