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FEATURE ARTICLE CHRIS THOMAS, COOLEY ADJUNCT PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR OF ELECTIONS , MIGHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF STATE
COOLEY LAW SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER SELECTED AS “LAWYER OF THE YEAR” BY MICHIGAN LAWYERS WEEKLY
PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS
Six of Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 30 “2014 Leaders in the Law” have connections to Cooley Law School, including Cooley board member Thomas Cranmer, who was selected from the 30 leaders to receive the publication’s top honor as “Lawyer of the Year.”
Cranmer is a past president of the State Bar of Michigan and is a leading litigator with Miller Canfield in Troy, Mich. Early in his career, Cranmer served as an assistant Oakland County prosecutor and later went on to serve as an assistant U.S. attorney in Detroit. He mentors younger attorneys as an instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.
CHRIS THOMAS
COOLEY GRADUATE APPOINTED TO
In 2013, the non-partisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration (PCEA) was established by U.S. President Barack Obama. Among the 10 appointees was Chris Thomas (Morrell Class, 1985), Cooley graduate and adjunct professor. Thomas is the director of elections for the Michigan Department of State and brings extensive experience in election law to the commission.
Five others with Cooley connections were also selected as “2014 Leaders in the Law” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. These include: Associate Dean of the Ann Arbor campus Joan Vestrand; former Cooley board member and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Michael F. Cavanagh; Michigan 56-A District Court Judge Harvey J. Hoffman (Wing Class, 1982); managing partner of McKeen & Associates, Brian J. McKeen (Wing Class, 1982); and, associate at Kreis, Enderle, Hudgins & Borsos, Nancy L. Mullett (Wilson Class, 1990).
Created by Executive Order, the PCEA’s mission is to “identify best practices in election administration and to make recommendations to the President to improve the voting experience,” according to the commission’s website. Its goals include removing barriers that increase the difficulty of eligible voters casting ballots and improving the opportunity for voters to cast ballots without undue delays. “The commission was created with a strict focus on the actual nuts and bolts of election administration,” Thomas said. “We were told not to deal with political issues, which allowed us to focus on the task at hand without getting bogged down in controversy. It’s a great model.” Regarding voting rights and the creation of the commission, President Obama said, “The right to vote is one of the most essential rights provided by the Constitution. I am pleased that these committed individuals have agreed to offer their expertise to the Presidential Commission on Election Administration and I look forward to working with them in the coming months,” according to a White House press release. Thomas’ election law and administration experience stretches back decades, during which time he has held both state and federal positions. His tenure as Michigan’s director of elections began in 1981, before which he held the titles of director of campaign finance operations and director of campaign finance information for the state of Michigan. He also held the federal position of director of public communications for the Federal Election Commission from 1975-1977. Thomas has served on the federal board of advisors to the Election Assistance Commission since 2005, and is a founding member and current president of the National Association of State Election Directors.
“The local and state officials we’ve worked with have been exceptional and provided great perspectives and data for the commission,” said Thomas. “I’ve been involved with the election community for my entire career, so to work with such a wide variety of parties who were invested in the process was exciting for me.”
Honored as “Leaders in the Law” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly are (left-right): accepting the honor on behalf of her mother, Associate Dean Joan Vestrand, was Cooley graduate Kristin Vestrand (Sibley Class, 2011); Thomas Cranmer (selected “Lawyer of the Year”); Brian McKeen; Harvey J. Hoffman; and Nancy L. Mullet. Not pictured is Michael F. Cavanagh.
In January, Cooley’s Tampa Bay campus opened its pro-bono Debt Relief Clinic for underserved individuals. The clinic focuses on residents of Hillsborough County facing debt-related legal issues and is staffed by Cooley students supervised by Professor Robert Savage, who also serves as the clinic’s director. Its goal is to assist consumers with debt issues and to become an information and referral source to support the work of other local legal aid organizations. “We’ve been working diligently to design a program that will serve the dual purpose of providing a much needed resource for the community while also giving our students exposure to real world legal issues,” said Savage. “We’re excited to see the hard work of establishing this legal clinic come to fruition and to work with the community in this capacity.” The clinic provides Cooley students with the opportunity to gain legal knowledge and experience and develop skills by representing clients in transactional matters, alternative dispute resolution and pre-litigation resolution. All of this work is conducted under the supervision of practicing attorneys. The clinic’s legal focus includes the Florida Consumer Collections Act, the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Florida Fair Lending Act and Florida Garnishment law, among other areas of law. The clinic was established in response to the expressed needs of the community and offers legal assistance on issues arising from past due medical/hospital bills, loans, predatory lending, unfair/abusive collections practices, and more.
