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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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  • Taking the High Road: One Couple, Two Advocates
    Taking the High Road: One Couple, Two Advocates

    Taking the High Road: One Couple, Two Advocates

    For some of us, life takes us down roads we planned all along to take, leading us directly to the destination we desired. For others, taking one road leads to another, and then another, until suddenly we figure out that the path we are on has been a direct route to our self-actualization. For one Cooley couple, Michael and Antonia Lamb, their roads were known and unknown, but both found the road to law school, then to each other, the path to a destination that has been fulfilling, both personally and professionally.

  • Ret. Brig. Gen. Michael C.H. McDaniel: Day of Remembrance 9/11 Salute
    Ret. Brig. Gen. Michael C.H. McDaniel: Day of Remembrance 9/11 Salute

    Ret. Brig. Gen. Michael C.H. McDaniel: Day of Remembrance 9/11 Salute

    WMU-Cooley Associate Dean and Ret. Brig. Gen. Michael C.H. McDaniel was the keynote speaker during the 2018 Grand Rapids Community Day of Remembrance and Scout Salute, an event honoring those who died and the first responders who went into action during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Below is his speech.

  • Want to Make A Difference? Law Students Are Doing That at Cooley
    Want to Make A Difference? Law Students Are Doing That at Cooley

    Want to Make A Difference? Law Students Are Doing That at Cooley

    You want to go to law school because you want to do more, you want to help others … you want to make a DIFFERENCE! Lawyers have the opportunity almost daily to practice their craft and change the lives of other human beings for the better. At Cooley Law School, this kind of service is a core principle — during and beyond law school — because we think giving back makes better lawyers and better people.

  • Corporate Annual Reports - Plain Language's Last Frontier?
    Corporate Annual Reports - Plain Language's Last Frontier?

    Corporate Annual Reports - Plain Language's Last Frontier?

    Back in 1979, Rudolf Flesch brought the plain-language movement to the public’s attention with his book How to Write Plain English: A Book for Lawyers & Consumers. Since then, plain language has made great progress in the fields of law and business. It’s all chronicled in Joseph Kimble’s 2012 book Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please: The Case for Plain Language in Business, Government, and Law.

  • Sept. 14, 2001 on the Cooley Law School Steps: Remarks by Then President and Founder Thomas E. Brennan
    Sept. 14, 2001 on the Cooley Law School Steps: Remarks by Then President and Founder Thomas E. Brennan

    Sept. 14, 2001 on the Cooley Law School Steps: Remarks by Then President and Founder Thomas E. Brennan

    After closing down the law school immediately following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, then-President and Founder Thomas E. Brennan gathered the Cooley community — a family of students and faculty, staff and graduates, family and friends — to share in their heartbreak, fear, disbelief, and grief surrounding the horrific events that happened a few days earlier. Below are Judge Brennan's remarks.

  • You can do anything; it all comes down to what you want
    You can do anything; it all comes down to what you want

    You can do anything; it all comes down to what you want

    To say Victoria McCormick is dedicated to her country, her legal studies, and to service is to state the obvious. Not only did she work as a JAG Corps Paralegal Specialist for the Michigan Army National Guard, she worked as a paralegal for the Loomis Law Firm and Cooley Law School's Innocence Project, all while attending law school at Cooley Law School's Lansing campus.

  • Force. Fear. Coercion. How human trafficking victims fall prey and how to stop modern day slavery.
    Force. Fear. Coercion. How human trafficking victims fall prey and how to stop modern day slavery.

    Force. Fear. Coercion. How human trafficking victims fall prey and how to stop modern day slavery.

    This blog was originally published on June 23, 2015. There are plenty of myths and misconceptions about human trafficking. Some believe that human trafficking does not occur in the United States. Others think that human trafficking victims are only foreign born, or that they are always poor. Some have the misconception that human trafficking is only sex trafficking. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  • Cooley graduate Josh Mikrut: Huge, Gaping Hole and Need for Immigration Attorneys
    Cooley graduate Josh Mikrut: Huge, Gaping Hole and Need for Immigration Attorneys

    Cooley graduate Josh Mikrut: Huge, Gaping Hole and Need for Immigration Attorneys

    Josh Mikrut spent his entire academic career in West Michigan, including his undergrad years at Grand Valley State University majoring in political science and philosophy (with a minor in Spanish), and his master’s degree in international development administration at Western Michigan University, where he also met his wife.

  • Cooley Graduate Andrew Hudson: Path from Teacher to Lawyer Inspired Choice
    Cooley Graduate Andrew Hudson: Path from Teacher to Lawyer Inspired Choice

    Cooley Graduate Andrew Hudson: Path from Teacher to Lawyer Inspired Choice

    This blog was originally published on Sep 9, 2016. It made sense for Andrew Hudson, now an assistant attorney general for the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, to go into education for his first career.