When Reda Taleb (McLean Class, 2015) talks about “giving back,” she isn’t just reciting a slogan — she’s living by example. The daughter of immigrants from Bint Jbeil, Lebanon, Taleb’s parents, along with her six older siblings, laid roots in Dearborn’s south end, an area known for its pollution-emitting factory smoke stacks and community of Arab Americans seeking the “American Dream.”
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Stephanie Samuels was almost 60 years old when she finally discovered she could make her life dream of going to law school a reality. Up until then, “life sort of just happened,” and it was never really an option – until she heard about Cooley’s weekend program.
“Because of Cooley, you are now prepared to join in the battle for justice; to be the voice for the voiceless, to bring hope to the hopeless, and to speak justice for those who suffer injustice … In pursuing success in the profession, remember that success is not a zero sum game. Others don’t have to fail in order for you to succeed.” – Frederick McClure, managing partner at the Tampa Bay office of DLA Piper and president of the George Edgecomb Bar Association.
Before Jeanne Reed decided to go to law school, she was deep into the building construction industry. Since receiving an associates degree in Building Construction Technology, she had spent seven years working in a business as a construction estimator. Then one morning she woke up and thought, “this isn’t enough.” “I realized I just wasn’t happy and felt like I’d maxed out in what I was doing and where I was going in this line of work,” recalled Jeanne. “Going to law school was a total leap of faith. I had never once in my life thought of myself as lawyer until I found myself listening to my friend talk about how excited she was about going to law school. It had always been her dream. It hit me that moment that law school might be right for me too. It’s funny, but I saw it as a sign.”
Katie O’Grady loves a challenge. And really loves a challenge that includes an adventure! What could make law school more challenging and more exciting? How about taking a semester with law students in Cooley Law School’s Down Under foreign study program! For Katie, law school never looked this good. Learning the law was a thrill a minute in Australia and New Zealand.
Alicia Prygoski is a third-year law student at Cooley Law School and serves as the president of her Student Animal Legal Defense Fund chapter. Most recently, she received an Advancement of Animal Law Scholarship from the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
“The defining step in the journey to where I am today is the time I served in the United States Marine Corps where I was taught discipline, leadership, and the value of team work. The Marine Corps’ motto is Adapt, Improvise and Overcome. I have lived by that code for most of my adult life and it has brought me much success.” – Cooley Law School graduate Debra Steele
Almost 42 years after being sent to prison for robbery and murder, two crimes he didn't commit, LeDura (Ledora) Watkins was released on June 15, 2017, thanks to the efforts of the Cooley Innocence Project. Following a motion for a new trial, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office agreed to vacate the judgment of conviction and dismiss all charges in the 1975 murder of a Detroit woman. Watkins had spent more than two-thirds of his life in prison for no reason.
“I should have been in jail. I should have been dead. I should have been insane,” explained Earl “Gunny” Christensen, a veterans treatment court graduate, about his life up until he found help at the court three years earlier.
If you ask Mike Botke to describe exactly what Teen Court is all about, he tells you straight up. “The Teen Court Program really is about holding young people accountable and giving them a second chance in life,” explains Botke. “Because we all know what happens to people when you have a criminal record. We don’t want these young people to have a criminal record.”
