Law School News

After a nationwide search, the Board of Directors of the Washington, D.C.-based Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) has named Mee Moua (’97) its new president and executive director, effective March 19, 2012.

Robert J. Sheran (’39), the only judge appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court twice by two different governors, passed away at his home in Bloomington, Minn., on Jan. 25, 2012, at age 96. Sheran was appointed an associate justice by Gov. Elmer L. Anderson in 1963 and resigned in 1970 to return to Lindquist & Vennum, where he was a partner and focused on mediation and arbitration. In 1973, he was appointed chief justice by Gov. Wendell Anderson and served in that role for eight years.

President Obama has selected Scott DeLisi (’80) to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Uganda, pending Senate approval, the White House announced Jan. 24, 2012. The President also appointed DeLisi to his current post, U.S. Ambassador to Nepal, which he has held since March 2010.

Carl Thunem (’07) has accepted the position of assistant county attorney for Stevens County, Minn., offered to him by the county Board of Commissioners on Jan. 18. Thunem is a captain with the Minnesota-based Army National Guard Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, deployed to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, and will begin work this spring when he returns to Minnesota. He was working as a judicial clerk in southern Minnesota's Jackson County before his deployment.

Terry Vajgrt (’89) has been appointed to Minnesota's Fifth Judicial District Court bench, Gov. Mark Dayton's office announced Jan. 18, replacing Judge Timothy K. Connell, who retired last October. Vajgrt will have chambers in Pipestone and Rock counties, two of the 15 counties in southwestern Minnesota encompassed by the Fifth Judicial District.

Terence Flynn, one of three new members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) given recess appointments by President Obama and sworn in at NLRB headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 9, 2012, has selected Peter J. Carlton (’96) as his chief counsel.

Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will speak at 11:00 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, at the University of Minnesota's Coffman Memorial Union Theater, 300 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis.

Kyle M. Thomas (’93) has been appointed director of the Civil Division of the Ramsey County Attorney's Office by Ramsey County Attorney John J. Choi. The Civil Division provides a wide array of legal services to the County Board and its departments, including general legal advice, legality review of policies and procedures, drafting of proposals and contracts, and more.

Jane E. Larson (’85), the University of Wisconsin Law School’s Voss-Bascom Professor at her retirement in October 2011, passed away at her home in Madison on Dec. 24, 2011, at age 53. In its online announcement, the law school called her "a brilliant scholar" and "an immensely popular teacher."

Clinical Professor Nancy Cook and Associate Professor William McGeveran have been named Residential Fellows at the University’s Institute for Advanced Study for fall 2012. They are among a total of 11 Fellows selected out of 45 applicants from across the University this year who will be released from teaching obligations to pursue their research interests full time in the interdisciplinary community of scholars at the Institute.