{"Feature":[{"Photos":[{"Id":107939,"Name":"1591825Prifogle-Kazis-web.jpg","ArticleId":1591825,"Description":"Noah Kazis and Emily Prifogle","IsMainPhoto":false,"Ordering":0}],"id":1591825,"location_id":1,"title":"Academics gather at Michigan Law for workshop on local government issues","summary":"<div>Michigan Law recently hosted an annual academic conference focused on the challenges facing local governments in the US.</div>","text":"<div><b>By Bob Needham</b><i><br>Michigan Law</i><br><br>Michigan Law recently hosted an annual academic conference focused on the challenges facing local governments in the US.<br><br>The State and Local Government Works-in-Progress Workshop brought together about 30 academics to present papers in various stages of development on topics like zoning, policing, and local courts.&nbsp;<br><br>Although the gathering takes place each year, it is informal, with no sponsoring organization. At each annual conference, volunteers are sought to host an upcoming gathering.&nbsp;<br><br>This year’s organizers were Michigan Law Professors Noah Kazis and Emily Prifogle, along with Professor Brian Connolly of the Ross School of Business.&nbsp;<br><br>Authors use the conference to workshop papers,” Kazis said. “It’s a chance for people to bring ideas at any stage—a few paragraphs, no written work at all, or a full draft—and hear from people in the field about how to improve it. It’s really a working session.”<br><br>Kazis said that some of the themes that arose during the two-day conference included the meaning of localism at a time when the federal government is undergoing vast transformation; how to balance participation in government of experts and ordinary citizens; and more consideration of issues in rural areas, the South, and Midwest.<br><br>Prifogle said the diversity of issues raised is one of the highlights of the workshop. “For many, zoning and its impact on affordable housing is the pressing local government issue today, but really that’s just part of a larger and much longer ongoing debate about local control and decision making. In broad strokes, that is what we spent most of our time discussing,” she said.<br><br>“What always impresses me about this inspiring group of scholars is that the thread that holds the group together—How do groups of individuals at the most local levels experience and utilize the law and governance structures in attempts to achieve their goals?—allows us to learn new insights into how communities, especially marginalized groups in those communities, are affected by access (or lack of access) to power at our most local levels of governance,” Prifogle said.<br><br>Prifogle—co-director of the Program in Race, Law, and History—is a legal historian researching how individuals and governments used legal tools to shape rural communities in the 20th century. Her book, tentatively titled, Cows, Cars, and Community: Remaking Modern Rural America, will be published next year. Kazis studies issues of housing, land use, and local governments. Before joining the Michigan Law faculty, he was a legal fellow at New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, and he served as an attorney for the City of New York.<br><br>Kazis noted that the conference is important because it helps identify issues likely to dominate academic discourse in the coming years. At the same time, it provides valuable cross-pollination across issue areas.&nbsp;<br><br>“Having the land-use people talk to the police scholars and people working on local courts is helpful. We all know different pieces of this bigger picture,” he said. “This conference helps us put all those pieces together.”&nbsp;<br><br><br></div>","author_id":0,"date":"2025-12-17T00:00:00","type":"Featured","uri":null,"category":"feature","homepage_order":0,"subdomain":null,"LocalHeadLines":null,"LocationName":null},{"Photos":[{"Id":107940,"Name":"1591826CharlesBrower-web.jpg","ArticleId":1591826,"Description":"","IsMainPhoto":false,"Ordering":0}],"id":1591826,"location_id":1,"title":"Wayne Law professor wins prestigious Smit-Lowenfeld Prize for second time","summary":"<div>Charles “Chip” Brower II, Distinguished Service Professor and Foster \r\nFamily Research Scholarp at Wayne State University Law School, has been \r\nawarded the 2024 Smit-Lowenfeld Prize, one of the most prestigious \r\nhonors in the field of international arbitration. Brower is the first \r\nscholar ever to receive the prize twice, having previously earned the \r\ndistinction in 2012.&nbsp;</div>","text":"<div>Charles “Chip” Brower II, Distinguished Service Professor and Foster Family Research Scholarp at Wayne State University Law School, has been awarded the 2024 Smit-Lowenfeld Prize, one of the most prestigious honors in the field of international arbitration. Brower is the first scholar ever to receive the prize twice, having previously earned the distinction in 2012.