Professor, School of Law
2022
Bio:
Professor Hand began her legal career as an Associate with Wright, Moon, Van Dusen and Freeman law firm in Detroit where she worked in all areas of practice with particular emphasis on real estate law, commercial law, and litigation (1978-1980). In 1980 she joined University of Detroit, later University of Detroit Mercy as an Assistant Professor in the School of Law. Academic promotions were earned in 1983 to Associate Professor, and in 1989 to the rank of Professor. Professor Hand earned tenure upon the strong recommendation of her colleagues in 1985). Professor Hand taught Property, Environment Law, International Environmental Law, Environmental Law Seminar, and Urban Agriculture Immersion Course.
To broaden her academic legal experience, Professor Hand served as a Visiting Professor, University of Santa Clara School of Law (2002-2003), Lewis and Clark Law School (Summer 2006), Seattle University Law School (2008-2009), and University of New Mexico Law School (2011 and 2014). She was the recipient from the Fulbright Association of the Indo-American Fellowship to study Environmental Law in India (1992
Jelani Jefferson Exum, Dean, University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in her nomination support letter notes “Throughout her over 40 years as a professor, Professor Hand distinguished herself as an engaged teacher, accomplished scholar, and committed participant in the law school and legal professional organizations.” In her self-evaluation, Professor Hand explained that she required students to submit Response Papers to various experiences. “These experiences are chosen to highlight the relevance of legal principles to current issues. Reading an excerpt from Evicted, highlighting the effects of the current system of landlord/tenant rules to homelessness and assigning them to comment on the Environmental Impact Assessment prepared for the Dakota Access Pipeline and preparing and submitting comments to the EPA on proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act.”
Dean Jefferson Exum wrote “Professor Hand’s teaching has been impactful and shows her concern for the academic and person growth of her students. For instance, in her Urban Agriculture immersion course, Professor Hand exposed students to the legal challenges and costs of maintaining urban farms, but also their importance to the serving the pressing needs of underserved people in Detroit and urban areas across the country.”
Professor Hand’s area of expertise resulted in significant scholarly contributions to the intersection of American Indian Law and Environmental Law and on legal issues surrounding Urban Agriculture. She has written five books and chapters and numerous articles which have been quoted by others in their writings. Examples of her books are: Cases and Materials on Remedies in Natural Resources Law (1985), Neighboring Property Owners (1988), Update and Revision of Michigan Chapter in Waters and Water Rights (2011), Michigan Law Waters and Water Rights (2011), and “Co-operating to Protect the Shining Big Sea Waters and its Siblings: Consultation with Native Peoples in Protecting the Great Lakes” Tribes, Land and Environment (2012).
Dean Jefferson Exum noted the focus of four of Professor Hand’s writings.
Hand, J.P. and Gregory, A., “The Detroit Frontier: Urban Agriculture in a Legal Vacuum,” Chi-Kent L. Rev. 497 (2017). Examines how the operation of socially acceptable but unlawful activity developed and operated for several decades in Detroit, and how the movement to legalization of impacting the operation of, and culture of, agricultural activity in this major city, and will continue to do so.
Hand, J.P. and Koelsch, D. “Shared Experiences, Divergent Outcomes: American Indian and Immigrant Victims of Domestic Violence,” Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender and Society 185 (2010). Argues that the Violence against Women Act fails to adequately protect Native women from domestic violence.
Hand, J.P., “Protecting the World’s Largest Body of Fresh Water: The Often Overlooked Role of Indian Tribes’ Co-Management of the Great Lakes” 47 Natural Resources Law Journal 818 (2007). This articles sets forth the background for the Great Lakes Compact and Agreement as well as explaining the process under which eight states and two provinces reached agreement on an approach to protect the water in place. It also explains the legal basis for the claims of Native American to the water and their history and success in managing the resources, as well as the way they were effectively shut out of negotiation process. Finally, the article explains the practical and legal approach the tribes used to assert their rights while focusing on the protection of this resources for all Indian and non-Indian alike.
Hand, J.P., “Right to Farm Laws: Breaking New Ground in the Preservation of Farmland” 45 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 289 (1984). Explaining that the massive conversion of farmland to other uses is not the result of explicit government policy but merely the sum of the decisions of numerous individual farmers to sell their land for development, and exploring the implications of these decisions.
