Wayne Law alumni, prof. being honored as part of State Bar Annual Meeting

Five Wayne State University Law School alumni and a Wayne Law assistant professor will be honored in September as part of State Bar of Michigan Annual Meeting events in Lansing. Eugene Driker, Class of 1961; Robert Mossel, Class of 1996; Valerie Newman, Class of 1992; the Honorable Chad Schmucker, Class of 1977; and Elizabeth Stafford, Class of 1993, will be honored Wednesday, Sept. 18, at the State Bar of Michigan Awards Banquet. The five alumni also will be recognized at the annual Wayne Law Alumni Reception hosted by the law school from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, at the Lansing Center, 333 E. Michigan Ave. The alumni reception also will honor Assistant Professor Eric Zacks who will receive the Wayne Law 2013 Donald H. Gordon Award for Excellence in Teaching. Alumni, faculty and friends are invited to join Wayne Law Dean Jocelyn Benson at the alumni reception which will provide an opportunity for attendees to network and reconnect with colleagues. Register for the alumni reception by Friday, Sept. 13, online at http://specialevents.wayne.edu/michbar2013. For additional information, email lawalumni@wayne.edu or call 313-577-3113. Driker of Detroit and Newman of Pleasant Ridge will be honored with the State Bar's Champion of Justice Award. Mossel of Canton will be honored with the State Bar's John W. Cummiskey Pro Bono Award. Stafford of Grosse Pointe Park will be honored with the State Bar's Representative Assembly Unsung Hero Award. Schmucker of Jackson will be honored with the State Bar Foundation's Access to Justice Award. Zacks of Huntington Woods will be honored with the Wayne Law 2013 Donald H. Gordon Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award is named for a former Wayne Law dean, who served from 1975 to 1980, and includes a $1,000 stipend. Zacks' recent scholarship focuses on the relevance of behavioral sciences to contract formation, breach and enforcement. His work has been widely published. In 2012 and 2013, he was voted Professor of the Year by the second- and third-year law students. He teaches a variety of business law courses, including Corporate Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Securities Regulation, and Corporations, as well as a first-year Contracts course. Prior to joining Wayne Law, Zacks was a partner in the corporate and securities department of Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn LLP with a practice focus on complex acquisitions and divestitures, debt and equity financings, and other aspects of corporate transactions. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Michigan and his law degree from Harvard Law School. Published: Wed, Sep 4, 2013