Recent Cooley Law School graduate Morgan Prybys is turning a longtime dream of becoming a lawyer into a career focused on helping others. Prybys, who began her professional journey working in security before becoming a paralegal, was recently recognized with the Cooley Alumni Association Distinguished Student Award at the law school’s Honors Convocation. The award recognized her academic journey, involvement and commitment to supporting those around her. During her time at Cooley, Prybys was involved with several student organizations and served as a teaching assistant. She also gained hands-on experience through Cooley’s SixtyPlus ElderLaw Clinic, building on her interest in estate planning and elder law. Her legal interests also include compliance, an area in which she earned a Certificate of Merit. Her journey from doubting whether law school was possible to earning her J.D. and receiving recognition for her accomplishments reflects the persistence and growth that shaped her legal education. Read more about Morgan Prybys and her journey in the Legal News.
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This story on the Opioid Crisis is reprinted with permission by Michigan Lawyers Weekly and author Thomas Franz. The story originally published in the Feb. 21, 2018 issue of Michigan Lawyers Weekly.
What does it mean to fly to the other side of the world for study and adventure? Students participating in Cooley’s “down under” program are finding out.
Cooley law student Osinachi "Osi" Onukogu, events coordinator of the Grand Rapids Black Law Student Association (BLSA), feels her role in the organization is to bridge the gap between community and the law school by understanding and contributing to the community from which you live, even while in law school. Osi hails from her hometown of Newark, New Jersey. Find out below what Osi learned at the Taste of Soul event and why she is enlightened.
I was walking to the bus one morning around 7:30 a.m., and could hear the birds, feel the breeze, and see the plants. I felt completely connected to my surroundings.
Albania’s history goes back to the Middle Ages, coming under Ottoman rule in the 15th century, where it remained until 1912. During the next several decades, Albania struggled to find its way, changing from principality, to republic to monarchy, and finally becoming a communist state after WWII. In 1990 when the communist regime crumbled, Albania rose from the ashes, albeit amid devastating economic and social problems. The unrest resulted in the flight of thousands of Albanians to other countries, including the United States where large Albanian communities exist in Detroit, New York and Boston.
As the Supreme Court has reminded us repeatedly, students at public schools do not “shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate.” Administrators at public schools would therefore do well to tread carefully when dealing with students who wish to speak out in protest after the mass shooting in Parkland.
In February 2018, Western Michigan University Cooley Law School’s Tampa Bay campus launched a new ship and welcomed a new captain — St. Michael’s Legal Center for Women and Children, Inc. and director and U.S. Coast Guard (U.S.C.G.) Auxiliary Commander Michael Shea.
Students participating in the Cooley Study Abroad program in New Zealand contributed to a program for Kaumatua (Maori Elders) at the Kirikiriroa Marae in Hamilton (Kirikiriroa), New Zealand. In a day of meaningful cultural exchange, the students, along with faculty from Cooley, the University of Waikato Te Piringa Faculty of Law, and the McCaw Lewis law firm staff, were formally invited onto the marae by way of a formal powhiri.
