Lawyer University of St. Thomas School of Law SUMMER 2024 ST. THOMAS
DAN KELLY: NEW LAW SCHOOL DEAN IS READY TO LISTEN, LEARN AND LEAD
Congratulations
The School of Law held its 2024 commencement ceremony at the Minneapolis Convention Center on May 11. Among the graduates, 160 students earned their Juris Doctor (J.D.), 18 earned an LL.M. in U.S. Law and 10 earned a Master of Studies in Law degree in organizational ethics and compliance. Emily Toms ‘24 J.D. was this year’s class speaker and the keynote address was given by Gaye Adams Massey J.D., retired CEO of the YWCA St. Paul. Professor David Grenardo, who was elected professor of the year by the Class of 2024, hooded the graduates.
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Class of 2024!
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ST. THOMAS Lawyer Summer 2024 – Volume 17, Issue 1
Published by the University of St. Thomas School of Law 1000 LaSalle Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55403 (651) 962-4892 lawschool@stthomas.edu law.stthomas.edu Senior Marketing Program Manager and Editor Carrie Hilger Designer
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A Message From the Dean
Michelle Wright Photographer Mark Brown Contributors
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School of Law News
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Snapshots
Profile: Professor Michael Stokes Paulsen
Sheree R. Curry Ann Harrington Joel Nichols Abraham Swee Front cover Dean Designate Dan Kelly Photo by Mark Brown Back cover Photo by Liam Doyle
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Alumni Profile
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Gavel & Gown Gala
Law School Dean, Dan Kelly 22
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Class Notes
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METRICS ARE GREAT, BUT CAN’T CAPTURE IT ALL.
We have so much to celebrate as we end 2023-24! Highlighting what’s great about St. Thomas Law has been one of the best parts of serving as interim dean, so I’m delighted to do so one last time as I depart this role.
By any metric, it was a banner year. • For the 2nd consecutive year, St. Thomas Law was ranked in the top 100 law schools nationally by U.S. News & World Report . • Our 2023 graduates had the highest “gold standard” employment rate in our history – at 92.5%! • We were ranked #2 nationally for “practical training,” continuing a decade-long trend of being in the top 3. • Law faculty collectively rank in the top 15% in the country for “scholarly impact.” To highlight a few individuals: – Prof. David Grenardo was feted at the U.S. Supreme Court for winning a national prize on professionalism; – Prof. Rachel Moran was named a U.S. Fulbright Scholar; and – Prof. Mike Paulsen’s law review article on Donald Trump’s constitutional eligibility to hold the presidency was downloaded so frequently that it literally broke the internet. (Read more about this later in this magazine!) • I could continue on about the strength and depth of our student body, fundraising successes, national recognition for our moot court teams, the impact of our students and faculty in our local community, and more. It’s so gratifying that we have great things to highlight. But these can unintentionally mask the things that, in my view, truly make us the place that we are. Metrics can’t measure the mission. Metrics don’t capture the sense of community. And metrics fail to name the hospitality and welcome embodied by our faculty, staff, students and alumni. St. Thomas Law is a special place because we put people at the center of what we do. Each one of you is part of that, and I am deeply grateful for you. As you’ll read, this summer we welcome Dan Kelly as our next dean. I am honored to have served as the interim dean for the past two years and to have called St. Thomas my professional home for 17 years. I’m excited to watch the next chapter unfold for this wonderful St. Thomas Law community under Dean Kelly’s leadership. I’ll be cheering you on from further south as I join the University of Alabama Law School as vice dean and professor of law this fall. I do wish you all the very best and hope you stay in touch.
Joel Nichols Interim Dean and Mengler Chair in Law University of St. Thomas School of Law
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SCHOOL OF LAW NEWS
THANK YOU, INTERIM DEAN JOEL NICHOLS Join us in thanking Joel Nichols for his leadership as interim dean of St. Thomas Law from June 2022 to May 2024. He joined the law school faculty in 2007 and served as associate dean for academic affairs from 2013 to 2022. Nichols has accepted a position as vice dean and professor of law at the University of Alabama Law School in Tuscaloosa. He completed his term as interim dean at St. Thomas Law at the end of May and will begin his new position later this summer.
2023 LAW GRADUATES SET NEW RECORD FOR EMPLOYMENT
St. Thomas Law’s Class of 2023 set a new school record for the number of graduates employed in “gold standard” positions within 10 months of commencement. The law school recently reported that 92.5% of last year’s graduating class is working in full-time, long-term jobs that either require a law license or for which having a J.D. provides a significant advantage to performing or obtaining the role. The Class of 2023 employment rate places St. Thomas Law among the top law schools in the country for career outcomes. It ranks No. 51 nationally among the nearly 200 accredited U.S. law schools. • University of Minnesota Law School: 96.6% • Harvard Law School: 95.1% • Notre Dame Law School: 94.5% • St. Thomas School of Law: 92.5%
• Villanova School of Law: 91.7% • Pepperdine School of Law: 89.3% • Denver College of Law: 86.6% “These statistics confirm what we hear from employers consistently,” interim School of Law Dean Joel Nichols said. “Our graduates’ legal knowledge and training, relationship skills and work ethic make them highly sought after in the workplace. We celebrate them now and look forward to watching them continue to thrive.”
