News

A Mexican family that narrowly escaped cartel members who shot and pursued them is “ecstatic” after overcoming the odds—again—to win asylum in the United States with the help of Minnesota Law’s Immigration and Human Rights Clinic.

Professor C. Robert Morris, a member of the Minnesota Law faculty from 1964 to 2000, passed away last week.

Morris taught Torts, Property, Corporations and Business Law. 

Morris earned an LL.B. degree from Yale University in 1951. After graduation, he entered the U.S. Air Force where he served as an assistant staff judge advocate. In 1953 he joined the faculty at Rutgers University Law School where he taught for 10 years before becoming a member of the Law School faculty in 1964.

The Law School has received a $2.3M gift from the Robina Foundation to endow a Dean’s Innovation Fund to support creative, impactful programs, projects, and initiatives.

Arielle S. Wagner ’16 was recently elected president of the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association (MAIBA), a non-profit organization of American Indian attorneys, law students, and officers of tribal courts. An associate at Lockridge Grindal Nauen in Minneapolis, Wagner concentrates her practice in the firm’s antitrust, data breach, and tribal government representation groups. She is an enrolled member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa in Northern Minnesota.

With the world focusing on Minneapolis after George Floyd’s killing and the calls for racial justice that it ignited across the country and around the globe, Minnesota Law has expanded its commitment to incorporate racial equity and justice issues into its curricular and clinical offerings.

Benjamin Wetzel was a professional ballet dancer for nine years prior to enrolling at Minnesota Law. Wetzel’s impressive career includes major parts in numerous productions while dancing for ballets in Louisville and Nashville. A Swiss-American dual citizen, he is fluent in German and enjoys cooking and keeping fit.

Governor Tim Walz has appointed three Minnesota Law alumni—Julie Allyn '95, Maximillia Utley '08, and Terri Yellowhammer '95—to serve on Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District bench.

Jennifer Melton, 1L, has nearly a decade of experience in aiding the survivors of human trafficking. She spent seven years in China helping trafficking survivors, and another year and half with the Global Center for Women and Justice working on trafficking education and outreach. Minnesota Law’s commitment to social justice was a strong factor in her decision to enroll.

1L Samia Osman says her choice of Minnesota Law for her legal education was an easy one as the Law School was “already home” to her. As an undergraduate, Osman interned at the James H. Binger Center for New Americans, where she got to work shoulder-to-shoulder with faculty and staff. A Somali refugee herself, she is looking to use her law degree to help those “in whose shoes [she has] been.”

The Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI) has selected Professor Ralph F. Hall as the 2020 recipient of its Service to FDLI Award.

The award, established in 2017, honors FDLI members who have provided exceptional volunteer services to FDLI, furthering FDLI’s mission as a neutral convener to educate and spark innovative change.