“I’ve learned that I’m at my best when I’m being of service to others,” she says. “Working directly with clients, drafting appellate briefs and other motion papers, and working to secure justice for underrepresented communities has been a highlight of my legal education.” 

She had the opportunity to do all those things this past year, when she worked as a student certified attorney on two pro bono criminal appeals with Professor Ted Sampsell-Jones. It may have been a highlight, but it’s just a small portion of Holzer’s legal education and experience helping others.

A main focus of Holzer’s law school experience has been helping same-sex couples and their families navigate a complex legal landscape. The summer after her 1L year, she clerked for a firm that focuses on the legal needs of the LGBT community; she has worked on multiple projects for the Minnesota Lavender Bar Association, which recognized her with its 2012 Student Leadership Award; and she participated in a think-tank and presented a CLE on same-sex divorce. Holzer is also an active fundraiser and volunteer for Project 515 and Minnesotans United, two organizations that helped achieve marriage equality in Minnesota this past week.

In addition to her work on behalf of the LGBT community, Holzer has spent time volunteering at numerous organizations, including HOMEline, Wills for Heroes, Habitat for Humanity, and Minnesota Assistance Counsel for Veterans.

That level of commitment is just one reason Holzer earned Mitchell’s Student Award of Merit. She’s also a regular on the Dean’s List, a four-time winner of the CALI Excellence for the Future Award, and Editor-in-Chief of the William Mitchell Law Review. In addition, Holzer will have authored three published articles during her law school career, which is highly unusual for a law student.

“Erica’s accomplishments alone would make her a worthy candidate for this award,” says Associate Dean Mary Pat Byrn. “However, this award is only in part a recognition of what a student accomplished during law school; it is to a greater degree about how a student went about it. From the moment Erica enrolled at William Mitchell she has been a dedicated member of the William Mitchell community. Her impact on legal scholarship, civil rights, the Law Review, student groups, the wider community, and every individual she has come into contact with has been overwhelmingly positive. Without a doubt, we can look at William Mitchell and see that it is a substantially better place because of Erica Holzer.”

After graduation, Erica will be clerking for Chief Judge Matthew Johnson at the Minnesota Court of Appeals and then joining the Minneapolis law firm Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand.

In approving the grant for the Expert Witness Training Academy, NSF reviewers offered high praise for the program and its creators, Mitchell colleagues Linda Thorstad, professors John Sonsteng, Jim Hilbert, and Eileen Scallen.

“This program is well crafted, well tested, and highly effective in training scientists to function as valuable resources in the courtroom as well as in the court of public opinion,” wrote one reviewer. “The hands-on approach is extremely powerful.”

This year’s week-long training academy, Aug. 4-9, will host 24 climate scientists, but plans are in the works to expand the program to include such topics as fracking and public health. “We’re looking to expand to other major public policy areas,” says Hilbert. “There are so many important fields where scientific testimony will play an integral role.”

Mock Legislative Hearing

This will be the third year the academy is in session.  The Mitchell team designed an exercise that involves a meteorological event and a subsequent lawsuit. The scientists then participate in a legislative hearing, depositions, non-binding arbitration, and a jury trial.

“They not only learn about being good expert witnesses, they learn from the perspective of the lawyer,” says Sonsteng. “That gives them another level of understanding the case.”

The role of Mitchell law students will also expand in future programs. This summer some Mitchell students will serve as research assistants and professor interns.

Mock Trial

“The whole program is a real team effort—professors, students, administrative staff, facilities folks,” says Sonsteng. “It’s a great way for Mitchell to be active in the community and engage some of the scientific world’s most prominent minds.”

William Mitchell and the University of Minnesota faced off in a moot court case in front of Justice Paul Anderson and a team of law professors and senior business executives in the Minnesota Supreme Court’s courtroom.

The argument was the final exam for students in Professor Chang Wang’s Chinese law course, and centered on the case of prominent Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who was detained by the Chinese government and accused of tax evasion. It was an extremely complex case of constitutional, criminal, and administrative law. Justice Anderson was joined by a number of other “justices” for the case, including Mitchell professors Jay Erstling and Jim Hilbert and Thomson Reuters senior executives Rick King and Tom Leighton.