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SCHOOL OF LAW NEWS
CRIMINAL AND JUVENILE DEFENSE CLINIC WINS AT MINNESOTA SUPREME COURT
Student practitioners in the Criminal and Juvenile Defense Clinic won a victory for their client in a case that made it all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court. In August 2023, the Court ruled 7-0 to grant a resentencing hearing for an individual who was initially sentenced as a child to life in prison without the possibility of parole. “The win, coupled with recent legislative changes in Minnesota, means that the client will have a hearing before the Supervised Release Board sometime within the next five years, which is much more hopeful than the life without parole sentence he originally faced,” said clinic instructor Associate Professor Rachel Moran. The clinic has been working on the case since 2018, when it first opened at St. Thomas Law. Many student attorneys, several now alumni, worked on the case in that time, however Moran highlighted Sarah Koziol ’21 J.D. , Ka Bao Jennrich ’22 J.D. , Ashley Fischer ’22 J.D. and Kim Meyer ’23 J.D. in particular for their work to draft compelling petitions and briefs and make winning arguments to the court. “Not many law students get their names on the front cover of a winning state supreme court decision, but these four certainly deserve it,” Moran said. “The biggest congratulations, of course, go to our client, but when I shared the good news with him he told me to make sure I thanked all the students who invested so much effort into his success.”
#2 FOR PRACTICAL TRAINING St. Thomas Law has been ranked among the top three law schools in this category since 2014.
The National Jurist , 2024
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SCHOOL OF LAW NEWS
JAZZ HAMPTON ‘15 J.D. RECEIVES SPIRIT OF ST. THOMAS AWARD
Jazz Hampton ’12, ’15 J.D. is the recipient of the university’s 2024 Spirit of St. Thomas Award, which honors the professional and personal achievements of Tommies under the age of 40. Hampton is CEO and general counsel at TurnSignl, a Minnesota- based tech company he co- founded that provides real-time legal guidance from an attorney to drivers, all while their camera records the interaction. When drivers are stopped by law enforcement officers or involved in a car accident, they can access a live video chat with an attorney at the press of a button.
University President Rob Vischer and Jazz Hampton.
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SCHOOL OF LAW NEWS
CONGRATULATIONS, KATE HIBBARD ‘06!
At the 13th annual Alumnae Brunch, St. Thomas Law honored Kate Hibbard ‘06 J.D. (left) with an Alumna Achievement Award. She was nominated by fellow alum and sister Mary Nikolai ‘18 J.D. (right). Hibbard is the Managing Associate General Counsel at Cargill. She works in several global roles, including as the lead lawyer for the company’s Aqua Nutrition business group, Cargill’s Strategic Growth Business Accelerator Enterprise, and the seafood segment of Cargill’s Protein and Salt Enterprise. As a proud St. Thomas Law alumna, Hibbard served for many years on the School of Law’s Board of Governors, including on its Executive Committee; on the Law Alumni Board, where she served as president; and as a mentor through the law school’s Mentor Externship Program. She also served the U.S. District Court of Minnesota on its Local Rules Committee and Magistrate Selection Committee. Hibbard has frequently been named to the Minnesota Super Lawyers list.
PROFESSOR MORAN NAMED U.S. FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR
Professor Rachel Moran has been chosen as a U.S. Scholar by the prestigious Fulbright Program. She will travel to South America in the fall of 2024 to study, “Policing in Times of Mass Protest: Lessons from Uprisings in the United States and Chile.” While in Chile, Moran will conduct research to compare and contrast the responses of Chilean police to mass political protests in the fall of 2019 with responses of U.S. police to mass political protests in the summer of 2020. The project will also look at the legal and social concerns stemming from those responses and identify better practices for protecting public safety during mass protests. “I’ve been immersed in police accountability work in Minneapolis and across the U.S. for most of my academic career, but sometimes we forget that other countries too are struggling to build effective law enforcement agencies that both protect public safety and advance human rights,” she said. “Chile is an ideal country for comparative study because it experienced mass political protests very near in time to those in the United States.”
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SCHOOL OF LAW NEWS
HOLLORAN CENTER RECEIVES MAJOR GIFT FOR PROFESSIONAL FORMATION
The law school’s Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions received a major gift from Jake Marvin, former CEO of Marvin Companies, to establish the Steve Tourek and Jake Marvin Scholars Endowment. The fund will be used to engage students in the mission and work of the Holloran Center, which provides innovative interdisciplinary research, curriculum development and programs on the topic of professional identity formation, for law students and other disciplines. “Steve Tourek and Jake Marvin are models of servant leadership,” said Professor Neil Hamilton , founding director and current co-director of the Holloran Center. “We are deeply grateful for this gift that will empower the next generation of servant leaders.” The Holloran Center will use the endowment to create a program for law students, who will be called Tourek and Marvin Scholars. The students will have direct access to the center’s award- winning programming, including professional development opportunities, mentoring and coaching from Holloran Center leaders. Scholars will also build professional skills by contributing to the research and national outreach of the center.
Jerry Organ, Neil Hamilton, Steve Tourek and David Grenardo.
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SCHOOL OF LAW NEWS
FACULTY PUBLISH NEW BOOKS
#98 ST. THOMAS IS ONCE AGAIN RANKED AMONG THE TOP 100 LAW SCHOOLS .
