News

Three Minnesota Law students among the 81 recipients of 2021 fellowships nationwide from the John Paul Stevens Fellowships Foundation.

The prestigious Stevens fellowships were awarded to rising 3Ls Wendy Jacqueline Escobar, Haille Laws, and Emily Newman. 

The Stevens fellowship provides grants to enable law students at participating law schools to work in otherwise unpaid public interest summer law positions.

Former U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kyle ‘62 died on June 22 at the age of 84. 

A lifelong resident of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, Kyle received both his B.A. and LL.B. from the University of Minnesota. At the Law School,  Kyle served as president of the Minnesota Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif. 

Professor Alan Rozenshtein has just been selected to serve a five-year term on the Council on Foreign Relations as part of program for early-career professionals.

The Stephen M. Kellen Term Member Program provides young professionals in government, media, nongovernmental organizations, law, business, finance, and academia the opportunity to participate in a sustained conversation on international affairs and U.S. foreign policy.

The University of Minnesota Board of Regents recently named Professor Susan Wolf a Regents Professor. The designation, granted last week, is the highest level of recognition given to faculty by the University.

Rising 3L Brandon Vaca received a highly competitive fellowship from the Peggy Browning Fund (PBF). Nearly 700 applications were made for the public interest fellowship; only 80 were awarded nationwide.

Vaca is spending the fellowship working at the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in Washington, DC. 

Jessamine De Ocampo ’21 recently accepted a position as an associate attorney with EarthJustice’s Coal Program in New York City. As she prepares for the bar exam, she reflected on her time in Minnesota Law’s environmental & energy law program, what led her to EarthJustice, and her aspirations in the E&E field.  

Why did you chose to come to Minnesota Law?

Lawrence Zelle ’59, who founded the Minneapolis-based law firm now known as Zelle LLP, passed away peacefully May 8 at his home, surrounded by his family. He was 86.

Rising 3L Zoe Psiakis was selected by Equal Justice Works for a highly competitive 2021 Rural Summer Legal Corps Fellowship. She is one of 35 law students nationally (out of 460 applicants) to be named a fellow.

When a person writes software, makes a medical diagnosis, creates art or orders a drone strike, the law resolves many issues that arise. Take the coder, the physician, the artist or the military leader out the picture — as artificial intelligence (AI) is doing and increasingly promises to do — and the law will struggle.

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) has named Joan Howland, associate dean for information and technology and Roger F. Noreen Professor of Law, as a 2021 recipient of its Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award.