“It was a wonderful, potentially once-in-a-lifetime experience for our students,” says Hilbert. “These are exactly the types of experiences we pride ourselves on at Mitchell.  Kudos to Professor Wang and his terrific cast of justices.”

In the two-day competition, 47 students from both schools competed in teams. On the first day, U of M teams represented Ai Weiwei with Mitchell teams representing the Chinese government. The second day, the two schools switched sides.

“The mock trial was both exhilarating and nerve wracking,” says Jocelyn Varghese 2L. “It really reflected the ambiguousness and complexity of international law. And after the trial the panel of judges gave constructive criticism that I’ll always remember and hopefully implement in practice.”

Varghese, who hopes to go into international law, will be in Beijing this summer to help create and test a study abroad program between Mitchell and the China University of Political Science and Law.

“It was an amazing experience to have presiding judges like Justice Anderson, Rick King, a leader in the national technology community, and Alexander Morawa, an international expert in comparative constitutional law,” says Jessi Rajtar, who is graduating this spring.  “Not only did the presiding judges have extreme amounts of experience, they also asked poignant, thoughtful questions that forced the oralists to have a good understanding of Chinese law. “

Professor Chang Wang is chief research and academic officer at Thomson Reuters and an Associate Professor of Law at China University of Political Science and Law.  The China law moot court competition he organized was the first ever inter-collegiate moot court competition in the United States on Chinese law. Plans are already in the works for next year’s case and competition, which will expand to four law schools.

Minnesota Supreme Court Associate Justice Wilhelmina Wright

The commencement ceremony is 2 pm Sunday, May 19, at RiverCentre, 175 West Kellogg Blvd. in St. Paul.

Wright has been an associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court since last September, when she was appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton after ten years on the Minnesota Court of Appeals. She had previously served as a trial judge in Ramsey County District Court.

Before joining the bench, Wright was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota. While in that position, she was awarded the United States Department of Justice Special Achievement Award in 1997 and its Director’s Award for Public Service in 2000.

Wright is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School.

Technology and the Law: How technology is impacting the legal affairs of business

Thursday, May 16 | 11:30 am–1:30 pm

William Mitchell College of Law Auditorium

Speakers include:

• Karlin Symons ’88, lawyer, business leader and executive director of the National Eagle Center

• Christine Chalstrom ’91, president, chief executive officer, and founder of Shepherd Data Services

• Doug Klint ’76, president and general counsel, TASER International

• Bill McCormack ’73, executive vice president (retired) of Schwan Food Company.

The event is free and open to alumni and friends of the law school interested in exploring the intersection between law and business.

This is the second year Mitchell friends and alumni from across the region will gather to celebrate the Center for Law and Business and discuss an emerging topic of interest to lawyers and business leaders. Last year, the center had just wrapped up a successful first year during which it:

• created a new course, focusing on core business topics
• created an externship program that places students in business and business law environments
• raised enough money from alumni and the legal and business communities to fund itself, instead of using tuition dollars.

In its second year, the center launched a new Law and Business Certificate Program, expanded the number of students enrolled, and engaged even more alumni and business leaders in teaching, volunteering, and offering real-world experience to students.

RSVP for the lunch by emailing Maureen.McGinn@wmitchell.edu

Learn more about the Center for Law and Business

Luckily, the William Mitchell Law Review had a champion in Professor Mike Steenson.

Professor Mike Steenson

Under his leadership, volume one of the William Mitchell Law Review was published in 1974 and immediately became an effective tool for lawyers and judges—the first citation to the publication appeared in a 1975 Minnesota Supreme Court decision.

Since then, it has increased in usefulness and relevance, publishing work by Chief Justice of the United States Warren E. Burger ’31, four other U.S. Supreme Court justices; Vice President Walter Mondale, and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, as well as many other distinguished contributors.

Today, it ranks among the top 15 percent of the nation’s 507 student-edited law reviews for citations by the courts, and Steenson is still serving as the law review’s faculty advisor.

Recently, more than 200 current and former William Mitchell Law Review editors gathered to honor Steenson and thank him for the opportunity to write for such a prestigious law journal.

