Teaching As An Extension of Law: 法官Michael Feeney，加州大学兼职教授

“Teaching is a sort of extension of law,” said 法官Michael Feeney，加州大学兼职教授. “There is a lot of history between my court and Roger Williams in terms of teaching.” 

This connection between Rhode Island’s Worker’s Compensation Court and Roger Williams initially got Feeney involved in teaching. 现在，他找到了许多方法来服务加州大学的学生. Feeney’s roles include teaching legal classes and chairing the American Bar Association (ABA) Advisory Committee that works to maintain the ABA accreditation for UC’s paralegal programs. 

Feeney practiced law for 28 years before he was appointed as a 法官 on the Rhode Island Worker’s Compensation Court in 2016. 他把自己的诉讼经验带到课堂上, giving students real-world examples and connecting coursework to his professional career. 

“I teach my students all sorts of subsets of litigation. I was a litigator as an attorney and now people litigate cases before me. I teach students from my hands-on experience from the start of a case through the ultimate appeal, 如果有必要的话,他说. 

Feeney also brings his professional experience to UC by designing classes that cover contemporary topics that he encounters in his work as a 法官. 今年, he is teaching a course on workers compensation for police and firefighters, which he developed after observing an uptick in these cases in Rhode Island. 

“It’s a very timely class and I had no idea when I put it together twelve months ago that we’d be facing COVID-19. There is a lot currently going on involving COVID-19 exposure for first responders. I developed the course because I saw a lot of cases coming down from the Rhode Island Supreme Court regarding occupational cancer as it applies to firefighters,菲尼说. 

Feeney’s connections make him perfectly positioned to help students take steps forward in their legal careers. His students reach out for advice and assistance in their law school applications and career moves, 菲尼很乐意帮忙. 

“The students are extremely intelligent and motivated,他说. “他们参与进来，这就打开了大门.”