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A LUM NEWS the Duquesne University School of Law Magazine for Alumni and Friends

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A LUM NEWS the Duquesne University School of Law Magazine for Alumni and Friends A LUM NEWS The Duquesne University School of Law Magazine for Alumni and Friends Fall 2007 DEAN’S FORWARD Donald J. Guter, Dean Let me begin by stating that I am grateful for the support We established a new position of Office Manager and of all our students, staff faculty and alumni as I begin my third hired Mr. Marlon Ferguson. He has been instrumental in year as Dean of the Law School and, with your ongoing sup- developing and implementing controlled procedures to man- port, I look forward to a very successful future for our school. age the budget, to maintain the physical plant, and to assist the As we journey toward our 100th anniversary, we do so with a staff. With Mr. Ferguson’s expertise, we are finding new effi- sustained emphasis on continuing to improve our perform- ciencies and better ways to be good stewards of all of our assets. ance on the Bar exam and other areas as well, particularly our We also created the new position of Director of Bar legal research and writing program. Services, and we were most fortunate to attract Mr. Richard As a huge first step and after a very successful national Gaffney, who began in September 2006. He has implemented search, the Law School hired Professor Jan Levine as the new the program that is described in the paragraphs below and, Director of Legal Research and Writing. Professor Levine with almost a full year under his belt, has begun to analyze the enjoys a national reputation and has created ranked programs effectiveness of our approach to preparing our law students to at his last two law schools. (See article on page 5.) Professor take the Bar exam. This includes an annual review of Bar Levine has already developed a program to create smaller examinable subjects, curricular structure, and educational sup- sections which will allow for more intense, one-on-one port materials for the program. interaction with the students. Bar preparation programs were added (including the first This year, we have a new team in the alumni office. Ms. Bar Boot Camp) and significantly strengthened. Our Bar Jeanine DeBor is our new Director and Ms. Estelle Feltovich is passage rate for first time takers in Pennsylvania was 88.32% in the new Assistant to the Director of Alumni Relations. These July 2006, an increase of 20 points over the prior year and the two professionals (see profiles on page 41) will give us a very largest one year increase in the school’s history. I am pleased to strong alumni office, and I am confident they will improve our report that the 2007 bar passage rate was 91.39%. This trend membership dramatically. You can help in this effort by taking will be our tradition. every opportunity to attend our Law School events and by To further improve our Bar passage rate, faculty actively encouraging your classmates to join us. encouraged students to faithfully participate in the BEAT and 1 ALUM NEWS “I am pleased to report that the 2007 bar passage rate was 91.39%. This trend will be our tradition.” Early Bird commercial bar preparation programs offered by placed in the regional, semi-finals, and finals. Our teams also BAR/BRI. We expanded these programs, offering classes each advanced and were recognized in the NTC, Buffalo/Niagara weekend. During our inaugural year, approximately one-half tournament, the NACDL Competition, and the Gourley Cup the class regularly attended these sessions. Competition. Faculty covered topics not covered by BAR/BRI. This year, Another student, Sarah Riley, was awarded the prestigious three faculty members volunteered to conduct Saturday morn- Burton Award for her Law Review article: Title IX Prohibits ing sessions on Contracts (Dr. Murray), Property (Professor Retaliation Against Plaintiff Who Complains of Sex Gray) and Criminal Procedure (Professor Antkowiak). Again, Discrimination, Even if Plaintiff is Not Recipient of Original approximately one-half of the class attended each session. Claim of Discrimination: Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Professor Astorino conducted his annual bar preparation pro- Education. The Burton Awards are modeled after the Pulitzer gram, continuing a tradition with a phenomenal success rate. Prize to recognize excellence in legal writing. Every law school All seniors received a letter from me stressing the critical in the nation submitted an entry; only 15 were chosen as importance of their diligent participation in these programs winners this year. Among the other schools fielding winning and the disadvantage suffered by those who do not participate. entries this year were Yale, Columbia, U Penn, and Also, an invitation to attend our programs, at no expense, was Georgetown. sent by our career services office to graduates who were not Our Juris Magazine was named “Best Law School previously successful. In our