New and Visiting Faculty Members for 2005-2006
Dean Dennis O. Lynch announced the appointment of eight new faculty members for 2005-2006, along with six visiting faculty members. "These appointments will add depth to a faculty that is already recognized nationally and internationally for the quality of its scholarship," Dean Lynch noted. "Their fields of expertise range widely, including family law, constitutional law, litigation and procedure, national security law, poverty and civil rights law, health law, and immigration. The appointments will also help us expand clinical opportunities for our students," he added. The six visiting faculty members will each spend a semester at UM, adding expertise in the fields of business law, international and comparative law, land use, and law and social problems.
New Faculty Members
The new faculty members, as of August 2005, are:
- Zanita Fenton, Professor of Law
- Stephen Vladeck, Associate Professor of Law
- JoNel Newman, Assistant Professor of Clinical Legal Education
- Bernard P. Perlmutter, Assistant Professor of Clinical Legal Education
- Kele Williams, Assistant Professor of Clinical Legal Education
- Jessica Gabel, Lecturer & Legal Writing Instructor
- Lindsay Harrison, Lecturer & Legal Writing Instructor
- Erik Scharf, Lecturer & Legal Writing Instructor
Zanita Fenton, Professor of Law as of August 2005, is currently Associate Professor of Law at Wayne State Law School. Professor Fenton received an A.B. from Princeton University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She was editor in chief of the Harvard BlackLetter Journal. After law school, Professor Fenton practiced in the New York law office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton as a corporate and securities lawyer. At Wayne State, Professor Fenton has taught courses in Family Law, Race and the Law, Constitutional Law, and a seminar on reproductive rights called, "Sex, Procreation & Reproductive Technology." She holds a Wayne State University Career Development Chair for academic year 2004-05, and was the 2002 recipient of the Donald H. Gordon Excellence in Teaching Award. She was a visiting professor at UM in Spring 2004. She will teach Torts and Family Law in 2005-2006.
Stephen Vladeck, Associate Professor of Law as of August 2005, is currently law clerk to the Honorable Marsha S. Berzon, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He graduated in June 2004 from Yale Law School, where he was awarded the Potter Stewart Prize for Best Team Performance in Moot Court and the Harlan Fiske Stone Prize for Outstanding Moot Court Oralist. His teaching and research interests include civil procedure, federal courts, national security law, and constitutional law. He will teach Civil Procedure I, Federal Courts, and a seminar on national security law in 2005-2006.
JoNel Newman received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1986, where she was a senior editor of the Yale Law Journal. After clerking for Judge R. Lanier Anderson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, she practiced at a private firm in New Haven and then with the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union Foundation until 1995. From 1996-2002, she was the lead counsel for the Florida Justice Institute in a number of civil rights, class action, and immigration cases. Since 2002, she was has worked with Florida Legal Services on a variety of litigation matters relating to migrant farm workers, Medicaid, human rights, disabilities, and housing. She will supervise the Community Health Rights Education Project of the Center for Ethics and Public Service.
Bernard P. Perlmutter received his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law in 1983. He has had a distinguished career as a public interest lawyer, serving as staff attorney with the Family/Juvenile/Education Unit of Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc. before he was appointed as Director of the School's Children & Youth Law Clinic. He will continue to serve as director of the clinic.
Kele S. Williams received her J.D. from the New York University School of Law in 1998, where she was awarded a Future Law Professors Fellowship. She practiced with the firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York from 1998-2003. She then served as Associate Counsel in the Democracy Program of the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, where she was handled a number of voting and election law issues. Her article, Making America the Land of Second Chances: Restoring the Social Safety Net to Ex-Offenders, will appear in the Catholic University Law Review later this year. She will teach in the Children & Youth Law Clinic and other clinical programs.
Jessica Gabel received her J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law in 2004, where she served on the Law Review. She has previously taught Legal Research & Writing as a part-time instructor, and now joins the faculty on a full-time basis. She will also teach a seminar in the spring.
Lindsay Harrison received her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2003, where she was Best Oralist and Semifinalist in the Ames Moot Court Competition. In addition to teaching Legal Research & Writing, she will teach a seminar in the fall on Civil Rights Litigation Strategies.
Erik W. Scharf received his J.D. from the University of Michigan in 1995. Prior to law school he earned a National Defense Service Medal for military service in Operation Desert Storm. After graduating from law school he clerked for Chief Judge Danny J. Boggs of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and practiced with firms in Minneapolis and Miami. In addition to teaching Legal Research & Writing, he will teach a seminar in the spring.
Visiting Faculty Members
We are fortunate to have six accomplished and exciting faculty members visiting us next year.
Nicoḷ Trocker (Fall 2005), Professor of Law of the University of Florence (Italy). Professor Trocker teaches Comparative Law, Civil Procedure, and Conflict of Laws at the University of Florence. He has published various books and numerous articles on these subjects. He received his legal education at the Universities of Munich (Germany) and Florence (Italy), where he earned his law degree (summa cum laude), and at the European University Institute where he received a Jean Monet fellowship. He will teach Transnational Litigation.
David Carlson (Spring 2006), Professor of Law, Cardozo School of Law, received his J.D. from Hastings in 1977, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Hastings Law Journal. He practiced at Cravath Swaine & Moore for four years before joining Cardozo's faculty in 1981. He has also visited at Michigan and Washington & Lee. His scholarly and teaching interests include Bankruptcy, Commercial Law, and Jurisprudence. He will teach Commercial Law and another course.
Charles Haar (Spring 2006), Brandeis Professor Emeritus, Harvard Law School. Professor Haar is an authority on real property development, as well as a leading participant in the formulation of Great Society Programs. He visits here regularly in the spring, and typically teaches a course in Planning and Zoning and a seminar on the Great Society.
Matthew Mirow (Spring 2006), Associate Professor of Law at the FIU College of Law, received his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1986. He holds a Ph.D. in law from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. in law from Leiden University, and is the author of Latin American Law: A History of Private Law and Institutions in Spanish America (University of Texas Press, 2004). Prior to joining the faculty at FIU in 2002, he taught at St. Louis and South Texas College. A number of us may recall that Professor Mirow was also a Legal Research & Writing Instructor here at UM in 1992-1993 and a Visiting Assistant Professor in 1993-1994. He will teach Trusts and Estates and an additional course related to comparative or Latin American law.
Jeanne Schroeder (Spring 2006), Professor of Law, Cardozo School of Law, received her J.D. from Stanford in 1978. Before joining Cardozo's faculty in 1989, she practiced in corporate finance for 12 years as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore and a partner at Milgrim Thomajan & Lee. Her scholarly and teaching interests include commercial law, corporate finance, securities, jurisprudence, and feminist legal theory. She will teach Commercial Law and another course.
William Twining (Spring 2006), Research Professor of Law at University College London. Professor Twining is a leading figure in British legal education, where he is widely known in the fields of jurisprudence, legal biography, and evidence. He has served as a member of the Kenya Council of Legal Education, a consultant and external examiner for several African universities, a consultant to the Papua New Guinea Law Reform Commission, and a member of the Committee on Legal Education in Northern Ireland. More recently, he served as part of a team commissioned by international donor agencies to review the justice system in Uganda. His international interests include Globalization and Law and Law in Africa. He teaches in the areas of Analysis of Evidence and globalization.
