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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As a teenager, Yaritssa Plasencia (Blatchford Class, 2022) knew she wanted to pursue a career in physical therapy when she got such wonderful care from a physical therapist after a bad car accident.
“Woof!” There are over 63 million United States households that know this sound when they come home from school or work. It’s the sound of your precious pup who keeps you company during the midst of your studies or sane after a long day at the office. Many of these furry friends were procured from a breeder where the buyer was obligated to sign a puppy contract. The general purpose of a puppy contract is to protect the dog. But how far can a breeder go before a court will not enforce the contract? Though these musings do not provide legal advice or opinions, following are some general points to consider if you purchase a puppy from a breeder or sell a puppy to a buyer.
Stephanie Ray was a very quiet child, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have a lot to say. "I think people found my opinionated self quite a shock, especially since I didn't really speak much as a child," laughed Ray. Born in Medellin, Colombia, Ray came to New York City to live with her adoptive parents, Stratton Ray and Virginia Ann Wright, in 1992.
LCloud storage, AI, and the potential for a national practice may influence practice rules. Legal ethics: It’s not a class in your first-year curriculum. But it’s a concept that will follow your every decision as a lawyer.
Cooley Law student Heather Silcott knew from the moment she rescued a labradoodle named Bruno from an auction that animals needed lawyers.
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Tampa Mayor Jane Castor may have named Cooley student Brittany Lindsay a COVID-19 Hero of Tampa Bay, but her hero status started well before 2020. In March of 2020, Lindsay was a Senior Program Director at the local YMCA supervising the Office of Youth Development. She was responsible for essential workers’ children. When daycare shut down, it was her immediate responsibility to make all daycare options safe for the children of essential workers, like police, firefighters, and those in the military. In essence, Lindsay became an essential worker tasked to help pave the way for essential workers and their families.
Yes, that statement exaggerates—but only slightly. Academics must publish or perish, meaning to lose their chance at a tenured position. Lawyers, on the other hand, don’t lose their law license when they fail to publish. Yet they lose a critical professional-development opportunity.
Starting a new law school from scratch is not a simple matter.Cooley Law School’s founder, Justice Thomas E. Brennan, had many concerns, large and small, to attend to, from hiring faculty to acquiring furniture. He devised the school’s innovative year-round schedule, created the Student Bar Association and Scholastic Review Board, composed the school’s motto, and designed its distinctive diplomas. Another of Brennan’s concerns was that his students—also new, of course—achieve success at the new school. To that end he typed up a one-page list of suggestions he titled “Judge Brennan’s Ten Commandments for Law School.” For several years, Xerox copies were included in new-student welcome packets. In later years, some first-year professors attached copies to their course syllabus. But as far as is known, the “Ten Commandments” were never typeset or digitalized. . . until now. Here, preserved on the internet, is the handout that helped the first generations of Cooley law students achieve success.
Blog author Cooley Law School Distinguished Professor Emeritus Otto Stockmeyer devoted 35 years to teaching first-year law courses. In an update of a 2017 blog post he offers his thoughts on the important role of the first year in training successful lawyers.
