The Law School's Moot Court program has helped students perfect their oral and written advocacy skills at the appellate level since 1949. The Arthur Neef Moot Court Competition is an annual competition the Law School's Moot Court holds for its junior members. There are four in-house rounds with 20 teams of two participating. Eight of those teams are chosen to advance to the quarterfinals, and then narrowed to only four teams for the semifinals.

Each year, practicing lawyers, magistrates and judges stand in as Supreme Court Justices and critique the oralists. The final round judges this year were Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly, ’71, and Judges Peter O'Connell, Elizabeth Gleicher, ’79, William Whitbeck and Cynthia Stephens of the Michigan Court of Appeals.

“Ruth, Anna, Tyler and Krista did a terrific job in representing Wayne Law, our Moot Court program and themselves in this prestigious forum,” said Matthew Penney, 2009-2010 Moot Court chancellor. “I believe the Chief Justice and Judges were universally impressed with both the quality of the arguments presented and the advocates' poise under sometimes extremely heavy questioning.”

For more information regarding Moot Court, visit http://law.wayne.edu/mootcourt/index.php.

About Wayne Law
Wayne Law has served Michigan and beyond since its inception as Detroit City Law School in 1927. Located in Detroit’s re-energized historic cultural center, the Law School remains committed to student success and features modern lecture and court facilities, multi-media classrooms, a 250-seat auditorium, and the Arthur Neef Law Library, which houses one of the nation's 40 largest legal collections. Taught by an internationally recognized faculty, Wayne Law students experience a high-quality legal education via a growing array of hands-on curricular offerings, client clinics, and access to well over 100 internships with local and non-profit entities each year. Its 11,000 living alumni, who work in every state of the nation and more than a dozen foreign countries, include leading members of the local, national and international legal communities. For more information, visit www.law.wayne.edu.
 

Pictured above from left to right: Ruth Lyons, Anna Heinl, Krista Elsasser and Tyler Roebke

The Law Student Writing Contest is open to all second- and third-year Michigan law students. Papers are judged by Bar of Michigan council members on quality of the legal analysis, innovative approach to the topic, style, grammar and appearance. The first place recipient receives $2,000 and the second place recipient receives $1,500.

Fisch’s essay discussed assisted reproductive technology, the right of a patient to demand implantation of multiple embryos and the right of the doctor to refuse.

"Taking part in the contest gave me a wonderful opportunity to learn about a new area of law," Fisch said. "I'm very honored by this award."

Fisch’s second-place prize comes just one year after now Wayne Law alumna Lindsey Hoffman won second place in 2008.

About Wayne Law
Wayne State University Law School has educated and served the Detroit metropolitan area since its inception as Detroit City Law School in 1927. Located at 471 West Palmer Street in Detroit’s re-energized historic cultural center, the Law School remains committed to student success and features modern lecture and court facilities, multi-media classrooms, a 250-seat auditorium, and the Arthur Neef Law Library, which houses one of the nation's 40 largest legal collections. Taught by an internationally recognized and expert faculty, Wayne Law students experience a high-quality legal education via a growing array of hands-on curricular offerings, client clinics, and access to well over 100 internships with local and non-profit entities each year. Its 11,000 living alumni, who work in every state of the nation and more than a dozen foreign countries, are experts in their disciplines and include leading members of the local, national and international legal communities. For more information, visit www.law.wayne.edu.

More than 150 students, alumni and community members joined Wayne Law Dean Robert M. Ackerman, Associate Dean John A. Rothchild and a number of faculty members in the 2.2 mile race that pokes fun at the stereotype of the “ambulance-chasing lawyer.”

T-shirt sponsors included Circa 1890 Saloon, Harness Dickey, Kaplan PMBR Bar Review, Palmer Copy & Printing, Barbri, CHS Group LLC, James Martin Chevrolet Buick, SnaggStuff.com, Otis Spunkmeyer and Aaro Companies. Placard sponsors included North Main Animal Hospital, Kaplan PMBR Bar Review, Running Fit, Passthebarnow.com and Keller Williams Realty.

