Michigan Law welcomes four full-time professors beginning in the 2024–2025 academic year, with research and teaching interests focused in areas as diverse as antitrust, civil rights, criminal law, education, economics, immigration, and others.
In addition, four early career academics have joined the Law School as fellows. Alma Diamond and Austin Nelson will serve as Michigan Faculty Fellows, Olivia Vigiletti is a clinical fellow in the Michigan Innocence Clinic, and Matt Blaszczyk is a non-teaching fellow for the Law and Mobility Program.
“I am thrilled to welcome four exceptional new faculty members and several fellows to Michigan Law,” said Kyle Logue, interim dean and Douglas A. Kahn Collegiate Professor of Law. “Each brings a wealth of knowledge and a unique perspective to our academic community. Their dedication to excellence in teaching, research, and service resonates deeply with our mission, and we look forward to the many ways they will inspire, challenge, and enrich our students and colleagues alike.”
Meet the Full-time Faculty
Paulina Arnold
Paulina Arnold worked with detained migrant parents directly after college, and that drove her desire to go to law school. After graduating and two years of clerking, she worked as a movement lawyer, partially on detention issues. And now, as a law professor, civil detention is a primary focus of her research.
Arnold brings her expertise on immigration detention and related issues—including constitutional law, habeas, and prison law—to Michigan Law this fall, as she joins the faculty as an assistant professor.
Jenna Cobb
For Professor Jenna Cobb, perhaps the most important thing a lawyer can do is help a person win their freedom.
“Walking someone out of prison after decades—someone you’ve come to know and develop a relationship with, who has been through so much and has so much to give—It is difficult to think of moments that are as rewarding in your career,” she said.
This fall, Cobb joins the Michigan Law faculty in a role perfectly suited to her dedication—as co-director of the Michigan Innocence Clinic, which fights for the release of men and women who have been wrongfully convicted in the criminal justice system. It will be something of a homecoming for Cobb, who grew up in Detroit and whose father is a Michigan Law graduate.
Albert Pak
The value of education and helping community organizations are two common themes in Albert Pak’s life. When he found the opportunity to combine those interests at Michigan Law and in Detroit, the decision to jump from private practice to academia was made.
Pak joins the Michigan Law faculty this fall, working in the Community Enterprise Clinic. Although he comes to the faculty from private practice, the things that appeal to him most about academia have long been a part of his career.
Spencer Smith
Professor Spencer Smith was initially drawn to the law as a way to make positive change in the world.
He has put that drive into practice at the US Department of Justice and as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. As he joins the Michigan Law faculty, the desire to spur change continues to motivate him into the world of academia.
While Smith has written on a number of topics, from taxation to torts, his recent focus, both in practice and in research, has been antitrust law. “I’m interested in what works,” he said. “How can the law create real competition and economic opportunity, free from monopoly power?”
