By Tom Kirvan
Legal News
It seems fitting that the first recipient of the Michael K. Lee Memorial Award is an attorney who considered the award’s namesake a “role model” and a “champion of diversity efforts” across the legal profession.
John Nussbaumer, who recently became an associate dean at Indiana Tech Law School following a 31-year career with Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, will be saluted today with the award at a reception sponsored by the Oakland County Bar Association and its Diversity in the Legal Profession Committee. The event will take place from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at The Bird & The Bread in Birmingham, and also will feature the presentation of the Leon Hubbard Award to Cheryl Bush, managing partner of Bush Seyferth & Paige. A feature story on her will appear in an upcoming issue of The Legal News.
“I am very humbled to be receiving this award,” said Nussbaumer, a University of Michigan Law School alum. “Michael Lee was a true giant in the legal profession, and he worked long and hard to increase opportunities in the law for people of color.”
Lee, who died last November at the age of 53, was a civil rights, employment, and commercial litigation attorney. A native of Detroit, he graduated from Northwestern University and the University of Texas School of Law. A past president of the Federal Bar Association for the Eastern District of Michigan, Lee also served as board chair of the Detroit Urban League and was a trustee for the National Urban League.
“Michael was on the front line in efforts to increase diversity, working closely with law students, high school students, and even middle school students,” said Nussbaumer. “He had an amazing amount of energy and was very giving of his time and talents for the sake of others.”
Much the same can be said of Nussbaumer, who has received a host of state and national honors for his work in “increasing diversity in the legal profession by increasing access to law school for under-represented groups,” according to OCBA officials. He helped launch the first ABA Council of Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) College Pre-Law Summer Institute program in Michigan, and partnered with U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts in establishing the Just the Beginning Foundation, a legal institute for high school students in Detroit.
In 2007, Nussbaumer was honored with the National Bar Association’s Presidential Award for his role in increasing access to law school for under-represented groups.
Three years later, he was recognized by the State Bar of Michigan with the Champion of Justice Award for helping launch the CLEO program.
In late June, Nussbaumer began work at Indiana Tech Law School in Fort Wayne as its new associate dean for ABA Accreditation and Bar Preparation. The law school’s first class is scheduled to graduate in 2016, although Indiana Tech is still awaiting ABA accreditation.
“It has been a very busy time over the last few months,” Nussbaumer said of his work in helping secure the ABA seal of approval.
In fact, Nussbaumer will be unable to attend the October 1 awards ceremony in Birmingham, remaining in Fort Wayne to help prepare for a visit from a six-person ABA site team the following day.
Nevertheless, Nussbaumer will make an “appearance” at the event, sending a video in which he is expected to offer thanks to the OCBA for its support of diversity programs; Judge Victoria Roberts for her “tireless efforts” in helping create the Just the Beginning program; President Don LeDuc and others at WMU-Cooley for their support of inclusion programs; and posthumously, Michael Lee for his role in promoting equal opportunities for all.
In the meantime, Nussbaumer said he has been “energized” by his new challenge at Indiana Tech, joining his former WMU-Cooley colleague, Dean Charles Cercone, in “virtually helping build a law school from scratch.” He said he feels much like a “college student again,” living in a studio apartment in Fort Wayne, complete with “milk crates” for furnishings. His wife of 40 years, Sarah, who works in a communications role for the State Bar of Michigan, makes the drive to Fort Wayne each weekend in anticipation of the couple’s permanent move next year.
“Indiana Tech is an up-and-coming school with a undergraduate enrollment of around 9,000,” said Nussbaumer, who began his undergraduate studies as a cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. “The law school is part of the university campus and we have a physical facility for upward of 350 students, which will be the top end of our enrollment.
“Our academic mission is unique in that we are integrating experiential learning across the entire curriculum,” Nussbaumer said. “Our goal is to graduate ‘practice-ready’ lawyers, providing students with a career-focused education.”
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