Tisidra Jones

The faculty and staff of the Interprofessional Center for Counseling and Legal Services are pleased to recognize Ms. Tisidra Jones as the 2012 AALS Clinical Legal Education Association’s Outstanding Student Award for the University of St. Thomas. This award recognizes a clinical law student who demonstrates academic excellence, service to the community and leadership.  One student per law school is chosen for this award.

Ms. Jones has worked diligently to support the work of Brotherhood, Inc. (reintegration program) and empower Brotherhood participants.  She has drawn upon her gifts and talents as an artist, educator, community advocate, and future attorney. Her work focused primarily on developing an arts-based cultural development curriculum and creating tools to share the stories of the participants through the creative arts as a medium. This curriculum has aided Brotherhood participants in using their creative arts to share their stories. Participants authored poetry and wrote about their personal experiences. The culmination of their work was presented at the production of “The Forgotten: A Look at the Lives of Young Black Men” a play that looks at the lives of four young black men as they face trials and tribulations within their communities. This production was directed and produced by Ms. Jones.

Please join the IPC in recognizing Ms. Jones for serving as a change agent.  The fruits of her labor will continue to bear fruit for years to come as community members become informed and engaged about the plight of African American males who are seeking to transform their lives and their communities.

Just in case you thought law students were boring… well, we’re not! In the past, the St. Thomas student body has showcased its talents to the public at large at the end of the spring semester. “Talent,” of course, is a relative term, especially for people who spend 90% of their time in self-imposed imprisonment in a law library. Luckily for us, Tommies are amazing even by normal standards… or at least entertaining. This year, to accommodate the wide variety of our (occasionally unorthodox) talents, we hosted the First Annual Free Speech Variety Show at Whiskey Junction. The opening act was, appropriately, our own dear “Star-Spangled Banner,” belched completely as it’s never been belched before! Yep. The whole thing. Along with the occasional stand-up comic and some swing dancing, most of the acts were musical in nature, featuring bagpipes, acoustic guitar, piano, vocals, “Afternoon Delight,” a viola solo performed on one leg, and St. Thomas’s own alternative rock band, Revenge of the Schnurrds.

This year’s program also featured a contest with winners in each of the talent categories, voted in by their adoring fans. Mikel McLaughlin took the Physical/Embarrassing/Individual group with his sassy stand-up/roast routine, and Tisidra Jones and Elysa Banwell carried the Musical category with their gorgeous piano/vocal duet, including a breathtaking Adele cover.

The stars of the show, however were, literally, sizzlin’. The dance group Sizzle was Mary Beth Boyce, Aubrie Ekman, Loryn Meloy, Kerri Kovalesky, Natolie Hotchhausen, Brittany Peters and Stephanie Wiersma. Performing an incredible neon-90s choreographed routine to the likes of Brittany Spears, the Spice Girls and N’Sync, the girls danced home with the $150 gift card Grand Prize, along with well-earned bragging rights until next year.

A few special shout-outs: to Matthew Limoges, the evening’s emcee; our dedicated planners, producers and the ladies that made all the magic happen, Carolyn Latimer and Ashley Bennet; and finally to Aidan Dunne and his lovely swing dance partner, the only act from the whole show of whom I was unable to snap a satisfactory photo, because the room was super dark and they were moving pretty fast. You guys are great!

Alex (center), is pictured with classmates who also worked to form the nonprofit, Katie Wertheim and McKinzie Hopkins. Other students involved were Mike Biver and Kathryn Short, not pictured.

I attended an award ceremony on Thursday, April 19^th where one of our current 3L students, Alex Campion, and one of our incoming law students, Lisa Johnson, both won the Pauline Lambert Women’s Advocacy Award for taking initiative in challenging problems that exist around gender issues. The awards were presented by the University Advocates for Women and Equity.  Our 3L, Alex, worked with a group of other law students to create the Center for Girl’s Leadership. www.centerforgirlsleadership.org

The mission statement reads, “Inspiring Girls Today to Lead Tomorrow” with a vision statement of “Leaders are not just defined by their titles or positions, but also by their actions. The Center for Girls’ Leadership believes any girl can be a leader at home, at school, and in her community.  We seek to empower girls today to pave a strong pathway to equality in leadership.  Girls are encouraged to create something extraordinary and to inspire others to do the same.”   The nonprofit organization hosted their first event on Saturday, February 25th at UST.  They invited high school and college women to the leadership workshop. 

Lisa (left) and Professor Angela High-Pippert

Our incoming law student, Lisa, was nominated in part for her involvement in the College Women Student Leaders national conference and because of her strong demonstrated commitment to service and social justice. Congratulations to Alex and Lisa for receiving the Pauline Lambert Women’s Advocacy Award.

Lisa is pictured with Professor Angela High-Pippert and Alex is pictured with classmates who also worked to form the nonprofit, Katie Wertheim and McKinzie Hopkins. Other students involved were Mike Biver and Kathryn Short, not pictured.

