Tuesday September 23, 2008

Sometimes I am asked by prospective students whether I enjoy my job as Dean. The answer is always a resounding “Yes.” In fact, most recently I had a particularly enjoyable day.

On the day in question I was in Chicago with several of our law students who are working on Project SALUTE, our national tour to assist veterans with their federal disability benefits. And I have to admit that the day started pretty early. In fact, we all had to get up at 4 am to get into the Mobile Law Office by 4:45 so that we could make our way from our hotel to the WGN-TV studios in Chicago. Once we arrived at WGN-TV, we were greeted by a producer who took the students and me on a tour of their entire facility, including giving the students an opportunity to watch as the early morning news anchors did their job on the air.

By 6:45 am it was our turn to go on the air, as we were interviewed (standing in front of the Mobile Law Office) about what the students and faculty would be doing in Chicago over the next few days
(WGN –TV Morning News). As in most cities on the tour, the students (always under the supervision of our superb faculty) spend several days meeting with veterans, both in groups and one-on-one, to answer their questions and identify cases that our Veterans Clinic can handle. On the final day the faculty and students offer an all-day training session for local attorneys interested in handling veterans federal disability benefits cases pro bono. (We have now trained more than 300 attorneys around the nation, with more to come.)

After our TV appearance, we all went together to have breakfast at IHOP. I always enjoy these kinds of informal meals, because I get to talk with the students in a casual environment about what they’re doing, how they’re enjoying law school, their plans for the future, and other such items, in addition to talking about other things such as sports, current events, etc.

Later that morning we headed over to the Cook County Criminal Courthouse where we met with Richard Devine, the State’s Attorney for Cook County. We then did a press conference with State’s Attorney Devine and others about Project SALUTE and its activities in Chicago. Devine said all kinds of nice things about what UDM School of Law and its students are doing. We were also joined by a representative of Catholic Charities (which was serving as our host in Chicago), as well as someone from the office of Illinois Lieutenant Governor Quinn who presented us with a proclamation welcoming UDM School of Law and Project SALUTE to Illinois. At the press conference, a representative from the McCormick Foundation also announced that the Foundation was giving us $15,000 to help fund the Project.

For me the highlight of the press conference was the comments by our students, who spoke about their experiences helping veterans, the types of cases they handle, and their reasons for being part of our Veterans Law Clinic. (Speaking at the press conference were students Stacey Pyszora and Derek Miller; also joining us at the press conference were students Holly Muir and Matthew Hammer.)

After the press conference, the students were given a tour of the Courthouse and met with a judge (while I was off meeting with attorneys in a national law firm’s Chicago office which is interested in interviewing our students for summer associate positions).

By the time I was finished with my meetings and the students had had a bite to eat, it was about 4 pm. That gave us enough time to take one of those wonderful architectural boat tours of the Chicago River. (I told the students that I really couldn’t have the school pay for their boat tour, but that since I had gotten them up at 4 in the morning, the tour would be my treat.)

After the boat tour, we wandered around some of downtown Chicago, went to Millenium Park, had dinner, and gradually made our way back to the hotel (stopping, of course, for the required Baskin Robbins interlude). I had them back to their hotel rooms by about 9:15 pm. The students then spent the next two days doing a great job meeting with 60 veterans in Chicago, and then assisting our faculty on the third day in training about fifty local Chicago attorneys willing to assist veterans pro bono.

I realize that this is not a typical experience either for a law school dean or for law school students. But when I see how much our students learn on these excursions – and when I hear the gratitude of the veterans being assisted – I think it’s well worth it for everyone.

Tuesday August 26, 2008

Here it is mid-August and it's difficult to believe that a new school year is starting, as our Orientation for first-year law students took place last week -- August 18.

This is always an exciting time of the year for me. First, I very much enjoy all the excitement, energy, and enthusiasm that the new first-year students bring to the School. Once again this year, we are welcoming a great group of students from states all around the country, various provinces in Canada, and beyond. The increasing geographic diversity and the increasing racial and ethnic diversity of our student body over the past several years have brought even greater vibrancy to the School.

Second, another fun part of this time of the year is hearing from the returning students about their experiences during the summer. They are, of course, engaged in a wide range of activities, including working as clerks, summer associates, fellows in public service, or students studying abroad during the summer, to name just a few. Invariably, they say great things both about their summer experiences and about how well trained they felt by UDM for their summer positions.

