Feature News

Barbara Colombo, Senior Fellow

We are very fortunate to have Barbara Colombo join us as our new Sr. Fellow. Barb is an attorney and a critical care nurse. While practicing law, she specialized in product liability and medical malpractice.  Additionally, Barb served as Assistant Commissioner of Health during the Carlson administration and most recently has served as an independent legal and policy consultant, providing advice to corporate, individual and nonprofit clients. Barb has been a member of the adjunct faculty at the University of St. Thomas, William Mitchell College of Law, and Hamline University School of Law.  Barb will be directing our Compliance Certificate Program, teaching Compliance Laws and Regulations, and Health Law Quality and Liability, advising certificate program students, overseeing planning, placement, and expansion of the externship program in 2009. Barb will also help to develop, plan and implement a program for governance training for non-profit board members.   

 

Alumni Engaged in Career Services Programs

Hamline's Career Services Office (CSO) has unleashed an active semester of helpful events and program for students, many of which could not happen without the active support of alumni. One such event, an employer reception held in conjunction with orientation in August, gave students the chance to network with potential employers on campus. Among the CSO's upcoming programs is a series of mentoring lunches in which alumni volunteers will help students explore where they might best fit into the legal profession. Please contact CSO Director Nancy Lochner at 651-523-2470 if you are willing to lend your time and expertise at a mentoring lunch or another event for current students.

Barriers to Justice to be Explored at JPLP Spring Symposium

In commemoration of the centennial of Southern Minnesota Legal Services (SMRLS), The Journal of Public Law and Policy at Hamline University School of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota, will host a symposium entitled "Barriers to Justice:  Responding to the Needs of the Low-Income Population in America."  The symposium will begin on Thursday, March 12 and will continue throughout the day on Friday, March 13, 2009.

This symposium will gather local and national scholars, law practitioners, policymakers and government officials to address the challenges to providing meaningful access to the justice system to low income persons.  This will include such topics as barriers to jobs, benefits, education, health-care and housing faced by low-income persons as a result of racism and poverty. 

On Thursday evening, scholars, community leaders and students will reflect on and celebrate more than a century of Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Service's (SMRLS) commitment to providing a full range of high quality, free legal assistance to low income people.  On Friday, participants will look forward and discuss policies and practices that will ensure that all Americans have equal access to the justice system.  The symposium will service as a springboard for a reinvigorated commitment by the legal community to ensuring the provision of quality access to the legal system for low income persons. 

Mark your calendar now and plan to join us. More details will be forthcoming.

 

Hamline Issues Recommendations for Resolving Conflicts in the Health Care System

"Guiding Principles for Creation of Dispute Resolution Systems in Health Care" is result of a symposium sponsored by Hamline's Dispute Resolution and Health Law Institutes in November 2007. It is available for free at www.hamline.edu/law/health

• Read more

Hamline Marks 9/11 Anniversary with Terrorism Negotiation Expert

Michael Tsur, Founder and Director of the Mediation and Conflict Resolution Institute of Jerusalem (shown here with Professor David Cobin), spoke at Hamline on September 11 on "High-Risk Negotiations in a World of Increasing Terror." He described how terrorism has influenced the negotiation process, particularly in the business world. He said after the attack on the World Trade Center, "the world became a smaller place"  and that general suspicion and an obsession with security have delayed trust building in business development.

Tsur stressed the importance of the team process to overcome these barriers in crisis, high-risk and emergency negotiations. Any and every interaction could have a far-reaching effect on the relationship between the parties he said. He also noted that successful high-risk negotiations require team building, a clear definition of the situation, open communication channels, and stabilization of the situation through trust building. Finally, and of most concern to the business world, the relationship between the parties must be maintained and monitored after a deal is reached, Tsur said.