Thursday May 15, 2008

I returned just a few days ago from Miami, Florida, the ninth stop on our national tour to assist veterans. (Previous stops have included San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Pensacola, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Atlanta.) Each week, we fly down anywhere from three to six students to wherever our Mobile Law Office happens to be, so the students can spend the week assisting veterans with their federal benefits claims.

The response has been truly overwhelming. In each city, UDM provides an educational session for veterans to learn about the federal benefits process. After that session comes nearly two full days of individual benefits interviews in which veterans can sit down with students, faculty and local pro bono attorneys to discuss their own particular cases. Finally, UDM provides a full-day training session for local attorneys in how to handle federal veterans benefits cases pro bono.

On a nationwide level (including both our national tour and our Michigan tour), the faculty and students of our veterans clinic have now met with about 2000 veterans, and trained more than 100 local attorneys to assist them pro bono.

As Dean at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, I have been particularly touched by several things. First, the gratitude that is expressed by the veterans is truly amazing. They are so pleased that someone is listening to them and offering to help. Second, the response from local attorneys in numerous states continues to gather strength, and our students have had a great opportunity to interact with local attorneys around the nation.

Third, I cannot begin to express the pride I have taken as I have watched our students in action with these veterans. They have shown a real dedication as well as tremendous skill in dealing with our veterans clinic clients. I have very much enjoyed watching our students as they give the veterans educational presentations, as they interview the clients, prepare case summaries, and do much more.

On a personal level, it has also been great fun as Dean to be traveling with students in different cities (and everyone who has been on the tour so far now can attest to my continuing search with our students for the best ice cream in whatever locality we happen to be visiting).

And as Dean I am particularly pleased that our students are witnessing first hand in places all around the country how one can use the law to help people. That is something that you just cannot communicate solely in the classroom.

I could fill many pages with the stories of the veterans that our students and faculty have met so far, in places throughout Michigan, Florida, Georgia, and Texas. Here are just a few:

There’s the fellow who was at Pearl Harbor and still has not received benefits for a back injury he sustained there. There’s the veteran who was exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam, for whom we have been able to increase his benefits from $300 per month to $2600 per month. There are the parents of the Persian Gulf War veteran who were so touched that we would listen to their son’s problems that they actually gave us a thank you card. There’s the Iraq veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or the other Iraq veteran suffering from a serious brain injury. And then there’s the veteran we met in Houston whose leg was amputated as a result of diabetes caused by Agent Orange exposure – he came to ask us for help, the local press focused on his story, and the next day he heard from the V.A. that he would be receiving more than $90,000 in benefits.

What happens now? Well, we’re taking a slight breather so that our students can study for and then take their final exams. After that, we’ll be off again with our two-pronged effort: one vehicle traveling around Michigan while the other heads off first for New York City, then south to Virginia, and then west across the country.

I have heard only wonderful comments from the students who have participated so far, and we look forward to working closely with those students signed up for the veterans tour over the summer. (In fact, given the requests of many first-year students, we have now made it possible for students to participate in the summer after their first year.) I guess a nice side benefit for the students has also been becoming “media stars” as they appear on TV and in the local newspapers. (Be sure to take a look on our website for some of the more recent press our students have received.)

We keep expanding the tour both in breadth and in length. If you are interested in finding our more about how you might be able to participate as a student at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, e-mail me at gordonmc@udmercy.edu. We’ll be happy to put you in touch with students already participating so that you can hear about their experiences first hand.

Monday March 10, 2008

When I first considered the idea of having UDM School of Law undertake a national tour to assist veterans with their federal disability benefits, I didn’t really think through the impact that such a tour would have on my schedule as Dean. Now, one month into the tour, I’m starting to realize the enormity of what we’ve started.

I have not visited every city with our students, but I have had the opportunity to join our students so far in San Antonio, Houston, and Orlando. And I cannot begin to express how proud I have been of these students. I have seen them doing presentations to veterans in various parts of the country. I have seen them doing interviews with TV and newspaper reporters. I have seen them interacting with attorneys from leading law firms around the nation.

And they’ve been great at everything! But what has really impressed me is the intensity and caring that I have seen our students bring to their work with veterans. I have seen our students meet veterans ranging in age from their early 20s to their late 80s. They have had a wide range of stories, experiences, and problems. But each time our students have done a wonderful job in listening to their stories, in empathizing with their problems, and in asking the necessary questions to get the information needed so that these veterans can be helped.