Addressing the role of urban agriculture in creating resilience to climate change and on the importance of community ownership in commons for environmental sustainability is demonstrated in the number of presentations given by Professor Hand. Presentations have included: Privatization of Commons is the Real Tragedy, Food Law in Times of Crisis, Indigenous Advocacy for Shared Waters, Urban Agriculture in Detroit and Food Security, Urban Agriculture in Havana, Teaching Urban Ag by Immersion, Empowering Indigenous People by Effective Consultation, Robust Consultation with Indigenous People Supports Development that is Sustainable, Because You Can Do It Doesn’t Mean You Should: State Preemption of Local Land use Choices, The Canadian Constitution’s Robust Requirement for Consultation of Aboriginal Nations, Urban Agriculture in Detroit: The Transition from Illegality to a Regulated Environment, Attacking Climate Change Through Strategic Public Trust Litigation, Blight to Broccoli: Urban Agriculture as a Motor City Economic Engine, Urban Agriculture: A Mechanism for sustainability in Detroit and Other Struggling Cities.
Dean Jefferson Exum wrote in the nomination support letter the “Professor Hand’s service in legal academia and the legal profession is impressive. She has served on numerous committees within the School of Law, including chairing the Rank and Tenure Executive Committee. She has served on various section of the American Association of Law Schools as well as the State Bar of Michigan where she is currently on the Executive Committee of the American Indian Section. She has also been a member of the Board of Directors for the Ecology Law Center in Ann Arbor and the Fulbright Association of Southeast Michigan.
More specifically, Professor Hand was a member of the Executive Advisory Committee on Women in Legal Education, American Association of Law; Consultant for Landfill/Air Quality Committee of Southeast Michigan Council of Governments on Nuisance Issues Raised by Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites; member, Board of Directors of East Michigan Environmental Action Council; Member, Air Toxics Subcommittee of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments; Chair, Environmental Law Section, American Association of Law Schools; Chair, Property Law Section, American Association of Law Schools; Chair, Agricultural Law Section, American Association of Law Schools; and Chair Agriculture Law Section, American Association of Law Schools.
In a letter, former Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Barbara R. Schirmer, confirmed Professor Hand’s service on the Academic Committee on the Status of Women. In the confirmation letter, Schirmer wrote “This important Committee assesses how we are doing at UDM on issues related to the employment, retention, promotion and compensation of women in faculty and leadership positions, and will recommend ways that we can improve. It also serves as a resource to our faculty and staff colleagues, so that the content of our courses and University policies can be enriched by the enormous amount of feminist scholarship that has been done in recent years.” Following her service on this committee, Professor Hand, moved into a position on the Women’s Studies Program Steering Committee. Additionally, Professor Hand served on the Special Ad Hoc Commission on Academic Quality Assurance and Governance which addressed how “to assure quality in the processes of approving and reviewing our courses and degree programs and establishing other academic standards.”
For the School of Law, Professor Hand served on the Admissions Committee, Academic Standards Committee, Petitions Committee, and Law Review Advisory Committee, recruitment Committee. She further contributed to the School by “advising on the drafting of moot court problems and law review comments, judging moot court competition, and presenting summary lecture on Real Property problems for graduates and on the American Banking structure for the Canadian [law] program.”
Incorporating the Jesuit and Mercy principles throughout the university is vitally important. Professor Hand wrote in her self-evaluation “Throughout my teaching career I have focused my classes on ethical questions where the Rules of Professional Responsibility does not provide a clear answer, such as the existence of a duty to notify opposing counsel that a particular contract violates the Rule Against Perpetuities also, provide students with handouts of cases involving racial covenants in cemeteries and a prescriptive easement for traditional sacred activities held by Indian tribes. I also discuss the complexities of ethical representation in the context of the foreclosure crisis.” Professor Hand enhances the student’s classroom experiences with guest speakers from non-profit legal organizations. She also requires three hours of volunteer service to one of the farms visited during their Urban Agriculture Immersion class.
Professor Hand earned a B.A. in History and Communication Arts and a Certificate in African History from St. Mary’s College, University of Notre Dame in 1968. She hold Masters from the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University (1969), and a Juris Doctorate from Wayne State University, Detroit Michigan in 1978. While at Wayne State University she was Note and Comment Editor, Wayne Law Review (1969), and was given the Silver Key Award (1978) from the School of Law.
Before joining University of Detroit Mercy, Professor Hand served as a Public Relations Consultant, Lone Star Gas Company in Dallas, Texas; was Director, Department of Journalism and Campus Publications Advisor, El Centro College, Dallas, Texas; and, Public Relations Consultant, Walled Lake School District, Walled Lake, Michigan.
Professor Hand’s nomination for Professor Emerita was approved by Dr. Antoine Garibaldi, President of University of Detroit Mercy before his retirement and conferred by Dr. Donald B. Taylor, President of University of Detroit Mercy on August 16, 2022.