2025 was a big year for Michigan Law.
On campus, we celebrated major milestones rooted in our 166-year history while continuing to innovate with an eye to what’s next.
Our faculty and alumni continue to make an impact on the world outside the Law Quad as leading voices on challenging legal issues, with groundbreaking scholarship and research, and as advocates on behalf of those who need a champion.
From pursuing the academic and legal work we are passionate about to building the supportive community we cherish, here’s a glimpse of how we at Michigan Law spent 2025.
We welcomed a new dean.
On July 1, Neel U. Sukhatme became the first fully external dean in Michigan Law’s 166-year history.
Sukhatme is an interdisciplinary empirical scholar whose research focuses on crime, intellectual property, voting rights, and AI and the law, among other areas. He joined the Law School from Georgetown University Law Center, where in addition to his faculty titles, he served as associate dean for research and academic programs and co-directed the Georgetown Law and Economics Workshop series.
We celebrated 100 years of the Campbell Moot Court.
Since the 1925–1926 academic year, Michigan Law students have taken their place before a panel of judges to argue opposing sides in the Henry M. Campbell Moot Court. They were far from the first to participate in such competitions—moot courts for law students have been around since medieval England.
However, they were the first to participate in the Law School’s oldest student competition and one of its highest honors. Over the past 100 years, the popularity of the competition has persisted despite the burden of classwork and an array of other extracurricular offerings.
In its Summer 2025 issue, Law Quadrangle magazine explored the fascinating history of the Campbell Moot Court and celebrated one of Michigan Law’s most enduring traditions.
Our legal clinics dedicated thousands of hours to helping hundreds of clients.
Every year, student-attorneys in Michigan Law’s clinics spend thousands of hours helping hundreds of clients on legal matters ranging from criminal charges to family law to tax problems.
This December, a special report in the University Record presented an overview of the clinics’ work, while the Law School reported on a few notable cases throughout the year.
We recognized the tremendous generosity of our donors.
In October, the University of Michigan presented its most prestigious donor recognition to longtime Law School supporters Richard Burns, ’71, and his late wife, Elizabeth “Liz” Murphy Burns.
Richard and Liz’s longstanding support of the Law School totals more than $1.65 million in addition to a significant planned gift through their estate.
“Our pride at the University of Michigan extends to many areas, but at the center of it is the Law School,” says Richard.
We toasted some jolly good fellows.
A new fellowship at Michigan Law will help fund important postgraduate opportunities for masters of law students, while honoring a longtime champion of international students.
Read the Gordan Fellowship story
The American Constitution Society named Elizabeth “Betsy” Knox, a 3L at Michigan Law, to the 2025 Next Generation Leaders program. She is among 31 law students nationwide selected for this year’s class.
Read the ACS Next Generation Leader story
Other fellowships earned by current students included Skadden Public Interest Fellowship and the National Consumer Law Center’s Hobbs Fellowship.
We binge-watched 100 episodes of our favorite YouTube series.
When we launched A2Z five years ago, little did we know our own Dean Z would become an internet sensation. More than a million views, shares, and likes later, we launched our fifth season (!) and recorded our 100th episode (!!!) earlier this year.
Stay tuned for more in 2026.
Our faculty were recognized for leadership, scholarship, and advocacy.
From appointments to leadership positions to recognition for teaching and scholarship to winning precedent-setting cases, Michigan Law faculty demonstrated throughout the year why they are among the best legal minds in the country.
Karima Bennoune, ’94, was elected vice president of the American Society of Int…
Daniel Deacon and Daniel Fryer presented research at the Harvard-Yale-Stanford …
Christopher McCrudden will receive Gold Medal from the Royal Irish Academy for …
Timothy Pinto won a case before the Michigan Supreme Court.
Albert Pak received the ABA Young Lawyers Division Award.
Rachel Rothschild was named the 2025 Pace Haub School of Law Environmental Law …
Steven Ratner was selected to deliver a course at The Hague Academy of Internat…
Margo Schlanger spoke on civil rights and government service as a Phi Beta Kapp…
We added another Supreme Court clerk to our alumni ranks.
When the US Supreme Court began its 2025–2026 term this fall, Michigan Law alumnus Alexi Ehrlich, ’21, began a coveted position of law clerk, serving Justice Neil Gorsuch. He relishes the opportunity not only to learn the inner workings of the court but to serve his country and the judiciary.
We welcomed a bankruptcy expert and four teaching fellows to our faculty.
Bankruptcy expert Belisa Pang came to the Michigan Law faculty as an assistant professor, while four new teaching fellows also joined the community.
We embraced reality TV.