As I write this I’m sitting poolside in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida for Spring Break, so a concept like jumping into a frozen lake for charity is even more completely foreign and insane to me than it was when I actually attended the Minneapolis Polar Plunge just a few weekends ago. However, there were some very brave souls from the University St. Thomas School of Law who took the plunge hosted at Lake Calhoun in Uptown to benefit the Special Olympics. Team St. Thomas Cat-Cicles included Salena Tumini, Blake Hatling, Charlye McMillan, Mark Davis, Shaun Parks, Lee Peterson, Seth Dickey, Alex Ginsberg and Claire Tralle and others that I probably missed (i.e. if you’re not listed on the Facebook group). Seriously, cheers to you guys, because I don’t know if I could do it. I mean, they actually had to break the sheet of ice covering the lake in order to make the event even possible.

I’d heard of Polar Plunges before but had never even been to one, let alone participated. People from all over the Twin Cities area attended, dressed up in all manner of costumes and themes and took the dive. Probably the most impressive thing I saw was a group of blind students who fearlessly walked right up to the platform, handed their canes off to the attendant in the water and jumped right in. It was pretty amazing, and there I was, snapping photos and shivering in my hoodie, winter coat, warm hat and gloves on the shoreline.

Adrienne G. (2L)

Early March saw the meeting of two historic rivals of Yankees-Red Sox, Axis-Allies caliber, minus the bombs and World Series titles. The UST MBAers met UST Law Fighting Apostles on the ice at the Augsberg Ice Arena for a game of historic proportions. I won’t talk about the score, because, well… it’s not important and the MBA team was probably cheating anyway.* Suffice it to say that the arena was full of energy, White Castle, and high spirits, possibly Miller Lite-induced. The whole thing was super fun and even included a footrace across the rink between periods (we’re still not quite sure who won.) Anyway, here are some pictures, compliments of myself and guest photographer 1L Kelly Geistler. Enjoy!

*As a future lawyer, I feel compelled to note that there was no objective evidence to support this inference and the statement is no more than mere facetious speculative opinion.

2012 MJF Chili Cook-off winners, Debbie and Josh

Last Thursday afternoon the Minnesota Justice Foundation held its annual chili cook-off in the UST law atirum.  Students, staff and faculty cooked chili and judged the competition.   There were around 15 crockpots with unique chili and many hungry UST Law community members who attended the event.  The judges were Professor Organ, Professor Berg and one MJF student representative.

The winner of the Golden Ladle for 2012 was the Irish Chili made by Debbie and Josh (both 1L students).  The secret ingredient was potato pieces, which Debbie told us before the judging began that she added them by mistake!

All proceeds help fund the Minnesota Justice Foundation summer clerkship. Some of the chili names were Rummy in your Tummy, Dante’s Inferno and Chili James.  Chili ingredients ranged from vegan to pheasant meat.

Next year is sure to be a great competition as many of the chilies that placed in the top 3 were made by 1L students.

In lieu of their February general meeting, the Women Law Students Association (WLSA) recently helped sponsor and host the Minnesota Women Lawyers event Hot Topics in Criminal Law, featuring a distinguished panel of female attorneys who have practiced and made great strides in the criminal law field.

The panel included:*

Elizabeth Cutter, a Senior Assistant Hennepin County Attorney in the Violent Crimes Division. She currently supervises felony domestic abuse cases and trained local, national and international law enforcement in the area of domestic violence prosecution.

Carolina Lamas, who is the Executive Director of the Neighborhood Justice Center, Inc., a non-profit firm that provides comprehensive criminal defense services for low-income persons, especially in communities of color. As a trial lawyer both for NJC and the Ramsey County Public Defender’s Office, she has devoted her practice to the vigorous defense of the constitutional rights of her clients.

Cynthia Vermeulen, who carries a long list of credentials, including work as a City Prosecutor, a County Public Defender, and a long-time participant in the Guardian as Litem program. She currently owns and operates her own firm, Vermulen Law Office in (COUNTY)

Rebecca Weisenberger (moderator), a senior associate at Dorsey & Whitney’s Trial Group and Construction and Design, White Collar Crime and Antitrust practice groups. She practices mostly in construction and franchise/dealership disputes and white collar crime defense.

*Panel biographical information provided by event program flyer

These four women provided valuable insight to the practice of criminal law, especially as a female, and discussed topics ranging from some of the frustrations of working in the legal field as women to where to best find a job.

According to the panel, public trust of women lawyers, especially trial lawyers, is still not equal to that of men: female, private defense attorneys usually have to rely on public contracts in order to sustain their businesses, while male attorneys in the same field can generally rely on entirely private work. Additionally, they have pointed out that women are less likely to be immediately recognized as the lawyer by new clients, and have been misidentified as the interpreter, secretary, or even the girlfriend of the “actual” lawyer.

Despite these challenges, these women have worked hard to earn the respect of the legal community, and as such have earned respect on behalf of women lawyers and law students as a whole. They strongly encouraged female law students and new attorneys to get involved in organizations like WLSA and MWL, as those communities provide support by other women facing the same challenges in their own work.