first year, the response was not Magazine,” for 2007 by the American Bar Association Law encouraging, but we will persist in offering this benefit. Student Division. This is a unique honor as we compete for the The most significant event of the year was our visit by the award with every other law school in the U.S. ABA/AALS site team. Our committee (Associate Dean Duquesne Law School is always pleased to host nationally Browne-Barbour, committee chairman Professor McClendon, prominent visitors and programs. This year was especially rich. Professor Yochum, and Professor Perkins) and the entire The Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law, faculty and staff worked hard to make sure we were ready for directed by Professor Rago, presented its seventh annual con- the site visit that occurred in March 2007. Although we still ference: Preserving Evidence, Saving Lives: The Roles of Forensic await the written report, we received a very favorable oral brief Science, Medicine and the Law in Mass Disaster Response. during the exit interview indicating that the team found Professor Robert Barker presented his international seminar: no issues that would preclude them from recommending Judicial Review in the Americas…and Beyond. Professor Ken anything other than full accreditation for a 7 year term to the Gormley coordinated the highly successful visit of Supreme ABA Council. Court Justice Samuel Alito, who received the Carol Los We celebrated another successful year with our Trial Mansmann Award on our campus. And, finally, the Law School Advocacy Teams, led by Professor Streib and Professor hosted highly successful visits by the Court of Appeals for the Antkowiak. Each year, the Law School sponsors several student Armed Forces (CAAF), the Court of Appeals for Veterans trial advocacy teams and has enjoyed a significant level of suc- Claims, and the Pennsylvania Superior Court. In each instance, cess. Our experience in the American Trial Lawyers Association actual cases were heard. One of our seniors, Ms. April Trimble, (ATLA) competitions (now known as American Association made oral argument before the CAAF, and her position was for Justice, the AAJ) has been particularly impressive. Teams ultimately upheld in the court’s decision. from Duquesne Law School have been regional champions in Our China summer program had its highest enrollment five of the last seven years. In this past academic year, our teams ever with 68 students from 40 law schools and 5 countries. This FALL 2007 2 DEAN’S FORWARD The Law School faculty and staff proudly display the bar results in front of the school. continues to be a world-class program. In June, we completed He also was appointed as the first chair of the newly created, a highly successful ABA re-accreditation visit to the China state-wide advisory committee that is studying wrongful Program. Again, although we have not yet received the final convictions in Pennsylvania. We wish him success for a project written report, the ABA inspector remarked that it was proba- that is so closely tied to the essence of the Law School’s mission bly the best China program he had ever seen. He was particu- and which echoes our motto: Salus Populi Suprema Lex, The larly impressed by the fact that the instruction was provided Welfare of the People is the Highest Law. primarily by the entire English speaking faculty of the China As you can readily see, it has been a productive year. We University of Political Science and Law. continue to improve the Law School and we made numerous The Vatican and Ireland programs also had their strongest important changes during this past academic year, but there is enrollment in several years, and they continue to draw strong still much to be done. We will be traveling to the American interest from alumni who enjoy the experience of traveling to Association of Law Schools recruitment fair this fall to inter- Europe for the continuing legal education requirements. view candidates for two doctrinal positions and three full time I am pleased to report that our evening division for this research and writing instructors. We are pleased to have the academic year rebounded from years of declining enrollment, support of the board and the administration in this endeavor and the number of minority students grew significantly. We and in all our efforts as we move forward. enrolled 96 evening students and 25 students who declared minority status. These numbers reflect an increase of 300% and 130%, respectively, over last year. We thank our Admissions Director, Mr. Joe Campion, and his assistant, Ms. Gloria Malie, for an incredible effort and a terrific recruiting year. Before my final closing, I want to offer congratulations Donald J. Guter, L’77 to Professor John Rago who was awarded full tenure this year. Dean 3 ALUM NEWS CONTENTS FEATURES: Jan M. Levine, New Director of Legal Research and Writing 5 Women in the Law 11 Commencement Graduating Class of ‘07 15 International Law Law Without Borders 17 LL.M.
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