PROFESSOR JONI LARSON’S BOOK BECOMES TRAINING MANUAL FOR INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
JONI LARSON
ROBERT SAVAGE
TAMPA BAY CAMPUS OPENS PRO-BONO DEBT RELIEF CLINIC
Cooley professor and assistant director of the school’s Graduate Tax Program, Joni Larson, recently published a book that has become a leading training resource for chief counsel attorneys representing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) before the Tax Court. A Practitioner’s Guide to Tax Evidence: A Primer on the Federal Rules of Evidence as Applied by the Tax Court began as a law review article written while Larson was litigating on behalf of the IRS. At the time, there was no resource specifically designed for Tax Court litigators and Larson responded to the need. Over the years, she updated the article to include new Tax Court cases, but when the article reached 200 pages, and had more than 1,300 footnotes, it became too large of a document to continue as a law review article. The book, published by the American Bar Association Section on Taxation, provides insights into the Federal Rules of Evidence as applied by the Tax Court. It guides attorneys facing evidentiary issues by providing a comprehensive summary of cases interpreting each rule. The book also includes many practical pointers designed to assist the tax litigator. “Having a book that focuses on the Tax Court’s rulings regarding Federal Rules of Evidence issues greatly aids the bar of that Court,” said T. Keith Fogg, professor and director of the Federal Tax Clinic at Villanova Law School. “Professor Larson’s condensed and well-organized sections allow the reader to easily spot a particular issue or the Evidentiary Rule at hand and to find the supporting cases. The brief summary of requirements of the major rules assists the practitioner in charting the proof necessary to succeed.”
GRADUATES EMBODY COOLEY’S DEDICATION TO DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION Three Cooley Law School graduates have formed the Grand Rapids Law Group, designed to serve the needs of the Hispanic community in the area. Grand Rapids natives Christopher Acklin (Chipman Class, 2011), Daisy Benavidez Van (Left to Right): Daisy Benavidez, Christopher Acklin, Elizabeth Reyes Ittersum (Woodbridge Class, 2010), and Elizabeth Reyes-Rosario (Chipman Class, 2011) held a grand opening last month for their new law firm location in Wyoming, Mich., a suburb of Grand Rapids. Van Ittersum and Reyes-Rosario grew up there and identified the primarily Hispanic community as an underserved segment of the Grand Rapids legal market. The firm offers legal services in both Spanish and English. Grand Rapids Law Group offers a wide variety of legal services including criminal, immigration, family, commercial, small business, bankruptcy, real estate, wills and estate planning. “All three of us were deeply involved in the community through volunteer and pro bono service, so it was a natural fit to open a law firm in an underserved area,” said Acklin. “We think of ourselves as a community resource, not just a law firm.” In addition to standard legal work, the firm consults with walk-in clients on basic issues regarding legal and administrative processes, much of it on a pro bono basis. This work ties into the inclusive nature of the firm, which aims to meet the needs of its community with a guiding principle in mind: empathy. “When someone walks in our door, they are usually having a terrible day. Taking an empathetic, responsible approach allows us to achieve results for clients in any situation; it’s about truly understanding their circumstances,” said Acklin. While the partners gravitated quite naturally to their dedication to this community, their decision was supported and encouraged by Nelson Miller, associate dean of Cooley’s Grand Rapids campus, who knows all three attorneys. “They each immediately impressed me with their commitment to the community, compassionate personalities, and practical grasp of how law helps a community’s members,” Miller said. “I was delighted to see them join together in a law practice with such a vital mission in an important element of this diverse west Michigan community.”
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