In fact, speaking of summer associate positions, I am pleased to report that our students working as summer associates in large national law firms in places like New York, California and places in between, have done an excellent job impressing the partners at their respective firms. I have heard from partners at several firms around the country about how impressed their firms were with the work our students did for them this summer. More than one has told me that UDM summer associates were considered among the best of the summer associates at the firm--and that includes firms which attract summer associates from the "most prestigious" law schools in the country.

Happily, it appears that the experiences of firms both here in Michigan and around the nation with our students are translating into a nice expansion in the number of firms participating in on-campus interviews this fall. Given the current economic challenges facing law firms large and small, that is good news indeed.

I'm very pleased with the expanding job opportunities becoming available to our students and I'm really proud that our students are taking such great advantage of these opportunities. That's a win-win both for the students and for the School.

Monday July 14, 2008

I think that most people assume that things slow down for law school deans during the summer. While I will be taking a few weeks off later this month with my wife and boys, otherwise, I’m pleased to report that I’ve been having a fun and active summer.

This past week provides a good illustration. On Monday and Tuesday, I was in New York City, visiting law firms as well as some of our UDM law students. My law firm visits continue our practice of working to market our students at the leading firms in the nation. I had the opportunity to meet with partners at different leading New York firms and to talk about what makes a University of Detroit Mercy School of Law education unique. I suppose the best measure of how well we do in terms of marketing can be seen in the number of national firms who choose to fly to Detroit to interview our students. And, in that respect, my trip to NYC truly was successful.

As you probably know, we already stand out for the appeal of our students to the large national firms, and I am pleased to confirm that we have added substantially to the national law firms who will be interviewing on campus this fall. We are now talking to literally dozens of law firms with national reach which have expressed interest in interviewing our students this fall.

While in NYC I continued my annual tradition of taking out for dinner our UDM students who are summer associates this summer at firms, governmental entities, etc. in New York. While not all of the students summering in New York were able to join me (as some did have last minute assignments at their firms that they needed to work on), I had lots of fun with those who could make it, as we shared some good Chinese food followed by ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s, and everyone compared notes on their experiences at different NY firms. (One of the students said at the dinner that instead of my taking them out, they should really be taking me out, in thanks for my having helped them get their jobs. But I made clear that they would have plenty of opportunities to express their gratitude to the law school by making big donations once they are alumni!) After dinner, I walked with the students up to my old “stomping ground” – at Columbia University, showing them the campus and, I must admit, pointing out the building where my wife and I met when we were Columbia undergrads.

Later in the week, back in Detroit, I had the opportunity to spend time with a group of the incoming first year students who will be joining us in August. We host a series of welcome days for incoming students throughout the summer, at which the students learn more about the school, get an introduction to legal analysis and writing, and also get subjected to my teaching a model Torts class. I always enjoy this opportunity to get to know our incoming students both on a personal level and through some fun discussion about key Torts issues (like the duty to assist, causation, the distinction between acts and omissions, etc.). We also provided special briefings for the family and friends of our incoming first-year students.

We’ll be having more of these sessions over the next two months. If you are an incoming student, be sure to contact the Admissions Office at 313-596-0264 or visit our Admitted Student web site (http://www.law.udmercy.edu/admitted/) for more information. I look forward to seeing you.

Thursday May 15, 2008

I returned just a few days ago from Miami, Florida, the ninth stop on our national tour to assist veterans. (Previous stops have included San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Pensacola, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Atlanta.) Each week, we fly down anywhere from three to six students to wherever our Mobile Law Office happens to be, so the students can spend the week assisting veterans with their federal benefits claims.

The response has been truly overwhelming. In each city, UDM provides an educational session for veterans to learn about the federal benefits process. After that session comes nearly two full days of individual benefits interviews in which veterans can sit down with students, faculty and local pro bono attorneys to discuss their own particular cases. Finally, UDM provides a full-day training session for local attorneys in how to handle federal veterans benefits cases pro bono.

On a nationwide level (including both our national tour and our Michigan tour), the faculty and students of our veterans clinic have now met with about 2000 veterans, and trained more than 100 local attorneys to assist them pro bono.