Kyle Fraser, ’21, added the title “sole survivor” to his resume after becoming the latest champion on CBS’s long-running reality-television competition Survivor, which aired its 48th season earlier this year.
In addition to his new title, he brought home a $1 million cash prize.
We hit a big milestone for the Bergstrom Fellowship program.
In mid-May, 16 students from across the country attended the Bergstrom Child Welfare Law Summer Fellowship program at the Butzel Retreat Center north of Detroit.
It marked the 30th time that law students interested in this field of practice have come together for a one-of-a-kind opportunity to learn and network.
We honored our faculty for their teaching excellence (and got lectured for it).
The Law School Student Senate presented its 2024–2025 L. Hart Wright Award for Excellence in Teaching to Eve Brensike Primus, ’01, while other student-nominated awards went to Howard Bromberg, Mira Edmonds, and Chris Walker.
Primus delivered the traditional “blue jeans” lecture, while the others participated in a wide-ranging panel discussion.
Read about the 2025 teaching awards
We stocked our shelves with new faculty books.
From Tesla to the Supreme Court to fundamental questions of right and wrong, Michigan Law faculty continued to produce impactful scholarship.
In fact, Michelle Adams’s The Containment, about the landmark Detroit desegregation case, was recognized on several year-end lists.
Michelle Adams explores a landmark Detroit school desegregation case.
Nico Cornell proposes a new approach to rights and wrongs.
Daniel Crane chronicles the fight between Tesla and auto dealers.
Leah Litman examines the inner workings of today’s Supreme Court.
Richard Primus asks the oldest constitutional question.
We racked up our first win at the Capitol City Challenge.
A team of Michigan Law students came out on top in the 17th Annual Capitol City Challenge Mock Trial Competition, which was held at the American University Washington College of Law in late March. The winning Capitol City Challenge team consisted of Joclyn Hutchison, Nat Jordan, Lauren Smith, and Brian Tang.
We were inspired at the second annual Public Interest Week.
The Law School welcomed lawyers from the world of public interest law to its second annual Public Interest Week, sharing their stories and advice during a series of events.
One of those speakers was Detroit Justice Center Executive Director Nancy A. Parker.
“This is what we firmly believe: No one is coming to save us,” she said.
“‘We are the leaders we have been waiting for,’” she added, quoting the late Detroit activist Grace Lee Boggs. “That’s a mantle for each and every person—lawyers, nonlawyers, clients.”
We learned about the “stages of competence” from Professor Sadek.
When Professor Tifani Sadek was invited to give a talk at TEDxUofM in March, she knew she wanted to speak about the “stages of competence,” a process of moving from incompetence to competence in a skill set.
What she didn’t initially know was how personal the speech would become.
We hosted gatherings for legal and policy experts on challenging subjects.
Along with weekly seminars and workshops and ongoing lecture series, each year, the Law School hosts a number of major conferences on important legal issues.
The 2025 highlights included a consideration of international law strategies to fight gender apartheid; a transnational law symposium focused on forced labor; a conference on applied legal storytelling; and a workshop on issues facing state and local governments.
We heard from our alum who was the presiding judge on the Detroit bankruptcy case.
Nearly 11 years after the City of Detroit exited bankruptcy, the presiding judge, the Hon. Steven Rhodes, ’73, spoke to a class of Michigan Law students about the complexities of the case and its continued implications for the city’s future.
Rhodes was on the cusp of retirement when he faced the most remarkable case in his nearly 30 years as a judge for the US Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of Michigan.
We discussed the wave of change AI brings to the legal profession.
Three alumni whose careers have placed them at the forefront of law and technology returned to campus in October to share their perspectives and advice in the panel AI, the Future of the Legal Profession, and You.
They answered questions from an audience of law students about the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on the academic and professional legal landscape.
We connected with our European alumni in Berlin.
This summer, more than 150 Michigan Law alumni and friends gathered in Berlin for the European Alumni Reunion.
They are some of the more than 1,400 Michigan Law graduates who live outside of the United States, in more than 80 countries. Held every five years, the European Alumni Reunion is an opportunity for alumni far from Ann Arbor to enjoy the camaraderie and intellectual discussion that permeate reunions in the Law Quad.
Read about the European Alumni Reunion (and see the photos!)
We celebrated our Class of 2025 at Senior Day.
On May 12, 340 JD students and 30 graduate students gathered to celebrate their graduation as the Class of 2025 during Michigan Law’s Senior Day at Hill Auditorium.
And we welcomed in the Class of 2028.
This fall, the Law School welcomed 340 incoming JD students and 23 LLM students to campus, bringing diverse backgrounds and experiences.
The JD Class of 2028 was selected from 9,000 applications, a 33-percent increase from the previous year and the highest number in the school’s 166-year history.