News

CaringBridge Chief Executive Officer Liwanag Ojala ’98 will be the Law School’s 2021 commencement speaker.

CaringBridge is a nonprofit organization that has more than 43 million unique users across all 50 states and 236 countries and territories around the world. Ojala joined CaringBridge in 2014, first as chief operating officer, and then becoming CEO in 2016, with a goal to reinvigorate all aspects of the pioneering organization, leveraging her previous legal and ecommerce experience. 

Lee Bearmon '56 passed away on March 14. He received his bachelor’s degree with from the University of Minnesota, and received his law degree with honors. In 1999, he was recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of the Law School. 

Mirella Ceja-Orozco, along with Elizer Darris, was recently appointed co-executive director of the Minnesota Freedom Fund. MFF’s mission is to end cash bail in the State of Minnesota and provide bail relief in the interim. The group, once operating on a shoestring, made national headlines last summer when it received more than $30 million in donations in the wake of the civil unrest following the brutal killing of George Floyd.

Four Minnesota Law students recently coordinated and participated in high-level policy discussions with members of the Biden transition team and incoming administration as part of the 2021 Summit for Civil Rights.

Read about the students' experience, which included connecting with a cabinet nominee and Biden transition team leaders, in a special online extra in the digital edition of Minnesota Law magazine.

Greer Edwin Lockhart ’53 passed away peacefully earlier this year at the age of 91. 

Lockhart the first in his family to obtain a college degree, graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1951. He then went on to get his law degree from the Minnesota Law in 1953. He later was an adjunct professor of trial practice at the Law School and was active in fundraising and other rolls as an alumnus. 

The American Law Institute (ALI) has announced that Professor Francis X. Shen will receive its Early Career Scholars Medal. The award is presented every other year to one or two outstanding early-career law professors whose work has the potential to influence improvements in the law. 

A team of four Minnesota Law students emerged as Midwest Region champions in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) National Patent Application Drafting Competition.

The team defeated Notre Dame Law School in the final round to take the championship. As a result of the win, the Minnesota Law team advances to the National Finals, which will be held at USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Va. on April 9.

Minnesota Law students and teams fared well at the William E. McGee National Civil Rights Moot Court Competition, which, for the first time in its history, was held entirely online.

The 2021 competition was held March 5-6. Student competitors and volunteer judges met in a Zoom courtroom for the arguments. A volunteer “bailiff” was in the Zoom room ready to help with any tech-related questions. In another first, the championship round was livestreamed on YouTube.

Did you know Minnesota Law's Career Center has held more than 6,400 online counseling appointments with students since the start of the academic year?

Learn more about the many innovative and flexible ways that students and employers are building connections, job searching, and hiring in a world gone virtual in a special online-only article in the digital edition of Minnesota Law magazine.

Professor Christopher Turoski, director of Patent Law Programs and lecturer in law, has received a key endorsement for comments that he submitted to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) advocating for greater student participation and diversity in the patent practice bar by opening up more opportunities to those not in traditional J.D. program.