Thursday October 18, 2007

Imagine sitting around a table speaking with leading attorneys from around the United States about developments in the legal practice and changes in the marketplace. As Dean, I have the opportunity to do that every six months, as my Dean’s Advisory Board gathers here at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law to look at our curriculum, provide suggestions about ways we can better prepare our students for the jobs for which law firms are hiring, and offer general advice about ways to make our students even more competitive in the marketplace.

More recently, however, not only have I been speaking with the Dean’s Advisory Board (DAB), but I have also been inviting students at the School to meet and speak with them as well. When we spoke at our last meeting about our innovative Law Firm Program, the Board heard not just from me and the faculty, but also from students. Students on various Moot Court teams spoke about the competitions in which they were competing; students from our Clinics described the clinical training they were receiving; students discussed recent challenges of the Law Review. Now we have created a tradition of inviting dozens of students to mingle with the members of the Board following each meeting.

That explains how it was that different UDM students had an opportunity to speak recently with partners from law firms from around the country. A partial list of those firms includes places like Arnold and Porter (DC); Shearman and Sterling (NY); Baker McKenzie (Chicago); Pepper Hamilton (Philadelphia); Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP (CA); Thacher Proffitt Wood (NY); Arent Fox (NY); Mayer Brown (Chicago); Dewey & LeBoeuf (NY); Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold (CA); Hughes Hubbard and Reed (NY); Paul Hastings (NY); and many more. And the list of firms leaves out the numerous corporate counsels, such as the attorney in charge of litigation for Amazon.com in Seattle or the Deputy General Counsel at Verizon in DC.

As Dean, I truly enjoy watching our students rise so well to the occasion. They always speak with great confidence and knowledge. And I consistently hear from the partners at our meetings how impressed they are with our students. I am pleased to report that the impressions of these attorneys translate into more firms interviewing our students and offering them jobs.

Of course, there are never any guarantees about legal jobs or the legal marketplace. But I know that our approach at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law has been profoundly influenced by the advice I receive from the DAB. And I know that our students have benefited tremendously from the DAB’s growing knowledge of our school and our students. You can read more about the experiences of our students with the DAB on our website.

Tuesday October 02, 2007

Here’s the situation. A man shoots a policeman and injures him so severely that the policeman is paralyzed. The man is convicted of aggravated assault and serves a long prison sentence. He gets out on parole, decides he wants to move his life in a positive direction, and even speaks to college students about his efforts to turn his life around. Over four decades after the shooting, the policeman gets an infection and dies. Doctors conclude that the infection would not have happened if not for the shooting many years before. The district attorney charges the man who shot the policeman with murder. What do you think? Can the district attorney do that? Should he do that?

Some of you may recognize this fact pattern, as it reflects recent events in Philadelphia in relation to William J. Barnes who shot Officer Walter T. Barclay, Jr. back in 1966. (For a fuller discussion of this case, see the article in The New York Times by Ian Urbina, “New Murder Charge in ’66 Shooting,” from September 19, 2007.) It was this general issue which was the topic of discussion at the first meeting this year of the Dean’s Honor Society at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. Students who do particularly well academically after their first year of law school are invited to join the DHS. This year’s membership is about 60 students. As members they meet regularly with me as Dean , as well as with various faculty members, to discuss interesting legal issues in an informal setting. We will also be getting together for various social events, such as plays, concerts, etc.

During our first meeting, the students and I were joined by Assistant Dean Cara Cunningham as well as Prof. Richard Krisciunas, who spent about twenty years as one of the leading prosecutors for Wayne County. I very much enjoyed the free-flowing discussion, as we all grappled with the issues that this scenario raises. Based on the conversation, there seemed to be a good deal of disagreement about whether the district attorney should re-charge the defendant with murder so many years after the crime. But I think everyone’s minds were opened a little bit as they listened to the arguments from different perspectives.

In fact, that kind of listening to different arguments and trying to think through their repercussions is, I think, an important part of the law school experience. And, to be frank, engaging in these kinds of discussions with UDM law students certainly brings a lot of pleasure to the Dean! For those of you thinking about coming to UDM next year, feel free to e-mail me with your thoughts about this case as well.

Monday September 10, 2007

There is something wonderful about the start of a new
school year. There is a real sense of rebirth as our law
school community gets renewed. There are students from the
previous two years to welcome back and a new group
of eager, enthusiastic (and, admittedly, somewhat nervous)
students to welcome to the School.

This year's entering class seems particularly excited to be
at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.
They come from about half the states as well as three
Canadian provinces and several other countries. In fact,
approximately 45 percent of the entering class is comprised of
students whose permanent residence is outside Michigan.

I had a lot of fun getting to know different members of the
entering class through our orientation activities. As part
of those activities, my wife and I (together with our two
sons) host a series of parties at our home to welcome the
new students. (I say a series of parties because the
entering class is too big for all of the students to come
at the same time.) That gives me a good opportunity to get
to know students on a more personal level and to just have
some really fun discussions.

I must admit that I was impressed about how much the
entering students knew about the School and our innovative
curriculum. Many of them mentioned to me the recent
national press we have received: The Wall Street Journal,
the National Law Journal, USA Today, the front pages of
both The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News. In fact,
the week of orientation, University of Detroit Mercy School
of Law was also featured in a full-page article in The
National Jurist. (I particularly enjoyed the fact that the
article, referring to the tremendous increase in interest
by national firms in students from UDM, referred to us as a
"job-hunting powerhouse.") Links to each of these articles
can be found on our website.

