Survey aims to identify ways to better prepare law school graduates

02/20/07

Survey aims to identify ways to better prepare law school graduates
The University of Baltimore School of Law is surveying attorneys, judges, court staff, and public officials who are currently working in order to identify the legal profession's essential skills. With the survey results, the school intends to seek ways to better prepare its law school graduates for employment following graduation. In addition to addressing both the public and private sectors, the survey includes three essential subject areas: professional skills, legal knowledge, and professional values. Questionnaires are slated to be distributed in February. The survey was developed to assess the law school's curriculum's effectiveness in preparing individual students for legal practice, stated the school's dean, Gilbert Holmes. University of Baltimore School of Law also intends to implement an advanced bar examination review, further development of the writing skills program, and a wide variety of opportunities for hands-on clinical experiences.

New deans at two of the nation's law schools
Robert H. Klonoff, a prominent legal pundit and faculty member at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, School of Law, will assume the office of Dean of Lewis & Clark Law School in Oregon on July 1. Klonoff, who has first-rate credentials and formidable talents, has also argued numerous high-profile cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Klonoff's commitment to community service, as well as his breadth of experience as a teacher and practicing attorney, will stand him in good stead as he serves the school from his new leadership position. Meanwhile, the University of Connecticut School of Law has appointed Jeremy Paul as its new dean. Paul will assume office on April 27. With nearly two decades of experience as a faculty member, Paul is thoroughly familiar with the school, its students, and its faculty. He served as UConn Law's associate dean for academic affairs from 1999 to 2004.

Chief Justice Roberts pronounces moot court verdict
Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Jr., presided over the finals of Washington University School of Law's Wiley Rutledge Moot Court Competition. He headed the panel of judges at the 140th annual intramural law school competition held February 6 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall. The competition, which started in 1867, has been renamed in honor of Justice Wiley B. Rutledge, Jr., who served on the U.S. Supreme Court after a five-year tenure as dean of the law school. The other four members of the judges' panel were Karen Nelson Moore, judge for the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; law school alumna Catherine D. Perry, judge for the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri; David R. Herndon, judge for the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois; and Richard J. Lazarus, professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Two student teams—3Ls James Frazier and Daniel Rhoads versus 2Ls Samir Kaushik and Renee Waters—presented oral arguments in the final round on a fictitious case adapted from Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!

Denver law professor unleashes corporate governance blog
Professor Jay Brown of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law has launched a law blog focusing on corporate governance—the first of its kind—in collaboration with students and other faculty members. The blog has been designed to provide a forum for discussing important legal topics, including methods of improving the corporate governance process, as well as the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the corporate governance process, particularly with regard to disclosure. It is intended to bring together the views of professionals, faculty members, and students on these and other issues, such as the use of independent directors, international practices, the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley, the actual practices of public companies, and methods used for teaching corporate governance.

Memphis law school to boost minority enrollment
Authorities at the University of Memphis School of Law are stepping up their marketing efforts in order to increase minority enrollment in the school. They also plan to hold recruitment fairs in hopes of meeting this objective. A recent court ruling has made recruiting students based on race more difficult. The school will also offer second chances to qualified students who perform poorly on standardized admission tests. According to Sue Ann McClellan, Assistant Dean for Admissions, minority students make up about 18% of enrollees; 10% of students at the school are African-American. However, she also stated that these numbers might go down as a result of a lack of funding to aid the African-American student community.

Vilsack takes teaching job at Drake
Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack will now serve as a part-time faculty member at Drake University Law School. Vilsack will be part of a team of professors teaching a course on rural development. In reference to the new challenge, Vilsack stated that he wants to instill students with the spirit of learning law and to motivate them to think innovatively. Vilsack will also undertake a seminar on security issues this spring, for which he will be the chief lecturer on a teaching team made up of three instructors.

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