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Isabel Zagazeta: From Toronto to Tampa, Building a Future in Law

Isabel Zagazeta: From Toronto to Tampa, Building a Future in Law

Isabel Zagazeta is a 3L J.D. candidate and Dean’s Fellow at Cooley Law School in Tampa, Florida. Originally from Canada, she earned her undergraduate degree at Wilfrid Laurier University before moving to Florida to study law at Cooley. She has earned book awards, served on Law Review, mentored incoming students, and was part of Cooley’s Moot Court team that recently won first place at the 2026 Robert Orseck Moot Court Competition. With a passion for legal writing and healthcare compliance, Isabel is building a strong foundation for a future in law at Cooley.

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  • With buoyant spirit, Fiji models reconciliation & a welcoming culture
    With buoyant spirit, Fiji models reconciliation & a welcoming culture

    With buoyant spirit, Fiji models reconciliation & a welcoming culture

    Kimberly E. O'Leary is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Cooley Law School, and co-author with Mable Martin-Scott of the book Multicultural Lawyering: Navigating the Culture of the Law, the Lawyer, and the Client. She is now retired from full-time law teaching, but continues to blog about multicultural lawyering and her travels with her husband, Paul, in the blog Rocinantes on the Road. Below is an excerpt from her blog story called With buoyant spirit, Fiji models reconciliation & a welcoming culture.

  • New Zealand - respect, heart, & willingness to tackle the hard questions raised by multiculturalism
    New Zealand - respect, heart, & willingness to tackle the hard questions raised by multiculturalism

    New Zealand - respect, heart, & willingness to tackle the hard questions raised by multiculturalism

    Kimberly E. O'Leary is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Cooley Law School, and co-author with Mable Martin-Scott of the book Multicultural Lawyering: Navigating the Culture of the Law, the Lawyer, and the Client. She is now retired from full-time law teaching, but continues to blog about multicultural lawyering and her travels with her husband, Paul, in the blog Rocinantes on the Road. Below is an excerpt from her blog story called New Zealand - respect, heart, & willingness to tackle the hard questions raised by multiculturalism.

  • Cooley Law Professor Jeffrey Swartz Provides Analysis on Trump Case and the Southern District of Florida
    Cooley Law Professor Jeffrey Swartz Provides Analysis on Trump Case and the Southern District of Florida

    Cooley Law Professor Jeffrey Swartz Provides Analysis on Trump Case and the Southern District of Florida

    I have listened to many of the "experts" on the national networks describe the length of time it will take to bring the indictment against Donald Trump to trial. The estimate of up to a year is just not accurate. I am a former Miami judge, who, before and after the bench, practiced as a criminal defense attorney in the Federal Courts before the judges of the Southern District of Florida (SDFL) and many other districts around the country. Every district is different and every judge within those districts have different demeanors.

  • Cooley Dean’s Fellow Sarah Tanner: Leading with Character and Kindness
    Cooley Dean’s Fellow Sarah Tanner: Leading with Character and Kindness

    Cooley Dean’s Fellow Sarah Tanner: Leading with Character and Kindness

    All her life, Sarah Tanner was never one to get herself pigeonholed into one way of thinking. In fact, she always had a healthy love for debate.

  • Kyndal Midkiff: Cooley Law School Dean's Fellow Feature
    Kyndal Midkiff: Cooley Law School Dean's Fellow Feature

    Kyndal Midkiff: Cooley Law School Dean's Fellow Feature

    When Cooley Law School student Kyndal Midkiff was younger, her mother worked in a small law firm in Palm Harbor, Florida, with an “amazing attorney.” She thought it was a cool environment and was impressed by how the attorney interacted with his clients and how appreciative and thankful those clients were with his care.

  • Samantha Hulliberger Feature: Dream Job with U.S. Air Force JAG Corps Realized
    Samantha Hulliberger Feature: Dream Job with U.S. Air Force JAG Corps Realized

    Samantha Hulliberger Feature: Dream Job with U.S. Air Force JAG Corps Realized

    It was the phone call Samantha Hulliberger had been waiting on for five years. When the second-year Cooley Law School student picked up the phone that day, she wasn’t sure what kind of news would be waiting on the other end of the connection. She soon found out.

  • Courtney Yonker: Cooley Law School Dean’s Fellow Feature
    Courtney Yonker: Cooley Law School Dean’s Fellow Feature

    Courtney Yonker: Cooley Law School Dean’s Fellow Feature

    “It was just a feeling,” said Cooley Law School student Courtney Yonker, when she tried to explain how she ended up going to law school and why she chose Cooley Law School. At first the thought of law school was scary, but then she remembered that her father, Marc Yonker, not only got through law school, but has loved his career ever since. “It’s just like what you see in the movies when everyone talks about law school, it’s like this nightmare,” explained Yonker. “I used to hear everyone talk about the cold calling in class, and, oh my gosh, it seemed so terrifying. But then I thought of my dad who went to law school – he went to Cooley’s Lansing campus – and he had such a great experience.”

  • The Semi-Legendary, Borderline Spectacular, Mostly Memorable Seniors–Faculty Basketball Games
    The Semi-Legendary, Borderline Spectacular, Mostly Memorable Seniors–Faculty Basketball Games

    The Semi-Legendary, Borderline Spectacular, Mostly Memorable Seniors–Faculty Basketball Games

    For a little more than a decade beginning in the late 1980s, on the morning of graduation, the Cooley Law School graduating seniors and the faculty engaged in a game of basketball.

  • Modern Legal Education: What It Is and Why It Is So Important

    Modern Legal Education: What It Is and Why It Is So Important

    WHAT IS “MODERN LEGAL EDUCATION”? Does it describe a particular program? Is it a term that outlines a specific set of programs with rules and protocols to follow? Or does “modern legal education” simply encompass anything since the time when the fictional Professor Kingsfield terrified first-term students in John Jay Osborn Jr.’s “The Paper Chase.” The answer is a little bit of all of the above, plus the opinions, projects, and ideas of a vast number of legal scholars dedicated to putting forth their ideas in publication.