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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It’s that time of year. October 31st is hiding around the corner. Halloween and haunted houses. Both scary business. Cooley Law School Professors give practical advice to home owners with chilling concerns for more than just one day out of the year. This blog originally posted on October 26, 2016.
Blog author Otto Stockmeyer, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, was a Commissioner and Research Director at the Michigan Court of Appeals for 12 years before joining the Cooley Law School faculty in 1977. His role in the formation of the court’s research staff is described here.
In mid-August, WMU-Cooley got the green light by the American Bar Association (ABA) Council on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar to offer 60-90 credits at the main Western Michigan University campus. The new additional credits can make a big difference for students in the greater Kalamazoo area who are considering going to go to law school there. But if proximity alone isn’t enough, here are five things to know about Kalamazoo.
On Thursday, July 22, 2021, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the appointment of OCBA member Kwame L. Rowe to the 6th Circuit Court of Oakland County. Kwame L. Rowe currently serves as an assistant prosecutor for Oakland County. In his current role, Rowe is a special assistant prosecuting attorney with the Trafficking Unit working on felony cases involving human trafficking, complex narcotics, and homicide. He previously served as a clerk under Judge Leo Bowman of the 6th Circuit Court. Rowe earned his Juris Doctor degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Michigan State University’s James Madison College. He is a member of the Oakland County Bar Association, Straker Bar Association, and Wolverine Bar Association, and he serves as a volunteer at Pontiac High School. Kwame lives in Pontiac with his wife, Gabriel, and children. On Friday, August 13, 2021, Judge Rowe was sworn in at a private swearing-in ceremony held at the Oakland County Commissioners Auditorium in Pontiac, Michigan. Judge Rowe with Cooley Professors Martha Moore (left) and Joan Vestrand (right).
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
