News
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Daniel Schueppert (’15) Wins International Award for Essay on Climate Change and the Law
January 28, 2015The Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) has announced the winners of its Legal Essay Contest 2014. Third-year Law School student Daniel Schueppert (’15) was named a silver award winner for his essay “Climate Change, the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification and Multi-Level Governance.” His essay, along with those of the four other winning law students, will be published by the CISDL in a special working paper series later this year.
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Students in Detainee Rights Clinic Work to Protect the Rights of Immigration Detainees with Mental Disorders
January 23, 2015Student attorneys in the Law School’s Detainee Rights Clinic recently won rulings on appeal for two clients with mental disorders who were not screened for competency during the merits phase of their proceedings before the immigration court.
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Immigration and Human Rights Clinic Provides Successful Advocacy for Three Clients
January 22, 2015The Law School’s Immigration and Human Rights Clinic, part of the Center for New Americans (CNA), has recently seen its efforts lead to positive outcomes in three asylum-related cases.
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U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Arguments This Week in Case Litigated by the Center for New Americans with Faegre Baker Daniels and the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota
January 14, 2015On Wednesday, January 14, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Mellouli v. Holder, a collaborative litigation effort of the Center for New Americans attorneys Kate Evans and Benjamin Casper (’97) led by our partners Faegre Baker Daniels attorneys Jon Laramore, Lucetta Pope, Daniel Pulliam; and with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota attorneys John Keller and Sheila Stuhlman (’00). Faegre Baker Daniels Partner Jon Laramore will argue the case for the team. Law students Anna Finstrom (’15), Caitlinrose Fisher (’15), and Julia Decker (’14), now a Robina Fellow with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, have been invaluable members of the litigation team.
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Asylum Victory After Settlement at U.S. Supreme Court
January 8, 2015Capping years of collaborative litigation that ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court, Center for New Americans’ (CNA) client Pe Paul Goromou was granted asylum on January 8 by an immigration judge. The CNA’s Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic, along with co-counsel from Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, L.L.P., and The Advocates for Human Rights, filed a petition for certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and correct the government’s misinterpretation of a controversial statute that requires most persons fleeing persecution to apply for asylum within one year of their arrival in the United States.
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Nicole Starr (’03) Appointed Judge in Minnesota's Second District
December 31, 2014Nicole Starr, a 2003 honors graduate of the Law School, has been appointed by Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton to serve as a judge in the state’s Second Judicial District. Her appointment fills one of two vacancies on the bench created when Judges Paulette Flynn and Gregg Johnson retired earlier this year. The Second Judicial District, with 29 judges, 4 referees, and 2 magistrates, encompasses all of Ramsey County and includes the capital city of St. Paul. In making the appointment, the governor called Starr “extremely accomplished” and praised her “exemplary commitment to public service.”
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Janine Kern (’85) Appointed to South Dakota Supreme Court
December 4, 2014Janine Kern (’85) has been appointed a justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court, replacing retiring justice John K. Konenkamp. She had previously served for 18 years as a judge in the state’s 7th Judicial Circuit. In announcing Kern’s appointment to the five-justice panel, Gov. Dennis Daugaard praised her “rigorous legal mind, her conscientious work ethic, and her commitment to fairness and equal justice under the law.” Kern will be the 49th justice in the history of South Dakota’s high court, and the third female justice.
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Steve Simon (’96) Elected Minnesota Secretary of State
November 24, 2014Steve Simon (’96) was elected Minnesota Secretary of State earlier this month, winning a close race by a margin of 22,000 out of 1.9 million votes cast. He will take office in January.
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Detainee Rights Clinic Students Secure New Hearing for Nevada Client
November 20, 2014Student attorneys in the University of Minnesota Law School’s Detainee Rights Clinic have secured a remand from the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) for a client who had been detained in the state of Nevada.
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Kristi Rudelius-Palmer, HRC Co-Director, Participates in Mock U.S. Senate Hearing on Children’s Rights Legislation in Boston
November 20, 2014On Nov. 20, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child celebrated its 25th anniversary. In honor of this milestone, Kristi Rudelius-Palmer, co-director of the Human Rights Center, and the Law School’s Fulbright Humphrey Fellow Vered Windman, participated in a mock U.S. Senate hearing on children’s rights legislation at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston, which will officially open in March. The institute has a replica of the U.S. Senate Chambers where the simulation with 30 teachers took place. “We need to have our young people become more civically engaged, active leaders, fostering societies based on principles and practices of equality, non-discrimination, non-violence, and responsibility around the globe,” Rudelius-Palmer said.