Professors (l-r) Howard Bromberg, Christopher Walker, and Mira Edmonds with their teaching awards, which were presented at their panel lecture in late November.
By Annie Hagstrom
Michigan Law
Earlier this year, the Law School Student Senate (LSSS) announced the 2025 recipients of its newest teaching awards: Howard Bromberg, Mira Edmonds, and Christopher Walker.
While teaching award winners are usually invited to give a “blue jeans lecture” on a topic of their choosing—a nod to the days when law professors dressed more formally—this year’s student-nominated winners participated in a “blue jeans” panel—the first of its kind. They recently answered questions about their work before a student audience.
Bromberg, Michigan Law clinical professor, was named the 1L Legal Practice Professor of the Year; Edmonds, clinical professor of law and director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic, was named the Clinical and Experiential Professor of the Year; and Walker was named the Innovative, Inclusive, and Interdisciplinary Teaching Professor of the Year. This year marks the third time faculty are being recognized with awards for excellence in these areas. For more than 30 years, LSSS has also awarded the L. Hart Wright Award for Excellence in Teaching. The 2025 recipient is Eve Brensike Primus, ’01.
“Today’s event honors three outstanding professors who set the standard in our classrooms and clinics,” said 3L and LSSS treasurer Michael Terraso, who moderated the event. “Thank you all for joining and celebrating our faculty’s commitment to justice, learning, and innovation.”
Terraso began by asking each professor a question.
—————
Professor Bromberg, what inspires you about working with first-year students?
Bromberg: “Teaching first-year students is a great joy for me. Most come in with not too much knowledge about the legal system, but are incredibly intelligent and eager to learn.
In my Legal Practice courses, we cover the basics of legal education: the court system, how to read a case, draft a statute, and deliver a skilled oral argument, all in the first year. If you have a great interest in the law—its purpose, underlying principles, relation to government and history—legal practice courses cover many of these topics. There are concentrated and interactive assignments that allow me to offer detailed feedback—and I’m always learning from students, too.
I’ve taught just about every course in the curriculum, but Legal Practice is what I like teaching the most.”
—————
Professor Edmonds, how do you help students connect classroom learning with real-world legal skills and social justice values?
Edmonds: “One of the pleasures of being a clinical professor is that I work with 2Ls who have just completed their doctrinals. I have the opportunity to remind folks why they came to law school through working with real clients; they get to put into play some of the legal analysis skills they developed throughout their first year.
Students come to a clinic for a variety of reasons. For some, they are strictly looking at transferable litigation skills, and others are hardcore public interest students. I like helping public interest students think about why they are doing the work, how they are going to make the work sustainable in the long term, and how they will hold themselves to their own high standards. Plus, clinics create a community and safe space for like-minded students, and our clients recognize how hard the students work for them.”
—————
Professor Walker, how do you integrate inclusivity and innovation into your courses?
Walker: “I approach teaching at Michigan Law by helping students realize that communicating across differences is vital to being an effective lawyer and leader in the world.
Ultimately, what I really, really want you to take away from law school is that you need to be able to resolve disputes. You need to be able to negotiate and solve problems. To do that, you have to understand people you disagree with. You have to develop empathy. To make meaningful change in the world, you will have to collaborate with people you do not like and who hold values deeply different than yours. Effective lawyers and advocates develop a skillset to help conflicting parties and communities identify and build on common ground to make a lasting difference.”
Terraso then transitioned to a general question-and-answer session for all three professors, a sample of which is included below.
—————
What advice do you have for students going into this upcoming exam season, especially for 1Ls?
Edmonds: “It is possible to not do amazing on your exams and still have a great career and be a great lawyer. There is life after 1L; there is life after law school. So, try your hardest, and if you don’t end up with what you had hoped for, take solace that it is going to be okay.”
—————
What advice do you have for students as they graduate?
Walker: “In my view, the key to lasting happiness is to put the needs of others above your own. Do public interest and pro bono work. Volunteer as a youth soccer coach, at a refugee relief organization, or in your local church congregation or civic organization. Dedicate yourself to a partner or spouse. Care for your parents, family, or friends. Consider raising children or seeking out opportunities to mentor youth at schools and in their extracurricular activities. There are so many ways to put others’ needs above your own. Fortunately, as lawyers representing clients with challenges, we are asked to do so at work on a regular basis. I have found that looking outward—instead of fixating inward—has carried me through the hard moments at work and in life.”
—————
What advice would you offer to new law professors or those considering teaching?
Bromberg: “I did not want to be a professor; I saw the role as somebody lecturing at a podium, which I didn’t want to do. However, as we’ve heard from professors Walker and Edmonds about the valuable interaction professors can have with the students, I also came to learn that being a professor is interactive and immersive. So, if you are considering being a law professor, ask yourself, ‘Does that sound exciting?’”
