Center for Ethics, Service, and Professionalism

The Center for Ethics, Service, and Professionalism is proud to announce
the awards, appointments, and recognition given to our people and programs
for community service.

Awards, Appointments, and Recognition for Community Service

2009 | 2008 | 2007 |2006 | 2005

2009

Cooley Law School Associate Dean Appointed as a Hearing Panelist for the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board
August 26, 2009 - The Thomas M. Cooley Law School today announced that Joan Vestrand, associate dean of the school's Ann Arbor campus, has been appointed to serve as a hearing panelist for the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board, the adjudicative arm of the Michigan Supreme Court that supervises and disciplines Michigan attorneys. [full story]

Cooley Law School Assistant Dean Named Vice Chair Of The Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission
August 20, 2009 - The Thomas M. Cooley Law School today announced that Martha D. Moore, assistant dean of Cooley’s Auburn Hills campus, has been appointed vice chair of the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission (AGC) by the Michigan Supreme Court. [full story]

E. Christopher Johnson, Director of LL.M. Corporate Law and Finance and member of the Cooley Professionalism Team was recently named as the Chair of the Michigan United Negro College Fund (UNCF) Leadership Board. His main responsibilities will be overseeing UNCF fund-raising and other activities over the next two years for the State of Michigan. Detroit is right behind New York and Chicago as the highest revenue producing cities for the UNCF.

Chris has also been named to the Honorary Board of the Restore Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to: Restore Hope and Dignity by helping individuals overcome substance abuse to the benefit of themselves, their families and society by continuing the Oakland County Drug Courts. Judge Wendy Potts is the President of the Foundation.

2008

Assistant Dean and Professor Joan Vestrand was recognized by the State Bar of Michigan as a Champion of Justice for her contributions in the field of legal ethics and her work with Pontiac youth.  With administrators at Pontiac Northern High School, Dean Vestrand created a Saturday Success program where Cooley students mentor Pontiac Northern students in personal and academic success.  Through her efforts, Cooley students have also cleaned and decorated classrooms, volunteered as teaching aides and tutors, collected clothing for those lacking proper attire, donated hundreds of prom dresses, provided financial support to individual high school students in need, and collected and donated more than 5500 books to children in Pontiac.

The ABA Center for Professional Responsibility appointed Professor Victoria Kremski the Chairperson of its new Continuing Legal Education Committee.  The Committee will develop continuing legal education programs in the areas of ethics and professionalism for the ABA Annual and Mid-year meetings, and webcasts.

Professor Martha Moore was named Secretary of the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission.

Center for Ethics, Service, and Professionalism Director Heather Spielmaker serves on the Charlotte, MI City Council.

Professors Nancy Wonch and Martha Moore, Assistant Dean and Professor Cynthia Ward, and Associate Dean and Professor Amy Timmer continued their service to the State Bar of Michigan’s District Character and Fitness Committees. 

Professor Martha Moore was appointed to the Board of Directors of the D. Augustus Straker Bar Foundation, this after her in-depth work establishing a mentoring program between Straker members and black law students at Cooley.

Assistant Dean and Professor Cynthia Ward accepted an invitation to become a Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation, joining her Professionalism Department colleagues Victoria Kremski, Nelson Miller, Martha Moore, Amy Timmer, Joan Vestrand, and Nancy Wonch.

Associate Dean and Professor Nelson Miller is a member of the State Bar's Under-Represented Lawyers Workgroup planning diversity conferences. 

Professor Nancy Wonch is President of Lansing’s Advent House Board of Directors and actively supports its clientele.

Amy Timmer continued her service as a hearing panelist for the Michigan Supreme Court’s Attorney Discipline Board.

Joan Vestrand continued as a member of the Oakland County Bar Association's Youth Law Committee and as Vice Chair of its Professionalism Committee.

Nelson Miller was elected to serve on the State Bar of Michigan’s Representative Assembly.

Martha Moore is a member of the State Bar of Michigan Civil Procedure and Courts Committee.

Nelson Miller was re-appointed October 2008 to serve on the State Bar of Michigan's Equal Access Initiative and will serve until 2011. 

Joan Vestrand sits on the State Bar's Annual Meeting Committee. 

Nancy Wonch sits on the Beekman Therapeutic Riding Program Advisory Board.

Amy Timmer and Cynthia Ward served on the Board of Tellers of the State Bar of Michigan to certify election results.

Nelson Miller is the Board of Directors President for the Legal Assistance Center in Grand Rapids. 

Cynthia Ward is serving a three-year term on the City of Lansing’s Parks Board.

Nancy Wonch serves as Chairperson of the Lansing Education Advancement Foundation. 

Joan Vestrand, Nancy Wonch, and Amy Timmer serve on the State Bar of Michigan’s Special Committee on Grievance.