Professor Thomas Berg published Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age (Eerdmans).
U.S. News & World Report, 2024
Professor Charles Reid, Jr. published Peacemaking and the Canon Law of the Catholic Church (Brill). Professor Julie Oseid co-authored Law and Rhetoric: A Primer (Carolina Academic Press).
LAWYER SEARCH Find or Refer an Attorney. Grow your Professional Network.
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Lawyer Search is an online directory of St. Thomas Law graduates. It's free for anyone to use and free for alumni who want to create a profile and attract potential clients.
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Professor Thomas Berg was recognized with a Religious Freedom Scholar Award by the Seventh-day Adventist Church for his contributions to the scholarship of religious liberty and his work as an advocate in Washington, D.C., on April 30.
In the fall, the law school honored Patrick Schiltz (left), chief United States district judge for the District of Minnesota and former St. Thomas Law professor and interim dean, with its Iustitia et Lex award. Former St. Thomas Law dean and retiring president of St. Mary’s University (Texas) Thomas Mengler (right) was honored with the award in the spring.
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snapshots
The St. Thomas Muslim Law Student Association held its third annual Iftar dinner at the University of St. Thomas School of Law during Ramadan in April.
The St. Thomas Fightin’ Apostles beat the University of Minnesota’s Fighting Mondales 2-1 in March to win the 2024 Golden Gavel trophy.
PHOTO CREDIT: LARA LEIMBACH PHOTOGRAPHY
Professor Virgil Wiebe (third from left) was recognized among a group of lawyers and professors with a 2023 Attorney of the Year award from Minnesota Lawyer for the contributions made by the law school’s Immigration Law Practice Group clinic, which he leads, for Minnesota’s new Driver’s License for All legislation.
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THE SHARPENING of a SCHOLAR
By ANN HARRINGTON
Photo credit: University of Michigan
Professor Michael Stokes Paulsen speaks to University of Michigan Law School students about the paper he co-authored, “The Sweep and Force of Section Three.”
Professor Michael Stokes Paulsen is known for shining a light on obscure corners of constitutional history, often employing his irreverent wit in journal articles like “Is West Virginia Unconstitutional?” and “Let’s Mess with Texas.” Though Paulsen’s writing can be playful, he almost always has a serious purpose: To illuminate a neglected or misunderstood aspect of the law or our
with William Baude, about a little- known provision of the Fourteenth Amendment that disqualifies oath- taking insurrectionists from holding office, did all that, even before the article was officially published. Informed by thorough historical research and examination of the text as it was originally understood, the article is a testament to Paulsen’s determination to follow the truth wherever it leads.
constitutional history. Over his career, this approach has gained him respect among colleagues as an innovative thinker whose scholarship is grounded in careful analysis. But until now, none of his scholarly articles had fueled a national debate or spawned legal cases that went all the way to the Supreme Court. “The Sweep and Force of Section Three,” co-authored
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PROFILE
The Making of a Scholar
overreach and liberal ideology; soon he was leading Yale’s chapter.
of being part of a startup that would support his pro-life advocacy. He came over first as a visiting professor in 2003-04 and joined the permanent faculty in 2007. Since joining St. Thomas, Paulsen’s scholarship has become increasingly focused on the U.S. Constitution. He co-authored a new casebook on the Constitution (now in its fifth edition) but may be
Paulsen is now widely considered a leading constitutional scholar, but as a young man, he wasn’t sure law was the right path. He arrived at Yale Law School in the fall of 1982 as a transfer student from Northwestern University who had also enrolled in Yale Divinity School. He had questions about the Bible, theology, and his purpose in life. But first, he needed to find a place to live. As it turned out, a second-year law student named Akhil Reed Amar also needed a roommate. Amar, a self-described liberal, and Paulsen, a conservative, “became sort of an odd couple of law-school roommates,” Paulsen says. “We would argue about constitutional law at 2 in the morning.” They sharpened each other, says Amar, now a professor at Yale and one of the country’s most-cited legal scholars, by trying out their best arguments on each other, discovering weaknesses, and revising their positions accordingly. “That’s what good lawyers do,” he said. “You know, every night was a moot court!” “I loved my time at Yale,” Paulsen says. Professors like Robert Bork favored an originalist approach to interpreting the Constitution, focusing on the original public meaning that the text had when it became law, and that approach struck a chord with Paulsen. The Federalist Society had just been established, challenging what its founders viewed as judicial
“I decided I really did want to be a lawyer of some sort,” he said, and after graduation headed to Washington, D.C. He spent six years there, working two different stints for the Department of Justice. In between, he combined his interests in religion and law to work as a lawyer for a Christian legal group. In 1991, Paulsen secured his first faculty position, at the University of Minnesota. By then, he had met and married Kristen Stokes (he adopted her family name as his middle name), an international economist who did trade negotiations for the U.S. government. It was a homecoming of sorts—Paulsen was born in Minnesota and grew up in Wisconsin, and Kristen also had Midwestern roots. Academia suited him immediately. Paulsen started churning out journal articles while juggling teaching duties and providing pro bono counsel on religious liberty issues. Within five years, he won the Paul M. Bator Award from the national Federalist Society, given to a scholar under 40.
