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Derek Matthews gives next generation of Cooley Law School students a start in legal profession in Tampa

Derek Matthews gives next generation of Cooley Law School students a start in legal profession in Tampa

Derek Matthews (Vinson Class, 2017) is no stranger to giving back to Cooley Law School in the Tampa Bay region. Outside of legal practice, Matthews sponsors the annual Cooley Alumni Golf Outing in Tampa and participates in alumni events and mentoring programs to build relationships with faculty and fellow graduates.

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  • Robin Sutara: Unassuming Trailblazer
    Robin Sutara: Unassuming Trailblazer

    Robin Sutara: Unassuming Trailblazer

    Robin Sutara (Witherell Class, 2010) has always been a trailblazer. Perhaps an unassuming trailblazer, but she has definitely carved out a career and life path that has taken her to extraordinary places and heights. Sutara, who twice graduated from Cooley, garnering her JD in 2010 and then returning for her Masters of Law in Intellectual Property and graduating in 2013, was named as Microsoft UK’s first Chief Data Officer in January 2021. She is responsible for collaborating with Microsoft’s customers throughout the UK, learning about how they leverage data and artificial intelligence, and working closely with them to create new solutions for a variety of functions and across multiple industries, including retail, banking and healthcare. Sutara has been with Microsoft for more than two decades, serving in a number of leadership positions on the way to her current role with the company. Sutara’s previous roles included consumer support engineer, technical account manager, business operations manager and chief of staff, where she was responsible for all operations and business management functions for the corporate vice president for the Azure Data engineering organization. Azure is a cloud computing service operated by Microsoft for applications management via Microsoft-managed data centers.

  • Yveline Dalmacy: Charting Her Own Path of Service
    Yveline Dalmacy: Charting Her Own Path of Service

    Yveline Dalmacy: Charting Her Own Path of Service

    What does being a lawyer mean to Yveline Dalmacy? Well, it doesn’t mean driving the fanciest car or living in the biggest house. To her it means touching and empowering as many lives as you can in your lifetime. That’s the legacy she wants to leave. As a proud Haitian who immigrated to New York when she was 14 years old, she met many challenges but still managed to help others along the way.

  • Hon. Kwamé Rowe: Don’t let others tell you that you can’t do something
    Hon. Kwamé Rowe: Don’t let others tell you that you can’t do something

    Hon. Kwamé Rowe: Don’t let others tell you that you can’t do something

    On Thursday, July 22, 2021, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the appointment of Kwamé L. Rowe to the 6th Circuit Court of Oakland County, in southeast Michigan. Rowe served as a special assistant prosecuting attorney with the Trafficking Unit for Oakland County, working on felony cases involving human trafficking, complex narcotics, and homicide.

  • The American Bar Association Wants You To Know More About Multicultural Lawyering
    The American Bar Association Wants You To Know More About Multicultural Lawyering

    The American Bar Association Wants You To Know More About Multicultural Lawyering

    If you are an American lawyer in the 21st century, you need to understand how to work with clients, judges, and other professionals from diverse backgrounds. The ABA has focused on guiding lawyers to learn these tools.

  • Unsung Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement: A Pregnant Teen, Two Gay Men, and a Gender-nonconforming Woman
    Unsung Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement: A Pregnant Teen, Two Gay Men, and a Gender-nonconforming Woman

    Unsung Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement: A Pregnant Teen, Two Gay Men, and a Gender-nonconforming Woman

    Many people helped make the modern Civil Rights Movement, which aimed to get equal treatment of all Americans regardless of race, gender, and sexual identity, successful. Like many aspects of history, though, only a handful of people emerged as the "leaders" or "figureheads" of the movement, for example, Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

  • A Look at the Civil Side of Fraud
    A Look at the Civil Side of Fraud

    A Look at the Civil Side of Fraud

    Fraud is the deliberate misrepresentation of a material fact, made with the intention of inducing reliance in another person, which causes a loss of money or property. It can have both criminal and civil consequences.

  • Jon Kohler: Brokering and Conserving Natural Lands
    Jon Kohler: Brokering and Conserving Natural Lands

    Jon Kohler: Brokering and Conserving Natural Lands

    When you read articles featuring Jon Kohler (Adams Class, 1997) about his success as a land broker, you read about the deals that include large swaths of land in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. You also read about the value of the land and how the deals were brokered. What you don’t read about in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and others is Kohler’s passion for conservation and the need to rehabilitate and maintain many of the lands his company brokers in their most natural states.

  • Professor Amanda Fisher: Teaching, reading, and writing; there’s nothing better

    Professor Amanda Fisher: Teaching, reading, and writing; there’s nothing better

    According to Cooley professor Amanda Fisher, the resources and attention that students get at Cooley far surpass those at other law schools. In fact, she says the law school’s caring atmosphere and faculty accessibility translates into positive outcomes for students.

  • The Study of Remedies, Law's Cure for Wrongdoing, is in Declining Health.
    The Study of Remedies, Law's Cure for Wrongdoing, is in Declining Health.

    The Study of Remedies, Law's Cure for Wrongdoing, is in Declining Health.

    I have previously blogged about the unfortunate case of Peevyhouse v. Garland Coal. In a poll of law professors, Willie and Lucille Peevyhouse were voted “The Most Screwed Victims in Case-law History.”