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Monday Morning Message 5.24.21 Special Commencement Edition: We Churned our Cream into Butter
“I am so honored and humbled to be here representing Cleveland-Marshall College of Law’s class of 2021….In the movie "Catch Me if You Can," Christopher Walken's character Frank tells the story of two little mice who fell into a bucket of cream. He says, "the first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse wouldn't quit. Eventually, he struggled so hard, he churned that cream into butter and crawled out."

Monday Morning Message 5.17.21 C|M|LAW Cyber - at the Center of the Cyber Century
“Big thank you to you and Cleveland-Marshall. The law degree with a cybersecurity certification sealed the deal for me.” -Rebecca Christian Lipker ‘20 on her new position as Cyber Security Contracts Manager for Humana
“I wanted to tell you how great the [online Cybersecurity & Data Privacy MLS] program has been to me. You have put together wonderful and caring people who are passionate and educated on the law and cybersecurity. Professor Ray and Professor Witten [are] always available for questions, made the material fun, and broke down the harder concepts to be easily understood.” -Aric Kee, online Cybersecurity & Data Privacy MLS student

Monday Morning Message 5.10.21 The Lighting of a Fire.
“Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.” – William Butler Yeats
“I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” – Robert Frost
Nothing is more important to student success and the success of our great law school than the quality of our faculty.

Monday Morning Message 5.3.21 The COVID-19 Serenity Prayer for Final Exams
“It’s not that I’m that smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein
“Try taking charge of your attention. Avert your gaze from whatever tempts you. Focus instead on whatever makes achieving your goals easier. Your future self will thank you for it.” – Angela Duckworth
Final exams begin tomorrow and continue until May 14.
First, I’d like to share my COVID-19 Serenity Prayer for Final Exams.

Monday Morning Message 4.26.21 May the Force of Justice Be With You.
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin
Just as the murder of George Floyd was a watershed moment in the ongoing pursuit of racial and equal justice, so too was last week’s guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial. Keith Ellison, the Attorney General of Minnesota, called the verdict “accountability, which is the first step towards justice.” President Biden noted, “So we can’t leave this moment or look away, thinking our work is done… We have a chance to begin to change the trajectory in this country.”

Monday Morning Message 4.19.21 BLSA Leading the Way
“Before COVID-19, the pandemic of racism has plagued this country for years. As students of the law and future lawyers, we are emboldened to change the system. We recognize that despite its flaws, our system is dynamic and can, in fact, be changed. We see the problems within this system as our community experiences the disproportionate impact of it daily…There is no room for silence during this time.” -CSU|LAW BLSA Executive Board "No Room for Silence" Statement June 1, 2020

Monday Morning Message 4.12.21 Spotlight Edition: Our Appellate Practice Clinic
"I wanted to work on real cases in the Clinic, assisting real clients and learning the ins and outs of appellate lawyering. This case wound up being so much more than that, going beyond what I hoped to experience in the Clinic." – Jared Thompson ’22 Appellate Practice Clinic Secures Victory in Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals

Monday Morning Message 4.5.21 "You Make Me Feel Valued."
“I cannot thank you enough for your unwavering confidence in my abilities and passion for movement lawyering. This past year I have found myself feeling hopeless so often, but in moments like this I can actively feel the support of the C|M|LAW community behind me and know that as long as I work hard and hold fast to my principles that the possibilities of my future remain without boundaries. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.” - 2L Student

Monday Morning Message 3.29.21 You're One Decision Away From a Completely Different Life
“All law schools have distinctive qualities and characteristics. Cleveland-Marshall's are the connected learning processes that go on throughout your law school years and continue beyond those years, in addition to the faculty and staff's commitment to the details of what it takes for student success.” - Ohio Supreme Court Justice Melody J. Stewart ‘88

Monday Morning Message 3.22.21 a Single Garment of Destiny
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The language of humanity and empathy needs to drown out the language of dehumanization. In this process of rehumanization, words do, in fact, matter. Words can heal. Words can re-engage people’s morality.” C|M|LAW Professor Reggie Oh