Sep. 23, 2024

LLM Alumni Spotlight — Meet Mnotho Ngcobo

Growing up in South Africa, Mnotho Ngcobo, ’22, always knew he wanted to work in the U.S., though he was unsure of whether he wanted to pursue a profession in the field of law or education. As a Mizzou Law LLM graduate, and newly appointed assistant professor of law at the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, Ngcobo found a way to do both. “I used to tell my friends to enjoy our time together because one day, I’d leave for the U.S.,” Ngcobo said. “When applying for college, I chose between a Bachelor of Laws…

Sep. 23, 2024

LLM Alumni Spotlight — Meet Jose Abel Quezada

Jose Abel Quezada, ’24, has known that he wanted to dedicate his life to solving legal disputes with alternative dispute resolution (ADR) since he began his career as a law clerk working on complex arbitration cases. Now working in ADR as an associate at Cacheaux, Cavasos & Newton in his native Monterrey, Mexico, Quezada can point back to that earlier time as a turning point in his career path. “I realized the potential of ADR in solving legal disputes; considering litigation is overall useful but it is definitely not always the best way to solve a dispute,” Quezada said. “I…

Sep. 18, 2024

Veterans Clinic staffer wins Missouri Bar Award

Eugene O’Loughlin, intake coordinator and veterans benefits specialist in the Veterans Clinic at the University of Missouri School of Law, today was awarded the 2024 Liberty Bell Award from the Missouri Bar Young Lawyers’ Section Council. The Liberty Bell Award acknowledges a non-lawyer or non-legal organization engaged in public service activities that enhance the legal community or are dedicated to the advancement of justice. O’Loughlin is the veteran advocacy coordinator at the Mizzou Law Veterans Clinic, which helps veterans with discharge upgrades and VA disability compensation appeals at the agency level and in federal appellate courts.

Sep. 17, 2024

Faculty Spotlight — Meet Eric Hintz

To poet John Donne, no man is an island. To Eric Hintz, one of Mizzou Law’s newest professors, no area of the law is, either. With an undergraduate degree in economics and a graduate degree in global security studies, Hintz has always enjoyed approaching academic questions from a trans-substantive perspective. “I really liked the interdisciplinary component of [the law], and the sort of aspect that you can be a generalist, and learn all sorts of different things,” Hintz said. “One of the meta points that I enjoyed about economics and global security studies was that you’re thinking about all…

Sep. 13, 2024

Faculty Spotlight — Meet Ryan Vacca

When Ryan Vacca, ‘04, gave his first guest lecture to students studying the entertainment business at St. Louis Community College, the then-attorney at Stinson LLP began considering going back to school — as a professor. “I could see the light bulb was going off [for students,]” Vacca recalled. “They understood it and were asking great questions. It was a lot of fun, and at that point, I started thinking maybe academia might be for me.” Becoming a law professor was a far cry from what Vacca originally planned to pursue as an undergraduate at Amherst College, where he entered as…

Sep. 4, 2024

Alumni Spotlight — Meet Kristen Evans

Going into law school at the University of Missouri, Kristen Evans, ’22, already had her eyes on a coveted position after graduation: a federal clerkship. “I felt that it would be really resourceful to do,” Evans said. “[Judicial clerks] gain a lot of knowledge about how the courts work, and that includes learning the court system, learning how to cater your arguments, your motions, your orders, to judges’ preferences.” However, Evans felt discouraged by the pervasive message that clerkships were out of her reach. Outside of Evans’ friends and mentors at Mizzou Law, many emphasized the exclusivity of federal clerkships.

Aug. 23, 2024

Dean Sperino cited by U.S. Court of Appeals

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit cited two of Associate Dean Sandra Sperino’s articles in a case involving how causation principles apply to a statute. The Third Circuit cited Statutory Proximate Cause, 88 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1199 (2013) and The Causation Canon, 108 Iowa L. Rev. 703, 704 (2023). The case is U.S. v. Johnson, 2024 2024 WL 3883682 (Aug. 21, 2024). Dean Sperino’s article Revitalizing State Employment Discrimination Law, 20 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 545 (2013) was also cited by the Supreme Court of Connecticut this summer in its discussion of…

Aug. 22, 2024

Class of 2027 has highest credentials ever

Incoming 1Ls at Mizzou Law have achieved something no other Mizzou Law class has ever achieved. Their credentials (GPA and LSAT scores) are the highest ever on record for an incoming Mizzou Law class. Median GPA for the class of 2027 sits at a stellar 3.75, which is the highest mark in history at Mizzou Law. Further, the median LSAT score for the class sits at an excellent 160, which ties the highest mark ever. Congratulations to the promising Class of 2027!…

Aug. 22, 2024

Professors Woods and Alexander Present at the LWI Bienniel Conference

Professors Anne Alexander and Jayne Woods each presented separately at the Legal Writing Institute’s Biennial Conference this summer in Indianapolis, Ind. At the national conference for legal writing professors, Professor Alexander presented on inclusive teaching practices and Professor Woods presented on teaching legal research in an engaging way.

Aug. 19, 2024

Professor Oliveri Speaks at Human Rights conference

On Monday, August 12, Professor Oliveri spoke at the 75th annual conference of the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies. The conference was held in St. Louis and featured attendees from Human Rights agencies across the country. Professor Oliveri spoke on the History of Housing Discrimination, Redlining, and Affordable Housing in St. Louis.