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“Mike Paulsen is the best type of scholar because he makes you think hard about your own assumptions when you engage his arguments. He’s a model of intellectual rigor and spirited advocacy for our students, and a great gift to the St. Thomas community.”
— President Robert Vischer
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A Leap of Faith
Soon after the University of St. Thomas decided to reopen its School of Law in 1999, Paulsen began thinking about a move. Attracted by the school’s faith mission, and a number of friends who were involved in its founding, he was intrigued by the possibility
most proud of The Constitution: An Introduction (2015), a book for general readers that he and his son, Luke, wrote over nine summers at the family’s cabin on Lake Vermillion, starting when Luke was just 13. “I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written,” Paulsen
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says, crediting Luke for editing out his father’s tendencies to lapse into “professoritis,” and making the ideas accessible. Paulsen has been recognized for his contributions at St. Thomas, winning the Dean’s Awards for Scholarship (2011, 2019 and 2024) and Teaching (2015). University President Robert Vischer said, “Mike Paulsen is the best type of scholar because he makes you think hard about your own assumptions when you engage his arguments. He’s a model of intellectual rigor and spirited advocacy for our students, and a great gift to the St. Thomas community.” That intellectual rigor has included a willingness to face criticism. In fact, he originally connected with his future co-author, Will Baude, after the younger scholar published an attack on one of Paulsen’s signature articles soon after graduating from Yale Law School. Despite that public disagreement, the two started an email correspondence. When they finally
met at a conference, years later, Baude said, Paulsen greeted him with a hug. Now a law professor at the University of Chicago, Baude won the Bator Award in 2017 and is one of the most-cited legal scholars of his generation. “We became fast friends,” Paulsen said. “We apply very similar methodology, but sometimes disagree as to results, and argue back and forth, cheerfully, about the things we disagree on. We very much respect each other.”
The Fourteenth Amendment was enacted in 1868, soon after the Civil War. Section Three aimed to block former Confederate leaders from holding government offices during Reconstruction, barring
anyone who had previously taken an oath to support the
Constitution but had “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution, or “given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof.” After Reconstruction ended, however, Section Three was mostly forgotten. “What initially attracted me,” Paulsen said, was the question: “Does an 1868 provision of the Constitution that everybody has left for dead still have Constitutional force?” He started poking around and eventually approached Baude about writing “a short article.” Baude agreed. “It seemed like a part of the Constitution that a lot of people hadn’t paid attention to, and suddenly, it was in the public eye, and it needed some cold, sober analysis.”
“A Short Article”
After the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, that disrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential election, some commentators suggested that President Donald Trump’s actions constituted engaging in an insurrection, which under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment disqualified him and others from seeking future office.
Paulsen, along with T.J. Bowman ‘24 J.D. (far left) and Law Librarian Niki Catlin who provided research support, received the law school’s Mission Award for Scholarly Engagement and Societal Reform in April 2024 for “The Sweep and Force of Section Three.” Mike Petschel ’24 J.D. (far right) nominated them for the award.
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PROFILE
As originalists, that meant understanding what the drafters of Section Three meant when they used the terms insurrection and rebellion, which entailed poring over 1860s legal dictionaries and Abraham Lincoln’s speeches. After years of working through the issues, Baude and Paulsen concluded that Section Three did indeed have force. Their 126-page draft article was posted on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) website in early August 2023. Shortly thereafter, the SSRN server crashed, as the article was downloaded more than a hundred thousand times. “We received a deluge of media invitations,” Paulsen said: “Anderson Cooper, Chuck Todd, NBC Nightly News, CNN…and we decided not to do that. We’re not talking heads or commentators or political activists.” And then, about a month later, came the lawsuits to take Trump off the ballot, most notably one in Colorado, which cited Baude and Paulsen’s article multiple times. Amar, the Yale professor, said, “It’s the most important article ever written about the Fourteenth Amendment, Section Three.” He also said that without it, those cases would not have been brought. Paulsen disagreed, in part, saying some lawsuits probably would have happened. “But there was something about two conservatives, two Federalist Society members, originalists, who said, ‘There’s actually something to
Paulsen was invited to speak in Paris last fall to members of the Cercle Droit et Liberte, an organization of conservative lawyers dedicated to the promotion and defense of civil liberties in France. He discussed, “The American Constitutional System of Presidential Elections and Constitutional Issues Surrounding the Presidential Election of 2024.”
this,’ that caused some people to sit up and take notice.”
commentary, discussion, and litigation has caused us to revise our core propositions,” they wrote in a series of essays published by reason.com in February, prior to the Court’s ruling, in which they responded to comments and objections on their paper.
In December 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the former president was disqualified from appearing on the state’s presidential primary ballot, and Trump appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court heard oral arguments on February 8, about 10 days before the University of Pennsylvania Law Review formally published “The Sweep and Force of Section Three.” On March 4, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Colorado’s decision, ruling unanimously that states could not disqualify federal candidates under Section Three. A majority opinion went on to say that such disqualifications required legislation from Congress. Though the outcome was widely expected, Baude and Paulsen remain steadfast in support of their analysis. “Nothing in the ensuing
Still, some may wonder if the article was worth doing.
