News

When Rasheed Ogunmade met 2L Bethany Anderson, he was in dire straits. His employer, a local printing company, had terminated his employment and was contesting unemployment benefits. A Nigerian immigrant and father of four, Ogunmade had represented himself at the initial hearing and lost. He now lacked money to support his family and faced imminent eviction from his apartment.

Bert J. McKasy ’68, who was elected to three terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives and later served as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Commerce, passed away peacefully at his home in Mendota Heights on Feb. 8. McKasy had undergone three years of chemotherapy for colon cancer until deciding in August 2018 to enter hospice care. He was 77.

Joining the faculty as a visiting professor this semester is Joe McGrath, a lecturer/ assistant professor at University College Dublin’s Sutherland School of Law. McGrath has researched and written extensively on white-collar crime, and his work has been published in books, journals, and national newspapers. In addition to white collar crime, he lectures on financial regulation and corporate governance.

What courses are you teaching while you are with the University of Minnesota Law School?

The University of Minnesota human rights faculty has been awarded a $325,000 Grand Challenges Research Grant. The grant will support “The Minnesota Model,” an interdisciplinary initiative to understand and propose solutions to the recent backsliding in human rights around the world. This project builds on and expands the Minnesota Human Rights Lab.

World Without Genocide, a St. Paul-based human rights organization, recently awarded Benjamin B. Ferencz Fellowships in Human Rights and Law for the 2018-19 academic year to 3Ls Abigail Hencheck and N. Georgette Marling.

The fellowships provide financial support for work on core areas of human rights including research, policy development, and action at local, state, national, and international levels.

Hencheck was selected to work on legislation to address gender discrimination and violence. Marling was selected to work on legislation to address climate change.

Eduardo Castro is a 2L engaged in numerous student activities, including serving as co-president of the Latinx Law Students Association. Recently, he led a public discussion with CNN legal analyst Laura Coates '05, the featured speaker at the Law School's 4th annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation (See video).    

Duluth-based energy company Allete, Inc., the parent company of Minnesota Power, recently named Bethany Owen ’95 as its new president. She is the first woman ever to hold the role.

Owen has been with the company for 16 years in a number of legal and operational positions, including, most recently, as senior vice president and chief legal and administrative officer.

Owen will oversee the publicly traded company’s growth strategy and its five operating divisions: Minnesota Power, Superior Water Light and Power, Allete Clean Energy, U.S. Water Services and BNI Energy.

Olivia Judd ’18 puts the lessons she learned at the James H. Binger Center for New Americans to work every day at the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago, where she is a staff attorney with the organization's LGBT Immigrant Rights Initiative. She says the work she did at the Center was a “huge factor” in her readiness for life as an attorney.     

In what ways did you find your participation in the Binger Center valuable?

Mary Georgevich ’18  is currently a law clerk for Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Anne K. McKeig. As a student, Georgevich was involved in clinical work at the James H. Binger Center for New Americans in both her 2L and 3L years. In reflecting back on the experience, she says her involvement was the highlight of her law school career.

In what ways did you find your participation in the clinic valuable?

Derbin Kenneth Lindgren Jr. ’58, the last surviving founding partner of the Twin Cities law firm Larkin, Hoffman, Daly & Lindgren, died peacefully on Jan. 16 at the age of 86.