FALL 2004 DEAN Alex M

FALL 2004 DEAN Alex M. Johnson, Jr. EDITORS Terri Mische Elizabeth Washburn CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jana Bruder Cheryl Casey Amber Fox Susan Gainen Matt Gehring Ann Hagen Katherine Hedin Joel Hoekstra FALL 2004 Kay Johnson Contents Steve Marchese Meleah Maynard Pat McGroarty 1 THE DEAN’S PERSPECTIVE Todd Melby Laurie Newbauer Ruth L. Okediji 2 FACULTY FOCUS Mickelene G.Taylor Mary Thacker Faculty Research & Development Suzanne Thorpe Al Vredeveld 19 FACULTY ESSAY PHOTOGRAPHERS Bobak Ha’Eri Copyright and the Court Dan Kieffer Ruth L. Okediji Terri Mische Tim Rummelhoff Kevin Washburn 24 FEATURES DESIGNER Jennifer Kaplan, Achieving Excellence Red Lime, LLC Meleah Maynard The Law Alumni News magazine is published twice a year, by the The Faegre and Benson Symposium University of Minnesota Law School Office of External Law, Information, and Freedom Relations.The magazine is one of the projects funded through the of Expression membership dues of the Law Alumni Association. Correspondence should be to: 38 LAW SCHOOL NEWS [email protected] or Law Judge Doty Gives Keynote Address at Alumni News Editor, N160 Mondale Hall, 229 19th Avenue Minnesota Law Review Banquet South, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0400. Weekend Indian Law Course The University of Minnesota is Student Highlights committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs, facilities and employ- ment without regard to race, col- 47 ALUMNI COMMONS or, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, disability, Distinguished Alumni public assistance status, veteran Class Notes status or sexual orientation. In Memoriam Dean’s Perspective s I visit our alumni at various law firms, both in and out of state, I endeavor to provide them with current information regarding the Law School. One facet of our operation that I always make sure to mention is the state of our wonderful Law Library headed by Associate Dean Joan Howland. In this issue we celebrate a milestone as the University of Minnesota Law Library becomes only the eighth nationwide to accumulate aone million volumes.That is, indeed, a significant and worthy accomplishment. However, since we have several stories devoted to this accomplishment, I thought I would turn my attention to a larger issue involving our Law Library and its place in our Law School.You see, I am asked quite often why we continue to fund the Law Library at its current level given the advent of new technologies and the increasing use of the Internet for electronic retrieval and research.The questions are not critical of the Law Library or its operation. Instead, I sense that the questions are indicative of a lack of information regarding the Law Library’s role in today’s law school. As the University of Minnesota Law Library celebrates the acquisition of its millionth volume, it is appropriate to reflect on the relevance of libraries in this ever- evolving era of technology.Are libraries, and the books they contain, still applicable to scholarship as well as the study and practice of law? Libraries today are both a physical space and a virtual resource.When you enter the University of Minnesota Law Library, you will find a vibrant and diverse environment featuring books, reporters, statutes, computer terminals, ports for laptops, desks for studying, and com- fortable chairs for an occasional nap between classes. From early morning until mid- night (later during the exam periods) you will find a significant portion of the student body, alumni, members of the bench and bar, and faculty members utilizing the books, computer terminals, wireless network, legal research training areas, study spaces, or even picking the brain of one of our fine reference librarians.Although the majority of information needed is available via our wireless network and the DEAN ALEX M. JOHNSON, JR. Internet, students and faculty tend to be drawn to the Library as a place for not only assistance in their research, but also as a place for study and scholarly contemplation. Moreover, although most of the faculty instruction takes place in the classroom, a case can be made that the Law Library is the educational and intellectual center of the Law School. It is the one place where faculty, students, alumni and staff meet as equals in their search for information and knowledge. It is the one indispensable facility in the Law School. Can you imagine a world-class law school without a law library? I cannot. Indeed, the quality of a law school is often a reflection of the quality of its law library. It is interesting to note that the other seven law schools with which we share the million-volume status are: Columbia, Georgetown, Harvard, Iowa, New York University,Texas,and Yale. Suffice it to say, we are in fine company, indeed. While some futurists have predicted that technology will mark the end of book acquisitions, the reality is that we are unlikely to see this take place in the