Recent Cooley Law School graduate Aimee Lorencz is turning years of professional experience and a passion for justice into a future career in criminal law. In a feature published by Legal News, Lorencz reflects on her journey from working as a correctional officer and CPS investigator to earning her law degree while balancing family, work, and leadership responsibilities. As a weekend/blended student, Lorencz immersed herself in hands-on learning opportunities including externships, moot court competitions, the Cooley Innocence Project, and student leadership roles. Her experiences strengthened her passion for criminal law, ethics, and advocacy. Read more about Aimee's story here: https://legalnews.com/Home/Articles?DataId=1606383.
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Tracey Brame, associate dean of Cooley’s Grand Rapids campus, Renalia DuBose, a Cooley professor in Tampa, Florida, and Criminal Law Professor Tonya Krause-Phelan, have been called upon to speak about racial injustices happening throughout the country and the legal ramifications following the recent deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Ahmaud Arbery in Glynn County, Georgia.
On Thursday, April 9, ABC News reported on concerns over face coverings for people of color. The report states that people of color are being put in a position to choose between wearing a face mask for the safety of self and others, or to not wear a mask because it appears threatening to others, simply by being black, especially black males. The report came after two black males in eastern Illinois were followed out of a retail outlet by a police officer because they were wearing a mask, despite federal and state orders to wear masks.
When the coronavirus hit and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued her stay home-stay safe order, thousands of people were suddenly faced with rearranging their lives to fit the new reality.
Just like any organization or business or higher education institution, individuals have their our own learning ecosystem – that is, they have their own sources for learning. Some people reach out to people they respect or feel are experts to learn; maybe a family member or friend, or it could be a professor, mentor or colleague.
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Homeland Defense Strategy and retired Brigadier General Michael C.H. McDaniel, who serves as director of Cooley Law School’s Master of Laws Program in Homeland and National Security, has experience in leading multiple government agencies in times of disaster. He held his post with the Pentagon during the H1N1 epidemic and most recently led Michigan’s response to the Flint water crisis. McDaniel often provides support to government agencies during times of crisis.
Nina Yakubov is one of those people who always had a good idea what she wanted to do, even at an early age. Growing up in Russia, being around very educated people, Yakubov was especially amazed by how lawyers could think in a way nobody else could. She thought of attorneys as "Super Heroes."
Joeie Skelly knew that she wanted to be a lawyer since she was 8 years old. “While other kids were playing house,” she recalled, “I pretended to play lawyer.”
Cooley Law School 3L student, Jalitza Serrano, is living proof that you can not only conquer your fears, but transform them into something positive to help others.
Back in high school, no one had the 20/20 vision to see where Daniel Cardwell would be in the year 2020 – not even Cardwell himself. Moving around to different states growing up, as his entrepreneurial parents launched businesses, his education suffered. He even dropped out of high school. It wasn't until later when he discovered his struggles in school were due to an undiagnosed learning disability that things changed.
