News

The Burton Foundation has announced that Frank Guenthner ’18 is the winner of a 2018 Distinguished Legal Writing Award—one of only 15 students from U.S. law schools to be so honored. In the 19 years since the award’s creation, Law School students have received it 10 times.

Law School professors Brad Clary ’75 and Barbara Welke have been chosen to receive the 2018 University of Minnesota Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Education. This honor, the University’s highest teaching award, was given to eight of the institution’s 3,800-plus professors. Recipients were chosen for excellence in instruction; involvement in students’ research, scholarship, and professional development; development of instructional programs; and advising and mentoring of students.

On Feb. 22, Matthew D. Krueger ’06 was sworn in as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Krueger was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 15.

On its first trip outside U.S. borders, the Law School’s International Moot Court Competition team took first-place honors in the D.M. Harish Memorial Government Law College International Moot Court Competition, held February 9-11 in Mumbai, India. (The team, which focuses on issues in international law, typically competes in events held in the United States.) At the Mumbai event, the 19th annual D.M.

Curtis L. Roy ’50, a partner at Minneapolis-based Dorsey & Whitney for nearly 40 years and a longtime benefactor of the Law School, passed away Jan. 27 in Bloomington, Minn. He was 93.

A mock trial team from the Law School bested 22 other teams in regional competition to earn a trip to the finals of the prestigious Texas Young Lawyers Association National Trial Competition. The regional event, one of 14 held around the country, took place Feb. 9-11 in Fargo, North Dakota. The Law School’s regional champion team will next be competing April 4-8 at the TYLA Nationals in Austin, Texas, where they will face off against teams from the best trial advocacy programs in the country.

President Donald J. Trump has nominated Nancy E. Brasel ’96, a judge in Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District, and Eric Tostrud, an adjunct faculty member at the Law School, to serve as federal district court judges for the District of Minnesota.   

Brasel has served on the Minnesota District Court bench since 2011. She previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney and prior to that was a partner at Greene Espel.  

Professor of Practice JaneAnne Murray has been awarded the 2018 University of Minnesota Outstanding Community Service Award for Faculty. The award is part of a program that honors faculty, staff, students, and University-affiliated community partners who have made significant, demonstrable, and direct contributions to society’s well-being. It is the highest honor the University gives for service to the institution and the community.

The U.S. Senate today confirmed Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. Stras was a professor at the Law School from 2004-2010, where he taught and wrote on federal courts and jurisdiction, constitutional law, criminal law, and law and politics. In addition, he was co-director of the Institute for Law and Politics at the University of Minnesota.

As Minnesota prepares to host Super Bowl LII, its leaders are promoting the region as “Bold North.” At the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation at the Law School, Dean Garry Jenkins put a twist on this idea, asking those in the community—and statewide—to boldly confront racial injustice.