Attendees paid tribute to Steenson by presenting him with the Marcy S. Wallace Award for Excellence in Leadership for his contributions in shaping the review from its first days. Steenson was recognized not only for being the review’s founder and longtime faculty advisor, but for his inspiring mentoring and leadership.

In addition, it was announced that former law review staff, along with supporters of William Mitchell, have raised $900,000 for the Steenson Law Review Endowment, which will support the venerable publication as well as its faculty advisor for years to come.

Volume 39, which includes articles on the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, medical device law, and more, is currently available on the law review’s website.

Read volume 39 and learn more about the William Mitchell Law Review

Make a gift to support the Steenson Law Review Endowment

The Fourth Annual Energy and the Environment Conference drew 180 people from state and local government, law, business, and the general public—all interested in exploring how the domestic natural gas boom is reshaping the policy landscape.

The conference featured local, state, and national panels as well as IHS CERA Senior Director Robert Ineson as keynote speaker. The event was sponsored by Briggs and Morgan and Xcel Energy.

Watch event video

You can watch the entire conference below.

Ben Ferencz is one of the world’s leading human rights advocates.

The fellowships provide financial support for internships at World Without Genocide. Students will work on core areas of human rights advocacy, including research, policy development and assessment, and action to support initiatives at local, state, national, and international levels.

Students will be able to apply for the fellowships in the fall of each academic year and renew them throughout their time at law school.

The fellowships are named after Ben Ferencz, the chief prosecutor for the U.S. Army at one of the Nuremburg trials after World War II. In subsequent years Ferencz became an outspoken advocate for establishing an international rule of law and the International Criminal Court, which adjudicates individuals for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.

“Ben Ferencz is a giant among human rights advocates on the planet,” said Ellen Kennedy, executive director of World Without Genocide. “I am so honored that he is allowing us to name the fellowships for him.”

It typically takes people less than one hour to complete the form, which allows them to indicate their preferences about special end-of-life treatments and pain management, as well as directions about organ donations and other considerations.

“Planning ahead instead of waiting for a crisis can give individuals and their families’ peace of mind now and choices and control later when major life events occur,” Jesson said. “National Healthcare Decisions Day is the perfect time to review or complete a health care directive and start a conversation with family members about your choices for advanced care. This can also be a good time to talk about how to ‘Own Your Future’ by deciding how and where you want to get long-term care services and how you plan to pay for them.”

The National Healthcare Decisions Day event is co-sponsored by William Mitchell and Hamline University Health Law Institute.

Mitchell’s robust Career and Professional Development Office can be a pleasant surprise for some students, giving them opportunities in a number of development areas.

“Our focus on helping first-year students understand the importance of their professional development early in law school sets them up for success in the gaining legal experience during school and after graduation,” says Assistant Dean for Career and Professional Development Karen Vander Sanden.

All incoming students are assigned a counselor who has a J.D. to work with them throughout their Mitchell career. But that’s just the beginning. All first-year students attend resume and cover letter workshops, where they receive one-on-one advice and individual reviews of their documents.

Students also hear about summer work opportunities, different practice areas and non-traditional career paths during regular panels. Through networking events, students gain connections with people in the legal community, most of whom know exactly what being a 1L at William Mitchell is like, because they were there once one themselves. Those events range from brown bag lunches to on-campus seminars like the “Great Careers You Never Thought Of” series and panels on alternative careers in the law and judicial clerkships.

The networking offerings also include mock interviews with attorneys from organizations, corporations and law firms; job shadow opportunities; and apprenticeship programs.

“You cannot underestimate the importance of connections when conducting a job search,” says Vander Sanden. “The solid relationships that have been built between William Mitchell and law firms, government departments, and businesses afford students unique access to the local legal community.”

Of course there’s nothing like getting guidance from peers. Most first-year Mitchell students also take part in a mentor program that groups them with another 1L student and an upper class student, in addition to two recent alumni. Students are matched based on their legal interest area or a common professor and the groups meet once a month.

For Mitchell students, being a 1L is a little less daunting once they start taking advantage of all the resources available to them through the Career and Professional Development Office.