Of course, at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law we care a lot about training our students to be effective and successful attorneys. But what I have also witnessed on the road has been a series of students who are learning to use their training in ways that can really help those in need. I have seen our students touched deeply by the very human stories they have encountered. I have seen their determination to play a part in trying to help veterans who have done so much to help us all. I have watched as they realize the tools that a legal education gives them to make a difference. While I am proud of our UDM School of Law students for many reasons, the humanity and dedication to helping those in need that I have witnessed as they make their way across several states is a special source of pride and satisfaction for me as Dean.

We call our national veterans tour “Project SALUTE,” and in that spirit I want to salute the students who have participated during these first few weeks: Matthew Smith, Mark Vanneste, Alex Mitrakas, Brad Erickson, Liz Holmes, Tony Karman, Andrew Calcutt, and Scott Spokojny.

Monday March 03, 2008

Recently, University of Detroit Mercy School of Law students have been traveling around the country for two different reasons. Some students have been on different teams competing in national moot court competitions; others have been on the road with our national tour to assist veterans in securing federal benefits. In each case, our students have excelled in different ways.

Following (Mar 3rd entry and Mar 10th entry) are separate reflections on the pride that our students’ performance has brought to me as Dean in these two very different spheres.

It seems like every weekend now I am spending a lot of time on the phone hearing about the successes of our UDM School of Law Moot Court teams as they compete in national competitions around the country.

As each of our teams appears at a national tournament, I follow their progress closely, getting updates from Prof. Michelle Streicher (who runs our moot court program) as our team progresses from each round. These phone conversations with Prof. Streicher have been lots of fun, because the news is almost invariably positive. And then I have a great time calling our student participants to congratulate them on their success. (It is also starting to cost me a pretty penny as I send champagne to our victorious teams!)

It is difficult to describe how proud I am of how well our students have performed this year. Just this past weekend, our students won the National Championship in the McGee Civil Rights Moot Court Competition held at the University of Minnesota. But, unlike in prior weekends, I was not at all nervous during the final round – because I already knew that we had won. How did I know that? Because out of over 40 teams from law schools across the nation, the two final teams were both from UDM! Clearly, we dominated that competition.

But that’s been the story more and more frequently here. So far this year we’ve competed in six different national competitions, in most cases against anywhere from 20 to 70 or so other teams. And here’s the incredible fact: in five of those six competitions, our team has made it into the Final Four! (In the sixth competition, we beat out 40 other teams to make it to the top third, but not the finals.) In those six competitions, our teams have brought home one gold medal, two silver medals, two Best Oralist awards, and a silver for runner-up Best Brief.

While I certainly enjoy our students’ success, I am also pleased with the learning and the experience that they gain. Our student competitors prepare with great dedication for these competitions, and they learn a great deal in doing so. They have an opportunity to practice their arguments in practice rounds judged by experts in their area in major firms around the nation. They learn about oral advocacy, persuasion, and public speaking. And then they go out and gain added experience and confidence by seeing how great they really are!

So, I hope you’ll join me in congratulating our student competitors who have done so well so far this year:

McGee Civil Rights Moot Court Competition:

Team 1: Jennifer Hartlep, Kathy Koziol & Clinton Hubbell
Faculty Coach – Deborah Paruch

Team 2: Michelle Busuito, Christopher Lenhardt & Khalil Rahal
Faculty Coach – Jeffrey Silver

Harvard Animal Rights Moot Court Competition: Jennifer Dukarski & Anne MacCauley, Faculty Coach – Pamela Wilkens

NYU Immigration Law Moot Court Competition: Tiffani Frederick, Emily Murphy, Dan Whittal & Joel Wisniewski
Faculty Coach – David Koelsch

Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (Regionals): Roxanna Gale, Robert Walker, Kelsey Siemen, Ryan Sheahan & Jamie Bordman
Faculty Coach – Cara Cunningham

NYC Appellate Moot Court Competition: Sean Corley & Janet Conigliaro
Faculty Coach – Michelle Streicher

Pace Environmental Law Moot Court Competition: Dylan Duvall & Courtner Satko Faculty Coach – Lynn Dodge

Monday February 11, 2008

Last week at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law we made a pretty unusual announcement. At a press conference hosted by Rhonda Walker of WDIV-TV Channel 4, we announced the launch of a national tour of our Mobile Law Office and Veterans Clinic to assist veterans around the nation with accessing federal veterans benefits.

I was very moved to share the podium with representatives of veterans organizations and to be speaking to a group of veterans who have served our country and now need our help -- as attorneys, law students, and as a law school – to serve them.

I think the best way to describe what we're doing is for me to share with you excerpts from my remarks at last week's press conference:

University of Detroit Mercy School of Law is very proud to announce the launch of our Project SALUTE – students and lawyers assisting US troops everywhere exclusively with federal benefits issues. Project SALUTE will build on the success that we’ve had in Michigan in assisting veterans and take that assistance to veterans across the country to help them exclusively with securing their federal veterans benefits.

