Ten stories that defined UMass Law in 2024
As 2024 comes to a close, UMass Law reflects on a year of achievements, growth, and milestones that underscore its mission to pursue justice, increase access and opportunity to the legal profession, and provide exceptional legal education.
From celebrating the successes of graduates and alumni to launching innovative clinics and welcoming the largest, most diverse incoming class in its history, UMass Law continues to make a significant impact as the Commonwealth’s only public law school.
On Friday, May 17, UMass Law conferred 112 Juris Doctor degrees to the Class of 2024. Family, friends, and faculty gathered to celebrate the accomplishments of the graduates. The Class of 2024 completed 9,979 hours of pro bono legal and public service.
Prominent business, legal, and public service leaders from throughout the Commonwealth will draw on their combined decades of experience in law, business, politics, and public service, to provide strategic guidance and support to Dean Sam Panarella.
Thanks to strategic partnerships with the State Attorney General’s Office and South Coastal Counties Legal Services, UMass Law created two new clinics for students this fall, expanding the school’s offerings to seven clinics. 100% of UMass Law students are guaranteed either a clinical or internship placement.
UMass Law Associate Dean Shaun Spencer secured a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision preserving an alimony award that reflected the pattern of savings that the parties followed during their marriage.
In a rare unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of choice of law/forum selection clauses found in marine insurance contracts in a case prepared by Jonathan Goldman ’21 and his brother, Michael. The case was argued before the Court in the fall of 2023.
For the second consecutive year, UMass Law ranked 2nd among ABA-accredited law schools in Massachusetts and 3rd in New England for its program of practical legal training.
A Public Interest Law Fellow (PILF) and JD candidate for the class of 2026, Wood was awarded a $10,000 stipend and spent her summer interning full-time for the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in the Division of Open Government.
In June, 10 UMass Law students completed a two-week trip to Portugal for their study abroad program in partnership with the Católica School of Law in Lisbon. Accompanied by Dean Panarella and Chancellor Professor Richard Peltz-Steele, students completed a two-credit course on comparative law, while also navigating historical and legal sites in Lisbon.
Massachusetts State Representative Chris Markey awarded UMass Law’s Veteran’s Law Association with a citation acknowledging the group’s effort in organizing a food drive that received approximately 300 pounds of nonperishable food to be donated to residents impacted by recent hurricanes in Florida and North Carolina.
After a three-day orientation in August, UMass Law welcomed its largest and most diverse class in the school’s history. Hailing from 25 states, 13 countries, and 94 different undergraduate institutions, the class of 2027 brings a wide range of perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds to the Commonwealth’s only public law school.
Earn a Juris Doctor degree from UMass Law. Master essential legal skills, learn the fundamentals of statutory and case law, and explore new and emerging areas of practice.
Dec 18, 2024 Year in review: Top 10 stories of 2024
Dec 18, 2024 Tabor publishes article on pension buy-out transactions
Nov 20, 2024 Owens Publishes a New Article in the American Sociological Association’s Socius Journal
Nov 20, 2024 UMass Law Celebrates Chaudhry’s Recently Published Book
Nov 20, 2024 UMass Law Librarian Katelyn Golsby Writes About her Experience Developing and Teaching a Doctrinal Law Course
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