News

Kiri Somermeyer, executive director of Minnesota Law's Corporate Institute and director of the Business Law & Entrepreneurship Clinic, was recognized as Housing Volunteer of the Year by the Volunteer Lawyers Network (VLN) Housing Program in recognition of her deep and long-term commitment to pro bono work in housing law. During a recent ceremony, the Volunteer Lawyers Network honored Somermeyer in a statement, saying, "Kiri was a co

Minnesota Law's American Constitution Society (ACS) has received the University of Minnesota's Tony Diggs Award for Excellence in Civic Engagement for a graduate student organization. Out of 153 nominations, only 12 graduate and 12 undergraduate student organizations were selected.

Mohamed Ahmed Shokri Abdelhalim, LL.M. ’25, has received the University of Minnesota President's Student Leadership and Service Award. He was the first international student to join the Environmental and Energy Law Society board, helping to increase the presence of international students in student organizations. Since then, three other student groups have also included international students on their boards for the first time this year.

Jacob Bourgault ’25 has received the University of Minnesota President’s Student Leadership and Service Award. He was selected for his work as president of the Professional Student Government, which oversees approximately 7,000 students and has a total yearly budget of around $225,000. During his time in law school, Bourgault also served as a student attorney and student director for the law school's Bankruptcy Clinic.

Minnesota Law student Alex Lloyd ’25 has received the 2025 Bernard P. Becker Law Student Volunteer Award from the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA). This award recognizes Lloyd’s unique and outstanding service to the legal profession and community in connection with providing legal services to low-income and vulnerable Minnesotans.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will deliver the keynote address at Minnesota Law’s 137th commencement exercises for the Class of 2025. Law School commencement is scheduled at Northrop at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 17, 2025.

Tim Walz is Minnesota’s 41st governor. He was first elected in 2018 and won re-election in 2022. In 2024, he ran for vice president on the Democratic presidential ticket alongside former Vice President Kamala Harris.

The University of Minnesota Law School took first place in the 2025 National Patent Application Drafting Competition, hosted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). After triumphing in the Midwest Regional Competition, Minnesota Law progressed to the final national rounds, competing against the top four teams at USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The regional rounds featured up to 75 teams divided into five regions.

Professor Susanna Blumenthal, William L. Prosser in Law, professor in history, and co-director of Minnesota Law’s Program in Law and History, has been named a Laurance S. Rockefeller visiting faculty fellow for 2025-26 at Princeton University’s Center for Human Values. Blumenthal is a scholar of law and history, specializing in the modern United States. Her scholarship is concerned with the problematics of personhood, focusing on conceptions of identity, agency, and responsibility.

Professor Claire Hill, James L. Krusemark Chair in Law and founding director of the Minnesota Law’s Institute for Law and Rationality, and co-author Yaron Nili (Duke University Law School) have won the Outstanding Senior Scholar Paper Award from ComplanceNet for their paper, “Independence Reconceived.” Hill and Nili will be recognized at the 2025 ComplianceNet conference.