The historic menthol petition was delivered to FDA offices today (Friday, April 12) by the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium on behalf of a long list of co-signing organizations focused on public health in general, and organizations focused on racial and ethnic health outcome disparities in particular. In addition to his work at Mitchell, Blanke is the executive director of the consortium.

In 2009, congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.  Among other things, the law prohibited the use of fruity and candy-like “characterizing flavors” in cigarettes and cigarette smoke.  The flavor prohibition was especially intended to prevent young people from being lured to try—and to become addicted to—a lethal product.

While menthol was the one flavor that was exempted from this 2009 prohibition, Congress did give the FDA the authority to prohibit menthol if “appropriate for public health.” The law specifically made the issue of menthol in cigarettes a priority for FDA consideration.  The FDA has not yet prohibited menthol.

Following the filing of this Citizen Petition, the FDA is now required to begin a formal consideration process that could include the gathering of public testimony and will result in a formal FDA ruling on the matter.

Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, and the petition stresses that smokers who are young and those who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately impacted by the availability of menthol cigarettes.   Nearly half (48 percent) of 12- to 17-year old smokers report menthol cigarette use compared to 32 percent of adults age 26 or older.  While 24 percent of white smokers smoke menthol cigarettes, they are used at much higher rates by racial and ethnic minorities, such as African Americans (83 percent), Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders (53 percent), Hispanics or Latinos (32 percent) and Asian Americans (31 percent).

“It’s shameful for our government to ban all cigarette flavorings except the one that is deadliest for communities of color and teens,” said Dr. Phil Gardiner of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council.  “This is not only a public health issue, but also a social justice issue.”

A study published in the American Journal of Public health found that 68 percent of African Americans support prohibiting menthol flavoring in cigarettes.  A strong majority of white Americans (56 percent) also support a prohibition on menthol flavoring.

Menthol is a minty flavor that makes cigarettes attractive to many consumers.  The flavor itself is popular with many smokers, and it also produces a cooling sensation that many smokers enjoy, particularly those new to smoking. Tobacco industry marketing of menthol cigarettes has particularly been aimed at African Americans.  Menthol cigarettes constitute about one-third of the American cigarette market.

“Menthol in cigarettes causes more people to start smoking and makes it harder for them to quit – especially children and African Americans,” said Doug Blanke, director of the Public Health Law Center at Mitchell and executive director of the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium. “There can be no justification for failing to take menthol cigarettes off the market.”

One model estimates that if menthol was prohibited as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes, between 2010 and 2020 over 2.2 million would not start smoking.  By 2050, the number of people who would not smoke would be 9 million.

“The FDA has a chance to save the lives of millions of Americans,” said Jeannette Noltenius of the National Latino Alliance for Health Equity.  “Every day we delay action on this issue, more Americans are suffering and dying.  The time to act is now.”

The following organizations were parties to the petition:  African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council; American Academy of Pediatrics; American Association for Cancer Research; American Cancer Society – Cancer Action Network; American Heart Association; American Legacy Foundation; American Lung Association; American Public Health Association; Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights; Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL); Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence; Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids; Corporate Accountability International; NAATPN, Inc.; National Association of City and County Health Officials; National Latino Alliance for Health Equity; Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco; Summit Health Institute for Research and Education, Inc. and Tobacco Control Legal Consortium.

Read a copy of the 38-page petition

The Tobacco Control Legal Consortium is the legal network supporting the nation’s efforts to address the leading avoidable cause of disease — tobacco use. Based at the William Mitchell College of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the Consortium provides legal and policy assistance to community leaders working to enact, implement, and defend laws that reduce the toll of tobacco.

He will discuss his time on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and the importance of judicial review in the fight against terrorism.

Chief Judge Davis was appointed by President Clinton and took the oath of office on March 30, 1994. He became Chief Judge of the District of Minnesota on July 1, 2008. He was the first African-American federal judge in Minnesota.

In 1999, Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Chief Judge Davis to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a seven-year term. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is a special court that designates 11 federal district court judges to review applications for warrants for national security investigations.

To register, email Sarah.Gibson@wmitchell.edu

William Mitchell’s the National Security and Law Society is hosting the event.