At University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, we believe in giving our students hands-on experience in dealing with real clients. We also believe in challenging them to serve those in need.

That’s why we established our UDM Veterans Clinic in the first place. Less than a year ago, we decided that rather than sitting back and watching the problems that veterans have, we would actually try to do something about it.

And, working together, our students and our faculty, led by Professor Michael Bryce, Professor Peggy Costello, Professor Joon Sung, and Professor Tammy Kudialis – we’ve created something special. A way for low-income veterans to get the assistance that they need to receive their federal veterans benefits.

The State of Michigan saw the good that we were doing, and they have given us now a grant of $200,000 so that we can take our innovative Mobile Law Office to travel the State reaching out to veterans. And we have. So far, we have served over 600 veterans here in Michigan, in Grand Rapids and Flint, Battle Creek and Lansing, Traverse City and beyond, with many more stops to come.

And I would not be honest if I did not tell you how overwhelmed we have been by the response. Attorneys at major firms and smaller firms, corporate counsels and sole practitioners, have stepped forward. Veterans service organizations have offered us their cooperation and help. In city after city, dozens of veterans have come to take us up on our offer of assistance.

We first announced our Michigan effort on a Saturday – and the first call for assistance from a veteran logged in at 6:12 am that Saturday morning. Within two weeks, we had heard from over 300 veterans. We heard from veterans from all eras and all wars; veterans with all kinds of disabilities and all kinds of stories. But what we have heard the most is the extent of the need and the level of gratitude that the veterans we help express.

Now, the truth is that it is really we who should be offering our gratitude to them. And that’s why we started thinking long and hard about how to expand our efforts. Chris Johnson at General Motors stepped forward to achieve the impossible – getting GM to donate a new custom-designed, state of the art second Mobile Law Office that will enable us to supplement our efforts in Michigan with efforts beyond. So while our Michigan tour continues and indeed expands, today we announce a new phase – a national tour to assist veterans.

Why are we doing this? Because it is great training for our students. And because it is a great service for those who have already served.

What will we be doing? In city after city across this country, UDM School of Law and the faculty and students in our Veterans Clinic will be doing five things:

1.Providing educational outreach for veterans, so that they can learn about their rights to federal veterans benefits.

2.Doing intake so that individual low-income veterans can tell their own stories, and so that they can have their cases handled – either by our Veterans Clinic or by local attorneys willing to volunteer pro bono.

3.In order to increase the number of those attorneys available, we will be providing in many cities training sessions – for free – for any attorney willing to learn about how to handle veterans benefits cases and willing to provide assistance to veterans pro bono.

4.In doing all these things – the education, the training, and the individual cases – we will also be drawing public attention to this critical issue.

5.And fifth, we will be challenging attorneys around the nation to answer the call, by providing countless hours of free assistance to our nation’s veterans.

Law school is about learning, but it is also about learning to do. We want our students here at UDM School of Law to realize that as attorneys, you truly can make a difference in other people’s lives.

And there is no population more deserving than our nation’s veterans. No matter when they served, whether on the frontlines or behind the lines, they have performed a service to all of us. They have already answered the call; we at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law are now answering the call; and together we are issuing a call to others to join with us to serve those who have already served us all.

If you wish to help, please contact me at gordonmc@udmercy.edu.

Wednesday January 16, 2008

The traditional model of legal education, I think, is based on a faulty premise that if you learn US law, you have learned "the law." Of course, learning US law is critically important to practice in this country. And our legal system is particularly well developed in a wide range of areas. However, to better train today's students, exposure to other legal systems is necessary.

That's why we created the International Opportunities Program at UDM last year. Under this program, students can choose among summer programs taught in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. We give all our first-year students a list of programs that we consider rigorous enough and that we believe provide students with a meaningful introduction to a foreign legal system. This year, we have identified 15 schools, each with one or more programs in place such as The Netherlands, France, Costa Rica, Spain, London, South Africa, Korea, Budapest, Brazil, Turkey, Germany, and others. In order to encourage students to consider these programs, we offer $1000 to help defray travel expenses. What are the conditions for receiving the $1000? A student must attend one of these programs during the summer after the first year, successfully complete the program, and transfer the credits back to UDM.

I encourage our students to take advantage of this opportunity to learn about a different legal system in a different country. In fact, for those of you considering whether you might want to take advantage of this program, I would suggest you read the recent article published in the Detroit Legal News or on our website which highlighted the experiences of our students studying abroad last summer.

It's a great opportunity to expand your knowledge while also having some fun traveling.