“Oh, absolutely!” Paulsen said. After all, he said, he and Baude didn’t start out with a particular agenda: “We were just intrigued by an interesting set of difficult constitutional questions.” And by exploring those questions, they sparked a national conversation about current-day implications of a little-known constitutional provision designed generations ago to protect our democracy. Meanwhile, Professor Paulsen has more to say about the Constitution. The working title of his next article? “The Power to Declare Peace.”
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Finding His Role: TRAVIS CLARK IMPACTS POLICY FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.
As a paramedic, Travis Clark (Tzi-Zho-Ki-He-Kah - Eagle Chief) responded to hundreds of calls across Cherokee Nation. It didn’t take long before he started to notice patterns. “Every day was Groundhog Day – seeing the same health emergencies over and over again,” Clark said. “I felt like a gerbil on a wheel.” An enrolled citizen of the Osage and Cherokee Nations, Clark grew frustrated by the seemingly endless repetition of life-threatening crises across his community. Each week, he’d respond to frequent drug overdoses and diabetic ketoacidosis. “What becomes very readily apparent when you’re dealing with these issues every day as a paramedic, is that we were never addressing their root cause,” Clark said. “And that’s when I started thinking seriously about law school.” Looking to expand his impact beyond triaging symptoms and toward the root causes – Clark overhauled his career aspirations: “I blew it all up.” Once on track to attend medical school, Clark ’14 J.D. instead ac- cepted a scholarship to attend the University of St. Thomas School
values, his own Catholic faith, and the School of Law’s mission, as a Catholic law school, to prepare attorneys ready to work for the common good. As a law student, Clark was president of the Native American Law Student Association and a senior editor for the Journal of Law and Public Policy. He also served as a law clerk in Washington D.C. at the Native American Rights Fund and the Office of the Solicitor’s Division of Indian Affairs. “My St. Thomas experience impacted me deeply… and the quality of education really did give me the tools to be successful in my career,” Clark said. Clark kicked off his new professional career in South Dakota as an attorney for Fredericks, Peebles & Morgan, which specializes in Federal Indian Law. But it didn’t take long before Washington, D.C. – and the chance to directly impact policy – came calling. In 2016 the Obama administration decided to reorganize the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), going on a hiring spree in the process. Looking for outside experts and fresh perspectives, Clark was on the top of their wish list.
of Law, and now serves as chief of staff for the Bureau of Indian Edu- cation in Washington, D.C. “I knew with a legal background I could have my hands on the policy,” Clark said. “It would give me more options than just trying to address the same issues whack- a-mole style as a paramedic.” Clark considered offers from law schools across the country. But a trip to the St. Thomas campus in Minneapolis – and a chance to chat with faculty and students – made the decision an easy one. “When I went to other schools, the message was ‘Look what we can do for you,’” Clark said. “When I came to St. Thomas, the message was much different. Instead, it was ‘we’re going to equip you with the skills to do things for other people.’” From a young age, members of the Osage and Cherokee Nations learn that they each have a role to play in their collective success. Emphasis is put on the tribe, rather than the individual. For example, stories passed down from generation to generation rarely use names, as names and individual accomplishments are considered immaterial.
Clark quickly felt the parallels between his tribe’s longstanding
He’d serve as the BIE’s first chief performance officer and as a
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ALUMMI PROFILE
senior legislative and policy advisor, before eventually
accepting his current role as chief of staff. Clark now helps oversee a department tasked with the education of students on 64 reservations and an annual budget of approximately $1.5 billion. He’s most proud of developing the bureau’s first ever strategic plan, setting long-term goals for reforming Indian education, and hitting the reset button on tribal relationships. And it’s paid off. Graduation rates are on an upswing. “We still have a long way to go, but it has really demonstrated to me that the ideas I had as a paramedic were right: that policy really does address root issues,” Clark said. “If you’re addressing those root issues, you can see real substantive change for the good.” Most recently, Clark completed the Department of the Interior’s Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program. And while he’s not certain what the future may bring, he does know that he will continue to play a role in his tribe’s success. “We all have a role to play within our communities,” Clark said. “No role is more important than another. But we must play our roles to move forward together.”
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ALUMNI
In February, the law school held its first alumni Gavel & Gown Gala. All classes joined the celebratory evening at the law school, with special recognition for the milestone reunion classes of 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019. Honored guests included incoming Dean Dan Kelly and wife Kate, former Dean Tom Mengler and his wife Mona, President Vischer and federal Judge Patrick Schiltz. Guests enjoyed dancing, casino games and fellowship with old friends and esteemed faculty and staff. A special thanks to our sponsors: Gold Level: Best & Flanagan | Dorsey | Haller Kwan | Larson King | Luther Automotive Group; Silver Level: Baker Vicchiollo Law | BANC Law | Lathrop GPM | Trautmann Martin Law PLLC | Winthrop & Weinstine; and Bronze Level: Boulay PLLP | Brekke Clyborne & Ribich LLC | Collins, Buckley, Sauntry & Haugh, PLLP | Honsa Mara & Kanne | Sheridan, Dulas, Hunstad & Kins, P.A. | Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. GAVEL & GOWN �a�� 2024
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DAN KELLY: NEW LAW SCHOOL DEAN IS READY TO LISTEN, LEARN AND LEAD
By Sheree R. Curry
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LAW SCHOOL DEAN, DAN KELLY
Dan Kelly , the newly appointed dean of the University of St. Thomas School of Law, recalls an early memory watching the Minnesota Twins defeat the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1987 World Series. “My father and brother are both named ‘Tom Kelly,’” he says. “So, I thought it was cool that legendary Twins’ manager, Tom Kelly, had the same name.” Growing up in the south suburbs of Chicago, Kelly never imagined he’d one day live and work in the Twin Cities. However, he always knew a career as an educator was in his future.