Michigan Law
Earlier this year, the Law School Student Senate (LSSS) announced the 2025 recipients of its newest teaching awards: Howard Bromberg, Mira Edmonds, and Christopher Walker.
While teaching award winners are usually invited to give a “blue jeans lecture” on a topic of their choosing—a nod to the days when law professors dressed more formally—this year’s student-nominated winners participated in a “blue jeans” panel—the first of its kind. They recently answered questions about their work before a student audience.
Bromberg, Michigan Law clinical professor, was named the 1L Legal Practice Professor of the Year; Edmonds, clinical professor of law and director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic, was named the Clinical and Experiential Professor of the Year; and Walker was named the Innovative, Inclusive, and Interdisciplinary Teaching Professor of the Year. This year marks the third time faculty are being recognized with awards for excellence in these areas. For more than 30 years, LSSS has also awarded the L. Hart Wright Award for Excellence in Teaching. The 2025 recipient is Eve Brensike Primus, ’01.
“Today’s event honors three outstanding professors who set the standard in our classrooms and clinics,” said 3L and LSSS treasurer Michael Terraso, who moderated the event. “Thank you all for joining and celebrating our faculty’s commitment to justice, learning, and innovation.”
Terraso began by asking each professor a question.
—————
Professor Bromberg, what inspires you about working with first-year students?
Bromberg: “Teaching first-year students is a great joy for me. Most come in with not too much knowledge about the legal system, but are incredibly intelligent and eager to learn.
In my Legal Practice courses, we cover the basics of legal education: the court system, how to read a case, draft a statute, and deliver a skilled oral argument, all in the first year. If you have a great interest in the law—its purpose, underlying principles, relation to government and history—legal practice courses cover many of these topics. There are concentrated and interactive assignments that allow me to offer detailed feedback—and I’m always learning from students, too.
I’ve taught just about every course in the curriculum, but Legal Practice is what I like teaching the most.”
—————
Professor Edmonds, how do you help students connect classroom learning with real-world legal skills and social justice values?
Edmonds: “One of the pleasures of being a clinical professor is that I work with 2Ls who have just completed their doctrinals. I have the opportunity to remind folks why they came to law school through working with real clients; they get to put into play some of the legal analysis skills they developed throughout their first year.
Students come to a clinic for a variety of reasons. For some, they are strictly looking at transferable litigation skills, and others are hardcore public interest students. I like helping public interest students think about why they are doing the work, how they are going to make the work sustainable in the long term, and how they will hold themselves to their own high standards. Plus, clinics create a community and safe space for like-minded students, and our clients recognize how hard the students work for them.”
—————
Professor Walker, how do you integrate inclusivity and innovation into your courses?
Walker: “I approach teaching at Michigan Law by helping students realize that communicating across differences is vital to being an effective lawyer and leader in the world.
Ultimately, what I really, really want you to take away from law school is that you need to be able to resolve disputes. You need to be able to negotiate and solve problems. To do that, you have to understand people you disagree with. You have to develop empathy. To make meaningful change in the world, you will have to collaborate with people you do not like and who hold values deeply different than yours. Effective lawyers and advocates develop a skillset to help conflicting parties and communities identify and build on common ground to make a lasting difference.”
Terraso then transitioned to a general question-and-answer session for all three professors, a sample of which is included below.
—————
What advice do you have for students going into this upcoming exam season, especially for 1Ls?
Edmonds: “It is possible to not do amazing on your exams and still have a great career and be a great lawyer. There is life after 1L; there is life after law school. So, try your hardest, and if you don’t end up with what you had hoped for, take solace that it is going to be okay.”
—————
What advice do you have for students as they graduate?
Walker: “In my view, the key to lasting happiness is to put the needs of others above your own. Do public interest and pro bono work. Volunteer as a youth soccer coach, at a refugee relief organization, or in your local church congregation or civic organization. Dedicate yourself to a partner or spouse. Care for your parents, family, or friends. Consider raising children or seeking out opportunities to mentor youth at schools and in their extracurricular activities. There are so many ways to put others’ needs above your own. Fortunately, as lawyers representing clients with challenges, we are asked to do so at work on a regular basis. I have found that looking outward—instead of fixating inward—has carried me through the hard moments at work and in life.”
—————
What advice would you offer to new law professors or those considering teaching?
Bromberg: “I did not want to be a professor; I saw the role as somebody lecturing at a podium, which I didn’t want to do. However, as we’ve heard from professors Walker and Edmonds about the valuable interaction professors can have with the students, I also came to learn that being a professor is interactive and immersive. So, if you are considering being a law professor, ask yourself, ‘Does that sound exciting?’”
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