&nbsp;<br><br>Presented annually by the International Arbitration Club of New York, the Smit-Lowenfeld Prize recognizes the year’s most outstanding article on international arbitration. Brower’s winning article, “Neglected, Perplexing, Unpredictable: Remedies in International Commercial Arbitration” (102 Neb. L. Rev. 485 (2024)), offers a groundbreaking analysis of one of arbitration’s most overlooked yet critical topics: remedies.&nbsp;<br><br>Brower’s research underscores a striking reality; despite their centrality, remedies remain understudied, inconsistently analyzed, and unpredictable in arbitral practice. Brower’s work confronts this gap head-on through a comprehensive review of existing scholarship and a new framework designed to increase clarity and predictability for tribunals and parties alike.&nbsp;<br><br>The Smit-Lowenfeld Prize jury selects the winning article through a rigorous, multi-stage review, evaluating submissions for originality, analytical rigor, writing quality, and significance to the field. Articles are blind-reviewed, and no weight is given to an author’s reputation or publication venue. Recipients receive a $2,500 honorarium presented at a ceremony in New York.&nbsp;<br><br>Brower’s achievement adds to an already distinguished career. A globally recognized scholar and practitioner, he serves as Chair of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration and Of Counsel in Miller Canfield’s International Disputes Group. Over more than 25 years, he has served as arbitrator, counsel, and advocate in proceedings under leading rules including AAA, HKIAC, ICC, SIAC, and before the International Court of Justice. His scholarship has been cited by federal courts in both the United States and Canada, most recently in the Eleventh Circuit’s unanimous en banc opinion in Corporación AIC, SA v. Hidroeléctrica Santa Rita SA.&nbsp;<br><br>Brower is an elected member of the American Law Institute and has been listed in Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration since 2014. His academic career includes visiting positions at Cambridge University’s Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and American University’s Washington College of Law, as well as service on the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law and the AAA’s Observer Delegation to UNCITRAL Working Group II.&nbsp;<br><br>At Wayne Law, Brower teaches courses including Contracts, International Law, International Commercial Arbitration, and the Law of Armed Conflict. He holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served on the Virginia Law Review. He also completed a research fellowship at Moscow State University.&nbsp;<br><br>Brower’s latest recognition underscores both his scholarly leadership and his enduring impact on the global arbitration community. By illuminating the complexities and inconsistencies of remedies in international commercial arbitration, his award-winning article fills a critical gap in the literature and provides practical guidance for improving arbitral decision-making.&nbsp;<br><br>“Remedies are the single most important topic in international commercial arbitration,” Brower writes. His work brings much-needed clarity to a field where parties rely on arbitral remedies to resolve high-value, cross-border disputes with fairness and predictability.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>","author_id":0,"date":"2025-12-17T00:00:00","type":"Featured","uri":null,"category":"feature","homepage_order":0,"subdomain":null,"LocalHeadLines":null,"LocationName":null},{"Photos":[{"Id":107941,"Name":"1591827BerlFalbaum-web.jpg","ArticleId":1591827,"Description":"","IsMainPhoto":false,"Ordering":0}],"id":1591827,"location_id":1,"title":"Secretary of State takes a bizarre trip into outer typeface","summary":"<div>If you are on overload already with political controversy you may want to skip this column.</div>","text":"<div><b>Berl Falbaum</b></div><div><br></div><div>If you are on overload already with political controversy you may want to skip this column.<br><br>Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered that all communications in his department be typed in Times New Roman not the present typeface, Calibri which he said was too woke. He also demanded it be in 15-point type — not 14 or 16.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>Trumpites gloated, charging that they now had evidence that I was biased because in my ongoing criticism of their hero, I apparently always used Calibri. (I had no idea).<br><br>To show that I am open to have dialogues with various political points of view, I typed each paragraph in this column in a different typeface. I want to cover all political bases.<br><br>As to the type size, I wanted to comply with the Rubio edict but my computer does not offer 15-point so this column was typed in 16-point and I ask you to imagine it’s 15. (To Trumpites: this was not a political decision.)