the past three graduating classes. In 2023, the School of Law ranked in the top 100 of U.S. News and World Report’s national law school rankings for the first time. “The St. Thomas community is amazing and has a law school that has enormous potential for growth with a big and bold vision,” he says. “We need to think and dream big in terms of research, education and impact consistent with our mission.” Kelly is well situated to help the School of Law realize that vision. He has taught as a professor of law at Notre Dame Law School for the last 15 years, including three years as the Robert and Marion Short Scholar. He is a go-to expert on property law, law and economics and real estate. And his research, which has been published in top- ranked journals, covers a range of topics, from eminent domain and commercial real estate to trusts and fiduciary law. Kelly is also regarded for his visionary leadership as founding director of Notre Dame’s Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate. While leading the Fitzgerald Institute, he recruited esteemed faculty, launched new courses and an interdisciplinary minor, hosted academic conferences and industry events and helped to raise tens of millions of dollars in endowed funds. He engaged industry and nonprofit partners to elevate awareness of trends in real estate that are crucial to economic and social conditions across the globe.
importance of listening to and learning from those around him. That has become a large part of Kelly’s leadership style, and it’s one of the reasons he’s had a successful career trajectory.
“I come from a family of teachers and college professors,” he says.
His father was a history professor for 40 years at Governors State University in Illinois. His mother, an elementary school teacher before Kelly was born, later obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and became a professor of education. His brother, Tom, is a philosophy professor at Princeton. “Whether it was in my DNA since before I was born or a function of seeing the intellectual curiosity of my parents and brother, I think it was in the cards that I would become a professor,” says Kelly, whose appointment as dean begins July 1. Kelly arrives at St. Thomas during an exciting time, for the law school and the university. The law school remains a national leader in practical training, and its gold standard employment rate has been at or above 90 percent for
Dean Dan Kelly and his wife, Kate.
“While serving as the director of the Fitzgerald Institute, I had an opportunity to work with and learn from some of the top real estate people in the country—world-class investors, developers and lawyers,” Kelly says. “They have taken my interest in property law to a whole new level by introducing me to almost every facet of the real estate industry.” Ward Fitzgerald and his wife Kathy, who endowed the real estate program at Notre Dame, are among those who were most influential for Kelly. When they talked, he listened. And he learned.
In these roles, Kelly learned some valuable lessons about the
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LAW SCHOOL DEAN, DAN KELLY
“Ward taught me about having the mindset of an entrepreneur, taking risks and looking for big opportunities, in real estate and life,” Kelly says. “He also taught me the importance of being a leader who is a person of faith—as he would put it, being ‘on fire’ with the Holy Spirit—and that everything we do should be for the greater glory of God.” While Kelly’s academic passions will remain in real estate, there are other plans at the top of his list when he starts as dean. “My initial goals are to listen and learn,” he says. “I want to talk with everyone: our students, faculty and staff, our alumni, mentors and employers, our benefactors and supporters. I want to learn from everyone. I want to understand not only our strengths and opportunities but also our weaknesses and challenges.”
Kelly points out that some law schools seek excellence in scholarship; some emphasize the practical training of their students to defend liberty, pursue justice and advance the common good; a few seek to integrate faith and reason in pursuit of a distinctive mission. But “St. Thomas,” says Kelly, “seeks to do all three, and to do so ambitiously and unapologetically.” That is what attracted him to the School of Law, he says. “There is no higher calling than to serve a mission-focused, Catholic law school.” Kelly was raised Catholic. He attended a public elementary school and then Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois, where he played varsity basketball and participated on the speech team. He followed in his
brother’s footsteps and attended the University of Notre Dame.
“Attending a Catholic high school and college helped me to grow in my faith and understand foundational principles of the Catholic intellectual tradition and Catholic social teaching,” he says. Learning was a constant theme instilled in him by his parents. Kelly recalls his childhood days sitting at the dinner table and having a clear view of a white board that hung in the kitchen. The board had vocabulary words, hand- drawn maps of the U.S. and world and other facts and ideas that his parents would discuss with him during meals. “My parents always emphasized to me the dignity of the human person,” Kelly says. He adds that they were active in the Civil Rights Movement and attended Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech” at the 1963 March on Washington in D.C. They taught him the importance of being principled and courageous, with the biblical phrase “Be not afraid” inscribed on a homemade plaque on his bookshelf. These lessons cemented in him a strong sense of justice and a commitment to pursuing the truth and a more just society. Kelly is now a husband and father. He and his wife, Kate, whom he met when they were undergraduates at Notre Dame, are raising their five children with these same values, which he hopes will guide his son and four daughters in their own vocations.
Former and incoming St. Thomas Law Deans Rob Vischer, Tom Mengler and Dan Kelly.
