Law School News

The University of Minnesota's Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences, housed in the Law School, has been awarded a grant of $911,559 from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Principal Investigator is Prof. Susan Wolf. The grant will support a two-year project to develop normative consensus recommendations on managing incidental findings and individual research results in genomic research using biobanks and large archives.

Professor David Weissbrodt was recently re-elected Chair of the Board of Trustees of the U.N. Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery at the Board’s 14th annual session in Geneva. The five members of the Board of Trustees are selected for their relevant experience in human rights and contemporary forms of slavery. Equitable geographical distribution and gender balance of the Board are also considered. Members are appointed for three-year, once-renewable terms.

On Oct. 22-23, 2009, the University of Minnesota Law School is hosting a conference entitled "Exceptional Courts and Military Commissions: Comparative and Policy Perspectives." The conference is sponsored by the Robina Foundation, the Office of International Programs, and the Law School in conjunction with the University of Ulster's Transitional Justice Institute.

Joseph K. Thiegs, a 1999 graduate, is returning to the Law School to oversee alumni relations activities and the annual giving program and to work directly with major donors in his new role with the Office of Advancement. He began his new duties September 22.

The first Twin Cities Law & Society Conference will be held from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009 in Mondale Hall, Rooms 45 and 55. The conference is cooperatively hosted by the University of Minnesota Law School, the Department of Sociology, the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Policy, and the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts.

Attorney and political activist Ralph Nader will present “Law School, Law Firms and the Corporate Supremacists: The Struggle for Justice” at the University of Minnesota Law School on Sept. 30, 2009.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009—On Sept. 17, 2009, the University of Minnesota Law School, on behalf of the entire University of Minnesota system, will once again present a program commemorating the U.S. Constitution. One CLE credit has been requested.

James M. Lyon ('77) has been named acting president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and will remain in the position until a permanent president is selected. He has been with the Minneapolis Federal Reserve since 1977, first as a staff attorney and since 2000 as chief operating officer and first vice president.

E. Thomas Sullivan, University of Minnesota senior vice president and provost and the Law School's Julius E. Davis Professor, has been named co-chair of the Judicial Selection Committee charged with recommending a nominee for Minnesota's U.S. District Court. Ellen Luger, executive director of the General Mills Foundation, was also named co-chair.