<br><br>I didn’t even want to deal with it, knowing we are all overwhelmed by crisis after crisis. Enough is enough.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>Yet, when I read the papers, I went into deep depression to discover that this might just be the beginning of this political dilemma. I apparently did not understand its urgency or political significance.<br><br>A day after the change, The New York Times devoted four stories on the issue. While educating me on the relevance of the decision, it really put me in the dumps.<br><br>I considered that if The Times devoted so much attention to the matter, this change must have serious political ramifications. That whetted our journalistic instincts and sent us to do some investigating. Boy, what we found.<br><br>First, the Ukraine. Its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has contacted Rubio, stating that his country’s computers don’t provide for a 15-point type; they (like mine) jump from 14 to 16 points.<br><br>Thus, in addition to Tomahawk missiles, he has asked for new computers so he can communicate with the State Department.<br><br>Next: While the order does not affect the Department of Justice, Attorney General Pam Bondi wants to stay on the good side of Rubio. Thus, she is having the Epstein Files — all the thousands of pages — retyped in 15-point Times New Roman.<br><br>President Trump has asked her to use black ink equivalent to 30 points to blot out his name, but the words “hoax” and “witch hunt” must be in capital letters and bold face.<br><br>She is also asking all those named in the files in what kind of type they would like their names to appear.<br><br>In Russia, President Putin was furious. He has to spend millions of rubles to reconstruct his entire satellite spy apparatus because it is programmed to decrypt 14-point Calibri.&nbsp;<br><br>Back at home again, the Supreme Court is also taking a look at the issue. The Constitution was handwritten by Jacob Shallus, an engrosser or penman, and it appears the writing is equivalent to about 20 points in either Times New Roman or Calibri.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>We learned the Court’s six conservatives believe this makes the Constitution unconstitutional. They also feel the writing tilts toward Calibri. They are in the process of recruiting a penman who can copy the document by hand but the writing must not be larger than 15-point Times New Roman.<br><br>The National Archives has appointed a special committee to study the issue, and make recommendations on what to do with the millions and millions of records.<br><br>As I worked on this piece, I learned (seriously) that studies show Republicans like fonts with serifs while Democrats go sans-serifs. I will never again look at political lawn signs in the same way. Maybe that’s why Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is resigning. She wanted to keep Calibri but House Speaker Mike Johnson would not bring her proposed legislation to the floor.<br><br>I might go back an examine why Hillary lost; the political analysts and pollsters may have been totally wrong. Maybe it wasn’t because of Comey or the emails. Maybe it was the fault of not putting serifs — those little squiggles — at the end of letters.&nbsp; Some polling in the seven swing states on serifs and non-serifs might have been helpful.<br><br>Just so you understand the seriousness of the issue, here is a capital T in 10-point Calibri. Here is the T in Times New Roman. Who knew? How could we have missed this? (Sorry, I could not show it to you in 15-point, Rubio’s preference.)<br><br>Holy, molly!&nbsp; What has Rubio wrought!</div>","author_id":0,"date":"2025-12-17T00:00:00","type":"Featured","uri":null,"category":"feature","homepage_order":0,"subdomain":null,"LocalHeadLines":null,"LocationName":null},{"Photos":[],"id":1591829,"location_id":1,"title":"Daily Briefs","summary":"<div>Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has sent a bipartisan letter \r\nsigned by 44 states to Congressional leaders requesting increased \r\nfunding for the security of federal judges. The letter highlights how \r\njudges are increasingly facing threats and hostile incidents targeting \r\nthem, their families, and courthouse staff.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>","text":"<div><h3><b>Bipartisan coalition calls for increased security funding for the federal judiciary</b></h3></div><div><br>Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has sent a bipartisan letter signed by 44 states to Congressional leaders requesting increased funding for the security of federal judges. The letter highlights how judges are increasingly facing threats and hostile incidents targeting them, their families, and courthouse staff.