The panel wrapped up by offering advice to aspiring female lawyers who are interested in the criminal field:

Elizabeth: Don’t be afraid to volunteer! It’s easy, and you build relationships and experience. Don’t be afraid to go out-of-state, either, or out of the metro area. More rural counties have very few women lawyers, and need them. Smaller counties also offer a much broader range of legal experiences.

Carolina: The important thing is to get court exposure while in law school. One of the main things looked for in applicants for jobs in defense work is experience.

Cynthia: Don’t “hang out your shingle” right away. Start with informational interviews in the areas that interest you, and then go for an internship or a clerkship. Immerse yourself; you might have to overdose a little to find out if something interests you. It’s very important to take the time to find out, because if it turns you’re not interested but you get a job before you figure it out, your job will always terrify you.

Thank you to the panel members and all women lawyers paving the way to gender equality and success in legal practice!

As a child, I hated Lent. I hated it with a fiery passion that burned with the stench of broiled fish sticks on Friday nights without even the cooling, creamy reward of Ben & Jerry’s for dessert. Because I had to give up ice cream, and for no good reason except that Jesus was mad about the whole crucifixion thing.

Since, then, however… and people tend to give me weird looks when I admit this… I’ve grown particularly fond of Lent. I know what it is now. Lent is a season of preparation. It’s still difficult, especially in law school. In addition to Lent, this is also the season of midterms, briefs, papers, job hunts, interviews, applications, class registration, and million other deadlines that must be constantly monitored and attended to. Amidst all of this, trying to keep track of what I do and don’t, am and am not supposed to eat or drink or do and when to do it or not should be complete overkill. Yet I like the focus that comes from a purposeful sacrifice.

When I was a kid I hated Lent because I didn’t understand it; I didn’t understand sacrifice and what it means. All I knew was that I loved ice cream and didn’t like fish but if I could live with it for six weeks then at the end of it all Jesus, via the Easter Bunny, would give me a whole box of marshmallow Peeps and more jellybeans than I could possibly eat in one Sunday.

Now, sacrifice holds a meaning. It matters less what I give up and much more why I do it. Sacrifice isn’t about the object or behavior; Lent isn’t a New Year’s resolution. Sacrifice is, at its core, a voluntary participation in suffering; it is a participation in the obedience and suffering of a man whose pain elevated human suffering to the level of the divine. It is this greatest of sacrifices and the ultimate triumph that we both celebrate during this season of Lent, in anticipation of the great joy of Easter.

Sorry to have gone all theological in a law school blog. Anyway, that’s why I like Lent, and I really like Lent at St. Thomas. We held an Ash Wednesday Mass in the Atrium at noon, complete with a performance by the St. Thomas Chapel Choir (including yours truly). If you like music you should check out the video. I apologize for the poor quality, I had a friend of mine hold the camera, but he didn’t want to attend Mass so he was keeping a safe distance. It’s a video of a song anyway so close your eyes and just enjoy the music.

Members of the UST Law Criminal Law Association

For the second year in a row, the UST Criminal Law Association secured a much sought-after tour of Minnesota’s only level five, maximum-security institution.  The prison opened in 1982 and primarily receives male offenders being transferred from other institutions.  These male offenders are classified as maximum custody or extreme risks to the public.  There are roughly 440 offenders currently housed within nine units: six of the units house 52 inmates each, and the other three contain the mental health, transitional health care, and the administrative control units.

The facility is a G.E.D. learning and testing center, and also offers an adult basic education program.  We had the opportunity to tour the educational part of the prison, various units, offender cells, and recreational rooms.  We also toured the segregation unit where inmates are held in their cells for 23 of 24 hours of the day. It was fascinating to learn that the guards treat these inmates like everyone else.  We were asked to be respectful and not stare into the cells.  The rehabilitative goal of this particular facility is to attempt to move the inmates through their five levels and transfer them to a lower-level custody institution. 

The  CLA members who were able to attend this tour learned a lot and really enjoyed the time spent at the prison. The Criminal Law Association had such a high level of  interest in this tour that we have made it a goal to schedule a tour every semester at various prisons throughout Minnesota. This is an opportunity that I would recommend to anyone interested in learning more about how our MN prison systems work.

Contact Kimberly for information on future prison tours, or information regarding the UST Criminal Law Association. stom6651@stthomas.edu

John S., Guest Blogger, 1L Student Government Representative

UST Law’s spring talent show is one month away. This year’s event is called the “Free Speech Variety Show.”

Presented by The People of The University of St. Thomas School of Law, the “Free Speech Variety Show” brings together all people of the School of Law to celebrate the expressive, impressive, and varied talents of our law school community.

Last Friday, Student Government officially put out its call for artists of all performing varieties to participate in the Show. The types of acts we would like to recruit include (but are not limited to) those who perform: Dance, theater, music, magic, puppetry, spoken-word poetry, impersonation, and stand-up, sketch, improvisational, or musical comedy.

For more event info, please see: http://www.facebook.com/events/363211463702119/?context=create.