I wish I had known Anna Shavers better. In my limited interactions with her, she was always the epitome of kindness and consideration for others. Not long after I joined the University of Minnesota law faculty as a very junior scholar, I attended the American Bar Association’s fall administrative law conference.  Anna sought me out and welcomed me warmly, introducing herself as a graduate of the law school.

I later discovered that she had briefly been a member of Minnesota’s clinical faculty as well, in the 1980s. A beautiful photo of her as a young woman, included with this post, graces the hallway leading to my office. At Anna’s passing, Minnesota colleagues circulated their remembrances. Although administrative law scholars know Anna principally for her longtime association with the University of Nebraska College of Law and her involvement with the ABA Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section, as well as her work with the Administrative Conference of the United States, the University of Minnesota Law School is proud to claim her as one of our own and to have played a role at the beginning of her remarkable career.

Anna graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1979. As a student, she served as a member and managing editor of the Minnesota Law Review. After law school, Anna practiced law at Faegre & Benson in Minneapolis. 

In the mid-1980s, the University of Minnesota Law School decided to create several new law clinics based on individual practice areas.  Former Dean Robert Stein reached out to Anna to return to the law school and take on the task of establishing its first immigration law clinic.  According to Stein, “Anna did great work establishing and directing the clinic; she was a wonderful colleague, well-liked by all the members of the faculty.” Clinical Professor Emeritus Maury Landsman, hired the same year as Anna, described her as “a great colleague: collaborative, inquisitive, and a fierce advocate for the clinic’s clients.” 

When Anna was a member of the Minnesota law faculty, clinical professors did not have an opportunity to obtain tenure. Anna’s interests extended beyond clinical education, prompting her move to the University of Nebraska College of Law, where she spent the rest of her distinguished career writing, speaking, and teaching about immigration, human trafficking, administrative law, and gender issues. Nevertheless, Stein recounts that “Anna continued to maintain very friendly relations with her Minnesota colleagues, attending Minnesota events at Association of American Law School and American Bar Association meetings.” We at the University of Minnesota Law School will miss her.

Kristin E. Hickman is the McKnight Presidential Professor in Law at the University of Minnesota.