COMPASSION & JUSTICE

Our Jesuit and Mercy traditions inform our commitment to justice.

Through our program of legal education, we instill in our students and alumni compassion and respect for all voices, especially those that are often muted. We produce justice-seeking attorneys, who recognize the dignity and worth of all people and pursue careers in all areas of the law.

UPHOLDING JUSTICE FOR ALL HON.

SHALINA KUMAR JD '96

US District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, Judge

Judge Shalina Kumar '96 was sworn in as a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in December 2021. She is the first person of South Asian descent to be nominated to the federal court in Michigan.

Kumar describes justice in her courtroom as "being treated fairly, with dignity and respect, and having the law applied to the facts of the case in a fair and impartial manner."

After a class trip to Washington, D.C. as a teenager, Kumar was hooked on learning about the law. Kumar began her career as a lawyer as a civil litigation attorney. “My work in litigation as a lawyer provided me with great experience and insight for my role as a judge,” she explained.

Kumar says that her experience working as a trial attorney has impacted her perspective on being a judge. “More than anything, I simply appreciate good lawyering, being on time, being prepared, and being knowledgeable of the facts and the law.”

She began her career on the bench in the Oakland County Circuit Court in 2007. In 2018, she was appointed Chief Judge of the Oakland County Circuit Court by the Michigan Supreme Court and was reappointed to the position in 2020.

"I am very fortunate to have spent the last fifteen years serving the public," she said. "It is a great honor to serve the people who appear in my court, and I take the role of a public servant very seriously. I work for the people; they do not work for me."

To Kumar, there is no one quality that makes a good judge. “Some of the necessary qualities are patience, compassion, preparedness, being well-versed in the law, and above all, a good temperament.”

Voice For Justice Fellowship

Detroit Mercy Law strives to teach students to be both skilled practitioners and compassionate professionals. The Voice for Justice Fellowship program expands our long-standing tradition of service to the community and provides students the opportunity to succeed while making a difference in the community.

Students who receive Fellowships spend approximately eight weeks as summer interns for non-profit organizations that serve or advocate for the poor, disadvantaged, marginalized, or under-represented of society. Since 2003, the Voice for Justice Fellowship Program has funded more than 100 law students to serve locally and throughout the world.

Virtual Expungement Clinic

On June 23, 2022, five students and five alumni assisted in a virtual expungement eligibility clinic serving the Sault Tribe, who are located in Sault Saint Marie, Chippewa County, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Rebecca Simkins Nowak, Director of Clinical Operations and Outreach, planned and coordinated the clinic with Judge Jocelyn Fabry, Chief Judge of the Sault Tribe, the Sault Tribe’s Advocacy Resource Center, and other members of the Sault Tribe.

“I’m so happy people are getting assistance with the expungement process, which can be confusing and daunting,” said Judge Fabry. “Even if just one person gets a conviction that’s been haunting them for years expunged, it’s huge.”

“The most rewarding part of working in the clinic was getting the opportunity to build genuine connections with a diversity of clients, to learn about the barriers they face as a result of their criminal records, and to work towards overcoming these burdens through the expungement process,” said Naime Sayde, a 3L in the Canadian & American Dual JD Program who worked with Director Nowak all summer to help put together expungement clinics.

Since the clinic, Nowak and students have been processing applications to set aside convictions on behalf of tribe members.

“Our legislature is tasked with creating laws and the appropriate punishments for those laws. When someone has completed their sentence but is still burdened with a felony or misdemeanor on their public record, they’re being unfairly punished further,” explained Rebecca Zarras '21, one of the alumni volunteers who first volunteered with the original traveling expungement clinic in 2019. “I volunteered with the Detroit Mercy Law expungement clinic because I wanted to do my part to help people move forward in their lives.”

“How wonderful that you and your students are doing this work to better the lives of others who have convictions hanging over their head and who don’t have the money to get the help they need,” said a clinic client.