“The Ambulance Chase is a very valuable tradition at the law school,” said Drew Mast, SBG student council representative and Ambulance Chase Committee co-chair. “It’s become one of the students’ favorite ways to give back to our community, and at the same time it’s an active, fun way to get together as a school.”

CCSS is a Detroit-based charity dedicated to making a profound difference in the lives of those in need by providing for basic necessities, including affordable housing, promoting self-reliance, and encouraging community involvement and improvement.

Please contact Samantha Orvis at (810) 348-9465 or e-mail dz2254@wayne.edu with any additional questions. To learn more about CCSS, visit http://casscommunity.org/.

About Wayne Law
Wayne Law has educated and served the Detroit metropolitan area since its inception as Detroit City Law School in 1927. Located at 471 West Palmer Street in Detroit’s re-energized historic cultural center, the Law School remains committed to student success and features modern lecture and court facilities, multi-media classrooms, a 250-seat auditorium, and the Arthur Neef Law Library, which houses one of the nation's 40 largest legal collections. Taught by an internationally recognized and expert faculty, Wayne Law students experience a high-quality legal education via a growing array of hands-on curricular offerings, client clinics, and access to well over 100 internships with local and non-profit entities each year. Its 11,000 living alumni, who work in every state of the nation and more than a dozen foreign countries, are experts in their disciplines and include leading members of the local, national and international legal communities. For more information, visit www.law.wayne.edu.

To view images from the Ambulance Chase, please visit Wayne Law's Photo Gallery online at http://law.wayne.edu/gallery.php?id=459

Wayne State University Law School alumni Angela Davison, ’02, Douglas Salzenstein, ’01, and Kevin Smith, ‘97, have been named by Crain’s Detroit Business as three of the area’s top business leaders in the publication’s 2009 40 Under 40 feature.

“On behalf of Wayne Law, I would like to congratulate Ms. Davison, Mr. Salzenstein, and Mr. Smith on being named to Crain’s 40 under 40,” said Wayne Law Dean and Professor of Law Robert M. Ackerman. “This distinction is a tribute to their contributions to the profession and to the community and will certainly serve as motivation to the next generation of Wayne lawyers.”

For the past 19 years, Crain’s has honored the best and brightest in Southeast Michigan who have made their marks in business before age 40. Nearly 300 people were nominated for this year’s 40 Under 40. Crain's evaluated candidates based on achievement and community impact.

Angela Davison, 37, is associate general counsel for Amcor PET Packaging USA, Inc. in Ann Arbor. She recently negotiated a three-year, $100 million deal to supply plastic bottles to a major manufacturer.

Douglas Salzenstein, 37, is a partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn L.L.P. in Detroit. Working pro bono, he led a local effort to help about 80 Holocaust survivors in Michigan receive reparations from the German government.

Kevin Smith, 38, is a principal at Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone P.L.C. He led a Miller Canfield team to restructure, sell and issue about $120 million of City of Detroit bonds in less than two days, helping the city stave off insolvency.

This information was taken directly from Crain’s 40 Under 40 section online at http://www.crainsdetroit.com/section/forty2009. To read more about Davison, Salzenstein, Smith and others, visit Crain’s at the above link.

“Sitting on one of the world’s busiest international borders, with a diverse student body and faculty with a broad range of expertise in international affairs, Wayne Law is beautifully positioned to host a program focusing on legal issues that extend beyond our borders,” said Wayne Law Dean Robert M. Ackerman. “Professor Fox brings a wealth of knowledge and energy to this Program, and I am confident in his ability to marshal the considerable talents of our faculty to extend our reach.”

Wayne Law created the Program for International Legal Studies in recognition of the breadth of the faculty’s international engagements and expertise and the fact that nearly all aspects of law now have an international component. From regulation of cross-border financial transactions to controlling pollution that recognizes no boundaries to human rights treaties that regulate how governments treat their citizens, law is now an interconnected global phenomenon.

