Capt. Joe Neely, ’09, entered law school intent on pursuing a career in Big Law, but when his 2L summer internship ended, he realized that working in a law firm wasn’t for him. As Neely researched other career options, he found himself drawn to the Marine Corps. “I knew that I wanted to do meaningful work, and I knew that I wanted to do something that challenged me physically as well as intellectually,” Neely says. 

Matt Raymer, ’08, has a Jim Harbaugh bobblehead in his office. Prominent election lawyer and fellow Wolverine Charlie Spies, AB ’95, sent it to Raymer with a note encouraging him to attack the 2016 election with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind—a nod to Harbaugh’s mantra.

When the marriage equality movement started gaining momentum, Kerene Moore, ’05, saw an opportunity to help the LGBT community understand its rights, and to access them. It’s why she helped to create the LGBT Rights Project at the Jim Toy Community Center in Washtenaw County.

Classes celebrating milestone reunions were exceptionally generous in 2016. While many classes met and even exceeded their reunion class-giving goals, the Classes of 1966 and 2006 shattered records for revenue raised and participation. 

With the James G. Phillipp Law Professorship Fund, James Phillipp, ’66, supports a subject that is of personal interest and shares his gratitude to Michigan Law for setting him on his path to a fulfilling career. “I have always been interested in history of all kinds. Even more so now that I have retired to a spot where Ponce de León was quite possibly trooping through my yard some 500 years ago.”

Adaptability serves Stewart Feldman, ’80, well. As a law student, he always studied at the same table in the Reading Room—until the persistent jackhammering from construction of the Allan and Alene Smith Law Library addition forced him to cross the room. “We always thank the library addition for our introduction,” says Marla Matz Feldman, BS ’78, DDS ’82, who had long studied on the opposite side.

Even though Robert “Bob” Dinerstein, ’66, spent 50 years away from his home in the Law Quad, he has never forgotten what the Law School gave him. 

Barbara J. Kacir, ’67, established the William J. Brattin Scholarship in 1990 in honor of her father. Jenna Neumann, a recipient of the Brattin Scholarshiop, is a 3L from Flint, Michigan, where she founded Chapter for Children, a program to promote literacy among future generations. 

In establishing the James and Shelda Baylor Scholarship Fund, Georgia Bullitt, ’87, honors her family and celebrates their legacy with Michigan Law. “Michigan makes such a difference in so many lives,” says Bullitt. “Just look at what it did for my family.”

The Boston Athletic Association’s legacy was sealed when it sent a team of runners to the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, and they returned with multiple medals along with descriptions of a new road race that exceeded 20 miles. The first Boston Marathon was held the next year—and every year since.