Page 24 St. Thomas Lawyer
LEGAL ADVOCACY
Kelly’s interest in the law came during his undergraduate days after he took a government course on American constitutional law and audited a law course on the moral, political and legal theory of St. Thomas Aquinas. He went on to obtain a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Harvard Law School, completed a judicial clerkship and became an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York. Throughout his career, he’s been a research fellow at Yale and Harvard, a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School and the Louis D. Brandeis Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. “My legal mentors, especially Judge Richard Wesley, for whom I clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the partners and associates with whom I worked at Cravath, and my professors and colleagues, greatly
assisted my professional formation and development,” he says.
next? How do we dream big as a law school and do all of it in a way that advances the common good and promotes the rule of law in our communities, our country and around the globe? How do we continue to offer an innovative curriculum that emphasizes professional formation and achieves top placements for our students; recruit and hire top mission-aligned faculty; and expand and cultivate our network of alumni, employers and benefactors? “There is a lot of work to do, but together we will create a bold, ambitious vision and determine the objectives and resources we need to realize that vision. The law school’s future is bright, and I look forward to leading this community by listening to and learning from everyone who can help us to accomplish our mission.”
One of the most important lessons he learned, other than to listen, read and research carefully, is to prepare extensively. “For lawyers, it’s all about preparation, preparation, preparation,” he adds. “The best lawyers are the ones who prepare the most, pay closest attention to details and understand the needs of their clients.” Kelly says he will draw on that advice as he sets the course for St. Thomas Law’s next chapter. “The founding faculty and leaders of the School of Law, including President Rob Vischer as its former dean, have laid the cornerstone and established a strong foundation from which we can build,” he says. “The question now is where do we want to go
Spring 2024 Page 25
Notes from Our Alumni CLASS ACTION
2005 Send your 2005 class notes and photos to Kerry McAndrew (kerry@kmcandrewlaw.com). ______________________________ Andre Chouravong has worked in legal consulting and compliance since graduation. In 2022, he joined CeriFi LLC, a Georgia-based company specializing in educational technology solutions. Andre lives in St. Paul with his spouse, three children and shih tzu poodle. Ryan Hentges (pictured below) is now president and CEO of Dakota Electric Association, a member-owned electric distribution cooperative.
2004 Send your 2004 class notes and photos to Liz Odette (tinlizzieo@ gmail.com) or Susan Beltz (beltzsm@gmail.com). ______________________________ Susan Beltz retired as Senior Counsel of Ameriprise Financial after 20 years with the company. Susan joined the Corporate Secretary’s Office within the General Counsel Organization in 2007 and worked with executive leaders and the board of directors to ensure compliance as a publicly traded company. Matt Frerichs joined Maslon LLP as a partner in the firm’s Estate Planning Group. Matt writes and presents on estate planning issues. His expertise includes mitigating risk in estate planning and ethical issues attorneys face when serving clients with mental illness or diminished capacity. After serving as the Interim County Attorney for Todd County, John Lindemann was elected as the County Attorney in November 2022 and was sworn into the role in January 2023. Elizabeth Odette, Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General, was promoted to Manager of the Antitrust
Division in September 2023. Liz joined the Attorney General’s Office four years ago after 15+ years at Lockridge Grindal Nauen. Mary Szondy (pictured below) received the 2023 Service to Minnesota Women Lawyers award, along with her co- chairs of the MWL Diversity & Inclusion Committee. The award recognizes efforts of MWL members who work to advance the success of women lawyers and strive for a just society.
Loddy Tolzmann (pictured below) is now the Assistant City Manager – Internal Services for the City of Bloomington, MN. Before her current role, Loddy served as the first Ramsey County Chief of Staff.
Mark Klos, Heather McElroy Goerger, Kate Nilan Uding ’06 J.D., Liz Drotning Hartwell ’06 J.D., and Victoria Brenner (pictured below left to right) represented the law school at the university’s presidential inauguration of Rob Vischer in May 2023.
2006 Send your 2006 class notes and photos to Ian Dobson (imdobson@live.com).
Congratulations to Jim Maring (pictured top of next column), who was recently named a shareholder in Serkland Law Firm (Fargo, ND). Jim’s areas of expertise include tax law, business and commercial law, estate planning and probate, and real estate law.
______________________________ Greetings class of 2006! I hope all is well with each of you.
Page 26 St. Thomas Lawyer
Krista (Guinn) Fink currently serves as Chief Compliance Officer at Fairview Health Services and works in the areas of healthcare regulatory and corporate compliance. She and her husband Ben Fink J.D. ’08 live with their twin boys and puppy in St. Louis Park. Nick Halbur (pictured below) moved his elder law practice to Koukol Johnson Schmit & Milone in Omaha. He is a local leader in Medicaid planning and its intersection with estate planning, guardianship and probate. Freshman child Grace enjoys band and show choir; fifth-grade child Jackson, scouting and band.
Mike Cass is currently watching a youth hockey game. Andrea Dahly (pictured below left) changed jobs again, but didn’t have to move this time. She left Bemidji State University and is now an Assistant County Attorney in Beltrami County, handling civil matters including civil commitments, guardianships, and land issues. David Hanson ’07 J.D. (right) is the Beltrami County Attorney.
Kathy (Klos) Knight (pictured below) was married in October. She reports, “Joe is great, but he is a Vikings fan. We did have raucous ‘Skol/Go Pack Go’ chants at our reception!” Remember, counting Lombardi Trophies won’t solve any dispute, even though it might feel good in the moment.