The Program will coordinate all activities at Wayne Law related to international law. These activities will include hosting a speakers series, sponsoring conferences and symposia featuring leading international scholars and practitioners, promoting research on international and comparative law topics, and providing important resources for Wayne Law students, alumni and friends interested in international law. Additional features will be added in subsequent years.

The Program will capitalize on the Law School’s world-renowned faculty who teach and write on international legal issues.
“Wayne’s international and comparative law faculty is the foundation on which the work of the new Program will be built,” Fox said. “One-third of Wayne’s tenured and tenure-track faculty members focus on international and comparative law issues. They have negotiated international agreements, drafted laws for foreign governments, represented governments before international tribunals, founded non-governmental organizations, served as expert consultants to international organizations and represented human rights victims seeking redress in American courts.”

He added, “Their experience allows Wayne Law to offer a diverse range of courses in international and comparative law. Few law schools, and certainly few in Michigan, can offer a faculty with so many prominent international law scholars and such a rich array of course offerings. The Program for International Legal Studies is the logical culmination of Wayne’s long-standing commitment to making international issues prominent in legal education.”

For more information on Wayne Law’s Program on International Legal Studies, visit its website at http://law.wayne.edu/international-studies/index.php.  Visit http://law.wayne.edu/international-studies/events.php for more information on upcoming Program speakers. Upcoming speakers will address issues such as the controversy surrounding the International Criminal Court’s indictment of the sitting President of Sudan, the current deadlock on a new climate change agreement, the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and the pros and cons of the United States ratifying human rights treaties such as the Rights of the Child Convention that most other countries in the world have accepted.

Professor Gregory Fox
Professor Gregory Fox joined the Wayne Law faculty in 2002, and is an expert on international and comparative law. He has worked in the litigation department of Hale & Dorr in Boston and held fellowships at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and Public International Law in Heidelberg, Germany and at the Schell Center for Human Rights at Yale Law School. Most recently he was a visiting fellow at the Lauterpacht Center for International Law at Cambridge University in Great Britain. From 1992-1995 Professor Fox was the co-director of the Center for International Studies at NYU Law School. He also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Alan H. Nevas of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Professor Fox was the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation/Social Science Research Council Fellowship in International Peace and Security. That fellowship allowed him to write “The Right to Political Participation in International Law,” 17 Yale J. Int'l L. 539 (1992) – one of the 10 most cited articles ever published in the Yale Journal. He is the editor (with Wayne Law Professor Brad Roth) of Democratic Governance and International Law (Cambridge 2000) and the author of Humanitarian Occupation (Cambridge 2008). He has also published on the development of democratic institutions in post-conflict states and the role of the U.N. Security Council in promoting democracy.

Professor Fox has served as counsel in several international cases. He was co-counsel to the State of Eritrea in the Zuqar-Hanish Islands arbitration with the Republic of Yemen, which determined the status of a group of islands in the southern Red Sea. He also represented a group of Eritreans in U.S. federal court who were forcibly deported from Ethiopia in 1998 and had their property confiscated by the Ethiopian government.

He earned a B.A. with highest honors and Phi Beta Kappa from Bates College and a J.D. from New York University.

About Wayne Law
Wayne State University Law School has educated and served the Detroit metropolitan area since its inception as Detroit City Law School in 1927. Located at 471 West Palmer Street in Detroit’s re-energized historic cultural center, the Law School remains committed to student success and features modern lecture and court facilities, multi-media and distance learning classrooms, a 250-seat auditorium, and the Arthur Neef Law Library, which houses one of the nation's 40 largest legal collections. Taught by an internationally recognized and expert faculty, Wayne Law students experience a high-quality legal education via a growing array of hands-on curricular offerings, client clinics, and access to well over 100 internships with local and non-profit entities each year. Its 11,000 living alumni, who work in every state of the nation and more than a dozen foreign countries, are experts in their disciplines and include leading members of the local, national and international legal communities. For more information, visit www.law.wayne.edu.