NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 25, 2007

CONTACT: KATIE GALLAGHER
517/432-6848, galla145@law.msu.edu

BOUFFORD RETURNS TO MSU LAW RENTAL HOUSING CLINIC

Brings Legal Experience to Address Mid-Michigan Housing Issues

EAST LANSING, MI – Michigan State University College of Law welcomes back alumnus and former clinical instructor John Boufford as director of the Law College’s Rental Housing Clinic (RHC).

Boufford previously served as an Adjunct Clinical Instructor and Staff Attorney for the RHC before leaving to coordinate the Academic Resource Center at Thomas M. Cooley Law School’s Oakland campus.

“John will use his incredibly diverse legal experience to bring the Rental Housing Clinic in tune with modern-day housing issues affecting mid-Michigan residents, many of which do not arise in the typical ‘rental housing’ context,” Professor Michele Halloran, director of Clinical Programs at MSU College of Law said.

After graduating cum laude from MSU College of Law in 1997, Boufford went on to work as an assistant city attorney for the City of Flint, a staff attorney for UAW Legal Services Plan, an Assistant Prosecutor with the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office, a law clerk to Judge Frederick L. Harris of the 47th District Court, and a sole-practitioner.

Boufford will direct students at the RHC to learn trial practice skills by providing top-notch landlord-tenant legal services to low-income members of the community. Working with community members who traditionally have limited or no access to meaningful legal representation grounds MSU Law students in a respect for pro-bono work while providing valuable hands-on trial experience.

The clinical programs are designated a 501(c)(3) charitable, tax-exempt organization by the Internal Revenue Service, allowing donors tax incentives through tax-deductions and tax-credits. Additional information about the Rental Housing and Tax Clinics is available at www.law.msu.edu/clinics or by phone at 517/336-8088.

MSU College of Law was in founded in 1891 and is a private institution of higher learning devoted exclusively to professional education in law. The Law College is one of only a few private law schools to be affiliated with a research university, enabling it to provide a comprehensive interdisciplinary legal education program. Classes offered in its state-of-the-art facilities provide students the benefits of a Big Ten campus while maintaining the small school culture. Its 2006 graduates achieved a 93 percent bar examination passage rate nationwide and the Law College’s Intellectual Property & Communications Law Program falls in the nation’s top-20 according to U.S. News & World Report. The Law College is one of the oldest continuously operating independent law colleges in the nation. For more information about the Law College, visit www.law.msu.edu.

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