Category: Law School Spotlights

Drake second-year student Eric Wendel Lee II is spending the spring semester as one of 30 mentees in Baker McKenzie’s 2024 National Black Law Student Association (NBLSA) Tax Mentor Program. This competitive program is designed to educate interested NBLSA members about careers in tax law. Eric learned of this opportunity through his active involvement with...

Hon. Luther T. Glanton Jr. Luther T. Glanton Jr. was Iowa’s first African American Judge. He was appointed to fill a mid-term vacancy on the Des Moines Municipal Court in 1958 and won election to that seat the following year. In 1973, Judge Glanton was appointed as an associate district judge and then as a...

Several Drake Law faculty members attended this year’s Association of American Law Schools (AALS) annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Many presented on topics within their specialties and were appointed to leadership positions. Here are some highlights: Professor Jeremy Kidd was elected to the Executive Board of the Business Associations Section and reelected to the Executive...

Drake Law second-year student Beth Stevermer is among the nine students named to the 2023 Real Pork Scholars cohort by the National Pork Board. This two-year program is designed to offer professional mentorship and build a strong peer-to-peer network and professional training to help communicate technical information in the agricultural community. Beth discovered the opportunity...

Over the last year, student attorneys with the Drake Refugee Clinic helped numerous Afghan nationals navigate the complexities of the immigration process through the Clinic’s collaboration with the Afghan Legal League of Iowa (ALL Iowa).* They provided direct representation before immigration agencies, and helped develop pro se materials, intake processes, and conducted needs assessments to...

Students in the Criminal Law Clinic, under the supervision of the clinic’s director Robert Rigg, participate in the Iowa Sentencing Project, researching and publishing annual updates to the Iowa Criminal Statues Summary Chart (Chart). This sentencing “bible” is used by every criminal defense lawyer, prosecutor, and judge across the state and helps ensure the efficient,...

A Children’s Rights Center (CRC) case involving the recovery of expert witness fees is under review by the Iowa Supreme Court. Expert witnesses provide specialized knowledge and opinions that are essential for a fair and informed legal process. Recovering witness fees from the courts ensures that individuals, particularly those with limited resources, can access the...

The Entrepreneurial/Transactional Clinic (ETC) has partnered with the State of Iowa to help develop the State’s Rural Iowa Employee Ownership Initiative. The project goals are to improve current Iowa laws that affect rural entrepreneurs and encourage employee-ownership models for rural business succession. The ETC’s work will directly support rural communities and help keep businesses in Iowa. ...

Drake Law third-year student Michael Comito spent the summer in Washington, D.C. as an intern with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He worked in the Office of the Chief Counsel for the Corporate Division. The Corporate Division provides legal advice and litigation support on tax matters primarily involving subchapter C (corporate distributions and adjustments) issues....

Third-year students Emily Bell and Marrissa Pasker and second-year student Johnny Nguyen have something in common: they all had Professor Mark Kende for Constitutional Law and credit his teaching with sparking their interests in diving deeper into important constitutional issues as research assistants (RA). Research assistants can explore new and emerging areas of law that...