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>“Our democracy cannot function if judges do not feel free to do their jobs honestly, ethically, and in accordance with the law because they are afraid of threats or acts of violence against them or their families,” Nessel said. “At a time when we are seeing more and more of these threats, judges should know that their safety is taken seriously, and I urge Congress to do everything they can to make sure they are protected.”&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>Funding for the Judiciary’s Court Security program has been subject to a “hard freeze” for two consecutive years, leaving inadequate resources to meet essential security needs at federal courthouses. The funding shortfall implicates court security officer salaries, visual and physical monitoring systems, and other aspects of courthouse security infrastructure.&nbsp;<br><br>Additional resources are also necessary to fund the Judiciary’s Vulnerability Management Program (VMP), which implements the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act. The Anderl Act, passed in 2022 with bipartisan support, honors Daniel Anderl, the son of New Jersey District Court Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered in his home in 2020 during an attempted assassination of Judge Salas. The Anderl Act prohibits data brokers from selling judges’ personally identifiable information and enables federal judges and their family members to request that businesses and government agencies remove such information from their websites.&nbsp;<br><br>As the letter explains, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. discussed the increased threat level facing the judiciary in his 2024 year-end report. The letter notes that these trends have continued into 2025, with more than 100 judges nationwide reporting that they have been “doxxed” with unsolicited deliveries to their homes. The deliveries were intended to intimidate judges and their relatives—and disturbingly, some were placed in the name of Daniel Anderl. In 2024, Nessel’s Hate Crimes and Domestic Terrorism Unit prosecuted 40 cases involving threats made against elected officials, 12 of which were alleged threats against judges.</div>","author_id":0,"date":"2025-12-17T00:00:00","type":"Featured","uri":null,"category":"feature","homepage_order":0,"subdomain":null,"LocalHeadLines":null,"LocationName":null},{"Photos":[{"Id":107918,"Name":"1591774HowardAttorney-web.jpg","ArticleId":1591774,"Description":"Photo by John Meiu","IsMainPhoto":false,"Ordering":0}],"id":1591774,"location_id":1,"title":"Joining the Bar","summary":"<div>New attorney Andy Antonov (third from left) was sworn in by Oakland \r\nCounty Circuit Court Judge Victoria Valentine (third from right) on \r\nWednesday, December 3, at the Oakland County Courthouse in P</div>","text":"<div><b>New attorney Andy Antonov (third from left) was sworn in by Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Victoria Valentine (third from right) on Wednesday, December 3, at the Oakland County Courthouse in Pontiac.&nbsp; Antonov, of Howard &amp; Howard Attorneys PLLC, spent more than a decade as an electrical engineer in the automotive industry before entering the legal field.&nbsp; Happy to welcome Antonov to the bar at the swearing-in ceremony were (left to right) Michael Solt of Howard &amp;?Howard; Nick Borden-Sanford of McDonald, Baas, &amp; Livingston; and Kris Hulliberger and Patrick McCarthy of Howard &amp;?Howard.</b></div>","author_id":0,"date":"2025-12-16T00:00:00","type":"Featured","uri":null,"category":"feature","homepage_order":0,"subdomain":null,"LocalHeadLines":null,"LocationName":null}],"NationalNews":[{"Title":"Why state bars are struggling to keep pace with AI in legal practice","Link":"https://www.abajournal.com/columns/article/why-state-bars-are-struggling-to-keep-pace-with-ai-in-legal-practice/"},{"Title":"The legal tech stories that defined 2025","Link":"https://www.abajournal.com/columns/article/the-legaltech-stories-that-defined-2025/"},{"Title":"Federal budgets would further hit access to disability lawyers, advocates say","Link":"https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/federal-budgets-would-further-hit-access-to-disability-lawyers-advocates-say/"},{"Title":"ABA task force assesses AI’s ‘opportunities and challenges’ in new report","Link":"https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/aba-task-force-assesses-ais-opportunities-and-challenges-in-new-report/"},{"Title":"Attorney discovers secret ‘watch list’ for immigration lawyers","Link":"https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/attorney-discovers-secret-watch-list-for-immigration-lawyers/"},{"Title":"Lawyer and animal activist creates pet memorial for the holidays","Link":"https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/animal-activist-creates-pet-memorial-for-the-holidays/"}],"LocationId":1}