Our new students seemed to have made a conscious decision
to come to us because they liked our approach, they liked
our focus on preparing them for the real world of practice
and helping them aggressively in their job searches, and
they felt that the community atmosphere at the School was
right for them.

I think that's particularly good advice for students who
are starting the process of applying for next year. Each
law school has a different approach and a different feel.
Get to know the different law schools and what they can
offer, and try to get a sense for where you would feel most
comfortable. If you are interested in the University of
Detroit Mercy School of Law, be sure to visit our website,
to come to visit our School, and to meet with our Admissions
staff, faculty, students, and administrators.It's an important
decision regarding the next stage in your life, and you
should be sure to get a real sense for what each school has
to offer.

Friday July 27, 2007

Here's a quick question for you: Which one Michigan law
school with multiple first-time test-takers can boast a
pass
rate on each of the last two bar exams of 90 percent or
over.

If you guessed, University of Michigan Law School, you're
wrong. The answer is University of Detroit Mercy School of
Law.

That's right. For last July's exam, 93 percent of UDM
graduates passed on their first try. And we just received the final
results for this past February's exam. While the statewide
average for first-time test takers was 80%, UDM's pass rate
was 90%. (If you're interested, no other Michigan law
school with multiple first-time test takers scored above
81%.)

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I think prospective
students spend too much time asking about these kinds of
numbers. While I'm certainly pleased that our graduates
have done so well, I honestly don't think they tell you
about what law school will be best for you.

And, as Dean, I see so much about University of Detroit
Mercy School of Law that cannot be captured in any set of
numbers. There's our International Opportunities Program,
under which between 15 and 20 of our students who just
completed first year are studying abroad this summer --
with the benefit of some funding from the School to help
defray their travel expenses. There's our new Veterans
clinical program, which has received national press and
offers an opportunity for students to sharpen their
practical skills while helping this very deserving
population.

There's the student in our Immigration Law Clinic who had
the opportunity this past year to argue a real case in
front of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
Or how about the students who are now summer associates at
law firms like Shearman and Sterling or Paul Hastings in
New York; Mayer Brown or Jenner and Block in Chicago; and
so many other places around the country. How about the
approximately 80 students who are serving as Externs this
summer working for judges, prosecutors, non-profits, or
elsewhere while getting school credit. Or the 9 students
who received $4500 fellowships each to work in public
service this summer.

Then there are the dozens of students on our external Moot
Court teams who have an opportunity to interact with
experts in their fields around the country. Not to mention
the over 50 students who finished their first year in May
and are now preparing to be inducted into our Dean's Honor
Society.

Whether it's our innovative curriculum which has been
featured in so many national publications (see our website
home page for links to some of them, including The Wall
Street Journal, the National Law Journal, and USA Today) or
the many national firms now working with us on our Law Firm
Program, there's a lot more to any school than numbers
alone can tell you.

Students quickly discover that when they arrive for
orientation. And it becomes more and more evident
throughout the year. So, while based on the bar passage
numbers, we sure are doing well, I urge you to look beyond
them to really find out about our school -- and others you
might be considering as well.

Tuesday July 17, 2007

There are certainly some important changes underway in
legal education in US law schools. That's made crystal
clear by the recent article "Re-enginnering the JD Degree"
which appeared in the July issue of the ABA Journal, which
is the national publication of the American Bar Association
and is read by thousands of lawyers around the country.

In describing innovative curricular changes at key law
schools, the Journal article focused on seven law schools
around the country: Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, Penn,
Drexel, and the University of Detroit
Mercy.

Given all the attention that our distinct model of legal
education has been getting recently (from The Wall Street
Journal, the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, and the National
Law Journal, to the ABA Journal and USA Today, to name a
few), I am hearing from more and more attorneys around the
nation. Their comments have been very supportive as they
confirm that traditional legal education has not done a
particularly good job in preparing students to practice as
attorneys.

Students starting in the fall at University of Detroit
Mercy School of Law will enjoy the benefits of our now
nationally-recognized new model. The model includes our
new "Core Concepts" course in the first year, during which
students are introduced to a range of analytical techniques
and more hands-on problem solving. By discussing actual
fact patterns that cut across the different first-year
topics, students should be able to see better how the
concepts taught in each first-year class apply to real-life
problems.

Starting in their second year, students will benefit from
our extensive clinical program -- in fact, all of our
students will take either a clinic or an externship while
at the school. The list of clinics continues to expand,
including our Urban Law Clinic, Immigration Clinic,
Appellate Advocacy Clinic, Mediation Clinic, Criminal Law
Clinic, Environmental Clinic (starting next year), and our
new veterans clinical program as well.

Students will then be well-prepared for our third year "Law
Firm Program" in which they will work on simulated complex
corporate transactions of the types of national firms
generally handle. This is perhaps the part of our new
model which has gotten the most national attention, and I
keep hearing from partners in major firms across the
country about what a step forward it is. In fact, many of
those firms are now working with us to develop different
more specialized courses in the Law Firm Program.

Of course, it's always nice to get good press and to be
recognized as a national leader. But what brings me real
joy as Dean is seeing our students prepared in ways that
give them a real advantage in the marketplace for jobs.

Given all the changes underway in legal education, I think
prospective students trying to decide where to attend law
school need to ask themselves about how well the curriculum
under which they study today will help prepare them for the
jobs they will be seeking tomorrow.