Janet Krueger retired from public defense after 17 years of representing juveniles in delinquency and CHIPs cases. She plans to spend time traveling and visiting her grandchildren. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum appointed Chas Neff (pictured below) to a judgeship for the Northwest Judicial District. Judge Neff is pictured at his swearing-in ceremony.
Oliver Maron joined the Asset Disposition team in the Commercial Real Estate department at U.S. Bank (Minneapolis). Oliver returned to Minnesota after many years in the Pacific Northwest. Anna Petosky (pictured below) is now Senior Legal Counsel in the litigation group at Prime Therapeutics, a pharmacy benefit management company.
Jon Farnsworth is an equity partner at Spencer Fane LLP, practicing business/ technology law in Minneapolis and Tampa. He celebrated his fifth anniversary at the firm after he and Jessica Nelson ’05 J.D. opened Spencer Fane’s Minneapolis office. Spencer Fane has nearly 500 attorneys nationwide.
Liz Drotning Hartwell (pictured below) is now a Fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
Jessica Slattery is currently Acting Political Chief at the U.S. Embassy, Dakar, Senegal, where she leads U.S. foreign policy engagement in Senegal. Jessica will be in Dakar until summer 2025. 2007 Send your 2007 class notes and photos to Chuck Berendes (chuckberendes@gmail.com). ______________________________ Michael Baker (pictured below) is now a Global Executive Talent Acquisition Consultant at Cargill.
Jacob Thorington is in Tennessee, going on 17
years at Cheatham Palermo & Garrett. Jacob and his wife Jen have 3 kids, 2 cats and 1 dog. They just survived what people in Tennessee are calling “snowmaggedon,” something people in Minnesota would generally call “Wednesday.” Alyssa Toft started a new position as Employee Relations Attorney at Dorsey & Whitney, but I don’t think that means she has any control over “casual Fridays.” You’ll have to take that up elsewhere.
Kate Hibbard (pictured top of next column) received the 2023 Alumnae Achievement Award at the 13th Annual Law Alumnae Brunch: Leadership at Your Best, which was held in November. Kate is the Managing Associate General Counsel at Cargill.
Erika Toftness Kelly transitioned her estate planning practice to Larkin Hoffman Daly & Lindgren (Bloomington, MN). Erika is pictured (right) with Heidi Bassett ‘05 J.D. (left), a litigator with the firm.
Spring 2024 Page 27
Congratulations to Mike Stephani (pictured below) on becoming a Partner at Best & Flanagan (Minneapolis). Mike represents a wide array of clients in bankruptcy/ restructuring matters, commercial litigation, and trust and estates litigation.
Chuck Berendes continues to practice immigration law in La Crosse, WI. He recently made a pair of pot holders from an old wool sweater that went through the wash on a hot cycle. 2008 Send your 2008 class notes and photos to Andrea Hoversten (ahoversten@goklawfirm.com). ______________________________ In October, Laura Hammargren (pictured below) moved from an in-house litigation role at 3M back to private practice as a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig. Laura will keep track of her time once again on toxic and mass tort litigation and related investigations.
Angie Streit (pictured below) celebrated Streit Law’s first anniversary in February. Her fiancé, Thierry Ajas, has been a huge support. They will marry and blend families (3 boys total) on October 4. Angie’s also learning French and hopes to use it next time they visit Thierry’s family in France.
Sara Micheletti now practices at McCarty Law (Appleton, WI). She handles estate planning, guardianship, estate settlement and probate matters.
Brandon Niles (pictured below) became a vice president with Acadian Companies (Lafayette, LA). Brandon leads the strategic development of Acadian Total Security. He has been with Acadian in various roles since 2010.
2010 Send your 2010 class notes and photos to Meghann Kantke or Garin Strobl (ustlaw2010@ gmail.com). ______________________________ Hello from the Class of 2010! Kari Kanne (pictured below) became a named shareholder at the family law firm of Honsa Mara & Kanne (Minneapolis). The firm is a certified Women’s Business Enterprise.
2009 Send your 2009 class notes and photos to Lisa Thimjon (lmthimjon@gmail.com). ______________________________ Nate Dahl’s family moved to St. Joseph, MN, and are living their dream farm life on a lake. Nate continues to run the Meshbesher & Spence St. Cloud office. He and Eric Palmer ’07 J.D. secured the largest personal injury verdict ever obtained in Sherburne County and were both honored as Minnesota Attorneys of the Year. Roll Toms! Kory Kotrba (pictured below) is now a non-equity partner at Seager, Tufte, Wickhem (Minneapolis). Kory is a registered patent attorney.
Shauna Kieffer opened her own criminal defense firm and represents clients across Minnesota. Shauna continues to serve on the board of directors for the Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and authored several amicus
briefs to the Minnesota Supreme Court last year.
Colin Peterson (pictured below) is now an Operations Project Manager at Medica. Colin focuses on operations growth initiatives and efficiency projects.
Laura Loeffler (pictured below) joined Oportun as a Senior Supervisor in Risk and Control Management. Oportun is a financial services and loan company headquartered in San Carlos, California.
Nickey Kettwick (pictured below) became the 106th president of the Hennepin County Bar Association on June 8, 2023.
Page 28 St. Thomas Lawyer
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