Nelson Miller was appointed to the State Bar of Michigan’s Criminal Issues Initiative which is studying and informing the profession about the effect of criminal convictions on civil matters. 

Joan Vestrand continues as co-chair of the Collaborative for a Certainty of Opportunity for Pontiac Youth.

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2007

Cooley was named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for helping to build a culture of service and civic engagement in our nation because of the Center for Ethics’ mentoring programs in public schools in Pontiac and Lansing, MI.

Professor Martha Moore was voted Secretary of the Michigan Supreme Court’s Attorney Grievance Commission.

Director of Cooley’s Center for Ethics, Service, and Professionalism Heather Spielmaker was appointed to and then elected to the City Council of Charlotte, MI.

Assistant Dean and Professor Joan Vestrand received the Oakland County Bar Association's Francis R. Avendenka Award for outstanding and significant contributions to the citizens of Oakland County.

Assistant Dean and Professor Cynthia Ward and Associate Dean and Professor Amy Timmer were reappointed to serve another two years on the State Bar of Michigan District E Character and Fitness Committee.

Professor Martha Moore and Assistant Dean and Professor Nelson Miller were recognized for their outstanding community service by receiving the Great Deeds Award from the Center for Ethics, Service, and Professionalism for 2007 at their respective campuses.

Professor Nancy Wonch was invited to be on the Superintendent Transitional Team for the incoming Lansing School District Superintendent.

Assistant Dean and Professor Nelson Miller was appointed to the State Bar of Michigan’s Criminal Issues Initiative. The Initiative is studying and informing the profession about the effect of criminal convictions on civil matters.

Assistant Dean and Professor Joan Vestrand was honored by receiving the Center for Ethics, Service, and Professionalism’s Great Deeds Award for her work with the Pontiac schools.

Assistant Dean and Associate Professor Cynthia Ward was appointed by Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and confirmed by Lansing City Council for a three-year term on the City of Lansing Parks Board.

The Ingham County Bar Foundation joined Cooley’s efforts to returning soldiers with civilian legal needs by selecting Cooley’s Service to Soldiers: Legal Assistance Referral Program as a grant recipient.

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2006

Cooley’s Professionalism Program was recognized as one of the best among the nation’s law schools when it was awarded the 2006 E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award from the American Bar Association. The ABA noted in its award that Cooley was chosen for the "outstanding achievement in the design and implementation of a model professionalism program." The initiatives undertaken by Cooley include creating a center for public service and professionalism, reshaping the class on Professional Responsibility, implementing a professionalism and career review for first-year students, creating a student-run mediation board to address conflicts between students, expanding the roles of lawyer/mentors in each student’s development, helping students create a professionalism portfolio to document their professional growth and development through law school, continuing to address unethical behavior, and creating a student ethical oath and standards of professionalism.

Assistant Dean and Professor Joan Vestrand was selected as one of three finalists from among Professional Responsibility professors around the country for the 2006 National Award for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching Professionalism, co-sponsored by the ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism and the Conference of Chief Justices.

Professor Nancy Wonch’s program, the Cooley Law School/Lansing Public School District Peer Mediation program was awarded the Nancy Klein Award from the State Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Section. Nancy Klein, who is now deceased, was very committed to mediation in education and the community.

Professor Martha Moore was appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court to serve on the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission. Her term begins September 30, 2006 and expires September 30, 2009. The Supreme Court appoints six lawyers and three non-lawyers to supervise the Grievance Administrator and the staff, propose court rule amendments, and decide the disposition of the investigations completed by the Grievance Administrator—whether to dismiss the investigation involving, privately admonish, or institute formal public proceedings before a hearing panel of the Attorney Discipline Board against attorneys suspected of misconduct.

Assistant Dean and Professor Joan Vestrand was asked by Kim Cahill, the incoming president of the State Bar of Michigan, to Chair the State Bar Grievance Committee. Joan agreed and joins her colleagues Amy Timmer and Nancy Wonch, members of that Committee.

Professor Nancy Wonch was appointed to the Urban Excellence Committee for the Lansing School District to promote mediation in the schools.

Assistant Dean Joan Vestrand was named the ethics and law practice management liaison between the State Bar Representative Assembly and the State Bar's new Practice Management Resource Center. She was also named the liaison between the State Bar Law Practice Management Section Council and the Practice Management Resource Center, which provides education and technical assistance to lawyers.

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2005

The John W. Cummiskey Pro Bono Award was presented to Associate Dean and Professor Nelson Miller by the State Bar of Michigan. Since 1999, Nelson has helped low income and minority communities in Muskegon, Benton Harbor, and Grand Rapids with their legal needs on a pro bono basis. He has served approximately 1,000 individuals.

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