As Dean at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, I have been particularly touched by several things. First, the gratitude that is expressed by the veterans is truly amazing. They are so pleased that someone is listening to them and offering to help. Second, the response from local attorneys in numerous states continues to gather strength, and our students have had a great opportunity to interact with local attorneys around the nation.

Third, I cannot begin to express the pride I have taken as I have watched our students in action with these veterans. They have shown a real dedication as well as tremendous skill in dealing with our veterans clinic clients. I have very much enjoyed watching our students as they give the veterans educational presentations, as they interview the clients, prepare case summaries, and do much more.

On a personal level, it has also been great fun as Dean to be traveling with students in different cities (and everyone who has been on the tour so far now can attest to my continuing search with our students for the best ice cream in whatever locality we happen to be visiting).

And as Dean I am particularly pleased that our students are witnessing first hand in places all around the country how one can use the law to help people. That is something that you just cannot communicate solely in the classroom.

I could fill many pages with the stories of the veterans that our students and faculty have met so far, in places throughout Michigan, Florida, Georgia, and Texas. Here are just a few:

There’s the fellow who was at Pearl Harbor and still has not received benefits for a back injury he sustained there. There’s the veteran who was exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam, for whom we have been able to increase his benefits from $300 per month to $2600 per month. There are the parents of the Persian Gulf War veteran who were so touched that we would listen to their son’s problems that they actually gave us a thank you card. There’s the Iraq veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or the other Iraq veteran suffering from a serious brain injury. And then there’s the veteran we met in Houston whose leg was amputated as a result of diabetes caused by Agent Orange exposure – he came to ask us for help, the local press focused on his story, and the next day he heard from the V.A. that he would be receiving more than $90,000 in benefits.

What happens now? Well, we’re taking a slight breather so that our students can study for and then take their final exams. After that, we’ll be off again with our two-pronged effort: one vehicle traveling around Michigan while the other heads off first for New York City, then south to Virginia, and then west across the country.

I have heard only wonderful comments from the students who have participated so far, and we look forward to working closely with those students signed up for the veterans tour over the summer. (In fact, given the requests of many first-year students, we have now made it possible for students to participate in the summer after their first year.) I guess a nice side benefit for the students has also been becoming “media stars” as they appear on TV and in the local newspapers. (Be sure to take a look on our website for some of the more recent press our students have received.)

We keep expanding the tour both in breadth and in length. If you are interested in finding our more about how you might be able to participate as a student at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, e-mail me at gordonmc@udmercy.edu. We’ll be happy to put you in touch with students already participating so that you can hear about their experiences first hand.

Monday March 10, 2008

When I first considered the idea of having UDM School of Law undertake a national tour to assist veterans with their federal disability benefits, I didn’t really think through the impact that such a tour would have on my schedule as Dean. Now, one month into the tour, I’m starting to realize the enormity of what we’ve started.

I have not visited every city with our students, but I have had the opportunity to join our students so far in San Antonio, Houston, and Orlando. And I cannot begin to express how proud I have been of these students. I have seen them doing presentations to veterans in various parts of the country. I have seen them doing interviews with TV and newspaper reporters. I have seen them interacting with attorneys from leading law firms around the nation.

And they’ve been great at everything! But what has really impressed me is the intensity and caring that I have seen our students bring to their work with veterans. I have seen our students meet veterans ranging in age from their early 20s to their late 80s. They have had a wide range of stories, experiences, and problems. But each time our students have done a wonderful job in listening to their stories, in empathizing with their problems, and in asking the necessary questions to get the information needed so that these veterans can be helped.

Of course, at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law we care a lot about training our students to be effective and successful attorneys. But what I have also witnessed on the road has been a series of students who are learning to use their training in ways that can really help those in need. I have seen our students touched deeply by the very human stories they have encountered. I have seen their determination to play a part in trying to help veterans who have done so much to help us all. I have watched as they realize the tools that a legal education gives them to make a difference. While I am proud of our UDM School of Law students for many reasons, the humanity and dedication to helping those in need that I have witnessed as they make their way across several states is a special source of pride and satisfaction for me as Dean.

We call our national veterans tour “Project SALUTE,” and in that spirit I want to salute the students who have participated during these first few weeks: Matthew Smith, Mark Vanneste, Alex Mitrakas, Brad Erickson, Liz Holmes, Tony Karman, Andrew Calcutt, and Scott Spokojny.