near future. It seems that rumors of the printed volume’s demise are greatly exaggerated. In fact, although our Law Library is acquiring as much information as possible in electronic format, the book collection is growing faster than ever before, at a rate of over 20,000 volumes a year.This is due, in part, to an increase in publishing as well as to the growing scope of our collection. Some sources simply are not yet available online.As books continue to be published and online resources become more accessible, the challenge for today’s law library is to provide seamless access to information in a variety of ways.The expansion of the Law School’s wireless network, increased electrical power throughout the building, and the institution of a laptop requirement for our law students beginning with the 1L class this year, is part of our strategy to provide access for our students to information in all formats. In closing, please join me in recognizing and congratulating our Dean Howland and her staff on the acquisition of the one-millionth volume. It is an accomplishment for which we should all be proud and bespeaks the considerable contributions that the Law Library has made to generations of law students, faculty, attorneys and members of the bench. Dean and William S. Pattee Professor of Law uate student government and with collection at the Law School and it E.Thomas Sullivan members of a graduate student group. was absolutely natural for us to show- hen Tom Sullivan stepped case and feature the collection. So down as dean of the Law As dean of the Law School, Sullivan many scholars visit each year to use WSchool after seven years at kept a foot in the classroom, teaching that collection.” the helm, there were probably more one course per semester.“I never left than a few individuals who predicted the classroom,” he says.“So there wasn’t Sullivan says his role is to ensure that the professor wouldn’t be free of a gap between teaching and administra- the University’s academic programs are administrative duties for long.And they tion. I love to teach.” Following a year- of the highest caliber.And that’s not were right. long sabbatical where he taught for a just about teaching students well, he semester at Boalt Hall at notes. In a recent paper he published, In July, Sullivan was the University of Cali- he noted that Universities are a “public appointed the Universi- fornia-Berkeley, he good” that produce common benefits ty of Minnesota’s Senior returned to the Univer- for all of society through research and Vice President for Aca- sity to teach full-time in teaching. demic Affairs and the Irving Younger Pro- Provost. Handpicked by fessor of Law. It’s a tradi- Much work lies ahead, but Sullivan President Robert Bru- tion that, regrettably, he notes that, as in many professions, his ininks, he now serves as won’t be able to contin- training in law is an asset.“At the Law the chief academic offi- ue for the near time.“I School, we educate students to resolve cer for the University do plan to continue problems and conflicts and think and its coordinate cam- writing and research,” he strategically and creatively about issues. puses.“I have a lot of says, noting that he’ll still Those same skills are transferable into respect for Bob Bru- keep an office at the Law this position as well,” he says. ininks,” Sullivan says of his decision to School, as well as in Morrill Hall.“And take the job.“When he called, I was I hope to return and teach a course or surprised and honored. It was an a seminar next year.” Mary Louise Fellows opportunity to help him and to be the ary Louise Fellows has spent architect of academic planning and Although enjoying teaching, Sullivan the past five years reading supporting academic initiatives at the admits he found fulfillment in adminis- MBeowulf and Chaucer and University.” trative work.As dean, he says,“There sifting through Old English homilies was a part of me that enjoyed the and legal documents.This fall, Fellows, Sullivan’s tenure as dean of the Law strategic thinking and planning, the Everett Fraser Professor of Law, is School gives him a leg up in his new fundraising and putting it all together.” completing work on her dissertation position.“I already knew most of the He cites the hiring of 17 new faculty and will earn a Ph.D. in English litera- issues and most of the individuals,” he members, the addition of a major new ture in 2005. explains.“I knew the other deans as addition to the Law School building, my former colleagues and I knew the which was named Mondale Hall, and Fellows will return to the classroom central administration and a large the development of the library as next semester, teaching wills and trusts, number of the Board of Regents.” But among his proudest achievements as a specialty, along with estate planning, while a steady schedule of meetings dean.“I love books and I think the taxation, and feminist theory.

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