Associate Dean of Students and Professionalism, and Professor 
B.A. Michigan State University 1978 
J.D., summa cum laude, Thomas M. Cooley Law School 1988 

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After graduating from James Madison College at Michigan State University in 1978, Amy Timmer went to work for the Michigan Department of Commerce where she worked in the area of economic development and environmental regulation for 10 years. During that time, Ms. Timmer served as a Business Ombudsman for then Governor James J. Blanchard. She also served as Assistant Director of the Michigan Commerce Department in 1988 and 1989. While working in that capacity, she obtained her law degree from Cooley Law School, attending classes in the evenings. She graduated summa cum laude from Cooley in 1988.

In 1989, Ms. Timmer left state government to work as an associate attorney in the Lansing office of the national law firm Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn, where she practiced in the Litigation Department and served on that department’s hiring committee. During that time, she was also teaching as an adjunct professor at Cooley.

Ms. Timmer accepted a position at Cooley as a full-time faculty member in 1992, teaching Torts and Equity and Remedies. She has received numerous teaching awards including the Stanley E. Beattie Teaching Award.

In 1996, Professor Timmer became the Associate Dean of Students and began dedicating her career to issues of lawyer and law student professionalism, ethics, and civility. She became a hearing panelist for both the Attorney Discipline Board and the State Bar of Michigan Character and Fitness Committee. Dean Timmer is also a member of the State Bar of Michigan Special Committee on Grievance and the Cooley Inn of the American Inns of Court.

In 2000, her title changed to Associate Dean of Students and Professionalism, in connection with Cooley’s emphasis on creating a culture of professionalism and civility in the school. Dean Timmer helped design and now oversees the implementation of Cooley’s Professionalism Plan, which has garnered national acclaim as one of the broadest and most innovative professionalism programs among U.S. law schools.

In 2006, Cooley’s professionalism program received the Professionalism Award from the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Professionalism. Dean Timmer is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and is admitted to practice before the Eastern and Western Districts of the United States District Court.

Bibliography

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