Professor James Coben
James Coben
After 35 years at Hamline University School of Law and Mitchell Hamline School of Law, Professor Coben is stepping away from full-time teaching but will continue to teach dispute-resolution courses. He remains a senior fellow in the Dispute Resolution Institute and will help build out DRI’s new Laboratory for Advancing Dispute Resolution Skills Teaching, or “Skills Lab.” The lab—a free resource for educators aimed at enhancing the teaching of dispute resolution and related skills—was created in part to help better prepare students for the NextGen bar exam, which will have a greater emphasis on skills.
Coben was DRI director from 2000 to 2009. He was also founding director of Hamline Law’s Master in the Study of Law program and founding editor of DRI Press. He created a variety of innovative dispute-resolution clinical opportunities for law students, including mediation advocacy on behalf of clients in family law and employment cases.
Professor Denise Roy
Denise Roy
Professor Roy is retiring after 33 years of teaching at William Mitchell College of Law and Mitchell Hamline. Since 2016, she has served as director of the externship program, and she previously directed the LL.M. in Taxation program at William Mitchell. Roy has also served as executive director of the Consortium for Innovative Legal Education and was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Indonesia. She has served as co-president of the Society of American Law Teachers and president of the Fulbright Association Minnesota chapter. She was the first woman chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association Tax Section Council and has been honored by the MSBA with the President’s Award and the Tax Section Distinguished Service Award.
Before coming to Mitchell Hamline, Roy worked as tax counsel and legislative assistant in the U.S. Senate, was an associate in private practice, and clerked at the U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit.
Professor James Morrow
Judge James Morrow ’78
Judge Morrow is retiring after 17 years as a professor, first at Hamline Law and then Mitchell Hamline. Previously, he taught for 23 years as an adjunct at William Mitchell. His courses have included evidence, trial advocacy, criminal procedure, and criminal law. Hamline Law students named him Professor of the Year in 2010-11.
Morrow served as a district court judge in Minnesota from 1983 to 2006, after which he spent 12 years as a senior judge. Before joining the bench, he was an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota.
Morrow was honored as 1999 Trial Judge of the Year by the Minnesota Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates and 2002 Trial Judge of the Year by the Minnesota Judges Association. In 2005, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from William Mitchell, where he served on both the alumni association board and the board of trustees.
This article first appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of Mitchell Hamline Law magazine.
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