University of Michigan Taps WSU Law Professor

Category: News Briefs Published on Wednesday, 06 January 2010 13:39 Written by Chronicle Staff

University of Michigan Law School has appointed Dana A. Thompson an assistant professor in the Urban Communities Clinics, which provide legal services to community-based organizations and small businesses. Thompson served as a visiting professor there from 2005 to 2006.

Prior to accepting the U-M Law School offer, Thompson had worked at Wayne State University Law School since 2006, where she founded and directed the Small Business Enterprises and Nonprofit Corporations Clinic program. She was also the director of the Damon J. Keith Law Collection of African American Legal History at Wayne.

A 1999 graduate of U-M Law School, where she was a contributing editor of the Michigan Law Review, Thompson, who also studied in France and South Africa, was a regional attorney for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in San Francisco where she represented TNC on land conservation transactions and other legal matters. She worked at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco, an international law firm, in its commercial real estate group, and also at Miller, Starr & Regalia in Walnut Creek, Calif.

A member of Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s Emerging Small Business Leadership Council, Thompson, was recently recognized by Community Legal Resources (CLR) for her contributions in helping start up Detroit-area businesses.

She is a contributing author to the new book, “Building Healthy Communities: A Guide to Community Economic Development for Advocates, Lawyers and Policymakers,” published last year by the American Bar Association.