Dennis E. Benner, Giving Back - Thomas M. Cooley Law School

Joseph Kimble,ProfessorSigned, his new book,Lifting the Fog of Legalese:Essays on Plain Language,at Way Station Books inLansing and at Barnes &Noble in East Lansing. Thebook is available at the Cooley bookstore,from Carolina Academic Press (www.cappress.com),and from Amazon.com.Organized, the sixth Golden Pen Awardfor the Legal Writing Institute. This year’swinner was Joseph Williams, author ofStyle: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace.Interviewed, for a National Public Radioshow on Latinisms in legal language. Theshow was broadcast during the Alito confirmationhearings.Invited, to testify before the U.S. HouseSubcommittee on Regulatory Affairs.The subcommittee is considering a billto require plain language in federalregulations.Began, his third and last year as the presidentof Clarity, an international associationpromoting plain legal language.Dorean MargueriteKoenig, ProfessorElected, and acceptedmembership in, theFellows of the AmericanBar Association. Electionto membership in theFellows is a high professionalhonor bestowed upon a lawyer byhis or her colleagues. Membership in theFellows is limited to one-third of one percentof lawyers licensed to practice in eachjurisdiction. Members are nominated byFellows of their jurisdiction and elected bythe Board of the American Bar Foundation.Nelson P. Miller,AssistantDean/AssociateProfessorPublished, “ ‘JudicialPolitics:’ Restoring theMichigan SupremeCourt,” in the MichiganBar Journal, 85(1) Mich. BJ 38 (2006).Received, the State Bar of Michigan’s2005 John W. Cummiskey Award forpro bono service.Accepted, for publication in the PennState Law Review, the article “Of ShiningKnights and Cunning Pettifoggers: TheSymbolic World of the Model Rules ofProfessional Conduct.”Published, an article “LawlessnessRevealed: The Supreme Court’s Man ofLiberty Transcends Tort Law,” in 66Louisiana Law Review 95 (2005).Norm Plate,Associate ProfessorNamed, an AssociateProfessor at Cooley LawSchool. He formerlyserved as a VisitingProfessor at Cooley.Marjorie Russell,ProfessorPresented, a lecture,“Showing More, TellingLess,” on bringingaction methods intothe courtroom at theCDAM Fall Conference onAdvanced CriminalDefense, November 3-5, 2005, in TraverseCity, Mich.Conducted, small-group skills training atthe CDAM Fall Conference on AdvancedCriminal Defense, November 3-5, 2005, inTraverse City, Mich.Chris A. Shafer,Professor,Spoke, on “Not Just aWalk on the Beach: PublicAccess v. Private PropertyRights,” at The NationalWater Crisis: Energy andAccess For All?, held Nov.18, 2005, at the University of Toledo LawSchool, Toledo, Ohio.Testified, before the Michigan SenateCommittee on Natural Resources andEnvironmental Affairs concerning waterwithdrawal legislation, SB850-852, on Dec.6, 2005, in Lansing, Mich.Finalized, a technical paper, “LegalFramework Pertaining to LakebedAlterations,” which is part of a larger studyof offshore energy projects in the GreatLakes being completed for the Great LakesFisheries Commission, Jan. 11, 2006.Participated, Feb. 4, 2006, in a paneldiscussion at Ave Maria Law School for aprogram organized by the EnvironmentalLaw Section of the State Bar Association ontwo wetland protection jurisdiction cases,Rafanos and Carabell, pending before theU.S. Supreme Court.Otto Stockmeyer,Emeritus ProfessorProfiled, in the Nov. 16,2005 edition of MichiganLawyers Weekly as a“Leader in the Law.”BENCHMARK19Published, in CASA Quarterly (Winter2006), an online journal of the ABACouncil of Appellate Staff Attorneys, areprint of his book review of A Matter ofRight: A History of the Michigan Court ofAppeals. The book review, titled “T. John’sCourt,” was first published in the State Bar’sAppellate Practice Section Newsletter. It canbe accessed athttp://www.abanet.org/jd/ajc/casa/newsletter/06winter/t_john.htmlAmy Timmer,Associate Deanand ProfessorSpoke, on “ImpartingProfessionalism and theImportance of Civility,”Jan. 4, 2006, at theAnnual Conference of theAssociation of American Law Schools, inWashington, D.C.Appointed, to the State Bar of MichiganCommittee on Grievance by the presidentof the State Bar of Michigan.Evelyn Tombers,Associate ProfessorServes, as a member ofthe Delay ReductionWorkgroup of theMichigan Court ofAppeals. The groupincludes MichiganSupreme Court justices,Appeals Court judges, and appellatelawyers from across the state. Prof. Tomberswas appointed to the task force by theMichigan Supreme Court.William Wagner, Professor andDirector, Centerfor Ethics &ResponsibilityAuthored, a Brief filedin the Supreme Court ofSweden related to theprotection of free speechand the free exercise ofreligious beliefs.Presented, “Immorally Relative Codes ofConduct - and the Value of Christian Virtuein the Practice of Law,” at the nationalconference of the Canadian ChristianLegal Foundation.Co-sponsored, a visit to the Cooley LawSchool by the national president of theNational Rifle Association.Sponsored, an Integrity Lecture Serieswhere members of the bench and barspeak and meet with law students at thelaw school about issues of integrity in thepractice of law.