Lansing,
Michigan
Joan P. Vestrand serves as Dean of Students and as chair of the law school’s Professional Responsibility department. Professor Vestrand formerly served as the Associate Dean of the law school’s Ann Arbor and Auburn Hills campuses, after serving as an Assistant Campus Dean and as an Acting Dean of Students and Professionalism. She teaches Personal and Professional Responsibility, Legal Ethics in the Digital Space, and Getting to Excellence, a course which focuses on the connection between ethics, attitude, and success. Upon her hire in 2002, Professor Vestrand helped to revamp the law school’s legal ethics curriculum and assisted in the development and implementation of numerous professionalism initiatives and programs. In 2006, the law school was awarded the American Bar Association’s E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award for these programs. Prior to joining the law school, Professor Vestrand served for more than a decade as a state ethics prosecutor investigating and prosecuting allegations of professional misconduct against Michigan lawyers and judges. She then entered private practice as a partner and shareholder at Moore Vestrand & Pozehl, P.C., where she concentrated her practice on lawyer disciplinary defense, legal ethics, the representation of law school graduates in state bar character and fitness proceedings and serving as an expert witness in legal malpractice cases, a role she continues in today. Professor Vestrand is a former member of the State Bar of Michigan Representative Assembly, the policy making arm of the Michigan state bar. She is a member of the State Bar’s Special Committee on Professionalism & Civility, where she serves as chair of the Materials subcommittee. Professor Vestrand also serves on the State Bar’s Standing Committee on Character & Fitness and as a hearing panelist in lawyer disciplinary cases. She is also a past chair of the State Bar’s Special Committee on Grievances and its Law Practice Management section and served on the State Bar’s Grievance Committee and Annual Meeting Committee. Professor Vestrand is a past chair of the Oakland County Bar Association’s Professionalism Committee, its Solo Small Firm Committee, and its Law-Related Education Committee, and served for several years as co-chair of the Federal Bar Association’s Law School Initiatives Committee. Sheis a frequent lecturer on legal ethics and the importance of ethical behavior at the state and national level. In addition to educating lawyers and business executives on principled leadership and leading for superior results, she regularly gives of her time helping youth identify the connection between ethics and success, presenting to both high school and college-aged audiences. Her speaking engagements include several annual appearances as a featured speaker at the United States Coast Guard Academy’s annual Ethics Symposium, the West Point Military Academy’s Leadership Conference, and engagements at The Citadel Military Academy of South Carolina, including at their Annual Leadership Symposium. A named Fellow of the National Institute for Teaching Ethics and Professionalism, Professor Vestrand was one of three national finalists for the 2006 Teaching Excellence Award sponsored by the ABA Center for Professionalism and the Commission on Chief Justices. She is also a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, the Michigan Bar Foundation, the Oakland County Bar Foundation, and the George Romney Institute for Political Science at Adrian College. In 2007, Professor Vestrand was awarded the Oakland County Bar Association’s Frances R. Avendenka Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Legal Profession and the Community. In 2008, she received the State Bar of Michigan’s Champion of Justice Award in recognition of her work in the field of legal ethics and her programs to benefit disadvantaged youth. In 2014, she was named a Leader in the Law by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. Over the years, Professor Vestrand has designed and implemented several programs and initiatives in benefit of disadvantaged youth and gives of her time regularly to these endeavors. In 2012, she launched a student court at a local high school for restorative disposition of matters that otherwise would otherwise result in student discipline. In 2013, the initiative was converted to a peacemaking court, with law students overseeing teen peacemakers in their efforts to resolve student conduct issues and help peers make better choices. In 2013, Professor Vestrand received the Eastern Leaders Group Leadership Award for the program and in 2014, it was featured at a Carnegie Project on Social Justice held at the University of Missouri - St. Louis Center for Character and Citizenship. In 2015, Dean Vestrand brought the program to a second high school.
Featured ICLE Contributions:
Avoid Conflicts of Interests with Current Clients (How-To Kit)
Avoid Conflicts of Interests with Former Clients (How-To Kit)
Ethics Update 2024 (Seminar)
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